I Haven't Forgotten About You...

Hi, Everyone.  I haven't forgotten about you.  Just have lots going on right now.  I picked up a new camera last week...Nikon D7000...very impressive.  Unfortunately, there will be a learning curve.  Stay tuned.  I should get out to shoot some time this week.

What a wasted October!!

No postings for October, but is wasn't from lack of trying.

September 25th - SUGARLOAF ARTS FESTIVAL in Wilmington - got to Wilmington, Festival was cancelled.   - NO PHOTOS TAKEN.

October 2 - HARVEST MOON FESTIVAL - Gave up Newlin Grist Mill Harvest Festival to go.  got some Clydesdale photos, but nothing worth posting.

October 10 - TRIP TO NEW HOPE, PA - almost a 2 hour drive from our house.  We hadn't been there for about 1o years - always went on a weekday - Sunday - all the knuckleheads were out.  Paid $20 to park (never paid to park before) - had lunch - really bad - saw two guys dressed like Little Bo Peep (and couldn't get the nerve to snap a photo - that would be for another blog, anyway, not mine - bumper-to-bumper traffic all through town - a million motorcycles constantly droning - left after about 10 minutes of walking the streets.  NO PHOTOS TAKEN.

October 16 - Hagley Museum Craft Festival - Beautiful scenery at Hagley - hardly any fall color - Crafts festival held indoors - (Who'd a thunk it on a beautiful fall day?)  NO PHOTOS TAKEN

October 17 - Drove over to Ridley Creek State Park to the stables.  Horses all indoors - NO PHOTOS TAKEN

ARE you sensing a theme here?

October 24 - Then the ultimate trip - My friend sent me some photos she had taken at Lum's Pond in DE.  I so wanted to go take my own.  It's a lovely, lovely state park with beautiful trees turned all colors and beautiful reflections in the water of the pond.  We drove down and the magical hour of sunset.  We stopped at the information center to pick up a map and while standing outside reading the huge map on their bulletin board a man who was leaving came up to us and started a conversation. He had been at the park all day listening to live music in section 4.  We have to go there. As we left him, I jokingly said to my husband, "So do you think he's an axe murderer?" My husband answered that he thought he seemed like the kind of person who would lure into the woods and stab you to death. Well, we drove to section 4 to see what was going on and the party was breaking up.  Since it was near the water, we decided to stay in that section to get Beautiful fall color and reflection pictures.  Suddenly, I spotted our man across the parking lot, backed in and facing us.  We were very uncomfortable, since the park was emptying out and we were alone there with him.  Especially since I had already planted the idea that he was an axe murderer.  Since the park was closing at sundown and we had about 40 minutes, we decided to drive to another section.  Long story short we moved around quite a bit to avoid him, then finally left when we saw that he was going to follow us around and that the sun had already come down behind the trees.  We missed sundown...entirely!!! NO PHOTOS TAKEN...all because of an axe murderer!  You just can't be too careful today.

So the other night I set up a studio shoot for our club competition coming up this Monday night.  The assignment is "By Candlelight".

So here are some shots I entered.

Buttons By Candlelight

Mason Jars by Candlelight

Acorns by Candlelight

Paisley Scarf by Candlelight

Potpourri by Candlelight

So, it took me awhile to get something post-worthy, but I'm happy with these photos.  

I totally missed fall color, but I may have a chance to get what's left of it this weekend.  NO FESTIVALS!!  Just me outdoors with my little Nikon.

Incidentally, Santa is bringing me a new Nikon for Christmas...he just doesn't know it yet.  Shhhhh, don't tell him.  He loves to surprise me.

Hope to see you again real soon.

Ta Ta for now!!

Where did September go?

Wow!!  It's fall already.  Where did the summer go?  August and September flew by so quickly.  When you work at a school, you just kind of write off those months.

Well, I want to tell you about the sunflower field I found...after they were almost entirely dead.  Twenty-two acres of sunflowers...400,000 of them.  All dead.  Or almost dead.  Problem being I didn't find out about them until they were almost ready to plow them down.  Bet this will go on my calendar for next summer!

Longwood Sunflowers - all 400,000 of them...on their last leg!!

 On the same day we photographed the sunflowers, we left for a long weekend in the Poconos.  Friends of ours, Barb and Charlie Horn, have a little cabin on the lake in jim Thorpe and they invited us to come up for a stay.  The Horn family, Charlie, Barbara, and their 3 children, Charlie, David and Laura, all built the cabin on the lake back in the 70's.  It's an authentic log home and it's huge (4 bedrooms) and it's right on the lake! You just walk out of the backyard right into the lake.  Good fishing,  and beautiful scenery.  And you really haven't heard QUIET until  you've been there.

We had a fabulous weekend.  Thanks Barb and Choy.   It was great re-connecting with you and your wonderful hospitality.

Here are some shots of our holiday.

So which way to we turn?

The Cabin

 The Dock

Lots of Canada geese and ducks on the lake.

Captain Charlie Horn

Captain Horn made sure that Dick caught a couple of bass.

Happy Camper

 Something I never saw before...a lake clam.  Charlie says they have no taste, so I let him live.

Don't cha just love log homes?

Don't cha just love cutie patooties standing next to logs?

 Sunset on the lake. 

 SATURDAY MORNING...

We slept in a little while on Saturday, then we went on down to Jim Thorpe, or actually to Upper Jim Thorpe, to the Farmer's Market.  Very small, not like Booth's Corner...but then again...it's real farmers, with their own products.  Cool

Famer's Market  - Live Entertainment

Pumpkins and Mums...it's that time of year!

Real LIVE sunflowers!

 This is what they are supposed to look like!

 Toms and Peps

I will miss my tomatoes the most.  

It's September and I can't wait for July, already.

Indian Corn

YUMMO!

SUNDAY MORNING... TRIP TO TOWN.

MAUCH CHUNK, PA

 Lower Jim Thorpe - That's the Asa Packer mansion (red building) in the foreground.  Asa was a founder of the town Mauch Chunk in Lehigh Valley, Carbon County, PA.  He had coal mines and transported coal, at first by boat to Philadelphia, then later he build railroads to get the coal there.  He was a member of the PA House of Representatives and was later defeated by Ulysses S. Grant  for the presidency of the USA.  Cute little town...hilles that rival San Fran.  Better have a four wheel drive in the winter.

Upper Jim Thorpe, Looks pretty much the same, but smaller and up hill in the other direction.

Our hosts...Barb and Choy

And there was this church for sale...I swear if it didn't snow there, I'd have bought it.

I always wanted to live in a small church.  They make stunning residences.

Walking through town, sweet little gardens.

Like a Norman Rockwell painting.

Horse and carriage rides through town

I just love horses.  You can see their souls in their eyes.  

People take such pride in their homes, here.

Beautiful decorative trim work.

Such a pretty little town.

THE TRAIN STATION

All in all, a wonderful, restful weekend.  

RODEO...Say What???

I apologize in advance.  I am never this long winded on my blog, but I simply must tell you all about our recent trip to the rodeo.  

As many of you know, we recently sold our home in Arizona.  Dick and I both love the southwest, so much, but selling the house was the smart thing to do with all that is going on out there now in the housing market.

It's been 8 months since we've seen a cactus - I mean a real cactus - and I was missing the cowboys, so Dick and I decided to go to the COWTOWN RODEO in Woodstown,NJ just over the Delaware Memorial Bridge.  It's only 20 minutes from our house, and it happens every Saturday night through the summer.  How could I not remember this?  We used to take our boys there when they were young.  My intentions were to take some really great rodeo shots for an end of the year project for my photo club.  

Cowtown graciously offered me a media pass to photograph the event.  And I began to research how to shoot a rodeo.  I was at a real disadvantage with my equipment, but I decided to go out and buy a monopod and go catch what I could.  Let me tell you, we just loved the rodeo and will probably go back again and again.

The people were just terrific.  Cowboys are the friendliest people on earth.  And the staff at the rodeo from the owners, Betsy and Grant Harris,  (Cowtown has been in the hands of the Harris family since 1929) down to the security officers, were just the tops.  

It was explained to us that there was another rodeo in Cape Cod (if you can imagine a rodeo on Cape Cod), and that the rodeo events were a little light because of that.  But you sure couldn't tell it from the attendance.  I believe the stadium seats 4,000 and they were also standing all around the top of the stadium.  I've never seen so many well behaved people in one spot before.   Not like an Eagles game, or a Phillies game, sad to say.  We've had to stop taking our younger kids there because of the language and drinking.  This was totally different, a family friendly event.  Cowboys are gentlemen.  One of them even offered me his seat in the crowded office when I went in for the media pass.  When was the last time that happened to you?

After getting our pass we had time to kill, so we wandered around the grounds shooting horses and bulls and talking to some of the cowboys.  We found out that at 6:30 the cowboys go to church ( a lean-to next to the office with benches and a pulpit and a sign "Kids Ropin' for Jesus" on the side.  I guess if you're about to get your head pounded into the ground, it's a good idea to speak to the Lord first.  This was really impressive.  Makes me just love cowboys more.

There was real food, not just hot dogs.  And a few concession stands.  A beautiful Brahman  bull named Popcorn ( the absolute biggest bull I've ever seen) that you could sit on for a photo (even adults).  He was so easy going and stood there for hours, very calmly).  Cowtown Outfitters had a stand with hats and cowboy gear, and their store up the road from the rodeo stayed open until, I believe, 11:00 pm for the rodeo crowd.

Cowtown has a rodeo clown named Starvin' Marvin Nash who they have flown in every week from Wyoming for years.  He's quite a comic and quite a man.  He and his clown mates (I think there were 3 others) were all very good at keeping the cowboys out of trouble, distracting the bull until the cowboy was safely out of the stadium.  This is a very serious job and they seemed to handle it with ease.  You tend to forget how important their role is.  

Now, as I said, Starvin' Marvin is quite a guy.  I caught a segment on him on TV not too long ago.  He rolled a rodeo barrel a great distance (just can't remember how far, but hundreds, maybe even thousands of miles across the US recently visiting schools and talking to kids about bullying.  I believe he came to Philadelphia or Jersey, maybe both.  There was a concession stand selling his tee shirts campaigning against bullying.  Extra points from me, Marvin.  Rodeo folks are good people.  You're really missing out if you don't try it.  

So get yourself out there to the rodeo in Cowtown, buy yourself a program which explains all the events, and you will really have a great time.  These people take this so seriously.  It is a very dangerous sport.  But it is entertaining and a great night for your family.  I think it's $15 for Adults and $10 for children12 and under, under 2 yrs. is free admission.  Check out their website at http://www.cowtownrodeo.com. 

If any of your photographers out there want a challenge, go shoot a rodeo.  They have an official photographer, Eva L. Scofield (photoeva.com) who actually gets out in the ring with the bulls and riders.  Boy, is she to be commended.  I really think they should give her a raise.  Shooting the rodeo is the hardest shoot I've ever done.  But I enjoyed it so much.  And so will you.  The cowboy spirit is infective.  Yee-Haw!

So open up your itunes and put on Garth Brooks' "Rodeo" and sit back and check out the photos.

Cowboy Church

Kids Ropin' for Jesus

Loved this brand.  

Wish I'd asked what it was.  I'll find out next time.

And yes, this is a real horse's a$$.

ZAMBONI

Cowtown's answer to the Zambomi.  

This woman (sorry, can't remember her name) 

 and if you look carefully, a small child sitting beside her, 

smoothed the sand out before the event.  These draft horses 

were huge and in just beautiful condition.  Drafts are my favorite horses. 

 They work so hard, but the are always just beautiful.  

I love horses. 

I'd love to go somewhere and shoot them sometime, 

but I don't even know anyone who has a horse.

How sad is that?

There are some really interesting ways to shoot a horse 

using a camera, of course.

We watched this guy for awhile.  He was a riot.  He would watch us,

 then pick up his water bucket and throw water all over his trailer.  

The cowboy said he did it 24 hours a day in his stall.  It's funny how 

horses fixate on a behavior.  

Years ago my friend had a horse named Six Pack 

(because that's what they drank while he was being born) 

who sucked on the rail of his stall all day just like a pacifier.

Popcorn

This guy was huge.  I didn't even come up to the top of his head.

OK!  Ok!  

So there really isn't any beach at Cowtown, but this was a really 

boring picture until I added the sunset.  Lots of telephone poles, wires,  etc.

Sometimes you just have to use your artistic license. 

Up close and personal to the draft horse.    

I think the reflection in his eye is me.

Starvin' Marvin Nash

Way too much blur to be any good, 

so I Photoshopped (a new verb) it until I was a little happy with it. 

 Looks kind of like a painting?

Oops!!

This guy meant business!  

It wasn't until half way through the bull riding that I realized 

I had on a reddish color shirt.

Hope that's a wives' tale.

Barrel Racer

(Photoshopped for blur)

These ladies take this very seriously.  I ran into an old friend 

whose daughter-in-law was at Lexington, KY for the rodeo there this weekend. 

 So far she has won a saddle, a belt buckle and $700, with more 

weekend events to come.

It's not tennis, but it's still serious money.

The Crowd

Hats off to Eva Scofield!!

photoeva.com

Visit her website for a REAL rodeo treat.

Thank you, Cowtown.  You guys and gals are the best!!

WINNER - Scott Kelby's Third Annual World Wide Photo Walk Lewes, DE

I had some wonderful news today.  One of the photos I entered in the Scott Kelby's Third Annual World Wide Photo Walk competition a couple of weeks ago took first place for the Lewes Photo Walk.  Fifty photographers participated in the photo walk.   Judy G. Rolfe, world renown professional photographer and former USA Today photo editor was the judge.  The image will now be submitted into the international competition of Scott Kelby's Third Annual World Wide Photo Walk. There were 1,111  photo walks with 33,497 participants, so there will be 1,111 entries in the international competition.    Kind of like the chances of winning the lottery.  But one never knows.

The photo that won was

Fuzzy Peaches

Just wanted to share my excitement with you all.

Back from the beach...

Just got back from the beach.  Thursday night we drove down to Lewes and had a wonderful "Firecracker Crab Bomb" at Jerry's Seafood...Do It!!  It was the best crab cake I ever had.  No filler...at all.  Jerry's in D.C. was spotlighted on the Food Network last year.  It did not disappoint.  After dinner we went to our hotel and slept in.  It is after all, vacation.

Friday morning, we went to Ocean City for the day.

Lifeguard Tower in Ocean City

Kites on the beach in Ocean City

Not much to do for old folks on the boardwalk so we had our lunch then drove over to Assateague Island to see the ponies.  It was just a short drive.  The ponies were all over the place ANNNDDD, we even saw a 3 legged Sika deer (small variety) with her baby trailing behind her.

Pinto

Mom and Foal

Egret in the Marsh

  We wanted to have dinner in OC so we drove back to Harrison's Harbor Watch Restaurant.  They had some killer Chincoteague Salt Oysters.  Yummy on the half shell.  I could have had them for dinner, too.  Finally we went back to the hotel and got freshened up to drive to a place on the bay side for sunset.  It was just so-so.  Not the glorious Arizona sunsets we've grown used to seeing.  A non-event.  Afterwards we went to bed, as we had a 4:45 AM wake up call to catch the sunrise.  We were hoping for better results and we got them.

Rehoboth Sunrise

There were dolphins arcing all over the ocean.  We were treated to a great sunrise, then went off to catch a quick breakfast so that we would be on time for the WORLDWIDE PHOTOWALK in LEWES.  The walk leader was Judy G. Rolfe, a professional photographer and former photo editor for USA Today.  She was a fantastic walk leader.  We started out on the Lightship Overfall.  Judy had arranged for it to be opened just for us.  We explored every nook and cranny of that ship which was being renovated .  It was in marvelous shape.

Lightship Overfalls

Water Depth Markers

Fire Hose

Hook to tie up ship when in port

(I'm sure it has some wonderful nautical name.)

Lettering from the ship

(Sorry, but I collect lettering photos.)

Around 9:30 AM,  we were off to the Lewes Farmer's Market.  It's comprised of about 25 or so farmers who grow their own and sell their own produce, etc.  It was a wonderful experience.  Everyone was really great about the photographers (there were 50 of us) milling around and taking pics of all their produce, etc.  There were vegetables, lavender, lamb, lambskins, eggs, home made ice cream, home made yogurt, home made cheeses, corn, mushrooms, pepper, cucumbers and of course, tomatoes of every variety.  So many beautiful things to photograph.

Portabellos

Fuzzy Peaches

We then left for the historic area of Lewes, just 2 blocks away.  It's a cute little town and you can see that everyone takes pride in the homes.  All were well kept.

Restored Lewes Home on Second Street

We then headed to the Beach House Restaurant, over the drawbridge.  It was eleven o'clock in the morning and with the sizzling temperatures, we all had a beer.  My first breakfast beer.  Then we had some steamed clams.  It was great to sit around with my fellow photographers and share stories of the day and to see some of their photos, too.

A very pleasant weekend, altogether.  Thanks, Judy Rolfe!