Appreciating What I Have

Since my last post, I've been humbled to realize that I need to appreciate what I have instead of grumbling about what I don't have. With that, I've decided to post some of the photographs I've been able to shoot of the third major bloom of the roses this year. Although we usually have roses year round on select bushes, we only have two spectacular shows where the roses all bloom at once in profusion. This year (thanks to the extended summer heat) we've been blessed with a third encore performance.

"Ronald Reagan" Rose...

"Ronald Reagan" Rosebud...

"Golden Showers" Climbing Rose (the blooms are large for a climber)...

"My Fifi" Rose...

My pink mystery rose that was here before we moved in.
It blooms at odd times of the year and was blooming on Christmas Day last year...

All of these photographs will be available as cards and fine art photograph prints soon. If you have a particular interest in one (or more), please let me know and I can make it available to fit your specific needs.

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Endless Summer and Yearning for Autumn

Jodi at bloomingwriter left a comment on the last post saying that she's "not feeling the love for autumn just yet... but that's probably because I'm still waiting for summer." I have to say that I'm having exactly the opposite problem here... summer won't leave! I'm holed up inside the house again today (and was yesterday) while the temperature outside is 86F (30C) with a dew point hovering just under 60F. Yuck! All this humidity and heat is not normal for the 7th of October. Hubby even said, "What's the point of living in the Bay Area if we don't even get the cool breezes at night?!?!" Poor Hubby. I've told him that I will make sure the words on his tombstone read, "It was the humidity" because he threatens to expire every time it's hot and humid.

So this endless summer we're having is probably why I've been spending so much time working on photos that I took LAST October. I've been post-processing a lot of them with the new tools I have (which I didn't have a year ago) and creating lovely autumnal scenes that I wish and wish were real. Then I post my latest creation on my Etsy store, turn and look out at the deceiving autumnal light that shines out in the garden and makes me think it's really cool enough to go out and "play" with my sledgehammer. I sigh and turn back to the computer to start working on another photo from last year.

I have to admit that I did do some work on some non-autumn photos. And interestingly enough, I didn't have nearly as much fun or feel as inspired and "alive" when I did them as when I work on the autumnal scenes. Weird, isn't it? And the non-autumn ones are nice too. It's so bizarre how much my soul wants reminders of cooling off at this time of year instead of reminders of warm days.

Of course, I can't complain too much because thanks to this extended summer my roses have all decided to have a third major bloom for the year and look fantastic. But instead of posting photos of the roses, I'm posting photos of the autumn I'm yearning to have. I'm such a silly discontented woman, aren't I?

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Autumn Images

It's probably because I'm a late September baby that I love the colors of autumn so much--that and because I'm a redhead (with some white thrown in now thanks to age). So when autumn comes around, the colors and the light of the sun lower on the horizon make me enthusiastic about shooting photographs. Here are some of my favorites that I've recently formatted for release at my Etsy store...

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Vintage Halloween

I've been having fun making my latest fine art photo creation. "Vintage Halloween" is a photograph that I took in an antique store of a display of some wonderful vintage and antique Halloween decorations and knick knacks. I loved the photograph so much that I decided to work with it, digitally enhance it, and make it look even more vintage to capture the essence of all the objects in the composition. I really like how it turned out.

Then I printed out some generous sized prints and constructed them into nice large-ish greeting cards by mounting each photo on the front of some autumnal beige cardstock with clear photo corners so the photos can be easily removed and framed. I photographed them so I could list them at my Etsy store.

I didn't know whether there would be much of an interest in larger prints of the photograph, but if anyone is interested I can print the photo in any size up to 13" x 19".

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Delightful Surprises

Yesterday, Sept. 29th, was my 42nd birthday. I didn't tell anyone because I like low-key birthdays. Imagine my surprise when I received a package in the mail from Catherine Holman, a blogging friend and the folk artist at Pigment of Your Imagination. She didn't know it was my birthday, but her timing couldn't have been better if she'd planned it. Inside, I found a print of one of her paintings (it's one of my favorites) and an adorable handmade kitty card featuring another print of her work.

Cathie is amazingly talented. If you haven't been to her blog yet, you really need to go and just browse a while to enjoy the art she creates.

Thank you, again, Cathie for your wonderful serendipitous birthday gift! It brought such joy to my heart, and I'm still smiling.

Then today, I received another delightful surprise from Annie at Annalunda (a wonderfully romantic Swedish blog with gorgeous photos of roses and other wonderful scenes). I feel very honored to receive this award from Annie, because it is HER blog that inspires my romantic senses so often. And isn't this award just lovely to look at?

I am passing this award along to ALL of you! Each one of you inspires me in your own unique and specifically important way. At lunch yesterday with my mom, I was telling her how much I appreciate my blogging friends. Because of all of you, you have helped me feel connections that I haven't really had before. Each of you has helped me feel like less of a loner in this world--less like the odd one out. Each of you has brought me a sense of belonging. I've written before that Hubby has likened this phenomenon of the "blog-o-sphere" or "bloglandia" to a 21st century version of a Jane Austen village--a village that spans the globe and brings kindred souls together that otherwise would never have lived in close enough proximity to one another to become acquainted. Thank you to all of you for the gifts you give me everyday that have awakened my creativity after a very long dormancy and connected me with who I really am so that I can openly say, "I am a pink-obsessed, rose-sniffing, animal-loving, sledgehammer-toting, retro-spirited woman, that is a photographer, a gardener, an artist, a writer... and anything else I want to be." Thank you!!!!!

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Lucy's Fascination with Electronics

Little Lucy is a silly kitty. If we hadn't already had another kitty (Suzette) doing what she's doing, we'd think we had a seriously weird cat.

Lucy is absolutely fascinated with electronics!

When we insert a DVD in the DVD player, she comes running and jumps up on top of the television so she can stare at the whirring black box. What could it be?

When one of us goes to print out something from the computer, Lucy comes running as soon as she hears the printer warming up. She loves to sit on the printer and watch the paper come out. She doesn't try to catch the paper, she likes to watch it. It's pretty funny.

What isn't so funny is when she runs full tilt across my hands on the keyboard to get from Point A (the studio closet) to Point B (the top of the printer). Not fun.

I don't know if Lucy will outgrow this. Suzette never did. Suzette still has an obsession with the DVD player. Of course, now Lucy beats Suzette to the DVD player every time it turns on so Suzette's obsession is waning.

Ahhhh... never a dull moment around here.

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