Mother Nature's Ballet....

Well October is almost over and I haven't added a post yet so here goes. Signs of autumn are all around, leaves turning bright colors and floating down off of the trees. Breezy days with dancing leaves, performing nature's ballet. Cooler days and colder nights, harvest time is blessing us with all kinds of goodies. Apples of all varieties, cider and pumkins to make pies and jack o' lanterns from. Leaves to rake. I've raked the whole yard only to have to do it again this weekend. The changing seasons keep us ever mindful that there is a time for everything, for every season under heaven......

Remembering September 11, 2001

IN MEMORIAM of all who perished on September 11, 2001.
This is a poem I wrote on that infamous day - my way of coping and trying to making sense out of the senseless horrors and inhumanity to man that occurred. Even though September 11, was 6 days ago, almost a week is not too long to be mindful, although I doubt any one who was old enough to remember will ever forget.

I AM
I have many Names
I have many Faces
I Am The All That Is
I Am The Great I Am
I Am The Alpha and The Omega
I Am your Almighty Father
I Am your Nurturing Mother
I Am the Source of All That Is
I Am the Great Spirit
I Am your Higher Power
I Am Universal Energy
I Am The Great Light
I Am Wisdom
I Am Love
I Am Your God
I Am your neighbor's God
I Am your friend's God
I Am your enemy's God
I Am your country's God
I Am their country's God
I Am the God of the Christians
I Am the God of the Jews
I Am the God of the Hindus
I Am the God of the Buddhists
I Am the God of the Muslims
I Am the God of the Gnostics
I Am the God of the Pagans
I Am the God of the Agnostics
I Am the God of the Atheists
I Am the God of all people of all colors
I Am the God of those you deem to be worthy
I Am the God of those you call unworthy
I Am the God of those who have
I Am the God of those who have not
I have many Names
I have many Faces

Terri Harper
God gave me the words, I just wrote them down.
While trying to make sense of this American Tragedy.
September 11, 2001

A Sign Of Hope

I can't believe it has been a little over two months since I wrote on my blog. Where did the time go? I've been wanting to post this picture since I took it right after a very severe June 25th thunderstorm that had the trees almost bending over to touch the ground and some extremely heavy rain that left some flooding and power outages (including my power) around the Cleveland area. This beautiful rainbow was a sign of hope and relief! It was surreal to see the trees wrapped with the golden glow of the last of the setting sun and you could almost feel the dissipating charges of electricity in the air, still hanging around from all of the lightening.

Puddles and a self portrait.....

Last Saturday I was out in the yard walking around to see if the grass was too wet to cut, which of course it was. I was fascinated with the reflections of the top of my neighbor's house and the clouds in the puddles of water from the rainfall we had earlier. My default inclination is to grab my camera and start shooting, so that's what I did. I came up with some surreal and interesting images which I will probably use in a photomontage or digital painting. I like to take self portraits of shadows of myself or reflections of myself in mirrors or any other reflective surface. As I was taking pictures of different angles, I was very careful not to get my reflection in any of the shots. As I was just about finished and looking for any angles that I might have missed in the viewfinder, there was a really neat composition with my reflection in it and I thought this would make a good self portrait, so I captured it. Here is my newest self portrait.

Yardwork and spring

Well as far as I'm concerned, it is official, nice spring weather is here to stay. WHY? Because I cut my grass for the first time last Saturday the 25th of April. OMG that is 7 whole days ago. Lo and behold, I have to do it again today or tomorrow, it is growing really fast. The next day I went out to do some more yardwork, I was already sore from mowing the day before because my mower's self propelling feature is broke. I promised myself that after I did some yardwork I would take some pictures. Yardwork can be a ZEN experience and I don't dislike doing it but I didn't really feel like doing it that day because I was sore and I couldn't wait to take pictures because that is more fun. There are all kinds of neat buds, blossoms, and flowers springing up around the yard. Anyway, here is one of the pictures I took of a white and yellow daffodil. The backlight was perfect and the low angle really gave it the look I was trying to capture. SUCCESS!!!

Feeding Squirrels

A great way to get close enough to squirrels to capture good shots of them is to feed them peanuts in the shell. It gives you plenty of time to observe them and as they realize that you want to keep feeding them and not hurt them, they will 'pose' for you and maybe even eat out of your hand. If you are a photographer and/or an animal lover, this is great fun!
I came across this neat 'squirrel' video, it's about 5 minutes long.....

Check out this mama squirrel teaching her baby how to climb a wall......

Give A Squirrel A Helping Hand @ Yahoo! Video

Hopeful...Spring weather is coming.....

Well I've been trying to update my blog with a new post for several weeks. Just couldn't seem to get it together. Well here I am with a new post on this official first day of Spring. We had a few nice days, what a welcome thing! Tuesday, St. Patrick's Day felt more like a real spring day than today. Even though it is colder today, I noticed some buds on my lilac bush and on a tree in my yard and lots of new shoots coming up. I didn't feel like taking a picture, (I know that is so unlike me) but looking through my archives I found this awesome picture I took of my grandson looking at flowers, in front of the Rock Hall, at the end of summer in 2007. It is a happy, pretty picture and to me is HOPE of beautiful new life that is already starting to grow! Hope you enjoy as much as me!

Who Is Watching You?

You Never Know.



...and YES - this was a real live owl, at a sportsman show in Toronto.

HOWEVER - my DREAM photo of an owl, will be one in its natural habitat!

Dreaming of Summer

On this cold January day, I can't seem to get warm, especially my feet. The room where my computer is, is very drafty. The cold air pours in and my feet are like ice cubes. I've tried several remedies, including extra socks, boots, plastic bags, blankets, space heaters, you name it. A friend told me to get a pair of Uggs (made in Australia) and lined with sheepskin. You are supposed to wear them without socks. They are very expensive, I am going to buy a pair when I have some extra money. By the time I have the money, it will probably be summer...rofl!
We even weather stripped around the door last year. The house is old and the frosty air still sneaks in, it's almost as if it is an entity and has a mind of its own. SO - I am dreaming of summer, sunny beaches, warm breezy air, the sound of seagulls and waves rolling in, and walking in the warm sand barefoot, looking for seashells, beach glass and whatever other treasure might be there for the taking. This picture, although it is a still life in a studio setting, helps me to conjure up those memories. Hopefully it will help you too.

Shoveling snow and stray cats.

Well I shoveled a lot of snow yesterday and today, and I'm really sore. I was too tired and too cold to take pictures so I came inside to get warm and take a rest. When I got my energy back it was too dark. So no snow pictures this time around. I was looking through my files of snow pictures from last year to post, but nothing struck my fancy. Then I remembered when we had our first snow in December of 2007, about 2 weeks before Christmas, Miss Kitty was out in the snow. She was acting bewildered and I got the feeling she never saw snow before. So of course I took some pictures of her trying to hide from the snow, she peaked her head out of her hiding place and I captured this one. She was a stray that just appeared out of nowhere one day three months earlier. She wasn't afraid of me and kept coming around whenever I went out to the front of the house. I ignored her for a few days and then I couldn't help myself, I started talking to her, petting her and feeding her. I didn't want the cost and responsibility of another animal, and I already had and still have a dog. So I took some really good pictures of her, (not the one shown here), and made a little 'found cat' flier and hung it up at several places, but no one ever claimed her. I called every animal shelter in the area and surrounding areas, no one was taking cats because they were overflowing with strays. So we ended up keeping her. She is at my boyfriend's house with his cat. He didn't want another animal either. BTW - both cats tolerate Faith, my dog, and I think they are even starting to like her a little, she's always trying to check them out, and of course gets really jealous when I pay attention to them instead of her.

Happy New Year!

Words.....