day 31

and the last one!!!!! Had to go to the market. Katie put in an order for beef over noodles for dinner tomorrow night when she will be in town. She has asked for extra so she will have left overs. Gotta love the starving college student routine. Any way, the meat market had baskets of taters and onions and other root veggies, so there I am snapping away at Ray's.

p.s. Don't tell her, her favorite meal has onions in it. LOL.

sex and the city . . .

I admit it. I am a rabid fan . . . that's one step deeper than an avid fan . . . so of course opening night found Frank, Jackie, Joe and I amongst the throng of movie goers standing in line waiting for one of four possible seatings that hour. That's where the show really began . . . the lobby was chock full of slinky dresses, stilettos, funky jewelry and designer bags. You just knew they were headed to various Cosmo parties afterward to rehash the story line and drool over the couture. Frank and Joe stuck out like sore thumbs in that sea of estrogen but were roundly lauded for their willingness to be there. Let the camaraderie begin . . . until the doors opened and then it was a 472 person cat fight to find the perfect seat . . . or any seat if you were late. They actually cheered as the long familiar theme song wafted through the theatre. I, of course, was rapt. As the theatre emptied . . . no, I am not sharing plot line . . . police were actually directing traffic inside . . . once again, I remind you, this is a small town. If you loved the series, this is a must see. Heck, even the lone bastions of testosterone got a kick out of it.

day 30 . . .

and running out of gas here on this photography thing. Not really, but I usually take shots in bursts . . . of things that catch my fancy, so the idea of finding one good shot each day for 31 days is a little taxing. So today's subject is a cicada shell . . . a very common sight this time of year. As disgusting as their little ex bodies are, I will miss their evening songs.

day 29 . . .

I got cussed out long and loud. I think he was afraid I wanted to share his nut. I'm not sure how he managed to chatter with his mouth full but chatter he did. And that tail, it did not stop swishing to and fro. It's OK squirrel, I can't eat nuts. You are safe.

G double R . . .

So my kidlet was getting on the ramp to the interstate the other day . . . on her way to take a friend to the airport . . . when her right front tire blew. Not just a flat . . . huge shredding of tire . . . gaping mess and core. It just peeled back! Some kind soul changed it for them. But when she texted me the photo I freaked. What if she had actually been on the interstate doing 70 mph when it went . . . Stop, don't even go there! ACK! So it was get thee to the tire store . . . do not pass go. Being a college student, it took her a few days but she called tonight to have Frank talk to tire guy. Seems the store that had been selling her tires (four in two years) had been selling her low quality, dry rotted tires. ACK. The urge to kill.

Reminds me of the time I was young and crazy and drove across country to pick up a friend who had wrecked his bike in the Rockies. My car started dripping somewhere in the middle of Kansas . . . flat barren middle of nowhere, Kansas. The mechanic takes one look and says, "It's your water pump." I replied, "I just had it replaced." He thinks a minute and says, "Then you need new hoses." To which, I replied, "I just got new hoses." So he says, "Well, you need a .55 cent clip." "Fine."

In a perfect world, these guys would be lower than pond scum . . . oh wait . . . they are! G double R!!!

day 28 . . .

I headed out for a shot of yesterday's hibiscus but it was gone . . . moment missed . . . I need to remember not to miss so much. I found this flower in a neighbors backyard and wanted to see how far I could blow it up. Yes, I got distortion but I still like it.

mats and cats . . .

We have a problem with rugs in this house. Unless they are hanging on the wall or made of sisal, (cats do not like the feel of sisal), they do not exist. The problem you ask . . . Snoopy, she replied. Snoop came to us as a feral teen of 18 months. This was some 10 years ago. Yes, we had seen him in the woods and yes he came for food, as long as we were not around, but feral he was. So when he came to live with us, it was no wonder that he was not potty trained. However as much as he took to a litter box to poop, he refused to pee there. So after baptizing every then existing rug multiple times, we had a heart to heart and agreed on washable mats in the vicinity of the litter box. Just one of the oddities of this house. No problem right? Right! Unless you leave a bathmat down. Snoop just can't differentiate between his pads and bathmats. So the trick is to wait until you are totally dry to step out of the shower and nail that mat the second it hits the floor. Life has been good these many years.

Enter Ninja. Ninja seems to think that any bathmat is fair game. And in the two seconds it takes to hit the floor before your foot follows, she is spread out all over it like a queen. I am not good at dodging fur balls with one foot still in the tub and have been known to come crashing down into the porcelain goddess. Ouch. So yesterday when Ninja beat me to the mat yet one more time, I quickly rolled up the mat, cat and all and carried it into the bedroom. Was she phased? Not at all. This morning she won the race again. Why can I not have a measly swatch of cloth to myself? Is it too much to ask???

day 27 . . .

Back to florals. I love the whispy-iness of these stalks . . . and don't ask, I have no idea what kind of plant they are . . . I just see them along the side of the road.

can it be Memorial Day without . .

Yep, BASEBALL. Frank, Joe, Jackie and I headed off to see a Cubs game. OK, so it is a farm league. Gee, you have to start somewhere. And it was all-you-could eat: pizza, hot dogs, hamburgers, popcorn and peanuts. I mean we were dripping Americana and happy as clams and no way am I going to admit how much I ate.

Now it's been a long time since I knew enough about the game to really stay involved but give me a camera and I am content to watch almost anything.

I'm a sucker for the American Anthem. It was sung slightly off key by a charming little sprite, probably all of 11 years old, and here are these big guys, head bowed in respect. Still gives me goose bumps.

And of course we need batters and runners . .

and if you're a cubs fan, there must be Cubbie. He and his buddies did the chicken dance, swept the field and did another little gig.

There is nothing like a flexible bear to win a game.

And since we are obviously not in Chicago, I just thought I would add a shot of small town stadium life

Nope, I am not a city kid. Never was. Never will be. Give me a beer, a hot dog and an eccentric crowd and life is good.

day 26 . . .

Just another day in paradise . . . actually it is a defunct television station antenna.

going to the birds . . .

I can't let all those 102 bird shots go to waste now can I. Still playing with white space . . .

Credits:

Background Paper: Charity Kit

All other papers: Katie Pertiet

Beach Stamps: Mary Ann Wise

Tag: Carnival Kit

Font: Arial

Stitches: Grunhilde Storeide

day 25 . . .

Frank has a collection of metal period cars in his 'man-room'. Every once in while I sneak into the lair and nose around . . . well, hey, I have my own craft room . . .

day 24 . . .

I dragged Frank to the beach with me. 102 shots later, I found one I liked and he didn't even have the audacity to look at me. Harrumph.

day 23 . . .

Found this little beggar on the beach. Very friendly until he found out I was not bearing food. Pop quiz. Ready? Whose overlay did I use?


Katie Pertiet. I knew you knew. 10 points for all.

may 22 . . .

back into the bathroom again . . . hand milled soap. OK, two things I love . . texture and overlays. Can you tell?

Overlay by Katie Pertiet

day 21 . . .

Searching inside for shots today. This little guy resides on the vanity shelf in the guest bath.

I think I might wear out my Katie Pertiet Filmed Overlays.

for a change . . .

I thought I would do a layout of me.

Credits:

All papers and elements: Charity Colab kit

Text path: by Saab

Font: CK Journaling

day 20 . . .

I'm a desperado. Who'd thunk 31 pictures would be so hard to take. This one has no redeeming value. At all. With one small exception. It is raining!!!! We are in the middle of a drought with half the state on fire and these droplets through Frank's windshield are precious.

I have been . . .

dipped, dyed and shorn! And I am one happy soul. Now do you think we can do something other than photoshop on the wrinkles and sags?????

day 19 . . .

life is boring . . . more shrooms. They are all over the place. I have to admit though that I do love their earth smell . . .


(Again with the Katie Pertiet Filmed Overlay.)

I am easily amused . . .

my friend Paula, sent me an email that made me chuckle at myself because as soon as I read it, I had to wander downstairs to see if it was true. It was. Silly me, I never noticed in all these years . . .

"Subject: Reynolds wrap

Look on the ends of all your foil, etc., wrap boxes and you will find a tab that keeps your foil in thebox. I've been using aluminum foil for more years than I care to remember. Great stuff, but sometimes it can be a pain. You know, like when you are in the middle of doing something and you try to pull some foil out and the roll comes out of the box. Then you have to put the roll back in the box and start over. The darn roll always comes out at the wrong time. Well, I would like to share this with you. Yesterday I went to throw out an empty Reynolds foil box and for some reason I turned it and looked at the end of the box. And written on the end it said, "Press here to lock end". Right there on the end of the box is a tab to lock the roll in place. How long has this little locking tab been there? I then looked at a generic brand of aluminum foil and it had one, too. I then looked at a box of Saran wrap and it had one too! I can't count the number of times the Saran warp roll has jumped out when I was trying to cover something up. I'm sharing this with my friends that did not know this. I hope I'm not the only person that didn't know about this."

Did you go look? Did you already know? Too much!

day 18 . . .

shrooms . . . they're all over the place. Kind of surprising since we are in the middle of a drought. Gotta love mother nature. Oh, and I added a little Ghostbones texture to see what would happen.

day 17 . . .

we headed to the marina for dinner and so of course I grabbed my camera. But I forgot to change lenses. Much as I love my new 50mm lens for what it is. I missed a ton of shots because I didn't have my 28/300 attached. So, after scouring through the card, and tightly cropping this slightly out of focus shot and adding a Katie Pertiet frame, it was the best I could come up with.

I'm a lily-livered, chicken hearted coward . . .

Huh, what? It's true, I hate confrontations. Big ones, little ones, anywhere in between ones . . . hate them. The only time I can handle them is if someone is messing with my family . . . then watch out . . . I'm loaded for bear. But every day piddly little things, I'd rather hide my head in the sand, then cause a stink. Sigh.

A couple of years back, with my hair hanging limply past my shoulders, sporting it's newly developed shades of white and grey firmly dispersed among the red, I sat at dinner bemoaning the foibles of old age when along strolled a waitress from another table. I hopped up and stopped her dead in her tracks, demanding to know where she got her hair cut. Startled, but game, she sat down with Frank and I and wrote down the name of the salon. I was in heaven. She had the very same cropped bob I had been searching for. Hooray. The next day, I headed over there to make an appointment. I asked the only person there who was the creative spirit behind Emily's do. She said she was . . . well she and the owner. So I made an appointment. What I should have done was listen with my inner ear to the . . . and the owner part. So as she is lopping off my hair, she discovers my natural curl, something I have happily buried for the last 50+ years. A little glaze and a lot of missing hair later, I walked out all newly red and curly all over. Hum, what happened to my bob. I'd been side tracked and now I looked like Little Orphan Annie. ACK. So the second time I go back, I take a magazine with a picture of what I want. Needless to say, it ended in the garbage as "the stylist" knows best. Grrrrr. I walked out with Daddy Warbucks and Sandy, one on each side. Yesterday, I went in to set up an appointment with the owner and ran smack into "the stylist". After mumbling some inanities, I stutter something about a previous appointment and hit the trail. Rapidly.

Today, after lunch, I drag Frank into my favorite spa while I book a massage for next week. In talking to the receptionist, I start asking her about glazing and bobs and she defers to "Tiffany". So I spill my tale of woe and she grabs me by the hand and heads around the corner to show me a cut she had just finished. My bob, it was MY BOB. Perfecto. So now I have an appointment with Tiffany for her to work her magic and as long as we get the color under control, it's adios to the cast of Annie and I have found a new home. Fingers crossed. Head out of the sand. Hooray.

day 16 . . .

a quick stop at the Gardens on the way home. Gorgeous water lillies.

day 15

on its way to being dessert . . . strawberry season is almost over . . . sigh.

day 14 . . .

well actually, day 11 but don't tell. I just liked the DOF and the coloring. I know, I know, who takes pictures of railroad spikes?

day 13 . . .

I got a belated new toy for Mother's Day . . . a 50mm lens. Happy, Happy!! So I am running around the house taking shots of EVERYTHING because of the amazing depth of field I am finding. Nothing spectacular, just me having fun. Like our new napkin holder.

or young lemons

or bottles of acrylic paint

but when I tried to get a shot of the art glass on my stairway to the loft

I got help and had to try again . . . snort!!!

Anyway you cut it, I love this new lens.

day 12 . . .

In the 40's there were big plans for a golf community in the area complete with canals to allow owners to leisurely visit each other. The market went bust and the plans were scrapped shortly after they began. Although the golf course itself was built and still exists, these columns are all that are left of the grand design.

The canals are none too appealing any more. That charming green being pond scum. ACK!

day 11 . .

Katie came home for Mother's Day . . . hooray!! We decided to eat dinner at 2:00 so we would have plenty of time to get to the beach and take some shots. She loves the Sun Glow Pier, so off we went.

day 10 . . .

Frank and I headed down to Central Park to see if I could get some shots. Lots of turtles, birds, mallards, but only one decent shot . . . of none of the above.

the kitchen revealed . . .

finally no more squashed pumpkin walls and mismatched appliances. Hooray! Actually, this is phase one. Somewhere down the line, we are going to rip out the cabinets, redo all the lighting and put in my black slate floor. It just wasn't feasible this time around, so we settled for a new fridge . . . even though the rust stains down the front matched the wall paint . . . and lots of painting on Frank's part. I am a happy clam. Black and white and red!!!

day 9 . . .

Busy day . . . caught this just as the sun was fading.

Same shot with a ghostbones texture. Sweet!

Paula, I will get you a shot of the fugly fence tomorrow! YUCK!

day 8 . . .

back up to watch the construction . . (untouched)

And then there is this picture which has absolutely no photographic redeeming value but just tickled me crazy . . . removable yellow lines.

sketching . . .

Kimi, one of the guru's at JS, posted a tutorial on changing photos to sketches. This is my first attempt:

I am so jazzed learning so much. It is mind boggling.

day 7 . . .

They are widening the road at the entrance to our little community . . . . so lots of trucks, dust, concrete and asphalt. UGH. But it made for good picture taking!

just playing around . .

I antiqued Snoop and then erased it out to let his eyes show through. This is fun.