Phase 10 And Sour Apples

My Grandma came to visit recently. Whenever she comes, we play at least one card game - usually Phase 10 or Uno. This week, we played tons of Uno games, a few games of Phase 10 (one of which, she and I sort of tied...though, in reality, she and I were both on Phase 10, and she went out of cards first, so she won.), and a couple games of Apples To Apples. We like to switch Apples To Apples around and use the green cards as our hands, and the red cards as the ones we have to describe. We call this version "Sour Apples." I guess you can't possibly lose when you describe a choose-your-own card that says "Mark Twain" with a card that says "Mark Twain." :-D

I love spending time with my Grandma because she is just an amazing person. She always has a plan, and she makes sure everyone sticks to it (that's one reason why we lovingly call her "Sergeant Grandma."). And she cuts sandwiches lengthwise. And she makes hot cocoa and cinnamon toast for breakfast. And she has a cute Shi-Tzu named Bailey, who is so soft! He's a shy little puppy dog too.

She took me on a bus tour to Branson a couple years ago, and I had a blast. It was nearly Christmastime, and we got to see Jonah at the Sight And Sound Theatre, the Dixie Stampede (I love horses, so that was an awesome experience), Daniel O'Donnell, and quite a few other shows. By the time the tour was over, we were both tired! The week was full of things to do, places to see. I got to eat Sprite and ice cream for supper one night. ;-) It was a super fun trip.

A photo I took of the reflection in the ceiling of a truck stop we got off at during our Branson trip.

Sometimes my Grandma will call us or send small letters to each of us kids. She calls me Princess, and I love that nickname. I used to want to be Cinderella when I grew up (that dream was imagined recently when I got to dress up in a lovely, Baroque-period dress, and, as I half-ran up the stairs of the building, a lady referred to me in these words: "She looks like Cinderella!"). I guess I still want to be Cinderella - I just need a Fairy Godmother and a pumpkin coach.

A long time ago, she would take us girls (my Mom, Sunshine and me) to Victorian tea parties. We would dress up the part and attend the tea. The sugar cubes had icing flowers on them, and the tea was always delicious. There was a harpist one year, and I thought she looked like an angel. I always had fun at those parties, even though I was super shy all the time. I liked dressing up in pretty clothes for the parties. One year, the tea party was Scotland-themed, and my Mom dressed me up in a plaid skirt, white socks, dress shoes, a blouse and a beret. I looked so cute. One of the dishes they served was haggis. Try it first, then ask what it is. It was pretty good, as far as I can remember.

She taught me how to play Sudoku. I remember watching her write a 5, and since then I've written my 5 like that because I thought it was the prettiest 5 I'd ever seen. She makes the bottom half, then adds a long, sweeping line on top. I have a thing with numbers, so I love how she writes a 5.

At times, she'll accidentally leave one of her books at our house, and I'll find it. They're usually Amish novels and short stories, sometimes a really good mystery. I think that's what got me started with liking novels - her forgetting a book on the end table, and me picking it up.

She bought one of those record-your-voice books where you speak the words on each page and it plays back to you whenever you turn the page. We have that book in a special place, and sometimes I take it down and turn the pages and listen to her read the storybook. I love the last page of the book, "I love you round and round the world. I love you through and through. And when it seems impossible to love you more, I do." That's her. That's my Grandma.

When we had to move to a house that didn't allow pets, she said she would take care of my guinea pig, Inca, at her house. We were so close to having to move, and I'd have to leave my little baby, and who stepped in to keep that from happening? My little Inca was very happy there, I know.

My Grandma tells stories about Peter Rabbit and baby squirrels, makes imaginary sandwiches on our backs, makes sure you wake up at a good time, acts like a kid when the opportunity presents itself, and is always ready to do something with you.

I love my Grandma. She's too amazing for words, but I hope you can see just how much I love her.

Sergeant Grandma, you're the best.

Love,

July 4th!

Happy 4th of July!!!

I love fireworks so much, and today is really, really special. We bake a cake and put lots of frosting on it. And we watch the fireworks go off outside. And we smile because everything is so beautiful.

Emmy, this is for you. ♥

Emmy, you will always be my little strawberry. I love you so, so much and so, so beyond words. I'm sure you would love the fireworks here. They are just for you.

I love you, little sis. ♥♥

Sunny Palomino

During our family trip to Colorado this Summer, we rented out a ranch cabin, and it was right next to the barn where they kept the horses.  In the afternoon, one of the owners left a pretty palomino in the barn, and (as usual) I got super excited and got my camera. 

He stood in the dark for a little while before walking out into the sun.  That amount of light added a new dimension to the shot, in addition to the darkness in the background.  Also, the horse's face is in direct line with the wooden beam, which isn't dead center in the photo.  It's a good rule of thirds, and the colors blend well.

Any ideas or opinions on this photo you would like to share?  Tell me in the comments below!  And don't forget to subscribe to the blog to receive post updates!

Silky Webs

The majority of the photos in this series were taken on the same day in the same field.  I was doing a photoshoot with my brother, and the one thing that always happens (just ask my brother) is that I get distracted by interesting things.  Not that my brother isn't interesting, but I'm just digging myself deeper into a hole, aren't I? ;)

The photo above took my fancy, with the spikiness of both the plant and the web itself.  Since it was later in the morning (around 10 or 11 AM), the sun was getting higher, and I had to adjust my shutter speed so as not to overexpose the web.

A flower in the corner is more the subject than the string of web, but the web adds to the composition as a leading line.

I thought the spider above was actually just a piece of dirt...until I looked at the photo on my laptop screen!  There is also a fly caught in the web in the corner, which you might not have noticed.  I like the fact that the web lines are visible.

Dried-out and dead, these flowers (or whatever they once were) sat in my garden, since overgrown now that our plants are gone.  The lines of webbing encircle the plant, and the background is well-blurred.

Stuck against a twig, this web was very peculiar.  The funny-looking lines that are positioned away from the twig seemed like big block letters you might see on an advertisement.

Colorado Cliffs and Fields

Colorado is one of my favorite states.  It's colorful.  It's full of mountains.  There's about a million photo ops.

We drove down road after road, and I was taking shots of nearly everything I thought of as interesting.  This single tree was standing in a field, and I quickly took a photo (when your dad is driving 75mph, this is necessary).  The mountains are gorgeous, and we love to see them turn from faint outlines to massive shapes as we drive through the state.

The dirt road beside us twisted endlessly, and I loved the shape it made.  The green and brown contrast brightly together.  There's a nice leading line, too.

City Clouds

Sometimes, it's a really nice thing to have someone else be the driver.  I have a lack of self-control when it comes to taking pictures (and everybody knows it!).  I must take that photo.  I need to take that photo.  That's what it's like for me most days.

So, when we were driving through the city one afternoon, we were turning, and I made a snap decision (pun intended) to take this photo.  It turned out pretty good for not having much composition.

Colorful Skies

The sky is so beautiful, it's crazy how I ignore it some days.  It's just there all the time.

The photo above was taken after a light storm.  The rays were shining through the clouds.  It was so beautiful.

A lot of my sky photos are taken mostly around sunset-time, and others are when I mowing our huge lawn.  I get a 360-degree view of the sky when riding a lawn mower, so I like to run into the house to get my camera, take a few composed shots, then rush back to continue mowing.

Since there aren't any trees for a half-mile around our house, I get a clear view of the sunset every evening.  The oranges and grays are especially pretty.

Restaurant Mural

On our trips to Colorado throughout the years, our family has taken quite a few stops at quite a few gas stations.  But I don't think I've ever had a photo op quite like this one on any of those stops.

I walked out of the gas station with some of the younger siblings, and was fascinated by the beautiful mountains, clouds hanging over them.  I hooked up my telephoto lens, and shot a few frames behind the van.  But what really fascinated me was what I saw when I looked away from the mountains across the street.  An artist was busy painting up a mural on a Mexican restaurant (you can see the pink on the blue river painted on his right side), and was hunched over, inspecting every detail.

I cropped this photo to a letterbox shape to create a sort of panorama of the building.  I didn't notice that he was dipping his brush into the paint bucket until I viewed the photo on the computer.

I zoomed out for most of the shots, wanting to have empty space for cropping later.  The artist reminded me of something I had read in a  photography edition of a magazine: "If you start feeling like an artist, your photos will turn out much better."

I tested out some dodging and burning techniques I read about, and this one was taken when we pulled out of the parking lot, and (although it will never be good enough for Flickr) I think the blur that was caused by a slight bump in the road adds a little atmosphere. 

On our way home, I didn't get to see what the end product looked like, but I'm glad I siezed the moment when I could.  Sometimes, photographers (including me) forget to look up from the limiting viewfinder, and don't notice what else is around them.

City Reflections In A Car

I was hanging out in our van with my camera as my Dad drove us through town to Church.  I was using my telephoto lens (gotta be careful pointing a camera around in a car in the city...a photographer can get weird looks that way!), and we hit a stoplight.  A car pulled up next to the vehicle in front of us.  It was way too great of a shot to just let go.

I took a few photos with my lens zoomed in a ways, and then the light turned green.  The car sped off, and I turned back to taking photos of stoplights. 

That happened last month.

I was looking through my June folder, and found this photo.  I hadn't realized that I had captured so much of the street's reflections!  It was beautiful, I thought.  The best reflection photo I've done so far.

Have you shot photos, just having fun, and one of them came out better than you thought it had?  If so, I would love to hear about it!  Comment below and tell me what it was like.

P.S.  Did you all see the supermoon last night?  I'll be posting some photos of it soon, so keep checking back.  Have fun taking photos!

The Trip For Kip

Recently, one of my many wishes came true.

This is Kip, the newest member to my family.  Today, he is two months old.

Earlier this week, my family bought him and drove him to a trainer.  We didn't have a name for him until about halfway into the trip.  Our two choices were "Kip" and "Chai".  My Dad let him out of his crate to walk around, and called me out of the van to take some "classy photos" to send to friends.  It took a bit, but a few photos came out well (he actually looked into the camera!).  That's when my Dad started calling him by the name Kip.

Back when I was a little kid, my family had a big black Lab named Scout.  He was a nightmare!  My Dad was training him, but then became too busy with work to do much with him.  Scout took that advantage to let loose all his playfulness.  His tail had enough force to knock a person over (or give them the slap of their life).  We eventually gave him away, and he became a hunting dog.

Kip is a very good boy.  He isn't overly dominant, and definitely not shy either.  We sat down on a picnic blanket to watch him, wondering if he was the one.  Kip sat there by the fence, watching us.  More like guarding us.  My Mom said it was like he was choosing us, not the other way around.

After a while of thinking, we sat down in our hotel room to discuss our choices.  We finally came to a conclusion that the "dog with the ticked legs that keeps watching us" was our new hunting dog.

We went back to the dog pen, picked him up, and my Dad signed the papers for the puppy.  We put him in a kennel in the back of our van, and left.

I felt kind of sad as we drove away from Kip, leaving him at the trainer's.  He was sleeping on the grass, worn out from playing.  The trainer's daughter picked him up and cuddled him.  Right then, I felt really sad.  That girl's playing with our puppy, our Kip, and we've only had him for three hours! I thought, watching him until the van turned the corner.  I couldn't see him anymore after that.  But he'll be back soon.

Patience is a virtue, and I need more of it.

My Biking Adventure With Paprika

A friend of mine came to my house with her camera.  After a few just-for-fun photography video interviews (some we would never post online!  They were just too funny!), we headed outside, cameras in tow.  It was a sunny, hot day...but photographers are supposed to do almost anything for a good photo, right? 


In my backyard, wheat is growing high.  It's so beautiful on a windy day (amber waves of grain, you know). 

We went biking down the road a ways before coming to a hilly area near a huge field of corn.

We hopped on our bikes after pushing them up the hill, and found flowers on the shoulder of the road.  The daisies growing there were so tiny and beautiful.

On our way back, Paprika (that's my friend) stopped for a bit to photograph a bird, and I went ahead to a pasture where cows were walking past a barn.  One cow was slower than the rest, and as she rounded the corner, I shot photo after photo.  I wish I'd brought my telephoto lens, but next time I'll be prepared!

We trudged back inside.  My legs were aching a bit because of all the uphill climbs, but our brothers had made chocolate chip cookies (and this time, they didn't burn them, but that's a different story!).  That made everything better.  And I also got some good photos that day!

B&W Blue Jay

My Grandma has a bird feeder in her front yard near the living room window.  There's a bar that holds it up.  A blue jay sat there, as if guarding the feeder from the pesky crows that bothered the sparrows drawing near.

I used a telephoto lens to get closer, then turned the color to black and white and added "spotlight" via PicMonkey.  The bird became softer without so much bright coloring, and I like it that way sometimes.  With less color,  more imagination comes from the picture one tries to paint.  More mystery.  More emotion.  It's just cool to use black and white anyway! :)

My First Shoot

Today, I shot clays for the first time.  Strike that.  I shot a gun for the first time in my life.

It's the most amazing thing I think I've ever done (besides a headstand, I guess).  And when you eject the shells to reload, it smells like fireworks!

The group I was in shot .20 gauge shotguns and an over/under shotgun.  I felt a little discouraged at first because I didn't hit a single clay in the first round (nobody did, in fact), but after getting the hang of it...and shooting incoming clays, which are easier...I shot three clays in a row!

We switched areas with another group later on.  The area was open with fast, outgoing clays (those are a bit harder to shoot).  I think that was more fun than the last place.  I shot four in a row, and would have shot five had the wind slowed down a little more.  The last round, however, I shot ten out of fifteen.

The instructor told me that my dad and brother should watch out because I'll be better than them. :)

After watching the other people in my group shoot, the man let me finish the day off.  He kept giving me shell after shell until he ran out!  I said "pull" to my heart's content (well, not really...I would've shot at least 50 more clays if he'd had enough shells and time!), and by the time my mom came to pick me up, I had a lot to tell her about. 

Before I left, the instructor told me to come back soon.  I definitely will...after I get my own over/under shotgun!

Muddy Feet

Little Brother walked outside in his pajamas during a slightly rainy day...without any shoes on.  I followed him around as he would stop and check something out, then continue on.  This is one of the shots I took.  Baby and toddler feet are adorable.  They're chubby, small and full of energy.  And they help the baby follow its best friends around everywhere.  Get to know your energetic kid.  They're the cutest models you can get!

Relaxing Sister

We were flying kites one day not too long ago with our grandparents, and had a brilliant idea.  After we ran out of string on the kite we'd put in the air, we tied another round of string onto the plastic holder.  Then another, then another.  We ended up tying 5 other lines to that original string!  That came up to over 700 feet of line!  We could hardly see the kite, much less the now-tiny string.

Little sister took a turn holding the string for a while.  After relaxing on the grass, she passed the line to little brother and sat up.  I was sitting behind her, taking photos of baby brother blowing bubbles through his little wand.  I thought sister looked pretty, closing her eyes and feeling the breeze.  This was the only photo I took of her in this pose.  I liked how it turned out.

Tree Bud

I was at my Mimi's house a few weeks back.  Her backyard is covered with flowers...all of which she planted herself.  There are trees and bushes with white, pink and fuchsia buds too.  Whenever I go there, I'm sure to bring my camera along.  While I have my fair share of family conversations with my grandparents, I also take a lot of photos at their house!  It was a windy day, cool and sunny.  This was a flower on one of her beautiful trees.  I like the green background and how everything besides the flower is blurred.