random reflections

Taut

HS: MS prompt for 9.30.08
Taut: To stretch or pull tight. Find something taut in your space today.

Landmark

HS: MS Landmark: An object or feature of a landscape that is easily recognisable. Show us a landmark in your space today.

About two years ago, Rochester acquired a new bridge. Along with the new bridge has been some new, and lovely, development along the Genesee River. I took this photo outside one of the new restaurants that has opened up there.

SOS

HS: MS prompts for Sunday are a little less intimidating than SPS! SOS: Show off Sunday....show us one of your favourite pics! I walked down to the town park one day this week and got a few decent photos. This is one of my favorites.

SPS

It's Self-portrait Saturday on HS: MS; not exactly my favorite activity. But I had to take a self-portrait earlier this week for the title layout for Cathy Z's graphic design class at BPS, so here is one of them. I have a bit of a wonky expression, but I can never get a natural look during these exercises.

And here's the layout. I wish I had a large format scanner, my photos of 12X12 layouts are never as good as I want them to be--or as straight.

Carved

HS: MS prompt for 9.26.08

Carved: To cut into a hard material to produce an aesthetically pleasing design

Two images of carved stone from the George Eastman House gardens:

Stack

HS: MS prompt for today:

Stack: A pile of objects, typically neatly arranged. Find a stack in your space today.

One of many stacks of books laying around. This one contains books I'm currently reading as well as our next two book group selections. I need to get off the computer and away from the craft table if they're going to be read on time!

Adventure

Wouldn't you know? As soon as I decide to start participating with HS: MS again the prompt proves to be a difficult one.

Adventure: An unusual, exciting and often hazardous experience or activity.

We spent two weeks this summer in California in the Bay Area where my daughter is now living. Here I am with my son, Matt, hiking the Sunset Trail to the top of Mt. Livermore on Angel Island. So much for the idea of daily practice. I'm not expecting any adventures here today.

Her Space: My Space

Although I check in on this site every day, it's been months since I participated. It's time to get going again. There's lots of inspiration from other photographers, and it's a way to practice my photography every day.
Today's prompt:

Leaf: A flattened structure attached to the stem of a plant. Find a leaf in your space today.

Ithaca in September

I spent Saturday in Ithaca with Matt. It was the perfect fall day, although very few trees have begun to change color. Warm and breezy, blue skies--a perfect day for sightseeing and hiking. I love the Ithaca Farmers' Market. The produce is almost all organic. There are wonderful pottery stalls and this cute tee shirt stall:

I brought back some pumpkins but would have loved to have brought home flowers as well. Matt and I had never seen Cockscomb Celosia. They were beautiful:

It's easy to see how they got their name:

And there are always the beautiful sunflowers:

Our favorite apples:

The veggies:

After lunch and window shopping on The Commons we drove out to Taughannock Falls State Park. We hiked back to the falls which were a real disappointment. It's been so dry there was hardly any water going over at all. So we decided to hike the North Rim Trail. There are beautiful views of Cayuga Lake as well as the gorge.

We walked out to the lake and spent some time in the park and then headed to Ithaca Falls which is right in the city. A lot more water here.

I'm always glad to be able to spend a day with either of my kids, and it's a rare event that I get a whole day. This was one of the perfect ones. Thanks, Matt!

30 Days

Stacy Julian’s project for September in her More Fun class is to create a scrapbook dedicated to “present moment” living--that translates to a scrapbook page a day. I’ve actually done it once before this year for a free course at BPS in January. I thought it would motivate me to live up to Paper Source’s motto: Do something creative every day. That didn’t turn out to be possible working full time, but I got a lot done in January and enjoyed it.

Stacy has made it somewhat easier by sending us prompts each day under three categories: Capture, Collect, Record. Some days I use the prompts. On others I have my own agenda. When the computer was gone, I got seriously behind. But yesterday I caught up. It was fun, and it feels good. One thing I’ve had to give up is my perfectionism. I decided that I would use my own handwriting for most of the pages. I REALLY like type better. So sometimes the writing is not exactly straight, and sometimes I’ve had to correct some minor errors, but I did NOT start any page over. It is what it is—and that is a pretty good record of what’s gone on so far in September as well as some “what’s important” pages.

Eventually, I may get all the pages posted to the Scrapbook Layouts page, but for now here are a couple from yesterday as well as the title page. The album uses both 12 X 12 pages and 6 X 12 pages. There’s also a 6 X 6 page thrown in for good measure.

So here are a few as well as the title page.

One of Stacy's prompts: What's in your purse?

Another prompt about what is in your nightstand--I was amazed at how much!!!

Prompt: Where are you and what are you doing at 9:15 am? The "record" part of the prompt was to list your favorite blogs and websites.