Beauty in the simple things

Some people might rush outside with their camera on a beautiful sunny day..

Me?  No.  Unless it's early in the morning or late in the afternoon, give me snow, fog or clouds and I'm a happy camper.

Today was a glorious day...

It's the simple things, for sure.

In an unrelated note:  While out taking photos I discovered that something has clawed its way into our shed. 

Needless to say I did not open it to find out what it was.  I think I'll leave that privilege to Tony or Kyle.  That's me, always putting others first.

She knows...

I'm convinced that Joy is well aware of her cuteness factor.  She's the only dog I have that will actually pose for long periods of time, making sure I get her good side, probably.

While the other two were running around the yard willy-nilly, I was able to take these shots without even prompting her.

These were taken with my Tokina 100mm 2.8 macro lens.  I took it out to try and take a few macro shots in the lovely snow we got this morning.  I wasn't successful there but I did get these great ones of Joy.  I keep forgetting what an awesome portrait lens this is as well.  Blows my Nikon 60mm out of the water.  Although these aren't SOOC they are lightly edited.  The sharpness on the eyes was incredible.

T'was the Sunday before Christmas....

The week before Christmas, well, let's just say it was eventful and a big lesson on perspective. My biggest worry was whether I would have enough gifts for the kids for Christmas and if my house would be presentable enough to host Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinners.

That all changed early before Christmas when our little Caligirl came in from her morning business and urinated pure blood on our kitchen floor.

We immediately dialed our vet who called us back within minutes and thought she may have a UTI. The doctor said we could wait and bring her in on Monday or take her to one of the local emergency vets. For us there really wasn't a question, we would take her right away, not only was the amount of blood alarming but Cali was lethargic and in pain, the cost of ER care was the least of our worries.

Thank goodness we trusted our instincts.

Cali's red blood count was at 15%, in the fatal range and x-rays showed that she had what looked like coins in her tummy. Because of these findings the doctor was presuming that at least one of the coins was a penny that was minted AFTER 1983 which are made with zinc. When ingested and not expelled, the zinc absorbs into the system causing acute zinc toxicity.  The things you learn in these types of situations are amazing.

Cali was essentially bleeding to death and if we had waited until the next day we would have lost her, and at the time the doctor told us there was a chance we still could. After a blood transfusion (and lots of tears) Cali was stable enough for us to transfer her to a facility that had the tools needed to perform an endoscopy to remove the coins.

She had to remain in the hospital for 4 days, lots of follow-up tests and another blood transfusion, and visits from us, but we had her home for Christmas; very thankful that it was a positive outcome.  We sat in the hospital waiting room with other owners that were not as fortunate and having been in that exact situation before-in this very place, all I could think of to do was console and hug a stranger.  It really is like losing a family member to many of us, and the hurt feels just as strong.

I’m happy to report that she is doing fine just three weeks after the fact.  Our bank account, not so much, but hey, what are you gonna do?  Like I said it wasn’t even a question of whether to save her or not.  We were responsible for the pennies being on the floor, not Cali, and we know what a chewer and archeologist she is so we should have known better and so we pay the price.

We are also watching her like a hawk these days; the poor thing can’t get away with diddly although she's living the life that every rescue dog deserves right now.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone and don’t forget to hug your pet(s); that is unless your pet is a hedgehog, tarantula, scorpion or anything in the viper category; in that case a virtual hug will do. Amen.

Life is...

Because it's been one of those days weeks years (already?), I just had to remind myself...

Take it away, George Gershwin!

People are queer, they're always crowing, scrambling and rushing about;
Why don't they stop someday, address themselves this way?
Why are we here? Where are we going? It's time that we found out.
We're not here to stay; we're on a short holiday.

Life is just a bowl of cherries.
Don't take it serious; life's so mysterious.
You work, you save, you worry so,
But you can't take your dough when you go, go, go.
So keep repeating it's the berries,
The strongest oak must fall,
The sweet things in life, to you were just loaned
So how can you lose what you've never owned?
Life is just a bowl of cherries,
So live and laugh at it all.

Life is just a bowl of cherries.
Don't take it serious; it's too mysterious.
At eight each morning I have got a date,
To take my plunge 'round the Empire State.
You'll admit it's not the berries,
In a building that's so tall;
There's a guy in the show, the girls love to kiss;
Get thousands a week just for crooning like this:
Life is just a bowl of . . . aw, nuts!
So live and laugh at it all!

Painting with light

I'm still here!

I will be getting more consistant with my blog posts, I promise, but it's been one thing after the other here and something had to give.  More on those things later.

I learned about a photography technique called painting with light and it's intrigued me to no end. 

This is my first attempt that I tried today:

manual mode

aperaturef/8

exposure 30sec

ISO 400

I also turned on long exposure noise reduction.

Actually quite pleased with my first try.

Time it goes so fast...

I can't believe it's been 12 days since my last blog post.  So much is going on in our lives right now but it's so hard to get it organized enough to get it from my head to my keyboard.  I'm not in the least prepared for the holidays gift and house preparing-wise.  At least it looks complete from the outside! 

We did get to do our annual holiday visit to Longwood Gardens.  Love love their light displays!

Here's just a taste of what they had to offer...

Greetings from Longwood Gardens!  It's me and Kyle in the hanging ornament!

The yum, yum tree!

Classic Longwood

I think the next one is my favorite of the night...

The sky was beautiful that night, the lanterns set the mood, and the blue Christmas Tree bokeh was lovely.

Linking up with Holiday Bokeh Party 2

Always Remember

I've spent this past week with my sister on a little road trip/visit. 

I head home early tomorrow morning, but have had a wonderful time visiting her Brooklyn neighborhood, getting plenty of subway experience, my first rainy Manhattan day with a broken umbrella, fabulous restaurants and a visit the the World Trade Center Memorial Site.

The Freedom Tower is really coming along!  It's the first thing you see when you approach the site, obviously because of it's size.  I really didn't know what to expect to see or to feel when visiting.  I guess what struck me first is how very small the area is in which the two towers stood.  The other is how very peaceful the whole experience felt.  You come through all the hectic pace of Manhattan to this place where things are much slower, softer.  We spent time walking around the fountain surrounded by the names of the victims, engraved in the border.

So many names.  Seeing them in person was different than just hearing the names read.

We took our time, walking the perimeter, reading the names, and then, you come upon a name you know.

You touch the letters, and remember the last time you saw them.  My last memory was seeing him playing with his children and mine in a field during my sister's wedding reception.

There are thousands of similar stories like that all over this border.  Thanks to the Memorial Site, we will never forget.