Snap! Some dogs love water!

This spring, Clara volunteered at a wonderful animal sanctuary in southern California called Living Free. One of the projects she took on was refurbishing the pond in the "big dog park." She had to clean it out and fill it. She usually brought one of the dogs with her to the park while she did the work, and this one loved playing with the water while Clara filled the pond. I thought these action photos made a good foursome to share with Helena's snap meme this week.

Six Word Sunday: Break

The Egg's Lesson: Crack, don't Break.
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Every week, Miriam posts a word and asks contributors to create a short story with one photo and six words. This week's word is "break." See other short stories here. 

Six Word Sunday: The dog with grass green paws

"I wish I could garden everyday!"
Miriam is hosting a weekly meme of a story told in one photo and six words. Here's my entry for this week with the prompt "wish." You can check out others here.

Snap: Goodbye Dear Friend. . . .

We recently had to say good-bye to Clara's dog Aria. Those two had such a close bond, it was incredible. I created an art journal page to say good-bye and a photo collage for Clara. It's a bittersweet Snap to share at Helena's blog this week.

Photo Pairs: Then and Now

Luna arrived about a year ago. She was to quote Clara "the best Christmas present ever!" Facebook sends memories every now and then, and last week, they sent the top photo (which I posted last year). So, I snapped the second photo using my ipad to show what she looks like now. She is a great dog! And has definitely become a permanent part of our family.
This seems like an appropriate pairing to finish out the year of Helena's photo pairs meme . . . a year's worth a growth and a year's worth of photo pairs. I've participated most weeks, and I really appreciate Helena hosting this meme. She's got some new ideas percolating for 2016. Why not pop over to her blog to check them out and other photo pairs at Helena's blog.

Better luck next year! (A Christmas tail)

Weekend before last, we got our Christmas tree. We went for tall and thin this year (our ceiling is 12 feet tall, and it comes pretty close once we put the start on top). We strung the lights and brought out the ornament boxes. The first ornament on the tree?

Same as every year! The Santa Star I made in kindergarten. As an added bonus, it counts as item #4 A Star in the Wintertime Photography Scavenger Hunt. 

Speaking of which, why have one snowman for item #5 when you can have three?
Right now, I'd love to have a photograph of the fully decorated tree all lit up, but no . . .
Because these two

They look so innocent, don't they? But between the two of them, they managed to destroy all the lights on the bottom half of the tree (and a few ornaments to boot)! Well, they're both still technically babies. So, better luck next year!

Photo Pairs: Land and Sea

I had a very nice walk down at the beach today with Luna. She's become quite the swimmer and loves to fetch. It's a day late, but I'm linking up with Helena's photo pairs this week.

Photo Pairs: Lost and Found

Here's a tail tale of two cats - "Gerald" and Julie. Clara found Gerald (as she called him) while out running at the beach. Or, perhaps I should say, Gerald found Clara. He followed her from the beach and hopped into her car. This is not a portion of the beach with any houses nearby. And Gerald was pretty scrawny (and very hungry). Yet, Gerald was clearly a (former?) pet. You could tell he had worn a collar by the indentation on his fur, and he was so mellow and friendly. Of course, Clara brought him home. We posted on facebook, looking for an owner, but when none popped up, I took him to the Humane Society the next day. 
They scanned him for a microchip, found one and promised to look for his owner. And they did! It turns out that Gerald Charlie had escaped while his owners were on vacation; sneaking out on the house sitter. We were so happy to hear that they were reunited!
And the second cat? That's Julie. The kitten Clara adopted from the Humane Society this year. She's definitely comfortable in her new home, don't you think?

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Linking up with Helena's Photo Pairs meme this week. 

Well, hello there (Me on Monday)

It's been almost a month since the end of the Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt, and, like last year, I took a blog break. So, what have I been up to? Well, we brought this cute little kitten home from the kitten nursery (her name is Julie). The kitten nursery ended with us saving a record 230 kittens!

Went out to watch the lunar eclipse. Had my usual difficult time photographing the moon. And I'm still having camera-to-computer problems. I need to figure out how to get my photos from my camera to my computer. I'm thinking about diving in to lightroom, and I'm thinking about taking Jessica Sprague's class on it because I think she's very good at teaching this type of editing. I know that the inability to take photographs and share them has kept me away from my blog.

Work has been extraordinarily busy this semester, both my classes and my travel schedule. I did take an interesting work trip to Tulsa, Oklahoma. The amount of work has kept me away from my art desk and that has also kept me away from my blog.

I really want to get back to photography, making art and blogging. Hopefully I'll be able to fight through the various barriers and be back here more often.
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Linking up with Sian at From High in the Sky

Photography Pairs: "You lookin' at me?!?"

I spent some time out in the chicken coop recently with my big camera. I love this pair of photographs of Laverne and one of the Rockers. Catches their inquisitive nature and makes me laugh. So, I'm sharing them with Helena's weekly photography pairs meme. Check out other pairs at this link.

The State of the Flock and Photography Musings

Meet the Rockers! We recently added four barred Plymouth Rock Hens. We got them partly because we lost one of the Buff Orpingtons to a raccoon attack over the winter. But we still have two Buffy's.

As well as Laverne, our leghorn chicken.

And we have two Ameraucanus chickens. 

The older chickens are all laying really well, and we expect the rockers to start early summer.
This month, I'm musing a bit on photography. One of the things I sometimes consider is whether I can make an artistic photograph in the chicken coop. Of these, I think the one of Laverne could qualify. I think it helps when the photo is technically good, and I like the crisp focus, dreamy depth of field, color story and composition. I also think an artistic photograph needs some power and emotion, and I think I see it in the portrait of Laverne. What do you think?

Photography Pairs: Dog and Cat

Helena, over at Helena's Creative Maven, hosts a weekly photography meme where people share related photographs. This week, I'm sharing portraits of two of our pets: Aria and JJ. They both posed for me on Sunday and I am sharing them because I like the way the pair highlights their similarities (in color, perspective and gaze) and their differences (eye color and shape; size of nose; expression). I feel like I could stare at this pair for quite a while. What about you?

Scrapbook Friday: Some Members of the Menagerie

I have a goal to scrapbook at least four layouts a month and share them on Fridays on my blog. Right now I'm working my way through photographs from 2014. I have a couple layouts to share today, both featuring some members of our menagerie. First up is Frida, the kitten who we adopted from the kitten nursery at the Humane Society, where Clara and I volunteered during that summer. The pictures include snaps from inside the nursery, the first day we brought her home and from when she had grown into a nice young cat who believes herself to be the Queen of the Printer!

Next up, the chickens! Well, the focus of this layout is actually their eggs. I have a different layout planned about building the coop and getting the chickens. This one focuses on them starting to lay and Clara starting "Clara's Farm Fresh Eggs," her egg business. For those of you who commented before about the colors of our eggs - our white hen, Laverne, lays white eggs. Our brown hens, known collectively as "the Buffys" because they are Buff Orpingtons and we can't tell them apart, lay brown eggs. And our two americaunus hens lay blue/green eggs.Clara's customers love the variety.
Both of these layouts came together really quickly because the Frida layout used a premade blank layout and the egg layout was actually a sample layout I made for a class I taught a many, many years ago when we used to have a local scrapbook store. I actually pulled off the photos from the sample layout and added these ones instead! I was really pleased with how well the egg layout matched the class sample. I had figured I was use the top blank layout for zoo pictures, but we rarely go anymore now that the children are grown. And I think it works reasonably well for the Frida pictures.
Don't you?

Photo Pairs: Frida (ZIZO)

I had my camera out, photographing some of my cards and catching up on my still life photography class. And Frida would not leave me alone. So, I trained the lens on her and captured a perfect set for Helena's Photography Pairs meme. I went with the classic "zoom in, zoom out" concept. Shot with my 50 mm lens, I love her eyes, especially with the windows reflected in them. Puts me in mind of that quote about the eyes being the windows to the soul. For more photo pairs, check out Helena's blog here.

Luna's Latest Portraits

Our little pup is growing up!

Luna at 3.5 months (about fourteen weeks).

Goofy girl

Playing with side lighting.

Even models get dog tired.

Pairs #6: ZIZO with Luna

I've been enjoying playing with different ways of pairing photographs this year, in connection with Helena's '"pairs" photography meme. This week, I thought I would return to a classic pairing of zoom in/zoom out. 

We've been trying to decide what color eyes our Luna has - somewhere between green and brown, I think!
{Disclaimer: this was taken about a month ago - she is so much bigger now!}

Pairs #3: B&W and Living Color

I spent some time recently taking photographs of the dogs with my iphone. I took a cute portrait of Luna and then turned it to black and white using instagram. I thought these two photographs would make a good entry for Helena's pairs photography meme. I'm afraid there will be many Luna entries in this meme this year. I hope you don't mind.

Me on Monday: Polka-dots and Shadows

Winter Photo Scavenger Hunt Item #11: Polka-dots

Monday morning, sitting at the kitchen table in my comfy robe, pajamas and Uggs (which I wear as slippers). Joining in with Sian's "Me on Monday" meme.

How was my weekend? For me it was a:

Paul visiting L.A., so just me and my girl (plus all the animals) weekend;

a teaching the pup to walk on a leash

Winter Photo Scavenger Hunt Item #18: Shadow

Winter Photo Scavenger Hunt Item #18: Shadow

and giving the pup her first bath (plus brushing and nail clipping) kind of weekend:

Also, a starting a new eating plan, grading exams and doing laundry kind of weekend.

How was your weekend?

ZIZO #30: Frida Cat

Welcome to this week's entry for Helena's Zoom In Zoom Out photography meme, where participants present a close up and a shot taken from farther away. My zoom in this week was an easy choice - taken while my kitten was napping. But I really couldn't decide on my zoom out shot. Should I choose this one?

Or this one?

Or how about this one?

Aw, heck, I'll just include them all! Isn't she cute? She's half way between a tortoise shell and calico and is fitting in just fine. To check out other zizo pairs, click here.