Flower-licious!

Life with Big Dude...

Firstly, he's got my number (not that I'm all that hard to figure out). And he fully knows how to talk me into his schemes.

BD [on a Sunday afternoon]: So, do you want go on a drive somewhere to take pictures?

Me [no need to think about that]: Yeah, sounds good!

And from that point on I'm not hearing much, just gathering my stuff, throwing food at the boys, and picturing all the great pics I'll get from wherever we're going. Because Big Dude always knows the best places.

So, of course, I'm barely paying attention as Big Dude says something about going ahead and taking the minivan this time and if the place is any good, we'll take the truck and the dog next time. I mean, I heard him and all, but I didn't stop to question why he wouldn't take the van. Here's why ...



I guess he had a little off-road adventure in mind. Go figure. Down below, it's the rocks on the left that he had in mind that he wanted to get to. The railroad goes right by them, but no hard paved road. Next time we'll take the truck and the dog. :-)

How lovely are Thy dwelling places ...

How lovely are Thy dwelling places, O LORD of hosts!
My soul longed and even yearned for the courts of the LORD;
My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.
The bird also has found a house,
And the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young,
Even Thine altars, O LORD of hosts,
My King and my God.
How blessed are those who dwell in Thy house!
They are ever praising Thee.

How blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee;
in whose heart are the highways to Zion!
Passing through the valley of Baca, they make it a spring,
The early rain also covers it with blessings.
They go from strength to strength,
Every one of them appears before God in Zion.

O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer;
Give ear, O God of Jacob!
Behold our shield, O God,
And look upon the face of Thine anointed.
For a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand outside.
I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God,
Than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
The LORD gives grace and glory;
No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.
O LORD of hosts,
How blessed is the man who trusts in Thee!

Psalm 84

Texting Bee

Seen in the Sunday paper. Much amused us all. Artist: Dave Coverly


Oh, and it's Fix It Friday over at I Heart Faces ...

Some days we call this math.

A Date with My Middle Dude

Details:
1. A coupon for totally free yogurt!!
2. Because the yogurt was totally free, I felt free to be a big spender and treat my favorite 9yo to a topping!! woohoo!
3. All funky perspective care of the weekend with my trusty rental fish-eye lens.
4. Additional funky-ness provided by Totally Rad Actions, which just happen to be on sale til March 31.

FROG-O-RAMA

I thought our hike was just going to be PE for the day. But, I'm pretty sure all that frog action means I can count it as Science, too. :-)

Still Playing with Totally Rad Recipes

Here's another before and after example: (I have more TRA2 recipe before and afters posted here.)

Before

ISO 100, 85mm f/2, 1/1250 sec, Canon Rebel xt

After
Claire-ify 27%, Pool Party 75%, highlight and shadow separator (so very awesome to bring back in her darling freckles and details in her curly hair), very mild select-o-pop, and Warm it Up Kris 20%.

This image is also my kids entry this week for I Heart Faces - No Flash! There is probably no other single thing that I've done that has forced me to "see the light" (photographically speaking, of course) than turning OFF my flash. It's a course of action that I highly recommend for anyone wanting to take their photography experience to the next level.

As a contributing photographer at I Heart Faces, I'm not eligible to win the contests, but I surely enjoy playing along for the fun of it. Click the link below to go see other beautiful faces...

There is no unrighteousness in Him...

The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree,
He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
Planted in the house of the LORD,
They will flourish in the courts of our God.
They will still yield fruit in old age;
They shall be full of sap and very green,
To declare that the LORD is upright;
He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.

Psalm 92:12-15

Totally Rad Recipes

Boutwell's Totally Rad Actions are on sale til the end of the month. And after lusting after TRA's The Revenge for the last several months, I finally bit the bullet, pulled the trigger, bought the set. And ... I totally love it.

Over at the Totally Rad Blog, the Boutwells are hosting a "recipe" contest. I can't wait to see some of the entries and winners. I love seeing before and after images. I find them inspiring. Because I'm not so creative on my own. And because I'm a total copycat. ;-)

Anyway, I've been playing with a few "recipes" of my own. Here is some of the fruit of my hours upon hours sitting on my butt in front of my monitor leisure labor. My SOOC images are on the left or top.

It's fairly subtle, I think. My recipe, that is. I wanted something that would brighten midtones (Claire-ify is probably my mostest favoritest action in TRA2) and leave a slight pastel-ish toning over the image. So, my recipe is:

YinYang, Claire-ify (between 40-60%), Oh Snap! (adjust opacity), Faded Autumn (40-60%), Lux Soft (40-60%).

Here's the same recipe two more times...




On this last image, I additionally used Selective Pop and highlight and shadow separator (which were fantastic for recovering her darling freckles). The irony: for her pictures I had my in-camera saturation levels boosted, which is why the SOOC image is so vivid. In processing, I ended up, in essence, desaturating.

Here are a few more edited images, along with the actions I used:

YinYang, Faded Summer 15%, Oh Snap!, Yin, Dirty Lovin', Dirty Used Up, Burn Out 50%, highlight and shadow separator.




Flare Up, Dirty Lovin', Dirty Used Up 50%, Burn Out 40%




Wish You Were Here, Select Pop, P-O-S 65%.

So, there you have it. My first two days of playing with my new action set. Yes, the house is not as clean as it ought to be. No, the dog did not get walked. Yup, m'boys have been a little neglected. Certainly, my "recipes" can be improved upon. In fact, I'm sure this time next year (or even next month) I'll look back on these images and recognize their unsophistication and overdoneness. But, for now, I'm kind of pleased with my amateur efforts.

It seems he grew taller overnight...

When did Eldest Dude begin looking at Nana eye to eye?

Oh. Well, that explains that. ;-) Whew.

My Baby...

I hugged my favorite 5yo-boy-in-the-whole-world for the last time yesterday...



Today I hug my favorite 6yo-boy-in-the-whole-world.

The Canyon. Again.

Here's a view of my 'hood from the vantage of a hill in the canyon...



The creek that runs thru the canyon. Mountain biking is HUGE in this wilderness park.



The canyon ends at the ocean. It doesn't "green up" like this every year. And the years that it does, it doesn't last long. But for now, I'm drinking it all in. Yummy.



photo notes: the last three images all taken with the Canon 15mm fish eye lens.

Thinking....

inside the box.

Big Dude occasionally brings home big boxes from work. I keep them around til interest wanes.



Always keeping busy.

A Duel. Apparently.

Middle Dude's creation.

WoW! Look who we ran into at the beach...

And Edward brought a friend or two (or five) with him. Perhaps you recognize him?


Marshall from f/11.

And Marshall brought his beautiful wife. Perhaps you recognize her?

Julie from Journey to Family!

And they also brought along their sweet children:


They don't blog yet. But when they do, I'm sure they'll have some hilarious stories to tell.



Julie is a fellow dork-at-heart, so we immediately attempted our self-portrait to commemorate our afternoon together. Which is even dorkier when you consider that we did have Marshall and his fabulous camera right there with us, and could have had a traditional portrait with a much better chance of correct focus and exposure. :-}



Never fear, though. Marshall wasn't merely idly standing by; he was capturing the essence of our goofiness.



'Twas a very fun afternoon. I can't wait til we do it again.

I'm not a betting woman, but if I were, I'd bet that you could probably find greater detail of our afternoon together at Julie's blog. She uses many more words than I do. And she's WAY wittier than I am. But, if for some reason, she doesn't tell you about the nice but desperate wedding photographer who bought a CF card from Marshall, or how our 9 year-olds were too shy to become buddies til it was time to go home, or ... well, if she doesn't, maybe I will. And be sure NOT to miss Marshall's stunning b&w ocean landscapes.

The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed...

He presented another parable to them, saying,
"The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed,
which a man took and sowed in his field;
and this is smaller than all other seeds;
but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants,
and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches."
Matthew 13:31

Playing around with logos ...

and wasting HUGE amounts of time. Because Photoshop, really truly, is a foreign language to me. And graphic design is so NOT my forte. But here's some of what I've come up with. I strive for simple. But, I often muck up the simple as I "improve" the design. And then I end up hating what I've done. I'm sure there's some way I can simplify what's below, but it can wait for another day, when I've some time to spare and waste...

By the way, I'm totally open to constructive criticism or any brilliant ideas you all may have.

Oh, and here's the link for the super helpful tutorial I found for making watermark brushes: Jessica's Watermark Brush Tutorial. Also, Jodi at MCP Actions has a fabulous make/automate watermark action available free at her site.

Fix It Friday - Week 6

It's that time of week again over at I Heart Faces...

Real Life. 7:18 AM Thursday.

Me: [to the Dudes] C'mon guys. You've got the whole day in front of you to argue with each other. Pace yourselves.

The Dude Likes to Read...

The Dude wants to make note of a couple things:
1. He also saw the movie Coraline and enjoyed it immensely. Usually Kellers don't like the movie as much as the book. So this is notable.
2. He did not think the sequel to The Mysterious Benedict Society was as good as the first book, but still liked it.

The weird, wide world of Fish-Eye...

All these pictures were taken with the Canon 15mm fish eye lens that I rented for the weekend. 500 photos later (at home, at the gym, in the canyon, at the beach, in a mustard field, at the local shopping center) and I'm seriously in love with this quirky, kitschy lens. It's now totally on my "wanna have" list.

Verdant.

Ver-dant - adj., lit. Green; covered with growing plants or grass; fresh, flourishing.

I love that word. I love that reality. I love our currently verdant canyon.

Eldest Dude: "Hey, Mom. Here's some nice GRASS for you to take a picture of." [yes, I confess, ALL the Kellers have a well-developed sense of sarcasm.]








photo credit: Big Dude


photo credit: Eldest Dude

Hey! What are you looking at?


Oh. A coyote.

Water Supply in California

It's complicated. Really complicated. Millions and millions of people live here. And they need water. California has limited water. Millions and millions of acres of California land are used for farming/ranching - growing food, cotton, etc. to supply the nation, & indeed, the world. But California is really a desert. Only water transforms it into an agricultural mecca. And water is in low supply here.

Ok. Here's where I leave off all the technicalities of the huge infrastructure that's been created here to capture snowmelt and rain (before it drains to the ocean) and disperse it to the people and the land. But here's a picture of our biggest reservoir (it's actually the biggest "off-stream reservoir" in the US). And check out the water level. Anything that's brown, including those trees, should be covered with water.

Hmmmm, I've already used too many words in this post, sooooo, longer story shorter: not only does California have lots of people and lots of agriculture (and too little rain), it also has lots of lawyers and lots of special interest groups. Currently, a judge has issued an order not to pump any water into this reservoir due to some group's concern that the Delta Smelt (a fish) is heading toward "endangerment of extinction" status (nevermind that there's no proof that Smelt population is tied to pumps or water level ... stick a bandaid on it NOW and stop pumping!!!).

And further down the road ... here is some of the agriculture that's apparently not as important as the Smelt.

I Heart Faces - Creative Crop

My Kid and Adult entries this week are connected. They are "flip sides of a coin". Can you see why? And can you see what I used to "frame" their faces? I pretty much always try to crop in camera. Tho with the older gentleman image, I did shave a bit off all sides to bring him slightly closer. (I didn't want to crawl up too close and creep him out with my "covert" activity).

Ok. I totally can't keep a secret. The "shadow" reflected on the window in the first shot that's surrounding/framing my son, *IS* the man in the second shot. See his face? And his hands on the checkers?

As a contributing photographer over at I heart faces, I'm not eligible to compete, but I enjoy the weekly challenges. Head on over to I Heart Faces to see all the creative crops this week.

The grasslands of the desert overflow, the hills are clothed with gladness...

Thou dost visit the earth, and cause it to overflow;
Thou dost greatly enrich it;
The stream of God is full of water;
Thou dost prepare their grain, for thus Thou dost prepare the earth.

Thou dost water its furrows abundantly;
Thou dost settle its ridges;
Thou dost soften it with showers;
Thou dost bless its growth.

Thou hast crowned the year with Thy bounty,
And Thy paths drip with fatness.

The pastures of the wilderness drip,
And the hills gird themselves with rejoicing.

The meadows are clothed with flocks,
And the valleys are covered with grain;
They shout for joy, yes, they sing.

Psalm 65: 9-13

OMGosh, I think I'm in love...

... with the fish eye lens I'm playing around with this weekend. A few stats: 1600iso, f/2.8 (wide open, baby!), 1/320 sec. This fish eye is amazingly fun. It captures the ceiling AND the floor (and my own feet, if I'm not careful!), and even wide open (f/2.8) this picture is sharp from the front to the back. Well, Littlest Dude isn't all that sharp. But he would have been if I wasn't shooting at such a "noisy" iso or if I'd used flash. Fun, fun, FUN!

Fix It Fridays ...

Ok. It's no secret to you all that I love the fun, inspirational, creative and educational space that Amy & Angie have created over at I Heart Faces. But I especially love their site today. Because today, for their Friday Fix It, they are using an image I took of Littlest Dude. It's a sweet photo, but soooo very blah SOOC. And while I love taking photographs, I must admit ... it's so very true ... I'm not a Photoshop genius, and I'm not terribly creative. So what a treat it has been today to see the magical images that have been created by the I Heart Faces contributing photographers and the individuals who have linked their edits in Mr. Linky. All sorts of editing programs have been used (including some totally free ones!!). Go and see and be inspired!



Be sure not to miss Jodi's tutorial!
And, for sure, go see both these special edits:
Sharon's at Flip'n Crazy
and Teresa's at Art from the Heart.

Mustard and Blossoms

Mighty Oaks from Tiny Acorns Grow...

We drove up to Northern California this last weekend to attend my Dad's 32nd Annual Breakfast - the annual breakfast to which he invites all his clients and gives them an update/overview of their investments and the economy at large as well as a nice meal. It's been awhile since I've attended and 'twas nice to see all the clients and business partners. And it all got me to thinking 'bout things ... things like honesty, and integrity, and conservatism, and valuing and caring rightly about the trust that people place in you.

Do you remember that scene in It's a Wonderful Life when George and Mary Bailey dig into their own pockets to keep the bank doors open til closing? My Dad pulled that same kind of maneuver back in the 80's when his quick-thinking, out-of-the-box ingenuity saved his clients' properties from going under. When other real-estate syndicators were walking away from their properties (and their responsibility to their clients), Dad was raising funds to keep his properties afloat in cash-flow-negative years until interest rates finally dropped. And, it worked.

I'm glad and grateful that my boys need not look any further than to their own Dad, Grandfathers and Uncles to find men who walk in integrity in their business dealings.

Northern California

The Year of the Essay

Eldest Dude is taking the most remarkable online writing class this year. He loves the class. I love that he loves it. I really can't speak highly enough of the Classical Writing curricula or of Kathy Weitz, the teacher for the online class. Here is Eldest Dude participating in his class last week, and the resulting essay...

A soft answer turns away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger. ~ Proverbs 15:1

God used many people to convey his teachings to us in the bible. One of these men was Solomon, the third king of Israel. Solomon was probably most noted for his great wisdom and his great architectural projects. But it was also Solomon whom God made the chief author of the book of Proverbs. It is in this book that Solomon says, “A soft answer turns wrath, but grievous words stir up anger.”

Essentially, this verse tells us to keep our calm when dealt a wound. By responding in anger to any such blow, we will be exposing even more harsh words and injuries to ourselves. However, if we respond in calm to these angry words, we can also calm our oppressors. The reasons for this we will observe in the following.

If we choose to follow this advice, we will find ourselves with many more friends and allies than if we choose to shout back at our tormentors. People will think highly of us, because self-control is one of the most admirable traits in a person. And instead of fighting back and offering our enemies more chances to hurt us, with a few gentle words we can settle the argument and prevent any further dispute.

If, on the other hand, we don’t follow this wisdom, we would be living a very miserable life with few friends or potential allies. When we have a reputation as an angry and brash arguer, we can’t expect others to trust or respect us very much. And in continuously arguing with our enemies, we only weaken our relationship more with them.

Likewise, when we quarrel with family, we can settle the dispute much quicker with kind, soothing words than with loud and hurtful arguments.

Aesop’s fable, “The Bear and the Bees”, can be a witness to this verse. One day, the bear was roaming the forest in search of food. He came upon a hornet nest, and curiously began to probe around it. He was still in the midst of this when one of the swarm returned home. The hornet guessed the purpose of the bear’s action, promptly stung him, and flew inside the nest. The bear, outraged and furious at this injury, flew at the nest to destroy it. This simultaneously brought out the entire swarm, and the bear was forced to run for his life, only barely escaping by jumping in a pool.

We cannot close this essay, without an acknowledgment of the accomplished mathematician and physicist, Blaise Pascal, who said, “Kind words don’t cost much. Yet they accomplish much.”

After observing all these points, we can see that this advice of God as penned by Solomon should be very closely followed.

Pout-O-Rama

"Cease striving and know that I am God ..."

God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea;
Though its waters roar and foam,
Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
The holy dwelling places of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her, she will not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns.
The nations made an uproar, the kingdoms tottered;
He raised His voice, the earth melted.
The LORD of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our stronghold.

Come, behold the works of the LORD,
Who has wrought desolations in the earth.
He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth;
He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;
He burns the chariots with fire.
"Cease striving and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."
The LORD of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our stronghold.

Psalm 46