FROSTY DAWN

Today is November 28, 2010, and we awoke to our first truly frosty dawn...the kind where your nose aches when you breathe in the cold air.  

The minute I looked outside and saw the green grass had turned icy-white, I threw on some jeans and a sweatshirt, bundled up in a scarf and my navy blue tundra jacket, and set off on foot with my camera to see how beautiful the day looked.  

I didn't have to go too far to find that beauty I had been craving, as it was right across my own street.  So with fingers burning from the cold dry air assault, I took the following pictures to share.

 

A MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM MY PARK

It was a cold winter's day in late 2007 that I became tired of looking out my front window at a dilapidated building, left for ruin, that had once been a thriving middle school.  I did my small part by penning a letter to the local newspaper to suggest that instead of leaving that dangerous-looking, moldy, smelly old building there to make our neighborhood look trashy, why did the library board not consider checking into purchasing it for the new library which had obviously outgrown its space?

Many, many hours and discussions later, the library chose a different route, but some very brilliant, forward-looking people came up with and brought to fruition, a plan for a green park.

Though at times I was stomping around my house holding my head in my hands, greatly disturbed by the heavy equipment, the year of truck traffic, the smashing, banging, paving, planting, while trying to work at my job as a medical transcriptionist, today I am proudly attending the ribbon cutting ceremony for our beautiful new park across the street, and the demolition to restoring was so worth the commotion and the wait!  It is so much more than I expected it to be.

From a wasted ugly building, to a barren wasteland, to this:  

I have never been so proudly a part of a city as I am of Jasper, Indiana, today!  We all pulled together and changed an entire section of the city to reflect our environmental concerns and our desires to see beauty at a time when it is a lot easier to feel woeful than happy, and have made ourselves another happy spot nestled in our beautiful little German city rich with history and full of hardworking, proud residents.  

What started with the famed and gorgeous River Walk along the Patoka River several years back, this park was not even a twinkle in anyone's eye.  Now, not only does the Jasper River Walk promote our environmentalist population and our desires to take care of and preserve the beauty here, but the new green park has been born.

As of this time, I do not know the name of the park.  That will be revealed to all of us today, I suppose, as we gather in the Cabby O'Neil Gym that sits proudly remodeled on the same property, as a neighborhood and community, to share stories, cocoa, and cookies, at 1:00.  

My grandson and I have been enjoying the park for weeks already, stepping around yellow do-not-enter tape, over large garden hoses, and past a Port-A-Potty quite ceremoniously centrally located right outside our front door, literally, to run on its sidewalks, play tag on it's new sod, and hide-and-seek around the newly-planted trees.  As David says as he hugs one of the new trees, "I love you, man!"

The photo above has been a wee bit touched up;  I figured you all probably figured that out, for Christmas. I just might have to use this for my Christmas card this year.

Anyway, this is a lead-in to the celebration David and I are going to today, and if I get any photos that are nice today, (it is really cold, so I do not know how much outside time we will take), I will come back and post a few more later.

Have a wonderful Holiday Season.  

Love,
Kathy

Another Beautiful Sunset Scene

Except for a little cropping, this photo needed no editing.  This is as I saw it off my front porch this evening, November 21, 2010.

 

First Kiss

SOME SUNSET PHOTOS

On November 12, 2010, our park is almost complete.  When the sun starts setting in the southwest, through the bare Fall trees, photo ops are boundless.  

Here I took a picture and did some editing in Picnik, my now favorite program.

I love using "soften" in the editing on some photos.  It works best on bright colors with bare tree branches.

This is the same photo using boost and vibrance with a little hardening.

This is almost the original photo only using some HDR-ish playthings.

The HSR filters are fun to work with and are also demonstrated in the second photo. 

SEA SPEAK

She says to me, "Come listen to my chant," the 
voice blue, bold, cool, cold.  The ocean talks in her language, the sirens call with their long fingers, hair flowing golden in the thick blue-black darkness.  "Join me here in the depth where it is quiet, where it is cool, bold, dark, and cold," and I almost go, but I back away at the very last second to the warmth of the sand, bury my feet up to my ankles and feel the heat creep into my joints.  Sea Speak, syllables, foreign syntax I cannot speak but fully understand.  The desire to join her is so strong that her voice in my ears is deafening, like waves crashing on the shore.  A photo of her is my only memory once I am gone.  Sea Speak Sea Speaks Ocean Talks Ocean Speaks Ocean Speak Sea Speak.

SEVENTH STREET PARK

The park across the street looked like just a park until fatigue of the week set in as the sun began to rest, then this amazing transformation took place across the street.

Sweet dreams to my peeps!

COME SAIL AWAY

I was supposed to work at my money-making job today, but their site is down, so instead, I am working at my other job...learning how to apply curves and textures to my photos in order to give them an artsy feel that will be pleasing to the eye.  You can tell me how I did on this one.  

 

A Glimpse Through Time

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Do you ever see something with your eyes and turn around and then see it again with your heart?  Clouds become rainbows or a space opens up that you did not see before?  Wander into these clouds, close your eyes, tap your heels together three times, then look again.  A glimpse through time. 

AND NOW FROM PICNIK

I have been MIA for a bit while I practiced with my new-found photo editing program. I have a few pictures ready to post now.  And here they are.  All of the pictures below were taken by me either in or near Phoenix, or near or in Venice Beach, California.

 

IT HAPPENED IN THE NIGHT SKY

On July 3, 2010, the sky across the street from my house lit up in celebration of our freedom and as a thank you to everyone who makes this place the greatest place on Planet Earth.

This is what my sky looked like tonight.  How about yours?

Happy July 4, 2010!

 

GIRAFFE AND BLUE BIRD

Image from imgfave.com

JUST MY CAMERA AND ME

In honor of this week's Theme Thursday muse, I started this new photo blog.  

My camera is my lifeline to my memories.  We are pretty much attached at the hip, my camera and me.  

So, here it is, my Canon's new photo blog.  He has been so anxious to show everybody how artistic he is!  Welcome to My Gimping Gallery!  Happy TT!

IT WAS A HOT AND HUMID DAY

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This is Max The Youngest Blue Jay.  I know because he has two identically-shaped white tips on both tail feathers.  I was in my air conditioned office and Max was in the 100-degree heat.  When the birds pant, it's hot.

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This is Rudy The Purple Finch.  He is the only one of the finches to have the moxy to run the bully blue jays off the playground.  But yesterday, even he was begging to come inside in the AC.

Today I might have to close the blinds so I don't have to see all the bird sweating and panting going on out there.

It is June, almost summer, and my yard is becoming a haven for all sorts of creatures as I contemplate a Koi pond in the not too distant future.  Mosquito control until the bats all get moved in.  I just noticed a couple of days ago that my blooming thick butterfly garden has become a home for fireflies, and it is quite a sight to see them all wake up, stretch, start test-blinking before taking off, then all take to the back yard where they spend a few hours blinking and gossiping:  "Hey, Blinks, did you hear that Myra got her bulb changed at one of those fancy genetic places?  I mean, give me a break...look at her out there blinking like a headlight!  Please!  Sigh."  

And so the natural world goes in my back yard.  I am starting to like my bugs almost as much as my people...but don't worry...my people will always come first.  Just do not step on a firefly or pull it's light off to give me reason to ban you!  :0)

BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES!

About ten minutes before I posted this, the storm was rolling in, and not one to be disturbed by my boyfriend yelling, "Tornado!" I managed to get some great cloud shots before heading for cover.  It might have been a tornado, but it stayed in the clouds...this time!

 

BIRD ID

I am posting a picture of the latest obvious recruit to my Bird Empire.  I mean seriously, feed them and they will show up.  Below there is the photo of the bird I need ID'ed plus a couple of shots of my new seagrass roosting pockets that I put up hoping to draw a couple of families of small birds.  Interpret that as:  PLEASE COME HOME, HUMMERS!  I have seen one hummingbird all season so far here, so if you see my hummers, please tell them I've put up new digs for them to roost in, if not this year, then check them out and I'll reserve them for next spring!  

This bird might be a chickadee, I'm not sure.  It is a tiny bird with a small tuft and a VERY loud song.  I can't believe such a huge noise comes out of that little bird.

FINE FEATHERED FRIENDS FEARED NO LONGER

Some photos of the birds stopping by to chat, show off their young, and 

dine on my feeders today.