171/365 Sparkle

"Afternoon Sparkle"

Bokeh is just one of the magical things about photography.  It is an awesome effect that can transform an ordinary photo into a stunning image.  This photo is purely a technical one.  The composition, our newly blooming crepe myrtle, is nothing spectacular, but the bokeh does make the background kind of sparkle.

While I was outside "playing" this afternoon, the sparkle in my rings caught my attention.  I decided to photograph this sparkle as well.  

My mom passed away four years before Weber and I got married.  My dad gave us my mom's engagement ring, whose stone we had reset.  It is very special to me to have this piece of family history as we create our own history.

The starburst in this image was an added bonus.  A few days ago, photographing to achieve a starburst was one of the technical lessons.  I did not accomplish it.  Now I can cross that one off of the to-do list.  I have to admit though that I put no intentional effort into creating this starburst.

170/365 Lighter Than Air

"Living By Bread Alone"

Without a doubt, I know that I can survive on bread alone.  I love it.  I might even be addicted to it.  It doesn't matter what kind of bread.  I love everything from basic white bread to seed breads to cinnamon raisin bread.  And when it's homemade, I don't even need any kind of spread on it, though homemade butter or peanut butter just makes the eating experience that much better!

Since Brooke has been home, we have been spoiled by almost daily loaves of freshly made bread.  I have become a real fan of an oatmeal bread that she has been making.  Today's loaf, however, is a simple sandwich loaf that is not nearly as dense as the oatmeal bread or some of the other grain and seed breads we have had.

I had to work hard to connect this picture to today's prompt, which is Wings / Lighter Than Air / Glide. So here it goes: it terms of texture, this is a very light bread.  It glides right down.  And, it tastes heavenly.  

If you think those are weird connections, you should see how I do with the Rorschach test!

169/365 Pastoral

"Object Lesson"

Pastoral is not a word that describes life in the suburbs.  With no time to head out in search of "pastoral" I amended the prompt and decided that I might be more successful if I looked for serene as we walked around our neighborhood.

I suspect that you are looking at this picture thinking that it is neither pastoral or serene.  In fact, it isn't even a good picture.  All of those things would be true.  So why did I include as my picture of the day? For me, it represents an object lesson, hence its title.

I was photographing the flower.  (I did actually take several images of it that are technically pretty good.)  With this one, I think the wind blew the flower a bit and obviously my focus shifted.  It wasn't until I was looking at the day's images on the computer that I noticed first the moon and then the bird in this shot.  No, this is not a good shot of either, but perhaps it could have been had I realized that they were even in the frame.  That is the lesson.

Sometimes we get so fixated on what is right in front of us that we miss things that exist just beyond, things that may be equally or even more interesting or more beautiful.  So, I chose this photo rather than any of these others from today's walk because of its reminder to me to look and then look a little more.

This is the in-focus version of the above flower.

I'm sure there are those who consider the golf course pastoral.  I am not one of them, but I do love this tree.

I like the symmetry created by the reflection.

And, another flower.

Like I said, nothing even remotely pastoral, but all of this pictures are images of today.

168/365 Splash

"Uncontained Passion"

Today's prompt was intended to be a splash at the beach or pool, a picture of summer water fun.  That wasn't happening around here.  We did, however, have a brief afternoon downpour.  I grabbed a clear bowl and set it out to collect the rain.  I managed a few splashes as the bowl filled.

And yes, I'm obviously still on my quote kick.

167/365 Something Masculine

"Lookin' Macho"

Here are the two most important guys in my life giving me their best macho looks.

I'm not so sure about macho, but they sure are sweet!

166/365 From the Side

'Close Your Eyes, Mom!"

I am definitely not skilled at applying make-up, especially the overdone make-up that is necessary when one is on stage under bright stage lights.  I had to enlist the girls as both consultants as to what to do and then have the do the application as well.  It took both of them working their magic to get it done.

Today's prompt's title is a little misleading.  Though it only says from the side, the additional instructions are for a self portrait from the side.  Yes, it is that time of the month again.  I have to admit that I actually did not take this photo; Erin took it with my camera.  Putting on my own make-up and taking my own picture were way more than I could handle today - or on most days, for that matter.  I'm glad the girls were around to help me with this.  We'll just consider it payback for all of those diapers that I changed!

Note: It is not that we were intentionally trying to keep Brooke out of the picture.  She had an allergic reaction to hair dye and because her scalp and face are broken out, she did not want to be in the picture.  I wanted at least some of her visible to put the photo in context.

165/365 Stars and Stripes

"Tower of Solar Power"

Happy Flag Day, everyone.  

As you can see, this is not a picture of stars and stripes.  Despite the fact that I had a dress rehearsal tonight for a concert that consists entirely of patriotic music, I failed to get a photo containing stars and stripes.

This is a photo of Museum Tower taken from inside the Dallas City Performance Hall in the arts district of downtown Dallas.  This tower is at the center of a heated (both literally and figuratively) debate between its developers and the adjacent Nasher Sculpture Center.  Museum Tower is a forty story mirrored building.  It reflects massive amounts of damaging sunlight onto the artwork at the Nasher.  This is causing irreparable damage to sculptures both outside and inside the museum.  City leaders, representatives of the sculpture center and developers of the tower have been trying to come up with a mutually acceptable solution to this problem.  As of yet, they have been unsuccessful with this.