Happy Labor Day Weekend...Photo Story Friday

This is Sammy.  He is mom and dad's golden retriever.  Sammy is a great dog, but he is still a bit of a puppy in a lot of ways - especially when it comes to playing with his toys.  He has never quite learned how not to completely destroy a toy in just a few minutes.

However, I keep trying to teach him.  I decided to go with a toy he does a pretty good job not destroying...a tennis ball.  This one, though, has a tug rope through it.

He took to it really well.  This was about two hours after I gave it to him...best results we've seen with a toy yet as it was still in one piece.

One of Sammy's favorite things to do with his tennis ball is to stand by the deck and push the ball through the spindles on the deck. Dad sits on the deck most mornings and reads the newspaper and does his Bible Study.  After Sammy finally pushes the ball through the spindles and lets go of it, dad grabs it, throws it, Sammy catches.  Rinse.  Repeat.  These two do this for an hour or more a day I think.

However, as you can see, Sammy's new toy didn't play by the same rules.  It was a little too wide to just slide through the bars.  That darn knotted rope.

He almost figured it out, but then couldn't slide it the rest of the way through the spindles.  So, what's a dog to do when his favorite game isn't working so well for him with his new toy?

He goes back to what he knows.  Sammy quickly abandoned the new toy and grabbed one of the many tennis balls he has hanging out around the yard.  He quickly got that through the spindles and let go.

Grandpa delivered a great throw and Sam executed a great mid-air catch (although the photographer left a bit to be desired on this one).

My Lindsay prefers a little more hands on attention from her grandpa - who is happy to oblige his grand-dog. Although she does regularly steal things from Sammy, I actually was smart and brought two of these toys with us so they would each have one. So, luckily this isn't proof that my pooch is a big bully to her cousin.  I am glad to see that, as we all settle down for the evening, both pooches are enjoying their new toys.

We're looking forward to our weekend at the farm.  Do you have big plans for the long weekend?  

                                                                                             Hosted by Cecily and Lolli    

Another Quote...and a Couple of Questions

I was playing with this photo this morning.  I forgot I took the photo until I was writing up a future Wordful Wednesday post.  It's actually the post in which you "officially" meet my friend with the parrot on his shoulder.  

I remembered taking the rose photo while writing about the day we spent near Flathead Lake in Montana.  However, it wasn't in my Flickr stream.  I searched for it in Lightroom and realized that it hadn't made the cut...it just wasn't a photo I was happy with so I didn't put it out there.  However, all roses are beautiful and I though these beautiful blooms deserved a special chance.

So, I took a few editing liberties in Lightroom - further blurring out the leaves which in the original had been entirely too prominent.  I also adjusted the color in order to really play up the light that was hitting the roses.  I exported the photo to Photoshop and added the text - a favorite quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson that is one of my life rules - in the same color as a darker shade of red pulled out via the dropper tool from the rose.  

Do you think this would make a pretty note card or postcard?  I'm thinking of hosting a card swap...a quote card swap.  Do art in any way you choose - photography, mixed media, etc.  The only rule ... you must include a favorite quote - either your own or one from someone else - in the piece.  Would you participate?  

This week I'm linking up with Deb Duty Photography and This or That Thursday.  Visit Deb and find others posting on This or That Thursday at http://www.debduty.com. 

Photoshop Preset - the Before and After

  

You'll meet this gentleman and his parrot in a future Wordful Wednesday post as I wrap up the stories from my trip out to the Pacific Northwest.

This post, though, is not about my new friend and his parrot.  It's about using Presets in Adobe Lightroom.  A Lightroom preset is a set of tasks that you let the software perform to a photo all at once.  I was editing several photos from a friend's family photo shoot this past weekend and decided since I was doing many of the same edits to the photos, it would be a good idea to have my own portrait preset.  

I've downloaded and installed several presets already.  However, I had not yet created one of my own.  I spent a few minutes tweaking the photo of my friend here until I got from the original straight out of the camera shot on the left to the look you see on the right.  This smoothed out his skin a bit and highlighted the skin color in a way that I think makes it look a little more natural.

If you'd like to try my preset, you can download it here.

Do you have a favorite Lightroom trick or preset?  Share it in the comments!

(Not so) Wordless Wednesday #WW

As I mentioned on Monday, I am trying to get back into some regular habits and routines that I enjoy.  Making art, exercising (mostly of the creative variety, but the physical kind might - and should make it's way in there), and...yes...blogging are all a part of the no-so-planned-plan to re-ignite my routines.  

Since I blog first and foremost for my own memory keeping purposes I have a few stories that I need to tell that I've not yet captured on the blog (as I've taken a self-imposed, albeit somewhat hard-drive fail assisted, hiatus of late).  One is the story of my summer vacation to the Pacific Northwest.  Since it's back to school time, I thought I'd take on that traditional back to school assignment over the next few Wednesdays.  

Those of you that view my blog at the site (rather than through a reader) may have noted the new masthead which appeared yesterday.  The giant wagon-turned-slide is an installment in the beautiful riverfront park in Spokane.  All of the photos above, along with the one of the giant wagon, were taken in that park.  After arriving at our hotel, my friends Chuck, Cherry Kay, Becky and I set out for a walk along the river in search of some dinner.  We finally settled on the Steelhead Bar and Grill a little closer to downtown.  

As you wander through the river front area, you might run into some wildlife.  Most of it is on rollerblades or bikes - however this guy also had a few friends climbing out of some of the most unusual places.

While we only enjoyed the outdoor elements of this beautiful park, it boasted an IMAX theatre, a really cool old carousel, and I'm pretty sure a couple of museums.  It's also the home to the Spokane Convention Center.  Having never visited the Pacific Northwest, I didn't really know what to expect.  I have to say Spokane was a truly charming city, full of natural beauty, and I'd love to go back and spend more than the one night we had to spend here.  

Before we headed back to the hotel to get some rest, we did a gondola ride out over the river and falls area.  It was very pretty, but the windows prevented any really good photos while we were out over the falls.  

After a long travel day, it was time to head back to the hotel and get some rest before we headed off to our home base in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.  To read about that, you'll have to stop back next Wednesday!

I saw this pin on Pinterest last night...thinking about combining all the things from this trip into a photo album like this.

                                                                                          Source: foundpaperco.blogspot.com via Kara on Pinterest

 I did a similar one for my trip to London and Paris and absolutely loved the format.  Anyone else made an album like this for a trip before - got tips to share?

What did you do over your summer vacation?  Any vacation stories you need to write down or make a quick album out of before they are lost?

This week I'm linking up with Better in Bulk for Wordless Wednesday (although it's not very wordless at all in my case)

You always have a choice...

Somewhere along the pathways of my life, I've picked up a few rules of life that I find to remain consistently true. They are probably cliche statements on their own but when you look at them as a set of values or core beliefs they become much more powerful. One of them, which has been on my mind a great deal lately is, "You always have a choice."

 I was thinking about choices this morning as I was cleaning email up in my personal account before the crazy part of my day got started (i.e. before I left the house). One of the new items in my inbox was a newsletter from Kim Klassen's Beyond Layers class.  It contained the quote you see in the photo above.  (Click through on the image to my Flickr site if you want to see it a little larger.)  I paired the quote with a photo I took while visiting Mt. Spokane in Spokane, Washington in July as well as with one of Kim Klassen's textures (Elevate - it was a free one from her Texture Tuesday list) and put this together.

I'm printing out a copy and hanging it on my bathroom mirror for a while.  I really like the phrase "choose to perceive".  Our perception of the world is our reality.  I ran headlong against someone's perception of something today.  We are both so locked into how we perceive the other person is portraying the same subject that we are no longer listening to what the other one is saying.  We've stopped moving down the path together.  Maybe it's time to turn around and go back and change perception or maybe it's time to continue down separate paths.  That decision ultimately isn't mine in this specific case but it's a good reminder of what happens when we stop talking with one another and only talk at one another.

Do you need to shift your perception on something?  Is there a choice in front of you blocking your path right now?

Hello Monday

Even though Monday is almost over, I'm taking a moment to look ahead to this week with gratitude.

Hello sunshine paint colors...Most of today's photos were taken in my newly painted and reorganized studio.  I plan to give you a tour soon.  The simple act of walking by that room makes me smile - let alone spending time in there.

Hello routine... I am trying to get back to a morning and evening routine.  My morning routine starts at my desk.

and...

Hello rain... I spent a good bit of time working on a project this weekend so I enjoyed sleeping a little late to the sound of a beautiful light rain.  This was the view from my desk this morning as the rain continued to fall until about 7:30 this morning.  

Hello holiday weekend...This is one of those weird years where the first week of class didn't culminate with Labor Day weekend.  I normally need the extra day off to recover from the crazy that is the first week of classes.  Sadly, we have to wade all the way through this week to get to the holiday, but I am truly looking forward to a relaxing weekend with family.

Hello creativity...I have several creative projects on tap this week.  This is the start of one of them.

Hello democracy...I am looking forward to essentially two full weeks of democracy unleashed in the Republican and Democratic conventions.  All my Tivo tuners are in action to capture this from all angles.  As crazy as some of the things that come out of the mouths of our political candidates may be, we still live in the greatest nation on Earth and the relatively peaceful process of electing and installing elected officials is still amazing and incredible.

Hello Curiosity...As we say goodbye to Neil Armstrong, a true American hero, I cannot get enough of the video and images coming from the Curiosity Rover on Mars.  The twitter feed is full of images.

What are you saying hello to this week?  What are you grateful for this week?

I'm linking up with Lisa Leonard's Hello Monday post this week.  You can see Lisa's blog and see her beautiful handmade jewelry at http://www.lisaleonardonline.com/blog/ 

Have just 3 minutes? You can help!

This is my mom.  Isn't she beautiful?

I took this photo of her when she and I visited Maui in February of 2007.  Mom had just retired and she and I enjoyed a beautiful visit to paradise.

My mom is one of the most amazing people I know.  She is strong and independent.  For the last several years though, she's been fighting Parkinson's disease.  She's doing great and still able to do most of the things she has always enjoyed.  However, some things, like travel, just don't seem like as much fun to her anymore.

Parkinson's disease is something I can currently only describe as odd.  It hits different people in very different ways.  Mom has tremors and some pain and she tires easily.  Her progression has been relatively slow compared to what I've seen for other people.  If you want to know more about Parkinson's disease, you can read this from the National Institutes of Neurological Disorder and Stroke.

I am writing today to ask you to help fight Parkinson's Disease by participating in a simple, pain-free research project.  There is a new project, shared in the TED talk that I've embedded below (you can access it here if the video doesn't work).  All you have to do is make a phone call.  The video is less than six minutes long.  The phone call takes only about 3 minutes.  To find out more about this new research, visit Parkinson's Voice (http://www.parkinsonsvoice.org/).  This is also where you go to get the number to call. Numbers are available worldwide.

Over the last six or eight months I've been trying to learn more about this disease and I'm amazed at how fragmented the information is.  In the future, I'll be sharing more information about Parkinson's Disease - and particularly about new research and ways people can get involved in helping to identify, diagnose, and treat this disease - and hopefully, someday, find a cure.