306/365 Grateful for Lessons Learned

"Follow Your Dreams"

I have learned many  many lessons in my lifetime, most of them the hard way.  The one that I value the most and the one that I wish that I had learned much earlier in life is to follow your dreams.  I have tried to teach that one to the girls.  Aren't parents supposed to try to keep their children from making the same mistakes that they did?  I am happy to see the girls trying to make a go of their bread baking business.  I wish that I didn't see so much of its mess in my kitchen, but I do enjoy seeing them trying to create something that is their very own.  Who knows, maybe they will be the next Wonder Bread.

This picture is far from technically good;  that speaks to another lesson that I have learned.  Everything doesn't have to be, nor can it be, perfect.  It has taken me a long time to learn that one but I think I might almost be there!

305/365 Surprise

"A Friendly Surprise"

Our friend Paul, who collects Hot Wheels and knows of my fondness for Lego mini figures, discovered that Hot Wheels and Lego have joined forces.  This car has the iconic Lego "pegs" so that the mini figures can stand.  How cool is that!  It takes a true friend to know and appreciate how excited I would be to be given this Hot Wheels car as a surprise today. Since Paul started as our contractor and became a true friend during the process of the house renovations, it seemed only fitting for the day's photo to include the mini figure that best represents Paul.  

304/365 Frightful

"Second Generation Trick or Treater"

This beautiful little girl is certainly not frightful.  What is frightening is that she is the daughter of one of Weber's former middle school students.  You know you have been teaching a long time when you have "grand-students" who come trick-or-treating at your house.

It was dark outside and she is a wiggly two-year old excited by Halloween so this is not a great photo.  I do kind of like the softness on her face.  To me it speaks to every little girl's dream to be a princess. Tonight her dream came true.

Happy Halloween, everyone!  I have to admit, I am ready to move beyond the ghosts and goblins to turkeys and reindeer.

303/365 Mask

"My What Big Teeth You Have!"

I don't like masks. One, because I am claustrophobic and can't stand anything over my face.  (Just ask the OR nurse that tried to put an oxygen mask on me before the good drugs had kicked in.)  And two, hiding behind a mask is just kind of creepy.  I am a "what you see is what you get" kind of person.  

I am also a very, very tired person.  Truthfully, I am an exhausted person who can't think straight right now about anything.  I could not mask my state of being with a creative take on a mask.  What you see is what you get - a desperate attempt to not miss a day.

302/365 Ghostly

"Ghostly???"

I had zero creativity working today, well at least as far as photography was concerned.  I think I used it all up in other places before I had a chance to take a photo for today.  For the first time in 302 days, I hid to used an archived picture to accomplish a photo for today.  

I did have a few ideas for techniques I would have liked to try, but I just couldn't muster the energy for it.  I gave it a few mediocre attempts and then I gave up.  I did do the post processing on this one today.  Hopefully that counts for something.

This image is of a window in an office building not too far from our house.  Im not at all sure what it is that can be seen in the window.  It could be some kind of curtains, or an odd reflection from somewhere or, it might really be a ghost:-)

301/365 Wide Open

"A Slice of Bread"

I needed a little whimsy in my world today.

Though this loaf of bread has indeed been sliced wide open, the wide open here really refers to aperture.

300/365 Spectacular

'Watching the Trains"

For some reason, we are both exhausted and stressed out these days.  I can't put my finger on exactly why that is.  All I know is that no matter how much work I do I still have a ton more things that need to be done.  It is a terrible feeling.  I would just like to experience 48 hours where I don't feel that no matter what I am doing I should be doing something else, something more important.  Maybe 48 hours is being a little greedy; I'd settle for just 24.  I don't see that happening anytime soon so I guess that I had better get a grip and soldier on.

We did take about an hour this afternoon before Resounding Harmony rehearsal to go see a model train exhibit at a local recreation center.  I felt guilty for just a few minutes and then ignored those feelings.  It was very cool to see all these men (and yes, all of the train operators were men)  who were so creative and passionate about their trains.  The layouts were both beautiful and whimsical.  Who knew that one should become so mesmerized by trains going round and round.  I didn't realize how much I would enjoy this.  And there is no doubt in my mind that Weber enjoyed the trains even more than I did.

We both had fun taking pictures (and video) of the trains as well.

If we had time and space (and money to buy them), I suspect we would have a train set-up like this at our house.  I bet the cat would love that...maybe even more than Weber!