A smile for a summer day

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Fellow Creative Photography / Ruby Tuesday entrants:

I thought of you when I saw this comic the other day. ;-)

Steeplechase - Part III

Here's another installment in my Steeplechase series. Please don't leave yet. Only three photos today ;-)

This is another beautiful Catholic church in our town.
I love the light-colored stone work (as opposed to the dark gray stone of the 'cathedral' I posted the other day).









This white church is the original
First Baptist Church, built into a hill right near Main Street.
















And this is the cross atop the current First Baptist Church on the Hilltop, about two miles from downtown. --->


Even though we're not Baptists, it's the church where Ralph and I tied the knot. I knew the pastor there at the time, and asked him if he would perform our ceremony. And lucky for us, he did!

Little did we know in 1986 that we would be living less than a mile from where we got married.


It's a dark picture, because it was taken at 6:53 p.m. But I do like the effect of the clouds.
Someday I'll go back and take a better shot.

That's it for today, and Steeplechase 3.

* Ruby Tuesday *

This is a weed, I know. But it produces pretty (possibly poisonous) red berries in the winter.

I played around a bit with the original (top) and decided to just post one of the other versions.

I made it with a blue hue as well, but that wouldn't fit in with the Ruby Tuesday theme now,
would it?

To join in, visit Mary, The Teach. She has a great blog!


Happy Ruby Tuesday.

Putting things in perspective

For the past month or so I've been busy, and as I read friends' blogs I see a lot of other bloggers have been as well. I didn't post much this past week because I was working on a story for Sunday's (today's) paper. The writing is the easy and enjoyable part; scheduling interviews and photos is often what becomes more time-consuming.

To top if off, the story I worked on with my friend and colleague, Michelle, was emotionally draining. It deals with homelessness and was published today.

Since I am not one to mix business and pleasure, I don't link my stories to my blog. But after talking to Ralph, I decided to go for it. Sitting down with people who for a variety of reasons have become homeless is eye-opening.

It may be a cliché, but it does indeed put things in perspective.

For our story, click here.

Creative photograph # 7

This was taken in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris in 2004.
Below I played around a bit with the photo, trying for different effects.

It's my entry in Roger's Creative Photography contest.
Which one do you like the best?

Steeplechase - Part 2

This is one of several Catholic churches in town.


Note to self : Next time get out of car and walk to this church located on busy street, to avoid capturing telephone wires and such. Good thing this isn't for a contest!





A cropped shot, sans wires:













A historic-looking neighborhood church.

Next on the tour is a beautiful stone Catholic church that to me looks like a cathedral.

And below it is yet another little neighborhood church that reminds me of a chapel in the woods. Two extremes in size and architecture.
I think I prefer the small one.









This is all a rehearsal for when I do my real hometown steeple project, with proper lighting, focus, etc.




There are more, but I think I will stop now.




Tomorrow is another day..Steeplechase Part 3 is around the corner.

Minor blog crisis

I went out last evening and snapped seven scintillating steeple photos for Part 2 of Steeplechase.

Guess what? this morning I can't find the digital camera anywhere. I've looked all over the house and car.

I got distracted on my way home when I came upon four neighborhood kids selling lemonade so I stopped and purchased a nice warm, yet totally refreshing, cup of it.

I came home, we ate dinner, and I didn't use the computer until this morning...

I am getting near frantic. I have to re-check the car. I am in a tizzy. Such an upset first thing in the morning.

10:14 a.m. UPDATE: Crisis averted - daughter had it in her room. Phew!
Now back to my regularly scheduled blogging.

^ Steeplechase ^^^ ^ ^

I have been busy with work this week, and haven't posted since Ruby Tuesday. Eek. It just doesn't feel right to skip a few days.


Yesterday when I was driving to pick up daughter at her job, I passed by a recently painted church --->

It's an African Methodist Episcopal church, and it looks much better than I ever remember it looking, since it used to be a rather unattractive mustard-yellow color.

And so I was inspired to start taking photos of churches, especially steeples, in our fair city.

This is Part One of Steeplechase, as Ralph dubbed it.

I am wondering what kind of bushes these are in front of the church. Rose of Sharon is my guess...




The next one I passed on my route was this Baptist Church. I snapped the picture from the driver's seat, waiting for a red light.

It was overcast yesterday afternoon, which sometimes has its advantages when taking photographs.

This is a Ukrainian Catholic church, just down the block from where Allegra works.


And just a block further down, on the same side of the street, is this Russian Orthodox church.

Across from the public library is this "castle" of sorts. It's an Episcopal church.



And here we see its next-door neighbor, a Congregational church. -->

This shot is rather dark, but that was the lighting I had to work with yesterday afternoon, and I'm too lazy to go take another one. ;-)









These are but a few of the churches in our city that I plan to photograph in the coming days. I hope you liked the tour...


If not, well, I tried.

<~>Ruby Tuesday<~>

My regular readers know Rigby. Here I caught him sleeping, then waking up and meeting a new friend. The patriotic little Teddy bear is bright red, so I figured it was a perfect subject for Ruby Tuesday.

To join in the Ruby Tuesday fun, visit Mary, The Teach.

Staycationing can be fun ~ Day 3

A note from Rigby:


Linus and I are having lots of fun on our staycation.
This morning we played hide and seek. That's Linus hiding behind Mommy's plant.














I hid in the condo but Linus found me right away.


Mommy got us a pinata as a surprise. We couldn't reach that high with the big sticks she gave us so we couldn't break it open.





<---
Then we went inside and Mommy showed us pictures of a cat she used to have. She said we are her "replacement cats."

We don't know what that means.





















After all that running around and looking at pictures, we were really hot. Mommy told us to play by the snowman to get cool. We thought we already were "cool cats."






I hope you liked following us around on Day 3 of our staycation. Linus and I are glad you visited us.

Mommy said she has to get ready for Ruby Tuesday now.

Staycation Day 2 =^ . . ^=

Linus and Rigby, The Brothers Furr, asked if they could narrate the photos from Day 2 of our Staycation. I said sure, as long as they were good cats.



"For breakfast Mommy made pancakes for the family. She said they got a little "burnt" but I think this one looks like Mr. Sun."

"Daddy took us to a parade, but when we got there he said we were too late."


"When we got home, we watched our big brother use his computer. He uses it a lot."


"Mommy says the photo is blurry because she was in a hurry. Mommy is always in a hurry."




"Daddy says the best part of a staycation is that you stay close to home, and you don't have to buy much gasoline. He said his van uses a lot of gas."
































"Mommy says she might take us with her tomorrow when she has to work."




"What's work Rigby?"





"I dunno, Linus."

Staycationing with The Brothers Furr

Time to share some pictures from our staycation.

We landed safely in the front yard after an almost turbulence-free flight.



Look who greeted us on the tarmac!

It was lovely getting to know a celebrity. He's quite charming.







Libby, the neighbor's cat, must have heard the plane engine. She ran across the street to greet us, almost knocking over one of our garden gnomes with her enthusiasm.


Once we got inside, we had to accompany The Brothers Furr at the slider to look at the birds and squirrels frolicking on the patio.
















Water sports?

Well, Rigby found some water to play in.



To really enjoy your staycation, it helps to have a good imagination. He certainly has one of those.

After the water fun, Rigby went into the living room to mix it up with Linus.

After that we had a snack. Gold cake with toasted coconut frosting. The cats even shared a piece, since it was a holiday of sorts.


After playing and snacking and plane-riding, it was time for a rest.

A catnap, you might say.




I hope you enjoyed reading about Day 1 of our staycation.
I know I enjoyed writing about it!





To be continued ...

Creative photograph

Our son, Kid Two, was born the day after Thanksgiving in 1990. Since then his birthday has fallen on turkey day three times.
This was taken in 2006, his 16th birthday.
Now it's my entry into Roger's Creative Photography contest #6.

I took a cue from other contestants and played around with the photo this week. Does that make me a copy cat? Or just a turkey?