You Ought To Be In Pictures

I think I have mentioned before that I am interested in photography and I would like to explore it further. I really would like to have a nice camera, like a Nikon digital camera, zoom lenses and all that good stuff. But for now I have to be satisfied with a point and shoot camera. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice camera, I like it, and it's a good camera to practice with. I am mostly interested in taking pictures of animals and natural settings. So many times I am out and about and see something, but of course, I don't have my camera with me, but I have been trying to carry it with me when I'm out walking, going about my business and even to work.

I decided to take my camera to work because on several rare occassions I have seen deer, very early in the morning, feeding is a small clearing across the street from where I work. The clearing is at the very back of  a  small park that has hiking trails and playgrounds with picnic areas. It's not a big park but it's nice, set in an urban area.

When I am lucky enough to see the deer, I am absolutely transfixed since it is not something I get to see very often. They come very early and don't stay more than a few minutes, but it is beautiful.  Hopefully, I will be able to get a picture of them one day.

But I may not have been able to get a picture of the deer, but since I had my camera with me I was able to capture this. This is the sunrise that I get to enjoy outside my office window. What a way to start the day!
And every sunrise is different. This is the sunrise the next day.

Makes you feel good for the rest of the day!

My dog, Lola, and I walk quite often in the cemetary. It is peaceful, pretty and lots of people go there to walk their dogs, jog, ride bikes etc. It's almost like a park! Again, I remembered to take my camera and I saw this tree and it reminded me of Halloween. The way the branches come out, the starkness of it made me think it looked like something at a haunted house.

or maybe it's just me.......

This tree is also in the cemetary. I tried to find some info on it but couldn't, but I've heard that it was there before the cemetary was. And there are some who have been buried there since the mid 1800's, so I guesss that would make the tree close to 200 years old.                                                                                        

See how the bark is all twisted, almost like someone tried to wring it out. I wonder, was it from old age or weather. I noticed that a couple of weeks ago there was a big limb broken off during a storm the night before, I hated to see that. It isn't often that something is strong enough to survive for over 150 years and is still standing.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the pictures, my first attempt at any kind of real photography as such. Hopefully they will improve and be much more interesting than sunrises and trees. But it's a start. Til next time.....

Oh, by the way, I DID NOT win the KitchenAid Mixer, surprised uh? Yeah, me too, but there will be other contests to enter!!


Kathy

Contests, Live Tweeting And Other Such Nonsense

I have made no secret of my desire to own a KitchenAid stand mixer. I've even wrote a haiku about it in an earlier blog. Everytime I try to save up for one, and they are pricey, something else always comes up that needs repair or an extra bill that needs to be paid, yada..yada..yada... So my second best try to own one is by entering contests. I follow a blog, The Pioneer Woman. She recounts her life and experience living on a working cattle ranch, cooking, photography, homeschooling, home and garden subjects. She also has a cooking show on the Food Network that I love to watch. ANYWAY...she has contests off and on and gives away cameras, home accessories, clothing, jewelry and...wait for it........KitchenAid mixers!!!! She has one that was personally designed just for her and this weekend she is giving away TWO of them

Isn't it gorgeous, I want it....badly. Of course over 20,000 people have entered this contest. But I really don't think anyone wants it more than I do. So I am asking everyone who knows me and also those who have no clue who I am to enter this contest @The Pioneer Woman/Home and Garden, and if you win, give it to me. I don't think that is too much to ask for........do you?  Then when I have my mixer everyone who is tired of me whining about wanting a mixer will be eternally grateful!!!


When I signed up for Twitter I really just did it so I could link my blog to it, I didn't have any intention to constantly tweet. There is a lot about it that I don't know or understand, "hashtags", "retweet", "instagram" and probably more things I don't know that I don't know about. But I have learned about "live tweeting", kinda. I have discovered that two shows I watch, Grimm and Haven, have been live tweeting during the broadcast. Someone, that I assume is involved in the show, tweets for Grimm and one of the actors on the show Haven does the tweets for that show. It is kind of fun to see everyone's comments and funny remarks about what is happening on the shows as they happen. I've gotten involved in the live tweets, or I think I have. I've used the correct hashtags, whatever that means, made meaningful comments and tried to have fun with it. Nobody has tweeted anything back to me so I don't know if I'm getting it right but I am enjoying it.

Now to the nonsense part, I really don't care to discuss politics and I'm not really going to get into it now, except to say that I have decided to watch the debates this time, which I don't normally do. I really wanted to pay attention and learn something, hear something new, how problems are going to be solved, but after about 10 min. all I could hear was "wawa waaa..wa wa.... (remember in the Charlie Brown cartoons, all the adults sounded like that, they had no real words). Now I am just a casual observer of politics, but one thing I have learned....no matter what side you are on and no matter what you promise, once you are in office it's a whole new world, you know things you didn't before so all the promises you made are really not important anymore. No matter who gets in office, nothing can be accomplised without cooperation from the other side.  Personally, I will be glad when it is all over.


One more thing.....the best thing about this time of year is....NO MORE CUTTING GRASS TIL SPRING. You can't imagine how happy that makes me.


Kathy

Sunday, Sunday

All week long I have thought about several subjects to write about, TV shows, religion, parades and how much I hate them, but here it is Sunday evening and I have decided that Sunday is such a bittersweet day. It is the end of a much look forwarded to weekend. A weekend that almost everyone prays would hurry up and get here, time off from work and or school. A time to decompress and relax or to catch up on chores and spend time with family and friends. Sunday is also the beginning of a brand new week. And a new week can be new adventures, new possibilities and another chance at ....whatever.

Sundays in the summer can mean concerts in the park, Sunday dinners with family. In the winter there could be sledding in the park, a hike or just football on TV while sitting on the couch. It is sleeping late, donuts for breakfast and some go to church. Most businesses are closed, no mail is delivered and everything seems to move at a slower pace.

I have a love/hate relationship with Sunday. Of course I love the sleeping late and donut part of it, but I can't quite get a handle on the relaxation part of it. It's my own fault of course. My OCD tendencies kick in and I feel like I should be doing something, getting some project accomplished, and that everything will go to hell in a handbasket if I don't get all my chores done. Yes, most of it can be put off til another day or even the next weekend, the world won't end if I don't get the yard cleaned up or the floor mopped or the closet straightened cleaned out but I just can't seem to help myself. If I have planned to get certain things done on the weekend and don't, I start feeling anxious and push myself to get it all done.

Well today I had planned to get certain things done and I did get some wash done and made my breakfast muffins for the week, but I had also planned on doing some cleaning. Weeelllll......as the day wore on I kept playing around on the computer, watched a movie, then I caved all together and decided to not even fix dinner. I just ordered pizza just because I felt like it and didn't want to cook or clean up afterwards. Then I sat and watched some more TV, took an early shower and sat some more and watched some things on my dvr. Oh the horror!! I feel so lazy......but I liked it......a lot. Now I am getting ready to watch the Real Housewives Reunion and eat some ice cream.

I am really trying to think of Sundays as a relaxing day, a day for me. It won't be easy, it won't always happen but I really need this day for myself. I have enjoyed today but feeling a little anxious about what didn't get done so it is a work in progress. Wish me luck.

How do you spend your Sundays?


Kathy