United States National Parks

I can't believe the long awaited trip is over and I have been home for close to three months already. What a trip! We visited 6 National Parks, drove through 16 states and put 7,200 miles on the car. You would think that I would be ready to stay home for awhile, but all it has done is make me want to go back to all those National Parks and spends weeks in each one of them.

I want to hike into the GrandCanyon, not just walk the rim.

One day at the Canyon is not enough time to enjoy the beauty and the grandeur of it's light painted walls. I want to explore more of it's magnificent 277 miles.

I want to explore, on foot Kings Canyon. I want to hike in it's valleys and see what more it has to offer. You can't even begin to see it in the couple hours we spent there.

The girls silhouetted at Grizzly Falls in Kings Canyon.

I want to walk again among the giants Sequoia National Park. I want to feel their cool shade on

my face.

And Yosemite. Oh beautiful Yosemite you have the greatest pull to return. Our hike to the top of your Upper Yosemite Falls tested our mettle and and our muscle, but rewarded us a sight relatively few get to see. I could spend a year exploring your granite towers and and exploding waterfalls. I yearn to hear again their crash and roar. You can not visit Yosemite and and think there is no God.

Sunrise Sunset

Traveling, once again, across the country this past week I tried shooting a few more sunrises and sunsets. The best ones that I captured were in Park City, Utah. Just east of Salt Lake City.

The colors were spectacular as the sun rose over the city.

The sunflower was shot looking west with the vivid sunrise reflecting off of the clouds in the background.

Coming through Nebraska I took this shot from the road as the sun was setting.

The water tower in Nelson, Nebraska.

Where did my babies go?

I am starting to sound like a broken record, but where are those babies I held in my arms? What happened to all the noise and rough housing. Yes even with three girls there was rough housing. I can't remember how many couches they destroyed jumping on them. How did they all grow up with no broken bones?

Where is the silliness that never seemed to end. Or the fighting over who's turn it was to use the computer.

What happened to the weekly trips to town for piano, gym and library?

My first born. I can remember the day she was born-well actually I can't I was pretty drugged, but I remember the first time I gazed at her sweet little face and wondered; who is this little person? Who is she going to be. It was amazing to watch her grow. Her personality firmly in place the day she was born. She was determined, smart and beautiful. There was no prettier person on the earth than my dear little baby. None smarter! No other baby could compare.

By the time my second one came I had this mothering thing all figured out. (read here still didn't have a clue). She was my Tom boy, my explorer the one who hated school in the traditional sense, but loved learning if she could get her dirty little hands on it. Cattle were her passion. She loved anything having to do with them and spent her teen years with cows instead of boys. She was my shadow when out in the barn. The one who loved anything animal.

Oh my baby, my last. She could light up a room just walking into it. Everyone was her friend. She loved people. I used to worry that she would just go away some time with a stranger. She arranged secret signals with the librarian, because I had forbidden her to ask for candy. "Conny pease", I think was her first spoken words. She would ask everyone. Her other passion was old men. We used to tease that she collected grandpas. She never really knew her own so she adopted all the grandpas she could.

Her drum beats to a slightly different tune. Shooting sports and hunting in a family that doesn't hunt. Adventure, travel and people; she is ready to try anything at least once.

So where have they gone? Where is the noise, dirt and mess?

My precious babies have scattered to the wind to start their own families and find their own brand of adventure.

It time for me to embark on my own adventures.

More on that later.

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Where have I left my mind?

I am a caretaker for several elderly people withAlzheimer disease. They are all wonderful people, I love them dearly and I look forward to seeing them, but sometimes I wonder if they are contagious. The day before yesterday I thought I read on one of my favorite blogs that she was going to have a photo contest keeping with the theme of Love. She did a love contest last week. This week it was suppose to be forgotten love or lost love. That is the first thing I can't remember-what exactly was the title that she used.
Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day and I decided to take advantage of the light and photograph some items that belonged to my mother-in-law, father and grandmother. I took the pictures edited them then looked for the post so I could enter them. I couldn't find it I hunted through all of my old e-mails from the last week and can't find it any where. I e-mailed my daughter to see if she remembers seeing it. She doesn't know anything about it. Now I am starting to think that maybe I dreamed the whole thing. I am going to share some of the pictures that I took with you. The first one is items not from my past, but from some people I loves past.

The box was my mother-in-law's. She always kept patterns in it. The handmade lace my grandmother Josephine made. The monkey was my father's as were the baby shoes. The jewelry was also my grandmothers. What memories of her they bring back. She used to to needle work

pictures as well as tatting. She tried to teach me how to follow a needle work pattern. I never did finish a picture, but I did learn to cross stitch. She taught me how to play solitaire. My sister, cousins and I would sit around her dining room table and play cards all afternoon. We lived in Michigan, she lived in Wisconsin. We only saw each other twice a year. She wouldn't call and talk long distance; that was for emergencies only, but letters traveled back and forth across the lake, several every month. Those letters were filled with love. They all were about the same. She would write about what they had for dinner and who came to visit, but they were always filled with love. She took the time to write to me. Oh how I miss her. She died the year my first child was born. As she was lay dying she held my babies foot and said the baby's name. I didn't know then that those would be the last words I heard her say. She would have loved her great grandchildren as she loved her grandchildren.

My lost mind has taken me down memory lane and maybe I will write more about the incredible people that are my ancestors and take more pictures that bring back memories. Never the less if someone finds my brain out there will you please send it home.

Same spot 22 years later

Here we are in the same spot as the previous post only 22 years later. The cattle have been replaced by the sheep and two donkeys. The little girl filling the tank has grown and has a little girl of her own. The tank has long been gone and an automatic waterer now delivers water to the livestock.

Original
Edited version

I edited this photo again using Kim Klaussen's History texture and Photo Shop Elements.

I have included the recipe for anyone wanting to try this on their own photos. Kim's Skinny Mini course is free and gives a good basic understanding of PSE. Here is the link to Kim's website. http://www.kimklassencafe.com/

I am going to try and keep warm and enjoy the sunshine here in Sunny Michigan

Playing with PSE and Textures.

Wow has it really been over a year since I posted anything. I will have to do better in the future. In the last few months I have become intrigued by Kim Klaussen's textures. You can see some of her work on http://www.kimklassencafe.com. She has a free class called the skinny mini that is well worth taking. I have also subscribed to her Test Kitchen where I have learned so much.

The photo above was one that I took when my middle daughter was just three. It seems like yesterday, but was actually 22 years ago. I wanted to warm it up a bit and sharpen it up. The photo, if I remember right, was taken with a point and shoot. I used Kim's nutmeg texture to give it a warmer look and add a slight frame. I also did some color fills and a gradient fill on it, as well as a high pass filter. I learned how to use all of these in Kim's Skinny mini class.

As you can see I am finally learning how to get all that I can out of my Photo Shop Elements. I will show you more of what I am learning in future posts. Hopefully sooner than next year.

Now I am off to finish the laundry.

Dogs, goats and the elderly

I think that people that don't know me probably think I am crazy, there are probably more than a few that do know me that know I am. I do pet visits at the local care center. I started taking my Border Collie Clyde when he was 6 mo old, but I also take in what ever baby animals I may have that are young enough for the elderly to hold on their laps.
The baby goats grow so fast that by the time they are a few weeks old they are too big and wiggly to take to the center. I decided it would be nice to have a little goat that would stay small longer to take in. Some friends that own Nigerian Dwarfs gave me a little 3 hour old buck kid. He weighted in at a whopping 3.5 pounds and was the cutest baby you could ask for. I kept him in the house and cuddled him as much as possible so he would sit on their laps. It worked because often he would take a nap while the stroked his soft fur.

Unfortunately he did not stay little. By the time Gilligan, the goat, was 4 months old he was too naughty to keep in the house, and he was moved into the barn with the other goats. Even though he is over 50 pounds I continue to take him in. He wears Depends to cut down on accidents. More than one person has commented that he wears diaper just like they do. The residents still love him and are disappointed on the days that they only get the dog.

The other day I had him in the house while he dried from his bath. He gets a bath on the day he goes visiting. I had him on a leash and was heading out the door, when who should walk in but the FedEx man. I tried to explain about the pet visits, and he said he understood, but I could see that he thought I must be a tad touched. He isn't the only one that has done a double take when I am walking in town with Gilligan. The looks on people's faces as we walk into the care center are priceless. People will look then look again. Then as if they can't believe what they are seeing they will ask, "That isn't a dog is it?". Or "Is that a goat?"

All the strange looks are worth it for the joy he brings to the residents. They have watched him grow up and to them he is theirs. He has laid on more than one bed with a smiling patient. I will continue to take Gilligan in to see his friends. The baths, the naughtyness while in the house and the strange looks are all worth it for the smiles I see on the residents faces.