From my Canon- Minty Green

Rainy day boredom buster 

My iOdds & Camera's ends

(click to enlarge if the notion so takes you)

Poplar fluff much?

The most beautiful bouquet. Ever.

"I'm ok, Namie,you don't have to hold my hand"
#growinguphurts..me.sniff.

Water reserves

Something yummy this way comes. 

Lazin'

Posin'

If I could, I would own one of these magnificent creatures. 

Musings of This,That and Other Things

So.. standing in line at the coffee/donut shop waiting for my order. There's a little raised bar from the counter they set your coffee and brown bag your donut. The brown bag, by the way, is not the see through variety, hence the brown colour of the bag. So you can understand when the little bag is set down next to my coffee ( you can't mistake it, I dilute it with half hot water, it's clearly written ) I assume it's mine.
Ooops not yours I was informed after picking it up.
It belonged to the self entitled cow behind me. The one that had a snit and demanded a new one. Yes, you read that right. A new one. Apparently I had somehow deposited cooties on the outside of the bag.
Lady, are you frikken kidding me?? I touched the bag, I didn't sneeze on it, I didn't look in it, I wear deodorant, hell I even take a shower once a month whether I need it or not.
Now they have to throw it away and get another because you know Princess here is of Royal Gold Plated lineage.
By the way, honey? when you were having your little royal snit I saw a fly land on the top of your coffee lid and rub it's back legs. On the part where you drink from.
:-)

It strikes me time and time again how awkward boys are. Their stance,their gait, in the very way they just are. I'm not exactly sure when they develop their swag, some never do I suppose but it's almost painful to watch at times.
Case and point: I live in redneck country, where the buffalo roam and cowboys come out in their finery at rodeos. Nothing more comical than watching such a young cowboy wanna be in the making dressed up in a new stiff shirt, buckle shined up and boots not yet broken in. And by young, I mean last teens, early twenties. Where's your cowboy stride young man? That strut those cowboys swagger around with?
I know it's not really nice but it takes all I have not to burst out laughing at times. I feel both sorry even embarrassed for him. What's it going to take to 'James Bond' this one? When is he going to find his swag?

Okay, honestly... People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. I know a couple of people who epitomize this. Eventually those living in that glass house will sink a ship and there won't be a raft nor buoy to be found. And what an interesting day that will be.

I gotta tell you if you can't cry on your Momma's shoulder (mine lives four provinces away) the next best thing is Face Time. Better than Skype, you don't get those static hesitations.  But sighhhhhhhh I miss my Mommy.. ( lol yeah.. shoring up major points as she will eventually read this post. Muahahahhah, bite me Sisters o'mine.  :-P  )

I'm not sure if it's like this where you live but from where I'm from, we always say that men who drive big souped up trucks are errr trying to accomodate for lacking in um other areas. Like women wearing padded bras, sort of. What makes me laugh outright is when I see some big ass truck pull up, park and out hops a man who's top of his head barely reaches the mid part of his side mirrors. Now that there's just comical.


What about you, my bloggy pals, what are your musings and thoughts?

For Today

For Today

Outside my window...

I am waiting for day to turn to night. I'm tired. I'm stressed. I have no chocolate, I don't smoke and it's too late to drink. Frack.

I am thinking...

about not thinking. Or rather over thinking. Whaddaya think?
 (Am I not just too funny sometimes I ask you. Ok, I'm not really asking you, it's rhetorical )

I am thankful for...
the utter quiet I hear right at this very moment. Of course you know I jinxed it by typing that out, right?    

From the Kitchen...

I know there's freakin' chocolate squirrelled away somewhere. By one or both of my daughters who refuse to share with me. Greedy little witches. 
* Note to self: Call the lawyer and change the will first thing.*

I am wearing...

my apron. Still. Am I not the epitome of laziness tonight. 

I am creating...

macro photographs. I love getting in-your-face close to things. So remember that if you ever decide you want to piss me off. Purposely or for sport. :-)  

I am going...

to check myself into the loony bin soon. Just for a break with free lodgings, you understand. Yup, Ya Ya Sisterhood had a good idea there.
God I love that movie. 

I am reading...

Don't even ask me what I'm reading. Like water in the Sahara, my reading time is non-existent. Unless you count reading food labels or the back of the shampoo bottle when I'm in the bathroom.. then hey! I'm well read.

I am hoping...

I actually enjoy my high school reunion. ( you guess the years, I'm in denial )  I really want to have a good time. I have no idea why I'm dreading it.

I am hearing...

the sounds of my town settling in for the evening. It's the kind of night where the coyotes will howl. Which suits me just fine, I'm in the mood to howl myself. You game? On the count of three..?

Around the house...

Runs a 4 year old bouncing off the walls. I would too if I had ingested three sugar loaded cupcakes. 

One of my favorite things...
is having someone awake before me (read hubby) fixin' my first cup of coffee. Which won't happen tomorrow morning or the next foreseeable mornings.He's out of town and I have to get up and make it myself. Sigh.
#firstworldpains.

A few plans for the week...
Sleep. Eat. Drink Wine. Priorities in check. How about yours?

Here is a picture I thought worth sharing...

Frienemies 

I ask you. WHY??

Google image

Why can't I see someone trip and fall on their way to racing me into the coffee shop? That would make my day. Hell it would make my week.

Why can't a car stall as they are racing me to the one and only available parking stall that I'm closest to?

Why can't teenagers be muzzled?

Why can't someone's cell phone just fall apart when they are in queue, loudly sharing their one sided conversation?

For that matter why can't those annoying people sitting behind you in the food court, making sure they are being heard,bite down on their tongue? Hard.

Why can't people who own HUGE slobbering dogs keep them close by and not let them run free to slobber on me? Who owns small'ish dogs who don't slobber? Just. Frikken. Gross.

Why can't money grown on trees once a year for ohhh let's say.. a half hour? (mine doesn't even have leaves on the stupid thing ) I have some expensive tastes at times.

Why is it, sure as the sun rises, I'll be seated at the table next to the three screaming children in a restaurant? Why??

For that matter why is it so hard to find good waitstaff nowadays? One who understands the term 'customer service' Oh well.. it saves me on the tip percentage. :-)

Why can't teenagers be muzzled? Oh wait.. sorry, I asked that already, didn't I?

Why doesn't karma work faster sometimes? I get impatient.

Why couldn't I be born with the ability to draw? Or paint? Or make..stuff?

Sigh.. so many questions.

What about you, my bloggy friends? What are the whys in your world?

A long tough learning curve.. for me anyhow.

A couple of years ago my husband gifted me with my first DSLR. I won't lie, I was terrified of that..contraption. So many buttons staring back at me, a menu with choices I had to make that I knew nothing about. I babied that camera, or rather it babied me. I kept it in automatic mode. Hey easy peasy, nothing to it!
I knew I had an innate sense of composition before even knowing what exactly what composing a picture meant. So off I went shooting happily away in auto mode... Until the day I asked an old friend how he got that 'silky' look to his waterfall. I saw words like 'manual mode' and ' f-stop'. wth??  


Crap. But my interest was peaked.I knew it was time to step up to the plate, expand my knowledge base. I wanted a photograph like that.Bad.

Thus started a long long learning curve, one I'm still on today. Yup, got the silky water down almost pat but I also want to rock at 'panning' or do an awesome panoramic and stitch it together. I show an aptitude for 'macro', I love getting down and 'belly shoot' but things likeTV mode still frustrated the crap out of me. I dislike TV mode. A lot.

Where's all this going? I'll tell you. 
It's going straight to those who take a moment to comment on my efforts. 
I've worked very hard learning a subject that terrifies me. It's hard to teach an old dog new tricks but I am willing to learn and well.. if truth be told, I ain't that old.Yet. (Hmmm..is 49 considered old these days? Isn't it like the new 30 or something?)

It gives me headaches at times, the sheer volume of technological know-how involved in the art of photography. I get a crappy shooting day and I want to pitch my camera in the river. I mean,come on,who the hell do I think I am anyways?! 

On occasion when I do take a good photograph I am aware quite a few people click in to view it and off they go. What they may not realize is the sheer volume of decisions needed to get that photograph. The speedlite flash that was as hard to figure out as a bicycle in 100 pieces. The white balance I choose, the shutter speed or aperture needed, the shooting mode I decide on. They don't know how utterly critical I am on myself or the number of photographs I delete because it's not tack sharp or that I don't have ( or understand!) photoshop to fix my problem with a certain photograph. I guess it's not up to them to understand at all but I can tell you it is a lot of work.


To those of you who take that moment to comment on my photographs, you guys make all the hard work worth it. I can't begin to express what your comments mean to me. I LOVE when you tell me how or what a particular photograph makes you feel. Why you liked it..perhaps why you didn't. (art is subjective after all) And if you are a fellow photographer, please please tell me how I can improve on it. I am willing to learn!

I'm by NO means an attention whore. If you know me in real life, you KNOW this to be true. This isn't what the comments do for me. The fact that you lovely people care enough to show you appreciation goes a long way to recognizing and acknowledging what goes into it. 


So to those who nod my way I thank you, sincerely, with heartfelt appreciation. Those who enjoy from afar, keep enjoying. It does makes me happy to know you've dropped in for a look. 

Jamie

Banish thee from my home.

Things I wish were not in my house.

Candyland
-The inventor should be banished to a remote island with every last copy of that stupid game. But then again he/she can probably afford to buy the fracking island now.

Cats and Dogs.
-Puke, hair balls and poop. There has to be more to life, there just has to.

Toys smaller than a fat rat.
- Guaranteed I will step on it and teach my 4 yr old lil spitfire words she's not quite ready to learn.

Chocolate.
-The devil's food. It tempts you into submission and puts you at it's beck and call.

Refrigerator with two doors side by each.
-Useless as freaking football bat. I have one. I hate it. Hate it. Hate it.

A gazillion material grocery bags.
-Seriously. I keep forgetting them and buying more. I have enough for three families. With six members each.

A doorbell with a four year old living in the house.
-She knows it sends the blasted dogs barking. She does it for entertainment. Personally I think she's plotting the demise of my sanity.

A sump pump.
- It'll be a cold day in hell when I look in that deep hole to see if it's working properly. I know what happens, something evil in there lurks..waiting to grab me by the throat and devour me.

A kitchen table.
-I mean, what for??? It's just a flat surface for everyone's crap. We never eat on it. Ever. There's no room to.

A Premenopausal woman
-A danger to those that live under the same roof. In my case that's 2 daughters, 1 grand daughter, two dogs & two cats. Hubby's a frikken coward. He saves his ass by going away to work for 2 or 3 weeks at a time, leaving said premenopausal women with the whole damn enchilada.

A shortage of wine.
- Refer to above statement.

So, my bloggy pals, what shall we banish from your house?