Katie says: “Happy Thanksgiving to all our blogging friends and family! In the spirit of the holiday I will share with you my latest gift, for which I am thankful!”
It’s my Frosty Dog from Katybeth!
“Well…not share exactly. A princess does not share.
But you can enjoy me enjoying it if you like.”
It’s MY pink pig too. Just saying.
Sunday I cleaned – cleaned lots of stuff, including the front of the dishwasher, removing drips and fingerprints, dried on stuff of undetermined origin.
Monday night I got home from work and found this.
Katie says she is not responsible. But if she didn’t do it that only leaves husband. Who was, admittedly very hungry when I got home.
Still…
We spent the weekend working on projects around the house, taking care of a neighbor’s cat while they were out of town and taking advantage of unseasonably warm weather to put up outdoor Christmas lights.
It was nice.
Early morning peace.
This weekend was the calm before the holiday storm. Crazy people are camping outside retails stores to be the first shoppers on Black Friday…and some stores are even opening on Thanksgiving night. As usual I will not be in those lines, nor shopping for things no one needs. I’ll be spending next weekend with siblings; goofing off, cooking, taking walks up mountains, pictures and naps.
If you’re spending next Friday shopping for stuff….well…enjoy. To each his own.
And I do appreciate your efforts to turn our economy around. Yes I do.
I went out on a cold rainy grey November day to find something for Scott’s color composition challenge. The day before had been warm and sunny but I didn’t venture out with the camera. Too obvious and too sensible.
One of the articles Scott provided for reference talked about the meaning of color, how you can sometimes use color to set a mood for a photo. I guess I’ve been feeling kind of sad that the summer has ended and winter is right around the corner, because every bit of color I found that day was blue. I’m not saying that the blue in each photo set the mood for the photo…just that it was what I noticed on this day. (Click on the picture to see the details.)
My first stop was at a historic church. I pass this church every Tuesday on my to and from band rehearsal and I’ve never noticed it. At our last rehearsal I saw with shock that someone had painted the front door and knew I had to come back with a camera.
The color composition challenge was a perfect excuse to stop and get that shot. I started out focusing on the door itself, then tried to get the steeple and the door in the frame. But as I walked back to the car I looked back and knew the whole church needed to be included – because the transformation of the door only worked when it was shown against the disrepair of the entire building. I placed the door near the intersection of the rule of thirds lines.
Historic Presbyterian Church gets a small facelift.
Continuing on with my errands I passed an old schoolhouse that has been painted many many times. Long after the last schoolchild left it was run as a restaurant and catering business, but that closed years ago and now it sits empty. Through the rain I noticed the bell tower with it’s multiple layers of paint showing a bit of it’s history. Again the blue caught my eye, and I tried to have it take up 2/3rds of the image.
Years of schoolhouse colors.
And as I made my way home I noticed the local ski hill. No snow yet, but there was more blue. I had to climb down a muddy hill and ruined a pair of shoes to get this. But I really enjoyed the way the blue ski lift moves from the lower left and climbs up to the upper right of the shot, reflecting the angle of the hill.
Ready for the ski season.
Yep, it was a blue kind of day. But I can’t say that was all due to fall moving into winter. After all I found this blue last spring at my local nursery.
Blue pots
Scott has issued his latest challenge…to work color into a photo as a composition element. I think back to a summer challenge from Karma that was all about color, but now here it is November in Michigan. Where to find that pop of color that deliberately pulls the eye?
I could go into the archives and see what there is. Surely in the Albuquerque photos there would be something.
Or along our great lakes?
Anything?
But no, this is about challenging us to consciously use color in a composition. I need to look around and see what I can find. The assignment is due Wednesday the 21st of November. Go read more at Scott’s blog right away!
Jump on in…the color’s wonderful!
At our tiny local cemetery flags fly for our Veterans.
Today is Veteran’s Day here in the US. It’s a day when we remember those that have and still serve in the armed forces and we express our appreciation for their sacrifices.
A World War I Veteran rests.
It hasn’t been a week since the election. Maybe your guy won. Maybe your guy lost.
There’s a story to be told right on this marker.
Regardless, how about we make an effort to work together now, starting on this Veteran’s Day.
The founding family of our small town served.
We can move forward together, compromise, fix stuff, make this a better place to live. For all of us. Most of all, let’s not let these Veterans down. We can make them proud of us if we work together. Heck, we could be proud of ourselves. And that counts too.
So many have served over such a long time.
Let’s not squander the gift we’ve been given. Freedom isn’t something to waste.
Thank you.
