Typical Behavior?

When Boys get together:


Or When Girls get together:


All on a Saturday Afternoon, (with me trying to take pictures of it all).

Linked to Wordful Wednesday, even though I'm a bit short on them this morning.

Along The Road

As most of my commute to work is along the highway through the prairie, one might think the landscape doesn't change much. There's grass. There's corn. It's flat. Really flat.

But over the years, I've come to appreciate the subtle beauty of the sea of grasses and corn. In the spring, green emerges from the brown earth. Soon, various wildflowers shoot up, begging us to notice them as they sway in the wind. In the fall, the grasses turn from green to gold.

Several weeks back, I noticed a familiar flower nodding in the wind - sunflowers. In that ubiquitous grassy area between the northbound and southbound lanes of the interstate. A small cluster of them here and there, then an explosion of yellow flowers for all traveling to enjoy.



Last week I noticed the mowing crews were out - cutting down the overgrown grasses along the sides of the interstate and in the median. Each day, they made their way closer to where the sunflowers grow. Then the small, single clusters of sunflowers were gone, and the larger field, too. I realize these workers have a job to do, that their job isn't to make the interstate pretty, but I was saddened to see the flowers cut down.

Yet somehow, a couple plants were spared from the mower's blade.



If you look carefully, the area behind the flowers are freshly mowed. I snapped this shot because I thought it would be the last time I would see them. The grasses in front of the flowers are now gone. I guess someone thought it would be nice to leave some flowers along the interstate. For that, I am grateful.

The above image was processed using two textures from Kim Klassen. The original photo is here:


The screen shot of my layers in PSE


Linked to Texture Tuesdays.

Cross Country, A Wedding and A Football Game

Three main events last Saturday. It would have been a little more manageable had the wedding part been local instead of hours away. My husband made it to all three events. I only made it to two events, but substituted in a 3 mile run, a haircut appointment and two loads of laundry.

It was a perfect day for all three events, too - sunny, breezy, with a touch of fall crisp in the air.

The wedding - the union of a co-worker - who we though would remain a bachelor for the rest of his life:




Bryan and Sue make a wonderful couple:


There's no easy way to segue gracefully from a wedding to a football game, but that's what we did - from suit and tie, dress and heels to jeans and orange T-shirts. From heartfelt vows of commitment to rabid fans' screams. From the graceful strains of Pachelbel's Canon played by organ and violin to a boisterous crowd sing along of Bon Jovi's Living on Prayer. Quite a dichotomy of events.







It's a good day when a good friend gets married and the home team wins.

The Spider Webs

It was another foggy morning, so I was prepared with a macro lens as I ventured outside in search of glistening spider webs. I didn't have to go far - apparently there are lots of spiders hanging around our house!



It's amazing how the water drops form on the thinnest strand of silk, almost in a pattern.



Beads that form like a string of pearls.


For us to enjoy and marvel at.


I'm linked up to This and That Thursday, a new photo link up over at Deb Duty's. I visit her blog on a regular basis.

More of Me

Some Self Portrait catch up

Last Thursday, on my way to work - waiting at an intersection. My commute is quite easy - only six stop signs and 25 miles from the house.

On Friday, it's time to practice - I'm working on a Schubert Sonata right now.

After these pictures, I decided to go for a different angle.

How's that's for different? My excuse - I'm wearing a dress and heels - an uncommon occurrence. Hubby is wearing fancy shoes too - another uncommon occurrence. I'll get to the reason why in a later post.

Here's the other selfie taken that same day (Saturday):

I had to go to work really early on Monday - I was there at 6am. Fortunately, this only happens once a year or so.

Foggy Mornings

There's something magical about fog in the morning, especially when the sun starts to burn it off.

I passed by the park on the way to work, and on a whim, turned around, parked the car and walked out into this:



It only took five minutes out of my day.


Five minutes well spent.

Linked to Wordful Wednesday and Outdoor Wednesday

Mosaic Monday - Football Under the Lights

I love September.

The cooler temperatures, the start of school, the angle of light in the morning and evening.

The football games.

Nothing beats a night game under the lights with on a perfect fall evening.

Our team was the underdog - and clinched the game, late in the 4th quarter.



Can you feel the excitement in the air? There's many more weeks of that to come.

Linked to Mosaic Monday.

Auntie Again

I just received word from my sister, Michele, who lives in London, that she gave birth to a baby girl at 11:30am today.

At 7lbs, 3oz, baby Winifred is only the second granddaughter on my side of the family. My daughter was the first grand baby, and was then followed by four boy grand babies. My mother, having three daughters, was starting to wonder what happened.

But here she is:

Welcome to the world!

After The Rain

It rained yesterday. A good, earth soaking rain.

With our lack of rain during the summer, this would normally be a good thing. The lawn and plants certainly enjoyed the gentle rain that lasted for several hours.

But I couldn't enjoy it. I was worrying. Worrying because I realized the cat (Sam, the Siamese) escaped the house sometime this morning, probably in between shuttle service to school. We searched the entire house before coming to this conclusion. Then we set forth searching for him in the cold drizzle.

Nothing.

Four hours later, the rain stopped. A rainbow appeared. I didn't take a picture because I was roaming the streets, calling for the cat.

And he showed up at home.

Hungry and damp.

None worse for the wear, although he seems droopier than normal. And wants to snuggle. Oh wait, maybe we want to snuggle with him.

Then I noticed the beautiful sky, the sun having already dipped below the horizon.

I need not worry, the sky seemed to call out.



I need to remind myself that more often.

Self Portraits - A Little Catch Up

I admit, I fell behind with the Self Portraits challenge that Kyla started.

OK, it was a Sunrise and Self Portrait Challenge. I have since dropped the Sunrise portion - mornings are just too hectic around here.

I've played a little "catch up" with the self portraits.

A clearer version of the reflected self portrait - the only one taken with my big camera, on 9/6/11:


Singing in the car (something I try to do every day), 9/7/11:


Yesterday morning, 9/13/11:


This morning, 9/14/11, after my morning workout. I'm using my laptop screen as a lightbox - a first for me. Otherwise, it was dark in the room and you can't see the sweat on my brow.


The week gap? I caught a cold at the end of last week and just didn't feel like taking any pictures. I thought about going to a weekly schedule, but then was inspired to start back up.

We'll see how long I can maintain this new burst of self portrait energy......

And we (Kyla, Puna and I) would love for you to join us. Really, it's not too bad once you get used to rejecting most of the pictures you take. At least I'm getting proficient with hitting the shutter button on my iPhone without looking.

Wordless Wednesday - The Out Building

Linked to Wordless Wednesday

Busy-ness

School starts and things get so busy around here. Homework. Lessons. Practice. Sports. Games. Meetings.

And let's not forget the Celebrations (September marks two events in our house).

Like the bee busy gathering, we fly from place to place, from event to event, almost wishing September was over.





But I've learned never to wish it all away. Because it never lasts forever.
Sorry for my ramblings today - trying to think through all the busy-ness.

Football in the Car

I was going to name the post "Monday Night Football", but thought better of it - the fans who use that search term would be pretty disappointed in this post - paper football and all.....

So, on the way home from last week's cross country meet, we passed the time by "kicking" a paper "football" in between the "goal post":

The football set up:


Imagine my camera is the "goal"....

The Kick!!


It's Good!


There was rejoicing in the stands (or is that the face of amazement?)


Kids, don't try this at home, or in the car..... it could be addicting


Linked at Sweet Shot Tuesday

Remembering

Morning Photo Shoot

Since I'm doing this photo challenge where I take a picture of the sunrise every day this month, I've been on the lookout for anything compelling in the wee hours, before the mayhem of getting the kids to school.
This particular morning, the sun had already risen, and I caught a glint of gold while getting my morning coffee ready - the sun starting to shine on my neighbor's patio.
I headed out with my camera and quickly snapped this shot:

I liked the golden sun and the pots on the right, but I could see the garden hoses on the far right of the frame.

I decided to try a vertical shot next (it's good practice to capture both orientations when you get the chance), to emphasize the sun's rays coming from the sky.

The hoses are gone, but I'm not sure if I like the composition and focal point (or lack of focal point).

I decided to zoom in more and focus on the green pot on the right:


If I had more time, I would have tried a different angle to eliminate the landscape lights - I find them a bit distracting. Or, if this was my patio, I would have removed them temporarily (but it's not my patio - and I had already spent time lurking around my neighbor's backyard - so the lights stay in).

This is just one example of how I capture a scene - shooting multiple perspectives and adjusting as I go aong.

Wordless Wednesday on Thursday

Crazy Day - Cow Chip Classic

After leaving the house this morning at 7:30am, we arrived back home at 8:30pm. It's been a long day.

We drove out to the country to watch the cross country meet, aka, the Cow Chip Classic.

Why is it called that? Because the runners run in a field where cows normally graze. And you know where cows graze, they also poop, leaving those cow chips.

Fortunately, the cows haven't been out there recently. The only cow chips we saw were pretty dried up. We still avoided them.

I didn't take any pictures of said cow chips. Although I thought about it.

I took pictures with my big camera, but it's running late, and I'm needed to help with homework. So we have iPhone pictures instead.

Of runners:


And my reflected, hazy self portrait:


Have a great evening!