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Well, with my schedule the way it has been lately, Walkabout Wednesday once again means walking out into my front yard. This time I took my paperweight and my white cardboard with me, and took a shot outside (because there was good light). The Daily Shoot assignment is “Make a photograph of something circular and crop it within a square frame.” Here is my round paperweight cropped square.

I must get back to work – I haven’t been able to work for more than 30 consecutive minutes today. Ergh. Thanks for dropping by!

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Today I only had time to respond to The Daily Shoot assignment - “What's your favorite device to access the Internet? Make a photograph of it today.”

It was a very busy work day, and there was a lot of activity this evening. Whew! I’m ready for a rest!

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This one isn't monochrome - it's just funny. Mom and I found this sign posted in Hamilton.

I bet it costs a lot more than $1,500 to gild a whole horse. Even a mini one.

In case the funny escapes you, compare:

gilded

gelded

Here is my monochrome Monday shot. As we were driving down the highway I noticed these leafy spurge (I think) plants growing up out of this old piece of equipment. I couldn't look down into the bucket of this whatever-it-is (it was too tall), but from what I could see, these determined plants were probably 4 feet tall, at least. These things are gonna grow, no matter what!

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Sunday Snapshot! Felice had the kids over to play on the Slip-n-Slide. I have pictures of all the kids, too, but this was my favorite.

I'm gonna do a bunch of nothing for the rest of the day. Have a great week!

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The Daily Shoot assignment - “Today's color is yellow. Find something that's yellow in color and make a photograph of it.”

Here’s a Saturday Snapshot I took of two sweet little ladies this morning. (I know, I know – snapshots are supposed to be on Sunday, but this one was on Saturday.) 

We had a great family day around the house today. It was wonderful to stay at my very own house and do whatever I wanted to do! I did leave for an hour for praise team practice, but that was fine because I love singing with the praise team. Pizza, family game night, happy children…good times.

(This one wasn’t taken today, but it was taken during another fun summer day, and I thought it illustrated my point well. Look at the size of that tree!)

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Summer fun! Whimsy! Those are the two challenges I had today, and here’s my photo. Not fine artwork, but it was fun. I’m not sure the Suburban is any cleaner now than it was when they started, but it was wet, so that must count for something.

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Thankful Thursday – I’m thankful for my family…

 

I took some photos of my brother-in-law’s family and all 15 of the Scrivners together, but I’m too tired to work on those tonight. So here’s one more of my 17yo daughter and my 15yo niece.

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I love the inventiveness of my children. Andrew decided to make brooms today. He found some yard, some weeds, and an old broom handle, and made a broom. This is actually his second one. The first one was made with old, dried something-or-other, and I’m sure it came apart as he tried to sweep with it. He obviously learned something, though, and this one stayed together for quite a bit of sweeping! Rose had a great time cleaning my sidewalk and ramp with it.

The Daily Shoot assignment is “Make a photo composed of interesting shadows today. Try composing with long shadows at the beginning and end of the day.” I wasn’t able to get out with my camera when the shadows were long, but I did get this one shot of Fancy and Molly.

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This is my very own bouquet! The poppies are from the plant I got at the Ladies’ Fellowship meeting a couple months ago, and the roses are from the bush out back. I love them! They’ve been making me happy all day!

The Daily Shoot assignment - “Look for abstract shapes and designs today. Make a photo of a subject everyone has seen that's not easily recognizable.”

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Okay, it’s not actually monochrome, but I like what Totally Rad Action’s Troy action did for this photo.

Here’s the full color version – it’s my shot for The Daily Shoot assignment, “Leave something out today. Be visually brief. Shoot tight. Make a photo that's direct and to the point.”

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Snapshot Sunday! Ken’s brother and family are in town for a week, so we’ve been hanging out at Nana’s house having fun with them.

After a rousing game of “football,” (the only rule is that anyone over 18 is winning) Ken kicked the football out into the field and told the kids to go get it. Nice kick!

(Molly was quite happy to chase it.)

Nathan kept claiming injury – it seemed to happen most when he didn’t get the ball the moment he wanted it. Wierd. Here Uncle Jerry and Cousin Cristina are offering sympathy to the wounded player. Or something.

Caleb and Nathan both struggled with the grumpies every time they didn’t get the ball.

But it’s really hard to stay grumpy when Uncle Jerry runs over and poses with you. Even Molly got into the action!

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Here is the photo I wanted to shoot yesterday…

This one answers the Project 365 “Reflection” challenge, and The Daily Shoot “frame within a frame” challenge.

Scenic Saturday! This shot was taken from my front sidewalk. I love it when the scenery comes to me.

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I made a whole post, told it to publish…it said it was done…now it’s gone. I’m done for tonight.

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Thankful Thursday! Here are two of my precious blessings – the two who were willing to come out for pictures. :-) The Daily Shoot challenge today is “Shoot wide open today. Make a creative photo that uses a shallow depth of field to good effect.” For those who aren’t familiar with these terms, that means that the subject will be in focus and the rest of the photo will be blurred. For this photo I used my 50mm lens at 1.8 (as wide open as it will go) to keep Nathan sharply focused and throw the “stuff” in the background (trees, tires, etc.) out of focus.

Here’s another one. Is Caleb growing up too fast, or is that just my imagination?

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Walkabout Wednesday and The Daily Shoot in one shot!
“Find the shape of a letter in something around you-- architecture, nature, or anything not in print--and make a photo.”

Four-year-old Caleb actually found this one. I was quite impressed. It’s the tongue of our neighbor’s trailer. I had to hold my camera up as far as I could and just keep pressing the shutter to get it in the frame and in focus. Good find, Caleb!

Here’s one more…this one was found by Andrew.

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Today’s photo doesn’t follow any theme or assignment. It’s not texture, and it’s not The Daily Shoot  - it’s out-of-town friends we haven’t seen in years. This man has been a friend of ours for over 20 years, and we hadn’t seen him in several years. We finally got to meet his sweet wife tonight. We had a wonderful evening with them, and it’s great to see him looking so happy. I love it when my friends are happy!

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In-celebration-of-Flag-Day
Originally uploaded by snaphappee.elli

No monochrome today - it's Flag Day, so we MUST have color! Flag Day " is a day of acknowledgement of our union and of our flag." (http://www.damego.com/flag-day) I love our flag - it represents so much, and has such a strong, proud look.

Happy Flag Day!

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Snapshot Sunday…I took a bunch of pictures today, but I’m not really happy with one of them. Oh well. Some days are like that. Here is my attempt at The Daily Shoot assignment. “Challenge: Invent your own filter! Shoot through something translucent or transparent. Make a photo with a unique look."

Here’s a spider web Caleb found.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Today we had to say “goodbye” to one of our favorite places. Qwivals is closing for good. :-( Nana took us for one last time. The kids played the games and had a great time while the adults enjoyed snacks and mourned the closing of the only kid-friendly entertainment in the valley. I took some of the traditional shots that my followers have seen before, but instead of sharing those today, I’ll just share these…

Goodbye, Qwivals. We’ll miss you!

Oh – I have a couple more photos I have to share…

This little guy belongs to a neighbor down the street. Isn’t he just adorable? He’s so so so soft! (and bitey!)

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I combined two assignments today - the "details" assignment for my 365 group, and The Daily Shoot assignment to shoot something that is repurposed. This was an oil drum, but now it is my neighbor's burn barrel.

Thanks for stopping in. I’m sorry I haven’t had the time to get around to everyone. Maybe I’ll catch up tomorrow…?

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It’s Thankful Thursday again! I like thankful Thursdays! It helps me remember that there’s more to life than the hurry, hustle, bustle, and stress. I’m thankful that I got to spend some time enjoying the outdoors today.

This morning I got to take some shots of the SUN! It hid behind the clouds fairly soon after this, but at 6:25 this morning the sun was shining happily!

Look at the size of these poppies!

Are you tired of poofyheads yet? I hope not. I actually caught the fluffs flying! Caleb asked me to take a picture of him blowing it, and I turned and snapped at just the right moment. Finally!

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For Walkabout Wednesday I walked down to my neighbor’s yard and stole some flowers. lol. Well, I took one little bunch of crabapple blossoms off her tree. I don’t think she’ll sue me. I put them in a vase of water to take The Daily Shoot assignment photo, but I didn’t like how any of the crabapple blossom photos turned out. I took those blossoms out and put in a poofyhead. I’m not overly enthusiastic about this one either, but it’s a photo, it fits both assignments (my own and the daily shoot), and it does have characteristics that I like. I love how the edges of the puffs took on the color of the vase. I think if I had been able to shoot in sunshine (I’m not sure I remember what that is) it might have been even more pronounced. Anyway…enough babbling. Here’s my photo for today.

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It’s Texture Tuesday. If these allium don’t have texture, I don’t know what does! I love them! Why hadn’t I noticed them before this year? They’re fabulous! Today’s assignment at The Daily Shoot is repeated patterns, and I’m calling this a repeating pattern. The flowers that are in full bloom are just awesome, but I didn’t get a good shot of them.

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I’m going to post today’s Monochrome Monday shot while my computer is working well.

I have started following The Daily Shoot, and although I can’t do every assignment (yesterday’s was sunflare – no sun=no flare), I love the challenge of a new topic every day. Here is today’s:

“Manhole covers have character and quietly tell a story. Make a photo of a manhole cover in your neighborhood today.”

I liked the fact that there was something to be gained by the incessant rain. I was able to shoot the manhole cover and a reflection!

Thank you, Sandra, for leading me to The Daily Shoot!

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Snapshot Sunday! This is a really terrible snapshot because Fancy’s room is dark and it was very cloudy, so I had to have my camera at 3200 ISO. I took snaps of what all the family members were doing at this time – just for the fun of it – but my computer is behaving so badly right now that I can’t edit them. So this is all you get for Snapshot Sunday!

It seems to me that Fancy recently claimed to have cleaned her room. Hmm.

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We celebrated Austin’s birthday today. I can’t believe this little man is 11 years old already. He was just 2! He’s such a sweetheart. He loves to help people, is cuddly and huggy, and finds humor in everything. I love you, Austin Ray!

Here are a few of my favorite shots from the afternoon…

Wishing.

This one cracked me up.

There are a few more photos of the party on my family blog.

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Ken and I went out on a date! Whoohoo! We went to dinner at Cheng Family restaurant, and then went to see Iron Man 2. I enjoyed our dinner, and I especially enjoyed the fact that it came very quickly! I ordered broccoli beef, and it was good. I loved the mushrooms!
 

Iron Man 2 was pretty good. It was quite loud, with lots of explosions, and a lot of action. I thought it was a little short on story line, but I guess they made up for it with a few good one-liners, and lots and lots of blowy-uppy things.

Have a great weekend – check in tomorrow for birthday party pictures. We’re celebrating Austin’s 11th birthday tomorrow!

(Oh, and for my Project 365 friends – I will do today’s challenge tomorrow. I just ran out of time today.)

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It’s another Thankful Thursday phone photo day. I know I’ve posted a similar shot before, but I am doing it again because I’m so thankful for God’s provision. Today was a 12-hour cereal sale day at our local grocery store, and I was able to purchase enough cereal to keep the kids fed for a few days.

With the economy the way it is, I know I’m not the only one who looks forward to these sale days.

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Caleb and I went for a very short Walkabout Wednesday walk today. It started to rain less than 5 minutes after we left. Oh well. It was nice to get away from the computer for a few minutes, anyway. We passed by my neighbor’s beautiful yard and I just had to stop and take some pictures of her bleeding hearts. They are so delicate and pretty.

For this one (natural light on a very cloudy day) I did most of the edits in ACR – I increased the clarity and vibrance to +20, and then in Photoshop I duplicated the layer, made the new one soft light at about 15% opacity, then used Smart Sharpen to finish it up.

Caleb found a poofyhead, of course…

I didn’t really edit this one much – just fixed a bit of overexposure in ACR.