Bricolage :: Garden Trellis

This background texture was created from the following photo . . .
using features in Picasa as well as IrfanView . . .

Bricolage :: Harley Davidson

This texture was created from the following photo . . . which is of the dirty back window of a pickup truck that lives in the neighborhood . . . I used features in Picasa as well as IrfanView to come up with this texture . . . and part of the process involved creating a double exposure collage using a texture from playing with PSP . . . let me know if you need a higher resolution version . . . and I'll send it to you . . .

Dividing the Chores

Daddy catnapping . . .

while Momma feeds the babies!

Then and Now Tripod Adapter

This is my latest contraption for holding photos for the Then and Now type projects . . . these clips are mayhaps a Christmas item? . . . for clipping on tree branches? . . . and displaying Christmas cards? . . . in this photo I have it clipped onto the threads of the screw that attaches the quick release plate (from the tripod) to the bottom of my camera . . .

Family Portrait

Sleepy Kitty

Click on the photo to view more of the mitten kitten photos taken today.

Sizzling!

Raindrops!

Calico Mitten Kitten

Clicking on this photo
will take you to a Picasa album
showing a few mitten kitten photos from today.

End of Record Search Pilot

familysearch.org

Texas Stop Sign

Here in Texas, this is known as a Texas Stop Sign . . . 'cause you can't drive by without stopping for a DQ treat . . . and for the first time since I moved here in 1989, we have a Dairy Queen in Red Oak, Texas . . . I took this photo today when I stopped by for a DQ specialty . . . I chose the Cappucino Heath Blizzard . . . sure was good! . . . the Dairy Queen in Rockdale, Texas was the hangout when I was a teenager . . . and the local Dairy Queens along the route were a frequent stop when we rode with the Texas Sesquicentennial Wagon Train in 1986 . . . welcome to the neighborhood, DQ!

Bricolage :: Clouds

The above image was created from the following solarized photo . . .
using features in both Picasa and IrfanView . . .

National Aviation Day

I dug Bennie's flying memorabilia out, looking for something to photograph for National Aviation Day (which is today) . . . not having a clue that there was a date-appropriate entry in his pilot logbook . . . and that on this date . . . the 19th day of August . . . in the year 1984 . . . Bennie flew his 1948 Beechcraft Bonanza from the airport in Cameron, Texas to the Red Bird Airport near Dallas, Texas . . . he only flew the Bonanza six more times before selling it the following year . . . I can visualize Bennie in the following verse . . . although the vehicle varies . . . sometimes it's an airplane . . . sometimes it's a racecar . . . or sometimes he's riding a horse around the meadows of Heaven . . .

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . .

Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

John Gillespie Magee, Jr

Bourjois

Mitten Kitten with a Tail

This is the one mitten kitten with a tail . . . the other two are bobtails . . . like their Daddy . . .

Lucky Mitten Kitten

This is the mitten kitten with seven toes on one foot . . .
so I've been calling him / her Lucky . . .

Calico Mitten Kitten

Their eyes are now open . . . clicking on the photo will take you to a Picasa album containing a few more photos of this calico mitten kitten . . .

Then and Now

Well . . . since I did not have a human helper . . . and I could not get the goats or the dog or the cats to help on this project :) . . . this photo shows the set-up I used for photographing my Then & Now photo for The Family Curator's genealogy photo challenge for World Photography Day . . . which is the 19th day of August . . . I started out with my photo holder sitting on the top tier of this little step-ladder . . . but the hot summer breezes soon taught me a lesson . . . and the photo holder toppled over . . . and I had a torn photo! . . . because of the necessity of figuring out a photo holder for this project, I had already decided to use copies instead of originals . . . so the torn photo was not a big deal . . . I wound up using my little Kodak Z1012 for this photo session . . . it frequently malfunctions (zooms in and out and powers off . . . all by itself) . . . so I have not used it in a while . . . but it worked right today . . . and it worked great for this project . . .

Bricolage :: Raindrops

Branding the Brazos

Well, looky over yonder . . .
wonder what those are?

[Those would be cars . . .
on IH35 at Waco, Texas!]

Texas Ranger
Waco, Texas

Sleeping Beauty

---

Well . . . the official thermometer for Dallas only made it to 97 today . . . so the official triple digit streak is over, with only 40 days in a row (as of yesterday) . . . but look what the thermometer in the shade of my tree showed at 5 o'clock this afternoon!?! . . .

Pictures of Memory

Age is a deep pool, still and clear
Winds can not ruffle it, year on year;
Never a tempest its calm can stir,
All it holds are the things that were.

Shining, far in its crystal weeps,
Pictures of memory it keeps.
Places and people now passed by,
Here they change not, they can not die.

Age is a deep pool, soundlessly
Shrining the hours that used to be,
Holding safe in its depths unstirred
Smiles long faded, long spoken word.

by
Aline Triplette Michaelis
02 December 1883 ~ 10 August 1958

as published in 1935 in
The Dallas Morning News

Main Street at 11 p.m.

Bricolage :: Sun and Snow

I took the photo of the fence this a.m. with the idea of creating a textured background with it . . . and then I remembered I had a snow photo from sorta the same angle . . . so I merged the two photos in the above collage . . . and then I created the following texture (which you are welcome to use) by merging my photo with a texture from playingwithbrushes . . . I then used this same texture to create a heritage collage featuring my maternal grandma . . .

Dancing with the Dawn

O lovely light, that dances with the dawn
In twinkling golden slippers on the lawn.

Nancy Richey Ranson

Lucky Number Seven

This mitten kitten actually has seven toes!

Mitten Kittens

Two day old Mitten Kittens

Praying for Rain

Dear God . . .
I don't ask for much . . .
just a little green grass . . .
if you could send us some rain . . .
and cooler temperatures . . .
it would help a lot . . .
thanks for listening . . .
with love . . .
Mandy

Bricolage :: Moon Eclipse

This texture was created from the following photo of what is apparently called a concrete hoe . . . looks kinda like an eclipse of the moon to me . . . if you find a use for this texture, please do share . . .

32 days in a row and counting

Our forecast for the next 7 days . . .
unfortunately, it looks like we might be breaking the 1980 record of 42 days in a row of triple-digit temperatures . . .

DFW Weather

Then and Now

This is my 1st attempt at a Then and Now photo . . . I obviously have a lot of work to do to figure out this method . . . I was not going to use this, but then decided to go ahead and journal about my journey thru figuring out this process . . . I tried this with my Canon Rebel T1i . . . did not like the results . . . looks like I need a wide-angle lens (which I do not yet have) . . . and need to take the camera off the auto setting . . . this was one of two photos taken with my little pocket digital camera . . . it has a wide angle setting . . . and it automatically compensates for the depth of field . . . I just did not want to stay outside very long in that 112° heat . . . so did not mess with the whole project more than a few minutes . . . the photo of my Bennie riding Yuma was taken probably 10-15 years ago (need to find the date) . . .

The photo collages (created in Picasa) above and below show the same photo of Bennie riding Yuma . . . and a photo from February of 2010 showing the same pasture across the street from my house . . . in an apparent attempt to help us think cool thoughts, the news guys keep showing video from the Super Bowl Snow Storm of February 2011 . . . so I drug out my snow photos from the year before . . . think snow!

One thing is for sure . . . creating a Then and Now photo in Picasa is a lot easier (and cooler!) than actually doing the photo outside . . . if anyone has any hints on doing these Then and Now photos, I would like to hear them . . . and FYI . . . the weatherman just said that it is still 103° in Dallas as of 9:41 p.m.!