148/365-2 Soul

'Soulful Squirrel"

Today's photo was an object lesson in sometimes you do the best you can with what you have at the moment.  

This furry little guy was sitting on his branch looking in the back door at the dogs.  I know most people consider squirrels to be a nuisance, but I think they are cute.  We constantly fill the bird feeders only to see squirrels swinging from them like trapeze artists.  That's OK.  Plenty of seeds end up on the ground and the birds happily clean up the mess left behind by the squirrels.

Back to today...I grabbed my camera, which had the wrong lens on it for this, and starting shooting.  I had no idea what my settings were.  I figured I would miss the shot for sure if I took the time to change lenses and settings so I took my chances.  I was also shooting through the glass on the back door.  Fortunately I was high enough that the photo was not made any worse by dog nose smudges on the glass.  I also had to do some serious cropping to get any kind of composition here.

It is what it is.  I think he's a soulful squirrel!

147/365-2 Monochromatic

"Spilled Milk"

I have always loved black and white images.  I have learned recently that what I really like is mono -chromaticism.  Black and white just happens to be the most common manifestation of that.  This one was a lot of fun to play with.

I could have inserted "beer" for "coffee" and the text would have been equally meaningful, but I took this shot early in the day and was still drinking coffee.  I also had a debate with myself over "spilt" or "spilled."  I think that the former is more archaic and in modern language has been replaced by the latter.

146/365-2 A Vision of Freedom

"Freedom"

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. 

If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. " 

Abraham Lincoln

The greatest number of American lives lost in a single war, 650,000, were lost in the Civil war, a war fought on our own soil 
Today I am thankful for all the freedom that I have - that which I am given because of the sacrifices of others and which I have because I had nothing scheduled for the day.  We slept late.  Boy did that feel good!  The sky was overcast and there were light showers.  It was a perfect morning to sleep in!  Once we got up and I managed to get all of the animals off the bed,  I  decided that today was a good day to wash all of the bed linens, which reminds me that I still need to remake the bed.

Weber and I went to one of our city's parks to take photos.  On past Memorial Days they have had a field of flags, but not this year.  I had to settle for a photo of the flag on the tall pole.  This gave me an opportunity to play with my new lens.  I was hoping for some pretty birds or something, but no such luck.  There were a few grackles around, but that was it.

The park, Liberty Park, also has some very cool statues honoring those who have sacrificed for our freedom.  I also had time to work my Lensbaby as well.  I haven't used it much out in public.  I feel like I am getting a little better with it.  It was fun to use it to photograph something other than flowers.  I am getting close to trying it for some portraits...maybe.

Statues are certainly good subjects on which to practice!

This one was taken with my regular Nifty Fifty lens.

This statue really speaks to me.  Sometimes we forget just how many lives are impacted by the time given and sacrifices made by those who serve in our armed forces.

145/365-2 A Vision of Twilight

"Twilight Showers"

Today's photo prompt asked us to photograph twilight with a phone camera.  Once a month, we are asked to use our phone cameras to achieve the daily prompt.  I have not fully embraced this yet because I usually get terrible pictures with my phone.  Most of the time they are blurry and grainy.  I don't know what I do wrong, but it annoys me!  I did, however, follow the guidelines of the day and took these with my phone.

It was an evening marked by rain showers so the twilight sky was not not terribly spectacular.  I did do the best I could in, what I consider to be, less than optimal circumstances.

I kind of like the abstract nature of the image below of raindrops in a puddle.  This too was shot with my phone and then I upped the saturation of blue 

"Blue Raindrops"

144/365-2 A Vision of Finished

"Moving On Up"

Though she turned twenty-one in December and legally became an adult then, today Erin really "finished" her childhood.  She moved into her first apartment where she signed the lease and is responsible for all of her own bills.  The move is because she has a "real" job with a real salary as a spatial analyst.  

We went over for dinner tonight.  It was funny to see all of the things that she has taken for granted while living at home - a shower curtain, kitchen sponges, spices for the hamburgers.  She, Edgar and Leo are living on the third floor.  This made moving in fun:-)  Leo thinks it is pretty exciting to get to go up and down the stairs to go outside, but his mom and dad didn't like hauling all of the grocery sacks up three flights of stairs.

"Booking It"

Brooke is also about to start a new full-time job.  She has been working part-time at the public library and has just been offered a full-time job with benefits!  She seems to enjoy what she is doing even though it involves interacting with the public all day long.

I am happy that both girls are settling in to new and exciting adventures!

143/365-2 Make Believe

"Storyteller"

I have several of these ceramic storyteller figures that were made by one of the art students and school.   Each one is unique and equally whimsical.  They just make me smile...and smiles are good!

142/365-2. A Vision of Beauty

"The Other Side of Beauty"

Somehow yesterday got away from me and it was 11 pm before I took the day's photo.  Needless to say, I was left photographing store-bought cut flowers rather than something growing outside in natural light.  That gave me the opportunity to engage the tiny bit of creative energy that I had left at the end of the day; or, would that be night?