Lucy

Did a favor for a friend and got to make a fun photo of my furry friend Lucy. Lucy is a great dog and sits at her person's place of business quietly watching the comings and goings. This photo looks like it was taken in an calm, organized setting when actually it took three of us to get this shot, one to follow Lucy with the light, one to offer a treat and one to take the photo. She happened to be standing in front of a nice background, which brings to mind the saying better to be lucky than good.

Colorful

Oops, somehow I missed yesterday. I know why, I had meetings and people under foot and in general so much to do I got nothing done because I didn't know where to start. Have you ever found yourself in a rut like that? Well, today is a "get it done" day, so here I am before the start of getting it done. I have three things on deadline, serious deadlines like salestax report. I leave you with my a photo of one of my favorite groups who participate in our New Year's Day parade. They are always colorful, smiling and brighten up the whole parade route. The sun was shining from camera right and directional so that exposing for the dancer left the crowd in the background in the dark. I have other shots that show more of a parade scene but I like the way the lighting almost spotlights the dancer.

Things You Never Notice

I had to make a run to the airport to collect my Fiesta Bowl attendees last week. Our small airport like every other airport in the world makes it a little tricky to pick up arriving people . I do not like to be late and had some other business near the airport as a result I ended up heading into the airport traffic early to meet the travelers. Rather than circle the airport for what would have been thirty minutes I parked in a little semi-circle parking area. I have been to this airport hundreds of times since I was a little girl but never really noticed this particular statue that has been there since the 60's. The sun was beginning to drop in the sky so I took some shots, then waited for more directional light to help define the finer parts of the sculpture. Finally the light was just right and would quickly disappear as the sun dropped lower but I captured this shot and then converted it into black and white. What do you think?

Surprise Freeze

Well the saying goes in my part of the world, if you don't like the weather just wait ten minutes and it will change. That is very true as last weekend we had a record high of 80 degrees and the next day we had freezing rain that caused power outages around the city. I ran outside early in the freezing rain to capture a few images. The sky was bleak and boring and the freezing rain was becoming ice on smaller vegetation and power lines. I didn't spend too much time outside as it was COLD. Today it is beautiful outside again with sun shining.

Confusion and Determination

I can say with all honestly that the last five to eight years we have been just, getting from one day to the next in total chaos, no sense of order. Some things have a place but most just get moved from one spot to another. We like so many other people, have too much going on and have little time to stop and get it together. The danger is becoming accustom to chaos and confusion. Once you get use to it and begin to work around it, you become blind to it. No, our house isn't a total disaster but there are stacks of things around and I am certified stuffer. Combine stacking, stuffing with an old fashion pack rat, well you have a lot to go through and no real starting place. Something came over me recently, I am not sure if it was my laid back, simplified approach to the holidays or just old age but I have a renewed sense of getting control of all aspects of life. Yes that includes working out, I have a self set goal of being in shape by March. Once I quit making and eating my newly discovered recipe for rumcake I might actually meet my fitness goal. In the mean time I plan on staying organized day in and day out so I don't get behind on everything, you know all of the paper work, but also to try to organize a room a month. Once organized I plan on redoing or reworking the said room to get it up to date decoratively. I have tended to care little about the fine decorative details of the house. However for some reason this is beginning to matter to me. So wish me luck and hopefully I can inspire someone reading this to get it together also.

My Precious

As I sit here watching the last real college football game of the year my precious sits at my feet. She is my absolutely crazy dog who has more energy than a two year old and just loves to be around her people. We never had a dog until it was decided to help our youngest over the fear of dogs we should get a dog. I got talked into a Brittany. Brittany's are made to hunt and never sit still. They have an amazing sense of smell. After three and half years she is beginning to spend more time laying on her bed than jumping on me. I managed to capture her sitting still once this fall and you can see just how beautiful she is. For as crazy as she can be and for the two times she has run off and nearly been hit by a car she is really a great dog and lives for us to love her.

City Life

Well things have been crazy again but I am coming up for air and wanted to share one of my favorite shots from last fall. This photo screams to me, City Life. I love the black and white look that gives it more of a timeless feel. Without the context of where it was taken you would take this for some graffitti covered area of town. In actuality it is located in the middle of a beautiful park and these pipes are known by all generations of our little burb, since almost everyone at one time or another has traveled through them and ended up on the other end of town. I will admit to being terribly afraid of rats, snacks, possoms, raccoons... come to think of it any wildlife that dwells in the underworld so I never did this but, my husband used the underground pipes to go all over the neighborhood when he was growing up. Perhaps I will share some of his wild tales of his youth here with you soon.

Hummer

One of nature's gifts that most amazes me is the hummingbird. If you have never seen one you would be amazed at just how small they are. I know hummingbirds are in town when I begin to think I am seeing really large flying bugs that zip past me in a blur. They aren't bugs, they are really hummingbirds. Not the easiest thing to photograph due to their size and their speed, many people go to great lengths to set up areas to take pictures with flashes and syringes of sugar water dropped into flower blooms. My neighbors Hank and Ann kept telling me they had some stopping by their yard, I was surprised since this is the first year in 13 years since I began seeing hummingbirds that I had not had any stop by my feeder. Low and behold they really did have some in their yard and after patiently shooting and waiting for about an hour I got my favorite shot of the day. I hope you enjoy it too.

My Favorite Time of Year

Yes Yes Yes it is State Fair time!! I love October, usually it is beginning to cool off and the State Fair comes to town. I love the State Fair, corny dogs, night lights, interesting people, exhibits, Texas vs OU game. You can't make this stuff up either. If you get there during the early weeks of the fair you can see some of the live stock competitions, if you get there later during the run you can see the dancing dogs or the cat show. All very exciting stuff. Make the time to stop by the fair and I would highly recommend you park on the Fair grounds if possible, easier in and out. Just don't forget to get yourself a Fletcher's corny dog.

Shadowing Myself

While waiting for some folks to show up I noticed my shadow so here it is. Funny how when you are a kid you are so aware of your shadow but once grown I hardly ever notice it, and I should considering it sometimes creeps into my photos. I try to keep that from happening and I actually do notice it and rearrange the shot. Confused, so am I . Anyway I think this may become one of my favorite self portraits since I generally shy away from the camera this way I can be in the picture but not really there.

Shrooms

wish I had moved those blades of grass!

Where exactly do they come from? Mushrooms have taken over my backyard and I am sure there is something about rain that makes them appear. Surely I learned this in school at some point. For whatever reason they are everywhere. Most look exactly alike, the come up as these little bulb like growth and then pop out into this white flat thing with the remnants of the bulb left on top, really weird almost like someone peppered them. Then out of nowhere all alone is one that has a red bottom. How exactly do I know the bottom is red? I was crawling around the yard again, getting the toes of my shoes all muddy, remember it had been raining when these things popped up. Now if I had been all together I would have paid better attention to the details around my mushrooms and cleared the stray blades of grass away to get a better photo but rushing through so the dog could come back out I did not do my best work but here for your wonder are my shrooms.

look at the detail that goes into one of these things only to shrivel up a few days later.

Fun Surprise

Sometimes in life you have fun little surprises. One day while crawling around the yard trying to find bees and other things of interest to photograph I discovered this whole crop of wild strawberries. I had no idea they were growing in our yard and most looked to be in pretty good shape, the bugs and the dog had yet to discover them. I challenge you to go out and be surprised in a good way today.

I am Back

I have no real excuse for taking a short sabbatical from here but I have been cleaning and organizing and getting ready for another school year. With that in mind this photo reminds me what is so great about summer, very little to your schedule. If you want to fish all day you can. No teachers to assign you projects, no rush on the chores and there are small crowds at the local creek since temperatures hovered around 100 degrees. Back to business and back to the routine, hopefully I will be better about posting my favorite images here that I really have no where else to post.

Back to Business

Not sure where that last month went but it went without me noticing. I have been busy cleaning out the house. The girl child decided it was time to redo her room that she has been in since she was four so she actually cleaned out her room. Oh if only I had a before and after you would not believe it, just imagine a wall to wall mess of clothes and stuff with a bed hidden in the corner under a mess of clothes. Out of date furniture that was just sitting there, my old bedroom suit from when I was a little girl, that has been a while and you get the picture. In one morning we removed everything from the walls, filled in the holes and cracks in the wall, removed and cleaned all vent cover, shutters and outlet covers. Then we taped off the walls and commenced on painting. Let's just say it is officially the second room in our house that has colored walls. It has been an amazing metamorphisis and more importantly a great motivator for her younger brother who also wants colored walls. It has taken us a week but between the two of us we have managed to clear a path through his room and believe it or not we found the floor was carpeted. The closet is the next hurdle which I will take a before and after shot. That you truly will not believe. A cumulation of three kids living in the same space for 14years. With that said check out the video of my newest teenager helping me in a very rough video, not my specialty, explaining pocket wizards, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syzarj7f0HQ. Amazing what kids will do for a small fee. Off to clean out the closet!

Fish on a Fence

Every day I try to experience something new and different and honestly it is not that easy to do. You know the routine, you get up, you go through your day and you go to bed, day in, day out. I revisited one of my favorite places over the weekend and should have taken new pictures but really wasn't feelin' it so I just drove by Boot Hill. Boot Hill is a long stretch of fence with an old boot sitting upside down on each fence post. When I was telling a friend about it they said well did you see Fish Fence? A simple stroll down the street I had driven down over 10 times throughout the weekend and sure enough there it was, Fish Fence. Believe it or not someone places a fish head on the fence posts, leaving the head there for scavengers in the wild to do their thing until all that is left is the skeleton remains. Glad I didn't stroll by when there was still stinky fish meat left on the bone. Some of the remains were more complete than others but it did fulfill my need to experience something new on Sunday. So I give you Fish Fence.