Passing the guest bedroom this afternoon, the sun caught my eye. It was a gorgeous, sunny start to December.
The nice thing about December - of course there's Christmas - but I look forward to the days start getting longer after December 21.
How was your start to December?
I know I'm late, but I'm linked to This or That Thursday
First, dinner in Paris!
Well, not the real Paris, but a pretty good replica....
We enjoyed a birthday celebration dinner at Mon Ami Gabi where Scott ordered Country Style Pate (I haven't been able to find pate back at home) and Seared Sea Scallops. I ordered a daily special - rare tuna (totally yummy!).
As the guest of honor, Jill was presented with a cute birthday profiterole:
After dinner, we roamed the strip, checking out the Venetian:
Lisa and Jeff
We ended up at the Wynn and enjoyed the warm outdoor lounge overlooking the Wynn's Lake of Dreams. We even caught the end of the frog that pops up on top of the wall of water. Sorry, no picture, I thought it was a little weird.
Instead, here's picture of the parasols at the Parasol Up Lounge, just inside:
After the Wynn, we caught the Treasure Island "Sirens of TI" performance that combines pyrotechnics, bad acting and dancing. Oh, there's a cool pirate ship that sinks. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure our entire group thought it was tacky.
Scott and I decided to walk the rest of the way back to the Aria, and we stopped in at the Bellagio and caught the fountain show:
It was well past midnight when we got back to the Aria. We couldn't find the rest of our party on the casino floor, so we called it a night.
Our first real fall-like day, complete with bands of clouds that let the sun's rays pass through, beaming down on the prairie fields. 
It's days like today that make me appreciate the flatness of this area, and the beauty from its simplicity.
From the farmer's market this morning. My first visit this season. And it was broiling hot. And crowded. Next time, I need to go earlier in the day.
Fortunately, the market takes up residence in the parking lot of a small Mall, and I was able to go in to cool off.
And look around this cool little store.
Cute journals that I have to resist. Because I have a "thing" for cute notebooks and I have at least a dozen empty ones at home, waiting to be written in.
Colorful kitchen tools:
Hmmm, my current colander is plastic with a broken handle. I continue to resist.
And the most beautiful paper lanterns:
I managed to escape, only purchasing some DeCecco brand pasta. Next time, I just might buy a green colander, though.
I originally planned to post pictures from this morning's trip to the car wash. It was my third trip, as my previous two trips had been aborted due to the money takers not accepting credit cards or $20 bills. As the trite saying goes, the 3rd time was the charm - I had the suitable monetary denomination and as a result, the car was [somewhat] cleaned of the salt and grime of winter.
And after writing that paragraph, I have decided to post pictures of the car wash because I expended all that energy writing.
And today's other photographic contribution - the vertical blinds in my office, just as I arrived to work. As my office really doesn't get direct sunlight (situated in a recessed corner of the oddly shaped building), I am always amazed when I see sunlight filtering through the blinds. Turns out the sun was coming through a window in the main entrance foyer, then through the front door, and into my window. The repetition caught my eye, so I took a picture. (Yes, I take my camera with me to work every day - you never know when you might need it)
I remember when fiber optic lights were popular in the late 80's / early 90's. Our ship, originally built in 1993, still has a section of these lights, strung to look like cascading flowers. 
The neon looking lights adorn the Atrium area. Glitzy.
Just playing around with photographing the lights on the tree and since I'm convinced there aren't enough lights on the tree to get that spectacular "twinkle light bokeh" you see at the holidays, I decided to try my hand at creating globes of light.
I just turned off my auto focus, manually shot with the lights out of focus and combined two pictures with several blending layers and a texture for this result.
A monochromatic version:
I'm not 100% sure about the results, but it was fun playing with all the different effects and maybe I can use the pictures as a texture.
No, not the Cheap Trick song from the 80's (one of my favorites, though - lots of great memories from 1988), but the single flame from the Mistletoe Yankee Candle I lit tonight. I wish you could smell the nice pine scent that filled the room. 
From my neighbor's yard:
I apologize for yesterday's misleading post about running, taking pictures, etc. I actually don't run with my camera (unless it is my daughter's little P&S or my iPhone). If I spot something interesting, I will go back later (usually in a car!) with my camera. It's a hit or miss process - many times the light changes and what I "saw" in my head is no longer present.
Check out the other Best Shot Monday entries at Tracey Clark's blog.
As far as this Fall has been cold and rainy, we have been pretty lucky on the weekends - we enjoyed another beautiful Indian Summer day, topping out in the mid-70s. Brian played football with George, Will and Henry. No pictures of the boys - they were a little camera sky today. But I did capture some great shots of some ornamental grasses in the their backyard.
By now, Jill is accustomed to seeing me taking pictures of the boys, but probably not of her landscaping!
A quick trip to the Library tonight. I haven't had the opportunity to photograph it at night, and didn't have a tripod, so I set the camera on the roof of the car to take these.
[you can see the reflection of the illuminated windows on the roof of the car]
I played with this one to get a sepia tone, using a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer.
I had to go into work early this morning, before sunrise. I don't get to see the plant lit up by the lights that often. Of course, this is mainly the parking lot, taken from the comfort (and dryness) of my car.
I applied a Gradient Map Fill layer and selectively erased some of the layer mask to let some of the color portions show through.
Another capture, this time with an Aperture of F22, Shutter speed of 5 seconds. I focused on the tall light post. Yeah, it's blurry, but I liked the bokeh caused by the lights' reflection on the rain-spotted window.
In the heart of downtown Indianapolis, the City Centre Mall complex forms a circular overpass above the intersection of Illinois and Washington Streets, illuminated Saturday night. 
The city was crowded and alive with activity - today's Circle City Classic brought in visitors from Alabama and we look forward to tomorrow's Colts game against the Seahawks.
Pretty candles adorned the aisles in the church where Steve and Michelle were married today.
30 minutes can make a huge difference in a scene and picture.
Taken around 7:15 - the sun is setting but there is a lot of available light:
25 minutes later, as I am leaving, the dusk has given way to darkness. I haven't seen the Library lit up all summer long and thought it was pretty.
Another visit to the Library. The book mobile was reinstated during the summer, but ran its last round two weeks ago, so my checked out items were due.
The Library is pretty all lit up at dusk. I need to take pictures from the other sides of the building - each side is designed a little differently which provides visual interest.
I had a hard time getting the sun flare tonight. Probably due to the cloud cover (much easier to do with unfiltered light).
Sorry for the slightly late edition and I have to admit I am short one or two pictures this month - I fell into a bad mood after dinner and decided I was done for the day.
But I digress......
The start of a beautiful, sunny spring day (as I write this, claps of thunder break the sound pattering of raindrops outside) - the morning sun peaks into the bedroom. The song, Narrow Daylight by Diana Krall swam through my head as I shot these.
Narrow daylight entered my room
Shining hours were brief
Winter is over
Summer is near
Are we stronger than we believe?
President's Day means a day off for us, which also means a weekday morning run for me.
Over the frosty bridge:
I went back to the bridge after my run to take the pictures (it's not very far from the house and a nice way to cool down).
I think Grandma took advantage of the bright sun today while reading her book.
I am often asked questions and comments about my photography - what location, what camera, what settings, etc. The camera question aside (i...
A chemical engineer working in IT, Wife to Scott, Mom to two great kids + two cats, one horse and numerous fish. Photographer, marathoner, musician, yogi and gourmet cook. I don't think there is time for more, but I'm sure I missed something!
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