The Generosity of Strangers

 I hate having my photo taken.  I want to say I don't know why .... but I do.  I do not look like I think I look so when I see my photo, my hair isn't right or my clothes look funny or my makeup isn't on.

It is so strange because I don't care what other people look like in my photos.  Of course, I want my image to capture the person's true self - so I want the best lighting, the best color, etc.

What surprises me the most is how strangers are not afraid of the camera.   A stranger has always consented to having a photo taken.  This kind gentleman even offered to put his boat back into the water so I could get a photo of him rowing.  Some people ask why I am taking the photos, others don't care.  Some want the image sent to them, others don't.  Some think I am with some exciting organization that will publish them.

I so appreciate the generosity of strangers.  I just need to learn from them and get over my fear of the camera!

LOAD 211

LOAD 211 starts tomorrow!  Can't wait for the adventure to begin.  Twenty eight days of scrapbooking - What could be better?  Will share my favorite layouts as we go. 

2011 Project 365 Week Four

Project 365

I love Project 365.

Yes, there are days when I struggle to even want to pick up my camera - although those are rare.  Other days, the images I captured are not great.  I just don't feel it.  Other days, I have too many and it is hard to decide which ones I want to use as my picture of the day. 

Then, there are days like today when the idea comes first thing in the morning, the idea comes to me and I am just done.

Here's to Project 365!

One Little Word .....

I finally decided on my word for 2011!  It only took me all month!  I finished my homework for Ali Edwards' class ... just in time for February's assignment!

Did I Learn Anything in School?

The Civil War is the current topic of study in our household.  The younger two are spouting off all the facts they can about the Presidents.  I could not get them to bed the other night as they insisted on how very important it was for them to watch the State of the Union address.  They actually gave a convincing argument about how their civic duty to stay up on what is happening with the country and the world.  Not bad for a six and eight year old.  I gave in and I am pretty sure they paid attention until succumbing to their heavy eyelids.

Our oldest is working on designing a Civil War version of Trivial Pursuit.  He needs to develop 300 questions related to the war.  300.  300!

As the mom "who knows everything" or so I tell the kids, some quick remedial work was necessary.

I have no clue where I was in my early years when the Civil War was presented.  How could I not remember that John Wilkes Booth broke his leg in the jump from the balcony?  Did I know before that the Federal Income Tax was initiated by Abraham Lincoln?  The IRS was then developed to keep track of taxes.  That's were it all started.

I should know this stuff.  I just makes me wonder .... Did I Learn Anything in School?  JEEZ!

Sitting in the Audience

The spelling bee is hard to watch on television when one is not vested in any of the children.  I get nervous when the word is announced, feel for the kids as they ask for an alternate pronunciation, the language of origin, and use in a sentence. Then, when the child answers incorrectly, we all sigh and hurt for the speller as tears are shed and the child is hugged and comforted by the parents.

Tonight was the School Spelling Bee, the first of many tiers in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.  The tension is one hundred fold when watching our son versus watching it on tv.  I am not sure who was more nervous, my husband and I or our son.  I am thinking it was the former.

We were most anxious for the first round.  He successfully spelled his first word and we settled down a bit.  By making it to the second round, he accomplished more than he had last year.  On hour and a half later, he was beaming as he realized he was won a spot in representing the school at the County Bee. 

I'll need to listen to my own advise at the County Bee as we sit in the audience and watch - "Don't worry about the results.  Be proud that you made it there."

Congratulations, Andrew!

A Look into the Future

Our son loves to work so he hopped on the chance to sweep the floor at tonight's game.  The bonus came when I really looked at this photo.  Love the two girls in the corner admiring his work.  Oh boy! 

House Cleaning

I have to admit ....  I inherited my husband's hoarding ways .... not for belongings .... but for photos. As I am cleaning up my files, I realize I have been too aggressive with the delete button. :0(

I took some photos over the weekend.   Never thought I would want the ones that I thought were yucky.  But,  yesterday, I went to retrieve one and realized it was long gone .... off my card and off the drive (as I had even emptied the recycle bin!)  UGH

 

 

I love these trees.  The second photo was taken yesterday on a rare sunny day.  On Saturday, I took this shot during a blizzard.  Would have been great to compare the differences.  

Would have, if I hadn't deleted it! 

A New Experience for Me

I am not an athlete, never have been, never will be.  We encourage our children to participate in sports and learn what it is like to be part of a team.  Experience it.  Work hard.  Celebrate the wins.  Console each other in the losses. 

For our oldest' basketball team, I volunteered to keep the statistics.  I experienced for the first time what it felt like to be on a team.  I learned, once again, to never judge.  As a spectator in the stands, it is so easy to criticize the coaches, not understanding what they are doing, questioning why they are calling what they call.

Then, I got invited to sit on the bench side.  Oh boy.  I was shocked at how chaotic it is.  Coaches coaching, offering first aid, encouraging the boys, talking to referees, watching the scoreboard, and on and on and on. 

The statistician role fit me to a tee.  It takes multitasking to its finest.  I loved the action.  I loved involved.  I loved getting to know the boys and the coaches.  I loved having the responsibility of making sure everyone followed the rules.  I loved getting to know new people.  I loved it all and knew I would miss it once the season ended.

The girls' season starts Monday.  I was asked to do the statistics for their team.  Woohoo!

I just don't get it.

Seems like I keep repeating the same line over and over and over ......

"A gifted child is the ignored special needs child."

Why is it that all kids need to be normalized?  What is it that the education system wants to fit all kids into a box?  Why is it that as soon as a parent questions how and why things are being done, she is considered to be argumentative?  Why is it whenever there is a problem at school between a teacher and a child, the school blames the child?  Why aren't teachers who truly look out for the best interest of  the kids honored and praised?

Why can't the education system think out of the box? 

Different Tastes in "Art"

I do not consider my photographs to be "art".  I started taking "pictures" to be able to document the memories for me, my husband and family.  Post-processing has never been a big deal to me.  The enjoyment of my photography came from being able to capture the image in an interesting way and share that with my family.


My goal in taking the "Project Winter" course was to prompt photos for me during the dead of winter.  I wanted to be successful during my first official month of Project 365. 

Today's prompt was  to: Think minimal, think simple.  Ugh.

To make a long story short, picture this.  The drive home was nasty.  Slick, heavy snow was falling.  Kids were anxious to get home.  The insistence of a full bladder (mine) prevented me from taking the shot I had planned.  No one was happy.  After dealing with nature calling, I had to come up with Plan B.  We stopped a block from our house so I could at least try to get a decent image.  This is the photo I took.
 

I hated it as soon as I saw it on the computer.  I thought about deleting it but then, realized it was the only shot I had to fit today's prompt.  I hate to not participate - but hate to submit something substandard to my fellow classmates.  I felt foolish.  The photo is so totally not my style.  I don't care for it nor do I see value in it.  Decided that it couldn't hurt to upload it.  I knew no one would respond to it .... and I was fine with that.  So I titled the photo, "Ice on Elk Lake in a Snow Storm" and sent it to the class gallery.

Next thing I know, the e-mail comments start flying in, not only from my classmates but from the instructor.  They feel much differently about the photo than I do.  Beauty certainly is in the eye of the beholder. 

To each her own as the saying goes. 

2011 Project 365 Week Two

 

Kept my promise this week of staying current.  Having decided the layout and colors, this page was much less time consuming than the first week.  Would love to hear how others are celebrating and showcasing their Project 365.

... And the update to my change over to Lightroom: I am STILL downloading pictures.  Can't believe that I am into my second week on this.  With less than 50 left to import, I am at 16,358 photos.  Oh my!

14,500 and Counting .....

Oh, have I learned my lesson.  Bought Lightroom to organize and be able to post-process my raw images.  Am loading all of my pictures into Lightroom.  It's only the images since January, 2008.  I have more in my portable hard drive, but I don't have the heart to do those yet. 

 I should end at about 15,500 photos for the past 4 years.  How can this be?

The problem is .... I never went through and deleted all the bad, unfocused, unusable images.  I have been editing and deleted since Thanksgiving - EVERY time I upload.  Wonder how long it will take me to get through these 15,000 files and how many I will have left when I am done. 

Oh, have I learned my lesson.  How I wish I had learned it long, long ago.

I Can't Be Prouder!

When I dreamed of having a daughter, I dreamed of the ribbons and bows and pretty dresses.  When my lovely daughter arrived, I loved snuggling.  I loved every minute with her.  Time flew so fast and now she is six.  She is fun, independent, stubborn, a tomboy, a girlie girl, very concerned about fashion, willing to try anything, adores her brothers, loves her daddy, and loves to spend time with her mommy.

Early on, I thought about what I wanted to teach her.  I want her to know she can do anything no matter what.  I want her to be confident and strong.  I want her to have all the good the world can offer her. We have come up with a little three word phrase we use to sum this all up. 

Today, her teacher met me in the hallway.  She came looking for me.  Her class consists of first, second and third graders.  Of all the kids in the class, my little girl, a first grader, was voted class "President".  The other students selected her because she exemplified the qualities of a leader.

I could not be prouder.  Girl Power Up, little girl!  I love you so much!

 

Project 365

I am loving Project 365.  I really needed a something to look forward to daily, that sparked my curiosity, imagination, creativity.  My family fully supports my photography but knowing their photo may appear as my daily post gives them extra incentive to smile or "act nicely" for the camera.  :0)

Once again, I have to thank Katrina Kennedy for her marvelous teaching.  She has a special gift for being able to explain complex topics in a simple way.  My photography has improved so much since taking her classes.

I began working on my Project 365 book.  My goal is to keep current on the pages so I am not overwhelmed at the end of the year.  Here is page 1 and here is to a fun Project 365 in 2011.

My One Little Word Class

Tonight is chat night in my One Little Word Class with Ali Edwards.  Over 2,000 people from all over the world are participating. What an incredible tribute that is to Ali. 

Here is a wordle, made by Ali, of the words picked by those in the class.

 

Looking back on the last week, I'm thinking about how I celebrated:  the new year, our son winning a basketball game, new snow ........  will be interested to see how will evolve over the year.  The intent was for me to celebrate myself, something I did not think was important to do before.

But I'll stay open to the all the possibilities and see how it all plays out.  

Maybe I should have picked this word instead?   

Just kidding.

Don't Miss "The King's Speech"

Tuesdays is often date day and today it was.  We saw "The King's Speech", starring Colin Firth and Jeffery Rush.  Both of us really enjoyed it and highly recommend it.  Actually, I'll go as far as to call it a must-see.  The movie is a true story.  Colin Firth plays chronic stutter who is in line to be King of England.  Jeffery Rush plays a speech therapist hired to help Colin deal with his stuttering.   Rough language accounts for the R rating.  If it were not for the muttering of a certain "f" word as part of a therapy exercise, I am sure it would be rated PG-13.

I am hoping this is nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture.  Colin Firth deserves Best Actor and Jeffery Rush, Best Supporting Actor.

Walked out wanting to learn more about the Royal Family, who is related to who, and specifically, more about King George VI.

My Age Old Question

Are you really ever caught up with laundry?



What is your question?

Photo Walk

I am all into tradition.  So when Katrina Kennedy posted about her New Year's tradition of going on a photo walk and published her prompts, I was all for it.  Except she is in California.  And we are in Northern Michigan.

So, we get ready.  Four layers of clothing.  Heavy winter jacket.  Hat plus hood.  Two pairs of gloves.  Hand warmers.  Wool socks.  Extra warm boots.   Plus the camera.

Could not convince the eleven year old to join us but everyone else was in.  Out we went, list of prompts in hand, ready to inaugurate another New Year's weekend tradition.   Ready to take some beauties. 

We shot photos for an hour and a half.  Have to admit, it was nice to be outside and get the fresh air.  At about the same time, we all knew we had enough.  Got home and reviewed the 208 photos I took.

This one is the best .....

.......  Lunch at the local coffee shop where we went to warm up.  The other photos were nowhere near as good.

Not sure if we will adopt this tradition after all. 

Santa's Magic

Santa left a note for him in a tin, left buried among other presents. Of course, he saw it immediately and could not wait to open it. The note explained how the elves were in big trouble, how they did not load one of his presents onto Santa's sleigh. Santa was very sorry and would be sending the present via UPS. Of course, certain elves would be losing big privileges.

He could not wait for the package to arrive. Santa wrote the package "should" arrive by New Year's Eve. He waited and waited, watching down the long drive. But no big brown truck came up the drive.

Trying to get our New Year's celebration started, we tried to leave the house. He just kept stalling, excuse after excuse. Finally, it dawned on me. He does not want to go, he thinks he is going to miss his package delivery.


A very sad boy begrudging gave in. We got to our hotel and unpacked. The phone rang. A package was at the desk for him. Santa delivered. He was out the door and to the lobby before I realized it.

The joy that boy exudes .... it warms my heart. What a kid!

Weighing in on 2010 .....

Despite the struggles of 2010, all the important things are still good and true. I have a roof over my head. I have enough to eat. I love my husband and he loves me back .....  I have children who delight me and friends with whom I can laugh and cry.

Does anything else really matter?

Here's to 2011!

This was written by Barbara.    I could not have said it any better.

And So It Begins.

Mama Mia: The Sing Along ..... Swimming ..... Treats ..... Horns .... Hats ..... Party Glasses .....  Silly String Fights .....  Sparklers .....  No Finer Celebration Could Be Had.

Happy New Year!