FULL MOON ON SATURDAY

It was Saturday, February 27, 2010


After supper, I stepped outside and saw something which astonished and astounded me and nearly knocked me to my knees from the sheer beauty of it!

The moon was full and she was wearing a red and gold embroidered shawl. 

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

Of course, I grabbed my camera and once more longed for one which would take better quality pictures. I knew, from previous experiences during manic mood madness that there was no way I could capture what my eyes were seeing with my point and shoot camera. As much as I love and appreciate it, my camera definitely has its limitations.

Nevertheless, I pointed and shot!

And look what I got!!!! Granted, these pictures are not true representatives of what I was seeing with my human eyes. But I bet you can get an idea from them that it was one magnificent sight to see!

Besides, the pictures are just flat cool, aren't they?

I played around with some editing on this one.  That's a palm tree on the left.  Actually the red and gold clouds actually did look very much like this.

I didn't play around any with this one.

Remember what I've said....take a chance...take a picture even if you're pretty sure it won't turn out...what've you got to lose? You might wind up with something really interesting and fun!

****************

Yes, I've been painting but I must admit I've sort of fallen off the wagon as far as the timed painting exercise in concerned.  The last two I've attempted have turned into regular paintings. One, was of the lady selling flowers at Barrio Del Mundo in San Diego.  Another was from a photo of my first born when  he was about 4 or 5 playing in a stream in Northern New Mexico.  I am calling this one.....

"INTREPID EXPLORER"

9 x 12 acrylic on canvas

And finally, my new artist friend and I didn't get to meet on Sunday.  It was pouring down a torrential cold rain and besides, she had come down with a sore throat and considerately chose not to share it with me. 

I am grateful for her good sense!

DAILY PAINTING 2.10.2010

I chose my next picture for my daily timed painting. It took a while. I want the picture to be fairly simple…but with some striking features.

I took this photo many years ago on a trip back east with hubby in his 18- wheeler. This is, I think, either Pennsylvania or New York. It was in the autumn. Being a desert rat, I had never seen such incredible fall color in such amazing abundance! Three times, that day, I flat-out busted into tears…I kid you not!

I like the overall softness. I will ignore that distant silo and the other buildings. I intend to make that bright green field...the one way back there... stand out a little more. So, I cropped it way down.

I’m going to have to be very careful not to get carried away with the colors of all the foliage on the background hills.  This was actually a very overcast day and the colors should all be quite muted.

By the way, this was taken with my old RCA digital camera which was NOT the best digital camera ever made. But it was one of the very first and I am grateful I had it.

Oh…now, I am remembering the ‘olden’ days.

I could take about 12 pictures with that thing and then I had to upload the pictures to the computer. It would eat up batteries like I eat up..well…nearly anything that is set before me. We had an inverter in the truck. An inverter is a thing that plugs into the cigarette lighter and gives you a place to then plug in an electric appliance or gadget…such as a digital camera. We’d be traveling down the highways and by-ways and I’d be on the bunk with Chuck’s laptop and my dinosaur of a camera uploading pictures as fast as I could. It wasn’t fast. It was painstakingly slow! My! How things have changed! Remembering all this is making me even more grateful for my little Kodak!

But I digress………

Then, I printed it. My print is of very poor quality, due to the camera’s capabilities…or lack thereof….and  probably something else, technological, that I don’t know how to fix.

But, that’s ok. It is only a reference. I can always look at the monitor and see it, so all will be well. I think. I hope.

Also, blurry just might be a good thing. I have to have glasses to read, but never wear them when I paint. You need to squint a lot when you’re painting, so I just ditch the glasses to begin with.

Why do you need to squint when you paint?

Because squinting helps you edit out all the extraneous junk. It helps you see the most important stuff…like shapes and values.

For more about squinting:

http://clicks.robertgenn.com/praise-squint.php

Enough of the talk. It’s time to paint!

****************

I had to take some artistic license in this one. The green field is the reason for this painting. In the photo, it’s too small. So, I made it bigger.

After all, I AM the creator of my world! ;)

I really like this one. I might spend a little more time on it and see if I can make some improvements on it.

Or......
I might just do it all over tomorrow.

I'm grateful that I get to play with paint every day if I want to!

P.S.  Today is our wedding anniversary.  Only thing is, we don't remember how many years it's been....around 17, we think.  If I hadn't married him, I probably never would have started painting.  Am I grateful for him, or what?  That's not the only reason, but it's a big one!

PHOTO PHUN

Have I mentioned I love my Kodak digital camera?


Oh. I have?



Of course, I love to capture beautiful scenic views ....

.....and pretty flowers in my garden.

But one of the most fun things is to get strange, abstract, or just plain weird pictures….sometimes on purpose…more often by sheer accident.

Here’s some examples with some explanations…if there should be one.

I have absolutely no clue how this happened.  All I know, is I took it during our recent drive up Mt. Lemmon and I snapped it out the window of our moving vehicle.  There is something about it that I really like...so...I kept it. I think the unexplainable (by me anyway) blackness on either side makes it very dramatic and really pops the chartreuse of the tree.

Here's another one I got as we were driving along. 

I couldn't have planned this to turn out any better, I don't think.

 On that same trip, I tried this....I shot almost directly into the sun on  a very windy, dusty day....I assume that might be a real no-no, but I like this one, too.

The sky offers infinite possibilites for very interesting shots.

It would have been fun if there had been a few birds sitting on those wires...but you can't have everything.

But check this out!

I was simply taking a picture of a pretty cloud....and look what I found when I uploaded it!

Look close...do you see him?  Is it Abraham Lincoln...or, OMG!  Is it?  Could it be?

I know exactly what happened with this next one.

I was adjusting something on my camera and accidentally took this picture of my shadow on the flagstone walk.

Call me weird, but I find this headless shadow very interesting.

I bet this one will surprise you.  After my recent kitchen cleaning spree, I had removed the cover of my under- the -sink flourescent light.  I didn't put it back on.  The next morning, at dark-thirty,  when I walked into the kitchen, I was blown away by what I saw and grabbed my camera PRONTO!

Actually, that

is this.....

but taken in a completely different light situation. Oh, and in the first picture, I had temporarily placed a vintage cheese grater in the window.  That's the bigger 'chunk' of light on the left.  The whole thing looks pretty much like a night time cityscape, don't you think?

Another really cool 'lights' picture I posted on my carwash story.

This one I took through the drenched windshield.  I so love this!

And another one I took while stuck in the carwash was this one.

SPLISH-SPLASH!

I take lots of ordinary pictures, too.

Like this one.

There were actually, at least six gold finches in this fountain at the same time on this particular morning.  And it was really cold!  How do they stand it?

I like rocks.  And I like to take real close up  pictures of them sometimes.

Can you find any faces in this one?

Arizona rocks are so colorful!

I always keep my eyes peeled for those Arizona Chamber of Commerce skies.

Like this recent sunrise.

and this recent sunset.

I love this shot of the moon.  I have learned that getting a decent picture of the moon ain't so easy with my little point 'n' shoot....but I just keep trying anyway!

On one of my De Grazia Gallery visits, I snapped this picture of shadows on the wall

made by this

Next time you're taking pictures, take some chances.  Get closer than you usually do.  Forget about where the sun should be.  Look up.  Look down. Look all around. Look for the unexpected.  And enjoy those surprises!

I remain extrememly GRATEFUL for my digital camera.

WISH YOU WERE HERE

There are two things which most people wouldn’t consider a necessity, but I do. One is, as you might guess, my beloved Kodak Easy Share, point and shoot digital camera.


The other is this.

This is a chimenea. It’s made of clay. It’s a ‘thing’ in which to have a fire. Lots of people have them out this-a-way. And I believe their popularity has spread to other parts of the country. For good reason.

Tell me, what meets our primal instincts better than fire? It means warmth and safety and a way to cook up some vittles. That’s not a bad start. But to me, it also means total relaxation. It means memories of many friends and family who have sat with me in this very spot…sometimes till way up in the wee hours. The talks. The silence. Both were precious.

This poor chimenea had a run-in with a visiting 2 year old. When nobody was looking, he filled it with water from the garden hose. I, unthinkingly, did not remove the sand from its’ bottom…the result is the disintegration you see clearly. Sand in your bottom is NEVER a good thing.

Also, it’s cracked. And it has age spots. Like me. It still works, though, also like me. And probably will for another 10 years or so. I hope I do, too.

It provides warmth and relaxation….and is an inspiration for silent meditation or long, meaningful talks. And it gives off my most favorite perfume in the whole world.....cedar or juniper wood smoke!

It’s been know to roast a marshmallow or two…more like a hundred.

Last year, hubby and I built this permanent‘stand’ for the chimenea. It had been loose-stacked for several years and I was tired of it getting all ‘whomper-jawed.’ That was my mom’s term for anything that was out of whack. Feel free to borrow it, if you like.

So, I decided to make a permanent place for my beloved chimenea. It was necessary to have it raised up enough so that I wouldn’t get a crick in my neck from staring into the fire.

It HAD to have a ‘hearth’ to prop my feet on. And shelves for a cup of coffee or a glass of wine. It didn’t have to be level. And, it isn’t.

It is built mostly from a neighbor’s discarded stones from a huge barbeque pit. Once again, my gift for scrounging paid off!

We had a little help from Codi, our cat.

This might be my very favorite picture of myself, taken while we were working on this project. 
I know......you've seen it before....and you just might see it again!

Yep! That’s me, in all my messy glory! Concrete and mud all over my torn up, worn out, memory- remembering cut off shorts and my Mickey Mouse shirt.

I’ve worn those shorts on lots of ‘special’ days…including that ‘memorable’ Thanksgiving I recently wrote about. Can you say underdressed?

One night recently, I built a fire in that chimenea. And as I sat by it, I watched the fire.  And I watched the sky. Father Sky was pretty much a tease that night. I kept thinking that he would put on a real show. It didn’t happen. But, still……….
This……….

and this………..

plus this………….

and this....

To say nothing of this.

Well, it doesn’t get any better. And I wish you were here, my good friends, my sons, my grandkids, my cousins, my aunts and my uncles, my neice and my nephew….and just everybody that I love and am Grateful to have in my life.

I truly believe that if everybody would just sit in front of a glowing fire a little more often, the world would be a better place.

I am so very, very GRATEFUL for my chimenea!

Goin' To The Mountain Top

Most people would be very surprised to learn that Tucson is virtually surrounded by mountains. When you fist move here, that’s how you get your bearings. You have to learn the following:

Santa Catalina Mountains=North
Santa Rita Mountains=South
Rincon Mountains=East
Tucson Mountains=West


http://www.visittucson.org/visitor/about/geography/

Yesterday, we went north into the Santa Catalinas. Most people here just call them the Catalinas. What most people don’t know is that those are MY mountains! Yes, my very, very own. But I share them with everybody else. ‘Cause I’m such a loving, kind and generous human bean.

Now, I’m going to share them with you.

First, a little dry data.

The elevation of Tucson is right around 3000 feet.
Where we’re headed, to Mt. Lemmon, way up in the Catalinas, is about 9000 feet. We will travel through 8 different ecological zones by the time we arrive at the Mt. Lemmon ski lodge. That’s right. I said ‘ski lodge.’ The southernmost ski lodge in the entire country is right up there on MY mountains! How cool is that!!!!

Got your seat belt fastened? Here we go.

This is where we begin. Hmmmmm. Doesn’t look real inviting or ‘mountain-y’, does it?

Just you wait!

This is a dead century plant. I told you about those in a previous blog entry. This one is probably about 15 feet tall. Yep, we’re still in a desert area…but not for long!


It still looks quite dry and barren and desert like but this gives us hope for what's to come.

I love all the craggy cliffs....
Last time we drove up here, I saw a man about half way up-or down-this cliff. It scared me just to see him looking all like Spider Man. I sure hope it made it back up-or down-safely!

And I love these weird looking rock formations...

They’re called hoodads! I just love that word!

HOODAD!!!

I took lots of pictures of HOODADS....I'll probably show you more another time.

Do you see the highway we just came up???? Yeh...at times it's kinda scary.


Good grief! Even up here, there’s construction! And what's that I see. Could it be, gasp, TREES!!

I hope this guy gets paid big, BIG bucks…’cause it’s a long way down from where he’s precariously perched on his overgrown Tonka Toy.

AHA! Look what we’ve found!!!!!!!!! Real, live, gigantic pine trees….like on a real mountain! Eureka!!!

We had terrible winds yesterday. But all that dust in the air, while sort of blurring things, also made the many layers of mountain ranges visible. If the air is really clear, they all just blend together and you don't realize the depth and breadth of these awesome mountains.

I have no idea what that blur is on the left. Remember, most of these pictures were taken from inside our moving vehicle. Places to safely pull off the road and stop to take perfectly framed pictures are few and far between.



A little color is beginning to show here and there.

We're almost at the top now and WOW! Just look at that!!! A pot of gold at the end of the highway!




A few years ago, there was a massive fire on Mt. Lemmon. So much was destroyed but it's growing back.

Almost the entire mountaintop community of Summerhaven was destroyed. It's being re-built, but it will never be the same....except for this...............

Very Special Mt.Lemmon fudge!!!!!!!!! OOOOOH Baby!!!!! This picture is a little blurry, but it is because I wasn't nearly as interested in taking a good photo as I was in cramming this delectable hunk of chocolate heaven in my drooling, salivating mouth! Yes! Every bite of it! All mine!!! This, I won't share. I'm not THAT good of a human bean.

I’m not sure how many photos I am going to be allowed to post on this here blog. So, I’m going to stop now…give it a try…and see what happens.
Stay tuned.
More to come.

I am grateful for MY beautiful mountains!!!!