Ice and Swans, Ducks and a tip

 

Hello, all!

Boy it's cold here today in Seattle...but I'm not complaining too much because it is sunny!   The cold made me think of ice.  This time of year I love to listen to the music of Tschaikovsky and especially love the Nutcracker and Swan Lake themes.   Swans have always been one of my favorite birds ....especially their white feathery bodies and long necks....I've also seen black swans but white are my favorite.  They even come to Washington state during their migratory patterns but have never had a chance to seen them here during that time...maybe a future photo moment.

I was up on the internet looking for something the other day and found this neat website of an ice carver in Michigan named: Ted Wakar.   Wow he does some neat things but check out this Swan!   His site is called: Frozen Images.    I'm going to check out how he handles getting a swan from there to here in one peice...:)

Have to add one of my own photos to keep me in practice...below is a photo of some ducks standing on the frozen pond near where I work....you may recognize it from an earlier photo blog entry.

email entry above and file manager file below

One last thing....here is a little revised tip on inserting photos in the AOL blogs..you probably did know that you can copy and paste photos directly from  other emails and websites into your AOL emails.   But, did you know that you can copy and paste from any email or website directly into your journal blogs?  Yes...and it's much quicker than using the AOL hometown file manager...however, what I found out, as one of my commenters mentioned is that at first it looks like it works but then it turns into a little red x.....  I guess it must mess up AOL somehow so forget about trying this and depending on  it to stay. 

Happy Thanksgiving weekend to all!

Maria 

Back Deck in Transformation

Hi, all!

I decided to try an evening entry (for me) in my photo blog.  There is something about a deck that is just too reminiscent of vacation.  We are transforming our back deck with new paint, railings and in some not too distant future a gazebo on the corner which will encircle our hot tub.   The new railings are really nice and homemade...nice to have a handyman in the house.   The deck flooring is now entirely waterproofed.   The color reminds me of sandy beaches and is bright even on our greyest Seattle days.  At night it almost lights up the deck with it's brightness.   I especially like all the white lines and the green chairs in these two photos.   It's enough to give me a memory of summer and those warmer months as our weather cools down for the fall and winter.  That's worth a photo or two.   Maria

 

 

Blue Pots in China Town

Hello, all,

It is a grey and foggy morning here in Seattle.  I found this bright cobalt blue clay potted plant photo and it lifted my spirits.  They were in a grouping in Seattle's Chinatown area.  I went looking for rice sticks one day to make Chinese Chicken Salad...I walked out of the Iwajimaya store with 3 different kinds...LOL...wasn't sure what I was doing...however, my husband took over from there and made the salad.  One thing to remember is to break up and seperate the little rice stick noodles before cooking...some of them which weren't seperated stuck together in the salad and were not as crispy as they could have been.   I think the directions were in Chinese which made it a bit of a challenge.   He used a recipe from a great cookbook I got....the final results are below.    Have a great day everyone!  Maria

 

 

Kubota Garden in the Fall

Hello all,

I've posted some pictures before of Kubota Japanese garden in the warmer weather...now the weather is turning colder and the fall colors are coming.  Here are a couple of snapshots of the garden pond in the fall.  I played around with some framing again...:)

I've noticed that sometimes my photos of the landscape aren't always as sharp as they could be...since I'm using my digital I figure I must have bumped or changed a setting and now don't remember what it is...that means I'll have to look in the book or get with Greg....  In any case these photos were good but not as I expected.  I was playing around with the macro button for earlier closeups and it was a fairly grey sky that day.....with some patches of blue. 

Have a great day!  Maria

 

The wonders of Digital

I was whining a little in my last entry about the challenges of going digital which made me think about the opposite for this entry.  There are so many wonders of going digital.  In today's Seattle Times there was an article about stock photos and how they are being used for campaign ads because they are cheaper and easier to manipulate versus going out to get the real picture.   Although this approach can be misused it may offer a reasonable alternative in some cases.  You can do so many things with digital photos these days.   Here is a little example of what a little fiddling with contrast and brightness can do for you with a Before and After picture:

Before:

After:

I like both of the photos but if you need a little more intensity....digital will get you there.  If you want some great tips on digital photography check out Greg's Photo Trek.....    he takes some amazing scenery shots and gives us some easy to understand tips.

Have  a great day!   Maria

Happy Halloween & Boo Spiders - 2007

        I've been going through some dry periods....no inspirations for awhile.  I think it's due to some tendency I have to procrastinate.....wait to get something done before doing something else.  I just unloaded about 500 pictures from my two cameras and decided that I should preplan this a little better...I always print out an index sheet with 24 thumbnails a page and that takes a while....why not plan to unload once I've taken 24 or 48?  It used to be all I could take on a 35mm roll of film.  This digital world gets me to taking too many photos.   I think the dry spell is over...:)  

Hope you enjoy the Boo spiders (from my rubber stamping days) and the clown pumpkin with purple hair....then there is a little photo of me in what I wore to answer the door tonight.   Guess I am supposed to be the wizard's helper...Happy Halloween....Maria