Rose Bowl, 2015: A Day I Will Always Remember

Item #5 for Winter Photograph Scavenger Hunt: Something that is over 100 years old

The 101st Rose Bowl Football Game

My son, Henry, attends the University of Oregon, and he is a huge fan of their football team, the Ducks. This year, college football started a four team playoff system, and the Ducks were selected as one of the four teams to compete in a semifinal game. It was set for the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, not far from where I grew up.

As soon as I heard the news, I arranged to get tickets for us to go. I put them under the tree, and he was over-the-moon excited! 

Before the game, we tailgated with some of Henry's fraternity brothers, their families and friends. And then entered the stadium (where we found we had excellent, field level seats).

The Ducks played great!

And ended up winning the game!

At the end of the night, I had one happy Duck

It was truly a magical day spent with my son. One which we will both always remember. A priceless memory and a fantastic way to start 2015.

Winter Photography Scavenger Hunt

Item #12: Silhouette

Thank you to everyone for your suggestions  about how to make the administration of the Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt easier. I'm definitely thinking about them and will be adopting some of the ideas.  In the meantime, I wanted to highlight the Wintertime Photographic Scavenger Hunt being administered by Joy of Daisy Row and Eileen of In My Playroom. They both emailed me during my blog break to ask if I would mind, and I certainly don't. I thought it would be fun to play along. I took the sunset silhouette above and then checked my photographs from December 1 and found a few other things on the list:

#9 Festive Lights (a house in our neighborhood)

#2 Someone wearing a funny hat (Aria in a green Elf hat)

#17 Texture (version 1) - stickered sign in trail head parking lot

#17 Texture (Version 2) Seed pods on a trail

#20 A Nativity (actually 3 of them)

Alternative A: New Life (baby Luna)

Alternate B: A Decorated Tree

Here's their list of items:

1. Reflection in water
2. Someone wearing a funny hat - done
3. Ornate door knocker
4. Breakfast
5. Something that is over 100 years old (coming soon!)
6. Winter weather
7. Someone dressed for the season
8. A fish
9. Festive lights - done
10. A letter shape in nature or in an object
11. Polka dots
12. Silhouette - done
13. Stained glass window
14. Partly built new building
15. Bunting
16. A collection (of anything)
17. Texture - done
18. Shadow
19. Street musicians
20. Nativity scene  - compulsory and can’t be substituted. - done

Alternative A - new life - done

Alternative B - a decorated tree - done

Are you playing along?

One Little Word 2015: Selfhood

{Mandala made with Deb's tutorial}

Selfhood:  the state of being an individual person; individuality.
Each year, for the last several years, I have been following Ali Edwards' practice of choosing a word upon which to focus; a word which could guide me in my journey through the year. My previous words include open (2007); flow (2008); accomplish (2009); horizon (2010); health (2011); home (2012); paramount (2013); and illuminate (2014). 
In thinking about my "one little word" for 2015, I was mindful of the fact that I currently feel like I spend too much time taking care of others and not enough time taking care of myself or feeding my soul. 
More importantly, I realized that I am beginning to resent it. And I hate that. I don't like the feeling of resenting caring for the ones I love most. And I doubt the building resentment escapes their notice, which can't feel good.
I also realized that this much hovering is not good for the ones that I love. It prevents them from developing their own ability to take care of themselves. It might even prevent them from developing and pursuing their own dreams because they feel like they have to pursue the dreams that I have for them instead.
It didn't take much thought for me to realize that this is not their fault or responsibility; it is mine. And so I need to take responsibility to change my behavior. It will make me happier and healthier, and it will be better for them, too.
So, I have chosen the word selfhood, which means the state of being an individual person. Its history includes claiming the right to be considered an individual and the development of your individuality and identity as a person.
At first glance, the word might seem a little selfish, but I know I will still care for my family. I'm not abandoning them. I also know that, out of necessity, I have spent the last few years taking on more care-giving than is healthy for me. And it's time to step back (a little)  and let go (a bit). Finally, I mean my OLW to include my wish that my children develop their own selfhood this year, and I will definitely be there to support and encourage that journey.
So, that's my word for 2015! What do you think? Have you chosen a word? If so, tell me about it or, if you've blogged about it, put a link in comments, and I'll come check it out.

2014 Blog Highlights,Struggles and Lessons Learned

Every year, I like going back through my blog to find the things that really worked for me. It helps me figure out what to do more of. This year, I also noticed several things with which I struggled and this has given me some clues about what I to change. Here, in no particular order, are my 2014 blog highlights, struggles and lessons learned.
Highlights:
1. Frugal Still Life Photography Class. Cheryl McCain offered this class (see my review here), and it opened a whole new world of photography for me. Looking back over my photographs for the year, I realized how much I like the photographs I took for this class, such as the one up top. In fact, I liked it so much that I just signed up for Kim Klassen's still life class called Be Still -52.

2.  Organizing my craft room, re-doing the bathrooms and purging the house like crazy (an outgrowth of my 2014 OLW and Do What You Love's New Year's Revolution). My one little word for 2014 was illuminate, which means to lighten and clarify. I used that as the impetus to down load the free class "New Year's Revolution." The worksheets helped me realize how much I wanted to have a clean, well-decorated, presentable house; one where I would be happy to entertain. And I accomplished about 90% of that goal this year.

3. Summer of Color Houses - Sponsored by Kristin of Twinkle, Twinkle. Every summer, for six weeks, she posts a color palette a week and invites people to create something in that color palette. This year, I chose little houses and loved the project! Confession time: I only did five of them, but I plan to finish the 6th one soon!

4. The Art of Practising Gratitude Tag Booklet. Bernice hosted this wonderful, free month-long meditation on gratitude which also featured lots of techniques. I chose to make tags and really enjoyed the experience.

5. Zoom In < Zoom  Out. Helena hosted this wonderful weekly meme, and I participated most weeks. You can see all my zizo's at this link. It was a good reminder to see the world through a camera lens.

6. Good Fences Link-Up hosted by the Run*A*Round Ranch Report and One Photo, Twenty Words hosted by Abi of Creating Paper Dreams. I enjoyed these photography memes very much, even if I didn't participate every week. You can see all my fence posts here.
Challenges:
1. Facebook ate my photos. In an attempt to short-cut the tedium of uploading photos to my blog, I often upload photos to Facebook first and then copy and paste the URL to my blog (especially if I'm using iphone photos). Unfortunately, these links don't last. So, when I go back to look at blog posts with those photos, all I see is a broken link. Argggh!!! So frustrating!

2.  Studying Under the Masters Class - I signed up for this class last January, and I've worked through a few of the exercises. The class is well constructed and can help develop fine art skills in drawing and painting. The challenging part is that these exercises (like the Georgia O'Keeffe shell above) were difficult and not that fun for me. I did enjoy creating the Matisse inspired still life though. I think that I have learned that representational drawing and fine art painting don't really excite me. I like photography and mixed media art better. It's a good lesson to have learned and will help guide my art work in 2015.

3. The Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt. I love hosting this event. I love coming up with the list and seeing the results. I love taking the photographs .  .  .  but, it is a bit exhausting. I think the lag in my blogging over the last half of the year is directly related to the rigors of hosting the hunt. I still plan to host the hunt next summer, but I need to find a way to do it that works better for me. All suggestions welcomed.

Post Christmas Thoughts

How was your Christmas? We had a lovely, quiet celebration. We had planned to go to southern California to see our extended families, but those plans got cancelled when Luna, Clara's puppy, joined our family. I really love spending time with our families, and I was sad to miss Christmas Eve with Paul's side of the family and Christmas day with my side of the family. But we did our best to enjoy ourselves. Paul made lasagna on Christmas Eve, and we had crab for Christmas dinner. We exchanged a few, large presents with each other.

 

Clara got her puppy, who decided to help unwrap the presents.

Henry got tickets to the Rose Bowl next week (he and I are going, and I'm super excited about spending that time with him). 
I also distributed some Giants baseball tickets to the kids. Clara gave me a new pair of Uggs, and Henry gave me a cool watch. Paul gave me the noise reducing head phones I've been wanting. For our anniversary, I gave Paul a nice watch; he gave me the Vitamix I've been lusting after. Mostly we enjoyed spending time together.
After our Christmas meal, I cleaned the last of the crab to make crab cakes. I drank the last of the chardonnay and began to think post-Christmas thoughts about my blog. I've got a few things I want to blog about:
*A series called "DMBB" (During My Blog Break) to record things that happened during the fall when I wasn't blogging (including Clara's amazing cross country season, Henry's adventures in Oregon, a trip to Montana, my awful encounter with poison oak, our volunteer work at Guide Dogs for the Blind, a wrap up on the kitten nursery, and other miscellaneous happenings);
*Two posts from the summer about the light at sunset and the light at sunrise;
*A wrap up post on my "One Little Word" from 2014 - Illuminate;
*A post on my "One Little Word" for 2015;
*A post on my favorite blog moments from 2014;
*A year-end Photo Heart Connection post; and
*Thoughts on current classes and where I see my "art" going in 2015.
And that should keep me busy for quite a while! What are you planning for the next few weeks on your blog?

ZIZO #33: Christmas Cards & Best Wishes to You!

It's Christmas Eve here in California, and I'm enjoying some time writing Christmas cards. Yes, I know they won't arrive before Christmas, but I'm still happy to send holiday greetings around the world. And I really love receiving the same.  I keep my cards in a basket on the Christmas mantle, and you can see a few of them above. Since it's Wednesday, I thought it was a good opportunity to take a pair of photos for Helena's weekly photo meme "Zoom In Zoom Out." 
It's also a good opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!
Most years, I send out two different types of cards. Hand made cards for my arty friends that I know will appreciate them and a photo card for family and friends. The latter includes a brief letter on the back of the card. Here's what I wrote this year:
"2014 was a good year. We enjoyed music (everything from Luke Bryan to Drake v. Li'l Wayne) and sporting events (World Cup, Giants winning the World Series and *soon* the Rose Bowl). We rebuilt our decks and remodeled our bathrooms. Clara turned 16 and got her driver's license. Henry transitioned from freshman to sophomore at University of Oregon, moved from the dorms to the Sigma Chi fraternity house, had a summer internship at Coaching Corp. in Oakland and traveled to Memphis where his club soccer team placed third at the national tournament. Maria and Clara volunteered at the Peninsula Humane Society, and they brought Frida home from the kitten nursery. Now, Clara volunteers at Guide Dogs for the Blind and raises backyard chickens for her egg business. She also runs really fast - she was the League Champion in Cross Country. Paul and Maria will celebrae their 30th Anniversary this month!"
I hope you and yours have a wonderful Christmas!!!

A Puppy for Christmas

My daughter Clara has been wanting to become a Guide Dog Puppy Raiser. She has been attending training classes and studying the training manual. She has written papers for school and volunteers at the Guide Dog campus in San Rafael. We told them we were ready to start puppy-sitting (the first step to getting a puppy of our own to raise).

And then the Guide Dog people came to inspect our house, and they decided that we weren't a good fit because our current dogs would not be good role models for a guide dog pup. They bark too much, and Aria was afraid of the two dogs they brought over. So, it turned out that we were out of the Guide Dog Puppy Raising business. . . .  and Clara was crushed. She had worked so hard, and her heart was truly broken..

After a few weeks of mourning her lost dream, she began asking if she could just get a regular puppy. My immediate reaction was "No!" I didn't want to get a puppy that would require a 10-15 year commitment. But, she was persistent and my husband Paul pointed out that we had been planning on taking on the puppy responsibility. 

So I gave Clara a to-do list of conditions to be met, including putting together a chart of responsibilities for dog care and finding a rescue dog, even though she wanted a lab puppy.

And she met every one of the conditions. So, meet Luna, Clara's Christmas puppy - a 7 week old yellow lab. There's going to be a lot less sleep over the next few weeks, but I think we've made the right decision. 

She couldn't be happier, even though she's going to be getting up at 3:00 a.m. to let her dog out!  Merry Christmas Clara.