Do the Things I Love to Do....

Well it's been over 2 months since I have posted. No excuses, probably not much to report, but in the last month I have had some very sad news that has put me in a melancholy mood. And again realizing that life is short and each day should have some beauty, a little joy, and a lot of gratitude. So many that I love have lost their beloved pet, their mother, their father, their husband, a friend gone way too soon. So much sadness that I just wanted to crawl into a ball and bury my head in my pillow. And again realizing that there is a way to relieve this sadness, to do the things I love to do.

This blog was my "get out of jail" card when my life was surrounded by my husband's illness, my mother's needs, and the daily gradations as both were failing in front of my eyes. In the evening, after settling my sweetie into bed, I would grab my laptop and write a blog post. I began this journey in May of 2011 and have written 960 posts since that time. Writing a post was part of my daily routine, what the heck happened that I got so far off of that path?? I still have a passion for photography, altho I must admit in the winter that passion goes pretty barren much like the landscape. This winter in particular with no snow and mild temps has produced nothing desirable to photograph. You can only photograph bare branches so many times.

Just as Spring was making it's first appearance with warm temps, blue skies, and sunshine and a chance to get out and photograph the emerging of early flowers, the temps plummeted and we are back to "same ol, same ol".  It sure was enjoyable while it lasted. This time last week I was at a photo conference, listening to speakers and having fun photographing indoors and relishing in the sunshine as we ate lunch outdoors, without coats.

I played around with the Lensbaby Velvet 56 during the conference and did get some fairly decent images, but I had just purchased the new Tamron 90mm 2.8 Macro lens and felt that I could probably duplicate the same look with the 90mm and not spend any more money on another lens.

The 2 wood-pecker images above were taken right from my front window with a 150-600mm lens. I finally filled the bird feeder after being empty for almost a week, and purchased a Wild Berry Suet square and the woodpeckers LOVE it.  It's like candy to a kid. Today alone, I saw juncos, cardinals, downy woodpeckers, red-bellied woodpeckers, chickadees, white breasted nut hatch, and ofcourse, sparrows, all right in my front yard. Now that brings me a lotta joy.

Tomorrow night the Oscars will light up TV's all over the world as we wait and watch to see who the big winners are this year. I have seen many of the movies that are nominated this year and I have my favorites. We'll see who walks away with that golden statue this year, but honestly come this time next year I probably won't remember who won what. But it's still a tradition in my house to watch, wait and cheer the winners. (and also see what the stars are wearing on the red carpet)

Take care, have a good week and spread a little joy.

Until next time....