Hole-y!

I was photographing my tulips for probably the last time and came up with this whimsical shot, which ended up being perfect for one of the Flickr challenges- Holes! BTW, this is the sprinkling part of my watering can; the tulips are in the background.

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Color!

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My husband stopped at Trader Joe’s the other day (for beer. . .) and came home with a bouquet of tulips and another of iris! I love the color combination!

More Squares

I am continuing my obsession with square crops with this flower diptych. I edited both of the photos in this layout in Lightroom, then added one of Kim Klassen’s textures, bamboo, in Photoshop. Then- it was back into Lightroom for an easy diptych layout.

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Then, because I LOVE black and white, I duplicated the diptych and did and did a b&w conversion.  I like this version even better.

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Be Square

Here are a couple photos from the last week or so that didn’t make the blog.  Both have been textured and cropped to squares, which seems to be my favorite crop these days.layout JanThe first is from sunset the other night, and the second is from our walk at Lynx Lake.

Textures by Florabella and Kim Klassen.

The Thumb

The iconic Thumb Butte, visible almost everywhere in Prescott, was the subject for last night’s sunset shots. Although you can see it almost everywhere you go, I had no idea until a few months ago that you could see it from our yard.  Granted, you have to stand in a small corner and lean over a bit to get a good look (or stand hunched over in the bathtub, and peek out the window through the branches of a tree . . .), but we DO have a view!

Here’s our house at sunset (yes, I took more house photos. . .). Look at those clouds!

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And here is Thumb Butte at sunset.

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Scrub-a-dub

This old washboard has been with us at every house we’ve owned- always sitting in the garage.  I think we bought it at a garage sale or maybe an antique store and intended to hang it in a laundry room.  I have it by the fireplace in this house, but think we might actually hang it this time.

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Warmth

One of the things I love about our new house is our living room/mancave.  We no longer have a formal living room, but instead have an open floor plan with a “great room” (we never call it that)- where we sit by the fire in the evening and watch TV.  It’s designed for comfort and warmth, with recliner couches, a fireplace with a gas log, and a TV. I have added flowers and some decorative touches to dilute its mancave-ness; it suits me as well as the male members of the family.

This photo shows my gerberas in front of a lantern (with a battery operated candle in case of power outages). You can see fireplace bokeh in the background.

25Jan2014-1699-EditTextured with ecru by Kim Klassen.

Water!

We spent some time Saturday walking at two of the local lakes.  My soul had been crying out for water! When we lived in Benicia, which is on the Carquinez Strait,  I had become so accustomed to being able to walk down by the waterfront regularly- I miss it.  We actually have (small) lakes here that are just as close to us as was the waterfront in Benicia, so we decided to visit one we had not seen (Goldwater Lake) and one we had visited before (Lynx Lake).

Here are a few photos from our walk at Lynx Lake.

Reflection

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Boats stacked for the winter which has not yet arrived

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The path

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The Quest for Light

The quest for good light continues, and when you can’t find it INSIDE- you go OUTSIDE!

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I purchased some gerbera daisies at Trader Joe’s with the intention of photographing them in my living room.  However, I started too late to get the good morning light through the window, so I took them out to my front porch.  Brilliant idea!  I will definitely be using my front porch more often for photography.

This image was textured with two layers of Kim Klassen’s anna.

Plenty

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I took this photo as I walked back up our little hill after my walk yesterday.  Several of the birds (finches?) flew off as I approached, but these guys hung around while I took the photos. I’m using it for the Flickr challenge, plenty.

Texture is sybil by Kim Klassen.

Little Visitor

This little bird stayed at our sliding glass door for the longest time; I’m not sure if he could see in or was studying his reflection. Eventually, another came around, and they both flew off.

Waiting to see which of my friends will tell me what kind of bird it is. . .

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Textured with several textures from Kim Klassen’s waterfront collection.

Lumpy (and bumpy)

I’m having one of those uninspired days today, so I went to Flickr again for inspiration.  One of the challenges was lumpy, so I photographed one of the sea shells my father brought back from the South Pacific during World War II.  I obsessed for awhile over whether this shell was bumpy and not lumpy– but ultimately am just calling it lumpy for the challenge.  Say those two words long enough and they don’t sound like real words anyway!

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