random reflections

Chew

Chew:  To bite and grind with the teeth. Today's prompt from HS: MS.

At first, I thought I had no hope of taking a photo for this one. Then I remembered our lovely two weeks with Sadie and found this shot of her chewing away on her tennis ball. I'm a bit worried about her, though. I guess she's had a rough adjustment since she left here.

Dish

Dish: Today's HS:MS challenge  

A shallow bowl or radio antenna.

I inherited lots of lovely dishes when my father passed away. Most of them belonged to my grandmother  (who died before I was born) and my two great-aunts. Here's one of my favorites. I've always loved violets.

Clouds

Today's challenge from Her Space:  My Space:
                    
Cloud:  A mass of water vapour.

Layouts

I've been wanting to post some of the layouts I've done recently but most of them have been 12 X 12 which is unusual for me. It's also problematic since I don't have a wide format scanner and I haven't learned how to "stitch" scans together. Our house is very dark and it's very hard to find the right light for taking photos of layouts. This represents the third try in as many days and is probably as good as it's going to get.

The first three I completed after taking a Making Memories class at CKC-Buffalo in June.

As you might guess, we were working with the Making Memories tag maker which I had read pretty awful reviews of, but found to be quite easy to use.

This layout is a lift of a layout done by Georgana Hall for the Colorful Summer class at BPS.

Here's a two page layout (one by one) of our day in New Hope, Pennsylvania this summer.

When Sarah was here in June, we went to the George Eastman House to see the Ansel Adams exhibit. As we walked through the gardens afterwards, she let me take a lot of photographs. I've had fun scrapping them, as she is not someone who is willing to pose for photos very often.

And finally, one of Sadie who we are really missing now that's she's gone home with Sarah and Adam. I rarely buy "cutsie" embellishments, but when I saw these I knew I wanted to do a layout to remember our lovely days of dogsitting.

Gratitude

I read the quotes on A Fancy Word for Simple every day but rarely post. Today’s was too important to miss.

Tuesday: Count your blessings
“For today and its blessings, I owe the world an attitude of gratitude.”

• My family—a friend of mine lost a daughter to a sudden seizure this week. Nothing strikes fear in my heart more than this. Family is always first on my list of gratitude, but I am even more aware today than usual.
• Good health.
• Friends—old and new. Near and far.
• A job I still enjoy after 36 years.
• Time to enjoy life.

There are many more, but mostly they fall under one of these categories.

Apple

Apple    

A red or green fruit from a tree. Apples are on the grocery list, but this one was in my kitchen:

Today's prompt from Her Space:  My Space.

A little update for those of you who asked. The wooden apple is just a decoration and sits in one of nine spaces in a shadow box that hangs in my kitchen.

Sun

My SOS photo yesterday was so similar to Anita's this morning that I did a double-take. The sun is not quite out yet this morning so here's another shot of "sun" from my trip to the sunflower fields a week ago.
                    
Sun:     An object that gives light and warmth.

Show Off Sunday

From Her Space:  My Space:

Show Off Sunday    

Otherwise knows as S.O.S !!!!

This is the day when Kirsty and I take a little rest and you can post any photo (past or present) that you are particularly pleased with. It could be that you are pleased with the composition of the photo, a technical aspect, or it is just a moment that you are glad that you captured. It doesn't have to fit any theme, so you are completely free to choose and tell why.

Matt told me about a huge field of sunflowers a few weeks ago, so on my way to school I stopped and took a few photos. This is one of my favorites.

Sunflowers seem to typify summer for me. They are so bright and cheery, but there's no room in my yard for such big flowers. We have a nice sized yard, but very little space that's sunny.

Black & White

Tracy and I joined friends at the George Eastman House this afternoon to tour the Ansel Adams exhibit. It was my second trip, and I enjoyed it even more than the first time. Not only is the photography stunning, but the commentary and movies that are part of the exhibit are wonderful. Every time I see one of his photos I see new things. One of my new favorites is a portrait of an old woman taken through a screen door. So expressive. So I came home and wondered what my self-portrait from this morning would look like in black and white. I think I like it better than the color one. I rarely consider black and white, but I think I'm going to go back and do some experimenting with some old photos and compare the color with the B&W. What do you think?

Self-Portrait Saturday

This weekend we are introducing two new features to HSMS, just to keep ou on your photograpgy toes! The first of these will be a new regular 'Self Portrait Saturday'. Take the opportunity once a week to practise your portrait skills and make a record of your changing self.

So, go for it !!! ...S.P.S = self portrait saturday

I've enjoyed the photo challenges on Her Space: My Space, but they've upped the ante today. I'm not a fan of any portrait of myself, let alone self-portraits. If I'm going to do this every Saturday, I'm going to have to learn how to use the timer on my camera. No time for many experiments today, so this is me in the bathroom mirror wet hair and all.