Wordless Wednesday ~ A trip to grandpas farm

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Wordless Wednesday ~ Sunrise

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Dear Blog,

I'm sorry that I have been neglectful.
I've been preoccupied.
The attraction of someone else has pushed a wedge between us.
You see I don't have to "work" so hard for this other friend.
My creativity is not needed.
I don't feel the pressure from them like I do from you.
I know there is room in my life for you both but I just haven't been able to figure it all out yet.
If you could just bond with my new friend too, I know you would like them.
In fact if there was some way I could merge you both then it would be the perfect solution.
Until I figure it out... please stick by me.
I won't completely give up on this relationship.
But Facebook is just so new and exciting right now.
I'll see you in a few days... as soon as I read what all my friends are doing.
Love always,
Autumn

My PSA for the day

I'm here so that others can learn from my mistakes, so here you go...

First, don't assume that your six year old is just being quiet in the kitchen.
Second, when six year old says "Oops I spilt a little milk" don't assume it is a "little".
Third, when you clean up the milk with kitchen towels do not arbitrarily throw those kitchen towels into the dirty clothes hamper in your bedroom.
Fourth, when your wiener dog suddenly has a strange fascination with said clothes hamper, do not ignore it.
Fifth, when you open your bedroom door and it smells rank, don't assume it was your husbands, child's or dogs gas.
Sixth, when you do your laundry three days later... hold your breath.

Your welcome.

Photoshop drop out...

I mentioned last fall that I had signed up for a Photoshop elements class. I also mentioned that I was the youngest in the class by a good twenty years. I ended up dropping the class. In spite of feeling like a total dope when it came to PS elements I was ahead of most of the class. The pace was slow and I just felt that if I put a little more effort into it on my own I'd get the hang of things. I still have a love/hate relationship with it.

I love it when I take a picture and love it SOOC (Straight out of camera). I feel that I have really accomplished something. To me it takes such skill to take a wonderful picture out in the field using manual or semi manual setting. I push myself to sharpen those skills, it may be a lost art in the future.

I do believe in some degree that Photoshop is taking away from the skill and art of Photography. It's easier to just fix it on the back end because you don't have the pressure of the moment.

On the flip side I can really appreciate the skill that Photoshop takes. It's the modern day dark room. Ansel Adams did a lot of his work in the dark room. Using his skills with developing to make his pictures one in a million.

So I am trying to find a happy medium, to not try and fix every flaw in a picture or make it to processed, but just enhance a few things here and there. All while still trying to get the best SOOC shot that I can.

As I started editing pictures into black and whites I practiced with other editing processes. Here are a few of my before and afters. I'm sure or at least I hope, next year I'll look at these and say "Wow I really have come a long way since those!"

Here is a picture of my husband and I that my sister in law took.

It's a nice picture but the bird in the air and the cars in the background are very distracting. So when I turned it to black and white for my wall I did this to it.

This next picture is of Bug out in the yard. I love the genuine smile on his face in this shot.

The only issue is that dang huge blue ball behind him. Now I do kind of like it but when the picture was turned black and white is just looked weird. So I took it out.

I see so many things that I probably could have done better on that one but eh... it's just fine. Here is a shot that I scanned from an old picture of Bug and his big brother. I loved this shot because it shows just how good of a big brother he is. Helping his little annoying brother.

The only problem was the guy in the background with the stroller and the little girl behind my stepson. So very distracting..... so I removed them and this is the result.

So I'm trying, reluctantly to improve my skills with Photoshop elements. I won't go into how long it took to edit just these three pictures. Oh well life isn't a race right?

Rural life

My friend from up the road called me this afternoon.
She asked me if I had seen Gus.
I told her I hadn't.
Gus is one of her horses.
He is a very, very old horse.
He had been declining in health very quickly.
She was so worried because he was in the yard at six this morning.
But by this afternoon there was no sign of Gus.
I could hear in her voice how worried she was.
I suggested that maybe he wondered into the woods to die.
She thought that was probably what happened but just prayed he wasn't laying somewhere suffering. I assured her that I would keep a close eye out for him.
Tonight as I drove home from picking up Bug at daycare I drove the back way hoping to catch a glimpse of Gus. An hour later my friend called to let me know that she had finally found him.
He did indeed walk into the woods ...........and right off of a cliff.
He walked off of the normal trail and straight into a rocky ravine.
Unfortunately he was still alive when she reached him.
Her husband had to put him out of his misery.
He left the other horses and went into the forest so that the predators who would eventually find him wouldn't hurt them.
I'm not sure why I felt a need to post this except to show what it's like here in the country.
Where natural beauty abounds and where horses commit suicide to save the herd.