If This is Saturday, this must be the Grand Canyon...

Saturday afternoon we set out for the Grand Canyon, a 3 hour and something drive.  We arrived around 4ish.  Just in time to catch sunset before going to dinner at the main dining room at El Tovar.  We stayed at El Tovar on our last visit and loved it.  It's right on the South Rim of the Canyon.  We saw California condors, mule deer and lots of ravens.  This trip, nothing, nada, zippo.  The winds were blasting at 40 mph due to a wind storm going through.  I did get some shots.  But nothing as great as last trip.  Must have to do with the time of year and where the sun is in the sky.

SUNSET AT THE GRAND CANYON

This is a really cool picture of the Canyon, but detail is lost here.  I'll work on correcting it later.

The Navaho Nation was at the Canyon to celebrate our Memorial Day holiday, remembering our vets who have served to keep us safe.

They did dance demonstrations for awhile, even though the winds were going at 40 mph.

Sunday morning I got up at sunrise for the good light.   Again, nothing to write home about.  By the time we left, the winds were at 70 mph.  There is a stone wall around some (not all) of the canyon in the area of the hotel  It's tall enough to sit down on (about 24" tall).  While I was out by myself snapping pics before we left (Dick was too cold and went back to the room), the wind actually blew me into the wall of the canyon.  It hit at just above my knees.  Ok, people, hold on to your toddlers.  I did see a few hats blow down into the 400' canyon that morning.  

GNARLY TREE AT SUNRISE

BUH-BYE 70 mph winds.  On to Sedona...

Sedona, Arizona...Our FAV-O-RITE place

After, our Grand Canyon day we were on the road again on the way to Sedona.  We have been to Sedona many times, but have always approached it from the south.  This time we were coming in from the north and what a surprise awaited us.  Almost from the time we left the Canyon we saw in the distance, Humphrey Mountain (I think that's what it's called - it's part of the San Francisco Peaks).  We were on the North side and it was covered with snow.

But the real surprise was the town of Flagstaff.  Wow!  We are not skiers, so it never occurred to us to go to Flagstaff, but I'm sorry we didn't .  What a cute little yuppie town.  We just drove through on our way to Sedona.  The drive held even more surprises...the most beautiful drive through the Coconino National Forest, passing burned out areas with felled trees littering the mountainside.  What horrible devastation forest fires cause.  But then we were in the forest with tons of pines again and then on the the switchbacks that would bring us into the town of Sedona.  What a beautiful drive.  I would highly recommend it.

Mt.Humphries - taken through the car window.  San Francisco Peaks

After our great jeep tour in Monument Valley, we decided to take one in Sedona, too.  We'd always wanted to do that.  It's just the most beautiful place.  We'll, our bad luck...we chose the wrong tour.  We went to the top of the Mogollon Rim around switchbacks up the mountain looking at the same mountain for 2 hours.  What a disappointment.  We booked through the hotel.  Should have gone in to town to Pink Jeeps store and booked there.  We'd have gotten better explanations and would have chosen more wisely.  Live and Learn.  But the jeep was cute.

OK, now on to my favorite place.  You thought you'd get away without seeing Tlaquepaque one last time, didn't you.  Well, guess again, Bucko.

Tlaquepaque, for those of you who are new to the blog, is a wonderful Spanish architecture  shopping village.  It is filled with wonderful galleries of artisan made items to die for.  

You don't even have to buy anything, it's just so wonderful to stroll around and take in the architecture.

Ok, I took different pictures so you won't be bored.  (Right!)

OK, so I lied.  I take this fountain all the time, but I love it, so.  This little plaza is so pleasant, I could sit here all day.

Another view of the fountain.  It's hard to see here, but I will do this one for my note card line.

MEXADONNA

My favorite store.  Dick sits on the stone bench on the side of the building and if he's a good boy, I buy him ice cream.  I bought my mirror here.  I so miss the southwest decorating.  

Just doesn't sit well in Wilmington.

I found something really interesting at the Oak Creek Brewery.  Who knew?

And all around the plazas there are stairways leading up to the roof for better viewing of the plazas.  At Christmas time they put luminarias  (paper bags with candles inside)  all along the roof lines and up and down the stairway walls.  Thousands of them.

Chris Navvaro has a sculpture studio at Tlaquepaque.  When you visit, you may catch him working on a clay model of one of his outstanding sculptures.  This is a fountain he's done.  There is a larger than life rearing stallion and a huge elk along with a wonderful flying eagle in this same plaza.  

We stayed at Sedona Rouge in a wonderful suite for 2 days.  Enchantment, our first choice was booked due to the Memorial Day holiday.  Sedona Rouge was almost as lovely.

Now on to Gold Canyon.

Gold Canyon, Arizona

The last week of our trip we were especially blessed to have my dear friend, Marge give us her house for the week.   I love my friends.  They are special people.  The house is just across the road from our old house.  Our plan was to drop off our bags and check in with our old neighbors, Richard and Sherry, who live across the street from our house.  We did hook up and tried a new restaurant in Gold Canyon where I had the best Walleye ever.

We spent the rest of the week doing things we love to do in Gold Canyon.  We hit the Apache Trail and landed at  - Wait!  it'll come to me - Anyway, you wind around switchbacks up the mountain to TORTILLA FLATS!!!  THAT'S IT.  The sign reads, Tortilla Flats, Population 6.  Believe it.  They have a post office, and restaurant and a store that sells postcards and  prickly pear ice cream...YUM!! We never missed a chance to get some of that when we were out there.  It's a beautiful drive through Canyon Lake with hills and valleys filled with saguaros.

BEAUTIFUL CANYON LAKE

Right at the center bottom of the first rock, in the water,  you can see a slight white line.  That's a water skier.  That's how bit those rocks are.

TORTILLA FLATS - POPULATION -6-

The restaurant is basically a biker bar where the bar stools are saddles.  The whole place is wallpapered with real dollar bills that people have signed and stapled to the wall.  See,  Dick takes me to classy joints.  The food actually sucks, but when you finished you walk next door to the post office and get prickly pear ice cream.  Worth the drive...  

We also got to try all of our favorite restaurants for the last time, while we were there.  Sad isn't it?  Well, maybe not the last time, we'll see.  

And we went to Laredo Cantina in San Tan Village, another favorite place because I needed to go to the Apple Store that is there.  A great meal and a lesson on my iPad2.

I didn't take any pictures of the house where were staying, but I did do some florals in the back yard, after our swim.  

Marge's Purple Sage

This is the plant that I miss most.  They grow into huge bushes like forsythia and they are brilliant lavender color.

Love Purple Sage.  I really regret that I can't have it here.

We played Phase 10 cards with Richard and Sherry all week.  We really missed them and it was great to catch up.  Hopefully, we'll be able to connect again sometime.

So all in all, the trip was a great success and badly needed.  You don't realize how much you need to get away until it's time to come home.  We could have stayed and stayed.  But it was time to re-enter the real world.  

I took thousands of photos.  And for me, whenever I can do that...LIFE IS GOOD.

Bye til next time.

TWO POSTS IN ONE DAY....

I got a new toy and had to try it out.  It's a Lens Baby.  Lens Babys give a nice blur effect to enhance your images.  Some people go nutz over them, some don't.  I'm thinking about doing some macro photography and thought the lens baby would give a nice effect.  Here are my first efforts.  Obviously, nothing to shout about, yet.  It was about 7:30 pm and the sun was down behind the trees, but I couldn't wait for morning.

The little yellow brushy thing is the only thing in focus.

All of the other stuff has a soft focus effect around it. 

When I get my macro lens, I'll do some Georgia O'Keefe flowers with it.

Last night I took this one of my neighbor's allium. 

These are in Butterbutt's yard.  

I had to pay my usual admission price of 2 biscuits to get into the yard.

FROGS CAN PRAY...

Dick called me at work and said, "You'll never guess what's on our deck."  Over the years, we have had all kinds of critters come through our yard:  deer, foxes, coyote, skunk, hawks, geese, racoons...  So I had no idea what the heck was there now.  Well, it was a big black snake.  I told Dick that it had better be gone in 20 minutes when I was to arrive home.  And it was.  It left all by itself.  Phew!

HOWEVER!!!! That Sunday morning, there were two of them.

That's right that little thing at the end of his tail is actually another head.  There were two holes and each had a snake coming out of it.

They appeared to be living between the deck and the house, a place impossible to get to.  After a day or two I was informed that the fat one was actually the female and probably pregnant, as this is that time of year.  So the panic set in.  I called CRITTER CONTROL and for the measly sum of $279.00, they would come out and remove the snakes.  Money well spent, as far as I was concerned.  They came, they shook all the bushes in the yard, they put down some snake-away (another name for snake oil), a glue trap, AAANNNNNNNNNDDDDDDDD!  

Nothing!

It's been a solid week and NO SNAKES!!!

They have either gone because of all the peeking we did, or they are nesting somewhere in the house.  Did I mention that they lay 30 eggs in a clutch?  

Since we still have Froggie, however, I'm thinking that they are gone (also, praying).  So is Froggie.

Froggie says"NO SNAKES!!"

FROGGIES PRAYER

Now I lay me down to sleep,

I close my eyes in water deep.

If snakes should come at night or day,

I pray my Dad used Snake-away.

Burma Shave!

GOOD NEWS!! 3rd Place Winner - The Parasol Project

The DELAWARE PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY PHOTO SHOW was this evening and my Parasols took a 3rd place in the Print Division. While third place doesn't sound that great, it was up against some pretty amazing art.  There are so many talented people in our club.  I was thrilled to place.

 I love these pics and I'm so glad I was able to place them.  This was the most fun project I've ever done.  I took these shots as a lesson in seeing.  You take an object and photograph it in every way possible:  a Carol Leigh class.   I have always loved these pictures.  I'm so glad they placed.  It's like one of my children doing well.  Thanks, Carol Leigh.  Once again, you made me look good.

The Parasol Project

20" x  30"

3rd Place - Print Division

Delaware Photographic Society Photo Show

More Letters....

The letters class is on the last stretch.  just about another month to go. Here are the latest and greatest from Letterland...

This one is from the sign at the Mexican Post Restaurant.

Another Mexican Post letter.

In honor of Easter...

The letter is from the side of a train.  I blended it with a photo of some brown eggs and some sheet music and a watercolor painted by my 40 year old son when he was 5 yrs old.

Trip to the mall found this Q on the Clinique sign.  Very bookeh!!

Another trip to P.F. Chang's 

This has been a fun class.  And the best part is that when I have all 26 letters, I will be able to make wonderful signs spelling out names of short phrases.  They look really cool and I will post them as I make them.  Just have to think of something clever to say on them.  No pressure...

Happy Easter Everyone!!

Fooling Around with Photoshop CS5...

Trying to get more acquainted with Photoshop CS5, I was fooling around with a collage.

From clockwise:  Grand Canyon, Rehoboth Beach, Ring of Kerry, Ireland, New York City, Jim Thorpe, PA, The Vatican, Arizona, Wilmington, DE, Lewis, DE.

This is a neat way to keep memories alive without having a bunch of photos lying about.  Maybe I'll do a gallery wrap of this one for my office.

Hope you all have a Happy Easter!!

8 NEW PHOTOS? GRAPHICS?

Hi, Everyone.

I'm starting to look at my art in a different way.  I am a photographer, and I am a graphics artist.  So, does that make me a Graphics Photographer?  I think that better fits what I have been doing lately.  I am currently in two Photomontage classes.  When the classes are over, I will post more straight photography, but for now, I just barely have enough time to produce the class work that is due.  One of the classes ends this week, so there will be some relief, but I also have the Delaware Photographic Society competitions twice a month that I need to work on, and a couple of Photographic Society of Amrica entries due and then the spring always brings the seminars to town.  A busy, busy time.  I hope you will enjoy my postings, whatever you may call them, and stay tuned for more photography.

We have a trip to the southwest planned soon and I will have tons of new photos from that, hopefully.  So for those of you who love the photos, but the graphics arts not so much, please come back for more photos soon.

But for now...

A lesson in postcards!

Postcard from Kinsale, Ireland - 1999

Postcard of Cactus on Peralta Trail - 2006

Postcard from San Xavier Mission, Tucson, AZ - 1980

The lesson was to make old time postcards.  I went through old travel photos and came up with the three above.

 A lesson in Drop Shadow!

Butterbutt in Drop Shadow

Sunrise at the Grand Canyon in Drop Shadow

Our own Marlboro Man in Drop Shadow

I think this is the best one.

Good job, Har!

I took this photo in December 1983 while visiting friends on a Dude Ranch in Tucson, AZ.  Harry is a longtime friend.  We go back 40 some years.  Ouch!  But a nice ouch.

And from the 26 letters in 26 Days class...

I present to you, the letter "M"!

And... the Letter "N"!

Both were taken from the sign at the Mexican Post Restaurant.

So there you have it.  I've been busy going out to shoot some letters, but the others were taken from past photos.  I'm learning lots and having just the best time.

But I really do need to get out and shoot soon.

I promise to bring back the photos.  But isn't it fun to see what you can do with them?

Ta Ta for Now!!

NEW CLASS WORK

Hi, Everyone.

I have some new class work.  I'll post my letters first.
I have made photomontages out of all the letters and am really excited by how they came out.  But the best is to make a sign of the letters.  Boy, you can really get creative here.  I'll show you in a few.

"J"

From the Justice store sign at the Mall, I give you the letter "J"!!  It looked like a happy J, so I thought I'd give it a sparkly look.

"K"

And from Kithen Kapers..."K"

I needed to do something different, so I chose a bumpy tile background, then some peeling paint, went through the blending modes and found this.  I need to vary the colors and I've been getting some really dark letters lately, so I thought this one would do nicely.

"L"

This L is from the Lids store sign.  I put a chicken wire background with a leafy one and blended til I got something I liked.  

Now on to the Photomontage class.  The assignment was to take some letters and make a sign with them.  I really struggles mostly with coming up with something to put on the sign.  For those of you who know me well, "MAC" is my computer.  The one and only in my life (how sad).  Actually, I do have a laptop hidden under a shelf.  Don't mention it in front of Mac.  He does get jealous.

Once I had something to say, I had a blast getting the letters to behave and become a piece of art.  I am pleased with the way it came out and am looking forward to doing a series of these signs.

Now, here is my struggle.  A grid of roses.  I still have some work to do on it.  I' learning as I go.  I've passed my deadline, so I'm posting it , but will post the finished product later.

The classes are very rewarding and I'm learning lots and seeing what others in the class are posting.  

 we are planning a trip to the southwest again.  This time to Santa Fe for a photography class.  I can't wait to go at it again.  The southwest is the place to be for photography.  We will travel through New Mexico and Arizona and meet up with our neighbors for a blast.  We really miss seeing them.  It will be a hoot to get together again.  

I will post Southwest photos in a few months.  For now, enjoy!

Photomontage II Class

Scrapbook Page

Assignment 2:

Make a collage using clip art.  This can be blended with another photo by diminishing the opacity of the scrapbook page and putting another page on top.  As you can see, I haven't gotten there yet.  But almost.

A mixed bag...Some turn out better than others.  

Need more Photoshop instruction to do this better. 

But you get the gist...

When I learn more, I will repost.

More Alphas...

I've really been snowed, no pun intended, lately but have finally gotten my latest letter entries ready.

The letter "I" reminded me of a skyscraper, so I went for it.

Here is the Letter I again, on top of a skyscraper, which has another skyscraper reflected in it.

The famous Hallmark "H". This time I used a background photo of a lamp I have in the bedroom along with a photo of some writing.

Pure Grundge!  

Flammin' F

Neon E

Another take of E

And another grundgie D.

Behind in my photomontage class.  Hope to have more to post next weekend.

Thanks for stopping by.

Carol

The Solieri Pears - Photomontage II

Hi, Everyone.

While the letter class is progressing nicely (I'm 3 letters behind due to snow/cold/sleet/rain/miserable weather, but soon to be current - spent Sunday morning at the Mall shooting letters - INDOORS!!), and since I didn't have enough to do, I'm taking another Advanced Photomontage class with Carol Leigh in Oregon.  She is the absolute best graphics artist/photographer who motivates me to go out there and create something.  So, I'm guessing that my blog will be more active in the future.  Thanks, Carol for your gift os seeing the world in so many different ways.

Our first assignment in this class was to shoot a pear, then take a background and move it along while creating 3 photomontages with the same background in 3 different positions.
So here is my first posting.  I love this stuff and will probably be doing a line of note cards from them if I get good ones.

I shot the pear in my pajamas, on Sunday.  What it was doing in my pajamas, I couldn't tell you.   Yuk,yuk, yuk.  (Young ones, just laugh here, I'll explain later.)  For my background I used a shot of a ceiling from Paul Solieri's studio (bell maker - no, I mean serious bells - big bronze ones) in Phoenix Arizona.

Hope you like them.

Solieri Pear 1

Solieri Pear 2

Solieri Pear 3

Some are making triptychs from their 3 pears and they are quite striking displayed that way.  As soon as I figure out how to do it, I'll post one.  It involves math so it will take me awhile.  Not that I can't do math, oh, I can.  However, as a young girl I was convinced that girls can't do math and therefore, I have a great fear of it that causes me to procrastinate until someone puts toothpicks under my fingernails to make me do it.  For now, just picture them side by side.  I have such faith in your imagination.

There will be other pears to come, I'm sure, but alas, this one has a lunch date with me tomorrow.  I will be posting new letters soon, as well.  So stay tuned and thanks for viewing my blog.  Please feel free to leave a comment.  It really does help me to see what works and what doesn't.

Thanks!

G'night!