Colorful Hometown

 

Just back from a visit to my hometown and while there I continue with my daily walk. A theme seems to emerge each year (alley's, churches) and this year the colorful houses scattered about town seemed likely. My brother says it is the Finnish influence and really every town has them. I say thanks to the few brave who don't paint their home white, tan, grey or brown. They do make things more interesting!

A Perfect Weekend

Life is made up mostly of small moments.  This past weekend was not momentus, but it was for me all about what the good things in life are about.  Family.  We travelled out with Matt and Sara to see Lindsay and Dave and our boys.  Mostly a quiet weekend but I so enjoyed just sitting around the dinner table talking, playing in the yard with Dylan, spending Saturday's picture perfect weather at the winery having lunch with those that I love and the evening meeting Sara's Aunt Ann and Uncle John and her cousin all while my grandsons were busy showing off how good they were.   Yes, for me it was a PERFECT weekend. 

Stitching

A feature on my little Pentax lets you take 3 consecutive pics and it stitches them together.  It's not as easy as you might think though :) ........example below.  Double hole and sandtrap.  This is something I've yet to perfect but kinda fun trying. 

Pencil sketching

Playing with overlay and pencil sketching in the editing of two pictures together. Kinda interesting.

Elements

Such an inspiring place to go and wander around in.  For me it's a feast for the eyes!  I took a friend today and she was amazed as well and ended up buying wooden artist's easel that folds up and can be carried.  She paints so it was perfect! 

Same but not

 

Having fun w/photo editing....both good just different. 

On guard

This male is definately protecting his mate.  We have a female that has a nest on our pond and has been sitting on it for some 2 weeks now.  Every now and then the male comes in to give her a break so she can swim and forage around the grass a bit.  The other night Mark walked back from the last golf hole and he had to raise his club to defend himself.  Guess he got a little too close!  What this male doesn't realize is it's our home too and Mark was just trying to get back to it. 

Missing goes both ways

750 miles is a long way. I get to see and share time with my boys via computer which makes it less painful but "interaction" isn't the same as being with them. Today Dylan told Lindsay randomly "I miss Nana". I'm glad that he knows what missing means but sad cause it goes both ways. I miss them too!

Ipad3/MAC

Well I've been home a week and using my new Ipad3. How does it compare to my home PC? For me it's a kind of a draw. I like the wide screen and I'm definately more used to the PC. It's better at showing a bigger/wider range than the Ipad. I have yet to move itunes onto it as I don't have a need to yet. I definately like working on photo editing better on the PC. I love, love, love being able to "facetime" with my kids on the Ipad and it was the very first thing I learned to do. Instant gratificaion being able to see and talk to them live. The PC is capable but not as quickly and easily. I don't like certain "apps" on the Ipad and go back to the PC for certain things all the time. Pinterest (which I'm totally addicted to) is way better on the PC. The Ipad blanks out the pictures after a certain number which is what Pinterest is all about~visuals. Frustrating for me. Also doesn't let you move down your list of boards so ends up being twice the work when you have to edit to another board once pinned. Things I do love about the Ipad is its general quickness and mobility. Using your fingers is easy to adjust to as well. I love the news apps and use "editions" to tailor what type of interests I have and it sends me daily news about those interests. Thats pretty awesome. I will like being able to travel with the Ipad and have the internet available no matter where I go. Even Mark can use my Ipad as a hot spot. That is a big bonus for me. No more need to try to "find" the internet. Overall, I love the Ipad. But I also love my PC!

Out Takes

 

 

My picture of the day is sometimes hard to choose. Sometimes not. The past two days were and these are two that didn't make the cut but I thought were pretty good just the same.