An Awesome View of Life

Between You have to look really hard to find something different or unique to photograph outside at this time of year.  EVERY thing is duller than dull. But here is a ray of sunshine between the shadows. (:

Forms of water (enlarge this to see just how pretty it is) Mostly I love the colors in this photo.  Then there is the three forms of water.  In the foreground is slushy water.  In the middle is frozen/chunky water.  And in the background just plain old water. It's just all pretty in this photo with the setting sun shining on it.  (:

Art or... just bird shit?  The goose poop wasn't very creative but this DID catch my eye. ha!  This one made me laugh once I had it downloaded to my laptop.  Always a good sign it will make the blog.   I laughed even harder when this photo got NO reaction from my hubby.  At least not at first.  He did eventually raise his eyebrows at me when I told I was using this photo and the title was going to be Shit. (period) Which of course made me laugh more. Just be glad I didn't decide on any of the goose poop, that's such nasty looking stuff.  And aren't you all glad I'm finally getting out of the house on some mini-adventures? (:

Caught The wind was gale force along the Mississippi River after dinner tonight.  As usual I didn't dress warm enough so was moving pretty quick when I saw this tiny feather caught in the moss of a huge oak tree.  I set my camera on the macro setting and had my lens all but touching the feather.  I wanted only the feather to be in focus and think I accomplished that.   After a hellish day of tedious suit sewing it was great to get out for a walk and to take some photos.  It was well worth freezing nearly to death.

The same but different... From this view these look like the same kind of houses.  Each look like they've had some updates but each one is a bit different.   I love how they are just peeking over the fence.  The bike chained to the fence adds a little drama to the photo.  ha!

Creative Energies This is where I channeled my creative energy today.  I've had the order for this suit for 6 or 7 weeks.  I decided since it was being picked up by the customer tomorrow afternoon I should probably get busy and get it finished.  All went well so, no worries.  (: There are at least 3 new stone design ideas rolling around in my head right now.  New stones came in the mail today for one of them so I need to get busy so I can sit long enough to get at least one of them created. Lots to do right now and just not quite enough of me to get all of it done.  But it always seems to work out. Below is a black and white shot of this as well.  It turned out kind of cool so thought I'd share it as well.

Gamma Ray Protection When I first moved to Minneapolis I had a job as the front desk receptionist for a personnel office.  This office did the hiring for a few of the downtown hotels and restaurants.  Every full moon this same sweet lady would come in with a hat made out of aluminum foil. She told us the gamma rays were really bad in her neighborhood when there was a full moon and her hat was the only thing that could protect her. There isn't a full moon right now and I'm pretty sure I don't need the gamma ray protection but I sure do have pretty hair now.  (:

Reflecting from the outside in. Today was a "me" day.  I got to go to the city to get my hair done.  Finally!  My hair salon is in the Uptown Lake/Lyn area.  After getting my hair all beautiful I took a very short walk up the block to Lake Street. While standing in the corner bus shelter I snapped this photo.  If you look closely you can see all the construction items inside the empty store front as well as reflections of me, the bus shelter and the surrounding buildings, cars, etc. Too fun?

Pink Tutu This is yesterday's photo.  I forgot to post it last night.  Not sure what I was doing instead.   This is Grandbaby's pink and white tutu.  I was going to say "poor baby" about taking this photo while she was wearing the pink tutu.  But she is so used to the wonderfulness of her Grammy.  ha!

Stuff of nightmares... An afternoon spent in our middle school lead to this locker photo.  I'm hoping this doesn't cause anyone to have one of those "I can't remember my locker combination" nightmares. ha!

Progress? This is the new Vikings Stadium.  I'm no longer much of a pro sports fan so this really doesn't thrill me.  I happened to be sitting at a red light and it was just there.  (: I do understand the revenue pro teams supposedly generate for a state but the cost of this stadium is crazy and taxes are how it was paid for.  I'll just leave it at that. 

Heart of the City Another great afternoon in the city with my darling daughters.  Today we went junk/antique shopping.  We didn't find anything to buy but had a great time looking.   The only thing that would have made this photo a bit better would have been a light rail train on the bridge.  There had been one but I didn't have my camera handy and was driving so... But I do love this city.

One already! My how the past year has flown by.  Our little dolly is walking and talking.  She has the best personality.  She loves to snuggle and read books.  Today her wonderful Grammy taught her how to blow kisses.   The candle was a bit scary and the cupcake was met with indifference.  However, the big chunk of watermelon was a hit.   The love of a grandchild is the most amazing thing.

Tree Fungi This was taken on Sunday.  Today was a busy day of trying to find out which Scottish Clan one of my ancestors belonged to.  I was so sure it was Clan Lindsay which has the most beautiful Tartan.  But late this afternoon I read a totally different article that says he was part of Clan Glen which really isn't a clan.  Hmmm...  So I'm going with a photo of something that fascinates me and I love to photograph.

A story to be told... The last few days have been spent sitting in front of this machine.  While the baby is here it is harder to get much done because she is in EVERYTHING.   At the right end of the table there is a garbage can that catches the trimmed pieces of the suits.  Mara likes to get into this can and toss (like a wild woman) all these little scraps out on to the floor.  So she pretty much has to stay to my left side. Today she was sitting on the floor next to me tossing a pile of suits that had been serged together.  She turned towards the machine with a suit in her hands, put her foot on the "gas pedal" and held the suit up in the air towards the machine.  It was so cute.   It is amazing how much babies watch us and we don't even know it.  She has sat in my lap for a few seconds here and there but never did I think she would comprehend the basic process. She is the smartest little thing in the world.  But o...

Beautiful Background Moss and pebbles always fascinate me.  Love this photo but love the two young women in the background.  I'm a very lucky mom because they don't mind doing this stuff with me.  Not much anyway.  (:

Light and Darkness In three years I think I have only taken a couple of decent photos of birch trees which I love.  The brightness of this photo was manipulated to make this lone birch tree stand out a bit more.

Go! Go! Go! This is just a purple pom pom.  (:

All Rolled Up in BLUE Today was a very busy business day.  I spent most of my day sewing.  Early this afternoon the UPS guy delivered five colors of fabric.  Because I have a limited storage space for my fabric all of it gets put on bolts or shorter tubes like this one.   This was the very last one I rolled and I had a devil of a time getting it rolled neatly.  As you can see around the edges, I pretty much gave up.  This could have been titled "Light at the end of the tunnel."  But I've already done that.

A tasty Red Green moment. One of the better Red Green moments I've had the opportunity to capture on my camera.  These peppers were part of tonight's chicken fajita dinner.

This makes me smile. Auntie Mandi was sitting in the window taking pictures of Grammy and Baby. These photos are pretty special to me since I am normally the one behind the camera. There aren't very many pictures of me with my dolly.  (: In front of my right foot there is a very flat, fairly large rock.   The first time we walked out to the back garden I sat Mara on this rock.  The second time we went outside we walked out to the same spot and she plopped herself down on the rock!  Way too cute.  I'm sure we will be sitting in that spot many more times. All in all it was an awesome day.  Love this baby!

Four Seasons in One A creative way to get all four seasons in one photo?  Snow in the background, running water in the gutter, fallen leaves and the sun.

Just a bit blue.  But only in color.  The mood is happy around here with all of the sunshine and very warm temperatures.  It was in the 50's today.  We are easily pleased here in Minnesota.  ha!   I love the reflections in my cobalt blue gazing ball.  The bits of lavender and the glare of the sun shine adds to the intrigue.  

Sunset Colored The Weisman Art Museum  is on the University of Minnesota Campus and just around the corner from my youngest daughter's dorm.  The sunset was fabulous tonight when we took her back to campus.  I snapped this shot while waiting for the light to change. The building is a very shiny silver metal but with the sunset reflecting on the building it was this gorgeous color.

Sue Zee. And Rhonda reflecting. My car's license number is SSZ 214.  Or "Sexy Sue Zee loves Valentine's Day".  And Rhonda would be my daughter's car.  We had a lovely, sunny day today and unfortunately I was stuck inside sewing.  But while I was sewing I saw this reflection and  thought it could be a cool photo.  This photo shows multiple reflections of Rhonda as well as the neighbor's house.  I tried to get as many reflections on my car as I could. I also really like the version below as well. 

You Light Up My Life!

Woven. This isn't very creative but I'm okay with it today.  Its been a very long week around here.  I'm tired and ready for a day of doing not much of anything.   My Facebook post about volunteering is a real thing.  I've looked for a few years now to find the right organization to volunteer through and I think I found that organization tonight.  Along with the country I would like to go to.  Everything about this is speaking to my heart.   The money is the scary part.  Right now I truly can't afford more than the deposit I would need to make to hold a spot for myself.  Prayers and much thinking are needed before I make a final decision.  And beware of my online fundraiser I will be doing.  (:  

Can you guess what this is? Today was an extremely long, trying day.  I know its just because I'm tired but I feel like my life is making old.  So I decided I wanted to take a picture of something that looked old.  Instead - this is what I ended up doing.  This made me laugh out loud and I told myself I was really, rather strange.  ha! Below is a full photo to show you what the above photo is if you couldn't guess.  There is also a black and white photo I took tonight that I really liked.  No photos of Zoe tonight.  Yay! Is this what you guessed?  Comment here or on Facebook and let me know what your guesses were. Just love the light and shadow of this one.  (:

Zoe's Story Time Zoe did a wonderful job of reading a story to Big Bird, Cookie Monster and Grover.  Mara couldn't quite figure out how Zoe was reading a book.   Sorry to those who follow me on Instagram for doubling up and using the same photo here and there.  It was just too cute to not share here. (: Grammy needs a grownup adventure I think.  Zoe has been the subject of way too many blog posts.  ha!   But I do love that baby more than anything.

Tyyne-Patalappu Last fall I crocheted dishcloths that I really love.  Now I decided I need some new and better potholders.  I started searching for a pattern and fell in love with this  pattern.   However, it was poorly translated from Finnish to English and I just couldn't figure out how to add the second color. There are many websites with this crochet pattern but no other one in English.  I found versions in Swedish, German, Norwegian and many in Finnish. Finally I found a YouTube video in Norwegian.  (I think) that showed how to do the second color which I watched over and over until I figured it out.  Of course I can't find that video again to share here. Now that I know how to make them they are so simple and pretty quick to make.  Also quite cute. A second one is in the works with enough yarn to make at least a third one.  Snow is coming tonight.  Not much but a great excuse to crochet.  Right?  ha! ...

Thank you! This weekend was spent working on two very fun and creative projects.  Mandi and I have been trying for most of the week to make a over sized tote bag for her current knitting project.  We got it started yesterday and finished it today.  It is the most awesome bag.  Ever.   When I have time to sew something "normal", something that isn't made out of spandex it is always a treat.  I love to sew and am so very thankful to my beautiful Mom for sharing her talents with me.  I love telling Mandi (who is teaching herself to sew) all the funny little things she would do while she was sewing.  And all the funny things she did while she wasn't sewing. Thank you Mom for all of your talents, your sense of humor and most of all your weirdness that you have passed on  to your children and your grandchildren and I'm sure we can make sure it gets passed on to the great grandchildren.  ha!  Love and miss you much!  ...