autumn

I love Fall

Learning her colors

Daniela may not know the names of each color but,

she can match them as this video clearly shows.

It also show just how darn cute she is, but I won't mention that.

Wordless Wednesday

Floating Uh Oh!

Daniela is learning how to float in the bath tub.

She's very proud of the fact that her hands and feet stay up

on the surface of the water.

We know her bum is resting on the bottom of the tub,

but still she's getting the concept of floating as her limbs really are.

So the other night after dinner I gave Daniela a tubby,

(mama was at college and I thought it would

be nice for her to come home to Daniela all

clean and in her pajamas.)

She was floating and all smiles and I was

day dreaming about how cute she was smiling

with her hair all swirling around in the water around her head...

when I realized something else was swirling around

her head.

I reached for the bumble-bee bath tub toy, but not

soon enough.  It was to late....

it had become entangled in her hair.

You pull the bottom end of the bee which is on a string

and then put it in the tub and the wings paddle around

in the water and makes it swim until the string retracts to the end and

then you have to pull it again.

So I sat Daniela up and the bee is about two inches away

from her skull.  I tried to work it free, but it was still

trying to swim.

Although, it is a favorite tub toy I desperately tried to

break the stupid wing off, so I could free her hair.

Daniela was starting to get upset about the situation

and I was starting to panic.  If we had to cut

it out of her hair, it would be super short.

Ashley would have a fit, she's suppose to get

Daniela's two year old pictures taken soon.

I yelled for Grandpe to come help us.

He tried to break the wing off and couldn't, so

he left to go get some tool.

I took a deep breath and tried for the third time

to manipulate the hair around the wing and get

it out of her hair.  It loosened a bit and I wound it this

way and that and little by little it came loose.

Wow! That was close.



Same Pictures Picnik Style

Incredible picture ... just love the focal burst of color.

Evidence that fairies do exist.

It's fun to play with the idea and imagine that they do.

This fence is near the archery field and looks so neat postersized.

A curved line leading to the colorful leaves makes this

photo very appealing.

I'd like to work more with reflections.
The problem is I have a huge list of themes I'd like
to explore.

Stay tuned for the rest of the pictures to be enhanced via

my favorite website.

Or give it a try yourself,

you'll soon be as addicted to this site as I am

Photo Shoot #1

I told myself to pick the top ten of my original 100 pictures, but you know me...

I have trouble making up my mind and ended up with more than ten.

Before we drove out to the Nature Center I remembered
 this old tree on the Nature Center grounds, which I had seen many years ago.

Back then, a bunch of the employees decided to take 

a walk around the property and we tried

to see how many people we could fit inside the hollow tree.

(We fit five adults for you inquisitive adults)

(23 Keebler elves for you inquiring children

Anna posed for me and I had the better end of the deal, she's

much more photogenic than I am.

I love the way this picture turned out, with the layers of

colors.  First the burnt orange at the bottom, then the green/blue, topped

with the yellow leaves.

How lucky I was to catch their bobcat yawning.

Flowers abound around the nature center.  I'd like to take some

pictures of wild flowers, but that will have to wait for spring.

This is the brave sheep that came back down to see us after we spooked the flock away.

I thought they were calmer than say a deer and they'd let us approach

and just lay there.  Not so.

A fairy lodge. Isn't it quaint.  I'm not sure if they make

reservations year around or not, it's best to call ahead.

My true passion is photographing kids, so I'm sure you're not surprised

I slipped this one in.

Thanks for coming along with me Anna, it was a very enjoyable time.

I promise next time we won't walk as far.

This is another favorite of mine.  I'm anxious to try a few

things with it on Picnik.com, but wanted to keep things fair

with Anna posting her pictures too.

Not that we are having a contest or anything, but you

know what I mean.... comparing apples to apples.

I didn't notice the reflection until I downloaded the picture or

I would have taken more like this.

Do you have favorites?

Constructive criticism?

Ideas for another trip out to use our cameras?

I'd love to hear from you.

Today was my Day

Today I did something for me.  Something I haven't done in a long time.  I've been wanting to go on a photo shoot for months, but since Amanda is the only daughter that has an expensive camera and enjoys going out just to take pics...I haven't been since I went to Maine in October of 2010, here's the link to our cemetery photos.

But then I found out Laura's daughter Anna won a photo contest and I had a thought....maybe she'd like to come along.  This is her photo that won the contest.  My intentions for today were to use my new (as in I haven't practiced with it yet) reflector, but the sun never came out.  We had three hours, but travel time took an hour, so really just two hours.  We went to the Nature Center, but stopped to take photo's of the sheep on the corner of Sexton and Pinckney.  We were able to get pictures of turtles, ground hog, bobcat and a few other small animals, as well as a huge hollow tree, the lake and some geese, flowers and other neat things.  We walked over 3 miles, so I'm not sure Anna will be so eager to come along again, but we'll see.

So keep posted.  Anna & I are going to work on downloading, cropping etc. and then we are both going to post our favorite photos of the day.

Anna was great company and although she's not quite 11 years old; she's very knowledgeable about photography and I wouldn't be surprise if I end up learning a few tricks from her.  It was nice of Laura to let me take her out for a few hours on a day they already had plans.  Thanks Laura!

Here's a sheep photo....just to keep you interested and coming back to see what Anna & I come up with.