Time for R & R

For the past 2 weeks it's been a little frantic around here. I just finished processing pictures from my nieces wedding ( I took 1200, yep I go a little bizerk with the camera) and now I have to prepare for vacation. So, all projects on hold, except for tending to my corn. As you know from reading past posts, I entered a corn contest. Well, it now stands about 12' tall and is almost done growing. It will probably reach 13' which is pretty darn tall. That's a bummer because I heard that someone has already reached 18', geez how did he do it! I called Edward Jones ( official measurers) and they told me they would come out measure and do a little write up for this area. Oh well, a little fame is ok but the prize of 200# of pork, 200# of beef and $100 gas card would have been even better.
My nieces wedding turned out great, or at least the pictures did. I didn't get to enjoy the wedding since I was behind the camera from 1PM- 9PM. That was a long day and then when I got home I had to start on the pictures to get them all ready before I go on vacation. Pictures are done at least for the most part. You can get a looksie here
Vacation time is here - New York here we come. NOT New York City, there's more to NY than the big city. We are going to Rick's moms in Franklinville for an overnight stay then on up to Wellesley Island State Park for camping. The park overlooks St. Lawrence River that hosts - 1,000 Islands. The 1000 Islands Region is an international tourism destination, encompassing communities on both sides of the US and Canada border along the St. Lawrence River and the eastern shores of Lake Ontario. The region takes its name from the more than 1000 islands that dot the lake and river along this international waterway. The region extends from Kingson to Cornwall on the Canadian side, and from Oswego to Massena on the US side, reaching inland to the foothills of the Adirondack mountains to embrace the communities that are west and north of the Adirondack Park, and the four NY Counties of Oswego, Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence. Sounds like a good time, don't ya think. Now it's time to get off this computer, get my house work done and start planning what I'm going to pack. We will hit the road Thursday evening. What could be more relaxing then camping, sightseeing, shopping ( of course) and weenies over an open fire! Not to mention with the cool temps I might get to see some Fall colors! Pictures will be posted when I return.

If you shuck it, they will come

Oops, this post was still in my draft section, oh well better late then never.

57th annual Sweet Corn Festival 2009! West Point was rollin' in the kernels this month.

I went up on Wednesday night to take advantage of the "shuckfest". Although I didn't sit down and shuck I got some great pictures of the event. There's 17 tons of corn poured out onto Merchmans parking lot and people come from surrounding counties and even other states to partake in the festivities. After shucking, the corn is picked up in milk crates and taken to an ice bath where it's cooled down and loaded into a refrigerated semi trailer. Pretty interesting, huh? I think so. From here it goes to the square where a steam engine cooks it. Now that's allot of corn.

Todays Special

I have been busy as a bee this past week. Projects are coming together and some are complete! I have finished my chalkboard.
Tools needed:

• frame - the older the better. (I used a dresser mirror frame)
• paint of choice (you should look around at your local paint supply store as they sometimes have rejected colors on clearance)
• paint brush
• KRYLON chalkboard paint (this comes in brush on or spray, I used the brush on)
• wood for chalkboard (I used a 1/4" of plywood)
• sawtooth hangers
• several small finishing nails

Begin by cleaning up your frame and preparing your work surface. Cut plywood to fit frame. Apply 2 coats of paint to frame and plywood allowing dry time in between. Nail plywood on back and add sawtooh hangers. Walla - you have a chalkboard. Before & after shot.

I have mine in the kitchen but they would be handy anywhere. I'm thinking I need a small one in the laundry room that says I'm on vacation ! {smiles}

Now Bonnie, I know you are dying to know about my other project. Well, it's finished so I will share it with you. Drum roll please......................
My tabletop checkerboard!!
I had picked up free junk (see previous post) added lots of masking tape, 3) .96 cans of spray paint, 1) can of polyurethane and a couple assistants to put together my checkerboard. The squares are 2 1/2" so I went on EBay and ordered my checkers. Anyone up for a game of checkers?
That's it for now, I have to get ready to go to the sweet corn festival. Yes imagine that, Iowa having a sweet corn festival ☺! Oh yeah I almost forgot, I'm working on another project, stay tuned. Click the follow me link to your right and you will see all the updates I post.

Have a great and safe weekend!

Meteors and Star Trailing

So I started my day at 3:30am. I had picked my spot, set up my tripod and made all the adjustments to my camera. I put it in bulb mode, set the iso at 100, wb on auto and hooked up the remote trigger that Rick made for me. Next, set my alarm for 3:30am and get my butt to bed!

I did it!!

Got up before the alarm went off, made my coffee and headed outside to get my camera mounted. Flipped the remote to open the shutter and came back in to grab a cup of coffee and enjoy the show. I sat on the back porch in the dark for a peaceful morning watching and waiting. After leaving my shutter open for an hour I flipped the remote back to close. Now wait again, see if you take a 60 minute shot you have to wait that long for the shutter to fully close and walla....... my star trails and meteor shower. The moon was not cooperating as it was pretty bright and the fog was rolling in pretty fast so not a great shot. Tonight I should do better. The brightest streak down in the lower right hand corner may be a meteor but again it could be just a bright star. I will shoot near the barn tonight.

I copied this from an article on Yahoo News. Full article here - http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20090811/sc_space/strongmeteorshowerexpectedtonight

Viewing tips
The best location is far from city and suburban lights. Ideally, find a structure, mountain or tree to block the moon. Then scan as much of the sky as possible. The meteors can appear anywhere, heading in any direction. If you trace their paths backward, they'll all point to the constellation Perseus.
People in locations where any chill might occur should dress warmer than they think necessary to allow for prolonged viewing.
Seasoned skywatchers advise using a blanket or lounge chair for comfort, so you can lie back and look up for long periods. Allow at least 15 minutes for your eyes to fully adjust to the darkness. Then expect meteors to be sporadic: You might see two in a row, or several minutes could go by between shooting stars.
Avid meteor watchers might want to try scanning the northeastern horizon from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. local time (your local time, wherever you are) for Perseids that graze the horizon.
"Earthgrazers are meteors that approach from the horizon and skim the atmosphere overhead like a stone skipping across the surface of a pond," Cooke explained. "They are long, slow and colorful – among the most beautiful of meteors." He notes that an hour of watching may net only a few of these at most, but seeing even one can make the whole night worthwhile.

Yes I will be back at it tonight, I think I will go for a shot from 10-11. That means a late night tomorrow.

Happy Monday everyone!!

Well, it was a hot weekend here. Temps were in the mid 90’s with heat indexes reaching up to 110. Gotta love Iowa in August.

The week/weekend has been filled with several activities and great bargains. This was my agenda for the weekend.

Friday- work, home and clean, bed! Going to have a busy day on Saturday

Saturday –

· 6:00am - up early (had to be at my nieces bridal shower/breakfast)
· 9:00am - arrive at shower shot lots of pictures.
· 10:30am - moms to change into river clothes , snap a picture of her flowers and load up the car for the bachelorette party and “Rip It Up’ session ( in case you are wondering, this is the same as a Trash The Dress session. I just wanted my name to be more unique.
· Noon – Rome Bar for the meet up of the bachelorette party. While we were there we did our Rip It Up session. What a hoot! Here’s a sneak peek at our fun.. New brides or soon to be brides - if you are interested in a fun session of destruction, let me know by visiting my web site . I actually have a couple extra dresses if you don’t have your own.
· 2:00pm - head down to the river for more of the “Rip It Up” session and a few shots of the bachelorette party hitting the river for a float trip. Not this gal, I had my camera and plans for later in the evening.
· 4:00pm – Down to Ketchum (this is where we camp) load up in the boat to get some on the water pictures of the gals.
· 4:15PM – BOAT IS DEAD!! Mom gets on the phone to call for help, Trent (soon to be groom) jumped onto our boat for some repairs, running again! Start it up and gets some air flowing. Finally back up the river. By this time it is over 100 degrees, get me back to the AC!
· 5:00pm – headed to the house to get ready for the races.
· 5:10 – passed a sign that said FREE JUNK! Of course I turned around. I was almost done loading my car when Rick pulled in. The first thing out of his mouth was, I knew when I saw the sign that you would be here. He loaded a few more things for me.
· 6:00 arrive at home in time to grab a sandwich clean up a bit the off to the races.
· 10:00pm – back at home, shower and hit the bed! I have to get up tomorrow and edit some pictures.

Sunday was not as bad. It was pretty much laid back, time in the pool and unload the car. Snap a picture for Jess to check out. I’ve been thinking of some crafty ideas to do with my “junk”. She has a great idea so I think for this I will steal her chalkboard idea. (sorry) Also wait to see what I have in store for the picture frames. You will be shocked. Martha look out here comes Tina !! Then I ended my day with a storm!


Until next time- stay cool!

Hey, hey, Bonnie

How do ya like me now?


Everyone is probably wondering, what in the heck is she talking about? Well this lady at work Bonnie, aka stiletto lady, looked at my last post , told me she liked my shed but commented that the door needed to be painted black. So, I went home and touched it up, smiling the whole time. Now I have to paint the windows to match.☺ Bonnie, I think I should take some pictures of my house and get your suggestions, oh wait, your designer is your daughter Jess, hmmmm.

I ♥ FLOWERS

Let's take a walk through my yard. ( thanks Bonnie for the post idea) All of these pictures are from my yard over the past couple weeks. Yes, I have a flower addiction ☺ Every time I bring in another Rick asks, where are you going to put that? Trust me I always find a spot. Here's my purdy blooms!

So have you had enough flowers yet? That's it for the back and front yard. I haven't taken all of them but you get the point of my title. I ♥ flowers!

Not much else going on here, breakfast this morning was yummy! We had a good old fashion high calorie, high fat content of orange rolls. Rick was busy hooking up the surround sound so I kept them warm with my Dining Stone . Then I kicked back with music and relaxation all day while Rick and our neighbor Eric worked or I should say tinkered in the shop. Rick is at it again. This time it's a Toyota land cruiser. He's playing chop it up and make it unique ☺. I will post a few of his pictures next week.

Until then, I wish you a great week!!

Change

That's what Obama says, It's time for a change! Well I'm going to start up a new blog. If you are reading this either I sent you an email or you found me by a search from one of my tag words. I have thought about it and discussed it with a few people and need to keep my ever so personal stuff and photography business separate. I'm trying to get followers and not everyone wants to read about how Rick and I have spent our week and some people could care less about photography(shame on you :) I'm sure my family will be thrilled that I have another page to add to their favorites ☺.My new blog will focus on my photography and ART web sites. Which will consist of my photo sessions with a few sneak peeks, my creative photo projects, back drops that I venture out to make or pick up at Hobby Lobby, impressive DIY ideas for photography, or maybe even a trick or trade that I learn online.I guess that's what it's really all about, a diary kinda thing so keeping it separate will be interesting!Ha, that brings back some memories. Did you ever have a diary? I used to write all kinds of silly things in mine. Do you remember the whole Dick Loves Jane 4-ever stuff and were you drew an eyeball + heart+ U? I DO!! Oh well not everyone grew up as cheesy as some of the things I did. OK, it's off to start up the new blog. If you want to follow my photography blog www.reflectedmemories.blogspot.com
add it to your favorites.