Camera Tossing 2010, Take #2

Now that we have the Christmas tree up, I wanted to do some more camera tossing in front of the tree to see what I could end up capturing.





Cool, huh?

Don't forget to turn off the flash before you do it, though. Turning off the flash forces your auto-shutter to stay open longer to let in more light, which makes for a lot more motion blur effects.

It may be Christmastime now, but...

It is still FALL around here:





Saw lots and lots of blazing Bradford Pear trees today, most with all three colors (brilliant green, brilliant yellow and brilliant red) on the same tree at the same time.

Today was spent at the Baptist Retirement Village near Madill, Oklahoma, sharing a Thanksgiving meal with most of the members of my dad's family, the Young clan. The food, as usual, was beyond wonderful, and there was lots of laughter and snarky humor and goofy children.

My dad has five siblings in all. Here's me with his two sisters, my precious Aunty Lea and Aunty Sookie:




Tomorrow we'll have ANOTHER fantastic Thanksgiving meal, this time down at my mom's with Grandmother and Granddad (mom's parents). I love Thanksgiving! Hopefully on Saturday we'll get to put up our Christmas tree. Wheee!!

OK, now Christmas can officially begin!

The first thing I do after finishing Thanksgiving dinner is listen to George Winston's album December. It's been around more than 20 years now, and I think I've probably listened to it every year since it came out.

The next thing I do? I find a way to listen to the B. C. Clark jingle:




This little ditty has been around longer than I have, and it hasn't changed one teensy bit. Because my growing-up years were spent in Oklahoma, this was a Christmas fixture on par with watching Charlie Brown Christmas and tinsel on the tree. As soon as the internet made it possible to listen to -- and eventually watch -- the B. C. Clark commercial jingle, I did so, and have done ever since, even though I have not lived in Oklahoma for many many years.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving, Y'all

Thankful for:
My awesome kids: Martha, Alice & Isaac
My awesome family: Too many to name
My awesome friends: Y'all know who you are
My awesome job: Art & Journalism Teacher, Ballyhoo High School
My awesome town: Ballyhoo!
My awesome state: TEXAS!
My awesome country: USA! USA! USA!

Camera tossing

It's getting to be about time for another round of Camera Tossing, usually made more interesting by the presence of Christmas lights. I don't have my Christmas lights up just yet, but I did some preliminary tosses in front of the television as an experiment. Got some stuff I liked the look of... several involving television images, and a few capturing the overhead light instead thanks to rogue tosses. Here are a couple of samples:











I don't use the big fancy camera for this sort of activity, of course... practically speaking, it's easier to toss a little, light point-and-shoot... and then there's the risk factor. Any-hoo, if you want to give this a try, start out doing it on a carpeted surface or even atop a bed, making sure that you're pointing the camera at a light somewhere when you push the shutter button and twirl the camera at the same time. That way, when it lands, it will be on a soft surface and won't be jarred or damaged. See what you can do!

In the yard

The big crape myrtle in the southeast corner of the yard has decked itself in brilliant fall plumage.

Hero Kitteh

Hero cat saves Peacehaven woman from apartment fire

A hero cat saved a woman from a flat blaze after pawing her face and saying get miaow-t.

The 17-year-old puss, Tizzy, swiped sleeping Michelle Prince on the nose after curtains in her Peacehaven home caught fire.

Shop worker Michelle, 41, who said she owed her life to the marvellous mog, said: “She is a hero because she really did save my life. I know I would have just slept on because it was the middle of the night and the whole bedroom would have gone up. I've got four shelves full of soft toys and a basket of washing next to the window and they could easily have caught fire next. I dread to think what would have happened.”

Michelle, of Fairfield, in Sutton Avenue, managed to put out the flames, which had been caused by a heater under the curtains, before calling firefighters.

Dude, that kitteh is SEVENTEEN YEARS OLD.

Awesome.

Two blackbirds in a tree

I have been obsessing with this image of a tree that just will not leave my mind. I am trying to capture it. Many of the images I have been creating have nibbled around the edges of The Tree As I Have Been Seeing It In My Mind, but none of them have quite gotten the full essence of it. This tree is one I have been working on this week. It's a watercolor base with metallic gel pens and polyester flake, done on 140-lb cold press paper.

My lil' sistah

Ain't they cute? This is my sister Beth, her husband Brian, and their daughter Ava. I took this pic in my parents' backyard on my birthday.

My birthday supper was phenomenal. Of course, we had my traditional carrot cake (which was exceptionally moist and tasty this year, and I have no idea where my mom bought it, but I've been meaning to ask her because it might just have been the best-tasting carrot cake I have ever had), but we also had Thai takeout that blew my mind (and pegged my heat-o-meter... doggonit, that stuff was hot and spicy and yummy).

All in all, it was a very happy birthday weekend. On Saturday, my bestest co-worker girlfriends Andrea and Leslie took me out for a birthday lunch and then we went to Leslie's for a while for some beer and gossip and to meet her new Basset pup Nellie (who is just the sweetest, floppiest, lovey-est thing ever). I work with some of the awesomest folks in the whole wide world.

On a more serious note, I have a very dear friend who lives a long way away and who is battling some major health issues right now. I'd give my right arm to be able to be there and help run errands and clean house, and it's killing me to know that I can't... but I'd appreciate it if you'd pray anyway. For privacy reasons, I can't talk about it any more than that, but it's really important to me.

You say it's your birthday!

It's my birthday too, yeah!

Miss Marpha

Martha Elizabeth Wood, age sixteen. She cuts her own hair and wants to be a cosmetologist when she finishes high school.