Wild Dog

Playing around the other day and found myself trying odd things. The dog was running wild due to the airsoft gun just out of the yard being shot by kid. The dog refused to sit still anywhere near me but I caught her standing still and shot her through a bush. Not the basic photo but I think I like it, throw in there the special lens I used to keep only the dog in focus and everything else is softly thrown out of focus. Didn't have too much else to post so her she is, my wild dog.

Details Again

I know I keep hammering this home but details are all around us and in general we never notice them. There I stood at a fairly exciting softball game with beautiful light and all of the sudden I noticed the ball that had been thrown down after a third out. It wasn't so much the ball but the whole scene that caught my eye.

Simple and yet there is something there.

Pleasant Accidents

Sometimes in life you set out to do something but you you find yourself with a final result which is not what you intended and it becomes a pleasant surprise. That is exactly what happened today. Playing around with some fresh flowers I discovered my first shot to be totally different from what I intended but I kind of like, what do you think?

Vacation Reflection

I made this friend of mine stand still for a moment specifically to catch what I thought was an interesting image in his glasses. The best part is that it was pretty bright on the beach and my vision any where from my eyes to my finger tips is not quite what it use to be so I really didn't see the detail that was captured in the glasses until I downloaded the file. The empty morning beach, the beautiful blue ocean and sky. I apologize for my reflection ruining the scenery but the rest of the scene was so pretty and the glasses reflection worked just as I had hoped it would.

Poppies

I love poppies, there is something about a flower that is so bright and cheerful and yet so dainty. Poppies have that crepe paper look about them and yet as the wind blows they dance with joy.

Still Cleaning

I spent most of yesterday cleaning out a cabinet and countertop in the kitchen, yes it took me most of the day. Actually truth be told, I spent about two hours cleaning off the countertop and purging old meds from a cabinet only to be told by my daughter I had not done a very good job. She then took over and began to toss everything in sight. To appreciate the depths of the mess around here I must give you a visual, there is a little plastic thing that you can screw between two 1 liter plastic drink bottles. You fill one before you attach it to the other. You then swirl the bottle in the air and it creates a tornado effect in the bottle with the water as it drains into the other bottle. During my clean sweep I deemed this little plastic piece to be of the utmost importance, seriously you just never know when the mood to make a tornado with left over bottles might hit ya'. My daughter on the other hand, tossed with total disregard for the entertainment value the little plastic piece held. Such a sad moment in my day. I have no idea what other things went in the trash but I am sure my funtimes will be a lot less fun without all the things that have disposed of.

I did come across some fun things and rather than just toss, I took photos of them. So todays photos are of old, very old bottles of Testor paint. I just love that stuff! I am proud to say I tossed after I photographed.

Tail of Two Photos

Taking photographs is a lot like life, there are always different ways to look at things and depending on your view you might have different feelings. I am including two photos of the exact same scene just seconds apart. The lighting is pretty much the same so that doesn't really affect it but the perspective and the composition of the two frames leave you with a different feel. The one on the left surprises me because I am not at first sure of what I am seeing, it also leaves me with an uneasy feel but I keep coming back to it. The one above (horizontal) has a nice diagonal line pulling the viewer in and it is a little more clear what it is and has a much more peaceful feel about it. I am not a huge fan of tilting photos but in this case it sort of works. It doesn't hold my attention as much as the vertical, maybe because I can more readily recognize what is going on and move on from it, not sure. Bottom line is both photos have merit but the one that make me more uncomfortable actually holds my interest since I don't really get it at first. Maybe that is why we can't help but rubber neck while passing an accident on the other side of the highway, why we can't get enough of celebrities doing stupid things like getting dwi's when they have drivers to take them where ever. Maybe it is just me because I have a curious nature and want to know more about things I don't understand. Sorry for getting a bit deep there but I am about to commence on cleaning out major sections of the house and am looking for a distraction to put the whole process off for a while. Happy Tuesday!

More Life's Lessons

There is something that has been missing in our culture's make-up. It is slowly creeping back into our lives courtesy of our slow economy. The movin' and shakin' has slowed down because all of that keeping up with "the Jones" cost money. People are playing more board games, using their hobbies to occupy themselves. The gentleman in the photo is one of my all time biggest heros. He is always there for me and that is pretty amazing since he is a very, very busy person. He really has important things that take up his time but some how he always finds time to help me out, even during very critical times in his life. He loves to garden and takes great pride in his yard. The fact is that he has so many huge things going on that gardening gives him an escape. I suddenly realized that seeing him in his element doing what he loves is really a photo I needed to make. I would have liked to work some beautiful light in to the image but I had to work quick so I just slapped the flash on, dialed it down and let the ambient do its thing in the background. Basically I am reminding you to stop and capture the important moments and people in your life. With the simple fact that everyone has a camera and is really getting caught up with photography don't forget to catch those moments that will have importance down the road.

My Grandchild

Well sort of my grandchild. You see my son is taking a family consumer science class, formerly referrred to as home ec, or home economics. This particular project made me laugh a little. Each student was assigned a plant for a week, a few lucky chaps got twins. The students were to care for the plant as if it was their child, taking it where ever they went, watering it and basically being its parent. My son made sure his plant got plenty of sun and water and he kept the plant with him at all times except when he had to attend a campout in freezing temperatures, he made arrangements for a responsible party to "sit" his plant during his brief absence. The part of this project that made me laugh is that some of the plants were boys and some were girls. The girls had not budded while the boys were in full bloom with magenta petals. That in itself confused me and I believe my son's poor little plant to have left our home with serious sexual identity issues as I referred to him as Priscilla, seriously between the multiple blooms and their color she was totally a Priscilla. By weeks end my son had admonished me multiple times for referring to his boy as Priscilla and then he made the slip, referrring to her as Priscilla, catching himself he smiled and quickly corrected his statement with a "HIM" instead of a "her". So I would like you to take a look at my grandchild and see if you think it is a her or a him.

A Different View

I came across this window the other day and loved the look it created with the morning light.

R and R

As you can read from my previous post my week was a bit hectic, the reason being I was on my way to a little R and R. Not the best traveler in the world but here I am on a sunny beach. The last time I went south to the beautiful beaches of Central America, I was much younger and much cuter and I lived on coca cola and tried to not get sick. This time the food is more edible and I am still trying to hit my vacation stride but I did spend the first seven hours today on the beach, the first few under the shade of this wonderful tree.

Deep Breath

What a week it has been! I have to tell you I have done some self discovery this week only to find I live a very disorganized life. Being disorganized takes it toll on you too! I think if I was only responsible for myself, I would be fine, it is all of these other folks that seem to think I have it all together. I have come to a decision that it is time to get off of the crazy merry go round and get my act together. I haven't always been a mess, but I find it easier to be a mess, no one really counts on you to be responsible. Some where in the last ten years I changed gears and forgot to really worry about the small details. Give me a project and I am terribly organized, it has a place and a time line and I know where every part of it is. Give me a life and whoa, it takes a lot more time to keep all of the pieces in place. My March resolution is to limp through the spring while trying to get my act together so when summer comes and time is more free I will have a head start. Hopefully by next fall when the wheels come off again I will have it all together. Only time will tell. Today I am taking a deep breath as I seem to have caught up on current projects and have a brief window before the pace quickens again.

I leave you with one of my favorite flower images, it is of milk thistle, the plant looks like a weed and yet the flower that blooms is beautiful. Just a friendly reminder to be careful and not discount something before you see its true beauty.

Out of Control

Have you ever had one of those days, weeks or months when you sense you have lost total control of everything going on around you? This week is my out of control week, it isn't that I am terribly busy but things have spun out of control. I got a phone call today that I was being picked up in ten minutes and be ready we were flying to another town to take care of some business. Small detail that was actually a huge detail was not renewed so I would have to do the renewal in person. I spent the day flying across the state, sitting in a room with a lot of other people that basically were in the same boat as me, only to be told be back here tomorrow at 2:30. Well considering I flew (no pun intended) out of the house with only my ID, Ipod, phone, reading glasses(sad but true), two magazines and some cash I wasn't sure how I would manage spending the night and coming back. It all sort of worked out and in a few days if all of the loose ends come together it might be taken care of , if not I will jump in the car and try again. I left a few things undone today but in reality was not given a choice and I apologize to those I let down. I will make it up to you some how. I have my fingers crossed that this has been resolved and I will never let this happen again. Some how this photo has always spoken to me in a chaotic sense and today totally represents my current state of affairs.

People

I found myself the other day taking the time to stop and notice the world around me, what I saw once I slowed down was some real life people interaction. It was very interesting to witness how people watch over each other and genuinely enjoy each other's company. I first noticed a parent driving their teenage son to school, they were sitting at a red light as I turned past them. What a great time to catch up with a teenager when they are almost held captive in the car. I use to gather maximum information from my teenager during an hour drive to and fro soccer practice. Inside the car I saw at the traffic light the young man was smiling back at the parent, seriously that is big time for a teenager, they usually just grunt and shrug. I then noticed two women at the grocery store, they were either sisters or good friends. They were making joint decisions on their choices of groceries and generally having a great time just going through the mundane task of grocery shopping. Another moment I watched unfold was between some high school kids, one is a player on the varsity basketball team and one is the manager. The manager has overcome the challenges of down syndrome, all of the kids are very protective of him and in this case the team had just lost a playoff game, ending their season. The player protectively placed his arm over the disappointed manager's shoulder. It is refreshing in a world of over eager, negative often down right mean spirited people that there are actually nice folks out there who watch out for each other. With the "E" (can't bring myself to say the actual word) in the tank, maybe we as a culture will get back to what is truly important in life and that is people instead of things. I challenge you to take the time to brighten someone's day or just listen to them and give them a smile every once in a while. You would be amazed what a simple smile can do to brighten their day.

Break

Not that anyone noticed but I took a few days off figuring a few days of silence from me would do you all good. A quick review, we celebrated my baby girl's 18th birthday, watched a lot of sports with one underdog winning a big game and only went to one meeting.

I also had an interesting thing happen, not sure that is the best way to try to explain it but something came to me over the weekend but here it is. I had another epiphany! Life is a funny thing and what goes around really does come around. What am I trying to say?? Well it came to my attention that when my daughter goes on a weekend trip I am counting on her emergency contact, should she need anything, being a boy who is a close family friend that I use to step in and help with when his mother needed help. For example, the day his mother was making arrangements for her mother's funeral he had driver's ed class. Anyone who has ever dealt with driver's ed class knows to miss a class complicates the whole license process so I stepped in and picked him up. Flash forward how many tens of years and he is now my safety net when any of us go to the town in which he now lives. Really weird but he is all grown up, responsible and has a job, that in its self is quite an accomplishment these days. As much as I hate to admit it but I am coming to understand that it really does take a village to raise kids and having friends and family you can count on to help you along the way is amazing.

I leave you with this photo I snapped over the weekend. Please know that despite the nice warm looking image the temperatures were near freezing, at least a fountain I drove by was frozen which was enough proof to me it was cold.