Future photographer...maybe

Still catching up from the holiday weekend. Had I had
my way, our 4 hour drive probably would have taken 6+ hours!
I'm pretty sure he'd get tired of me saying "ohh, there's
a good shot, pull over" every 20 miles! Plus, it's a little
difficult (and dangerous) while on the highway!

My oldest turned 13 on Thanksgiving. He's been waiting (not
so patiently) for a facebook page for almost a year!
Needless to say he was super excited to finally get one.
And I do have to say, he's got his fathers sense of humor!
Some of the things he has posted just crack me up! So, along
with a facebook page comes having a profile picture. He
started with one I had taken and 2 days later took his own. I
do have to say, these are really cool. I like how he played
with the light and tried different things. Good job bubba...
now remember, I will unplug you if I need too!

Before & After

A tip: Never stop shooting...you never know when you're going
to find that hidden gem in a bad photo!

Over the river...

blah, blah blah...there was no river and really no
woods, but plenty of trees and landscapes as we continued
our drive around the backroads of Tennessee.

Saturday drive

After getting rid of the kids for the night, it was such
a pretty day, that I wanted to take some pictures. Rounding up
my chauffeur, he was happy to drive "Ms Daisy" over and around
the backroads of our beautiful state. It was in my heart to take
some horse pictures...I'm not sure why, but I usually listen to
my heart. Fortunately, there are plenty of them around!

This tree has had my attention for the last week as it changes
colors. It's so beautiful and grand standing tall in town.

We didn't have to go far to find horses! These guys were
very curious...except the black one who was kinda a snob. She
eventually moved a little closer, but still stayed back.

She turned her head as if to say "this is my good side".

Bawhahaha...It just makes you want to laugh!

More from our drive tomorrow...

Kickball

It really wasn't a "real" kickball game as no one really
ran the bases...it was more like "I kick the ball and YOU
try to catch it! And there was quite a bit of smack talk
to go along with it. It made for some good family time and
plenty of laughs!

Holiday Greetings

It's hard to believe Thanksgiving is this week...
found a cute templete for a Thanksgiving card.

Not sure which I like better?!

Accepted!

After a hectic weekend of getting frames, mattes
and assembling, I was ready to submit my 3 framed prints
yesterday. I dropped them off at 11am and went home to wait
for the call I expected around 8pm last night. Much to my
surprise, I received a call at 2pm! AND, they wanted more
prints (framed and matted) by Thursday, if I had them!
Luckily I've got enough already printed that I don't have
to stress too much. Here's the 3 that I've submitted...

1-0-1

Silly me didn't even realize I had passed 100 posts. I
was up at o-dark-30 today to drive across the county to do
a dropoff. Because of the time change, I (thought) I had
missed a decent sunrise picture, since I had taken my good
camera with me instead of just my cell camera...lucky for me
I saw this before it disappeared into the morning light.

I'm submitting 3 framed prints Monday to be considered for
show/sale in a new gallery exhibit. I'm nervous, excited and
petrified that they won't like them or will decline because
they've got too many photo entries. Time will tell. Until then,
I will take this as a sign of a new day dawning.

Happy Veteran's Day!

The kids and I actually went to the parade last night
and had a nice time. The weather was lovely. It was
short and sweet, but it was to HONOR our past and
present soliders. It was hard to take pictures in the
dark (without using the flash), so I've only got a
few that I liked.

War Memorial

County Courthouse & moon

When Daddy comes home and says...

"Look what I brought home"...I usually take a few
steps back! I've been "tricked" before with a creepy
crawly critter and have learned my lesson! This time
though, it was pretty cool. Mr Praying Mantis was an
awesome critter and so curious! If I could have gotten
a picture "in focus", I would have let him crawl his
way onto my lens, like he tried to do. I did get some
cool shots of him though.

"Psst, hey you, up there...come a little closer!"

His eyes really were 2 different colors. We couldn't
figure out why.

You can really see how big he was in this picture!

What happens when you tick him off! Hi-yah!

Goodbye growing season

Not that much is still growing, but it did come to an
abrupt halt early Sunday morning with the arrival of a
hard frost. It sure was pretty.

Brrr...where'd fall go?!

As we were holed up in the house today hiding from the cold...well,
I was, the kids didn't care, they went outside to play...I worked
on laundry and transfering pictures to the digital picture frame.
(Boring stuff) But I stumbled upon these 2 pictures and they just made
me smile.

I'm guessing next year I/we will have a tough time keeping them
from wanting to cruise over to the other side of the lake!

Chihuly Part 2

Ok, I lied. Not waiting until tomorrow. I slacked off on laundry
to finish the 2nd half of the photos today.

Saffron Tower
Standing over 27' tall and weighing almost 4,600 pounds, Saffron
Tower contains more than a half mile of neon tubing.

"The idea of a Tower just came from looking at one of my Chandeliers
and imagining what it would look like upside down." ~Dale Chihuly

Erbium Fiori

Silvered Purple Herons
The Herons are another form that came from Chihuly's experimentation
with blowing different shapes and using new techniques while working
in Finland. After many days, the team made pieces that looked to them
like herons, which are wading birds found along shorelines and lakes.

These were not listed in the brochure, but a wise guess would
be water lilies?! 8) By the way, does anyone see "cat eyes" looking
at you from the tree stump? Since only 1 eye is visible, I'm guessing
it's a feline eye...kinda spooks me out!

Cattails

Herb garden shed

Pretty Verbena still blooming

Reflection of light in the Frist Center for Learning

Blue Polyvitro Crystals
"The crystals are hollow and glacial blue in color. As with glass,
it is really light that makes the Polyvitro crystals come alive."
~Dale Chihuly

I thought these weeds were pretty with the crystal bokeh in
the background.

Blue Reeds

I thought this Japanese Maple was really pretty with The Sun
sculpture in the background.

I came away in awe of such beauty...and a few questions...first
and foremost...how do they protect the glass in the elements?! We
have had some pretty good storms since May, including some hail! How's
that work?! Second, I'd love to know now much it cost to ship all
this glass! And lastly...how the HECK is this stuff secured in the
ground/water??! I figure in the water it's weighted down (or something),
but what about all those thin reeds, cattails, etc??? We've also had
windy days...I think that's what intriqued me the most. I wish I had
found a guide to ask questions, but with so many people around, they
were always talking to someone. I do know it was an awesome sight and
I'm so grateful I talked myself into driving up there. It was worth
the time/gas money to get to the westside of Nashville!

Chihuly Part 1

What a wonderful day. I wish I had thought to say the heck with school and
taken the boys with me. A day of art would have been so much fun for all of
us. (Especially since it was "free" day!) My "me" day was so worth it!

I had never heard of Dale Chihuly before the exhibit came to Cheekwood,
(I have since been schooled by 2 Seattle friends!), so after hearing about
it on tv one day, I decided to check it out. For more information, check
him out HERE...I am so glad I did! I took 242 pictures and have slowly been whittling them down to a manageable number! I think I may have to put a new portable hard drive on my Christmas list, as my current one is starting to groan as I fill it up!

If you ever hear about a Chihuly exhibit near you, it is worth it to go
check it out. (Psst...also check for free community days, as they do offer
them sometimes!) Free = Awesomeness!

The Sun

"If you take a thousand blown pieces of a color, put them together, and
then shoot light through them, that's going to be something to look at. It's
mysterious, defying graviey or seemingly out of place - like something you
have never seen before." -Dale Chihuly

Reflecting Pool

Reflecting Pool

This one really reminded me of a Christmas ornament! The detail
in some of the pieces is just amazing.

Reflecting Pool

Reflecting Pool

Blue Marlins...you can really see them as birds from overhead. If you
know what you are looking at, you can see them ok on the side view,
but you see the small "clusters" on the overhead shot.

Blue Marlins / Side view

Yellow Herons

"I love to juxtapose the manmade and the natural to sort of
make people wonder,is it manmade or did it come from nature?
That's a very important part of my work."
-Dale Chihuly

Walla Walla's

Walla Walla's

Waterfall/Walla Walla's...by the look of the crowd, can you wonder
how I was able to get so many pictures WITHOUT people in them?!

I really love this...wish I knew what she was thinking!

The Boat

The Moon

Bamboo Reeds

To create the long, tubular shape of a Reed, one glassblower
is elevated in a mechanical lift while blowing through the pipe
to encourage the form to stretch, while another pulls the glass
toward the ground. Some Reeds are longer than 10 feet!

Niijima Floats

Named for both the island and the traditional Japanese fishing
boats, they may be the largest free-blown glass forms in the world.

Japanese Garden

Pano of 5 or 6 pictures, stitched together.

Part 2 coming tomorrow with the rest of the pictures!