Better Late than Never

Oh my! Day six into the New Year and I’m already running behind in wishing everyone Happy New Year.   Hmm, I think my moto for 2013 should be Better Late than Never. And my word for 2013. . . time.  As in time to reflect, time to love, time to grow … or time stops for no one, if I just had a little more time to . . .

Our snow here in eastern PA is all but gone, but then again we only got maybe an inch or two.  The dogs are enjoying the last of the chunks of ice laying around. They like to go out at munch on them almost as much as what the rabbits leave behind.  TMI?…eh, maybe.   Anyway…. I bared the elements the day of the snow to go find a favorite barn of mine.  I thought it would look so pretty in the snow.  Unfortunately, hurricane Sandy looks like it got the best of the old barn and it now has a gaping hole and is barely standing 😦 .    Discouraged by not getting a photo of the old barn or having anything new to work on, I decided to revisit MY year in pictures and make the old new again.

I also felt I needed a challenge myself. I didn’t want this post to get blown out of proportion, get too involved in the details, or spend too much time on it  {a definite must to improve upon in 2013 when it comes to my blogging}.  So the challenge …keep it fun!  I set a few conditions:  First, I searched by month.  This is where keywording can be very important.  I could only pick those photos that showed up in that month (Reminder to self:  Don’t forget to keyword by month 😉  .  Second, the 5 second rule.  I could only view the photo for 5 seconds (i.e. a relatively short period of time) and then either pick it or move on.  And, if I picked it, that was it, no give backs.  Third, the processing.  Here, again, pick something, but something new… a new action I haven’t tried before, a new texture, a new process… and work with it.  No second guessing, no fussing… okay, maybe just a little fussing.  And so this was my 2012 . . .

 The winter months are perfect for this.  Yes, reading a good book, but I was leaning more toward shooting still lifes.

 Given to me by a dear friend … I just ❤ this.

 You just can’t plan these sort of things…

 Don’t you just want to hug him <3!

 Sometimes life’s not fair …

 … that’s all. …take a break.

 What is it about the seashore and all it’s treasures … so inspiring, so relaxing.   I wish I could package it and carry it around with me all year.

 Fall Colors!

 I love this flower’s resilience.

 Seriously, there’s just no stopping him.

 my barn in the snow after all.

Can’t Sleep

A dog in the face, a flashing little light from a message unanswered, a buzz (guessing coming from hubby’s cell phone but yet to be determined) that would repeat every few minutes just as I started to drift back to sleep.   As I laid there in the dark (waiting for the next buzz), I found myself thinking all sorts of strange things:  What to make for dinner, did I pay the bills, an idea for another blog post … After about a dozen times of trying to fall back to sleep, I gave up and got up.    Yay! I actually remembered the blog post, but this is not it.  Nope, that one will take a little more doing.

No, this one is just me making a notation that I am a few months behind on my Beyond Layers. I decided as I was waiting (am waiting) for the sun to come up to do a little catching up on my reading.  I only got as far as Memorial Day.   But boy, oh boy what a way to start the day with words such as …

“thoughts become things…..  moving and powerful… ”  Or how about this… “Everything is progress!!”  and I love this ….

Awesome Art by Andrew Murphy. Shared by Kim Klassen and re-shared here.

Can’t Sleep?   I am a big fan of those early morning hours …

happy summer

Summer is in full swing!

What better way to show it off than trying out one of Kim’s
Beyond Layer tutorials . . . fun, fun, fun!♥!

June Color Challenge

I acept!   I’ve been catching up on the KK and the Sisters Facebook and blogs. I am just glad I went back far enough to find the Shutter Sisters post here:  http://shuttersisters.com/home/2012/6/1/colour-month.html.

Calendar courtesy Shutter Sisters

Well, like I said, I am a little behind . … 15 days to be exact.  So I reworked the challenge just a little.  Instead of taking new photos, I decided to revisit my photo library.  If you’re like me, and don’t delete hardly any of your photos, it’s a pretty big library.  So, by just quickly looking at the thumbnails, I picked photos purely by their color!  And as I discovered photos I had overlooked or ignored for this reason or that, I started experimenting with textures and techniques just to see what happens.  So I decided to add a second part to the Color challenge:  To stick with the first processing technique I picked.  Although,  I have to admit, I started out a little cautious, and sometimes didn’t do a darn thing.  But as I went on, I discovered textures I had forgotten about and played with new actions.  I didn’t focus on rules or techniques . . . as this is an exercise in color after all.   I have just one question, when it comes to mustard yellow, are we talking gourmet or generic 😛

 So here’s my calendar of colors so far.   Be sure to check back in a couple of weeks for the final 10!

Mother Nature . . . ahead of schedule

So here it is an (almost) sunny Saturday afternoon.  I got an early start today and so far I’ve vac & dusted my house, did a couple loads of laundry, walked the dogs, colored my hair :-o, and went for a ride and bought some flowers for the gardens.  I would say that I’ve had a productive and full . . . but dodging a frantic . . . day.   It’s a fine line between full and frantic.  The difference (for me) is making a conscious decision not to let what I want to do become what I have to do.  For example, today at the garden center I started to feel a tad stressed that I had not yet done any planting, that the flower beds were still not ready, and that it’s been raining when I actually have had the time to do these things.  But, when I stopped to think about it, I’m actually right on schedule.  Around here Mother Nature has decided to accelerate things.  The honeysuckle has bloomed, summer lilies are in bloom, and the spring blossoms have come and gone . . . and it’s only the beginning of May!  So with just a little adjustment on perspective, the frantic is gone.  And now that I am actually ahead of the game, I can take my time and enjoy puttering in the gardens.

I can’t wait to see these blooming in my garden . . .

Oh, and kids if you’re reading this, Mother’s Day is next weekend (hint, hint ;-)) and this little guy would look great in the garden . . .