Yesterday....

Yesterday was the scheduled "reunion" of all of us that went to the Photography Workshop to the Smoky Mtns. back in October.  Oh what fun to gather with all my photo family that I spent 5 days with in Tennessee.  I must say, we all cleaned up really nicely.  In Tennessee we were dressed for hiking, loaded with layers and layers of clothing, make-up and hair kinda took a back-seat, so yesterday seeing everyone all "dressed up" and lookin' good was a real treat along with just visiting, eating and viewing photos from our special time together.

We had our gathering at "Lovell's of Lake Forest" a beautiful restaurant....now there is a story here to be told....  My traveling partners, Susan along with Jim were both from the northern suburbs. (fyi, I knew neither one until that morning when we introduced ourselves)  We met up at my house which is much further south and took off on our adventure together.  Now we spent 6 days together, traveling, eating, classroom time, taking a kazillion photos and not once during this time did I wonder if Susan Lovell was any relation to Jim Lovell, ya know the astronaut that was part of the team of Apollo 13 (in case you are still wondering who the heck is Jim Lovell, just watch the movie, Apollo 13 with Tom Hanks portraying Jim Lovell then you will remember.)  It wasn't until the last night, when only my traveling companions, Susan and Jim and our instructor Lou were having dinner together, all the remaining classmates had already headed for home, but we decided to wait until the following morning to take off.  It was then that I discovered who Susan Lovell really was.  Oh my, surprise, shock and awe were written all over my face.  And it wasn't until last night over dinner that she really talked about her Dad and growing up during the time he was an astronaut.  I wasn't the only one surprised, most everyone else did not put two and two together either until last night.  Anyway, we had a great spread of food, casual but yummy, wine aplenty, and lotsa laughter.

Lou is having another workshop in the Smoky Mtns. in April, but since I am going to a photography workshop in late March into early April in Charleston, SC (be still my heart) I don't think I will register for this one.  I can't leave my kids that much.  Leaving for Phoenix the end of this month for 10 (yippee) days and then again in March, is a challenge.  Having animals always presents a problem when traveling but there is no way I would give them up for the few times a year I travel.  My daughter always cared for Toby, but now that I have two and with her 1 dog and 3 cats it is too much. Oh what's a Mother to do?

Anyhoo...on my way home last night I spotted a little grocery store across the street from the restaurant called "The Sunshine Market"...and thought, I need some flowers.  Now that Christmas is over and all the prettiness from the holidays has wilted away, I need a little color on my kitchen sink.  And, no surprise, it's red.   The little primulas, one of the early, early signs that spring will return is now adding cheeriness to the kitchen.

And do you have as much trouble with photographing reds as I do?  Trying to get the brightness but not over exposed is always a challenge for me.  But I gotta say, using Lightroom 5 really helps in the editing.  And fyi, taken with my 50mm....someone asked what class this is.  The class is given by Kim Manley Ort.  Here is the link to her website where you can find all of her workshops... Kim Manley Ort Photography .  I don't know if anyone can join the workshop now, we are in to our 2nd week out of 4, but she may offer it again in the future.  Our challenge this week is street photography.  This will definitely be a challenge for me, not that I don't love street photography it's that I am not sure how many people are going to be out and about during this horrid weather.  It has warmed up but the predictions for the week are back in the deep freeze once again.  Oh Phoenix come to me baby.

And thought I would share a few of the shots that I displayed yesterday from my trip to the Smoky Mtns.

This is why they call them the Smoky Mountains...

OK, that's enough.  Got alot to do today, busy week ahead.  Hope yours

is a great one!!

And thanks to those that suggested Whirly Bird app...now I'm hooked.

"We owe it to each other to tell stories". ~ Neil Gaiman

Until next time....

Little Things My Mom Would Do....

These dreary, cold, stuck inside winter days has me really missing my Mom.  For the last 2 1/2 years of her life she lived with us and then passed away from complications from a stroke 3 years ago.  We would spend afternoons playing gin, or Yatzee, or Scrabble or dice games.  She loved playing games as much as I did and not only did it keep us entertained, but it probably kept our minds sharp.  Now I settle for games on an app on my I-Phone, just not the same.  But I will recommend one that I play daily....it's called 7 Words or Seven Words....not sure which but if you are interested I am sure you can search it.  It is free.  There is a new puzzle each day giving you a list of clues to specific words, revealing how many letters are in each word.  There are groups of 2 or 3 letters listed below the clues. Your challenge is to figure out and spell the words by putting the letters together. You can get a hint so many times and then after so many times if you want hints you have to pay for them.  I think it is $1.99 for unlimited hints.  And because I wasn't satisfied with just one puzzle a day, since I no longer have my Mom to play games with, I anted up and bought a year's worth for $2.99.  Personally I love word games much more than number games, I think that must come from my poor showing while in school of any subject that had anything to do with math.

The tea set was my Mom's....actually I gave it to her for Christmas one year.  And when she passed away it became mine.  I cherish it because I know how much she loved it.

I catch myself now doing little things that my Mom would do.  It's true you do become your Mom, intentionally or not.  But as I do these "little things" it strikes a chord in how much I truly miss her, especially during this cold, shut in the house time of the year.

I now heat my dinner plate or bowl in the microwave before serving food on it...she "hated" cold plates...claimed they made the food cold too fast.  She was right of course.  With our frigid weather we have had lately and because my dish cabinet is on the north wall of our house, the plates and bowls come out of that cabinet mighty cold...so yeah, it's great if you are having ice cream...not so if you are having a hot meal.  Mom always heated her plate, now I am.  Little things....

Just finished a good book....you need to read this one, "The Husband's Secret".  An interesting plot twist at the end and a great "wrap-up".  I am not fond of books that kinda leave you hangin' making you figure out what exactly happened.  I like it tidied up, but also not too quickly either.  Some books are like that too....they just all of a sudden are over and done, wham.  It's like the author decided, "ok, I have written enough, now it's time to end"....don't like that either.  There are soooo many books out there that I am itching to read, and that is a goal of mine this year is to read more.  I used to swallow books, then I got into photography and blogging and the books kinda got shoved to the back shelf...so to speak.

OK, speaking of writing too much, I have done exactly that with this post.  And fyi...all images were taken with the 50mm f/1.4 lens.  That is the great thing about this lens, it can be really dark in your home, but with this lens you can still take decent shots, and my Nikon D7100 helps too.

Found this great quote on Pinterest......
    "Open your mouth only if what you are going to say is more beautiful than silence"
So now I am going to be silent.

Until next time.....

Random Five On Friday - The January 10, 2014 Edition

1) I am beginning this post with trepidation due to the apparent hiccups blogger is currently experiencing. We will see how this unfolds....as I said yesterday, I was feeling really smug because I had sailed along via blogger for years...since 2009 (wow has it been that long ago since I began this blog??) without a stitch of trouble until yesterday.  Oh baby I bet their inbox was overflowing with disgruntled bloggers.  Oh and btw....that is my first of my random five on Friday.  I am going to have to dig dip to come up with 5 random thoughts today.

2) It has been kind of a (ho-hum) boring week with the only day out being Wednesday with my gal pals for the start of our new Bible study where I blasphemed (not really) Beth Moore on a recent post and then enjoyed lunch with more gal pals to examine, deliberate and confer about the new season of Downton Abbey.

3)  Today it is warming up....the drips can be heard from the melting of the snow, and Toby is in his glory.  He was feeling mighty trapped being in the house all day and not able to patrol the grounds.

4)  This week brought disturbing news from a friend and then from a relative about some difficult medical issues....and both of my granddaughters are having medical issues...all very unnerving and worrisome...all are being taken care of by the best means possible.   I am sure this is part of my "grumpiness." with the worries and the knowing I can't do a thing to help anyone of them except pray.

5) And this one is definitely a world shaker...I have decided to let my hair grow.  I cancelled my last haircut appointment then never re-booked therefore the hair continued to grow.  Returning to Bible Study after almost a month without, a couple of ladies told me that my new style made me look "younger"....well that's all you need to say to me. so no haircuts in the near future for this "younger" woman.  (giggle, snort)

So there, that is my random five...all so very notable (snore) but I would appreciate a hop over to my collaborative blog, Focusing on Life where I am musing on "begin".  And of course a trip to Nancy's, the host of Random Five on Friday is always a fun time.

"Each moment is a place you've never been."  ~ Mark Strand

Until next time....