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Just something pretty for today. Maybe to cheer us up a little for Tax Day...I'm off to a Tea Party.

Nikon D700
Nikkor 60mm f2.8 micro
1/250 second
F/32.0
ISO 200
60 mm

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Aren't they beautiful? This is a greenhouse at Peddler's Village. It is connected to a really beautiful gift shop with some of the most amazingly beautiful home decor items I have ever seen. I saw so many things I wanted to buy there. I dropped a few hints to Mark while we were there. I also got a few ideas for gifts to give.

Whenever I see a greenhouse filled with Poinsettias I think of Frosty the Snowman and how he melted in one when he took Karen in to get warm and the evil Professor Hinkle slammed the door on them locking them inside. I always cried when I saw that as a little girl.

NIKON D700
Nikkor 28-70mm f2.8
1/100 second
F/2.8
ISO 2800
52 mm

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News:

This photo of the Bucknell Football field is a 2 page feature photo in the Fall 2008 issue of Bucknell Magazine.

This photo of the Bucknell Quad is a 2 page feature photo in the Summer 2008 issue of Bucknell Magazine.

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As of July 2008 I have decided to post the same photos on "Parallel Universe" as I do here. It has become too complicated to maintain two different photoblogs on a regular basis. Feel free to visit "Parallel Universe" and look through the portfolio/archives since there are quite a few photos there that were never posted here. I will continue to post on both since each one gets different viewers. I have also changed the title of Parallel Universe to Capture This Photography 2.

Check out my other Photoblog portfolio/archives:
"Capture This Photography 2"

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This is another shot from Breuer Hill. These dried flowers were just so pretty. They were a little tough to keep in the frame because the breeze was starting to get a little brisk.

As you can tell I shot nearly straight down at them. I would not usually do that but I liked the perspective here.

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News:

Anita Jesse (Through My Lens) has honored me by passing the Kreativ Blogger award to me. (Thank you Anita!)

According to the "rules" I am to list 6 things that make me happy...only six...hmmm...there are so many more! But here goes the short list:

1. My family
2. My kitty Missy
3. Photography
4. Christmas and all the trimmings!
5. Lighthouses
6. Anything to do with the beach and ocean

Now I have to list 6 other bloggers that inspire me...There are so many! I have been following some for so many years and it would be obvious for me to pass it on to them, and probably most of you will already know them and their work. I visit a couple of hundred photoblogs each week. Many of them are really well known, some are a little lesser known. I decided to pass this award on to maybe some that are slightly lesser known, but inspirational Photobloggers. (I wish I could name so many more!)

1. Russ Devan, My Corner of New Hanover
2. Betsy Barron, Daily Shots
3. Azhar Chougle, The Daily Sunrise
4. Rabbit, Spot the Pot (She makes her own ceramic pinhole cameras, fascinating work.)
5. Gaye Johnson Photography
6. Anita Bower

I visit so many very talented photobloggers that it is always so difficult for me to do these things. It always leaves me feeling guilty because I would love to honor all of them with an award.

This photo of the Bucknell Football field is a 2 page feature photo in the Fall 2008 issue of Bucknell Magazine.

This photo of the Bucknell Quad is a 2 page feature photo in the Summer 2008 issue of Bucknell Magazine.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As of July 2008 I have decided to post the same photos on "Parallel Universe" as I do here. It has become too complicated to maintain two different photoblogs on a regular basis. Feel free to visit "Parallel Universe" and look through the portfolio/archives since there are quite a few photos there that were never posted here. I will continue to post on both since each one gets different viewers. I have also changed the title of Parallel Universe to Capture This Photography 2.

Check out my other Photoblog portfolio/archives:
"Capture This Photography 2"

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A few weeks ago we went to Palisades Interstate Park in Ft. Lee and Edgewater NJ, just below the George Washington Bridge. It is a beautiful park and quite large encompassing 12 miles along the Hudson River across from NYC.

The day we were there the weather was very threatening and in fact we were caught driving the cliffs in a very scary, windy, severe, thunderstorm. As scary as it was for us in the car, I was glad we weren't among the hikers and bikers that had been caught in it.

I did manage to get a few shots and some of my favorites really could have come from anywhere such as this one.

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News:

This photo of the Bucknell Quad is a 2 page feature photo in the Summer 2008 issue of Bucknell Magazine.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As of July 2008 I have decided to post the same photos on "Parallel Universe" as I do here. It has become too complicated to maintain two different photoblogs on a regular basis. Feel free to visit "Parallel Universe" and look through the portfolio/archives since there are quite a few photos there that were never posted here. I will continue to post on both since each one gets different viewers.

Check out my other Photoblog portfolio/archives:
"Parallel Universe"

-ABOUT ME- -LINKS- -HOME- -CONTACT-

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One more from the Monmouth County Fair. I saw this in the Home and Garden Competition tent and I found it to be very sweet so naturally I just had to take a photo of it.

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News Flash

This photo of the Bucknell Quad is a 2 page feature photo in the Summer 2008 issue of Bucknell Magazine.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As of July 2008 I have decided to post the same photos on "Parallel Universe" as I do here. It has become too complicated to maintain two different photoblogs on a regular basis. Feel free to visit "Parallel Universe" and look through the portfolio/archives since there are quite a few photos there that were never posted here. I will continue to post on both since each one gets different viewers.

Check out my other Photoblog portfolio/archives:
"Parallel Universe"

-ABOUT ME- -LINKS- -HOME- -CONTACT-

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Another macro of a coneflower in black and white. I shot this with the idea of cropping it to square. It was tough to keep it in the frame and focus tight on the spiny center with the wind that day.

You can see the original here.

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News Flash

This photo of the Bucknell Quad is a 2 page feature photo in the Summer 2008 issue of Bucknell Magazine.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As of July 2008 I have decided to post the same photos on "Parallel Universe" as I do here. It has become too complicated to maintain two different photoblogs on a regular basis. Feel free to visit "Parallel Universe" and look through the portfolio/archives since there are quite a few photos there that were never posted here. I will continue to post on both since each one gets different viewers.

Check out my other Photoblog portfolio/archives:
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I was out in my yard with my macro lens on Thursday to see about getting a few shots of my coneflowers. I was fortunate enough to have this little bee who was all covered in pollen to pose for me very patiently. It was on the windy side so it took a few shots before I managed to get a couple that I could actually use. This was my favorite.

The tripod was pretty useless under the windy conditions, so I shot hand-held which I don't normally do with the macro lens since the focus is so darn finicky. I went for a high key exposure on this and then when I was processing it to post I realized that black and white was perfect for it.

I've been asked about the original color version of this so I decided to post this link so you can have a look.

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News Flash

This photo of the Bucknell Quad is a 2 page feature photo in the Summer 2008 issue of Bucknell Magazine.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As of July 2008 I have decided to post the same photos on "Parallel Universe" as I do here. It has become too complicated to maintain two different photoblogs on a regular basis. Feel free to visit "Parallel Universe" and look through the portfolio/archives since there are quite a few photos there that were never posted here. I will continue to post on both since each one gets different viewers.

Check out my other Photoblog portfolio/archives:
"Parallel Universe"

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Thanks to all of you for the welcome home wishes. It is truly heartwarming. Rob will be here in NJ next week for his well deserved 30 day or so leave. We are looking forward to that very much. He will be home long enough to celebrate Russell's graduation and 18th birthday so it will be a very joyous time for all of us.

I want to tell you all what it was like to experience the soldiers' welcome home ceremony but I've been too busy to pen the post just now so it will wait a bit for when I have a bit more time to sit down and recount the events with the few photos I got.

This is a photo that I took last Sunday at Monmouth Battlefield State Park. It was midday and the light was quite harsh so I had limited opportunities to shoot during that walk through the park.

I thought these blossoms were so pretty growing wild in the wooded areas. There is an orchard next to the park and I guess some of the fruit trees are growing wild in the woods nearby. Probably from animals carrying off some of the fruit.

I'm not sure what kind of tree this is. Although it looks like my flowering pear, which looks like the apple tree, across the street which looks like the flowering cherry, which looks like...They all look so much alike to me!

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Great news! Rob expects to be back in the USA next week possibly by Tuesday. I really would like to be there when he gets off the plane but I cannot book anything until I get official word. I'm also having trouble finding lodging. The base lodging is completely booked through June and the Hotels in the area seem to be...umm...in a little less than desirable area particularly for for a woman traveling alone. This was a review that I read for a well known chain hotel located just outside the base:

"Overall: 1.0 | Cleanliness: 3 | Staff: 4 | Location: 1

+ The fact I didn't get killed or robbed.
- The fact I thought I was going to get killed or robbed.

Heard gunshots in the middle of the night right outside, huge party smashing beer bottles upstairs. Really I'm in the military and thought that I had a better chance of dieing in this hotel then two tours in Iraq."

Reading that review, and a few others for different hotels, did not exactly instill a whole lot of confidence. I have to admit that when we had to spend one night at a local hotel off the base last March there was an incident at the hotel that left me a little uncomfortable. Someone started yelling something in a different language I did not understand and came at me and needed to be restrained by the people that were with them. The person was clearly drunk and his friends were very apologetic, but it scared me particularly because Mark had gone out to get some snacks with Rob so it was just me and the two boys. We were sitting in the lobby area playing cards because there were 5 of us and the room we had was small. Needless to say I am a bit leery about staying off the base by myself.

So, now I am in search of a safer area that is still close to the base. Either way I still need to get the information confirmed that he will be home on the specific date listed before I can even plan anything. I may just end up waiting until he gets his 30 day leave which will be about 2 weeks after he gets back. I think I can wait that long but I just don't want him to get off the plane with no one there for him.

Posting will be about once, maybe twice a week for a while, but I guess that's stating the obvious at this point. Visiting, about the same...

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These are just some Easter Flowers Mark picked up at the store. One for me and one for his sister and his sister in law...He's so thoughtful!

I've been busy working on a very challenging project the last 2 weeks so I've not been able to get around to visiting. It involves some very tricky lighting scenarios and it's important to get it exactly right. So I've been doing a lot of testing and researching and reading and looking and shooting to get the right result. So far so good. I am making progress.

Russell is 3 for 3 now...another college has been heard from and they accepted him...Woot!

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In the coming weeks I will be looking for the elusive early signs of Spring that appear as early as mid-late February. I have had my fill of winter this year. It's been a dull and dismal winter without even a decent snowstorm to redeem it.

We had a couple of inches last week that quickly became a slushy mess as the snow changed to heavy rains which caused lots of flooding, terrible slippery conditions, and travel nightmares.

This morning gave me hope as I was awakened early by a birdsong, the kind which I usually hear as Spring draws near. Soon I will see my first Robin and soon after that the early flowers.

This photo was shot in early March 2007 when I was in Georgia visiting my son before he left for Iraq. It's hard to believe it's been almost a year. Looking back it seems like yesterday, but living it day to day, seems like forever.

There are delicate early Spring flowers similar to these that grow wild in the woods near my house which I will be looking for with much anticipation in the coming weeks.

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What you see is what you get. Just a pretty little rose that was part of an arrangement. A study of delicate curves and subtle shadings taken with my macro lens with the soft, diffused, natural, light coming in through my glass doors in the dining room.

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I shot this at William's Nursery a local flower shop/nursery. I think this friendly feline must have a great time there. It must be like living in the jungle without the danger or the work. She looked so sweet among the beautiful Christmas Poinsettias.

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"Tis' The Season"

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Fall still seems far off because of the warm weather we've had over the past few weeks. None the less, the there are signs that fall is indeed here despite these warm summer like temps. These gorgeous mums are testament to that. Hints of color just starting to kiss the leaves are also teasing me by dotting the otherwise green landscape.

I noticed tonight that a cool breeze was coming in through my windows, and although I haven't listened to the weather forecast yet tonight, I hold the hope that some real fall like weather with crisp clear morning air and pleasant afternoons with billowing clouds decorating an otherwise azure blue sky will greet me when I wake tomorrow. I don't want to hear the weather forecast tonight, I think I will just go to bed with thoughts of fall and see what I find when I wake. Do you think I will be pleasantly surprised?

I've been having difficulty finding time to get online and visit all my favorite photoblogs lately, in fact just posting here has become increasingly difficult as life just seems to get busier and busier despite the idea that I thought that once school went back into session I might find a little more time. I've been wrong on that count.

Tomorrow we are going to visit Bucknell in Pennsylvania, yet another college in Russell's search. The college search process is a daunting thing for a 17 year old, and of course his parents as well. Each day is one day closer and one day more stressful for all of us. SAT I's are finished, SAT II's are a few weeks away. The common applications and teacher recommendations are all in process. Russell seems to be holding up pretty well so far, I wish I could say the same for his parents!

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October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month so I just wanted to remind everyone of the importance of regular self exams, mammography, and anual checks by your doctor. For more information here are several links:

http://www.nbcam.com

1(800) IM AWARE

http://www.komenpeoria.com

http://www.cancer.org

Please pass on this information to your family, friends, and co-workers. It's very important and could save the life of someone you love.

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No I'm not Leaving! I just have some images left from summer that I hadn't posted and I thought I should probably do that before summer is officially gone and fall begins.

This was a strange summer. I felt somehow detached from it, like I spent all summer waiting for something, not sure what but that's how I felt. It was just odd somehow. Now that school is back in I feel like I missed summer all together. It's kind of sad really.

On a happy note fall happens to be my most favorite time of year. I have some interesting projects and my work is keeping me busy as are the kids and their activities which are just about all in full swing again.

This is one of the daylilies that grow all around my house. I love daylilies but their blooming season is far too short. I applied a soft filter to resemble an Orton effect in this. I really love the colors and even though these are very much summer flowers the colors are very much reminiscent of fall.

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This is a shot from Upstate New York. I just loved the rich color. The flowers seem to be reaching out.

I've been really busy especially now that the kids are getting ready to go back to school. Lots to do and somehow, once again I've managed to fall behind. Oh well!

I had been approached about doing a large portrait job, but it seems that the organization has changed their mind and decided to go with one of those big operations. One of those companies that do the school portraits. I am disappointed, but oh well. It is hard for an independent photographer to compete with those massive international operations for jobs of that size.

On the up side, I still have a gallery that wants to hang my work. I am just waiting on them to finish renovations. Tentatively it will be some time in September, but they are a little behind schedule at this point so we will see.

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I can't remember the last time I saw the sun...well actually it was last Saturday. We've been in a very wet and cold weather pattern ever since though. I don't mind the rainy days, but this is starting to get to me.

This wet sunflower is my attempt to persuade the sun to come out from behind those clouds and shine it's last summer rays on us.

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This photo has nothing to do with this post other than it was the one I had scheduled to post today. I'm too busy to look for a different one. This is a photo of a Queen Ann's Lace that has gone to seed.

My son Rob is a UAV pilot in Iraq with the 3 ID. He flies unmanned aircraft used for tactical surveillance and support. He's been telling me on several occasions about successful missions where he and his crew have been instrumental and had been featured in news reports. He's not had time to look for and send me the links. Much to my frustration I have had so much trouble finding these stories in the news media. It just sickens me to no end to see these stories reported in foreign news outlets and FOX news only and even then I have to really hunt them down.

I wanted to share one such story that broke this weekend where footage from my son's crew is featured. I am so proud of these guys and the work they do. In short they found Iranian rockets in Iraq that were aimed right at the base Hammer that would have been used to attack the soldiers there. This video footage was instrumental in finding and destroying these missile batteries.

Here is a link to a artice from an Australian news source about the mission:

Article

Here is the link to the video clip (may only work with Mac):

Video

If this link doesn't work follow this link (PC or Mac):

Link

The Video starts with an ad and then stops before it goes to the actual report, so please be patient.

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Thanks for all the wonderful feedback on the last image. I've been getting so many great responses lately I feel like the pressure is really on to keep it up! I know I won't be able to post photos like those all the time, but I will try to keep it interesting.

I'm crazy busy with some projects and Russell's schedule with rehearsals and such. I am his taxi. Opening night is Friday and he has rehearsals and performances every day for the next 7 days, a few days off then more performances through the beginning of August. It's a hectic schedule but he's really enjoying it so far.

This shot was from Hoffman Park (my late Aunt's former farm turned public park). These little wild flowers grew randomly along the many dirt and gravel roads that traverse the property. I don't know what they are but I thought they were delicate and sweet.

Edit: Thank you Louis for letting me know that this is a Tall Larkspur which is a member of the Buttercup family.

Edit 2: It turns out that these are not Larkspur but Wild Geraniums. Thanks Intern for the correction. I did look it up and it definitely looks like wild Geranium to me as well.

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This is a shot of the purple Clematis I have next to my front door. I loved the deep rich color of this flower. I wanted a soft dreamy feel for this photo so I blended it with a very soft layer to achieve it. It is the same flower that I used for this shot on my other site.

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I want to thank everyone for the wonderful comments on my last post. It is one of my favorites. Those two fawns were just too sweet.

On Monday I took a vase of sunflowers out onto my deck in the sun, sprayed them with water and started to photograph them. Before long I was joined by this tiny little fella who decided that he was thirsty. He was no more than 5 mm in length, about the size of a pencil point. I shot him with the macro lens, handheld no less. I was really amazed that I managed to get this clear shot of him. The background is not Photoshopped at all. I only did Lightroom adjustments and curves for contrast and balance.

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This is a shot from along the riverbank at the park near my house. These grow wild there and they are quite pretty.

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Another one from my yard. I have Daylilies that line the stone path on the side of my house leading all the way to my backyard. They are so beautiful when they bloom and I just adore them.

This weekend was spent doing pretty much nothing but yard work. Now that we are putting the leaky oil tank fiasco behind us, it's time to bring back the beauty to the house and yard. The nearly 2 year nightmare of the environmental clean-up from the leaking tank has really soured me on homeownership and caused me to allow my gardens in the back to fall fallow because I just didn't care anymore. It was just too depressing to even go out there and look at them. But now I feel a little better about things and I'm starting to get excited about bringing it all back. (I still want to move into a condo when it's time to retire though at this point!)

We had just replaced our front door, painted the house, replaced shutters, and redone the landscaping in the front a month or so before we found out about the leaking oil tank so you can just imagine how it felt to see it all get completely torn up when they dug the 30x30x14 foot deep hole in our yard to remove the contaminated soil. We lost the entire driveway, and most of the front yard and sidewalks. We managed to save just my weeping cherry tree that we planted when we moved in and the flowering pear at the street which was also planted when we moved in, everything else was either torn out or severely damage by the huge equipment they used to dig.

A few weeks ago we replaced the front steps which were collapsing from being undermined when the contaminated soil was removed so close to them. In a couple of weeks we will have a new driveway, and sidewalks and in the Fall the landscaping will hopefully get done.

We just got word today that our final report is nearly ready to be sent off to the State which will then be reviewed by the Department of Environmental Protection, who will then, hopefully, please God, declare the clean-up satisfactory and release us from any further action, thus ending this nightmare. We had 2 very clean water and soil samples come back in a row which was a huge relief, and somewhat unexpected considering the amount of contamination we had, so we are pretty confident that we are good to go after 2 years and nearly $100,000. (Insurance covered most everything, thank God.) We had the sad distinction of being one of the worst residential clean-ups they; our oil company, the environmental services company, insurance companies (both homeowner's and separate oil tank insurance) and the insurance companies' consultants had seen in the State, lucky us!!!

I think a neighbor on the next block is just starting to go through the same ordeal themselves. They have a very familiar scene playing out on their front yard and driveway as I type this. I am tempted to knock on their door and offer my sympathy and support for their plight. It is so stressful since there was actually one point at which we were prepared for the possibility that we might lose the house if the contamination had gone under the foundation. As it is, when this whole ordeal starts, your house is more of a liability than an asset. You cannot sell it, you could try I suppose, but no one would likely buy it, and it is virtually worthless until the State says it's "clean" which can take another 2 years, possibly longer. Worst case scenario would be they require further monitoring of soil and water and the extremely remote possibility of more remediation.

My brother and sister in law are also about to pull their oil tank which is about the same age and size as ours was (1948 and 1000 gallons). They are really worried about it because they don't have the oil tank insurance we had since we bought this house back in 1993. They don't want to put it off any longer though since the tank is a ticking timebomb if it hasn't leaked yet it will someday soon considering it's age. The stat we were quoted was about 1 in 9 of these old tanks are leaking. I think they will be ok statistically since we were 1 and our neighbor is 2. I pray that they have no leaks and no contamination to deal with.

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Thanks for all the wonderful feedback on the last post. I'm happy you all liked it. There is just something so wonderful about lighthouses for me and that one with it's remote location just touches a chord with me and I cannot help but want to share it with all of you. Thank you for indulging me.

This is a shot from my own front yard, rather what's left of it. I was on the side of my house crawling around on the ground looking for interesting things to shoot when I saw the way the light danced on the grass and clover through the weeping cherry tree in the front yard so I just lay down and started shooting. I didn't really think anything good would come of the shot but I was really pleasantly surprised at the result. I hope you like this simple image as well.

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I finished the web gallery. I just have to decide how to publish it. I'm in no rush so it may not show up for a while yet.

This is an image that I kept coming back to. I love the subtle abstract nature of the shot. I almost wish there was less detail than there is and I played around with blurring it out. I was on the fence about the result though so I went with the original image.

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I won't be posting again until Monday so I wanted to wish all the Moms out there a Happy Mother's Day. I hope it's a beautiful day for you!

Russell is doing much better. His fever has not come back since Tuesday and although he still has a cough, it's not nearly as bad as it was. His energy is returning and so is his appetite.

This is a tiny wildflower that grows in the woods by the pond and river in Mohawk Park near my home. They are no bigger than my thumbnail and are very delicate. You can see another photo of these on Parallel Universe. They will soon meet with the county park's crew and their mowers which show no mercy when they come to mow the park.

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Thanks for all the well wishes for Russell. He made it through the concert, but just barely. It definitely affected his performance and he was not happy about it. I told him he was a trooper for showing up and that he had no control over what happened. The conductor was very understanding since he's been in those shoes himself.

His fever was back and it was off to the doctor after school today. It's just a nasty virus, not anything we can do but treat the symptoms and let it run it's course.

I shot this yesterday in Mohawk Park close to my home. The way the sunlight glistened off of the silky hairs on the seeds reminded me a little of fireworks.

Someone mentioned that the previous image almost looked like a filter was applied. There was no filter applied to that image. There was just basic curves, black and white conversion using the gradient map, and I think I might have cloned out a very small black spec that was on one of the larger petals.

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It's been way too busy and it's taking it's toll. Poor Russell has been really sick since Tuesday after school. He's been down with a nasty bug and missed 3 days of school and a concert he was supposed to perform in. He hasn't been sick like that since probably the second grade. Saturday he had to take his SAT's and he was still sick but managed to get through them, but his coughing fits caused him to not be able to finish the essay with only 2 words left to go!!! I'm upset for him, although he's saying he's not too worried, since he can take them again, and he felt that, even though he didn't finish, he did well. By Saturday evening his fever returned and now he's down again. The Dr. says its a viral bronchitis, and he's seen a lot of it recently, but about all that you can do is let it run it's course. The biggest problem is that he has another concert on Monday night, a Youth Orchestra concert, the last for this year and they are depending on him to be there. I just hope he's better by then. So if anyone feels so inclined please send some healthy vibes Russell's way.

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I should apologize to everyone for teasing you with the food photo. My son Rob was mad at me for torturing him with it. He wouldn't talk to me for a while, just ignored me on AIM and told me I was mean for posting it. He did forgive me eventually. I will be sending him some goodies to make up for it.

This is another one of my black and white flowers. I have been really enjoying doing flowers in black and white. It's very interesting to see how they turn out.

I shot this in my living room using light coming in through the window plus a 60W table lamp from above.

This was very pretty in color too, but when I looked at the individual channels, I found it most striking in black and white, and somewhat high key.

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This is another macro from my neighbor's flower arrangement. I just love flower macros. The softness that surrounds this one just feels soothing to me.

I have talked to Rob again, which is a blessing since everyday I talk to him is one day less to worry. But so far he's comfortable, he's even decorated his "home" which actually resembles a POD only with a door and a window, air conditioning and electric. He told me he got a couple of small rugs for it. I offered to send him a spring wreath for his door. He just laughed. I think I may just send one anyway.

Now I do have a vent I want to share with you all about an issue involving my son and his wireless carrier. I don't normally use my photoblog as a platform for such things but this really steamed me so here goes.

His wireless company is Verizon, and they offer a 6 month suspension of contracts/service as a courtesy for military personnel who are deployed. He set it all up and was told that all he had to do was give me permission to look into his account and call when the six month mark came so that they could extend it another six months.

I called Verizon today just to make sure that the phone was indeed suspended and that there was no outstanding balance. Everything was ok with that. I asked what I needed to do when the six months was up in order to keep his # and extend the suspension. The answer I got was quite shocking. I was informed that despite what they told Rob, their policy was that after the six months was up it couldn't be extended, it would just be disconnected and his # reassigned. Well at that I had to laugh, because the policy is ridiculous, understanding that a deployment like his was going to be a minimum of 12 months so the "courtesy they extend to the military" is totally pointless.

I argued this to no avail for some time until I finally was put through to a supervisor who had brought a manager in on it. I explained to them how utterly worthless their policy was since deployments are at 12-18 months. I did manage to get an exception for Rob, but I am now going to fight for them to change this ridiculous policy. I let them know of my intention to get the word out and try to rally for a change in this policy for all deployed military.

I know it's seems a small thing, but this # has been my son's # since High School, even before he switched to Verizon. He likes his #, all his friends know it, his buddies from Basic training and AIT training, and friends from college know it. The thing is these young men and women are sacrificing so much, is it too much to ask that a huge company like Verizon be fair about their policy for suspending their service for the duration of their deployments up to 2 years? It's a small thing to ask for someone who is sacrificing so much. At any rate, I just wanted to put that out there.

If anyone out there uses Verizon wireless and agrees that this is an absurd policy, please let Verizon know. If enough people speak up, maybe, just maybe they will change it.

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This is a macro of a purple Chrysanthemum. It was in a flower arrangement that was delivered to my next door neighbor. But she wasn't home to get it so the florist asked me to hold it for her. I already had my camera all set up for some macro work in my kitchen so when I brought the arrangement in, I couldn't help myself. I know my neighbor won't mind and I think I'll frame a print for her. She's a really wonderful neighbor and dear friend.

Update on Rob

I spoke with Rob today and he is in Iraq now. While I cannot say exactly where he is, he seems pretty comfortable with his situation so far. He will have fairly regular, perhaps daily access to the internet since he brought his computer with him, and there is decent connectivity there, better than he had in Kuwait actually.

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Just off my back deck I have a large all white variety of hibiscus. It is a beautiful plant with a profusion of large pure white flowers that start to bloom right around the beginning of July and keep on blooming until late in the fall when the frost comes and touches it ending it's season until the next summer. It is my favorite flowering plant because it's season is so long and the flowers are so stunning and pure white.

It was a day of heavy, soaking rains last August. Later in the afternoon the skies started to clear and the sun came out. The air smelled so fresh and clean, and everything was heavy with rain water. I stepped out onto the deck and noticed the way the light was touching the Hibiscus and reflecting in the drops of rainwater that weighed down the delicate, now translucent, petals of those wonderful flowers. It seemed sad and yet so beautiful at the same time.

This Hibiscus was the very first thing we planted when we first moved into this house in April of 1993. This house is actually the house I grew up in. My parents sold it in 1987, and we bought it back from the same people my parents sold it to in 1993 shortly after Jon was born.

This is probably my favorite shot to date. I don't really know why I hung onto it so long except perhaps because I have so many photos of this Hibiscus and it was somewhat lost among them all.

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I'm 44 years young today!!!

Yes it is my birthday and I am happy about it because the alternative...well let's not go there! It's been an interesting year with lots of ups and downs.

I am getting the best birthday present I could ask for...I am leaving for Georgia to see my son, Rob, tomorrow. He has a few days off before he deploys to Iraq for 12-18 months. Yes I am sad and scared that he is going, but I am not going to think about that now and just concentrate on the time we have together as a family over the next few days.

We are pulling the boys out of school so that we can go see him since he cannot travel up here. He only has 4 days off before he leaves. We will be driving there...ugh...since we are going to bring his things home here so that he doesn't have to put them in storage while he is away.

We will be staying in a cabin that has no internet access as far as I know, so, needless to say, I will not likely be posting on this site much, if at all, in the next week since it doesn't accommodate automated posting. However Parallel Universe does have automated posting and I am going to try to cue up a few photos there, so if you really miss me, check there...hehehehe.

This photo is of a water lily that I found back in August in a little pond at a park near where Russell has his bassoon lessons. I did some PPing to it, obviously, but not as much as you may think. The background was very dark to begin with and the sun was shining right on the lily, it was really a lucky shot. Once I cropped it and adjusted the curves, I converted it to black and white, tweaked the levels, dodged and burned where needed, and added text. I didn't have to do any masking at all to get this. I left the little blemish on the one lower petal because I am not perfect and neither is this lily. Yes I know some might say it's a distraction, but I liked it there and so there it stays.

Have a good week all and I will be sure to catch up when I get back. Who knows, I may even have some nice photos to post when I return.

The other day someone asked me how I organize my archives...well...I have an excellent memory lol. I do need a better system. A few weeks ago someone told me of a book about organizing archives, it had a quirky name, but I don't remember it. So much for my good memory! I hope I can remember it because I really do need a better system than what I use now which is almost no system at all.

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Paul reminded me of the name of the book. It's "The DAM Book" by Peter Krogh. Thanks Paul! Maybe I'll pick up a copy for my Birthday!

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This is the same yellow rose from this shot. I was experimenting with lighting...again. I like the way this one turned out. The rose was dried which accounts for the interesting textures and shading. I know it's dark but it was the mood that seemed to fit best. This rose is quite tiny and could easily fit on a quarter with room to spare.

*It was quite late when I posted this and I wanted to do a little description of the technique I used to make the deep shadows and light areas in this photo. It was really quite simple. I used a light stand, my SB-800 speedlight in remote mode, a white umbrella, tripod and my sons music stand for a table so I could get in close with everything. What I did was to fire the flash through the umbrella rather than reflecting it into and out of the umbrella. The flash was placed close and to the right almost at a right angle to the camera so the light came from the right and slightly above and fired across the frame. I shot it at different settings in terms of the flash, everything from TTL to AA, including different power levels on manual. I believe this was one shot at 1/4 power on manual at 24mm zoom (on the flash). I deliberately underexposed the shot to get the dramatic effect I wanted and then re-adjusted exposure in Camera RAW.

In post processing I adjusted curves, in layers, changing opacity here and there to get the look I liked. I then converted it to black and white using gradient map in layers, then I tweaked the levels in layers. I dodged and burned where needed. This is probably the most post processing I've ever done on any photo.

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I have Loved you with an everlasting Love,
I have drawn you with Loving kindness.

Jeremiah 31:3

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I received this tiny yellow rose tonight with the bible verse attached from a friend of mine, Isabelle, who is in the orchestra that I work with, and the boys rehearse with on Thursday nights. I am not a particularly religious person in that I can't quote Bible verse, or even go to church all that often. Although I have read and do study my Bible on occasion and I do have faith in God.

Right now I am relying on that faith to get me through some tough times that lie ahead for all of us in this family. We got the dreaded news. The date for my son's deployment to Iraq. He will leave for a 12-18 month tour in Iraq on March 10. We are not alone and it is comforting to know that there are people out there that share this burden along with us, but I am not going to lie...it's not going to be easy and I hate that my first baby is going off to war.

I am very proud of him for being the kind of person that puts others first and willing to put themselves in harms way to protect the rest of us. He did not have to join the military and put his college and his life on hold to enlist for a 4 years active duty, 4 years reserve duty, this was his choice one made out of his deep sense of duty and honor.

We will be going to see him for a few days before he leaves which is really good. We will have to go to Georgia since he only has a few days and cannot travel very far. So his brothers will miss a few days of school and take this road trip with us. We are driving because we are going to bring his stuff home here so he doesn't have to pay for storage while he is deployed. He is staying in a dorm on the base so he does not have his own place where he can leave his things.

I respectfully ask that this post not be turned into a political debate on the merits of this war. I will ask that if you are a person of Faith, please pray for all the brave men and women and their families who share this burden with us.

This was taken right after rehearsal using my halogen under-cabinet counter lights in my kitchen for light and shot with my macro lens. I threw it together fast and last minute, but it was one of those things I felt I just had to do and post right away. I only knew I wanted it to be lit from above.

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!!!Thanks to Azhar for fixing my archives!!!

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It's been so incredibly warm that I am sitting here in my office at almost 9PM on a January evening with my windows open wide. We went out to supper and had on very light jackets and even they were a bit much. Tomorrow promises to be in the 70's. WOW!

Now that the Holidays have passed and things are settling back into the normal routine, the house has become quite quiet again and somewhat depressing...I miss Robert being home. He left On Tuesday afternoon and we won't see him again probably until summertime...sigh. Thank God for cell phones and internet, although next week he goes away for a month of additional training and he will be likely be out of touch with us for the entire exercise.

Blogger has been having issues with archives so I do apologize to anyone who has tried to look at them. I do link each post to the one prior so if you want to look at previous posts just click on the current photo and it will link to the previous one unless otherwise noted on the posts.

This is a macro of purple coneflower seeds (echinacea) from my backyard. I thought the seeds looked interesting in this state. Although dried out and dead they hold the promise of the next generation of flowers in my garden.

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