365:30 - We All Need Love

I guess this one is self-explanatory.

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365:29 - Christmas Lights

Inspired by Matt's photo, I took this picture of the lights that are on the railing in our bedroom.

Edited with Picnik

Redwoods

I've had an enjoyable week living amongst the redwoods at Mount Hermon near Santa Cruz, California. The above photo is my submission to this week's Photo Friday challenge: Iconic.

365:28 - Popcorn with Honey

Eric's away 'til Sunday, so guess what I had for supper!

I have found that honey is the perfect thing to put on popcorn--it's just enough sweetness to keep it from being so plain.

I am very lucky to have a husband who's a good cook, and I miss him when he's away!

365:27 - Self-Portrait

Well, I was uninspired, so I ended up taking some strange self-portraits with a bright light behind my head. I like that I look a little girly in this one, and I like that there's some flare next to my eye...making me look like an angel, right? Hahahaha!

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365:26 - From Inside the Dryer

Eric and I spent some time in the laundromat again. My parents got me a remote for my camera for Christmas, so I figured I'd try it out (since I had forgotten to bring a book with me).

I stuck the camera in the dryer, faced it toward the open door, and took the picture. Although it's nothing special, I kind of love the way it turned out!

I'm going to need to come up with some more ideas for laundromat pictures since we spend so much time there....

365:25 - Glass Ceiling

I had a lot of time to kill while waiting for my flight from Atlanta to Syracuse, so I hung out in the center of the airport, with its shops and restaurants and dinosaur skeleton and huge glass ceiling.

I didn't take too many shots, and I tried to be discreet....I didn't want any security men thinking I was a terrorist and taking my camera away!

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365:24 - Pathway

Another picture from the beautiful retreat center in Georgia.

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365:23 - Trail Marker

The retreat that I attended in Georgia was called a "discernment event"--aimed at helping you to find what might be God's call in your life.

I've never had a giant revelation about what I'm supposed to do with my life. There have been hints at times and and things that have made me think that what I was doing at the time was the right thing. As I was walking along the trail at the retreat center, I noticed the trail markers and thought that they were a pretty good metaphor for how God shows me where to go--not revealing the entire trail map, but giving me a little hint every now and again so that I don't get completely lost.

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365:22 - Chattahoochee River

While attending a church retreat in Georgia, I stayed at Simpsonwood Retreat, which just happens to be right next to the Chattahoochee River.

I was thinking of the song all weekend: "Way down yonder on the Chattahoochee, never knew how much that muddy water meant to me..."

Actually, the river was quite clear and peaceful. I enjoyed walking along it and relishing the spring-like temperatures--so different from New York!

365:21 - Ceiling Fan

Ok, yes, this is one of those situations where I got to about 10:30pm and realized that I had no picture.

I did mess around with DOF, though--will you give me credit for that?

Light

I always find it difficult to take down my Christmas tree, so it’s probably a good thing that I opted to go with the artificial one my parents gave me after they down-graded… I was intrigued while looking at the lights one night recently and went crazy with the camera. I liked the way the lights are reflected on the tile in this photo.

365:20 - Obama

Eric's mom gave us a magnetic dress-up-able Barack Obama for Christmas. Here he is modeling a few fantastic fashions!

Seriously, though, this is the first time in a long time that I can say that I'm proud to be an American.

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365:19 - Spigot

On Sunday afternoon our water pipes thawed, so we were able to take showers before work today.

It's amazing how much we take these simple things for granted, isn't it?

photo taken 19 January 2009

365:18 - Car Wash

Since the weather has been nasty lately, our car has become covered with salt and dirt and road gunk. Eric decided that it was time for a wash, so we went through one of those car washes where you get boxed in and pummeled with water and soap and hot air. It made for some cool shots.

photo taken 18 January 2009

365:15 - Dry Skin

Ok, so I got behind in uploading pictures, and then I got confused and put them in the wrong order. *sigh*

It's been coldcoldcold for the past week or so here, and one of the results of that is that my skin has become incredibly dry. I tend to prefer not to put lotion on my hands 'cause of the greasiness, so sometimes I get to the point where my skin cracks before I add some moisturizer. Maybe I need to stop that habit.

365:17 - Heat

Today we woke up to no water in our upstairs bathroom. The landlord sent over a plumber, who told us, "Yeah, the pipes are probably frozen, but I don't want to cut into the wall if I don't have to, so why don't you just wait it out?" FANTASTIC. Fortunately, we have some good friends who were willing to let us use their shower, and they offered to let us borrow a space heater, too. [Thank you, Tara and Tim!] Hopefully this incident will end without broken pipes and flooding....

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365:16 - Diner Stool

During our quest to escape our cold apartment, Eric and I stopped at the Skylark Diner for dinner this evening. Because of its cheap prices, this diner was one of the places our group of friends used to frequent during high school and college, so it holds a special place in our hearts.

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365:14 - Reading in Bed

On these cold nights, the temperature differential between Eric and me has become more apparent. Here you can see that my side of the bed (on the right) has been supplemented with extra covers.

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Frozen

Walking out on the frozen Sky Lake today, I snapped this photo of Founders' Lodge...

Meditation

The theme for this week’s Photo Friday challenge is “meditation”. As I was brainstorming ideas, I found an antique copy of this Prayer Book for the New Year sitting on my bookshelf. The book contains the service (in both English and Hebrew) for Yom Kippur. The first shots I took seemed to be lacking something, so I placed the kippah (that I knit myself) into the frame and came up with this shot.

Edited with Picasa.

365:13 - Laundromat Bench

I spent some time in the laundromat this evening, washing and drying the giant pile of dirty clothes that had accumulated during the past week or two. Since it was a weekday evening, most of the time that I was there, I had the place to myself. I took several shots of the clothes tumbling around in the dryer, but when I saw this bench all by itself against the white wall and the red salt-stained floor, I knew that this was what I needed.

photo taken 13 January 2009
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365:12 - Schrute Bucks

This evening we got together with some friends to play a trivia game about the television show The Office. If you answered the questions correctly, you earned Schrute Bucks.

I love The Office. When Eric first started watching it, I couldn't handle the awkwardness of the situations. Then I realized just how much they alluded to the city where I worked (Scranton, PA), and I couldn't help but watch, and eventually I fell in love with the characters.

photo taken 12 January 2009

365:11 - Chair Lion

This is a lion's face that's carved into the arm of a chair in our bedroom. The chair was in my house growing up, and when my parents were looking to acquire new furniture from my grandparents, they asked if we'd like this chair. We said yes, of course--who wouldn't want an awesome lion chair?!?

photo taken 11 January 2009
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White

Sarah has submitted several of her photos in the weekly challenge at Photo Friday and I thought I’d follow suit and begin with this week’s challenge: “White”. I looked out my sliding glass door one day to see a shadow of my bird feeders being cast upon the snow and couldn’t resist getting this shot

Da Moon

Took this picture of the moon while bored at work last weekend. Just happened to be looking out the window so I grabbed my camera and took the pic.

Siskin

This Pine Siskin allowed me to get within inches of it at the feeder the other day.

Just the Tortoise no Hare...

This was a picture I took of a 90+ year old tortoise at the Cape May Zoo a couple years back while on vacation. It was moving soooo fast I am surprised I was able to get the picture :-)

365:10 - Electric Pole in the Snow

It's snowing here...or at least it was earlier this evening. I love the snow. It's amazing to me how long it takes Binghamton to clean up its roads, but I was happy to tromp around taking pictures without having to worry about much traffic.

I often struggle with electric wires...they seem to mar most landscapes. I realized, though, that if I tried to take cool pictures of the wires and the poles themselves, maybe I'd learn to appreciate a little of their aesthetic value. I do like this photo.

photo taken 10 January 2009
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365:9 - Mix Tapes

Here are the mix tapes that Eric and I made for each other while we were dating. We were going to colleges that were six hours apart, so in between the random weekends that we got to spend together, the songs on these tapes were able to express what we weren't able to say to each other in person because of the distance.

photo taken 9 January 2009
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Guitar

This is of Tim Brewster playing his guitar at the Special Needs Winter Retreat. (Taken with Sarah's camera, of course!)

365:8 - Pottery

Eric went to the thrift store and picked out several random objects for me to take photos of. He likes it when I take pictures and gets excited when he sees a shot that he likes. For Christmas, he also got me a membership in a local art venue so that when they have their members' show, I can put a piece in the display.

I really appreciate his enthusiasm for my hobby and his confidence that I can capture something great. I'm a very lucky girl.

photo taken 8 January 2009
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365:7 - Stereo

This record player used to belong to my great-grandparents. It has an amazing fold-out turntable and (as you can see) a fantastic color scheme.

Finally, after a year and a half, we can actually listen to the giant pile of vinyl that Eric has been accumulating.

photo taken 7 January 2009

365:6 - Eric's Hands

My sweet husband loves his music, so when his latest cd purchase arrived in the mail (a limited edition reissue of a Death Cab for Cutie album), he devoured the liner notes.

photo taken 7 January 2009

365:5 - Hands

At the special needs retreat, one of the activities was to build a house out of graham crackers, frosting, and candy. This photo shows a counselor and two of the campers working to put their house together.

photo taken 5 January 2009
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365:4 - Andrew

Eric and I were at our church camp the past few days, leading a retreat for persons with special needs.

Andrew is one of the counselors that helped with the retreat. This picture was the last photo I took on Sunday--hanging out in the south lounge of Riley Lodge, trying to answer questions from the 90's version of Trivial Pursuit.

photo taken 4 January 2009
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Light

Another shot taken with Sarah's camera—this time it's of the light fixtures in the South Lounge of Riley Lodge. I really like the lighting effects in this photo.

Nothing Special

This picture is nothing special, I just thought it was neat. It is the cord to the ceiling fan in the break room of Founders Lodge at Sky Lake...

Pine Cone

Sarah was gracious and allowed me to fiddle around with her camera yesterday. I used the macro setting to get some close-ups of the pine cone feeders our special needs campers made. I then employed some filters in Picasa to create the "black and white with red filter" effect. It was easier to create a collage than it was to choose just one photo. Needless to say, I am hooked on the Rebel camera!

Stained Glass Window

While at the Episcopal Church in Greene for my Uncle Frank’s memorial service in August, I snuck upstairs for a few minutes to get some shots of the stained glass windows in the sanctuary. I particularly like how the colors of the window are reflected on the wall in this photo.

365:3 - Saturday Evening on Bevier Street

Here's a photo of the cars going by on our street. It's not a stellar shot, I know. I set the camera on a stack of books and cds so it pointed out the window so that I could play around with the exposure, ISO, etc., to see what kind of light trails I could get.

We like our neighborhood. It's an interesting mix of people, and we're only a few blocks from the river with a park on the other side. I'm beginning to feel like I really like the town of Binghamton...now if only a library job would open up for me!

365:2 - Amelie

Today's picture is of our cat, since she's been on my mind a lot lately. She's pretty sick with a chronic condition that's resulted in several trips to the vet over the past few weeks. Even though she's been suffering quite a bit, she has continued to be cheerful and friendly to us. I know she's just a cat, and a deaf one at that, but the past couple of months when I've been playing housewife and spending days at home, she's been a good companion and a listening ear, and I love her for it.

photo taken 2 January 2009
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Shrimp

This is one of my girlfriend's cats, 'Chubbs' chowing down on shrimp with his buddy Max looking on...

An Encounter with Royalty

I feel so honored to have been invited to join this blog. I am looking forward to sharing some of my photographic pursuits and to improving my skills as I do so. Here goes my first contribution.

While visiting family in Idaho last spring, I was inspired by my sister to get into birding. Living along a black bear visiting route, I thought it best to wait until winter had settled in before I put up any feeders. So, about a month ago I finally hung a new window feeder on the sliding door of my sun room. It took a couple weeks, but the first Black-capped Chickadees finally discovered it. It didn’t take me long to discover that I could get some close shots of my feathered visitors. This is one of my favorite shots so far. I have titled it, His Royal Highness Black-capped Chickadee VIII, King of Feeder.

365:1 - Audrey

This is a picture of Eric's cousin at the belated Christmas celebration that his family had today. This is not an out-of-this world photo to start off this project, but I think she looks lovely, and one of my goals through this year is to become better at doing photos of people and portrait-type shots.

photo taken 1 January 2009
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