THe WiNTeR WaLK

Walk. 

What does that mean to you?

Take a walk.

Walk tall.

Walk this way.

I walked out once....ok maybe more than once.

Don't let anyone walk over you.

A walk on the beach.

A walk in the park.

A walk on the wild side.

Walk on over.

Walk with me.

Walk with a friend.

Walk with God.

Walk the Walk.

Walk it off.

Walk.

IT's a PiLE

Create a pile and they will come.

Piles signify quantity, status, and surprises

Be it snow, people, $$$ .....

People love piles, 

The buffet concept knows this

Bankers know this

Scam artists know this (piles of BS)

Garage Sales

Auctions

Concerts

Sporting events

Leaves

Snow

thrift stores

What's the last pile that has drawn you in?

ThE OrDEr oF THingS

Against the flow can be an uncomfortable direction at times.

Or

What's the big deal?

Order - Always Eat your Salad before Dessert. 

 Not only that, but after the salad you don't touch the dessert until the main course comes. 

 That is of course unless you are really, really hungry.

Then you would do as I did and nibbled away at the dessert until the main course came.

No harm done.

I didn't break a rule, just went out of a socially instilled order.

I went to the Chair Affair on Saturday Night.

Lots of chairs, lots of items for the silent auction.

Lots of people browsing in a clock wise direction viewing the silent auction items.

Lots of people, other than me.  

I chose the shortest route to see what I wanted to see,

and it set me in a counter-clockwise direction.

I was comfortable going in the opposite direction, as a matter of fact I didn't even notice.

But then.....

I was called on it.  Someone noticed.

Someone didn't like it.

I turned around and joined the natural direction of the masses.

No harm done.

When's the last time you went against the flow, or broke order with the masses?

THerE IS nO DuST ..... How DO tHEy dO tHAt?

Convents are huge.  There is no dust.  How do they do that?

Karen Schowalter put on a conference this weekend 

At Assisi Heights with a dynamic speaker.

Alan Storey is a pastor from South Africa.

He speaks and you can't help but listen.

And it's not all the accent.

He brings the bible to a contemporary time.

It does relate to us.

"The stories are all true, they may just not have happened that way."

The dialogue is challenging.

The dialogue is comforting.

So WHy do We sTiLL GeT SiCK?

School Cafeterias are now lined with hand sanitizers.

I have a preference for soap and water myself.

A Game of Chance and a box of Girl Scout Cookies.

Life is Good.

O - 67

Bingo!!!

Eli ran to the prize table and immediately grabbed his prize of choice.

Thin Mints. 

 He has had his eye on those since we walked in.

Simple. Fun.

a WEdnEsdAy nIGhT in rOCheStEr

What do you look like at 8:30pm on a Wednesday?

This was Broadway downtown tonight.

Grateful for beauty.  

There is a house on Northern Hills Drive that puts Christmas Lights on the trees in their backyard.  The backyard just happens to be along Northern Heights Drive.  

This is one of my favorite lighting scenes in the city.

Simple.  Beautiful.  Serene. 

I don't even know who to thank.

But I do.

Thank you.

BaBY STepS

When life isn't perfect we edit.  

It isn't pretty, fast or easy most of the time.

Persistence and a vision that's what gets you through to the 

"other side".

But the editing is never done, because there is always another picture.

The same is true for photos.  

I'm learning everyday to take the photos to another level.

Sometimes I like it, sometimes not.

But I've always learned something.

Today I've learned that my photos are an unorganized mess on my computer.

I've also learned that I'm not sure how to organize them.

But I know my question, I know what I want to do, and I have a vision.

That's a start.

And you gotta start or you'll go know where.

GeT REaDy FOr ARt SeASoN

People and Art ~ 2 of my favorite things

The Art Fair season is coming up.

Applications.  Entrance Fees.  Set up. 

Getting things in order.  Long Days.

Great art.  Interesting people.

aND ThE ICe CamE DoWN

Driving back from Iowa Sunday Afternoon.

Rain ... slush .... ice .... snow.

The mailboxes were ice covered and beautiful.

We made it home, many of the dance families did not.

oNE PerSOns JuNK iS aNoTHer PersONs PHotOgRApH

The Recycling Center - either a great reality or a sitcom.

Went there with my camera and asked if I could shoot some pictures.  

Told him I was studying photography and thought his junk might make a nice picture.

He looked at my camera then looked at me and asked if I was with the city.

I said, "nope".  Then he gave me the "go ahead",  

but not before he told me to be careful.  Said it was dangerous here.

He was a character.

THe liTtLe PrINceSs iS HaNGinG oN

I love contrast.

50 degrees today and snowmen.

The introvert married the extravert.

Hot coffee with cream in the morning sitting next to my cold fizzy fresca

What's your contrast?

GotTa STreTch BefoRE you DaNCe

Followed Quinn into the studio today where is practicing for her solo competition performance.  Took this picture today and have been trying to play with it in photoshop.  I am exploring and trying to learn my way around.  There is a lot to learn in the realm of photoshop.  Practice and play that's how I'll improve and get to know how to use the Damn thing.  I did a few tweaks in photoshop, but for some reason the blog downloader doesn't like the format of my edited pictures, so I'll muddle through and have it figured out in a couple of days.
Until then, keep counting....5...6....7...8 (as the dancers say)

If FOunD PleaSe REturN

One of a kind.  Lost.  Forever?  I'm afraid so.
I keep thinking it'll turn up somewhere, but I'm really getting doubtful.  I loved this bracelet and so did the artist that created it.  The artist is from the cities and creates beautiful silver jewelry.  I bought this piece of jewelry at my first juried art show that I got into.

Penthouse

Girl Friends Time Together.

MariBeth and her husband just got a condo in Lake City, and little does her husband know, but the girlfriends benefit.  Smart girl.  Wine.  Hummas.  Stacy's Chips.

Love you MariBeth, thanks for sharing!!

A chilly reception can be the warmest kind

Ice sculptures abound.  This weekend in Rochester is the beginning of Winterfest and with that you can "socialice" downtown.  It is a warm inviting place in spirit although the chill was in the air tonight with a temp of +1.    There were plenty of people however, down on the plaza sipping from ice sculpted glasses around heaters and fire places.

At some point most of us give in and sell the damn stuff.

It used to be we opted for the buy out.  But the buy out became too expensive, so now we ask our neighbors and friends to help share the cost of our kids participating in their favorite activities.

Today was hockey pizza pick up day.

Fundraisers are part of our culture.  I wonder what my parents did to raise money for the activities they participated in.  Perhaps in simpler times the programs didn't cost what they do today.  Will there come a day when we all say... ENOUGH all ready.

Its almost like a kid sized ponzi scheme.  We just keep shuffling the dollars, I'll buy from you if you buy from me.  And the middle man takes a cut for handing it from me to you and vise versa in the guise of a __(fill in the blank)__.  We have sold pizza, candy, magazines, peaches, wrapping paper, butter braids, coupon books, wreaths, popcorn, toffee peanuts, cookie dough.

A boy came to my house the other day selling softner salt as a fund raiser.  Now that's a practical fund raiser.

I'm waiting for the day when the kids come door to door to sell me a bottle of wine and a micro brew beer.  On that day I may buy for the product and convenience of a home delivery rather than just to support the kid.

5....6....7....8

Let's Dance!!!
Look at Those toes, those shins, those muscles.  Ballet is such an exact discipline.  It's right or it's wrong.  Definitely not the sport for me.  But then again, Quinn is not me.  She is graceful and has a stage presence that is fantastic to watch.  She glows on stage.  She practices more than 10 hours a week to prepare for the stage.  This is her love.  Her passion.

One week from Friday Quinn, her friend Olivia Arneson and I will travel four hours to Cedar Rapids, IA.  We'll spend the weekend watching Quinn and her team compete in the first competition of the season.  Quinn has her own solo this year.  She is doing a lyrical dance to a song called Freckles by Natasha Bedingfield.  I can't wait to see her!!!  She'll be in three other competition dances; a group lyrical, group jazz, and large group ballet production.

When is a Tomato a Tomato?

It's February in Minnesota.
A tomato bought at the grocery store is merely a notion of a tomato.  Have you been to the produce section lately?  The tomatoes look lovely, red, shiny and plastic.  they look so good you want to believe they are the tomato of summer.  But, alas they are not.  Tim bought a few of these notions over a week ago.  Colorful they are, tasteful they are not.  The red they added to the salad was much appreciated on this grey day, but again they were nothing short of a notion of a tomato.  I don't need a notion.  I need a tomato.  I look forward to tomatoes.

7

That's the number of outdoor "utensils" we have for snow.  There is of course the snow blower, but because I took this picture in the back yard (on the ice rink to be exact) getting the snowblower back there was more work than I wanted to take on.  Tim actually had a shovel on his Christmas list, and this after we already had 5 + a snowblower.  There are so many types of shovels I really think they each need there own name.  That would make it so much easier.  Our list of snow "utensils"  includes; a silo shovel, a bent handled shovel, a blue shovel, a metal yellow plow shovel, an ice chipper, and a rubber scrapper (for the rink, I think).  We seem to add to the collection yearly.  So my question to you is how many snow "utensils" do you have?  I'm curious to see what the average number might be.

Fog in White Water State Park

Spent half a day out at White Water State Park taking a class called Digital Bridge to Nature.
It is a grant funded program with the objective to get cameras in the hands of kids and get kids out into nature.  Met a young woman in my class from Little Falls that makes photo words like I do.  She is LettersbyLisa, I am WordsbyTracey.  Fun to talk to her.  Some people you like right away.  She is one of them.

This picture was taken just outside of the state park perimeters. I pulled the car over and snapped a few pictures.  As I was laying in the road trying to get a different perspective with my camera a car stopped to make sure I was alright.  I like it that people care about others.  Thanks for stopping, thanks for asking.

PingPong

Bought a ping pong table a week ago.  What a fun game for the family.  Eli wants to beat me so badly, and it won't be long before he'll be taking me down.  But right now I proudly wear the crown of Queen Pong Mama.

Where were you at 5:07pm?

I was out chasing the light.  The light just before sunset is golden and pink and beautiful and it makes everything it touches more beautiful as well.  I love reflective surfaces and the interpretation they give of life around us.   A reflective surface can make almost anything art, add to that some cool light and viola!

This picture cost me 22 cents in a parking meter and a walk around a block downtown.  Looking up the whole time.  The light was perfect, the air was chilly and I was a chick with a camera.

Crash

A young man died today.  He was driving a pickup truck and was unable to stop as he approached the train tracks.  He slid on ice into the path of an on coming train, the train which was not traveling at high speed, hit the passenger side of the truck.  The truck spun, rolled and came to rest in the ditch.  He was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected  and pinned.  This young man died at 18 years old.  He is from Austin, MN.

The picture of this particular train has nothing to do with the train accident this morning, but it did give me pause and got me thinking of the young man that died.  His name is Joe Lewison.

January 31, 2011

Went to the Twin's Caravan in Rochester.  I get so excited to think about baseball season.

We stood in line at the Ramada Inn for about an hour to see Denard Span.  When we got in the doors we were greeted by Drew Beuterra (catcher), Danny Valencia (Third base - Rookie of the year), and Dick Bremmer (Twin's announcer).  They were all headed to Iowa, but got as far as Rochester because of the snow storm.  It was a fun night.  Denard is in the middle in this pictures and Drew is on the left, Danny is on the right.  These guys are so young!!!!!

February 1, 2011

Melanie is my niece.  She asked if I would take her boudoir photos.  I was thrilled she thought of me and more thrilled at how the photos turned out.  It was so much fun.