Five on Friday

1.  Quote:

2.  Linds posted a link to So you're feeling too fat to be photographed this week.  We women are so hard on ourselves, aren't we?  I'm trying to take her advice to heart!  Because it really is true - our family wants to see us in pictures with them!

3.  And then she posted about Learning to make things - which is an awesome article about how the education system could work better!

4.  This "Yarn Bombing" post on Flickr made me smile!  How clever some people are!

Source: RenSandoz

5.  Photo of the week:

 A whole bunch of creating with Meadow today

Lists of 2012 - #38

Listography 2012 - #38 - Photos I Wish I'd Taken

I only have a few regrets in my life and this week's topic reveals one of them!

1.  Newborn photos of our son and daughters

2.  Little fingers, toes, ears, smiles - the closeups of babies

3.  All the firsts - first smile, first rollover, first sitting, first crawling, first steps, first tooth - and so on.

4.  Reading together when they were little

5.  My pregnancies - I have 1 photo from 36 months total of being pregnant.

6.  More people pictures when we were on vacations (seriously - I have more pictures of elk in the mountains than of the people who were on the trip!,

7.  Pictures of our parents with our children when they were little - I have some from birthdays but didn't do it regularly.

8.  Farm pictures of Bob working, especially in the dairy barn

9.  Photos of the kids helping me in the kitchen and the garden

10.  Pictures of our vehicles through the years

11.  Photos of building our house

12.  Everyday photos of the things we ate, the games we played, the people who were in our lives.

I guess the lesson learned from this is that when you know better, you do better.  So our grandchildren are blessed - I take lots of photos of them and their parents take even more!  And each one is just a precious reminder of their days.

12 on the 12th

I finally had a chance to take a dozen pictures that represent my day on the 12th of the month!

 ELLA Publishing Co. has a "Take 12 in 2012 " challenge so here's my take on March 12th.   I tried in January but I got sick at school and then in February it didn't happen either.   So  I'm very happy to have done this!

Edited to add:

1.  7:39 a.m. - Getting ready for a day of subbing in Calmar.

2. 8:02 - Lunch (tossed salad with nuts and chicken, yogurt with saskatoons, grapes and nuts) and breakfast (banana and cheese) to go, along with water bottle and chai tea in my travel mug.

3.  8:35 - Sub plans for grade 5/6.

4.  10:10 - Recess on the playground - bright and warm - perfect for soccer.

5.  11:14 -  Long division - Divide, Multiply, Subtract, Bring down - or Dad, Mother, Sister, Brother to help remember the steps!

6.  1:21 p.m. - Time to read - love the sun shining on his face.

7.  3:05 p.m - they've all gone home.

8.  6:30 - Our front lawn - last week it was covered with a foot of new snow.

9.  6:50 - Packages of seeds bought at Peavey Mart today.

10.  7:25 - Sun setting

11.  7:34 - 200 seed cups planted in the last 2 days.

12.  8:56 - The first full day on daylight savings time and already we are eating supper late - didn't take much for us to adjust  to longer hours of daylight and busier days!

August in Pictures

More daily photo prompts from Heather!

Hands - picking berries

Stripes - in the field

Triangle - found in nature!

Protect - my favourite work gloves

Walking - I had to walk 3/4 of the way around 

a very irregularly shaped field to get to my machine

Book - my current read

Colorful - a beautiful, intricate appliqued quilt at the fair

Curved - crabapples headed for applesauce

August in Pictures

Heather invited me to participate in her photo challenge for this month so I've been focussed on the daily word prompts to capture August.

Hope - that it doesn't rain again

Collection - of raspberry jam

Hat - little boy who decided to wear a napkin hat

Imagination - they got it in their heads to crawl inside the cupboard!

Tied - my shoes, ready to use the brakes in the tractor

Warm - chai latte' in my favourite Polish mug

Thankful - to celebrate my parents' birthdays

Space - filled with clouds at sunset

Four - first tomatoes picked today

Creamy - Alfredo sauce

Once again, a big challenge for me to stretch my thinking each day!  Thanks, H!

For a Sunday

Perspective

edited to add one final photo


The Friday photo lesson at the Ella Publishing blog is about perspective.  In Noel's words, " I read once that if you take a photo from the same spot everyone else does, you'll get a photo that looks like every other photo you've seen. "  So the assignment this week was to "get low" and see what else you could photograph.  

#1 - standing on the lawn - yes, it's awful with dandelions this year and it rained all week so it's looking very, very bad today!

#2 - laying down

#3 - a little too much tilt!

#4 - up close and personal!

#5 - after mowing!

That was fun - go out and try it this weekend!  You probably have a better view than a field of dandelions to practice on!!

Home Again

My camera has been away this week, safe in a bag but not at our house - and I've felt a little lost.  There have been countless times when I've reached for it, only to remember it's not here.  Now that I know it's back home, I have a sense of peace and eagerness.  It's almost like a long lost child has found his/her way home and I'm rejoicing.  Silly, isn't it?!  It's only a camera but it's like one of us - a part of who I am, an extension of family, a dear and real part of our life.

Welcome Home, Little Camera!  I've missed you this week.  I'm eager to play with you tomorrow!
Love, Me

(the last picture I took with my Canon 350)

My Favourite Color

Some words of wisdom from a devotional I read today:

"Do all the good you can,

 by all the means you can,

 in all the ways you can,

 in all the places you can,

 at all the times you can,

 to all the people you can, 

as long as you ever can."    

John Wesley

Earlier this fall, a photo assignment from Shutter Sisters was to pick a favourite color and photograph it wherever you found it one day.   I found orange in a few places :))

Check This Out

If you are interested in photography and Photoshop, the MCP Actions blog and site is a great place to go to be inspired and to learn more. She is always sharing tips and ideas for unique ways to capture photos. And - this week, the givewaway is for an awesome camera accessory called a Lensbaby. It's a seriously cool gadget so go over, check it out and enter to win. Good luck!!

Ten on Thursday

1.  The Newark airport was jam packed with people this morning!  So many flights had been cancelled yesterday that it created quite alot of mayhem there as everyone came back this morning to try to get on other flights.  Our plane stood on the tarmack for more than an hour before it was airborne.

2.  On my list of things to do next time we visit New York City -

     - a tour of the United Nations 

     - an evening  at a Broadway play

     - a city bus tour on one of the double decker busses

     - another walk through Central Park

     - a longer visit to F.A.O. Schwarz, the toystore

     - a visit to the hospital where Tyler is studying

     - more cuddling with Samuel

I might have to go more than once!

3.  The espresso machine was down at Starbuck's this morning and they couldn't make any hot specialty drinks.   What a disappointment!

4.   We came home to find - 

raspberries - 

zucchini - 

and peas in our garden!

5.  You should see how purple my hands are after picking an ice cream pail full of saskatoons tonight!  There's at least another pail full still out there to be picked in the morning.  

How marvelous it is to have fresh produce in the summertime!!

6.  The first - and biggest - tomato on my potted plant is turning pink!

7.  Heather picked us up at the airport today - the sweetest sound was "Gramma, Gramma, Gramma" and the best gift was great big smiles from Silas, Helayna and Heather!

8.  It is good to be safely home, out in the countryside, where the air is fresh and cool!

9.  I spent a couple of hours during our plane ride home this morning editting some of the 550+ pictures we took.  Pictures like this - - 

Oh, is he ever fun to play with now!!  Grampa really got the smiles going with his little games.  

10.   Using the Her Space My Space His Space prompts for this week:

Tool

Polychromatic (showing many colors)

Key

Welcome to My World!!!

Finally,  after much hinting and suggesting, and waiting and waiting - - - - - I went and bought it (and even got a lovely little discount for being a teacher) for myself!  Happy Birthday to Me - Merry Christmas - Happy Valentine's Day - get the picture?!?!  

I am excited but nervous about figuring out what to do.  Wish me luck - hopefully I'll have something to show you someday soon!

A Fun Challenge

An interesting challenge by Mary at Owlhaven is to go to your computer picture file and post the picture you find in 6th place in the 6th file.



This is what I found!! It was taken in Luis Eduardo Meghalles in Brazil on February 27th of this year as we boarded our tour bus after touring the coffee cooperative and headed off for lunch. It brings back wonderful memories of new friends and great times shared on a warm winter day :)) And it's a reminder to get back in touch with some friends from that trip.

I think this challenge originally came from Sara at A Shower of Roses.
Please accept the invitation to share what you find in your files!

30 Days of Autumn

Many people, including Heather and Leigh, are doing a photography challenge to post a photo every day this year and I started out with good intentions. But then we went away for a month and it fell by the wayside. Our summer was full of fun and lots of activity so I didn't pick up the challenge then but now I'm ready to try again. So I bring you "30 Days of Autumn" - my take on the changing of seasons and a way to start something new in September (appropriate for a new school year, don't you think?).

Day 1



Prune plums always speak to me of autumn with their dark skins and beautiful color.

Photography Practice

Meadow and I had some fun with the camera yesterday! She was in such a playful mood and I think these pictures show it.



After her bath, her hair was all soft and fluffy - she looked like she had a halo!




"Running, running!" she says.




This is a reflection in the window - pretty cool, I thought!

And playing peek-a-boo!