Prize Day for One World, One Heart Blog Event

The One World, One Heart Blog Event was so much fun!  It was great to visit blogs from all over the world and discover some new favorites.  Here's a couple I want to highlight that others might enjoy:
Altered Alchemy - she does all kinds of cool things with metal and rust
Altered Bits - Assemblage to make your heart sing!
Digital Collage - Something for you photoshop fanatics
Athena's Creative Journal - art journaling with an Italian flare
When the Sun Comes Out - stained glass from Houston
And, today, February 17th is prize day!  I had a whopping 83 comments, and I used the random number generator to choose the winner - #42 on my comment list:
Debrina of Debrina's Altered Art Diary.  Her blog is very, very cool and definitely worth checking out.

Congratulations, and thanks everyone for playing along.

"Bring it in. . . Champions on 3. . . 1, 2, 3, champions!"

Well, the boys did it!  They won their match tonight, 2-0.  I think the good luck wishes from all over the globe surely helped.  So, for the first time in over 25 years, Half Moon Bay High School is the PAL Ocean Division League Champion!  The team will move on to play in the Central Coast Section Championship of California, starting next week.  But, for now, we get to savor a terrific season.  The boys finished 15-2-2 overall, 11-1-2 in league, and, best of all, it's become cool to play soccer again at the high school.  I think it's all about the jackets. . . but that's a story I'll have to tell later. For now, thanks for all your support, and good-night!

Today is the big day . . .

We're waiting for the big match.  My son  Henry's High School Varsity team is in first place in the league by one point.  Today is the last day of the season, and they're playing the second place team this evening (Wednesday, 5:30 p.m. California time).  A win or a tie will give them the championship.

Good luck wishes for strong legs, clear heads, dedicated hearts and many goals gratefully accepted!

Thanks, and I'll let you know how it turns out.

Picking Daffodils

Just north of where I live, there's a place called Montara Mountain,

Many years ago, there was a nursery on the mountain, which sold daffodils.  Although the nursery is long gone, clumps of naturalized daffodils remain in hidden grottos.

On Sunday, some friends and I went for a hike on the mountain in search of daffodils and pretty afternoon light. We found both:

At the end of the day, we headed home, our hearts filled with flowers, friendship and light:

Am I a (professional) photographer?

I've been getting an increasing number of calls and emails lately from people asking me to take pictures for various things -mainly for local athletes and sports teams.  For example, the High School basketball coach wanted a large format action photograph of each of his senior players to present at the last home game of the season.  Because the coach is someone I know well and has given a lot to the community in general and my son in particular (coaching him in both basketball and baseball), I agreed to do it as a favor to him.  I think he would have paid me something if I had asked him, but I didn't.  I'm pretty happy with the two pictures I produced - the one at left, and this one:

Last year, I also took photographs of all the Middle School sports teams and athletes.  I created a variety of packages (with various size team and individual size pictures, buttons, etc.) to offer for sale to parents.  I did it as a fundraiser for the school sports programs, making no money for it myself.  We raised about $3,500 for the school over the course of the year, and all the families were very happy with the results.  This year, mercifully, I have a terrific partner in the venture, so I'm not doing all the work myself! 

I have also, on occasion, taken pictures for the local little league, my son's travel baseball team, and my son's soccer club.  I have done all of these as fundraisers for the organization, donating everything over cost back to the program. I have also donated photographs to school auctions (of San Francisco Giants baseball players) and have had them sell for hundreds of dollars!  I have enjoyed it and never thought about making money for myself on these ventures.  Then, this week, the same basketball coach asked me if I would be willing to take the pictures for the JV basketball team, as he was unable to schedule something with the regular company with which the high school usually contracts for sports photographs.  He offered to pay a fee, and for the first time, I really considered it.  In the end, I told him I would do it as fundraiser for the high school sports program instead. But, I also have a request from the local soccer club to take team pictures.  Since I don't have a kid in the soccer club, I am going to keep the profit I make on the pictures, rather than donate it back.
So, this has raised all kinds of questions in my mind - Does this make me a professional photographer? Should I pursue this further?  Have any of you considered these questions before?  What have you concluded?

Pass the Book Winner & A Few Thoughts

Congratulations go out to Ginger of Ginger's Life of Spice on being the next recipient of "Good Mail Day" from Sian's Pass the Book.  Ginger, email me at rinda1961@yahoo.com with your mail address, and I'll drop it in the mail for you. 
Sorry to have been a bit absent lately.  I've been quite busy in my real life, catching up on my job a bit this week and continuing to help manage my son's high school soccer team. Their team is still at the top of the table with two matches left to play.  They are scheduled to play the team currently in second place on Wednesday (the last day of the season).  Good luck wishes definitely appreciated!
I also taught a class today called "stamps + embossing + paint = fun."  The purpose was to show how to combine and layer paint & embossing powders to make rubber stamped images more "mixed media" for use in art journals.  We had a great time, but the best part was when one of my students said, "I know I came to learn these advanced techniques, but the best thing you taught me was how to properly ink and stamp my stamp so that I can get a good, clear image!" Isn't it fun when you learn something unexpected in a class! What was the last unexpected thing you learned in class?

Last Call: Pass the (Mail Art) Book

Here's one more page from my art journal featuring letters exchanged during courtship.  It's all about waiting for the mail to arrive and the anticipation of what will be inside each letter.
Also, this is the last call for anyone who wants to get in on the drawing for the Pass the Book selection, "Good Mail Day."  I'll draw the next recipient tomorrow morning (Friday, California time).  For details, go to this post.
When was the last time you anticipated getting something good in the mail?  Do you take a moment to savor your letter or package or do you rip right in to it?