Black and White Puzzle

Chloe, over the past few weeks, has found a particular puzzle fun and has gone from frustration at putting the pieces in to a frenetic pace.  At first she was able to do it, but only while you were NOT looking.  If you were watching she would whine and complain and seek help.  However, if you were not looking the pieces went in with amazing ease!  She is quite a funny girl.

She has been pinching our noses and expecting us to go beep beep for a month or so.  Recently, we introduced her to a fun game...missile attack, where Daddy pretends his finger is a missile set to tickle mode and she must defend against it by slapping his hand...sometimes she misses on purpose so she gets tickled.

"She is a wholly remarkable girl," as Douglas Adams may have put it.

Here some from this weekend that didn't make the cut previously.

     Have a good week!

Continuing Charm from Washington

 This is this week's entry for Barn Charm.  It is HDR (High Dynamic Range) and it really shows the colors that were there! It was a wonderful summer morning and the sun was about to rise.

I've been in touch with Tricia from Barn Charm and she's been giving me a few pointers on textures.  So, I managed this next one with the addition of a texture.  Looks pretty cool, huh?

 After playing with that a bit, I decided I could make my own textures.  I began by taking pictures of a few OLD book covers.  Then I fiddled with them a little and here is one that I thought worked.

As usual, click on over to Barn Charm to see the rest of the barns.

A Day In The Pool With Chloe

 OK, maybe not the entire day.  Yesterday was HOT.  It was nice and roasty.  And Chloe didn't take a nap, so we were desperate to keep her busy.  She wore a nice two piece that a close family friend had given us.  Did I mention she loves water?  She loves baths and she loves playing in her swimming pool!  She is awesome.

She also did a number on the cereal yesterday.   This is her eating kix...note the milk on the chin...cute, huh?

 Here is our bathing beauty in a collage of pictures i threw together using my photo program.

 and back to the eating.  This girl started out at about 16 pounds and  way off the growth charts.  Over the past seven months we have managed to get her ON to the growth charts!!  She'll probably never be nine feet tall or over 130 pounds, but we are at least making sure she is meeting her nutritional needs!  Here she is at meal time again!

 And this girl LOVES berries.  She loves strawberries, but she is absolutely crazy for raspberries.  I mean, she would walk across a seven lane freeway for a handful of raspberries.  She has managed to keep her grandmother's bush free of berries...well, ripe ones, anyway.  and this morning, she learned that you can put them on your fingers!!   Who thought of this awesomeness?!?

 And here she is looking over her shoulder.   I love it, since she was about to go down the slide and well, I'm in love with this little girl!  She is about 194 kinds of awesome!  Seriously!

We have A LOT of work to do before we are ready for the beach, but we are going to make it and we are going to have fun!

Cora allowed me to purchase a tripod yesterday.  This new tripod is about 40 times better than the old pod, which was intended for video cameras and shows that by an inability to tilt 90 degrees for vertical shots.  The new one does that easily, and also allows easy re-positioning!  It is awesome!  So, if you get the chance, tell Cora thanks!

I have been working to get more out of my photo program.  I figured out how to combine two photos last week, and this weekend, with the help of Tricia from Barn Charm, I have gotten to know some textures.  I will be using those a bit more, you can be sure!  The last one of Chloe uses a texture.  Actually, one I made myself.  This particular texture has my grandmother to thank.  I took a picture of the cover of a book of poems I have from her.  Then I added a border to make it darker at the edges and then I added it to Chloe's picture.  Voila!  Perfecto!

Morning Sights

 I left early this morning.  I took a few photos before the sun rose completely.  I have others I took this morning, but I'm kind of saving them for later.

The bottom one makes me think of how life has changed since we got Chloe.  Life, while sometimes challenging and blinding, is brighter and more beautiful for her!

The weekend looms before us once more, but the difference is next weekend will see us relaxing a little longer and a little better.  We have to get ready, though!

Finally Friday

Well, thank goodness it's Friday!  I am well ready for the break.  Of course, I don't foresee too much relaxation as there are tons of things to do to get ready for next weekend!

The weather continues to be cooler than usual.  By this time we have usually had a few 100 degree days, but it has resolutely stayed in the 90s...I don't mind that, but wonder what that means for my beloved grapes...you know the ones they liquify into that purple heaven otherwise known as wine.

I managed to get a few dawn pictures yesterday, and here is what I came up with.  It's that same well drilling rig from the other day.

 And here is one of Chloe helping Mom work on the computer...if she had her way, she'd be typing keys...and she usually tries to have her way.

Well, may the weekend bring finished chores and lots of sleep!

The Rig

 On my drive to work each day, I see an old drill rig.  It is set up and away from the road, so it has taken me awhile to work up the nerve to go shoot it.  I decided to go ahead and do it on the way home today, since I glimpsed some clouds in the sky and that makes for more interesting pictures.

 I decided to warm up the photos.  You can see the warmer color.

One of the schools I sometimes work at has some workers that all the other schools' workers jokingly refer to as the circus freaks or clowns.  Alternatively, they sometimes refer to it as Munchkin Land.  I think it has something to do with that particular bunch being...peculiar.  The other day they requested that I remove some doors from a closet.  Four heavy fire doors.  They needed to be put in storage.

They insisted I would need AT LEAST another set of hands if not more because these doors were just SOOOO heavy.  They began describing the doors as 200lbs each.  This figure steadily grew and at one point the doors each topped out at four hundred pounds in their descriptions.  I decided to investigate, since I know the source.  I walked in and could move them by myself.

They WERE heavy, let there be no doubt about that, but they were NOT 200 lb doors.  I moved them and put them in our storage area.  Today, I heard nothing but praise for my superior strength from them.  I am certain I am one of the weaker individuals in the district, so that praise does not really mean much, but the important thing is they are happy.

I need a vacation.

I am thinking beachy thoughts...

Crazy Little Girl

She decided she needed a BUNCH of bows in her hair last night.  Her Mom obliged and this is what we got! You can't really tell, since it looks a bit like a grimace, but she is really hamming it up for the camera.  

She had to jump in my arms so Precious changed handlers, too.  Cora snapped this one of me and my lovely daughter.

 It's been an interesting but surprisingly short summer.  The last few summers have seemed to just meander by, but with Chloe and our revised schedule, we end up going to bed earlier and being tied closer to the house, it just seems to fly by!

The way she is growing is amazing!  It's great to see!  She is growing as fast as the summer is flowing past.  Last night she put on a harness (used to keep new walkers from rushing into traffic...basically a glorified leash), it looks like a cross between a monkey and a back pack, and blew us kisses.  I had a sudden vision of her leaving for school...jeez, this kid is growing way too fast!

Slow down, change gears, ok.

I have a charcoal grill that I am in love with.  It has the option of putting a smoker box on the side.  I recently got that added smoker box and put it on the side...I have NOT used it yet, but I think we will!  Especially for cheese!

I buy "chunk charcoal."  Usually they are less than 5 inches in diameter.  I unloaded the latest bag and found these two giant pieces!  Over a foot in lengths and 7 or 8 inches in diameter...I don't even know how I'd get them started burning!  I broke them down, but I thought it was a little funny, since they would neither fit into the can I use to light my charcoal!

 Happy Wednesday ALL!