Creative Photo #14 - Week 3

Don't you just love it when a possible Creative Photography entry seems to just fall out of the sky? Or in my case, pulls into the driveway?
That's what happened to moi the other day when I went out to greet Ralph when he got home.

It takes him a while to get from the driver's seat into the wheelchair, strap on his seat belt, get onto the lift and lower himself and said chair onto the driveway.
In that space of time we often have our most interesting conversations. (Don't we Ralph?)

As I was standing there, this beautiful reflection in the van windows of sun-dappled foliage hit me in the face. I ran for the camera.
And here it is, my entry into Roger's contest this week.
To take part or to see more entries into the competition, visit him at Idaho Photo.
And for extra bonus points, try to find something in the photo that I didn't even notice at first!
Good luck.

Not spooky v. spooky ~ Part 4

Not spooky: A winsome Rigby watching as Ralph gets out of the van.

Awww...look at that little baby face.
















Spooky: Two cats waiting for Halloween.

Not spooky v. spooky ~ Part 3

More photos to get into the Halloween spirit.

Not spooky. A Teddy bear wearing a wizard's costume.


Spooky. The moon through some branches.

Roger of Idaho Photo inspired me to take a picture of the moon.
Check out his photo of the full moon. It's awe-inspiring.

Not the time to forget your camera

I took a hike Sunday afternoon.
The weather was absolutely perfect: blue skies, sunny and warm, but not too warm.
The company - several co-workers who got together off the playing field - was a lot of fun.
And the foliage was spectacular. Gorgeous fall colors at every turn as we climbed 1.6 miles up the mountain known as Sleeping Giant, in a state park in Hamden, Ct.
We took the Tower Trail, the easiest of several trails, thank goodness. At the top is the tower, or "castle," that affords a beautiful view of Greater New Haven.


The only problem was I accidentally left my camera at home.
I hate when that happens.

Here's a photo from the Sleeping Giant Park Association's site. It gives you an idea of what this old giant is all about.

Ralph was there too. He started up the trail, where it was a gravel path, but his six-wheeler couldn't get too far.
He waited almost two hours for us to return. He people watched, but didn't even break into the picnic lunch I had packed! Of course I felt bad when I found out he hadn't eaten. I didn't realize the walk would take that long.

I plan to get back there at some point. Let's hope I remember my camera.

Not spooky v. spooky ~ Part 2

OK, I've got some more.

Not spooky: Friendly scarecrow. Even though I took the photo outside at night, it's not scary.
Spooky: Yeah, this one is. And I also took it outside, at night. Could you tell?









Not spooky: Jack O'Lantern sitting on a railing. Notice semi-spooky orange light coming from neighbor's yard.









Spooky: "Apparition" snapping photo of Paris from atop the Eiffel Tower. Is it me? Or is it my daughter? I really don't remember.

That's all for now.

* Ruby Tuesday *

A bit of red and a Halloween theme...


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

Creative Photography #14-2

This is my rock collection.

Every time one falls out of my head, I put it in this box. I've been collecting rocks for quite a while.

To join Creative Photography, visit Roger at Idaho Photo.
It's fun to share and to visit other people to see what they have entered in the contest.

Unveiling a new feature: not spooky v. spooky

Neighbor's cat Libby visiting me today:

Not spooky.
But here, Spooky.My cute garden flag:
Not spooky.

Photo of our cat Rigby reclining: Spooky.


Jack o' Lantern in the front window a few Halloweens ago: Not spooky.


Creepy-looking guy sitting in our living room on Halloween night in 2004:

Spooky.Patti losing marbles ... Scary, maybe, but at least I'm amusing myself.

'Rigbert of the Opera'

Rigby was looking out the front door at me ("Are you coming back in the house, Mommy?") when I took this picture. To me he looks like he is wearing a 'Phantom of the Opera' mask. Maybe that's just me.

Below I gave the photo some contrast. Spooky? Not really.


Now this last photo. That's spooky.

As you can see, I am gearing up for all things Halloween. I may even share some spooky jokes and Halloween riddles. Woo-hoo!

I went ba-a-a-ack

Fall foliage, again!I returned to the reservoir for another photo shoot. This time it was almost noon, and the sun was shining. I like the top photo because I inadvertently caught a falling leaf in the picture. Can you spot it?

That's all for now. Or should I say, that's fall for now.
Ha ha

Reservoir reverie

I returned to the reservoir this morning, but couldn't get the same angle as the shot I posted yesterday, because I would have been shooting into the sun. I hate when that happens.
Instead I took this photo while I was there. I love reflection shots.
I'll try to get back there at 12:15, which is the time of day I took this photo.

Have a good Friday! I'm trying. ;-)

Keeping it simple; some might say hiding

In this vitriolic atmosphere leading up to the election, I've decided that rather than be confrontational, which I'm not anyway, I'll just take the safe route.
For the time being, I'm going to simply take photographs, post them on my blog and stay away from all things political, with the exception of creating a peace globe and flying it during Mimi's BlogBlast for Peace coming up on Nov. 6.
Actually I hope that is not really seen as a political exercise. We all want peace, don't we?

I have been enjoying taking part in Ruby Tuesday and Creative Photography. My thanks to Mary, The Teach, and Roger at Idaho Photo, for the opportunity to have fun and share some pictures.

As you may have read between the lines, I'm not happy with some of what I have seen around the blogosphere lately. Neither is Ralph, a.k.a. Airhead 55. We've discussed it, and really are trying to figure out what to do.

We both hope that if we say anything on our blogs, we won't lose any friends because of it.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Yesterday I snapped this photo at a reservoir about a mile from our house. I thought I would assign myself to take a photo of this scene every other day or so, to chronicle the changing colors of the trees.
Let's see how well I follow my own directions.

Surrounded by berries

Today's photo shoot focused on berries growing on bushes in the other side yard. (See today's previous scintillating post about yesterday's photo shoot).
They're yellow, not purple. Guess they are all weeds of some sort.

I'm confused. And surrounded.

Berry pretty ~ at least I think so!

I was fascinated yesterday with these berries growing from weeds in our side yard. I took some photos, hoping to get a short but sweet blog post out of them.
I have no idea what kind of berries they are, but I wasn't about to taste them either.

~ Ruby Tuesday ~

Today during my "lunch hour," in quotes because I work from home, I took a ride to our local state park to see how the fall foliage was coming along.

It wasn't. Most of the leaves on the trees were still green.
As I was leaving, someone drove into the park in a bright red Ford pickup. I tried to capture it as it passed by me, but the camera wasn't cooperating.
Here is what I got:

This is my Ruby Tuesday entry.
To join the fun and see lots of photos containing a little or a lot of red, visit Mary, The Teach.

Creative Photography #14-1

Last Wednesday afternoon, Linus, one of our two felines, alerted me to look up at the front window screen and this is what I saw clinging to it. I grabbed my trusty Canon PowerShot A550 and took some photos from inside, but they were too dark.
I went out and took several more as he walked up the leaves of this plant in front of the window. (can't remember the name of the plant at the moment).
I liked this one the best. All I did to it was increase the contrast a tad. It looks like a praying mantis to me, but it's brown. I thought they were green.

It's my entry in Roger's Creative Photography contest this week.
Visit him at Idaho Photo and join the fun!

First fall foliage and festival fun

I haven't posted in a few days. Life can get in the way of blogging, as we all know.
Yesterday we went to our city's Harvest Festival on Main Street. On the way I stopped the car and took a picture of this old tree, which has just started to change color. Lots of green leaves left. Too bad about the wires.

The festival was a lot of old-fashioned fun, and the best part of it is that a friend of ours is the chairwoman of the event. She has been in charge of it since its inception five years ago, and now seems to have it down to a science. She makes organizing a street fest look easy!
The weather turned out to be beautiful and sunny, after a really chilly morning.
After we parked I photographed some dramatic clouds.





I never said this post was going to be exciting.





But it will give you a glimpse into our day. Keep scrolling.





There is always a pumpkin-carving contest for the school kids. They make their creations at home then bring them to the judging and put them on display in the park next to City Hall. A storyteller was on hand to spin spooky tales for the young'uns.























I took the picture below of the scene on Upper Main Street because of the historic aspect of the towering 19th century building on the left. It's the oldest opera house in Connecticut, and our newspaper's satellite office used to be housed in one of the storefronts. In other words, I feel a connection to the grand old edifice.

There were goats, and ponies, and scarecrows, and even Ralph, a.k.a. Airhead 55 ...

He actually took some artsy shots which he will share this week for Ruby Tuesday and Creative Photography.
I just kinda snapped away, and didn't seek out any artistic angles.










Would you buy furniture from these guys? ^ Me neither.

Yes, in the picture below we have an abandoned factory building. I wish it would be torn down, as do many other people I'm sure. It's across the street from the opera house.

Well, it's a street festival, not a country fair. And we do what we can to celebrate fall!

Recognizing a true hero

Last week a soldier from our area, a 26-year old Army 1st lieutenant, was killed in combat in Iraq.
I've written two short stories for the paper about this tragedy, and am dreading covering the funeral tomorrow. I will just sit quietly in the back of the church and take notes.

Tomorrow morning veterans and emergency personnel will salute as the funeral procession travels to the church in a neighboring town.

I don't want my readers to think that I think this is about me at all. I am simply trying to post a tribute to this fine young man, a true hero. You can read about him here, and here.

He will be buried in December in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. My condolences to his family.