Up Close and Personal

59/365 - Up Close and Personal

A Sentiment, A Smile, A Detail.

I have to be honest and say that this was not taken on Feb 28th as it was suppose to be. I DID take a picture that day but it really didn't do anything for me. Then the next day, March 1st, I was able to take some really close up shots of birds at my Mom and Dads house. When I saw these pictures I knew I wanted to use one of these rather than the boring picture I took on the right day.

Right outside the big bay window in my Mom and Dad's kitchen is a very large bird feeder that my Dad made. Its a big center post with four arms out from the post with long feeders on each arm. They have tons of birds and so many different kinds. The morning I took this, there were 3 different kinds of woodpeckers, all kinds of bright red cardinals, finches and many other kinds of birds. At one time there wer 17 doves on the ground eating the spilled food.

It looks weird but I like the blurry bird in the background.

Essential Equipment

58/365 - Essential Equipment

Gear, Necessities, Outfit

So I might have take this prompt to the extreme. My first thought was of my camera, lenses and bag. I got my little pocket camera out to take the picture and the battery was dead and I couldn't find the charger.

I had to get creative, and after looking around the house, what could be more necessary than the commode, unless its the roll of toilet paper that you can barely see around the edge of the wall.

From the Side

57/365 - From the Side

A Profile, A Part, An Edge.

This was the second wave of our big winter storm. We had 12 inches one week and 10-12 inches more 5 days later. This snow was really wet and heavy and it clung to every surface. It was definately blowing from the north because thats the side where all the snow is. I took the picture of the big tree but looking at it, I really like the little tiny branch on the right side. Thats alot of snow piled on just one side of the branch.

A Cup of ___________

56/365 - A Cup of ___________

Coffe, Tea, Orange Juice.

I don't really drink anything that comes in a cup except the occasional hot tea. Brian drinks hot tea quite a bit. So this his evening cup of tea in the Goofy cup that I picked out for him last year at Disneyworld. He uses this cup for his tea and his morning coffee on the week-ends.

For the Love of Music

55/365 - For the Love of Music

Listening, Playing, Dancing.

This is my piano that I got for Christmas in 1974. It was a total surprise. I had asked for a piano every year from Christmas for years, knowing full well I wasn't going to get one. This year on my Christmas list, I hadn't put a piano on it. My Dad questioned why I didn't put it on the list this year. I said I had given up on getting one.

I had taken piano lessons for 8 years from Maude Wilson. I used the old antique upright piano that my Grandma and Papaw Stephens left in the house when they moved to California. When my Grandparents moved back, we built a new house and moved. The piano stayed at the old house with them.

I was spending the day at Grandma Grace's because we were out of school. My Mom and Dad came and got me at my Grandma's to go home and eat lunch and when we walked in, the piano was sitting in the living room. I came up the steps from the basement and I was so shocked. I could not believe I finally had a piano. I sat right down and started playing it. It was a wonderful Christmas surprise.

Every year Mrs Wilson would have a piano recital and you had to have your piece memorized. My Mom use to say that I did more practicing in the month before my recital than I did the whole rest of the year. I use to get so mad at Mrs Wilson and when my Mom picked me up from lessons I would cry and say I wanted to quit. I did that for a really long time and then one day when she picked me up and I said that, she said okay. So I quit. Its a decision I regret to this day because I can't play as well as I would like to or as well as I probably could have had I kept taking lessons.

The piano now lives in our home and this is a picture of the last recital piece that I played in my last recital.

Framed

54/365 - Framed

Cupcakes, Fruit, Cookies.

I'm not sure what those three things have to do with the word framed. When I saw the prompt for today I thought of picture frames. I really don't have any really cool or antique frames but I did think of the very old picture that sits in the spare bedroom.

This is a picture of my brother, Jimmy, age 6 years and myself, age 1 year. This is the cardboard frame that the pictures came in and they have lived in this frame for the past 54 years. It's old, its discolored and its a little beat up but I still like it.

This frame sits on an antique dresser scarf that my Grandma Grace made. The scarf sits on top of a cedar chest that was handmade for Aunt Geneva and was passed down to me.

Sweet Treats

53/365 - Sweet Treats

Cupcakes, Fruit, Cookies.

We went to dinner with Geoff and Molly and ended up at Perkins for dessert. Believe it or not, I did not order anything but this was the lemon meringue Geoff ordered.

Performance

52/365 - Performance

Acting, Entertaining, Dramatic.

We did get the snow, it was just later coming than expected. There was no school and even MNU closed the offices. Of course I didn't realize they had closed until after I was up, showered, dressed and ready to walk out the door. Looked at my phone and there was the message.

I was ready for the day so Jennifer asked if I wanted to come over and scrapbook. Nick came to pick me up as the roads were already really bad. I took my camera because I knew either Brooklynne or Jentry or both would be performing some way. Either they would be singing, dancing or gymnastics. Never did it occur to me that it would end up being Noah and Nick who were performing. They were in the downstairs family room playing Rock Band and I was able to get this picture.

I have to admit, I didn't stay long for the performance. I think they may need a little more practice :).

Look Up

51/365 Look Up

From the Ground, On Your Back, At an Angle.

They are calling for snow and I was really hoping it would start in time for me to go outside and look up at the snow falling but it didn't start.

So, I had to look around the house and figure out something else. All there is here is boring ceiling so I laid down on my back in the middle of the kitchen and took a picture of the ceiling fan. Thank goodness you can't see all the dust on it.

Sure wish I was more creative with my prompts but it just doesn't come to me.

A Tree

50/365 - A Tree

Out a Window, Without Leaves, One.

We have several bradford pear trees in our yard, and you may remember several pictures during last years project of the trees budding and blooming. Figured I may as well get a picture of the bare winter look. Stepped outside and the sun was coming right through the branches.

I'm sure there were probably things I could have done to make this a much better picture technically but this is what I came up with.

A Favorite Snack

49/365 - A Favorite Snack

In a Dish, With a Spoon, On a Plate.

A great day at work is when Joyce shows up with her WARM chocolate chip cookies at 8:00AM. No matter what is going on, it will be a good day.

Joyce has been bringing in her warm cookies for us for at least 10 years now and maybe longer. There have been days in the past that I didn't eat anything all day except her cookies. Yes, I think I hold the all time record for how many cookies I have eaten. Not so sure you should be proud of a record like that I kinda am.

She brings them to her class every test day and we also get our own bag. We try to keep track of her test schedule just so we can expect our treats.

I love to snack and I'm sure there are a lot of snacks that could fall into the favorites category but Joyce showed up with these this morning I knew this had to be the picture.

Thanks Joyce for the cookies and providing my picture of the day.

Color from the Garden

48/365 - Color from the Garden

Flowers, Multi-Colored, Green.

I don't have a garden and there are no flowers in our yard, even if it was spring. But I did have this pot of daffodils that a co-worker gave me on Valentines Day.

Not a great shot, but its a photo of the day.

Emotion

47/365 - Emotion

Love, Feeling, Happiness.

I really did take this picture today. I have taken lots of basketball pictures before today but got a few new shots for todays prompt.

Not sure what label you would put on this emotion but to mean it is very intent. He is thinking and focusing and that emotion show on his face. Also the emotion on the faces of the two coaches in the background, maybe expectation.

Pride

46/365 - Pride

Pleased, Proud, Satisfaction.

Here is a group of my friends doing what we love to do, scrapbooking! I think I can't speak for all of us when I say we take great pride in the albums that we create. It's a fun hobby and we enjoy making the books but the pride and satisfaction come when our family and friends look at the books and to see their faces and to hear their comments.

I know for me, to watch my grandkids look at the books over and over makes every minute spent working on the books worthwhile.

This was a Friday night crop. We get together, eat, laugh and scrapbook. A fun and productive night spent with good friends.

Love

45/365 - Love

A Heart, A Hug, A Word.

Not at all creative but this represents our love for each other. Happy Valentine's Day Brian.

Swing

44/365 - Swing

Back & Forth, Sway, Carefree.

The first thing I think of when you see the word swing is of course a childrens swings. I didn't want to do the obvious so I did something different.

I knew someone in our office had a pendulum clock so that's what I chose to photograph. Funny thing is, this clock does't even work. It's always 10:00 but the pendulum keeps right on swinging.

Celebrate

43/365 - Celebrate

Fat Tuesday, Amusement, Enjoyment

You don't have to have a reason to celebrate with donuts. Usually I use donuts as a Friday treat but we had to get out this morning to go pick up Jentry so today was a donut day.

The kids love donuts and so does Grandma.

Entertain

42/365 - Entertain

Dinner, Amusement, Enjoyment.

One of our favorite TV shows is Biggest Loser. Even the grandkids like to watch it. This is definitely Monday nights entertainment followed by Mike and Molly.

Guess you could say we are easily entertained.

In the Garage

41/365 - In the Garage

Working, Creating, Parking.

Didn't put a whole of thought into this one. Just went out and took a picture of the side of the garage that we don't park the Mountaineer in.

When I saw this picture, I was a little embarrassed about the way our garage looks. That side of the garage is pretty much a catch all. The Excursion won't fit in the garage so we use it to park the trailer and motorcycle in. Doesn't take long to start piling things on the trailer because it doesn't move all winter.

Looks like a good garage cleaning will be on the top of the list for spring cleaning.

Through the Looking Glass

40/365 - Through the Looking Glass

Your Reflection, You, Self Portrait.

I knew I didn't want to do a picture of me in the mirror because I did that just a few weeks ago for another prompt.

Thought I would take a little different approach and thought of the book. Made a trip to Barnes and Noble just to take a picture of this book. Of course we enjoyed looking around while we were there. There is not such a thing as a wasted trip to B&N.

More Than One

39/365 - More Than One

Multiple, A Dozen.

As easy at this prompt sounds, I found myself looking at lots of multiple things but couldn't really come up with anything that I wanted to photograph.

After dinner we decided on hot donuts for dessert. There was my answer. Hot donuts coming off the assembly line.

Use Your Senses

38/365 - Use Your Senses

Smelling, Seeing, Touching.

When Caleb came by to drop the kids off, he looked up a couple of videos on the iPad. So I interpret this as a seeing and hearing picture.

Still not fond of these Feb prompts. But maybe its just me not being creative.

Backlit

37/365 - Backlit

A Silhouette, Flare, Illuminated.

I tried a couple of different things and this was the once i chose. Actually its the one that my friend picked.

I was hoping for a silhouette of Brian standing by the tree branches looking at the sun but by the time I got home it was clouding up and the sun was gone. Not sure this qualifies as backlit but its the best I could come up with.

Nap

36/365 - Nap

Cat Nap, Sleeping Child, Snooze.

This is baby Maesyn down for her mid morning nap. I like the way her little lips show up so good. She looks so peaceful.

Beat

35/365 - Beat

Music, Dancing, Movement.

This was a tough one. We don't have any musical instruments in our home except a piano. I looked through a bunch of my music books and couldn't find a single song with "beat" in the title.

I went down to the basement to look around at the grandkids toys. I found a tool bench and shot a couple of pictures of the plastic hammer and nail but it really didn't do it for me. I also found a plasitc drum but when I took the picture, you couldn't even tell what it was.

I got out my Bible and found a couple of scriptures with the word "beat" in them but the pictures really didn't come out good enough to use.

So, I resorted to the kitchen for my mixer beaters. I know it isn't original or very exciting but after spending a long while trying to get a decent picture I was tired of messing with it.

I'm struggling with February's prompts. I hope they get easier.

A Pop of Red

34/365 - A Pop of Red

A Heart, A Flower, A Kiss.

Wasn't really sure where I was going to find the pop of red for my picture today. I had mentioned to Brian was the word prompt was and that I didn't have any ideas.

After church we ran to Target and just as we pulled into our parking spot Brian said "there is your pop of red". Sure enough, not only the car, but the carts and the cart sign.

Its fun to have Brian help me come up with ideas and for him to look for things for me photograph.

Shadow

33/365 - Shadow

Yours, A Shape, Repeating.

Brian and I visited a little shopping place in Lee's Summit called Cockrell Mercantile. Its five little cottages, each filled with different things. The one that drew us there was the fiesta cottage. It was crammed full of fiesta dishes. We also enjoyed the kitchen cottage and the mercantile.

The sun came and went in the afternoon but walking from cottage to cottage I did notice our shadow as we were standing by a tree.

Heartfelt Sentiments

32/365 - Heartfelt Sentiments

Words, A Note, A Sweetheart.

My usual pattern is to look at the prompt for the day and the email first think in the morning and then think about it until I come up with an idea.

I had a couple of things pop into my head but when I really thought about heartfelt sentiments I thought of the cross stitch picture that I stitched for my dear Grandma Grace several years ago. I found this pattern and I loved every single word it couldn't have been more true for my Grandma. She was the most precious gracious person you would ever meet.

This sampler hung in her home and then moved with her to the nursing home. It was even read at her funeral.

I spent so much time with my Grandma and loved all the memories we made. She was a huge part of my life and for that I am so grateful. She has been gone for almost 22 years now and I still miss her so much. But as the sentiment says, what my Grandma gave me will never fade and can never be taken away.