Backwoods Babble

I come to the end with mixed emotions. I mean, the frantic eeek! I need a new picture to match this, had it's moments, but it also gave me some focus. I am, however, delighted to have finished this! I finished! I got them all! woohoo me! Here's something that floats...well, most of the time..Hope the person attached to it was alright. And a park. This was a little tough, but then I remembered - up to MY interpretation. Here's a deserty park. And last, but not least, a celebration. What is more delightful than a wedding. I loved the decorations - stunning! And there it is, the last of my Sweetsauer entries! It's been so much fun! Now, I just have to decide on my next adventure... hmmmm what will it be.

Yup, I'm whining again. As much as the winters here are delightful, the summers really do not suit me well. I can only remember how nice it was to be at the beach. Time to plan another trip out there. Maybe, if I'm lucky, it will rain.

Triple digit weather today...that's normal for here. I'm hiding out in the air conditioned house. I wish I was in the picture below instead. Things should start cooling off in September...if we're lucky...**fingers crossed**

I was organizing photos today and found this shot of larger of my sketches. Again, in pencil. This was the first large drawing I did where I felt, wow, I might actually be able to do this... Go do something creative today!

It's getting down to the end. I'm almost there! After today's post, I will only have 3 items left! Today's entry includes: *A Garden *A Street Scene What's left? *A Celebration *A Park *Something that floats Here's a garden - desert style... And a street scene, a little different than you might think. This is a momma and baby wild horse. Yup, just wandering across the street about an hour from my house in Death Valley Junction. Happy Snapping!

I thought I should throw in a little "starting point" to give myself a reference point for any future improvements. This is a "negative space" assignment that I did for my drawing class this past semester. It's an interesting way to look at things. Instead of drawing the outside lines, you draw the shapes in between and the space around the object. It has helped since then when I've been stuck and looking for a way to make the shapes look right. I'll have a more recent sketch up as soon as the battery is finished charging from my other camera.

I thought we were going to have rain yesterday. We had thunder, lightning...it smelled like rain, but nothing ever hit the ground at the house. There was a rainbow though. If you look really hard you can just see it.

And here we go. Today's entry includes: *Something Vintage - Pre-1980 *Something Made of Glass *Something Made of Wood *Something Railroad Related *Something Round When I first saw the "vintage" option and then 1980, I thought "dang, am I thought old already???" Guess I am! =) This is an odd little piece and I'm only guessing when I saw it is pre-1980, so forgive me if it's not. This is from Rhyolite's "Goldwell Open Air Musuem", one of my favorite places to go. For the something made of glass option, I found this fabulous picture of a recent visit to the Bellagio, one of my favorite casinos on the Las Vegas Strip. So many things are made out of wood, but I liked this shot of the boardwalk at Badwater in Death Valley. This is one of the lowest points in the US, a few hundred feet below sea level. That is a dry lake they are walking on and water does sometimes appear out there. Most notably a few years ago, when there were huge floods...

I've got a few entries for today's post on the SweetSauer Photo Hunt #2. It's getting close to the end, so I want to make sure that I get them all in. First up - A Summer Activity. What says summer more than a trip to the beach??? **Can you tell I'm a little obsessed???** Look at how much fun all these people are having? Can't wait to go back for another visit! It is alwaaaaaaaaaaaaays a good thing to have relatives who live near the beach. Even better if they are fun relatives! Next up - some earth! I'm so into these beach pictures I took right now. Primarily, because it is blasted HOT here and I can remember how the cool breezes felt. It was a little toasty the last time I was out there. I got a wicked sunburn later in the day, but as I walked in the sand in the early hours, I saw this and just had to take a shot. Oh the waves crashing on the shore... and the FISHING! What's a better Summer Treat than yummy fish fresh from the sea. Hope this guy g...

My entries for today are some Signage and a Shadow. Both were taken during a fairly recent trip to California. ahhhhhh ocean... and beeeeeach. The first one is where we ate. It was a funky little dive-ish type place and the food was yummy! I can still see the heaping (and I mean heaping) pile of fries..mmmmm fries.... I'm not calling this one anything. It speaks for itself. We did get to go down to the beach a couple of times. Hence, the shadow. It's not of me, it's my mom, but I think it's pretty cool. Happy Snapping!

One of my friends and fellow bloggers is offering to send what looks like some yummy candy to the winner of her contest. All you need to do is add a comment to her BLOG . The rest of the details are there. Mmmmm Candy. To see the candy being offered... go to Gorenjka . Yum! Woohoo for me also! I have a new follower Sabrina! Her blog Signage Gold is fabulous! This brings me to 9, and 1 away from my first goal of 10! Are you going to be number 10???? Thanks also go out to my other blogger friend for using the Cutest Blog on the Block . It's where my background came from. Soooo much fun! I'm also now, with this post, 4 away from 100 posts. My goal for the year is 75% *274 posts* which I messed up a bit earlier this year, so we'll see if I can make it! Happy Blogging!

I've been meaning to post a couple of these since I took them. I was on the way back from Vegas and saw these amazing clouds. It was the beginning of a good size storm which is always my favorite time here in the desert. I just loved how the light was all funky... And look you can see RAIN! aaaaah.. rain... Here that just means it's going to be HOT and Muggy... I miss good old fashioned COLD rain. Soon.. oh soon.. I will see it again...

I thought I'd start another blog.. I'm blog crazy I tell you. Honestly, I thought it would be a good idea to help me focus more on sketching and all the art stuff I keep meaning to do, but never get around to. It's nothing fabulous or life changing, but it will be fun, I think to see how my work changes and in a year or so to look back at the chicken scratch and hopefully see improvement. That's the dream anyway!

I thought I'd combine these two since they are pretty closely related. I'm steadily moving through the list and narrowing down which of the pictures I like best. In some ways, this is more challenging than just finding something I love since I'm seeking out specific things. In other ways, it's easier than just stumbling across something. Hmmmm.... Here's my sunset choice. What I like about it is the clouds. Most days and nights are cloud free here, so I jump at the chance to get a good cloud shot whenever I can. I also really like how it's not a "typical" sunset with all the pretty colors. Though I really like those too. I call this one - Cloudy Sunset. I know super original huh? =) The next one could really also be a sunsettish type shot, but I like it for the sun flare entry. I especially like the bug splat on the side. I'm not sure why. I think it just makes me happy that it splatted and didn't bite me. So, I'll call this on...

Laughter is good for the soul. At least that is what everyone says. I really enjoyed laughing with my sister while she was here visiting. Ever laughed so hard that you snorted??? Oh those are the best laughs! Happy Snapping!

Daphne Du Maurier's Classics of the Macabre by Daphne du Maurier My review rating: 5 of 5 stars First off, I am so delighted to be having so much time to read right now. That will disappear in a couple of months and even over the next month as I study for my Praxis I exam. This is the third of DuMaurier's works that I have read.. and honestly, I'll be reading as many more as I can get my hands on. These short stories are fabulous! I have a hard time deciding which I like best though Don't Look Now and the Blue Lenses were equally creepy and may provide me with some trouble sleep. Remember those nights around the campfire telling scary stories? This is like that for grown ups! Really good stuff! View all my reviews. And since I am useless when it comes to working with any kind of code, it is not like that I will use it again. The book was truly fabulous and the Blue Lenses stories is still swimming around in my head... just like the boogeyman under the bed... s...

What says relaxation more than a cat? They really do rule in that department. This is my adorable and very torty-esque cat. Feisty. She is a rescue and she loves nothing better than to lounge.... Most often with her feet stretched as far as can make them go. I call this one... Meet Feisty. Happy Snapping!

Amazingly... my orchids actually bloomed. I didn't mess them up...I'm thinking they did most of the work by themselves. I am definitely NOT a green thumb. I have success with a very few plants. Orchids and African Violets so far. I even managed to nearly kill this plant that I was told was indestructible.It's a good thing they like to "dry out" between waterings... that helps with the forgetting to water them. This is the younger of the two plants. The one I thought was dead because the cats had eaten most of the leaves. It is half dead. I can tell by the roots, but the little keikis will be planted after the blooms are gone. Of course, that means I have to find decent pots for them which has been a struggle. sigh.... This is the older of the two (well soon to be many, many) plants that has not bloomed in two years. I think the addition of the fertilizer this year plus all the extra moisture (for here anyway) this spring has done wonders. It will also ...

I've been a little preoccupied fighting the laryngitis (again) so I haven't spent much time thinking about the contest. I am rather determined to finish it, so here's the next installment... out of order (eek! how will my ocdish brain cope!) I don't really like geese. They are mean.. they tried to snap at you when you bike by them; they hiss and they are HUGE. However, these ones seemed okay. They were going the opposite direction from me. I call this one... Goose Walk That's it for this post! Happy Snapping!

Okay, not popular demand, one demand... well, maybe a politely worded request from a friend. So, here it is for my friend. A photo of one the one collage that I did for my drawing class. It is vaguely humanoid, though maybe in a strangely mutant kind of way, but it was fun. Sure, it's not going to win any awards, but it was fun and certainly better than I thought I could do. Go create something today! =)