excuses...

(lily of the valley...)

I'm finding about any excuse I can to be out of the house these days.  I know the novelty will wear off, but right now, it's just new found freedome.

These little Lily of the Valley's bloomed over the weekend, and I almost missed them.  (They're in a small hidden corner of the back yard) I just love them...

Anyway, transplanting today, and planting a new Dappled Willow that I picked up over the weekend.  It's one of the most beautiful bushes I've ever seen...

You'll see...

Have a great Monday!

little bits of life...

(mushroom family...)

Yesterday I was cleaning out an area where there's an old PussyWillow stump in one of the flower beds.  (It's the same area where the wild onions are growing) and I found this.

There are about 6 clumps of these little guys, and I couldn't help but get some shots...

I'll probably keep shooting them until they are gone, it's just too tempting!

Have a great Tuesday!

the fine points of sharing...

(filigree...)

If you know me at all, you know I'm a bit of an obsessed gardener.  I live to play in the dirt and spend all my spare change on seedlings and manure.  Especially in the Spring.

I have  neighbors who loves to garden too.  They only cultivate one plant, and they have thousands, but they share it with the entire neighborhood.  (Which I find very kind considering they seem to have such a passion for it all!)  I've taken today's shot to showcase the beauties that have come into my life thanks to my wonderful neighbors.  

And really, they are quite beautiful.  You have to appreciate that if nothing else...

Happy Wednesday everyone!

the process of discovering...

(05_04_2009)

I have been working on a 365 project with some friends over on flickr.  We started on January 1st and plan to go on with it until December 31st.  

It's been really a strange trip for me.  Both enlightening and nervewracking at the same time.  I made it a personal challenge to be creative every day.  And by creative I mean to challenge myself to make it interesting to the viewer as well as to myself.  (In other words, no snapshots)  

I've faultered on this a few times already, and I've found that my personal creativity needs booster shots on a regular basis to continue this.  (I went the whole week without shooting one because I literally had no ideas.)  It's made me really realize that there has to be a trigger of some kind in my brain that sets the wheels in motion.

So a new challenge?  To find that trigger.

Happy Thursday everyone!  Thanks for taking the time to visit...it's nice to see the numbers going up.  I promise to do my best to keep it interesting!

the new frontier...

(through the veil 2...)

I am constantly trying to keep up with the technological world.  I think I'm almost there and they change all the rules.  It's scary and exciting all at the same time.  At some point, someone in the world convinced me that I had to have a web presence.

So I do.  Sort of.  I have one that goes in and out of updatedness.  I'm in an 'in' stage right now.  I'm working on this, and the website, I'm actually twittering for 2 weeks to give it a real try, and I'm reading everything I can on marketing on the web.  (which is FULL of contradictions might I add?)

Anyway, you guys are checking this out, which I appreciate more than you know.  You don't have to comment, but I'd love it if you'd just give me a bit of feedback on how things are going.  And leave a link so I can come say hello!  :)

Anyway, it's Friday...Yay!  I have a ton of work to do, so I'll leave you to your day.  I hope it's amazing!

looking up...

(moments in a dream...

I'm a cloud watcher.  Well, maybe more a sky watcher.  

I'm not sure if it was the thing with the birds (I'm a bit bird obsessed) or being so tall (I always looked down while I was walking, for years...because I was so much taller than everyone I guess...) and trying to stand up straighter, or just dreaming of what's out there, but I'm always looking up into the sky.   (Which can make for some clumsy steps while jogging, let me tell you!) 

Point being, you'll probably see this blog speckled with cloud shots now and again.  Sometimes I just can't help myself, they are like taking bits of a dream and splattering them across the world.

I hope you're having a spectacular weekend...It's windy and brisk here, but the sun is out and the green is as green as I've ever seen it.

Life is good....

the wonder of it all....

(tiny miracles...)

This is from one of the two dogwood bushes I have that are ready to burst into bloom.  There were two times that I thought they were gone.  They died back to nothing...I moved them, they struggled and looked horrible.  Then last year they came back with avengence.

I'm kind of using them for a metaphore for life these days.  I mean if they can come back from death I can come back from anything..

right?

Happy Friday!!

barefoot in the tall grass...

(summer at the lake #4...)

 I've been creating quite a lot lately.  

I'm working on a whole new series for the Strange Fascination store, as well as creating a series of PDF downloads that you can print right from home.  The first is up here, but I have about 4 more in the making.  I'd love to hear what you all think of this idea!

I've also been working on some pdf's for my Fragments store.  They will be cards, note pads, recipe cards...things like that.  You'll be able to download them, print them and use them anytime you want!  I may be doing giveaways here on the blog very soon, so I hope you'll check back!

Other than that, today is our first 80 degree day, and I'm in heaven.  I thought it would be a perfect time to debut my new series 'Summer at the Lake, postcards from Everywhere'.  I'm using images I've shot over the last 10 or so years while we've travelled all over the country, and offering them in a postcard format.  You can hang them or send them.  

I hope you're all having a wonderful week.  I went a bit long between posts, but I began the design process last week and with that comes extreme focus.  Sometimes that's good, and sometimes it's bad...everything else can suffer, but it's usually worth it.

Take care and I'll talk to you soon....

xoxo