Walking in Style

Walking in Style, a photo by scookster on Flickr.

When I saw these shoes on the floor of my son's house I knew I just had to take a picture of them. They belong to my six year old granddaughter.  She told me her dad bought them for her online.  I don't know if that's true; she tends to have a lot of "stories" these days.  But nevertheless, they are darn cute. The kind of shoes that she would wear as they are truly girl-like.  She's the kind of little girl who puts on skirts to play outside when other girls would rather wear shorts.  She certainly doesn't take after me or her dad's side of the family. We lean toward shorts and jeans, just like her little friends.  But I imagine her mom would be super proud of the way she dresses.  I have to give her dad a lot of credit as it's not easy dressing little girls these days, or big girls for that matter.

Symbolic

ODC: Symbolic, a photo by scookster on Flickr.

Took a ride over to Lake Katherine today in search of something to photograph. Had every intention of walking around the lake but discovered that I did not dress for the weather. A brisk wind was blowing from the west and it was oh so cold. Decided to quickly find some early blooming flowers so that I could accomplish the "symbolic" assignment for the Our Daily Challenge group on Flickr. I always seem to be two steps behind the to-do list and because of that many people had already posted similar pictures. I've never have early growing flowers in my yard; don't know the reason other than I've been too lazy to plant bulbs. But I do so enjoy seeing these little buds emerge for I know that spring will soon be following. Unfortunately, this year the weather is not co-operating. It is much too cold for April and before we know it the heat of the summer will be here. Once again spring will be one of our shorter seasons.

Wood

Wood, a photo by scookster on Flickr.

Have decided to actively start taking pictures again. Don't know why I was so excited to get into it a couple of years ago and then slowly lose interest. I guess I do that with many projects that I start. But seeing that I am officially retired I really have no excuse. It must be in my blood; my dad was a pretty good photographer back in the day. But because I naturally shied away from getting my picture taken I really had no interest in pursuing this hobby. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the bug hit and I must now have every lens known to man and no idea how to use most. But since I belong to Flickr and follow some of the groups, I figured I might as well get back into it. Last week's assignment for MacroMonday was "wood." Not being very creative I decided to go with colored pencils. So I polished the end table, put some pencils in a cup and started shooting. For whatever reason this particular photo has been noticed. So far today, via Flickr, it has been viewed 883 times. It also has been commented on by 24 people and invited into three different groups. I don't know what I did; in fact I didn't realize that there was a reflection on the pencil until it was uploaded. I think that reflection is actually what made this very mundane picture unusual. Who knew?

Infestation

Infestation, a photo by scookster on Flickr.

Today's assignment for the Daily Posting was to take a picture of an insect of my choice. Being that it's still winter in the Midwest there aren't enough insects to photograph. Luckily for me, we've been dealing with an infestation of Box Elder bugs all winter. We've had our share of ladybugs over the years, and of course spiders, but never had to deal with these bugs before. They are not exactly creepy. Centipedes and silver fish are creepy, and we have those too. In fact, someday I would like to live in a house free from a few of the above named insects. Or maybe free from all said bugs. Fortunately, they are easily disposed of. Within thirty minutes of waking up I caught five. And then within the next few hours I had a total of twelve. Figured that would be enough to at least capture one decent photo. The problem was that I put them in a jar, and every I took the lid off to photograph one offender, several would try to escape. I'm sure they would eventually peter out and die, so I spent a good half hour shooting and rounding up these little buggers. I wish I knew where they were entering my house. The Internet calls them "stink bugs" and the best thing to do is get rid of the things that they prefer- i.e. maple trees. Unfortunately that's not going to happen. As the weather warms I hope they find their way out the same way that they came in.

But for all I know the queen of all Box Elders is residing peacefully in my crawl space. If that's the case they are here to stay!

Handiwork

Handiwork, a photo by scookster on Flickr.

Project one and two completed. Discovered that I really do need to add some color to my life. I live in a world of blah.  I love crocheting but so wish I could teach myself something besides zigzag.  I am working on a purple and pink afghan for E but once again it's zigzag. A friend sent me a link entitled Crocheting School and it seems like a site that might be able to teach me something new.  I certainly hope so but then again, I can only have so many afghans.  Maybe it will be something I can sell on Ebay.

Egg-speriment

Egg-speriment, a photo by scookster on Flickr.

Spent the better part of an hour blowing out a few eggs, mixing shaving cream and dye and then rolling the eggs in the mixture. Probably got more on my hands than on the eggs. Not as pretty as I had hoped but it is an egg-speriment. Never knew that food dye was permanent- tells you how often I bake.
Now that I am looking at the photo I realize that I never take in the whole picture as I am snapping it.  I now realize that the words on the cover distract from the eggs.  I always seem to be in such a rush- never stopping to see what's in the foreground or background.  I guess I really am just two dimensional.

Snow Day

Snow Day, a photo by scookster on Flickr.

Can never have enough snow, and this winter we've had very little. Not complaining though. But the months of February and March have made up for it.  Tried to go out and take some pictures as the snow was still falling, but the camera lens wasn't too protected so didn't want to chance it.  For some reason the darn dog likes to lay in the snow.  He is fairly hairy but you'd think it would still be cold on his exposed skin.  He has been asking to go out a lot recently- especially during the night.  I figured it was because of his age and the lack of kidney control.  Some days are better than others.  But he asks to go out, come in, go out, come in all day long.  I am beginning to wish I had a doggy door, but I don't think its' worth the installation.  Finally figured out that he is only 13 years old- not 14.  All this time I gave him accolades for living so long.  His birthday is in May so I'll once again be able to brag about his age.

Our school district closed for the impending snowstorm, although I expected a mound of white stuff when I got up.  As I looked out the window I discovered that there was not one inch of snow, yet the district decided to close the schools.  What the heck?  I realized that our weather forecasters were anticipating a "snowmageddon", but haven't we traversed snow before?  There are things lovingly referred to as shovels, snow blowers and snow plows.  If kids would actually dress for the weather they might be adequately protected should they have to walk home.  These days they come to school in shorts and sandals and of course, we wouldn't want them to get sick.  Oh for the days of yore.....

Emma and grandpa

Emma and grandpa, a photo by scookster on Flickr.

Up to today the baby hasn't been interacting with us too much.  She is just beginning to turn her head when she hears a noise and grasp something within her reach.  Of course she's babbling and smiling a lot.  But when dh got down on the floor to "play" with her she reached out to touch his face.  It must have been the hairy beard that got her attention.  Seemed funny to see him actually on the floor talking to the baby.  Our first granddaughter was not too fond of men so grandpa was not on her favorites list.  But then when the next grandchildren came along they didn't have a grandpa fear so he was better able to interact with them while they were small.  Of course this one may get the "men and loud voices" fear as she gets a little older, but I am hoping we are around her enough to thwart that.