Thinking of You

Project Pinterest 11

I haven't gotten to see my oldest sister in years. I miss her.

So I made this card to let her know she's on my mind

and in my heart. (Did you notice? The butterfly is a pair of hearts!)

I found this great tutorial on Pinterest.


--

Original design by Mariana Grigsby

Smoke in the West

Storm. Smoke. Dusk. River. Grey. Brown. Green.

click for larger image

The fires in eastern Washington continue to put a haze over the Spokane River valley.
More passenger seat photography.

Fawn

Dale and I took a ride along a country road just before sunset. A doe and her two fawns crossed the road in front of us, heading from the hill down to the river. We slowed as the first two deer crossed the road. This third deer had lagged behind on the south side of the road. We didn't see it until it popped out fairly close to the car.

They sure move quickly! This photo is a bit fuzzy, even though my shutter speed was fairly fast.

Flight School

Ready for take-off

Summer Day - Sleepy Bee

Everyday Matters Challenge #5: A bed (redux)

I'm not convinced my Bedrock photo was successful, so I'm trying Challenge #5 again. How about Bed of Roses instead?

8 x 10 version

My "official" challenge photo is above. I admit I like this other proportion better.

4 x 6 version

Bedrock

Everyday Matters Challenge #5: A bed

I took some liberties with this ...

Pretzel Love

There's something about me and Vitamin P that makes me as happy as a hog in slop.

110 calories of salty-sweet-crunchy bliss.
Savor the flavor.


Gratitude is so easy.

Moose Mug

Everyday Matters Challenge #4: A cup or mug

What can be more Idaho than a moose on a mug?

A study in browns and texture.

The Scalloped Lady

Everyday Matters Challenge #3: A purse, wallet, or bag

One of my favorite collections is that of beaded evening bags. I call them my Ladies of the Evening.
Most of my Ladies are from a by-gone era (though none are true antiques).

They come is such pretty shapes. Some have frames, like this one. I hold them tenderly and think about the hands of women across the world who have sat down to embroider them and bead the intricate patterns.

And when I use them, their iridescent beading glows in the night.

Tulip Time Mandala

Happiness held is the seed;

Happiness shared is the flower.

~ John Harrigan

Plain is nice.
Curly is fun!

Drawing by Thaneeya McArdie from her book Flower Mandalas

Crystalline Shadows

Everyday Matters Challenge #2: A Lamp

This lamp sits at my bedside.

Eyelets and Aglets

I've decided to give myself another photography challenge!

Several years ago I learned about artist and author Danny Gregory. Among other creative ideas on his website are a series of challenges for artists. For a while, I participated in the Everyday Matters Challenge.

Danny posted a daily challenge idea (the original idea from painter Karen Winters). Participants try drawing the object in his challenge. Since I don't draw, I decided to use the challenge ideas as photo prompts. I think I did a series of about 20 in the past.

Now that I have a bit more time to develop my creative energies, I thought I'd take up the Everyday Matters Challenge again. My current plans are:

1. to do the challenges in order, though not necessarily on consecutive days
   (there are 328 items on the challenge list so far!)
2. to do primarily macro/close-up shots since that's my favorite form of photography
3. to put the photos primarily in an 8" x 10" format
4. to change these parameters as the challenge teaches me where it wants to go

I'm not going to hold my feet to the fire over this. I'll work on the challenge at my whim. After all, I like to blog about many topics that interest me here in my Studio. This is going to be fun!

So I'll start today with Everyday Matters #1

A Shoe

Playdate with My Eldest

Jeanne and I spent the entire day together.
Caching with our GeoBuddies ... And laughing.
Lunching ... And laughing.
Talking politics ... And laughing.
Grocery shopping ... And laughing.
Cooking dinner ...

And did I mention laughing?
(I think Buddy Bear likes me!)

And laughing?

And laughing?

We're in such a good part of our lives now!

The Giving Tree - Summer

Here's my favorite stump again. I took this photo way back in 2013, but just got around to editing it this week. I've got one for each season now.

Hello Summer

The Giving Tree - Spring

This is one of my favorite stumps in Kiwanis Park here in Post Falls. I took this photo back in 2014, but just got around to editing it this week. I've got one for each season now.

Welcome to Spring

My Gratitude Practice

"I just made gratitude a daily priority.

I went through the day

looking for things to be grateful for,

and something always showed up."

~ Oprah Winfrey

It was under Oprah's encouragement that I began keeping a Gratitude Journal. I've written in journals off and on all my life. A couple decades ago, I began a special kind of journal -- separate from my diary-type journal -- where I write down things I'm grateful for. Some folks write 5 things at the end of each day. Me? I write what I'm grateful for until one page is filled up.

When my daughter Jodie was a kid, we'd do it together. We called it "The Happy Things" and each entry would start with, "I'm happy for ..." Jodie is 23 now, a young professional, figuring out how to adult. On rough days, Jodie does a call-out to her friends on Facebook and says, "I need some happy things. Tell me one. Go!" Then her friends chime in with words or photos or gifs or memes. I love those posts. I love that this practice that has been so beneficial to me has been passed on to her and, through her, to her friends.

Every November, I do a month of gratitude. I post a photo and/or a quotation along with one thing that I am comfortable telling the world that I'm grateful for. I've done that for a few years now. It can be very challenging when life isn't going so well. 

The thing is, seeking circumstances I can be grateful for changes how life is going! It's a practice I plan on continuing for the rest of my life and encourage others to try.

Here's an article Oprah wrote about her gratitude practice before the Obama/Romney election. Her words are still gold for me.

Purple Cornflower

The flowers all over the neighborhood are starting to fade. These tall purple cornflowers are trying to hang in there, but they're losing the effort.

Seal. Sax. Groove.

This is for my Jodie ... ORK ORK ORK

Summer Storm

Lightening. Thunder. Hail. Downpour!
A small river is running down the middle of our street again.

Pod

I took a walk.
The pod people followed me home.

This Guy

I'm spending the weekend organizing my digital photo library. I've come across a few gems. This is a snapshot I took of my Dale in our home office at the end of last year. I adore this good-humored, handsome man. He entertains a lot of nonsense from me.

Tennis Anyone?

In the Night

Not really. When I took this photo, it was severely underexposed. But in playing with the photo in my editing program, I got this really neat effect.

click for larger image

Pine Nut

Look who's nestled in the cone.

Dying

This rose is on its way out. The aroma fades while it becomes a feast for the eyes.

Abstract

A few years back I attended a high school student art show and was so taken by an abstract painting that I bought it for Dale. This is a detail of that painting.

I love the colors, the thick paint, the brush strokes, the texture, and the canvas showing through in this detail shot.

Can you tell I'm glad my 50 mm challenge is over and I'm back to my beloved macro lens?

Button Box

Someone asked me if I have a button box. Well, I used to. I inherited buttons from my mom. She inherited some from her mom and grandmother who were seamstresses.

My need for order had me separate them by size and color, shank or without shank, number of holes. Though the look of it may not be as nostalgic as a box full of buttons of various shapes and sizes, my system works well for my needs. It's a different kind of pretty in this #CornerOfMyHome