90/365 Basket

"Egg Game 2103"

I have many pictures from our Easter Day together.  My intent is to write a longer post about our day, but I am too tired to do it tonight.  I will write and post about it tomorrow.  

This picture is from the playing of "the egg game."  From left to right the hands are Brooke, Erin, Edgar, Edgar's mom, and his little brother.  Weber, Jason and I were slow to get our hands in the eggs :-)

 One Easter when the girls were much younger, the Easter bunny brought with him rain.  That meant that the girls could not hunt for eggs outside.  As a substitute activity, I created a game involving game cards, eggs, candy and lots of treats.  It has become Erin's favorite Easter tradition, even now that she helps shop for the treats.  

89/365 Dyed Color

"Easter Colors"

88/365 Minimal

"What Wondrous Love Is This, O My Soul"

87/365 Flowing

"City Fountain At Night"

NOYE TO SELF: Waiting until 10:30pm to start your POTD is risky business, especially if you are trying to photograph flowing water.

Here is another shot of the above fountain using a much slower shutter speed.  This gives the moving water the "misty" look.

Here is a completely different fountain.

"Fountain in the Dark"

86/365 Hunt

"Hunting For Food"

The only hunting going on around here is hunting for recipes for the weekend's meals.  I want to try making Scotch Eggs.

85/365 Color

"Please Take Me Home!"

I went to the grocery store the other day to get bananas, and only bananas.  As soon as I walked in the door, this plant cried out, 'Take me home with you, please!"  How could I resist the little orange flowers in the blue basket?  Those are my favorite colors. You knew that, right?  Despite its lopsidedness and the brown yips on its leaves, I could not resist this burst of color.  For this picture, I set it on a colorful tea towel that Brooke gave me.  All the brightness makes me smile. The tag on the basket says, "Bloom."  Hopefully I can keep these orange flowers happily blooming.

84/365 Pinecone

"Cone of Pine"

There was not a pinecone to be found around here today.  The closest I could come was a cone of pine incense.

83/365 Landmark

"Carrollton Town Square Gazebo"

Because I have been sick all week, I had to spend today, the first day I have had any real energy in a week, playing catch-up on my paper grading.  I had several ideas of things I wanted to try for today's "landmark" prompt, but they didn't happen.  As you can see, this one was taken at night, a last minute attempt.  I owe Weber a big "thank-you" for taking me out to shoot this one after we had dinner.  This is one of those photos that counts simply as not missing a day.

82/365 Texture

"Putting A Wrap On Spring"

Despite the fact that the calendar says that it is spring, it was a little chilly today.  That must be what caused an urge in me to start knitting a wrap; that, and I found a cool pattern and yarn for said pattern.  Also, I am still dealing with my weeklong cold.  Having a simple project to work on while I rest in the recliner and watch documentaries with Weber makes me feel at least a little bit productive.

81/365 Nurture

"An Apple A Day . . ."

Whether I'm hungry, thirsty or just need a little energy, an apple always does the trick.  It is a good way to nurture my body.

80/365 Hiding

"Hidden Words - Scramble With Friends"

79/365 Plant Something

"Please Don't Grow!

I had every intention of at least getting our garden prepped and ready for planting if not actually planted this week while I've been on spring break.  Unfortunately, the respiratory crud that hit me over the weekend has really kicked me in the rear.  I have not done much of anything this week.  

In an effort to make me feel better, Weber bought me some of these mini doughnuts that have absolutely no redeeming nutritional value, but I love them.  Since this is the only photo that I took today, I'm going to stretch the prompt a little and say that I have planted the seeds for a few extra pounds that I really hope don't grow!

78/365 Game

"Tangrams"

Weber is not a game player and I couldn't bring myself to photograph a game of Words With Friends or Scramble With Friends on my iPad so I had go for a game that I can play by myself.  I have loved Tangrams since I was a child.  There is still something so fascinating to me about the thousands of shapes that are possible by combining these seven geometric pieces.

77/365 Spots

"Spot On"

I thought my days of being followed into the bathroom were over once the girls passed toddlerhood.  Nope!  Though I did have a few years of privacy, the cat has now taken over where they left off.  It worked to my advantage for today's photo thanks to the spots on the shower curtain.

76/365 Wearing Green

"It's Not Easy Being Green"

Today is another day of life going on regardless of plans.  

Friday night a group from Resounding Harmony sang at the Dallas Museum of Art.  By the end of the performance, I had no voice.  This was a relatively short performance so having no voice was not a particularly good sign.  When I woke up yesterday, I was seriously congested.  I had a hellacious cold.

By this morning, it had moved into my chest.  I was coughing, seriously congested, and now had a fever.  Let's just say that the green that was resulting here was not suitable for photographing.

Though a few green beers certainly would have made me feel better at least temporarily, we opted for a trip to the acute care clinic.  Instead of celebrating St. Patrick's Day with green beer, I got antibiotics, decongestant, and cough suppressants.  Oh boy!  What a way for me to start spring break.  Hopefully things will improve tomorrow once I have a day of antibiotics in me.

In the words of Kermit the Frog, "It's not easy being green."  I was truly stuck for a photo for today. Green is not my favorite color so I had little to choose from clothing-wise or even from around the house.  Since this image pretty much sums up my day, this is the official POTD.  Looking on the positive side, despite how crappy I feel, I have yet to miss a day of photographing.  I keep reminding myself that they don't have to be good photos, they just have to be.  Go me!

Now, I'm going to curl up on the couch and go to sleep.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

75/365 Green

"Imagine Green"

What's that saying, "life is what happens while you are busy making plans?"  That pretty much sums up this weekend for us.

We had an al-day class on Saturday.  Afterwards we decided to go test drive (well, not me) one of the cars we saw at the Auto Show the other night.  We bought it.  It is a nice car and the manufacturer had nice incentives.  We have been talking on and off about getting a new car; I'm not sure that we had planned to do it Saturday, but we did.

It was late when we got home so I actually did not take a picture yesterday, though as we were going through the car buying process, I was thinking about what I would do so I am saying that this one counts for yesterday's picture even though I took it this morning.

It takes some imagination to see it as appropriate for the prompt "green."

Go with me here . . .Obviously (and thank goodness!) the car is not green; it is red.  However, it took some "green" to purchase it.

This morning when I went out to take some pictures, I caught the reflection of our St. Francis garden in the side of the car. There is some green there in the flowers.  That counts, right?  Again, its a stretch for the prompt "green, " but it was the best I could do.

I am fairly sure that St. Francis would be appalled to see himself reflected in a new car, or perhaps any car for that matter, but in Dallas a car is a necessity.  Though we use mass transit when we can, it is not feasible on a daily basis as one's only means of getting around.  The irony here is that we did take the train down to the convention center for the auto show.

74/365 Fields of Green

"Paint the Field Green"

Today is an absolutely gorgeous day; it definitely feels like spring.  The grass, however, is still looking like winter - brown and crunchy.  The only green growth seems to be primarily weeds, a sign that we are behind in applying the pre-emergent weed killer!  There were no pretty fields of green to photograph so my Lego mini artist decided to help me out by painting a green field.  If he works diligently, he should make it across the frame and paint away the pink stalks of the broadleaf weeds!

Spring is close, but the growing things are not quite convinced yet.  It it supposed to be 80 degrees tomorrow.  I suspect that in the next week or two spring will be in full bloom.

73/365 Branch

"My Neck of the Woods"

Today's prompt of "branch" was probably meant to inspire some beautiful shots of budding spring trees.  We have a few of those around, but, as you can see, I took a different approach.  Being that I live in the city of Farmers Branch, I decided on one of those photos that falls into the "making it personal" realm.  This is our street sign with our city's logo.  And just for good measure, there are a few branches in the background.

Yesterday at 3:45 officially marked the beginning of my spring break.  The first order of business was a trip to the dentist to have a crown put on.  Once that was done, the break began in earnest.  In a fit of spontaneity, we took the train down to the Dallas Convention Center to the Dallas Auto Show.  We are tossing around the idea of a new car; the pros and cons lists are about equal.  To help us decide one way or the other, we went to the auto show where e could look at everything we are interested under one roof and without the pressure of a salesman.  Not only was it an informative excursion, it was also fun.  It may be the only time I sit in a Mercedes - unless of course I find some friends who are richer than I am, i.e. not teachers!

We got home around 10pm and had not had dinner.  At that point, food was at the top of my priority list and I forgot to post this picture.  

72/365 Messy

"Silver Where?

Today's prompt of "messy" offered me so many possibilities!  Weber would tell you that I need not look any further than my desk, which admittedly is a major disaster right now.  Then there is the pile of shoes in my closet.  Some days I think that it is a miracle that I make it out the door in the morning wearing two matching shoes!

The mess I chose to photograph is our silver wear drawer.  It had these amazing dividers only weeks ago.  Everything was perfectly aligned and neatly arranged.  Then the adhesive failed on the dividers.  They migrated.  Now the drawer looks like this.  Though there are an equal number of forks, spoons and knives in this drawer, it is impossible to find the utensil that you want.  If I'm searching for a spoon, I grab nine forks before finding a one.  If I want a spoon, I first must touch every knife and fork.  There is an interesting probability study in all of this somewhere.

The truth is, this mess is starting to drive me crazy.  I can live with my desk and the pile of shoes a little longer,  but this needs to be remedied soon.  We are quickly approaching eating yogurt with knives and soup with forks.  

Attacking this drawer with the super glue to make sure the dividers never move again is on our spring break chore list.

71/365 Shamrock

"Dare Taken"

Never challenge a man who spends his days teaching middle schoolers to a dare.  They have no fear!

70/365 Liquid

"Oh, H2O!"

69/365 Pot Of Gold

"Pot of Gold(en) Sunset"

68/365 Me

Another day posted late - I'm turning into a slacker!  Despite the fact that Saturday's (yesterday's) prompt was the one a loathe most each month, the self portrait, I took the photos early in the day.  I just didn't manage to get them posted before we went out for the evening with friends.  I was happy, or as happy as I can get, with two of the who knows how many shots I took.

"Serious Saturday"

I am trying to get happy with this self portrait thing, but by the serious look in this image, I don't think it has happened yet.  There are nine months each with a day of taking a self portrait left in 2013.  My is goal is to be happy with the process by December.  You have no idea what a lofty goal that is!

We went to see a production of "8" The Play at school last night.  It is a timely presentation since the supreme court will rule on the constitutionality of California's Proposition 8, which defines marriage as only between a man and a woman, this summer.  I am proud to be part of an academic community that deals with the controversial issues of our time.

After the play we enjoyed a nice meal out at a new restaurant in our neighborhood.  It was an enjoyable evening.  By the time we got home late and adjusted our clocks for the time change, it was late and I went to bed without posting here.

Here is my other self portrait of the day.

"The Eyes Have It"

67/365 Hobby

 "Flour Power"

It is funny to me how I chose to respond to today's prompt of "hobby."  For whatever reason, I don't think of any of the things that I like to do as "hobbies."  They are just things that I do.  For that reason, I had to really think about what I was going to photograph today.

The first thing that came to mind was knitting.  Of all of the activities that I do in my spare time, this is the most likely candidate to be considered as a hobby.  The sad truth is that I have not been knitting much lately.  I have been spending my time doing other things.  Many projects are still on the needles unfinished.  Perhaps I did not want to take pictures of anything knitting related because I am feeling a little guilty about not yet having finished Weber's vest that was supposed to be a Christmas gift - in 2012, not 2013.

I love reading poetry; I could have photographed the many shelves of poetry books we have, but that didn't strike my fancy today either.

With a day at home, I was looking forward to cooking a nice dinner tonight.  We had no commitments this evening so there was time to prepare and, more importantly, enjoy a nice meal together.  I decided to make some simple sugar cookies for dessert.  I love to bake things for everyday eating - bread, pizza crust, crackers and cookies.  I'm not much on the fancy cakes and so on.  I thoroughly enjoyed baking these cookies this afternoon.  So, baking became the hobby of the day.  Maybe I am just growing into my name;-)

Last Friday, in response to the photo prompt "resting" I posted pictures of the tightly closed buds on our irises.  A week later, many of them are now wide awake.  The sea of purple flowers lining the front hedge is beautiful.  I couldn't help but include a few pictures of them here today as well.

I wish flower gardening was a hobby I could claim.  Unfortunately, the ability to maintain and nurture outside flowers eludes me.  I do OK with certain vegetables.

The irises are a sign that spring is fast approaching.

66/365 In the Morning

I forgot to post this last night.  I'm not sure why my routine fell apart.  It may have had something to do with the awesome chocolate chip scone I had as an evening snack.  Brooke makes them and freezes them for me so that I can dole the scones out to myself as treats in between her visits.

"A Slice of Our Mornings"

After twenty years of packing lunches for the girls, my lunch packing days are over.  Weber makes our lunches every morning.  He is quicker at getting dressed and ready to go than I am and, admittedly, is also better at multi-tasking. Packing a lunch seems like such a simple thing, but having it done for me each day is such a great gift.

The above picture literally is a slice of our morning life.  In the framer are all of the usual things found on the kitchen counter in the morning.  Obviously, there is no set-up here.  Sometimes pictures need to have all the "stuff" in them to give them context, to put them in perspective and to make them real.  So here you can see not only the carrots that are being sliced, but also some of the cups for our lunch boxes, the apple that is next to be cut, an edge of the container of Cheerios that will top our morning yogurt and in the background, the blurred back end and wagging tail of Adidas, who is always ready to help in the kitchen because gravity just might work in his favor and something delicious might fall to the floor.  One important morning element that is not visible in this picture is the obligatory cups of coffee!  I think they are hidden by the Tupperware holding the Cheerios.

I need to remember that the snapshots of life are important.  Everything can't be "art."

Another important part of my personal morning routine is keeping "morning pages."  This is a practice advocated by Julia Cameron in her book The Artist's Way.  I worked through this book a few years ago and since then have added the discipline of morning pages to my daily routine.  They have proven to be extremely beneficial in helping me to connect with my innermost thoughts and to articulate and track my creative self - both its possibilities, improbabilities and realities.  

Therefore, I feel like I also ought to include the following photo for the prompt entitled, "in the morning."

"Morning Pages"

65/365 Full Speed Ahead

"Making Butter"

One of the things that we treat ourselves to is homemade butter.  Unlike many foods made at home, it is not cheaper to make butter than to buy it, but it sure tastes better.  Making the butter is one of Weber's self delegated chores.  So tonight he made butter and I took pictures.  

The mixer has to be on "full speed ahead" for the process of cream becoming butter to work.  I took lots of pictures of the whisk actually moving, but I did not really like the images.  Two things bothered me about them.  First of all, because we made the butter at ten o'clock at night, there was no natural light in the kitchen.  That made the exposure difficult.  Secondly, though the process of making butter is amazing to watch, the pictures do not do it justice.  It kind of looked like we were whisking already scrambled eggs.  Therefore, today's picture was taken only seconds after the whisk had been moving full speed ahead.

On a related note, we had a tornado drill at school this afternoon.  As we were heading to our "safe spot" (I say that with a great deal of sarcasm.) I passed our division secretary and said, "I'll see you in Oz."  She said, "Do you think that you could bring some homemade butter to Oz?  I don't mind going as long as I have some of your butter."

We are not in Oz, but I do have butter to take to her tomorrow.

64/365 Lucky

"Elephants and Family"

I am always amazed at the things I learn about myself when I am considering the daily photo prompts.  Today I realized that I don't ever think about luck or being lucky.  I don't have any tokens or trinkets that I think bring me luck.  I am not particularly superstitious.  I am not a risk taker.  All this made me realize that I was at a loss as to what to photograph today.  It also made me seriously think about luck and what being lucky means.

I finally decided that I don't really believe in luck.  I believe in synchronicity, which may be perceived as luck but really isn't.  And, I believe in being blessed.  The good fortune that I enjoy in my life comes by way of blessings, not luck.  These thoughts are not formed well enough to be coherent right now.  They may appear in a later post.

All that said, I still needed a photo.

These two elephants sit on a shelf above my desk.  Elephants, like rainbows and four leaf clover, are symbols of luck or good fortune.  I believe there is some debate about how lucky they are depending on whether their trunk is up or down.  Elephants are also a symbol of family.  My two elephants happen to be note or picture holders.  With a picture of the girls on one and our family Christmas picture on the other, I am reminded of how blessed I really am.

63/365 Two

"My Two Favorite Colors"

There is not much explanation or elaboration needed here.  Anyone who knows me or has visited our home knows that blue and orange rock my world.

I have been working on another photo project around the theme of "two."  The assignment was to create a diptych.  Various ideas have been bouncing around in my head for the past three weeks.  I finally set out this past weekend to do something about making the ideas into a reality.  I took the pictures for three possible diptychs, but I think I knew all along which one would be "the one."

On a beautiful Saturday afternoon, Weber and I were walking through a nearby park.  The park was filled with wrought iron benches - all of which were empty.  In fact, there were virtually no other people around.  It was kind of strange feeling.  Where were all of the people?  Why weren't they outside enjoying the spectacular day?

I started wondering if people fear being out in public.  Do they feel too vulnerable?  We all know too well how quickly lives can change and can end in an instant because of the actions of one person.  It is from these thoughts that I created the following.

"The Power of One"

I recognize that this is a little creepy or spooky, as one person described it.  I guess it is supposed to be. It is meant to illustrate how a single action of one person can leave a school, a park, a heart lifeless.

62/365 Upside Down

"0937 Upside Down"

There are some things that the iPhone just doesn't do as well as the good old red display TI calculators from the 70's!

61/365 Whimsical

"Words By Which To Live And Learn"

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

60/365 Sweet Rest

"Sweet Rest"

No resting was happening at our house today.  Late this afternoon, with no idea was I was going to photograph for today's prompt, I took a stroll outside.  Looking at the closed buds on the irises, I decided that they were resting; there was my picture.

"Awake!"

As I made my way back around the house, a glimpse of purple caught my attention.  Amidst all of the green stems and tightly closed buds was one early bloomer.  On this first day of March, spring is in the air . . .or at least in the flower bud.  I suspect that this bloom will not be alone for long.