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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.

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I took some grass pictures for the texture, but I wasn’t thrilled with them. But I did really like how this shot of my dahlia turned out. This poor thing is still plugging along despite having its leaves nipped by frost, and getting blown over repeatedly. If the temperatures would settle down I might even plant it in the ground!

This was taken in late evening light, shaded by the house. I love what the late light does for the colors of the dahlia.