Songography and SHS - Sept. 1, 2013

Hello & Welcome.  It's time to join in on the fun of Songography and Scavenger Hunt Sunday.

First up is,  Song-ography brought to by Kathy from You'll Shoot Your Eye Out.  This weeks song is:  If I Had a Million Dollars by The Bare Naked Ladies.  -  I must confess to never hearing this song until I listened to it off Kathy's blog.  I'm just not up on current musical groups I guess. 

The song is about what you would do if you had a million dollars.  Oh the possibilities...I'd love to say that I'd donate it to a worthy charity or something noble but if I was honest I'd have to say that I'd probably spend it on things like a new house, a new car, do some traveling, help out my family etc...or perhaps I'd buy one of these and ride around town like a big shot. - Not really but doesn't it look cool.

    Now let's move on to Scavenger Hunt Sunday brought to you by Ashley from Ramblings and Photo's.

This weeks prompts:  Down, Shadow, Flow, Tip and Beyond.

All prompts this week were taken at the local Fair or Fair Parade.
CLICK TO ENLARGE - The detail is so much better on this next shot if you do.

DOWN:  I love this shot.  Just look at the expressions on the faces.

SHADOW:

This horse was doing some dance moves during the parade and I caught this shadow shot of rider and horse.

FLOW:

Coleen and my niece were blowing up balloons here in a race to see who could pop their balloon first.  I caught the flow of their water guns in this shot.  I'm happy to say that Coleen won and got to choose another stuffed animal for her growing collection.  She was pleased as punch.

TIP:

Coleen trying unsuccessfully to not tip over in this big inflatable ball.  She had a blast in rolling around inside that ball.  Well worth the $8 I paid to let her do it.

BEYOND:  Just one of the views from beyond the top of the Ferris Wheel.

That's it for this week.  Don't forget to stop by Kathy & Ashley's blogs to check out the other participants.  Have a great week.

Random 5 Friday

                                                                                                             

 

It's Friday!!! - You know when I was working that phrase always excited me.  These days, not so much since I'm home all the time and the days pretty much seem the same.  But it is exciting to be able to join Nancy (A Rural Journal) for Random 5 Friday.

 

 

1.  No squirrels are showing up at the sight of the vacant trees but the Crows are still enjoying the peanuts! - This little guy is on our back fence heading towards the squirrel feeder where they still visit on a daily basis.  I just don't see them unless I'm out back.

 

2.  I saw a Humming Bird this week.  Sadly I didn't have my camera handy.  Still I was thrilled to spot it and enjoyed watching as it landed for a few brief seconds on a nearby wire before flying off across the street.

 

3.  The insects have been showing up more this past week.  We found a Preying Mantis, a Katydid and an ugly Spider this week.  See below.  I don't mind photographing them but this thing ran at me...Eeeek!!!

 

 

 

He's lucky I didn't stomp on him after that. - Coleen spotted the Katydid on my mom's rose bush.

 

 

 

4.  I enjoy baking and here lately I've had the chance to do more as I like to have some kind of a refreshment to serve at the Bible Study.  Last night it was Soft Lemonade Cookies.  Click on link for recipe.  They turned out great and everyone loved them.

 

 

5.  I'm off to take Coleen to the Fair!

Tuesday Muse - August 27, 2013

Won't you join me as we take in Tuesday Muse brought to you by the wonderful Nancy, (A Rural Journal).

I'm going to try and remember the words behind my piece today since it's already started out to be a not so simplistic day.  We have an "ant" problem in our house and this morning I discovered a new trail of the hideous and annoying creatures so I had to move boxes, pick up magazines, spray and vacuum the floor in the hopes of keeping them at bay.  Seriously we need to get an exterminator here one of these days so that we can rid ourselves of these tiny little intruders.

But I digress so without further ado here is my entry for Tuesday Muse.

Click to Enlarge for detail.

Simplicity, clarity, singleness: These are the attributes that give our lives power and vividness and joy as they are also the marks of great art. They seem to be the purpose of God for his whole creation.

                              -Richard Holloway-

So today while some things may not be as simplistic as I'd like them to be I'm going to try to reflect on God's creation (even the ants) and enjoy His beauty.

Here is the unedited version:

Don't forget to stop by Nancy's blog and check out the other participants.
Have a great day.

SHS and Songography - August 25, 2013

Song-ography followed by Scavenger Hunt Sunday:


It's time once again to join Kathy (You'll Shoot Your Eye Out) for Song-ography.  This week she went "way back" in time with the song, 
Summer Wind sung by Frank Sinatra.  I must admit I had never heard this song before but I enjoyed listening to it. 

So without further ado here is my interpretation of the song.  Mind you this one was a "tough" one for me and I may be out on a limb here with my interpretation but that's what makes this meme fun is that you can be literal or not so literal with the song and your photographic interpretation of it.

Click to Enlarge photos.

                            The world was new, beneath a blue-umbrella sky.
                                                 -Summer Wind-

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Let's get started now on Scavenger Hunt Sunday brought to you by Ashley (Ramblings and Photos).

This weeks prompts were:  Back to School, Writing Utensil, Favorite Subject, Lunch and Recreation.

Again I am going to confess to having to get creative with some of these prompts. 

BACK TO SCHOOL:  School hasn't started here yet and won't until afte Labor Day (Sept. 3rd to be exact).  Today though Coleen and I walked down to the school she attends and I shot this photo of the front of the school.

WRITING UTENSIL:

Callie-Jo checking out some pencils I put on the floor to see what she would do with them.

FAVORITE SUBJECT:  My favorite subject in school was reading but when I asked Coleen today she said hers is, Science.  She loves to check out books about things instead of fictional stories.  Here she is at the library today listening to some scientific stuff about...

LUNCH:  This one was one of the tough ones.  So I'm getting creative here:

Coleen & I went to a park today and there were lots of people enjoying Picnic lunches there.  These yellow-jackets were enjoying a lunch of watermelon left by some picnickers who didn't want them invading their lunch so they placed the plates on a nearby table to draw the yellow-jackets away from where they were eating.

RECREATION:  Fish can be recreational...especially if you catch something like this:

This fun fish is inside the local library.  - I love that it's an,  "Art Carp."

Random 5 Friday and Orange You Glad It's Friday

It's been a few weeks since I've participated in Orange You Glad It's Friday so I thought I would pop in today with this:

 I'm not even sure what this plant is but I thought it looked pretty cool.  They were in our local park in one of the flower beds.

Now let's join Nancy (A Rural Journal) for Random 5 Friday.

1.  I miss our trees.  We had these 3 big fir trees in our parking strip and the squirrels always came and played on the trees and I left peanuts for them to eat.  It was so fun watching them play.  Sadly one of the trees begin to die after it was topped out by the city due to it being too near the power lines.  Well this spring they came and topped out the other 2 trees.  Needless to say they didn't seal the tops and we knew it would just be a matter of time before they would start dying as well.  So last week we had them all cut down.
Too much sunlight in the windows now in the mornings, no shade for my front flower beds and no squirrels to watch playing out my office window.

2.  The bug hit our house this week.  Coleen had one of her friends over for a sleep-over Sunday night.  Monday she got sick and we found out that the other little girl was sick too. Seems they caught that 24 hour stomach flu bug.  Ick!! -  Greta came down with it last night.  -  I'm hoping it passes me by and more importantly my 84 year old mom.

Yep this is how Coleen looked after a night of up-chucking.

3. I hate it when I can't find something that I know I've put somewhere that I should be able to find it.  Only to be found when you least expect it.  This week I discovered some missing ribbon that I've been looking for.  The thing is I've been looking for it now for 2 years!  I bought it to make Christmas cards with and couldn't find it in my craft room.  After searching the room time and time again I just gave up on ever finding it.  Then low and behold this week I had some ribbon out for my mom to look at.  As I was straightening things up the tub of ribbon had gotten knocked over and when I started putting them back in the tub I noticed a full roll of red ribbon. I stopped to look at it more closely and wouldn't you know it,  Yep, that missing 2 year old ribbon was right there all along and surely I must have seen it in the tub the first time I frantically searched for it two years ago (or maybe not)...perhaps some ribbon fairy whisked it away and decided it was time to put it back.  Yeah, that's what happened.

4. I've had more time this week to visit blogs now that Coleen has wrapped up her swimming lessons.  Still not getting by to comment on as many blogs as I'd like but am doing better.  I want you all to know how much I enjoy your blogs and also having you pop by mine. 

5. Got some new craft/stamping goodies this week.  I'm starting to find time to do a little stamping again.  It feels good.  This one will be going to Coleen for her first day of 3rd grade on Sept. 3.

Details on the card can be found on my other blog: http://faithartistry.blogspot.com if you are interested.

A Thing of Beauty

I've been view blogs this morning and came across a wonderful post from,
Debbie (It's All About Purple) about finding beauty that really touched me.  With all she is dealing with she still finds beauty in the simple things that we so often take for granted.  I had planned to share a photo today of some flowers from our local park.  After seeing her posts I went and edited my photo to add the quote and I want to dedicate it to Debbie because she inspires me to find beauty in my everyday surroundings. 

Here's to you Debbie,  God Bless you for being the person you are and for inspiring others.

                                                    -John Keats-
Click to Enlarge photo.

Please stop by and check out Debbie's beautiful butterfly photo's. Then go out and find some beauty in the everyday things of life. 

Tuesday Muse

 

Joining Nancy from A Rural Journal for

 

Tuesday Muse

 

 

 

 

 

Click to Enlarge Photo for better detail.

 

 

This is actually 2 different photos that I took and combined together then used a watercolor effect from BeFunky to create this piece.

 

Below are the 2 original photos.

 

 

 



SHS & Song-ograph (Born To Run Edition), August 18, 2013

It's been quite the week here and I haven't posted much but managed to create something for Kathy's (You'll Shoot Your Eye Out) meme,
Song-ography.  I'll also be posting for Ashley's (Ramblings and Photos) meme, Scavenger Hunt Sunday.  Do grab a refreshing drink and kick back while you enjoy the show.
                                                CLICK TO ENLARGE PHOTOS

This weeks song,  Born to Run by Bruce "the Boss" Springsteen. 

I must admit I was intimidated by this song and really had no clue what I was going to come up with.  I haven't had much time for picture taking this summer and we don't travel much at all either so I had to find things around my home that might match the song lyrics.  I hope you like what I came up with.  The first one is really obvious and probably has nothing to do with the actual song lyrics but I like it none the less.

My mom's dog, Pixie running to catch her toy raccoon.

This one's a little more in tune with the song lyrics:

 For some reason these lyrics reminded me of a drag race and since I couldn't or didn't have any shots of a real one I created my own with Coleen's Hot Wheels and some Pic Monkey magic.

Now won't you join me for Scavenger Hunt Sunday

This weeks prompts were:  Sky, Accessory, Verb, Transparent and Tiny.

SKY:  Probably the easier of the prompts.

The sky was dotted with clouds this morning and I caught this lone bird flying by.

ACCESSORY:  The neighbor girl using a mirror as an accessory to help her put on make-up.

VERB:  Let's see if you can guess the verb.

TRANSPARENT:

I took this shot of our cat, Dottie through our side window.  She's behind the curtain in our living room and somehow the window reflected the siding of my mom's house next door into the window creating this rather odd looking shot.  Makes it looks as if the cat is transparent.

TINY:

One of Coleen's gerbils, (Walnut).  I love it's tiny feet, ears, nose.  Isn't he a cute little thing.

That's it for this week.  I hope you have enjoyed your visit.
P.S. - The verb I was going for was Dig or Excavate.

Tuesday Muse - August 13, 2013

Joining in with Nancy (A Rural Journal) for Tuesday Muse.








Summer is starting to wind down and soon the kids will be back in school (Sept. 3) and I'll be back Bowling again but in the mean time here's a little more of the beauty Coleen & I took in at the park the other day.

Click to Enlarge - You get better detail if you do.

Edited on Pic Monkey using Bonnie's (Pixel Dust Photo Art) texture: Bamboo Dream,  a Pic Monkey Frame and a quote from Audrey Hepburn.

For those of you photo "purists" here is the photo SOOC with no editing other then my watermark.

These white Pea Hens are in our local park's Aviary, hence the chain link fence.  It's hard to get a decent shot without the fence but you can still see how beautiful and elegant this bird is.

Have a wonderful day & enjoy the beauty and elegance around you.

SHS and Song-ography, August 11, 2013

Please join me for Song-ography where each week Kathy (You'll Shoot Your Eye Out) gives us a song to interpret through photos.  This week the song was,  Both Sides Now by Joni Mitchell.

This song is one of those introspective songs that challenges you to really think about the meaning of the words.


Click to Enlarge all photos.

Through out this song the lyrics mention Cloud's Illusions, Love's Illusions and Life's Illusions....concluding with I really don't know Clouds, Love or Life at all. 

Just so you know I've created a bit of an illusion with this photo which is actually 2 different photos (one of clouds and one of the flower) combined together.

Ashley (Ramblings and Photos) has given us the Scavenger Hunt Sunday prompts this week of:  Family, Grass, Silly, 1/2 half and Bow.



FAMILY:  Took this shot of this group of siblings today playing in the fountain at the park.

GRASS:  Another shot taken at the park today.

SILLY:  Coleen and the neighbor girl acting silly for me.

1/2 HALF:  I was wondering what I could do for this prompt and then it appeared right before my eyes at the park today....

A squirrel with only 1/2  tail.  Not sure what happened to the rest of it's tail but that's all there was just that half a stub.

BOW:  Taking some creative license with this one.

A "Ox-Bow" which is the thing over the neck of the ox.  and to be literal as well...

This sculpture is located in our local city park and could have passed for silly as well because it's really a rather comical sculpture.  On the back our the kids fighting/choking each other.  Sometime I'll have to post shots of that as well.