Flying, Photo Challenge

I was out taking pictures and trying to play with my camera.  Since the photography class wasn't all I wanted it to be, I need to just get out and start snapping.  Or basically, just keep doing what I have been doing! 

I was trying to get an idea for this challenge and I came up with birds.  Because I just have the flat view finder on the back of my camera and not an eyepiece, sometimes it's hard to see if I have the shot if it's sunny.  I found a "continuous" setting, which I mistakenly thought would mean the camera would take 16 shots with one click and not what actually happened!  Here is me cropping two of the frames versus the 16 shot panel.

I didn't know how to separate one pane from another so what I did was cropped the picture to just one frame.  Unfortunately, when I did this and the picture re-sized, it looks like I lost some clarity.  But, enough about me rambling!

Here is one more I tried, again, two separate panels and then the 16 shot panel.

This was a fun challenge!  I had way too much fun watching the birds and making myself dizzy trying to make sure they were in frame!  Flying.  What a great challenge!

Purple, Photo Challenge

How appropriate that today's challenge is the color purple!  Today is also Ron's birthday and Ron loves purple!  If he had his way, every room in this house would be painted purple!!  And THAT'S why he wasn't allowed to have his way!

Here is what I came up with for purple.  Keep in mind, I am color blind.  So, if none of these pictures are purple, it's Ron's fault!!

First, the back wall of the Lorain Arts Council building. 

And, my jacket that was hanging in the hallway.  I think it's purple!!

That's all I have today for purple.

Happy birthday, Ron!!!

Luxurious, Photo Challenge

From Dictionary.com, I am going with the third definition:

lux·u·ri·ous

 [luhg-zhoor-ee-uhs] 

adjective

3.  given to pleasure, especially of the senses; voluptuous.

This is what I had in mind when I threw this word into the mix for this month's challenge.  Since this is a family blog, I'm not going to talk about self pleasure over here so get that thought out of your mind!  However, I AM going to talk about other things that give me great pleasure.  Things that when I can get the time and space to participate in these activities, I feel very luxurious.

Let's start with my couch.  While the couch is really uncomfortable as all get out, there is something about crawling into it at five in the morning and putting my head on THAT pillow, and when the house is cold, curling under THAT blanket and hunkering in trying to take to get comfy enough to take a little snooze before it's time to wake up for the day.  Some days, I can hunker in there just right, get my back propped just right and for a few minutes, I am warm and comfortable!  This is golden, the few minutes that this actually works.  That's what give my couch luxurious status.

One of my most luxurious moments is when I can crawl quietly into a comfy spot with something good to read.  I don't care if it's a catalog, magazine, puzzle book, touch pad, Kindle or an actual book,  This is luxurious to me to have this quiet time.

Last is where I'm most comfortable.  With the computer mouse in one hand playing Pogo, one hand on the remote control with some stupid program on the TV my feet up on the foot stool.  Aaaah, now THAT is luxurious!  Or just quiet time to sit here and get my thoughts together to blog.  I have a BUNCH of blogs that are in my head and a lot of them I have pictures to go with them.  I just don't have the quiet time to sit here and put my thoughts first together and then put them in a blog.  Aaah, quiet time, another luxurious thing.

The next thing I want to buy is a new desk.  If I ever get the desk I have my eye on, good luck in getting me out of my luxurious spot!

Make sure you check out the other players of our photo challenge game!  I can't wait to see what is luxurious in every one's world!

Lonely, Photo Challenge

Lonely.  We are all lonely at times, even in a crowd.  How do you capture that in pictures?  I had to go for Plan B.

A lonely lot.  This is one of the lots that the City of Lorain had taken over and then given to the Cuyahoga Community College's live burn training.  After some fighting with City Hall, the City of Lorain had finally torn down the house and planted some crappy grass.  I guess that was the end of the city's involvement in this property as the grass is approaching knee high.  This property is now sitting here, neglected and forgotten and very, very lonely.

The Catholics of Lorain have not been exempt from all of the Church closings due to a decline in parishioners and rising costs.  Even as a fallen away Catholic, this breaks my heart.

This Church on Elyria Avenue has been closed for awhile with a big "for sale" sign in front of it.  A CHURCH, for sale.  Like I said, this just breaks my heart.  How many people were born in this Church, died in this Church?  How many weddings were celebrated, how many funerals?  How many prayers were whispered, shouted and sang out in this Church?  This Church has seen an innumerable amount of smiles and tears and now FOR SALE.  Just one of many sad, lonely Churches.

Luckily, I am not alone in this challenge.  Please check out Georgia, Lisa and Taia and see what the found to be lonely.  Links are on the right.

Rhythm, Photo Challenge

I was just going to take a pass at today's challenge.  I had NO idea what to do for rhythm and then it hit me this morning.  There is a rhythm to cooking, especially when you're cooking a holiday dinner.

The older and wiser I get (HA!) I have a lot more respect for my Mom.  I was only cooking for four people today.  On any given holiday, my Mom would cook for TWENTY four people and have it all hot and steaming and wonderful on the table, all at the same time.  I never once saw her look at a clock for timing or start counting minutes out loud.

Me:  30 minutes for the sweet potato fries, 3 hours for the ham, clean and cut the strawberries, train leaves Los Angeles at 6:00 pm doing 72 mph, what time do I start cooking the asparagus????

Rhythm.  You need to get into the zen zone while cooking and not panic.  Even though it's family, I always panic.  I need to look like I'm in charge and I know what I'm doing.  I tried to get into the "rhythm" of today.  Here was the challenge:

Baking a ham.

I asked Jim what he'd like for dinner, assuming he'd pick something that went WITH ham, like scalloped potatoes or sweet potatoes.  No, he said he wanted lasagna!  Since I like to spoil Jim as much as I can, I made him Easter Lasagna today.  That just added a degree of difficulty to getting my rhythm going.  

You have to have hard boiled eggs, even if I can't eat them.

Eating healthy with some asparagus.

Who doesn't love cucumbers?  Another item to clean and cut up.   Breath.  Stay in the rhythm.

Barley and mushrooms, a new favorite dish of mine.

 And, strawberries for dessert!  

Finally, all was on the table at the same time and we all sat down to enjoy!

My rhythm isn't as good as my Mom's was, and it wasn't our traditional Slovak Easter dinner, but it all got on the table and we all had a great dinner. Rhythm.  I got my mojo going.

And, because my brother Phil loves me, he got me a little special dessert for doing all of the cooking!!  Margaritaville on MargaREEtaville!  Life is good!

Broken, Photo Challenge

Broken.  This broken story brought to you by Benny!

Just recently, Benny has figured out that he can jump up onto my kitchen counters.  I'm sure he's been able to do this for a long time now but for some reason, he never thought he could so he didn't.  Now that flood gate has opened and it's hard to get him to stop. 

When I'm home, I yell and shoosh him down.  But, some time during the night, he is on my cupboards doing heaven knows what!  I know he's up there because in the morning, I'm picking up from the floor all of the stuff he's knocked down during the night.  So busted!  The salt shaker is a common item on the floor.  So is my scouring pad from the sink.  He loves that.  His new favorite toy was Ron's plastic spoon he kept on the cupboard to stir his coffee!  No more stirring spoon for Ron!  I have plastic lids that cover the cat food cans, cups, cat food bowls, anything ON the cupboard will be ON the floor in the morning.  I make sure I don't leave any knives in the sink but other than that, I can't do much more.

The other day, I found this on the floor.  A little concave piece of plastic,  maybe about the size of a quarter:

I had no idea what it was, so I put it on another cupboard to remind myself to ask Ron if it was something important or if I could throw it out.  The next day, this showed up IN the garbage disposal.  Thanks, Benny. 

We kept it around for another day or so trying to figure out where the dang thing came from.  We pulled out the few kitchen toys I have to try to figure out where it came from.  Finally, Ron figured it out.

This is the remote control from the cable box in the living room.  I have NO idea how Benny got this piece off of the remote or how it ended up in the kitchen.  Silly dang cat!  Here is the remote, put back together.  No worse for the wear, in spite of the scratches from the garbage disposal!

It was broken, but now it's fixed!  Thanks, honey!

And, today, we were out riding around after breakfast and found this broken tree.  This was once a huge tree, but as you can see, disease had been eating away at it.  I'm not sure how long it's been down, it does not look like a recent thing.  But, it was sad that this once majestic tree was now so broken.

Broken.  Make sure you check out Georgia, Lisa and Taia and see what they have posted.  The links are to the right!

Ron is a GRANDPA!! - now WITH a picture!

Congratulations to Ron's son Vince and his girlfriend Samantha for welcoming their son into the world today and of course, for creating a Grandpa in Ron!!

Born:  04/06/12
Time:  5:12 pm central time
Weight:  7lbs 10 oz
Length:  21 inches
Quintin Vincent Johnson!

Mom and baby are doing well!!

Congrats to Mom, Dad and of course Grandpa!!!

Happiness, Photo Challenge

Every time a challenge like this comes up, I always go for the cat shots!  It's no secret that I love my cats and they definitely make me happy.  I tried to reach this time and find something else that makes me happy! 

Until recently, one of the other things that made me happy was food!  It still makes me happy but not like it used to.  What else makes me happy?  Without sounding too trite . . .

Margareetas!!!  Not just ANY margareetas, but margareetas from Mezcal Tequila with my favorite server Genardo taking great care of us!

Since one margareeta is 10 points, I couldn't drink them like I would have liked to the other night, but 15 points for 1-1/2 of them was WELL worth it!  Besides, it was a work night and I have to show up for work.  Work was the reason I needed a margareeta, oh what a vicious cycle.  On the good side, only one more week without my brother at work!  I can DO it!!

Margareetas on Margareetaville.  Life is good and it made me very happy!

Fragility, Photo Challenge

First, let me welcome a new player to our game!  C'mon down Taia, and show us what you find!!  A link to her blog has been added to the right.  Please make sure you go check her out while you're checking out what Lisa and Georgia found today!

This was a tough one.  So many things are fragile that you can't just snap a picture of it to portray what is in your mind.  Life.  Life is fragile.  How do you portray that in a picture?  So, my brothers Jim and Phil helped me out with part of this idea.  Thanks, guys!

This is the only good vase I own.  This is a lead crystal vase and I swear, I've had it forever but I'm afraid to use it.  I'm afraid it's going to shatter when I look at it!  It's a heavy piece, but in my mind, it's very fragile.

And, this is a self portrait of my back.  I was trying to capture the scar on my back from my back surgery.  I was fixed thanks to Dr. Roberts, but I feel I am living on borrowed time.  There is still so much wrong with my back, I feel fragile.  I think that one day my back will just not stand up to day to day living any longer and I will break in two.

Think about it.  Try taking a picture of our back side without your backside getting into the picture!  I have more pictures of my butt crack than I care to see in a life time.  Sad to say but this was the best in the bunch.  Part of that is due to the fact that I am a terrible photographer.  The other part of that is that Dr. Robers did me good when he cut me open.  I've had medical professionals recognize his work just based on the scar, or lack thereof.

Bottom line, my back is VERY fragile.

Large, Photo Challenge

For some reason, I had it in my head that this challenge was called "Big".  I was surprised when I looked at my sheet tonight and saw "Large" instead of "Big".  Luckily both are in the same family or I'd be in big trouble for today's challenge!

Let's see what I found. 

I found this very, very large tree.  It is humbling to stand beneath something this large knowing this tree stood on this spot long before I was born and will probably still be standing right there long after I'm gone.

This is a LARGE bill!  Especially when you consider that this bill was in my wallet and I got paid on March 30th!  And I have THIS large bill still on me!  Go me!  (Maybe I forgot to pay something!)

My lawn so needs cut again, it's not even funny.  This is my darn big grass, in need of a haircut.

And last, I had my first photography class tonight.  To say that I am overwhelmed is an understatement.  This is me and my very large headache.

Me and my headache are going to bed!

Old, Photo Challenge

Old. I was going to just take a picture of me.  Or, my brother Phil!  But I decided to find something else that is really old.

I headed to one of the places I love to take photos.  Charleston Cemetery in Lorain.

Here is the gravestone of someone that died when he was 50 years old.  Hey, I'm 49.  But back in 1867, 50 years was OLD.  Not many people in this cemetery lived 50 years.

1848 wasn't a good year either.  This tombstone is old.

Old.  And with no pictures of me!  But I have some stuff of mine that is old.

I'm not a collector and I don't do trinkets.  However, I have two things that I have carried around with me forever.  Move after move, state to state, these two things got packed up and then unpacked and put on my desk.

This was from my Mom.  Way back, I'm guessing around 1973, my Mom and my Grandma went to Czechoslovakia where my Grandma was from.  This little trinket was one of the things my Mom brought back.  I don't remember if she brought this back specifically FOR me but I ended up with it.  It means something to me because it was from my Mom.  It still sits on my desk, holding paperclips.

Another thing I've had forever is this statue.  I remember my Grandma (the same one that went to Czechoslovakia with my Mom) gave me this statue.  I know I was young when I got this.  It's seen better days, but like the little trinket above, this statue has moved with me state to state and has remained on my desk and my dresser before that.  This is a statue of Mary, the Mother of God as a child with her Mother, St. Anne.  I remember Grandma gave this to me as these two women were my name sakes.

Here is old as seen in my world.  Make sure you check out Lisa and Georgia's world.  The links to them are on the right.

Repetition, Photo Challenge

My take on repetition was patterns.  I went out looking for patterns everywhere. 

First, right outside my own house, on my air conditioner.

The next one I saw was this iron fence. 

And my personal favorite.  I have driving by this building since I've lived here but I never really "saw" this before.  I had Ron pull right over and park in the lot and I jumped out to snap a few pictures.  This is one of my new favorite pictures!  Maybe because I think I got kicked off of the property, but I'm not sure.  When the guy came out of the building yelling at me, I high tailed it out of there. 

Hey, if you don't want people standing on your property, put some signs up!  A "no trespassing" or "private property" would have been helpful.  Don't just come out yelling at me for taking pictures!

Regardless, I love this picture.  Repetition. Before you go, using the wheel on your mouse, scroll up and down and watch that last picture!  It looks like the wall is going to fall on you!  Maybe it's just me, but that cracks me up!

Easter Turkeys!

Thanks to Ron for the title of this blog!

A couple of weeks ago while driving to work, traffic was stopped due to a flock of turkeys crossing the road.  Since I wasn't the first car in line, I didn't realize why we were stopped until traffic was moving again and I had no time to pull out my camera (that was on the seat next to me!) and snap some pictures.

Lo and behold, this morning, I happened to glance to my right as I was driving south on East River Road and I saw them again!  There had to be 20 or so birds!  I ended up turning around in someone's driveway and since there was no place to park on the street, I pulled into this house's driveway to take the pictures.

This was done with a zoom as the birds were all up by the house and I was afraid to pull all the way up the driveway and spook them.  I thought this was an awesome sight and I had to snap some pictures!

They were right up against the house here like they owned the place.  This was a great start to a Monday morning.  Easter turkeys!

Vegetables, Photo Challenge

Welcome to our April Photo Challenge!   Our first challenge is vegetables.

I am now trying to eat a lot more fresh vegetables.  Aside from peas and lima beans, I am a fan of vegetables.  Unfortunately, out of a kajillion different veggies out there, I know what to do with only a handful of them.  I need to experiment more and learn how to enjoy a wider variety.

Here are some beautiful greens.  I wouldn't know the first thing to do with any of these, but they are beautiful!

I wish I'd have bought some of these dandelion greens! 

I don't think I've ever even tried a leek before.

All these wonderful veggies out there and this is what we had for dinner tonight.  This is what I call "a cup of crap".  A cup is a serving and crap in any veggie or combination of veggies that have zero points.  Good stuff!

Welcome back to another month of photo challenges!  Be sure to check out Lisa and Georgia's blogs and check out what kind of veggies they have posted - the links are over on the right.