Category: photography

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Practice Makes Perfect

Today was pretty uneventful for me. Just another work day. I did exercise, though (biking). And despite not feeling great yesterday, I did take a walk. The point is not to walk, but to MOVE. I sit around far too much.

I did work all day, which is why my post is so late. And I couldn’t think of any exciting photos to share. So I made one.

I’ve been working on my PhotoShop technique. I took an otherwise boring picture and made it look sort of interesting. I think so, anyway.

Because I have absolutely nothing to talk about, I’ll stop here. Besides, the Olympics is on. I am missing women’s synchronized diving!

Let me know if you enjoyed today’s attempt at “art” (the picture).

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Hey There, Pussycat

This past weekend was relatively uneventful. Mike went to WV to retrieve some stuff he inadvertently left behind. I stayed home to do some stuff I never seem to have time to do. Mainly because we spend all of our weekends in WV and I just don’t have much spare time during the week.

Saturday morning, as I was contemplating where to begin (what errand to run first), I noticed Muffin, our youngest cat, curled up on the dog bed. I couldn’t resist taking a few pictures. This is one of them.

She does have pretty, green eyes. But not this green. I was experimenting with PhotoShop and thought the end result (the picture shown here) was sort of cool. So I decided to share it.

By the way, I haven’t walked yet today, but I will. So don’t call me a loser yet.

Have a happy Monday!

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Two for Two and Cute Doggie Lips

Yep, I walked again today. With Meg, who actually might need the walks just as much as I do. But for different reasons. Which I won’t go into because I spend far too much time talking about Meg.

She’s not our only dog, you know.

There’s also CeCe, our little princess, who was, after all, our first dog. I can’t take C along because she has issues. Lots of issues, actually, but the one that prevents me from taking her along is intestinal. The poor girl has had diarrhea off and on for a while now. We’re still trying to get to the bottom of it (yes, we’ve been to the vet).

When she has to go, she has to go. The end result is usually a puddle. So, if she goes on someone’s lawn, I can’t pick it up. Then my neighbors would consider me one of THOSE PEOPLE that don’t pick up after their pets!

When we left this morning, C was busy chewing her “chewy.” In this case, a bully stick. You don’t REALLY want to know what that is, so just think of it as a dog treat. Which it is, of course.

C loves them. Just look at the way she is focused. What I find interesting is how she uses her hands to hang on to it while she chews.

The girl is in dire need of a pedicure. Which she hates, by the way. Just another one of her many issues.

One of the things I love about C is her hairy lips. Looking at her hairy lips, that is. Aren’t they cute? Seriously.

This is one of the pictures her foster mom sent me when we were considering adoption. I just couldn’t say no to those lips. The rest of her body looked pretty pathetic (she was neglected and seriously underweight).

Could you say no to those lips? I mean, really. Aside from the hair, don’t they look painted on? And puckered into a kiss? Mike and I sure thought so. Especially since, at the time, Amy favored lipstick that was almost exactly that color (sorry, Amy, but it is true).

Here, have a closer look…

Lucky for us, C is not a kisser. But I still think she has really cute lips.

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I’d Rather Be in West Virginia

Continuing with yesterday’s Anywhere But Here theme…

As most of my loyal readers know, Hubby and I built a house in West Virginia. Literally. Over a period of three years, we spent every free weekend there laboring away.

Our WV property is just under six acres. We’re a two-mile drive from the main road, surrounded by woods on all sides. There’s a road below the ridge behind us–Poland Hollow Road–but with only a few houses, the road isn’t very busy.

This is why we feel pretty safe letting our dogs roam free. They never go very far and usually don’t stay away from the homestead very long. They both enjoy it there. Meg likes it far more than C. In fact, Meg LOVES it. Her tail usually wags for hours after we arrive.

Meg really is a country dog at heart. The girl loves to run. In WV there’s space to do just that. She’s in her element.

I always tell people that she pouts when we are at home in Maryland. Today’s picture is evidence. That’s pretty much how she looks all week. Until she sees us packing, that is. Then she perks up considerably and is once more her usual, crazy self.

Today I’ll be heading to WV (hopefully) on my motorcycle. Hubby will follow tomorrow in the truck, bringing all our gear and the girls. The plan is to spend a four-day weekend in WV with our good friends the Spices. Riding our motorcycles by day and relaxing by night.

In other words, we FINALLY get to do what the WV place was built for.

I won’t be posting for a few days. There’s no Internet connectivity unless I ride into town and visit the library. But maybe I’ll have some good pictures when we get back.

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On another note …

Today is my Dad’s 70th birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD!!!

Not that he’ll see this. He isn’t computer minded. But I thought the world should know.

Besides, maybe my Mom, who is computer minded, will see this and say, “Hey, look. You made it to the Internet today. Now the whole world will know it is your birthday.”

If only the whole world read my silly little Blog.

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What I Wanna Be When I Grow Up

“Blogs of Note” is one of the cooler things Blogger does, in my humble opinion. Their words best describe the purpose of the list … Interesting and noteworthy Blogger-powered blogs, compiled by the Blogger Team. It is updated daily and every now and then I check out the offerings.

That’s how I discovered Scary’s West, which is one of the Blogs I recommend in my collection of links better known as Other People’s Blogs. Some of the Blogs are cool and totally suck me in. Others are, um, weird.

Now, I know that I haven’t quite found my posting niche. There’s no real purpose for this Blog. But it gives me something to do. Yet another of my many hobbies I never have enough time for! (I just wish I’d started it years ago so I could’ve documented the WV Project here instead of on my Web site.)

When my Blog “grows up” and becomes a really interesting Blog that thousands of people visit every day, I want to appear in Blogs of Note. In the meantime, I’ll just post random pictures and talk about stupid stuff like how I aspire for this to be a Blog of Note.

Until then, here’s another random picture. I was going through holiday pictures a while ago and found this one of me and my Grandma from Christmas 2007.


Earlier this evening, though I am not sure why this thought popped into my brain, I realized I’ve never really posted any pictures of Hubby. Of course, he was in some of the vacation pics, but those were incidentals. I think I should post one of just him all by himself. On purpose. My latest favorite of him is below…


I’m not sure why I like it so much. He doesn’t look particularly happy (though I know he was). Maybe it’s just because I caught him off guard and he doesn’t have that “do-you-have-to-take-ANOTHER-picture” look.

Anyway, I’m interested to see if others like the picture, too. Click on “comments” below and let me know.

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Random Image to Share


death valley
Originally uploaded by jengray

So, nothing very interesting happened today. Though I did discover that when I am being, like, all voyeuristic and digging through other people’s pictures on flickr, I can share the ones I really like. When I come across a cool one–a really cool one, one that I REALLY like and wish that I had taken–I can just click and add it to my Blog. Cool, eh?

A quick and easy way to keep my Blog fresh. Have you ever just sat and clicked through flickr photos? This could get way out of hand. It is sort of like when you watch a video on YouTube. It leads to another. Then that one leads to another one. It is a vicious circle. At least it is entertaining.

Try it. You’ll see what I mean. Check out my new buddy, Alaska Dave’s, photostream. Once you have looked at some of his pictures, like THIS cool one, look at his Favorites (other people’s pictures that Dave likes. Trust me, you’ll be sucked right in. So, if you’re in the middle of cooking dinner or something, STOP CLICKING NOW. Otherwise, your dinner will burn.