October 2014 Desktop Calendar - Free Download - Holland, Michigan

Holland, Michigan - along the banks of Lake Michigan, an idyllic summertime getaway where cool, lake breezes make you forget about the hot city (only 2.5 hours from Chicago), and the corn filled prairie (because outside Chicago-land, it's just that - corn and bean fields).

The images for this month's Free desktop calendar were taken in Holland, yes, in October. Even in October, Holland is a great weekend getaway. My friend, Anne, was so gracious to host a group of us at her family's lakeside property. We had to visit Holland State Park on our last evening to watch the sunset along the beach.

There's something about being at the beach during off season - it's still beautiful, but melancholy at the same time, longing for warmer climes.

To download this image, click on this link at Box.com: The Beach at Holland State Park, Holland, MI

The Big Red Lighthouse, one of Michigan's most photogenic structures, anchors the pier at the park.

To download the Lighthouse Calendar, click on this link at Box.com:
Big Red Lighthouse - Holland State Park, Holland, MI

Some posts from that weekend getaway in Holland, MI:
The Weekend Retreat
The Gurgle Fish
My Solitary Photo Walk Weekend

Holland, MI photos on my flickr stream: Lake Michigan Retreat

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Two Weeks Until the Chicago Marathon - And I Get Plantar Fasciitis

More accurately, it's less than two weeks until the Chicago Marathon and the Plantar Fasciitis came out of nowhere and has taken up residence in my left foot. Great.

From the Mayo Clinic:

Plantar fasciitis (PLAN-tur fas-e-I-tis) is one of the most common causes of heel pain. It involves pain and inflammation of a thick band of tissue, called the plantar fascia, that runs across the bottom of your foot and connects your heel bone to your toes.

Plantar fasciitis commonly causes stabbing pain that usually occurs with your very first steps in the morning. Once your foot limbers up, the pain of plantar fasciitis normally decreases, but it may return after long periods of standing or after getting up from a seated position.

Plantar fasciitis is particularly common in runners. In addition, people who are overweight and those who wear shoes with inadequate support are at risk of plantar fasciitis.

My pain started last Thursday after what I categorized as a "fabulous run". So fabulous that I sprinted the last two miles because I was feeling great and wanted to see this:


I stayed long enough to watch the sky morph into a swirl of pastels [so I was late getting back home] and I probably didn't stretch properly afterwards [ie, I didn't stretch at all]. Walking into work, I noticed some pain emanating from my left heel.

Uh Oh.

I had 12 miles scheduled for Saturday, but instead I "ran" 3 miles on the elliptical machine, swam 20 laps in the pool and finished off with 25 minutes of pool running. The foot was feeling good - not "too" achy.

So I ran 10 miles on Sunday. Yes, probably not the best thing to do, but my foot "didn't hurt too badly" and I wanted to see how much it would hurt. Yes, it hurt to run, and it is possible I won't be able to complete the Chicago Marathon in 12 days.

Pretty much sucks.

I will, however, look at the positive - thank goodness I'm in the Taper phase of training. I don't have to run these last two weeks - I can swim, pool run and maybe hit a Spin class this week. Then really rest up next week.

What I am doing to try and heal up my foot over the next two weeks (based on information gleaned from websites and talking with other runners):

• Massage my affected foot - alternating between a tennis ball, golf ball and frozen water bottle
• Foam roll and stretch my calf muscle - I've come to the conclusion that I have tight calves, despite being very flexible. Keeping the calves and Achilles stretched will place less tension on the plantar fascia.
• Perform strengthening exercises for the foot.

I'll make a final assessment next week on my marathon status. Not the way I want it to be, but nevertheless what I got. Life will still go on.....

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Senior Photos - A Girl and Her Horse

A few "keepers" from this evening's photo shoot at the barn with my daughter.

We got there late, just as the sun was setting, so the light isn't the best. We should have arrived 30 minutes earlier, but some of these turned out OK - thank goodness for high ISO!


I must have snapped 20 photos of her on Caesar, but this one was the only one remotely "decent". The moon and stars need to align perfectly - those who have horses know what we were up against in this field full of grass.





Then there are the outtakes.


I've convinced her to have another session - this one will be in the early morning, so at least we won't be fighting the clock for light and I hope to get some nice golden morning light. Stay tuned!

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The Friday Five - Summer Review

Summer Lights Up the Boston Skyline

With the official start of Autumn this past Tuesday, I thought it would be interesting to look back at the past summer.

1. The weather - Again, I'm fixated on the weather. This summer's cooler than normal temperatures, coupled with ample rain was simply perfect. For the first summer ever, I didn't have to water the lawn!
2. We moved our daughter's horse, Caesar, to a new barn, a great place that is much closer to our house (10 minutes away vs 30 minutes).
3. I took my son and one of his friends to Boston and had a great time. I visited my parents, staying in their Plymouth home, probably for the last time (they plan to sell the house soon).
4. I participated in a month long on-line yoga challenge, focusing on arm balances. I don't often mention my yoga pursuits here, and this challenge was just that - very challenging, but I a learned a ton. If you care to see the poses, head over to this set on my Flickr Stream.
5. Even with the good, there was some sadness this summer. My good friend, Kellie, moved away, my violin teacher decided to stop teaching and I lost a running partner. But with each change, we grow and adapt. I am blessed by so much, regardless of the season.

Did you have a great summer?

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Sky Full of Stars - Photographing Star Trails

I took advantage of the clear, moonless skies last night and made my first attempt at photographing star trails.



It's not a perfect capture, but I'll take it. I learned many things in the process.

• I made 20 exposures using my 24-70mm lens, my camera mounted on a tripod. Some of the exposure details:
• 24mm, f/8, ISO 3200, 20 seconds
• I also used a remote shutter release in an attempt to reduce camera shake, but as you can tell, there is still some blur going on. I enabled the Long Exposure Noise reduction processing on my camera, which sounded like the right thing to do, but resulted in a 30 second delay between exposures. This causes gaps in the stars trails.
• For Post processing, I combined 19 exposures (I removed one exposure due to an airplane flying low through the sky) in PSE and for each layer, set the blending mode to "Lighten", which allows the brightest parts of each exposure to be seen.
• I also found software that will stack and process everything for you - StarStaX, making things very easy.

For my next try (possibly soon as the weather cooperates), I will make the following changes:

• Exposure setting changes - 24mm, f/2.8, 20 seconds and whatever ISO gives me a proper exposure (I'll have to play around with it). The aperture change here is to see if I can get brighter star trails.
• Turn off the in camera Long Exposure Noise Reduction.
• Use the interval timer, which will automatically make consecutive images.
• If possible, I will try for a different time at night to shoot - while it is dark enough at 8pm now, I found there to be a lot of "other stuff going on in the sky" - planes, etc, that interfere with the concentric trails.

Capturing star trails has always been on my "photography bucket list", but I was recently inspired to finally get it done. I found that inspiration in a song. It's all over the popular music airwaves, so maybe you've heard it.


Of course, it's Coldplay's Sky Full of Stars.

'Cause you're a sky, 'cause you're a sky full of stars
I'm gonna give you my heart
'Cause you're a sky, 'cause you're a sky full of stars
'Cause you light up the path

I don't care, go on and tear me apart
I don't care if you do, ooh
'Cause in a sky, 'cause in a sky full of stars
I think I saw you

The song evokes the vastness of the sky and reminds me that we are all connected by the stars. I am looking at the same stars as friends far, far away. We can be so far apart, but still feel a glimmer of closeness. Who do I look for when I stare up at the stars? Family, friends, loved ones. I also feel wonderment and remember that darkness is needed in order for the stars to shine.

I hope you take time tonight to check out your night sky - hopefully it will be clear and full of the same stars I'll be watching.

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Fifteen Years Young

Yesterday was the boy's fifteenth birthday. Oh, how fast the years pass!

From this little tyke (at seven days old!):


To this big guy:


The ideal birthday? Sleep in until noon, head over to your friends' house and play Minecraft for an hour, then head home for a round of golf with your Dad. After golf, play football with more friends, then go to dinner with friends.


It's a tough life, isn't it?

My personal highlight of the day - unabashedly singing duets with him in the car after dropping off the last of his friends. It's one of our "mother - son" activities - we cue up the Glee Version of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" and belt it out. He doesn't quite sing on key, and he doesn't care.

And neither do I.

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The Friday Five - Indulgences

Five [Indulgent] Things I'm thinking about this Friday.

• The weather - we can never stop talking about / thinking about the weather! A little over a week ago, the AC was running in the house. It's cooled off so much now, I wonder how long I can stave off flipping that switch to "Heat". But with the cooler weather, we've enjoyed our first Chili of the season. I also made Chicken Noodle Soup, baked a batch of spiced pumpkin scones and indulged in a Spiced Pumpkin Latte. [On the subject of Spiced Pumpkin Coffee - I'm now making my own, using real pumpkin puree, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg]

Another Fall Favorite - Taco Soup

• My guilty pleasure song download of the week (actually, of the month, since I hardly ever download music) - Taylor Swift's Shake It Off [Yes, I hear people wailing "noooooo..." right now]. Let me explain myself - the song is perfect to run with! With a snappy 160 beats per minute tempo, it's just a little slower than my running cadence. Plus, the chorus alliteration makes for easy "sing-it-in-your-head" playback as my feet hit the ground.

'Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play
And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate
Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake
I shake it off, I shake it off
Heart-breakers gonna break, break, break, break, break
And the fakers gonna fake, fake, fake, fake, fake
Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake
I shake it off, I shake it off

I also purchased Clean Bandit's "Rather Be" and the "Bang Bang" collaboration by Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj. It was quite the song purchase splurge for me. I added all the songs to my "Running" Playlist.

• A Jimmy John's Sub Shop finally opened in the little town where I work. We've been anxiously awaiting this lunch alternative to the typical fast food that's available here. I enjoy their subs and crunchy kettle potato chips, but I didn't realize how yummy their cookies are! The triple chocolate cookie - the perfect buttery moistness, punctuated with white, dark and milk chocolate sweetness. They are big enough for sharing, too (but you might not want to!).
• The iPhone 6 or 6Plus, that is the question. I am using a three year old iPhone 4s so I'm due for an upgrade. I'm going to wait until the local Verizon store has the physical devices so I can hold them, put them in my pocket and [most importantly] see what fits in my running shorts / skirt / tights. Yes, you can bet I'll bring my running gear to the store. The lens stabilization offered in the iPhone 6 Plus camera gives it an edge over the non-Plus version, but I wonder if the form factor might be too big. Regardless, I need to wait until mid October to make the switch.
• With the cooler weather, I get to wear cozy leggings around the house, to the store and to yoga class. I bought a pair herringbone leggings, and while I initially vacillated back and forth on the purchase, I am so glad I have them - so soft and cozy and they look great with a skirt and boots.

There you have it - Five indulgences for this Friday. I hope your Friday is great and you can enjoy an indulgence or two this weekend!

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