Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.


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Success….well…some anyway

Hey everybody, it’s Penny here! I’m interrupting mom’s travel and photography posts to tell you about me! Cause I know you’ve been missing me. Speaking of missing, mom was missing for almost an entire week! No one got my permission for her to go gallivanting but I guess my vote doesn’t count. Anyway, she was gone from last Saturday to this past Friday afternoon.

Where have you been, mom?

And on Saturday and Sunday morning she had registered me for an obedience trial! So when she got home Friday mom and I got right into the ‘working’ mode. I know what the word work means. It means treats! Special, extra good treats! So we went to the trial Saturday morning. Mom said she had zero expectations, given we had N-Q’d last time and she had been gone the week before this trial.

When is it my turn?

But guess what? I did great! I did all 5 exercises pretty perfectly. I sat when I was supposed to sit, I paid attention to mom and I stayed when I was supposed to stay. I ended up with 198 points out of 200, and first place! I guess, though, I have to admit that I was the only one in my class, so as long as I finished everything I was destined to get first place! Mom said she was very proud of me.

I got first place AND best sheltie (It was a sheltie hosted trial).

Then on Sunday we went back to the trial to do it again. Mom was a little worried because I generally don’t like to do stuff more than once, but she thought maybe given it was a day apart it would be ok. And again, I was doing great. Sitting when I was supposed to sit. Paying attention to my mom and heeling like a good girl. I let the guy judge pat me on the head during the sit for exam without protest.

Me and my mom after my first day at the trial.

Then came the stay where I’m supposed to sit in the middle and watch mom walk around the perimeter of the ring and then back to me. And guess what? I got bored so I laid down. Mom almost made it around the room before I gave up, but I think she needs to learn to walk faster.

Oops. That disqualified us right there. We still finished everything, and my recall was beautiful. The judge and mom were very sad. I, however, just wanted to get out of the ring so I could get my jackpot. I know what my priorities are!

I promise not to give up next time, OK mom?

Anyway. I’m now 1 for 3 in my Beginner Novice Obedience trials. Mom says we’ll keep trying. I only need two more legs to get my title! LOL No rush mom, I’ll get there! On my schedule, not yours.

Talk later, your Beginner Novice Wantabe, Penny.


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Star power

I’ve been out of town for most of the last week. I, of course, took lots of images. But the main reason for the trip was to experience dark skies in South Dakota.

I’m lucky enough to have a friend from high school who lives on a farm away from city lights. For years we’ve talked about me going out there to see the stars.

My sister contemplating life on the prairie.

So last week it finally came together and my sister and I drove out there. We were so lucky that the skies were clear for all three nights that we were there. We spent a few hours each of two nights staring up at the sky with warm breezes keeping the bugs at bay.

I have 3 sets of night images to process, the barn, a tractor and the gate. But I need to learn how to stitch skies and foregrounds together in Photoshop. The learning of that will likely take me awhile.

Me letting her push the shutter.

For now I’ll share these single take images of my sister and me. When I learn how to process the rest of them I’ll share those as well.

We had a great time and want to thank our hosts so much for sharing their lives and their skies with us!

(PS: WordPress makes everything darker. I’ve used the lighter of my images but if it’s still dark, try looking at these in a darkened room on a bigger than your phone screen.)


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Got a little damp

I wasn’t going to post today. I’ve got lots of stuff I need to do and posting wasn’t high on my to-do list. But moving the images from my camera to storage was. And I promised myself I wasn’t going to look at them. Because I don’t have time, you know.

But I did. It was raining one morning this week and I was shooting birds (not literally) through the window. This one made me laugh out loud. You never know what you’ve got until you look at them on a bigger screen.

So I’m sharing it with you. I hope you smile too.


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Kids today

Youngster: Dad! Hey Dad! I’m hungry!

Youngster: Huh. Dad’s not listening.

Youngster: DAD! I’m HUNGRY!

Youngster: Well what the heck. Dad?

Dad: Darn! Now there are TWO of them bugging me!

Dad: Geeze. Where’s these kids’ mother? I need reinforcement here.

Dad: These kids need to find their own supper. They’re plenty old enough. Dad out.

Youngster: Dad? Where’d you go, dad?

Youngster: Hey dad! I’m still HUNGRY!

Youngster: Guess I’ll get my own darn jelly. Can’t depend on anybody these days.


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Happy Birthday, USA!

Husband and I spent the evening yesterday with members of his family on a pretty lake, celebrating family and the 4th of July, our nation’s birthday.

We enjoyed lots of good food while we waited for the sky to get dark and the fireworks to start. Unfortunately a pretty heavy thunderstorm blew through about the time we were going to start eating. We ran for the house.

That wasn’t the kind of dark sky we had hoped for. But lucky for us after the rain the sky cleared and the fireworks started on time.

We sat in lawn chairs on the shore and enjoyed the show. It reminded me so much of my childhood when my family would take our little 35 horsepower ski boat out on the water and watch the fireworks.

Lots of similar memories were made last night.

And though I did worry about my dog back at home, closed into a bedroom with the TV on loud, I couldn’t begrudge all the people out last night on a warm summer night watching the lights explode overhead. Later in the week when folks in the neighborhood are still setting them off I’ll be more grumpy.

I hope you all have the kind of 4th that best fits your family. And I hope this great American experiment lasts for centuries more.


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Adding gold

I was painting a card this morning, intent on sending it out today to Eva, a woman who rescues very old dogs, often shelties, from kill shelters in California. Since she works with old, very sick dogs, she was a wealth of information when our Katie-girl was struggling with gall bladder issues and then kidney disease. So I try to support her efforts to give old dogs their best lives during their last days or years.

I saw this card online somewhere, maybe FB, maybe in an ad, I don’t remember. But I liked it enough to save it and this morning I recreated it. The background in each box is metallic paint, a light purple and a light brown. You can’t see the sheen in this image, but it’s pretty. I painted that in after the flowers were done with regular watercolor.

Actually I was surprised at how much measuring and plotting it actually took before I could begin to paint. The painting part is the fun part. Figuring out the math isn’t really my thing. I wonder if I could have done it just by splashing some metallic squares around and painting the flowers on top.

In the end I didn’t do that and I like it just fine the way it is. But boy my fingers were itching to put those gold lines around the outside edges of the metallic, flowery squares. It sure is hard to wait for all the paint to dry. It’s one of the hardest things about watercolor, waiting for layers to dry.

I wonder what is it about the gold liner pen that is just so satisfying? I should use it more often. It’s a lovely, shiny way to start my day. Now to get it into the mail!


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Memorial poppies

A few days ago, on a beautiful blue sky, puffy white cloud afternoon, a photography friend and I went over to Fennville Michigan to see the poppy field. If you’re not from around here, and maybe even if you are, you might ask what poppy field?

There’s a special place in a tiny little town over on the west side of the state. It’s four acres of red poppies and blue bachelor buttons. Maybe that’s hard to image, so let me share a few of the images I took over the course of a couple magical hours.

We arrived around 5 p.m. and the light on the flowers was so beautiful. It was hard to capture the entire enormity of it.

As we stood, mesmerized, near the opening to the field I listened as more people arrived.

Each person stopped abruptly and then sighed or gasped. Voices lowered in respect and awe.

The awe is because the field is over the top beautiful. The respect came from the reason the field was planted in the first place. It was originally dedicated to a young man who served tours in Afghanistan, came home with PTSD, and took his own life.

The field is also dedicated to a young 19 year old woman who lost her battle to a rare form of cancer.

I looked up both stories after taking many photos of beautiful poppies up close and in masses. We were waiting for the sun to lower, hoping for a pretty sunset.

Meanwhile we wandered all the way around the field, looking for different angles, different colors.

Different shapes.

A lot of the time I wasn’t shooting. I was just walking and thinking about the young people this town lost, the heartbreak that planted these beautiful flowers.

I don’t know how many pictures of poppies I can cram into one blog post. I want you to see them all. But I took 309 images, and that’s a bit much. I think I edited 70 some, still too many.

I’ll just try to show you a representative few and hope that you can imagine the feeling.

By 9 p.m. or so the sun was lowering. The white puffy clouds were long gone but there were still interesting shapes in the sky. It wasn’t a big impressive sunset but when you looked through a camera lens it was pretty amazing.

I don’t think we could get a more perfect day to see this sweet field.

There’s a very narrow window to see the poppies. They begin to bloom around the middle of June and they’re done by the 4th of July. I feel very lucky that we got to see them at all.

And I hope you enjoyed seeing a tiny bit of a magical place. Think a bit about the two young people too, I think their families would appreciate knowing they are not lost in all the noise of today.

In a peaceful poppy field in a tiny town in rural Michigan their memories are strong. Even among those of us that never met them.


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By way of spreading joy

A week ago today I took three people to Kensington to feed the birds. They had never done that before but they’d heard about it and wanted to have the experience.

Hey, toss that peanut over here!

They had to drive almost 2 hours but they thought it was worth it. I do too. Though we arrived early in the morning, when the birds are most likely to be hungry, we weren’t inundated with begging feathered ones. But we had our fair share.

It rained all night and I’m not looking my best, but I sure am hungry!

Mostly it was the woodpeckers, in different varieties that were interested in us. Though an occasional red-winged blackbird stopped by.

I’m really interested in that peanut you have, could you toss it here?

And the bluejays were always nearby.

I’m faster than any darn woodpecker, just watch me!

In fact this visit turned into a ‘toss a peanut’ experience. The red-bellied and the red-headed woodpeckers and of course the bluejays are all very talented at plucking a tossed peanut out of the sky.

We spent much of our walk through the woods tossing peanuts into the air where they were eagerly snatched by a winged one.

Got it!

And of course we walked out onto the boardwalk to check on the blue heron rookery.

Ms. Red-winged was startled as we walked by.

The heron babies are now teenagers, testing their wings and making a great deal of noise whenever an adult ventures by. Just in case there might be breakfast arriving.

I can flap my wings faster than you. Oh will you two just settle down? I’m trying to nap here.

All in all, though we weren’t swarmed by birds I think everybody had a great time and I hope they come back for another adventure!

Thanks for the peanut! See ya next time!