Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.

Tag Archives: fun stuff


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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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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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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!


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Looking for the lights

Last week a storm on the sun was predicted to send some major northern lights our way. A storm big enough to be seen even down here in southeast Michigan. But since there’s so much light down here, what with cities and towns all over, a friend and I decided we’d drive the three hours up to the tip of Michigan’s thumb and try our luck.

A misty evening looking out over Lake Huron.

When we arrived there was a kind of mist hanging over the lake. It was several hours until sunset, but we didn’t mind hanging out on the beach and waiting.

Waiting.

Or photograph the swans hanging out just up the beach.

Relaxing in the evening light.

But finally the sun began to set and we became hopeful.

Bye bye sun, sleep tight.

Maybe the night would be the night we’d dreamed of. We were ready.

As the sky darkened we could see two planets, Venus and Jupiter. They were the perfect “stars” to practice our camera focus as we waited for the light show to start.

The first ‘stars’ to appear.

We waited. We noticed clouds in a bank along the horizon and some in the sky. But aurora would look spectacular among the clouds. So we waited some more and practiced focusing on more stars.

Thousands of stars, and there would be more to see if it were truly dark.

As time passed the bank of clouds rolled across the lake toward us and we had to change our focus and practice on the stars directly above us where the sky was still clear.

Before the clouds covered it all up.

But by midnight the sky was completely clouded over and the light storm hadn’t yet hit earth. We decided to pack it up and head home. No amazing aurora. No milky way.

A pretty little beach at a roadside park.

Were we disappointed? Or course. But we had hours on the beach, little waves rolling up on the sand, and stars overhead. Sometimes you don’t get what you want, but you always get what you need when you head out into the night to photograph the sky.

Guaranteed.


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Finding some summer music

Sunday afternoon I drove about an hour to attend another community’s band concert. They were celebrating the 250th anniversary of our country too, and I was curious what they would play.

I’ve never been to one of their concerts, but many years ago our community band and theirs planned a joint concert in their town. We anticipated having another joint concert the next year at our high school.

I can’t remember if it was a blizzard or an electrical outage, it very well could have been both, but the school was closed the day of our performance and we never did find another date to make that concert up. I’ve always felt sad about that, both bands had prepared music that we didn’t get to play.

Sunday’s program began with a subset of the band, doing jazz numbers, complete with a singer, and there was also a drum and fife band that marched in and played several pieces. The drum and fife players were aged 12-18. It felt good to see young people involved with something so historical. There is hope for our country!

The Community Band was wonderful. It is larger than our band, there were 75 people listed in the program, including twelve clarinets! They completely fill the stage and their sound fills the hall. They were awesome and I’m so glad I went.

Music in the spring and summer is so hopeful. I feel better just attending, even though I didn’t know a single soul in the audience or on the stage. I can say with certainty that everyone was smiling as they left Sunday’s concert. I plan to go to another concert this one located closer to home and outside, this week. You’ll probably hear about that one too. 🙂

You can’t beat community music. Look around, find some local music. I encourage you to take some time and attend something in your town. You’ll be supporting your neighbors and you, too, will walk away with a smile.

Guaranteed.


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Hey!

Penny here. Guess what? Guess what, guess what, guess what?!!!

Mom accidentally found out that today is LUCKY PENNY DAY!

Wow! An entire day where the whole country celebrates ME!

Personally I always knew I was special but mom tried to keep the lid on it so to speak, so I didn’t get a big head. But she can’t hide my greatness anymore…why, there’s a day just for ME!

Oh. Wait. They’re talking about real pennies? The kind you find in parking lots? The kind they don’t even make anymore?

What the heck people!

I say we start a letter writing campaign to get me nominated to be the official LUCKY PENNY.

Geeze.

Talk later,

Your Lucky Penny (officially named Simply Unstoppable Pretty Penny, but I know I’m lucky too)


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The orioles are back!

Historically the orioles (bright orange migrating birds) come back to my feeder from their winters in South America about (and almost always ON) May 5th.

I would like to announce my arrival, lady!

This year people were reporting them returning to their yards in lower Michigan at the end of April. So I put my oriole feeder out then. And then I waited. Every day I thought “this will be the day.”

Have you filled my royal feeder with my royal jelly?

And suddenly it was. My first sighting was May 1st and I was very excited. He was extra hungry and between him and the house finches I started going through a lot of jelly. Of course I didn’t mind at all.

Wrong feeder

Today I figured out there are actually two males. And possibly two females now. Though today I saw a picture online by a bird photographer who does a lot of educating with her images. She said her photograph was probably a young male, perhaps last years youngster. She said they look like females but have more black on them, like a male.

Ahhhh…this is more like it.

So now I’m considering that the two ‘females’ I’ve had might just be last year baby boys. That would make sense, as the males always arrive first.

A female? Or a young male? I think young male.

Either way the four of them have been at the feeder all day, every day since at least the 5th. AND I also get hummingbirds the next day (the 6th) of May, and a rose breasted gross beak!

Ahem….what have you planned for MY dinner?

The hummers and the gross beak arrived a day late, but I was just as happy to see them.

I hope she has safflower seed for me. That’s my favorite.

I don’t have an image of the male hummingbird yet, he’s very skittish. But the gross beak has always been something of a photo hog. He’s not skittish at all, as long as you move slowly. And your dog doesn’t bark.

But hey, grape jelly might be better!

The same day that the gross beak and the hummer arrived I saw a catbird, also a migrating bird that isn’t here in the winter.

Hey! Don’t be so grumpy. It’s OK to share a little of your royal jelly.

And across the street in the pond was an egret. Though my pictures of that bird are just bad. I always have trouble with the bright white of egrets. I know I’ll have more opportunities so I’ll wait until I get a better image before I share.

Catbird, not an oriole.

BUT, I have to say that the 5th and 6th were very big bird days in and around my yard!

Red bellied woodpecker also likes grape jelly.

All the photos here were taken through a window, working through reflections and grime. But I didn’t care, I was just thrilled to see them all.