100 Day Project 2021

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Scavenger Hunt Sunday ~ June 30, 2013

 
Well, here we are...the last day of June and moving into the hottest months of the year.  I'm already hot and miserable and I'm certainly not looking forward to the next two months. I make myself get outside early every morning, work in the yard a little, or take some pictures. Mr. H says I need to stay accustomed to the heat and it will be better, but, so far, that's not working for me! I do my time and hurry into the air-conditioning! 
 
I did stay outside this week long enough to scavenge around for this week prompts! Which are:
tools
motion
sweet
dots
strips
 
 
tools
Garden tools...I'm not using them very much, but I have them if I need them!
 
 
motion
I made a little motion with my hostas by twisting the camera as I snapped the shutter button.
 
 
sweet
Aren't these sweet little mushrooms? They're very tiny, maybe  1/2" tall.
 
 
dots
This guy has lots of orange dots on his head and neck.


stripes
What can I say? It's a striped feather.
 
That's it for this week!
I hope you enjoy your summer days!
Me, I'm staying inside as much as possible!
 

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Natural Texture



You know I don't use textures very often, but I couldn't resist sharing this one. Just as the title says, it's a natural texture. Here are the steps I followed to achieve this warm, vintage look...
  • waited for evening light
  • took camera from the air-conditioned house outside into oppressive heat and humidity
  • lens fogged over
  • cleaned lens
  • lens fogged over
  • cleaned lens
  • lens fogged over
  • just focused and clicked
  • tah-dah...natural texture!
Both of these images are straight out of the camera. I did nothing but add a frame!
 
 
I didn't know high humidity could make me so happy!

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Splashes of Glass

Surprise!!
I'm actually blogging today and it's not for a class or prompts!  I finally have something to blog about and some halfway decent pictures to add!
 
 
I want to share  a few pictures I took recently! Maybe I should reword that, I want to share quite a few pictures. My sister and I visited the beautiful, botanical Garven Gardens in Hot Springs, AR. We only intended to stay a couple of hours, but, wound up staying all day and taking hundreds of pictures!  The garden was sparkling with the unique art glass creations of James Hayes.  Mr. Hayes,  from Pine Bluff AR, created about 225 pieces of multi-colored art glass that are exhibited throughout the garden. The glass depicts flowers, onions, mushrooms and vines, as well as some of his traditional bowls and chandeliers.  It wasn't easy to get good pictures of the glass. It was too sunny, you couldn't get close to most of them, and the backgrounds were usually very busy with plants and trees.
 
 
One of his chandeliers was hanging under the Full Moon Bridge.
 

Glass balls were floating in the Koi Pond and vases were sitting on the rocks.
 
 
I was a little disappointed in the pond. I wanted it to be fresh and clear where I could get some good reflections of the balls. I had forgotten the pond is not clear, in fact it's quite muddy. The water for the ponds and for watering the garden is pumped out of Lake Hamilton. As you know, lake water can be very muddy!
 


Also, the pond was filled with Koi fish that kept the waters churned up!
 
 

We were constantly on the look out for the glass. We would round a corner and there would be spirals of glass hanging from tree branches or...
 

sticking up from the ground.
 
 
We got in every position you could image to get pictures. There was a lot of stooping, squatting, looking up, and looking down!  No wonder we were a little sore the next day!
 

You probably know I love mushrooms, so I was in mushroom heaven when I spotted glass ones. I'm not going to tell you how many pictures I took of the mushrooms!  Way too many!  But, they were so cute!
 

How about some glass onions hanging from the roof of a pergola?
 

In the middle of the park is a large pavilion. Hanging from it's glass ceiling was this stunning chandelier. I'm no good at guessing, but it's probably five to six feet tall.  Since the roof of the gazebo is glass, it allows light to shine on the chandelier and...
 

create cool shadows on the floor.
 
 
Speaking of the floor. My sister and I both managed to get down and lay on the floor and look up.  We got down better than we got up!  That took a lot of shuffling, grunting, and laughing! It was worth it though! The view of the chandelier from below was breathtaking.
 
 
We had such a great time together! Oh, before I go, let me show you what we had for lunch from the Chipmunk CafĂ© in the park. 
Doesn't this look delicious?  It's grilled chicken with romaine & iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, and avocado; topped with bacon & parmesan peppercorn dressing and served in a spinach wrap. YUMMY!!
 
Thank you for being patient we me, while I'm struggling with my photography and not blogging much. It is getting better!  I've been spending a little time outside each day, seeking light, and I'm even keeping a few pictures! That's an improvement!
 
I so enjoy when you stop by to visit me!
Enjoy the rest of your week!

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Scavenger Hunt Sunday ~ June 23, 2013


 
I've enjoyed the prompts the last few weeks.
They've been challenging,
but that's exactly what I've been needing!
 
The prompts for this week were:
fun
arts and crafts
messy
blessing
effort
 
 
fun
I have a really hard time sitting still.  My hands need to be busy, so when I go on a trip with Mr. H, I have fun shooting out the car window.
 
 
 
arts and crafts
The art and craft of growing bonsai trees fascinates me.



messy
I love mimosa trees they bring back childhood memories, but they can also be very messy when all those pretty pink blooms fall to the ground. At least that's what my Mom always said as she was raking them up!
 
 
 
blessing
The unexpected rain was a double blessing yesterday. It gave the lawn a much needed watering, but when the sun popped out it sparkled.

 
 
effort
It must be quite an effort for these mushrooms to push through the hard, rocky soil.
 
 
I hope you make an effort to enjoy your week.
Do some arts and crafts.
Have fun, get a little messy.
One more thing, don't forget to count your blessings.

Friday, June 21, 2013

Create Today...


As many of you know, my camera and I have been on a little hiatus. Oh, I'm still taking pictures. I'm working on a photo project called "The Year I Was 60". I am now 60! Wow! I also spent a wonderful day with my sister at a beautiful garden where I took tons of pictures. I will post about that next week. Anyway, since I've spent less time outside with my camera and more time inside, I decided to be creative in a different way.
 
My first project was a mini album with pictures from my favorite place, the woods behind our house. I scrapbook, but this was my first mini album. I blogged about this already, but if you missed it and would like to see the rest of the pages, you can go here.
 


I've been wanting to play with paper and glue and create a collage. I flipped through some magazines, cutting out words and pictures. First I made a small postcard to hang in my craft room. Just a little something I could glance at and remind me to take the time to create.



Well, that was so much fun, I dug out a sketchbook I've had for a very long time. A sketch book that had no sketches in it. In fact, every page was still blank. It's not blank any more! My first page is about me and my love of nature. I included one of my photographs, stickers, embellishments, and stamped the butterfly.



Here's what I wrote:

I am inclined to
    capture moments
I look eagerly at my
    surroundings
Nature whispers to me
It brings infinite peace
I listen
I hear...
    the birds clearly singing
    the wind rushing by
I am on a journey of
    wonder and discovery
I write
I photograph
In my heart...
I know I am an artist
 
 
 
The second page I created was  about spring. I went through some old gardening magazines and found many spring pictures.

 
 
You may have noticed that there are several postage stamps on both pages. I have collected stamps since I was a child. I don't collect them for their value, they're not organized or in books. I collect them because I think they're pretty!
 
 
This was such fun!
Cutting out pictures and
gluing them down made me
fell like a child again!
 
 
I'm linking this to
a challenge by Brenda to try something new each month.

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Scavenger Hunt Sunday ~ June 16, 2013

Another week!
Another hunt!
My, how time flies!
 
This weeks prompts were:
summer
dance
laughter
helper
water
 
Some of these were very challenging! I  needed to have my grandchildren around to help me with them, especially dance, laughter, and helper!  Mr. H could have been my helper and danced around until I was filled with laughter, but that's was not happening; model for me he does not do! Therefore, I had to once again stretch my imagination and I did go to my archives for the helper image.
 
 
summer
To me summer begins when the hydrangeas bloom.
 
 
dance
Have you every watched a peacock dance?
This fine looking fellow was trying to impress a female
by dancing with his feathers fanned out.
He also did  a lot of tail shaking.
 
 
laughter
I thought I heard some laughter in the woods!
 
 
helper
A big brother is a best friend, a buddy, and a great helper.
 
 
water
Water in my favorite form...droplets.
 
 
 I hope you all have a wonderful Father's Day.


This is my dad. He's in his 80's and suffers from Alzheimer's. We are so blessed that even though he may not remember where he went yesterday or what he ate, he still remembers us. My dad is happy. He doesn't smile as much as he used to, but he is content. Happy Father's Day, Dad! 

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Scavenger Hunt Sunday ~ June 9, 2013


This week has passed so very fast.
It's hard to believe it's time for Scavenger Hunt Sunday again with Ashley Sisk!
 
The prompts were challenging for me.
They were:
dishes
favorite color
sunflare
expression
sticky

 
dishes
I love the leaf print on these pottery dishes.
These beautiful dishes were made by an Arkansas artist.


favorite color
Favorite color? Sky blue!


sunflare
The color of light, isn't it amazing?


 
 expression
This was a tough one for me. With no one around that wants to have their picture taken for a facial expression, I had to get creative. A piece of art is an expression of the artist and the lion has a very serious expression. I wouldn't want to be the one his eyes are set on. You can't tell from this picture, but there are rows of small beads outlining the different colors in his mane. (disclaimer: not my quilt, but I sure wish it were!)

 
sticky
Gumballs aren't too bad sticky, unless your walking barefoot in the grass!
 
That's it for this week.
Thanks so much for stopping by!