Found feathers

Way to freaking cold!

This is the winter from Hell!  It just won't let up.  At least it makes for pretty photos

camera photos

I admit, I don't really 'get' the whole camera/texting/filming/photo thing.  I have gone to events specifically to photograph and even though I have taken a ton of photos, or, video, I miss the enjoyment of the entire event.  It astounds me to see people paying top buck to attend, say, a concert and then spending the entire evening with their cameras held up filming, really?  And what exactly do you remember from the evening?  Anyhow, guess it's just me, getting older.

Enough of my silly dated rant, the last few weeks I have been using the IPhone (it is my husbands business cast off, believe me, I wouldn't even have a cell phone if not for him) opened up an Instagram account and have been taking random photos.  Quality sucks, but every now and then you catch a moment, and it's in focus, and the little filters are fun to apply.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend, weather here could not be better! Off to enjoy it, with my dogs, without a camera :-)

Photos, blogs and Facebook

I post photos of my dogs on this blog, as well, many go on my Facebook page, be sure to check out FaceBook some time to see shots that don't always appear here, or, my Puppy Nursery Blog which is full of the cutest schnauzer puppy photos :-)  You don't have to be a Facebook member to view my Dinsdale page, only if you want to leave a comment.
Often on the blog I will get artistic with a photo, change it up a wee bit, like this one of Cyrus taken this morning.  I ran a couple of different Photoshop processors on it to come up with this desaturated photo of Cyrus enjoying a good chew.

Texture-before and after

Photoshop textured image

Raw image off camers

Photos showing the image off the camera and after a quick addition of texture in Photoshop

A chicken portrait

The handsome Blanche.  Love the beak on the Plymouth hens, reminds me of polished wood.

Textures and mood

continuing with adding texture day two

Playing with Photoshop

I have been working on my Photoshop skills, this week it is adding texture to photos, more to come later this week.

Country Mornings

They flew the coop

Yeah!  Chicks are out of my spare room and outside in their brand new chicken coop.  They are almost 6 weeks old now and have gone from fluffy day old chicks to feathered pullets.  Amazing to watch how quickly the transformation took place.
The first 2-3 weeks were wonderful, I loved having the chicks around to watch.  The last two weeks...NOT, what a mess!  The dust was crazy, I hope these ladies do well as I really don't want to be raising chicks in my house again for a few more years.

Easter Baskets

Pussy-cat pussy-cat I love you.....

Yes-I-do......you and your pussy-cat ways

 As a child I loved to pick Pussy Willow branches each Spring proudly presenting them to my mom to display in vases on our dining room table.  After a few weeks they would turn yellow with pollen and roots would emerge in the water.  One year we planted a rooted stem in the backyard.  It grew into a lovely tree over the next 25 years.  Years later when Mick and I bought our home my mother brought me a few rooted Willow branches from that tree which we planted.  I trimmed a few after photographing today and placed them in a vase, also a gift from my mom, on my table.
My mother passed away last March, in reality she left me many years earlier, stolen from us by Alzheimer's.  Today these pussy willows took me back to happier memories.

Wild Wind and Waves

Normally you can easily walk to this lighthouse....not today

A moments snow

Snow falling this morning.  I scooted out to photograph while it lasts.  2011-2012 is the most disappointing winter, no snow until January, followed by the pattern of...snow 3-4 inch, rain, ice, melt...ending in mud within a few short days.  Haven't had any chances to photograph the schnauzers ripping through gorgeous white drifts. Barely able to snap the fence posts and my garden rooster, it is already turning to rain.......

Clear skies

With the extremely cold weather of late comes clear skies at night.  Now, you won't catch me outside taking photos at 2am, but, if the sky is super clear you might find Mick out there.
This is a photo of the Orion Nebula that Mick took on the weekend, isn't it amazing.

This is what the website Space.com tell us about the Orion Nebula:

Orion is located 1,500 light-years away and is the nearest region of massive star-formation to Earth. Located at the center of the Orion Nebula is a group of four young, massive stars; they are collectively referred to as the "Trapezium" because of the shape they make. The Trapezium is surrounded by a halo of 1,000 faint, low-mass stars similar to the Sun.

Winter scenes 2012

nom nom nom

Combine vodka, sugar and fresh cranberries...shake daily until sugar is dissolved, then store in a dark place for 3 months, decant into a bottle and enjoy.  Apparently it gets even better the longer you wait, but, I don't see this sitting around for long.

It looked so pretty with the sugar dissolved, had to photograph before wrapping in a paper bag and slipping to the back of the cupboard.

Hello 2012...throw another log on the fire!

We had one of the mildest Decembers ever, no snow here for Christmas.  Truth be told I really have no problem with that.  Now January...oh my goodness COLD!  2011 leaves us like a lamb and 2012 enters like a lion.
These lovely Long Tailed Ducks were not bothered at all by the crazy temps and winds, business as usual for them.  I looked them up on Wikipedia and they are migratory northern sea ducks that can be found in Northern Canada, Alaska, Northern Europe and Russia, basically anywhere sub-zero, yesterday they must of been in their element.

Long-Tailed Ducks

Empty Milkweed pods

Bubbles' in the sky

A quick photo taken by Mick last night.  It's crazy amazing what is in the night sky that our eye cannot see.  Below is an explanation of the Bubble Nebula:

Called the Bubble Nebula, this eerie, translucent sphere is created by fierce winds from a superhot star 40 times the size of our sun. Moving at nearly 4.5 million miles per hour, stellar winds whip the cloud of gas around the star into a near-perfect bubble, which stands out from the rest of the more stationary gas in this emission nebula.

Located 7,100 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cassiopeia, the bubble is about 6 light-years in diameter and glows pink because of the red, hot gas that surrounds it.