Newspaper Photos and Photoediting

This is so exciting. I had all my pictures on this one page layout in the March Observer. If you look really close you can see my name in the middle of the page.

I am taking a class on Photoediting. The picture below is straight out of the camera. (SOOC) Now of course it is really nice but just wait.....

SOOC

RAW

This has been edited in RAW. This means that the picture has not been processed..hence the raw word. Just like raw chicken. You have to do something with it to get all the pixels to act nice.

Black and White Conversion
Then I converted the picture to black and white. I am so pleased with the results.

Sepia

Blog-a-versary---Happy Birthday

Happy Blog-a-versary

This week is the first anniversary of my blog. Over the past year I have had over 4,000 visitors. For the year 2008, there were over 3,000 unique visitors. The page that was most visited was the mosaic bowling ball. Visitors arrived from all over the world from as far away as Malaysia, India, Italy and Sweden, just to name a few.




I am now taking my third digital scrapbooking class from Jessica Sprague. This is our first layout. There are 10 lessons each week and one 10 minute lesson took me 1 1/2 hours just to complete. We are learning about clipping masks, compound masks, semi-transparent boxes and how to re-color textured items. It almost sounds like I am taking a medical class. Maybe I will use the clipping and compound masks on my face.

When I started this blog Molly was 4 months old. I took a video of her running through our sprinkler trenches. She was so cute. Here is the latest video. Not up to Hollywood production quality but you can see how much she has grown.

A new year starts with more fun things to blog.

Circus Book

I found this little book with the title A Day at the Circus. What a perfect way to showcase the family visit to the circus.

This is made out of empty toilet paper rolls.

Red Sunglasses

Do you ever notice that when you get something new and it is just over the top that all your friends end up having the same look?Maybe this is the start of the Red Sunglasses Society!!!! Obviously shopping in High Springs has its limitations. Before you know it we are all beginning to look alike.I want you to know that Jeri was there also but she was just a blur. Have you ever seen her sit still for long? She can get more done than a barn full of farm hands but she can't sit still.
We don't even know these people. They must be aliens who just dropped in. Maybe they are from Mars......One lady was from England and the couple were from Canada. Oh yes, they are up on the latest fashion.

Even the staff at Madhatters was sporting the new look. Nothing like eccentric behavior to support that name.

I know that all of you visiting this blog wish you had a pair of these also......

War of Northern Aggression

Imagine my surprise when I opened up the Newspaper on Tuesday only to find out that the North was still trying to take over Florida.
Brigadier General Joseph Finegan led the serge with 5,000 soldiers.


When Jonny comes marching home agian agian......Ninety-three Confederate soldiers were killed and 847 wounded. The Union losses were higher.

Southern ladies were waiting at home to hear the outcome of the battle.

Bird of Paradise

One of my mother's favorite flowers is the Bird of Paradise. This lovely bouquet belongs to my friend Shari. Of course we all remember the song "May the Bird of Paradise fly up your nose, by Little Jimmy Dikens. Now you are all humming that song. Can you remember the line that comes next?

If you look closely at the flower you will see that it includes a blue bird. This color blue is associated with spiritual awakening. It is a sign that you must lighten up and let go of the drama in your life. The bluebird teaches us to go through life with persistence and gentle strength. When a blue bird flies into your life it means that we must allow others to grow in their own way and time.

Shari also had this large Poinsettia growing. Ah another photo opportunity. Check out the legend of the Poinsettia plant.

Answer: May an elephant caress you with his toes.

Olustee Parade

Turquoise Inspires me

The feathers of a peacock are just so beautiful. This almost looks like the scales on a snake.

The tail has eyes that can see everything. A peacock is considered to have great wisdom because of these eyes.

There are usually about 150 of these tail feathers, which are used for many decorative pieces. The feathers are shed after each breeding season. Just like getting new clothes except theirs is always the same.

Many kings and queens had peacocks on their land. It is considered a royal bird. Frankly I think they kept them because of their bird "screams". That would scare the living begezzers out of anyone.

Since I was musing on turquoise I thought I would do a layout using turquoise.

Cold in North Flroida

Sometimes fall and winter merge together here in Florida.

It was not an ice storm but a sprinkler that caused this much ice. It stayed all day.

The Grady House added to the icy chill with their icicle fountain.

Super Bowl Party

Samantha is all dressed for the Super Bowl Party. I got her this cute little skirt and top. Since she has been watching Project Runway she had her own ideas of how to create a fashion statement.

Katelyn showed off her culinary skills by testing out the new Cotton Candy machine and filling us in on the history of cotton candy. It was originally called candy floss.
We decided that Michael could not have a complete childhood unless he tried plastic bubbles. As you can see he is now an expert. We also gave him a whoopee cushion and then spent the whole evening listening to that. Served us right.......

Stevie showed us his new office at the University of South Florida. They have all the latest technology. I was dying to get my hands back in the college business.

Ok at some point we did watch the game. " No, no I will choose the station you get to watch." Samantha was helping and when there was a touchdown she threw up her hands and said touchdown. At least it sounded like that to me. I think that is her first word.