The End 2010

The last sunset of 2010 was beautiful around here. We were headed out to dinner with the family and the view was perfect just north of town. This shot was the best for showing the expanse of the color and light, but I also have to wrap up this last post of the year with a second shot, less stunning on the sunset front but more interesting in composition. I used a part of a building to give some depth and I like how it turned out. Happy New Year 2011 everyone!

Eyes

Peek a Boo! My niece, Molly and my cat, Gus all cuddled up and gazing. Merry Christmas (again)!

Toys

We've celebrated Christmas once, actually twice already but there's still plenty to go. Tonight I got out a couple toys I got for the dogs but the cats were all very curious about them, so I let them check them out. Gus is feeling a bit frisky this evening so he grabbed on and started to play with the snowman, he cuddled with it, nibbled on it and otherwise enjoyed the new toy. I think this may be his now...

What?!

What do you want and why are you looking at me when I'm trying to take a nap?!?-Dottie

Playing Possum?

When the dogs started barking tonight, we just figured it was time for them to come in, as usual. However, this is what we found on the back porch. I have to tell you, possums are not cute, and they scare me, especially this one, look at those pointy teeth and claws! I can't tell if he's playing possum or not, but he is breathing and otherwise not moving. We put up the dogs, turned out the light and are hoping he'll be gone when we check again...

Sugar Cookies

I am not a huge sweets person, I have my moments of course, but I don't just chow down on cookies or ice cream on a regular basis. However, this time of year the thing that gets me are homemade sugar cookies with powdered sugar icing. I like to make them, decorate them and I love eating them! This was a 2 day project getting them made, cut, cooked and finally decorated but I made some sugar cookies for Christmas. My nephews weren't here to decorate so Eriq and I did, you can tell how great of a job we did...

Christmas Tea

I expect you thought I'd have a Christmas picture up today, and while it is not a typical one, I do. Today, after our Christmas meal, we had Chinese flowering tea. There are many varieties, this one was a white tea with peach, quite tasty and beautiful as well. I had never heard of these flowering teas, but they are a pod you drop into a pot of hot water and it causes it to open up and bloom while steeping. Want more info, check out this link:


http://www.teavana.com/The-Teas/Blooming-Teas/?SC=PPCG&cm_mmc=Google-_-PPC_search-_-Blooming_Tea_General-_-flowering%20tea&9gtype=search&9gkw=flowering%20tea&9gad=6609125435.1&9gag=1684211795&gclid=CMb6t8b5iKYCFQPsKgodiVslnQ

or watch this short video:
http://www.bloomingtea.com/magento/skin/frontend/default/btea/images/howto.html

Cat Eyes

It's hard to capture a really good image with cat's eyes open and in full color. The right lighting is key and this shot was in the dark with flash, which is usually my least favorite method of shooting. She is looking at me, the reflections are colorful, her nose is wet, and her full spirit shows to me in the picture. If you look closely, there's a hanging cat that looks quite like her on the wall in the background too.

Playing with lights

I was taking some night shots of our tree and decided to do some playing with light. We have a star at the top of the tree and so I used that as my focus as I moved the camera to get the movement of lights. I actually prefer these shots over the "regular" ones I took.

Big smile

We visited Chopper (Anderson) this evening, he is 21 weeks old today. He's getting quite expressive, with his smiles and laughs, his faces, like the furrowed brow and pure concentration when he wants something. Here's one of his great faces from this evening.

Is it time?

The cats love Christmas not so much for any "gifts" they might receive but for the wrapping. The tissue paper in bags and the bows are great fun and when the present are unwrapped, the paper is one of the best things ever. Sophie is cuddling up with her presents getting ready for time to open them, hopefully soon!

Squirrel

I finally took time to focus on photography today. I went for a hike with my camera for a couple of hours and saw all kinds of wildlife, nature and scenery. The bluebirds, cardinals and other birds were challenging to capture, as usual. The ducks were abundant and I saw one other sort of bird that was actually swimming under water, I only got a picture of his head peeking out of the water but it was fun to watch him. A few of the turtles were out sunning but most were not to found and even my turtle snacks wouldn't draw them out. This squirrel was my favorite of the day though, he stopped long enough for me to get the shot before he scurried up a tree.

Project

Many of my projects lately have been putting the house back together, but I have been able to work on a few "new" things as well. The bed I painted and put together for my craft room is finished and in use and now I've started a crochet bedspread for the top bunk. As it turns out, probably not soon enough, as I will have family staying here in just a few weeks! I got going on this and have taken it along for some of our travels, in the car and in airports and on planes and I have half of it assembled. I still need to make another 40 or so squares and then the assembly and finishing edging but I was pleasantly surprised that I am actually half done with this in a relatively short time.

Little helper

Who needs elves when you have kittens to "help" with the gift wrapping? I have three such helpers, all helping in a very special and unique way. Dottie thought it was best to get in the paper bin and curl up with the tissue paper and ribbons. When Sophie tried to join her, she got the best "I don't think so!" look I've ever seen. Sophie chose to wander around on and over the presents and knock a few down for good measure. Gus just ate the leftover ribbon, paper and string. Good times were had by all, I even got a few present wrapped.

Dots and Lines

From an old They Might Be Giants Song, the lyrics "dots and lines" just came to mind with this photo. I really have to start doing things, stop doing things, and/or change things so that I get pictures other than sunrise. I made it through most of the year with decent progress, trying new methods or focusing on different aspects, but this past couple months have been challenging personally and I'm sure you can see by the repetitive shots. Today was the last day of work for this year and I hope to find some time to really DO photography this next week. I won't promise anything though...

Holiday Hats

This week at work, we have had holiday dress up days. From rockin the holiday socks to tacky sweater day and everything in between. Today was holiday hat day and Annie had one of the best hats. The photo does not do it justice but it does capture her spirit! We had our department Christmas party at a local restaurant and then moved on to the school party at another restaurant. After that party ended, the restaurant opened up for business again and some of the customers had to come over and check out her hat. The Santa feet sticking out of the top wiggle back and forth and it sings and talks when you press the button. Imagine the fun...

Pancho

This is my newest pet, Pancho. My students gave him to me today. Taking pictures of fish is even more challenging than pictures of a water turtle! However, I had some fun with reflections, bubbles, lighting, colors and so forth.  There are a few good and different ones of him that were great to get as I was challenged in trying to get good shots. I needed a reason to play with the camera and here's the result.

Tis the season

For basketball of course...
The season did start awhile back actually, however, it's time for a photograph now. There isn't any particular thing I was going for on this shot or that I notice about it, but it just struck me. I like it, the simplicity of it and the game was a good one, with the team scoring double what they scored the previous game. Nice win ladies.

New Guitar

Dot's new toy came in today. OK, so really it's not hers. We haven't gotten the cats into the guitars but she is a daddy's girl and it is his so of course she had to check it out. She does rather like it, she played with the knobs a bit, then stared at it for awhile and finally just curled up for a cat nap.

For me?

Did you put this basket here for me? Does it match my eyes? Do I fit perfectly? Who knows what she was thinking. I set this basket on the chair and walked away and when I came back, there she was just looking at me as if to say, this is mine, thank you very much. Thankfully, she's still quite kitten and her attention doesn't stay in one place too long. After a short while, she moved on to batting ornaments off the Christmas tree.

Cookie Time

Tomorrow is the annual cookie exchange party at my house. It's always a lot of fun to get together with friend but also to have an excuse to make cookies. I was considering trying something new but my Holly Cookies are always such a big hit and I've been so busy I stuck with something I knew. Here's a bit of a pattern picture, the rows of cookies all laid out to cool.

Orange

Yes, it's another sunrise, but just look at the amazing color! I just could not help myself, even positioned my car just right to get the shot. Nothing more to this than that.

Inspection

We received our first Christmas packages today and I put them under the tree. All the cats had to check them out and make sure they were acceptable. As you can see, Sophie says they pass inspection :)

Stuffed?

Which one of these is not like the others? I have mentioned that Dottie likes to be up high, on top of a cabinet, loft bed, shelves, anywhere she can get. Here she is again, this time "hiding" among the stuffed animals. The photo didn't come out as well as I had hoped but she is posing perfectly.

Welcome home

It's Monday morning, feeling especially early after having a whirlwind trip to New Orleans for the weekend. Thankfully, this was the sight that greeted me out my window. The colors were great and there was a contrail in a pretty orange-pink color off to the side.

Swamp

Today was amazing! We went on a swamp tour in Lafitte and saw all kinds of wildlife, it's hard to choose the photo of the day, so I think I won't limit myself to just one. First, we went on a walk through a swamp and wandered on a wooden bridge through the moss covered trees and saw a few Heron and turtles. Then, we went on a boat tour of the bayou and saw incredible things including 2 alligators, actually 3 if you count the baby alligator we got to hold on the boat!

New Orleans

Today was our "see New Orleans" day. We got up and walked over to Cafe Du Monde for beignets and hot chocolate, then headed along the riverwalk exploring. Then we went on to the aquarium, before hitting the streets again in search of lunch. After a few blocks, we sat down for a bite to eat before heading off to the middle of the French Quarter to start our city tour. We caught a bus tour and saw the town. Then we headed back through town walking and changed at the hotel before hopping in a car with some friends and heading off to Cochon for a wonderful dinner. Walking the streets of the French Quarter was the main activity of the day and this shot shows a bit of what the streets look like, if you're early enough anyway.

Room Service

What says vacation better than "room service"? Tonight we left on our mystery trip...to New Orleans! Since we had to be evacuated from our terminal and our flight was therefore late, we got in to town quite late. We hadn't had dinner and we were starving by the time we got to the hotel so we enjoyed some room service and the live band playing in the patio.

Root Beer

We went out for dinner tonight and the drinks were canned. Usually the restaurants have fountain drinks so it was a bit different. I usually drink Dr. Pepper, as most of you know, but tonight I went with Root Beer. The can was a neat design, it looked like well, a beer barrel, but don't worry, it's just aged vanilla :)