LIGHTING THE DARK...

Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia

A question I've wondered about?

Do amateur photographers (such as myself) take black & white photos INTENTIONALLY? I'm one of those photographers who doesn't manipulate the camera setting to capture ONLY black & white pics. In most cases, I take photos in color & WHEN the color is fuzzy, or the object is blurry, I change the photo to B&W. I would imagine my photos would be crisper or might have more depth to them if I were INTENTIONAL about shooting in B&W. I'm going to give that a try!

Governor's Palace ~ Colonial Williamsburg

Intricate scrollwork. Incredibly detailed statue.
Entrance to the bricked compound.
(which we didn't get a reservation to tour)

The palace housed 7 royal governors, as well as

the first two elected governors in Virginia.

In addition to housing leaders of that time, it was built to project British wealth & the authority that money brought.

transported back in time

It's late September, 1781!

The general addressed the colonial townspeople, explaining a revolution is on the horizon.

The colonists have gathered around the troops to cheer them on

as they prepare for battle.

A canon is fired signifying they are ready for battle in Yorktown.

relief map of Colonial Williamsburg

I'm a MAP-LOVER! paper, digital & relief...

My traveling companions (Mom & JPE) discussing Colonial Williamsburg layout.  

sharing this post at

Black & White Wednesdays

& Wednesdays Around the World

Photographers!

what is your response to my QUESTION?

SNEAKING A PEEK...

BAAAA! BAAAAHHH!

just beyond the fence next to the parking lot {@ work}!

SCAVENGER HUNT SUNDAY 9.29.13 + SONG-OGRAPHY

Allie's classroom ~ Tues 9/24/13
"teacher duck" & "student chicks"
modeling acceptable behavior in lining-up & walking quietly in the walls!
a first week lesson in kindergarten
"MAKE BUBBLE LIPS
{so you can't talk}
& DUCKTAILS"
{put your arms behind your back, to practice self-control}

Where do the days go?

As you can see, I haven't posted in a quite a few days... and missed last weeks SCAVENGER HUNT SUNDAY & SONG-OGRAPHY

BUT, on a work trip to Sacramento this week, I snagged a few photos. This week's SHS words are:

RULE OF THIRDS, MADE ME SMILE, LINES, ALONE & TOGETHER

Took a walk through the mall, Thursday morning before my meeting started... I cropped this photo to demonstrate the RULE OF THIRDS. The Rule of Thirds refers to the composition of an art or photography piece... the human eye naturally gravitates to the intersection points that occur when an image is split into thirds.

Dusk in Sacramento... looking from my hotel room (Weds)... loved all the LINES of the parking structure & buildings.

Seeing handprinted posters in Allie's classroom MAKES ME SMILE... her kinders love her drawings... differentiated learning for her second language students!

Another photo from Thursday morning... ALONE in the mall allowed for capturing photos without people in the background. Creative statue, eh?

Allie's classroom art center... she keeps the scissors, pens & stencils TOGETHER for ease in completing a project.

This week's SONG-OGRAPHY is "TWO OF US" sung by AIMEE MANN, I AM SAM (soundtrack)... There are some amazing photos at Kathy's blog, You'll Shoot Your Eye Out!

lyrics to this song were written by
John Lennon & Paul McCartney

We TRAVEL whenever we have the time & money! As my mom says, "we're making memories for when we can no longer travel."

Next week's SONG-OGRAPHY is "Forever Autumn" by Moody Blues.

SCAVENGER HUNT SUNDAY 4.21.13

Saturday 4.20.13 @ 4:35pm

I missed blogging this past week!

I was in Sacramento --- spending my days reading  --- scoring grants doesn't seem as if it would be difficult --- but I got tired of sitting, pencil in hand, blurry-eyed --- such long days!

BUT, it WAS great to see my friends

from all parts of California. 

Glad to be home!

This week's SCAVENGER HUNT SUNDAY "finds" are: HAPPINESS, SPRING IN BLACK & WHITE, FAMILY (or FAITH), FUZZY & GATHERING (or PROVIDE).

Hop over to RAMBLING & PHOTOS for a peek at the other SHS postings. 

HAPPINESS

HAPPINESS is spending time "browsing" --- fabric stores (especially all the buttons), craft stores (ahh, paper & pens) & spending some time with Allie-Bug... last weekend, we spent some time at the fabric store & a yarn shop.

SPRING in BLACK & WHITE

Clipped some "flowering jasmine" to enjoy in the house --- a little touch of SPRING IN BLACK & WHITE (actually, the blossoms are white with a tinge of pink - see first photo)!

BTW --- the blur is an audio CD that I've almost finished. Have you read The Language of Flowers, by Vanessa Diffenbaugh? you must --- it's a fabulous read!

FAMILY

These tins remind me of FAMILY! As a child, a FAMILY treat was a foil wrapped box Cracker Jack's! I especially loved those little prizes. My daughters, SLE & ACE, would probably say their favorite FAMILY treat was So'Mores (graham cracker, a bit of milk chocolate & a toasted marshmallow) made over a campfire. 

FUZZY

Last weekend at Allie's, as the sun was going down, I noticed this FUZZY, orange & navy blue cloud, floating across the sky. 

GATHERING

It's happening! our cottage cheese ceilings are coming down. The contractor will scrape, retexture and add crown molding. To save money, we're happy to have them use their standard ceiling paint (Behr - Swiss Coffee & I don't remember the color for the crown molding). I'll be painting the walls in our condo --- JPE & I started GATHERING paint colors. SOOO excited! 

Okay - so, I challenge you to get your camera out & join us for SHS. To get you started, here are the words to look for this coming week: WALKING, YUMMY to my TUMMY, FAVORITE TOY, WHAT I DID THIS WEEK & ANYTHING (I think this means, your choice)!!

SCAVENGER HUNT SUNDAY 4.14.13

SHS 4.14.13

Last week got away from me!

I'm "on the road again"...

Spent Saturday & Sunday with ACE (Allie-bug) & Lola!

& snapped a few pictures for today's hunt.

This week's words:

GLOW, OLD, SHADOW, SPRING & SMILE.

GLOW

Don't understand how this happened? I know I wouldn't be able to duplicate this process if I tried. We were in a store looking at big screen televisions - I was taking photos of the pictures that were showing on the TV screen. Sort of a GLOW, don't you think?

OLD

This picture was mounted inside a store window! I wonder how many elementary school children could identify this OLD telephone?

SHADOW

Loved the repetition of the SHADOWS on this building. Sorry, I don't know where this building is located (this is another "photo" of a "photo on the TV screen" as I mentioned in the GLOW photo, above).

SPRING

SPRING means "bugs" --- this picture was taken in the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto.

SMILE

We went to Penzy's Spices... this SMILING pirate was on the wall just above the "coloring table" for children. Great way to keep children occupied while their parents wandered the store looking at spices. If you haven't heard of Penzy's - check it out HERE!

Well, if you've visited before, you know Ashley @ Rambling & Photos is the hostess for SCAVENGER HUNT SUNDAY. It's easy! check her blog for details.

Two of five words in the next hunt will be tough! Wish me luck in finding something... The words are: HAPPINESS, SPRING in BLACK & WHITE, FAMILY or FAITH, FUZZY, GATHERING or PROVIDE.

See you tomorrow - off to Sacramento!

(a week of grant reading!)

SCAVENGER HUNT SUNDAY 3.17.13

week of the IRISH?

 

Welcome to SHS! 

I think everyone had to stretch their "brains" to find this week's words! I know I did! There's an adorable "IRISH" picture on Ashley's blog... RAMBLING & PHOTOS. Check it out!

How would you capture: LUCKY, IRISH, DAYLIGHT, CLOVER & POT OF GOLD?

coastline ~ Big Sur ~ 11.08.04

I'm LUCKY to have someone as funny, caring, brilliant, energetic, non-judgmental and "grounded" as JPE.

I have a "wee-bit" of IRISH blood! Would love to travel to Ireland with my mom! She's been before, but I want to experience the trip with her!! How 'bout it MOM? this October? of course, I'd have to take a loan... ha! ha!

I attended a workshop this past week. It's amazing what you see when you get out of the office, during DAYLIGHT hours! I sense SPRING is on it's way...

Mom & Dad brought this bowl back from Ireland! Gosh, I'd been racking my brain trying to think of something with CLOVER. * lightbulb * my Beleek bowl. Another reason to visit Ireland... I'd like to take a pottery tour to learn about the process for creating these hand-painted pieces. 

I couldn't remember the year my parents visited Ireland... but looking at the mark on the bottom of my bowl I know it was before the end of 1980. Unfortunately, my bowl was knocked off a bookcase & broken (the repair job was not the best ~ but, our housekeeper tried her best to gather all the pieces ~ I felt so bad for her)...

photo taken at Big Bear Lake ~ 2.9.13

I don't understand the scientific theory behind the "rainbow" particles in the sky... but I waited 85 minutes until the sunlight rose high enough in the sky to form a "V" and reflect that across the lake ~ felt like I'd found a POT OF GOLD.

Ummm... wonder where I can get a

dinner of corned beef, cabbage & boiled potatoes? 

wish I lived closer to Mom!

SCAVENGER HUNT SUNDAY 2.24.13

Lola's "DREAMY" eyes

This week's SCAVENGER HUNT SUNDAY words appeared to be meant for bloggers with children, but the more I thought about it, the more I was able to put "my 60+ year perspective" on these phrases...

 

TIME TO EAT, GETTING READY, PLAYTIME,

SWEET DREAMS, SCRUB-A-DUB

I'll be spending some time checking in with the participants found at ASHLEY'S before the Academy Awards starts...

what a relaxing way to spend a Sunday!

Our "bluebird" is back!

He {I'm sure it's a HE} was pecking at the edge of the fence, sharpening his beak & then flying near the sliding glass window to get our attention. Of course, my nature "guy" had to connect with our "visitor from nature" & offer him a snack. Then, off he {the bluebird, not JPE} flew --- taking his walnut with him. Definitely TIME TO EAT for him.

My patience paid off --- after GETTING READY to capture a water drop, I was lucky enough to catch the action.

One of my favorite statues at the Huntington Library in Pasadena {had to pull this picture from my photo archive}. I think it represents PLAYTIME .

Another archived photo {sorry about that}... We babysat Lola this past summer... took her to the cabin... all that fresh mountain air! She certainly looks ready for some SWEET DREAMS.

There's something "very meditative" about washing dishes by hand... think it's the bubbles? warm water? the light reflecting off bubbles? rubbing the sponge over the dishes? ah! for me, it's about the water dancing over my fingertips. SCRUB-A-DUB!

Off to watch the Academy Awards... My vote for BEST PICTURE? BEST ACTRESS? oh, you'll have to wait until tomorrow... to see my prediction.

SCAVENGER HUNT SUNDAY 11.25.12

PICTURE PERFECT!!!

We're back from our visit to Washington DC. Having a couple of days to get organized & laundry done before heading back to work tomorrow is soooo helpful. 

Of course, the excitement of travel is capturing new photographic memories, seeing places different than your usual surroundings, meeting new people, but having time to visit family, is most important. Thank you Sea-Bass (Sebastian), MB & SLE for sharing your home with us.

This week's SCAVENGER HUNT SUNDAY words are: HOME or THANKFUL, IN THE KITCHEN, COUPLE, BUBBLES & TREES. You really need to stop by RAMBLING & PHOTOS to see the adorable picture Ashley posted for the word, BUBBLES. 

HOME or THANKFUL

In addition to being THANKFUL for family, I'm THANKFUL that people who need assistance can get those services from a dog. Sebastian (alias Sea-Bass) has been MB's guidedog for a little over 5 years. He's soooo sweet... such a lover-boy (when not "working")... in addition to guiding MB, he also watches out for SLE (our daughter) & was continually peeking over his shoulder to make certain our party of four stayed together. If you want to know more about Guide Dogs of America, please CLICK HERE. 

IN THE KITCHEN

JPE loves to cook, bake & having an audience makes being IN THE KITCHEN that much more enjoyable. As a result, he orchestrated the Thanksgiving dinner cooking... which included putting the turkey in early, so we could eat at 1:30. MB shared his mother's secret to a beautifully tender, roasted turkey... Baste it with tomato paste! Oh my goodness... we'll be filing this away in our cooking binder. Our bird was perfection... crispy skin, moist meat, and tasty! Yummmy.

COUPLE

JPE & I visited the National Washington Cathedral... here are a COUPLE more pictures of baby Jesus from the Crèche Exhibition: And Heaven and Nature Sing. The baby wrapped in burlap is from South Africa (Zulu Tribe); the small beaded nacimiento, was created by members of the Huichol Indians (Mexico) - glass beads cover the terra cotta form of this baby Jesus; & the blue & white smiling baby Jesus is from Louisville, Kentucky - creation of HADLEY POTTERY. Next time JPE & I visit his family in Kentucky, I'm adding a tour of the Hadley Pottery Factory to our trip. 

BUBBLES

BUBBLES of lights... I know, sort of a stretch... ha! just ran out of time & didn't want to grab a photo from my archives when I had a cool picture from our tea date at the BUZZ BAKERY & LOUNGE (Arlington, VA).

TREES

As you may have seen, I posted pictures of the changing colors & of Arlington National Cemetery earlier this week! MB & SLE teased me about the number of TREE pictures I took during my week-long visit. Peeking at the photos, I can feel the crisp cool air, hear the crunch of leaves being walked on, and see the brilliance of the colors. 

Next week's SHS words are: MISSING, NUMBERS, PURPLE, MUSIC & BRACELET. Ohhh... I can't wait... don't forget to visit ASHLEY'S to see her post for BUBBLES.