Circles Today...Lazy Ones While We Wait....

 NYC is a great place to find shapes....the angled shapes of buildings, and their accents, to the wheels of cars and bikes, or circular bubbles in Central Park.  Below the steering wheel and gages of a vintage car, and even the rounded shape of the dashboard are circular.

There is no time here at the moment to go on a hunt for more circles....trying to be patient and take care of my daughter and do laundry...decide what to make for dinner, all the things that hopefully will make the time go faster before Luke's arrival.  waiting really is the hardest thing!
hope you have a wonderful day..and i promise more interesting blogs when life settles to a dull roar here! :D

Behind the Scenes...A Journey I Choose to Take

 Me.....i am getting better at doing that self portrait thing...but sometime i am still a goof ball!  This chicken came in very handy at a point that i had to do SP's for Kim's Beyond Layers class....it distracted me from the task at hand.  i am just glad no one drove down the lane to the house and witnessed this...i already have a reputation of being a bit crazy!

i have come a long....L O N G way from just a year ago....and rather than repeat myself, you can read my beginning in my very first post in this blog.  I try not to repeat myself...my kids have trained me that to do that is REALLY annoying!! Sometimes i listen to them....other times not so much!  It is another part of my learning to be the me i was born to be. :)  The not listening part, i mean!

 Art is my passion...photography in particular.  I have rediscovered my love for it over the course of the past five or six years. (When all my girls were away at college, and i finally had a little time)  I never felt i had any particular talent.  That is explained in the my first blog story as well.  I am to the point now that i believe i do have some (talent that is).....not so sure HOW much, but with all the support that i have gotten in the past few years, i have begun to believe in me.

 As you can see, i can honestly say i have no particular "specialty", i just love photographing everything.  "Decrepitude" is one of my favorite things.  i love old things and primitives for decorating, and antique accents. chairs and quilts.  This old barber chair was part of Eastern State Penitentiary, in Philadelphia.  A fascinating place to shoot, with all of the texture.  i used the shots i took here to learn how to do HDR. it was a fun shoot and interesting to learn the whole HDR thing!

 I am a grandma (OUCH! i hate that word).  I am waaaaaay too young to be a grandma, so my friends all call me Avia!!  It means grandmother in Latin and i just think it is more "me".  Grandma is MY mom, that little teeny, white haired, 82 year old that lives in Florida!  My daughter's steadfastly refuse to use that term.  They decided the kids will call me whatever they will call me....so Lileigh Grace has christened me Mmmm-ma! Noah Jacob is too little yet to call me anything....and Luke Maddox is due any moment....literally, as my daughter is having contractions as i type!  I am very excited....i will be one of the birthing coaches, perhaps tonight....so i better type faster!

Soooo...this is pretty much my first blog entry for Behind the Scenes.  I do hope to get the hang of this. I told Kim and Xanthe that after reading their introductions about WHY? that i was kind of a blend of both of them.  Like Kim i have been pretty much a quiet artist, as a kid and adult.  A few close friends...but shy and reserved in high school, who loved to hang out in the "Art House", where the art classes took place.  (I also love to read.)  Like Xanthe, i just began my own business as a photographer....with the verbal encouragement from a few close friends that find what i do to be special and "a gift".  It is the first real encouragement i have ever gotten, to pursue what i dearly love.  i am forever indebted to them for keeping the pressure on me to recognize that and make the effort to live my long put on hold dream.

i look forward to this whole adventure, and to meeting my classmates and sharing ideas.  I am hoping i have as much to offer as i desire to take from all of you!  My why? is because i have discovered how much i love to write....and because i need to reach out to others if i expect to succeed at my passion.  i have no idea how, so what better way than to do this kind of class where i can learn and meet new friends with interesting idea's and beautiful art!
For the moment, trust that i am a wonky soul with a huge humor gene and the best of intentions in whatever i attempt here, but face plants and scar creation is always possible and quite probable!!! i am learning to deal with that and not call myself a failure, or allow anyone else to.  Thanks for understanding! :)

SQUARES...

I decided to begin with squares for my Beyond Layers assignment this week.  Beginning with an archive shot from last summer, during my very exciting trip to meet a flickr friend, who has become a sister-friend to me.  I miss her, and wish she and i lived closer together....her stream on flickr is beautiful, she is talented, fun and "pageant pretty", i call her my Texas Red and i love her....


This was taken in San Antonio, at one of the Missions.  I like shapes....being the artsy sort, they tend to jump out at me!  altho i am ok with things asymmetrical, the symmetry created by shapes is very pleasing to the eye photographically.  Most of my friends find it hard to deal with the asymmetrical things i shoot or art pieces that i make....so it must be an art/eye thing or something, because i can go either way with that!!
I will be out today looking for more squares while my daughter goes to the doctor for her update on Luke's arrival....which is schedule for tomorrow at 5am....unless they cause it to happen later today or tonight instead!

Keep smiling!!

Some Days Are More Tumbly Than Others

i am really not all that much of a drinker....of any sort.  Probably a bad thing, but i do LOVE my English Tea!  It is my "wake up call" each morning.  I love the smell of fresh coffee....but for some strange reason i can not drink it without getting a violent stomach ache.  I can eat coffee ice cream (my favorite with hot fudge!) or anything else with coffee flavor, just not the real thing.  Tea of just about any flavor (no Camomile please, yuck!!) is my thing.  I have to have it with caffeine when i first wake up...after that it can be any other kind, and it can not be in a whimpy cup....i want a BIG mug....like my Winnie the Pooh mug....or my Don't Mess with Texas Mug....or my Keep Austin Weird Mug!

I am still waiting on Luke...sigh....can't wait to meet my 3rd Grand Bean!!! :)
Thanks for stopping by!

View From My Door Window!?

i am away....still.....waiting for Luke Maddox to decide to vacate the womb of my daughter.  He is restless but hanging in there!

since i am not home to snap a shot from any of my windows, i went back into the archives of my flickr pages and sets and found this shot of a view from the window of my front door in the 1826 section of the house.  We rarely use this door other than to let in sunshine!  It is the dining room actually.  The door we use is on the middle section of the house....the part that was actually the original farmhouse....one room with a sleeping loft built in the mid 1700's.  The view from that door is similar to this, without the sidewalk and lamp post....and with more picket fence and lawn.

Our home was once part of 700+ acre Dairy farm back in the 1700 and 1800's.  We are on the last 8 acres....the rest having been sold off to developers long ago. There is a 3rd section to the house that was added in 1920....as a summer kitchen, so they would not have to use the fireplace....and then in 1930 the owners there decided to add a REAL kitchen, with a mudroom and 2 garages with an apartment above, for an elderly aunt and uncle to live in.

In this shot, Kohl decided to meander into the doorway to watch for birds and squirrels....she is my little trouble maker, along with her sister Aura and her "brother" Loki.

Tomorrow i shall add my favorite drink....since i missed the opportunity today to photograph it....as long as Luke does not decide to start his arrival in the wee smalls of the morning....then all bets are off!!!

Babies are so unpredictable!!

Pieces of Me....for real....

These are my feet....i did bring those to Virginia with me!  I sort of need them the way my girls keep me dancing, and dodging!  I could not do the "my favorite chair", since i am not home....but here, my favorite chair is collecting laundry that is clean and folded, waiting to be taken upstairs and put away when the other load is done!  So, perhaps later i will get that one done!!
i am trying to get caught up here...bear with me.  I took a lunch break with my daughter, and she is now napping on the sofa....she had about 2 hours of sleep last night.  i feel like Luke is preparing her for the insomnia she is going to develop after his birth!!  
Happy Hump Day!!

Pieces of Me...in a sense...

Hi!  I am doing the best i can, but showing you pieces of me this week is a tough go!  I am in Virginia again....3X in 2 weeks......so much going on with 2 of my daughters.  Job interview for my youngest....2 days after we got home she found out she got the job.....2 days later we were on our way back down to find her a place to live....thought that was under control...thought was the operative word here.  The roommate took the check, gave her a key on Saturday past, and told her to go ahead and let herself in to unpack.  When said roommate came home from work, she claimed that she did not know my daughter's little Pom mix would be living there too.  (in spite of an email to her to the contrary and the fact that we brought the dog to make sure her dog got along with my daughter's dog....) Back to square one.  This all happened on Monday with bunches of her stuff unpacked having to be repacked....Monday night i got the frantic call about that AND my oldest daughter's call, asking how i felt about heading back down to HER house, to wait for Luke Maddox's birth....seems her doctors feel it may be this week by the look of things down under!!  SO, yesterday i popped back into the car for another 6 hour drive through the Eastern Corridor on I-95!  

when i realized i missed 2 days of assignments i was frantic....but the best i could do right now was play today and try to catch up....using my daughters house for the moment!!  (i promise when i get to my favorite drink and my feet, they will be mine!!!)

With things frantically happening around me i am doing my best to stay even keel....looking forward to 2 more classes i am in with Kim, even if it means playing catch up in the wee small hours while everyone else is sleeping!!! 
Isn't life just grand!!? 

Sweet Dreams, Sweet Dreamer

There is nothing so sweet as peaceful slumber after a long day laughing and playing.  The innocence of a sleeping child is just beautiful to behold. Watching them in their slumber is heartwarming, and makes me think of how wonder filled the world is in their eyes.  Blessed are those that see life through the eyes of a child.

Textures:  Dream it and Dreams, Kim Klassen
Little Dreamer:  My sweetest bean, Lileigh Grace

Light Painting of a Different Kind

Today’s lesson was a lot of fun.  It was a different form of light painting than the one i tried a couple weeks ago with my daughter!  We used glow sticks and flash lights and i learned to take photos of pictures and words drawn with lights in the dark!  (More experiments with that to follow!)

This light painting is less hit or miss than the other, and just as fun. Learning how to use the tools in Elements and CS5 are always a challenge for me...i am SO very technically inept....but Kim is patient, thorough and oh, so kind and i am determined, which seems to be exactly the ticket for me to finally get it!

Bottom shot is the original...top shot is the light painted version....i like them both but i think the light painted version has a subtle softness....sort of a dreamy boudoir feeling to it!  i am sure i will be using the light painting for faces...i am certain that will be an excellent way to make my portraits even more beautiful!!  Once again, Thank you Kim for all your hard work on our behalf with these recipes and lessons!!

Tiny Dancers...A Thank you to Kim

I wanted to send you a little something special in the way of thanks for taking the time from your crazy busy life to talk with us today on Hang Out.....even tho i only got to be there for a few moments, thanks to the typical technical issues i seem to attract, and my total ineptness at repairing them! To my credit, i even reinstalled the plugin while i was “down”, only to get the same result as before i reinstalled it.....nothing! sigh....it is SO good that God blessed me with a big humor gene, because this sort of thing is my lot in life!!

There are so many things to thank you for....your knowledge, your willingness to share it with others, your complete and utter calm even when i ask some of the strangest or stupidest questions out there!! Your belief in all of us as valued artists....that alone is worth SO much to me. I know i am not nearly as amazing as you think i am...but just you thinking i am is enough to make me strive to BE that amazing! Confidence is coming.....i am so far removed from the me that began your classes about a year ago. THIS dream of yours...this Beyond Layers class is SO very incredible to me. I have met so very many talented people through this, and have learned so much that some days my brain just feels like it will not hold another thing....and i push on and hunger for more! I really think that my love of learning is trying to make up for the time spent in school when i would rather not have been doing that!!! Yes, i am a late bloomer in so many ways.....but i can embrace that! No shame!

A message to ALL the Beyonders out there....Kim is SO right. WE ALL are amazing in our own way....but like pebbles on a beach we are all unique and need to embrace that uniqueness and run with it! Be not afraid....there are amazing, wonderful things waiting out there....we just need to keep believing in ourselves. I am finally at peace with me....who i am....and i no longer apologize. i am embracing the me i am and i am running....with scissors! ;)

A word of advice for those who do not like what they see ....don’t watch!