Tuesday, March 29, 2011

88/365 Sweet Memories

This little ceramic box used to belong to my mother-in-law.  When we visited her in California, and my boys were very small, she would have it sitting on the table in her kitchen.  Each morning, the boys would wake up and go have breakfast at that table.  They would sit down and eagerly await Grandma's question,  "I wonder what's in the sweet shoppe?"  Oh, they already knew, but they loved the game.  They would excitedly open the box and look in, because they knew that there would be two M&M candies inside, one for each of them.    I'm not even sure if they knew at the time that Grandma had put them there or not, but it was the highlight that started each day of their visit.  When my mother-in-law, whose name was Joy, passed away, my husband and I searched high and low for that little box, because it had such a wonderful memory attached to it.  We found it way back in a kitchen cabinet and I'm so glad we did, because even though it's just a little ceramic box, it's a treasure to us.

Monday, March 28, 2011

87/365 End of Day

Again, I waited until late in the day to take a photo.  And I was too comfy to go looking for something to shoot!

Sunday, March 27, 2011

86/365 Work In Progress...Again

It's been a long, long time since I worked on my mosaic birdbath.  Today I started working on it again.  It WILL be finished this week.  I just have the bowl to finish.  Then I'll grout as soon as the weather warms back up.

Friday, March 25, 2011

84/365 Where's Cash?

This is my dog's crate.  And it was empty last night.  My little Cash, last seen on my blog 3/7 - day 66, has been sent to doggie boot camp.  That's not to say he has been a bad dog.  Actually, he's a very sweet dog and a good dog more often than not.  He's friendly, potty-trained, well-behaved (most of the time).  But he hasn't had any formal training for basic commands and leash walking.  His biggest problem though is when he sees other dogs, he goes absolutely crazy with barking at them.  It's difficult for me to get control of him in that situation.  So I knew regular group classes weren't going to work for us.  So, he's off to 10-14 days of a board and train program.  It will be all about him.  Then he'll come home and he and I will go to private classes for MY training.  Then we can go to group classes.  He's at a place that comes highly recommended.  I feel confident they know what they are doing and they do not use punishment to teach.  AND there are lots of other dogs there in their day care that hopefully within a couple of days Cash will get to play with and become socialized with other dogs.  I know it was a good choice to send him there, but I did hate going to bed last night and getting up this morning and seeing his empty crate.  He LOVES to sleep in there.  He even goes in there before we humans go to bed.  When he's tired at night, he's there.  So... I wonder how he slept last night.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

83/365 Dentist

I got my teeth cleaned today.  No need to elaborate, other than to say I got a good tooth report card!!

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

81/365 Garden Art

This is a canteen that my husband had when I met him.  His next door neighbor had worked in Saudi Arabia and brought it back with him, but was selling it in a yard sale.  Gary liked it and bought it.  We've always had it in the yard, in a flower pot, or hanging by its chain from the pot's edge.  I like "stuff" nestled in the plants.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Sunday, March 20, 2011

79/365 Windy

I was trying to practice taking pictures while the wind was blowing.  Supposed to use a fast shutter speed.  So I set the camera on shutter priority.  The trouble with that was that the aperture needed to be lower than my lens would allow.  So I cranked up the ISO.  It was fun experimenting.  I focused on the pipe closest to the top of the photo.  Then I thought with the copper, a grunge texture would be cool.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

78/365 Fake Flowers

Today I went to the Dallas Arboretum.  They are having their annual Dallas Blooms event.  And I FORGOT MY CAMERA BATTERY!  I have never forgotten my battery before.  So here I was, at one of the most spectacular places to photograph flowers, with my camera and bag slung over my shoulder, and I couldn't take a picture.  I felt like a real idiot when I realized what I had done.  Oh well, I plan to go back next week anyway, when it's less crowded and earlier in the morning, when the light will be better anyway.  So instead of a photo of a beautiful tulip or daffodil, the real kind, I chose to take a picture of the flowers on the mosaic stepping stone I'm working on.  All the pieces are glued.  I will grout it next week.

Friday, March 18, 2011

77/365 On Guard

I was trying to take a picture of my cat, Scout, who was sleeping peacefully on his back, all 20 lbs of him spread eagle (always quite a sight).  Then the dog ran into the room.  One jangle of the dog's collar tags and Scout was wide awake and looking at the dog, as if to say "Don't even think of messing with me"!

Thursday, March 17, 2011

76/365 Almost Ready

You might remember I took a photo a while back of my son's RC helicopter that was damaged because of a faulty part.  Well, here's Eric working on his helicopter.  The repair is almost complete, but he still needs one more part.  He's earning the money for that and should have the part soon.  He's almost ready for the fun fly in Austin in a couple of weeks.  (I know the photo's not sharp, but it's late and hard to focus in the dim light.  I should have taken it much earlier today, but I forgot!)

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

74/365 St.. Patrick's Day Cookies

My son, Kevin, and I made cookies today, in anticipation of St. Patrick's Day.  I'm not sure why I chose today to make them because they'll all be eaten before two days from now.  Oh, and we didn't have a shamrock cookie cutter, so we used a pumpkin!

Monday, March 14, 2011

73/365 Daffodils

Tete-a-tete daffodils are blooming in my back yard.  I added a texture by SKC Photography.  Check out SKC's blog in my blog list.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

72/365 Movie House

Tonight, I went with my family to see a movie.  (My dad used to call the theatre the movie house.) I hadn't taken any pictures all day and wondered what I would take a picture of.  I took my camera with me, just in case I saw something interesting.  Little did I expect to find my shot inside the theatre!  I liked the lights along the stairs.  I'm wishing I had noticed that one of the armrests was up though.  Darn.  By the way, we saw Adjustment Bureau.  I like it a lot.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

71/365 Salvaged

Today, after going to a garage sale in Dallas, Gary and I went to an architectural salvage place.  These were just some of the wrought iron pieces in the outdoor area.  They had several rows of these kinds of things.  I would love to get some iron to use as a trellis.

Friday, March 11, 2011

70/365 New Growth

I love when the sweet autumn clematis vine in my backyard starts growing.  Since it's windy today, I pulled off some branches and brought them inside.  Update: After posting this photo, I cropped it differently.  I can't decide which I like better.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

69/365 Nipping

This is what I did this afternoon - nipped some plates into petal shapes.  I'm working on some mosaic stepping stones.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

68/365 Pressed Flowers

When we moved to Texas nearly 13 years ago, I just loved all the beautiful wildflowers I saw that first spring.  My little boys and I would go for walks and pick flowers.  And I pressed them.  I even have a microwave press, but I pressed most of them the old fashioned way, in a book.  I used two telephone books, and stuffed the pages.  One book had mostly flowers; the other one had mostly leaves and greenery.  I always thought I would do some project with them, but never did.  The phone books have been in a closet that I've cleaned out many times over the years and I just kept putting the phone books back in.  But this time, I'm getting rid of the phone books.  I'm kind of sad to see the flowers go, because when I see them, I'm reminded of those sweet days spent with my boys.  So, I thought it would be nice to photograph a few of them.  I think this photo kind of looks like a botanical print.  Maybe I'll frame it and I'll be able to see the flowers every day.  And that beats having them in a book in the closet.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

67/365 Coming Back

These pansies have come back after the deep freeze we had last month.  They're in a hanging container and the wind was blowing, so the container was swinging ever so gently.  Oh well, another photo not perfectly focused.  But I'm actually okay with it.  I like the softness.  I added a rough paper texture from SKC Photography.

Monday, March 7, 2011

66/365 Cash

This is my companion, Cash.  I just love how just his left ear sticks up.  Notice the tail not in focus.  It's constantly moving!

Sunday, March 6, 2011

65/365 Shadows

This is a metal sculpture that is part of a pair that I found at a yard sale.  It was probably a metal shop project for someone.  It sits on the mantel.  I like its shadow.  I was going for focus only on the head, but to get it I needed to use the tripod.  The mantel is high, so I had two legs of the tripod on the hearth and the third on a stepstool!

Saturday, March 5, 2011

64/365 Doing the Dishes

I spend a lot of time at the kitchen sink.  I'm usually preparing dinner or doing the dishes.  (I wonder if other people say doing the dishes or washing the dishes.)  This rooster planter is what sits in my kitchen window.   I figured he deserved a spot in the 365 project.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

61/365 Creamy or Crunchy?

Wednesday is grocery shopping day.  And we needed peanut butter - again!  We go through about 3 to 1 creamy to crunchy.  My husband is the crunchy fan.  And yes, we are a multi-brand family.  I like both of these, so I just pick whatever floats my boat on shopping day.  So, what's your favorite?  Creamy or crunchy?

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

60/365 Lessons Learned


I found some spring blossoms under a streetlight of all places.  This picture could have been great, but it's not.  Lessons learned on this quick photo trip: 1. ALWAYS keep the tripod in the car.  2.  ALWAYS keep your photo bag zipped.  My bag took a tumble off the seat as I was driving home and my gear tumbled to the floor.  Thankfully, all is well.  My Canon 40D is built like a tank.  So, with these lessons learned, especially #1, I may try this shot again tomorrow, as it might be really nice in focus!  But you know how spring blossoms sometimes are.  They may be gone tomorrow.