Saturday, February 23, 2013

54/365 Framed


"I've Been Framed"

It is amazing how much you can get done on a Saturday when you get up at 6am!  We were up early because I had a 7:30 dentist appointment.  (This appointment was original at 9, but Erin needed an emergency root canal and rather than make her get up for the early time, I swapped with her.)  After we had both endured having our mouths tromped through, we went shopping for some accessories to go with her new bedroom furniture.  It took visits to a few different stores, but we accomplished the task at hand just in time for lunch.  Chicken sandwiches and burgers at Smash Burger replenished our energy reserves.  She then headed home to do homework.  I thought that maybe I would have a little nap.  Then I thought again, deciding that I really didn't want to waste a beautiful Saturday afternoon sleeping.

Weber and I tossed around ideas about what to do.  He has just gotten a new video camera.  We agreed that we would go take pictures/video somewhere. (That took a lot of arm twisting on his part :-)) My hope was that this would get me out of my creative slump.  We ended up going to Addison Circle, a niche community not too far from home.  We had no real idea what we might find to photograph; we were just out for a little adventure.

One of the first things we came upon was a place called the Polk A Dot Bakery.  This reminded me of Brooke, both the bakery and the polka dot parts,  so we had to go check it out.  Everyone knows that you can't go in and look around a place like this and buy something.  That would just be rude!


 Weber got carrot cake and I got this amazing cupcake.


Vanilla cake with chocolate frosting is my absolute favorite!  This cupcake was perfect because the frosting was neither to sweet nor too heavy.  In addition to a variety of baked goods, their menu also includes light meal options.  Finding the Polk A Dot Bakery was an added bonus for our day.  The atmosphere was great, more like a coffee house.  There are lots of tables both big and small, inside and outside.  People were reading, chatting, playing games and some were just watching the world go by.  For those of you who live in the Dallas area, this place is definitely worth a visit.

After our snack we got back on track and  took lots of pictures and video.  Because I was trying new things hoping to learn something new,  I took lots of pictures that are not worth posting, but from which I learned a fair amount.

Here are some of the ones worthy of sharing.

We came upon this little guy (or girl( who also was enjoying an afternoon snack.


Once finished, he/she wasn't interested in our company.


We found a small fountain that provided an opportunity to practice stop action.  Unfortunately, though I gained some insight into the technical aspects here, the light was terrible so the pictures themselves aren't great.  For some reason that I can't quite articulate, I really like this image taken at the edge of the fountain area.


It was while I was taking these shots that Weber turned his camera from the squirrels to me.  Turnabout is fair play.  I took a picture of him, which is the one that became today's picture of the day.  It will serve as a wonderful reminder of how we spent February 23, 2013.

Further on we found a large bed of tulips, proof that spring is indeed near.


No. this picture is not crooked.  All of the tulips were bowed toward the sun in the west.  The sea of pink was beautiful.  The trees, however,  are not quite ready for spring.


We had a lovely afternoon.  I'm feeling a little better after my week of being in a creative slump.  Hopefully today's experiences will keep me inspired through the next week and beyond.