Seen Better Times

SmugMug Daily Link

My girlfriend Aunt Debbie and I were at an estate sale on this property several years ago.  Always a bit sad to see someone's home being distributed after their death.  Although we yard saled a lot, we didn't often go to estate sales.  At any point, in my travels on Thursday, I noticed the tree down between the house and barn and stopped to take the shot I've posted as my picture of the day on this now decaying property.  Sortof OK SOOC, I thought the HDR effect gave it an oil painting type feel giving the tree some character.

I was leaving Billie a comment today while looking out my favorite window at Donnie's house when I saw this huge bird with a red head fly by.  Wow, it's a pileated woodpecker!  I made it outside and kindof close to the tree to get this shot through the branches.  If I'm lucky I see one of these guys a year.  And, if I'm really lucky, I come away with a shot where I can at least prove I saw one:-)  I guess I had some luck yesterday.

SmugMug Link

This is the view heading up Donnie's driveway to his mailbox late afternoon this time of year.  Can't beat this walking hand-in-hand... Very cool if Santa has delivered something in the mailbox too:-)

SmugMug Link

The boys had early release from school yesterday, and Donnie took us to Harris Lake Country Park near the Shearon Harris nuclear power plant.  At various points, the sun felt warm, and the guys were trying to catch some shuteye.

SmugMug Link

Aren't they good sports to create shots like this for me?

Actually, in the shot below Donnie is actually trying to entice the boys to come and play soccer because we all know that kids don't like us to rest.

SmugMug Link

After a good meal and some Wii bowling, the boys had their guy time.  The new thing tonight was Mummifying Joey and Johnny Donnie style!  They have a very big time wrestling.  I just stay out of the way and enjoy the laughter.  I'm not sure if Donnie worked harder yesterday running 3 miles or throwing the boys about last night.  Good thing I fed him a nice dinner.

SmugMug Link

One last shot from the day is my sweet boy Joey on the playground equipment.

SmugMug Link

Some Enchanted Forest

SmugMug Daily Link

Yes, THAT song was playing through my head when I thought up that title.  I'm taking various routes to/from Donnie's house, and yesterday I decided it was THE day to stop and finally get a picture of this tree.  I've been admiring it for some time and have never had the time or the motivation to park and walk back to it.  It was 39 degrees with 5-10mph winds when I took these shots, and I wondered as I walked along the side of the road if today really should have been THE day:-)  What we do for our pictures sometime.

I had such a tough time choosing between the one I posted for my daily and the following two shots.

SmugMug Link

SmugMug Link

What I really wanted to do was get out and move the tree and rolling hills another 30 feet to the left in the frame so that things were spaced out better in the shot.  Can't do that, so I tried shots from 3 different fence posts and both vertical and horizontal on each post and then picked these views to process with the far right fence post showing the rolling hills the best in my opinion.

Just to show you how dramatically different you can process a shot, I pp'ed the tree in B&W too.

SmugMug Link

I thought the tonal range in the shot itself was too even to be good.  I just have not mastered how to selectively darken areas of a photo yet to increase the drama.

This is the view on the other side of the road.

SmugMug Link

One last shot, well a collage, to share with you.  On my favorite John Adams Road, the fields are all a beautiful green now.  I thought I'd pass on that bright color to you!

SmugMug Link

There is one other shot that I took at yet another location yesterday that I really like that I'm going to hold on to for another day:-)

The Holiday Light Show (Store)

SmugMug Daily Link

The boys and I were in Cary for Joey's dentist appointment late afternoon yesterday, and we saw our first major Christmas light display on the way home.  This one is is at the corner of Ten Ten Road and Fanny Brown Road.  There's a sign up advertising The Holiday Light Store in the yard, and I'm guessing this is the owner's house!  For as long as I can remember, we've enjoyed this display each holiday season.  It stands out differently than other displays in the area because it's comprised mostly of metal frames to create shapes with lights attached vs. inflatables or plastic figures or other types of holiday lights.  The picture below shows another view of the house without the spiral light trees in front.

SmugMug Link

And this view shows the train that Johnny loves.

SmugMug Link

I spent some time with Donnie at his house yesterday, and I saw a field with about 30 turkey vultures in it on my drive over.  Of course I had to stop and take pics.  I took these with my Canon SX10 IS since my S3 is still malfunctioning, and I was not happy with the quality of the pics at all!  I have a back-up S3 that I need to dig out and try to shoot with today.

SmugMug Link

SmugMug Link

I saw this interesting scene on the way too but just could not take a shot of it that I thought truly worked despite liking all the elements in the shot.

SmugMug Link

I'll probably create quite a few more holiday card POTDs this year.  I am not sure I'll actually print any of them, but I try to produce them as 8X10 and 4X6 just in case.  It's an interesting thought process to consider what sizes finalized pp'ed shots should be.

Merry and Bright

SmugMug Daily Link

It was late last night, and I hadn't taken any pictures.  I'm a little bummed that I don't have much new Christmas stuff to work with this year.  I started out trying to take a picture of this elf on my green tinsel tree.  I didn't do so good handheld, and my S3 was malfunctioning again...not doing a focal lock and just firing at will:-(  It did this once  before.  Maybe it will quit again.

SmugMug Link

After realizing the elf shot wasn't working, I just got silly, and the card I ended up making in my POTD is the result.  I tried to apply a snowy looking frame to make the tree look like it's inside a window with snow on the outside.  I liked the green swirls.  The sentiment is nice anyway.

Peek-A-Boo

SmugMug Daily Link

My POTD and the supporting tree shot were taken a couple of weeks ago at The Garden Hut.  Joey is really into Sock Monkeys, and when I saw the tree, I just knew that I had to snap a few pics!

 SmugMug Link

My procedure at the doctor's office yesterday went well.  Now we just wait probably into next week for an important test to come back.

Madi in Pink

SmugMug Daily Link

I got a chance to spend a few minutes with Madi yesterday while Donnie and her dad, Danny, worked on Danny's lawnmower.  Something to do with the carburetor.  Us girls took a short walk around her yard and then mine.  Of course, I ended up taking a few pictures.  Madi was so cute in her pink sequin top!  Maybe cute isn't the right word.  It's more like 8 going on 18 now...so grown-up!  I pp'ed my favorite of the shots, and that's my POTD.  Some of you will remember this tree in my yard from previous photo shoots of the kids.  7 trunks from one base.  Just a gorgeous red oak.  Usually if I ask the kids to get in the middle of it for a picture they are eager.

I had already taken some pink shots before I saw Madi.  My neighbor, Judy, has a very nice pond out near the street in her front yard, and there's a beautiful sasanqua camellia just beside it.  As the petals fall off the blooms, some of them end up in the pond making for some very pretty photo ops.

SmugMug Link

Judy also has a beautiful landscaped bench area beside her driveway.

SmugMug Link

A special thanks goes out to Judy for all the meals she has sent over in the past two weeks.  I keep saying that no one is ever going to want to eat my cooking again because her food tastes so good.

The bluebirds were active in Madi's yard today too.  I got several shots of them frolicking in the water.  This is the best but highly cropped.

SmugMug Link

I also saw this female red-bellied woodpecker at my feeders today.  This shot is also cropped to show you the detail.

SmugMug Link

One more shot today showing the dazzling grasses growing in the Kidd Family garden.  I worked to get the leaves of the oak tree just behind the grasses to make pretty bokeh.  The grasses were really swaying in the breeze, so most of the shots were throw-aways.

SmugMug Link

I'm sorry to see our gorgeous 70 degree and partly sunny weekend come to an end.  On the other hand, the doctor will be removing an annoying drainage tube that I've had in place for over two weeks now since the surgery.  I can't wait!  It's gotten so uncomfortable!

Christmas Inflatable Parade Comes to Town!

SmugMug Daily Link

Donnie worked very hard yesterday to make sure my (and the boys) Christmas will be merry.  I have a big set of inflatables that usually gets added to each year in the after Christmas sale.  We're up to quite a few now (also at Halloween). Usually I put them up.  They aren't too hard. But this year I can't bend down and twist like that, so Donnie agreed to do them for me.  What a guy!  Not only did he put all of them up, he posed without a fuss after each one too adding some humor to the shots.  Usually I get the kids to pose by each one.  Don't worry, I'll get pics of them sometime over the holiday season too.  I can't wait to see their faces light up this afternoon when they come home and see that they've been put up while they were away.

Here's my version of watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade.  Donnie had the inflatable up in the air to position it just right, and I thought of my friend Betsy's parade shots.

SmugMug Link

Donnie is definitely not a Grinch!  Look at that arm-in-arm pose:-)

SmugMug Link

Mr. Conductor was busy today on the rails overseeing Thomas the Tank Engine.  Sir Topham Hat would have been proud!

SmugMug Link

Donnie and his new Bud this year!

SmugMug Link

Jolly guys ready to spread some Christmas cheer!

SmugMug Link

What a sense of humor!

SmugMug Link

Blaze (Blazie) got all hot to trot to go outside one of the times I came in the house for something, so I leashed her up to come sit by us outside.  She's such a house dog spending her time in a few favorite spots in the house most of the day including on the couch.  She sits on the floor beside wherever I'm at my computer and sleeps on a small rug in the boys room each night.  She begs us and visitors for biscuits whenever we're near her jar in the kitchen and likes 3 shorts walks a day.  At 12, she's slowing down a bit, but she still has most of her spunk.  She's a hard pooch to take pictures of because of her dark fur and apparent fear of my camera, so I was excited to get this shot yesterday of my sweet girl:

SmugMug Link

She kept walking toward me as I tried to shoot.  In most of the shots her head was turned away.  Here she's not smiling because she sees the camera.  Still, her fur is lit up nice, no flash eyes, and she's looking at me so I'm pretty happy.  The shot shows all the lovely variations and beauty in her auburn colored fur.

Like Gemmy Industries on Facebook to see the latest inflatables.