My Favorite Photographs Of 2006

"Your photography is a record of your living, for anyone who really sees."

-Paul Strand

I can't believe it is already time to assemble my favorite photos for yet another year! I had a lot of fun with the camera this past year, I saw such wonderful light everywhere. I will look back on my photography for 2006, and feel a deep sense of happiness, because I think I settled down a bit, I was less manic and my picture taking, and therefor I think I did a better job of capturing just the right moment. I did have a few "goof" photos however, I will post some of those next week. Tee Hee. Hopefully they will bring you a giggle. For now, I hope you enjoy a look back at the last 12 months, these aren't necessarily the best photograph I took, but they are ones I enjoyed very much. I dusted off my photo blog, "Ellipsis...Vignettes legeres d' Ambiant," and I have cross posted the photo collection over there. I have added a quote for each photo. If you would like to see a certain photo in it's larger size, simply click the photo and you will be redirected to my photo blog. :)

The 2006 Collection

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

-OndineMonet
"Great Blue Heron"
Santa Cruz, California
August, 2006
Late Afternoon

John Scalzi's Weekend Assignment #145: 2007 Resolutions

"A New Year's resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other."

-Unknown

Weekend Assignment #145: Make at least one resolution for 2007.

Extra Credit: Did you keep your resolutions for 2006?

-John Scalzi (By The Way...)

New Year's resolutions... blech! I don't really do resolutions, it seems like life is too short to put so much pressure on it all. There are plenty of outside influences out of our control as it is, without adding silly unwarranted self-imposed pressures. But ok, I do know there are a couple areas of my life that could use some discipline. Last year when Scalzi asked us what our resolutions would be, I picked something I knew I could accomplish. There is nothing wrong with having realistic goals... right? :) I will share about that under in my answer to the Extra Credit question, but first lets talk about the year we are about to have.

Water Lily Bud

Autumn Egret

San Simeon Sunset

For 2007, I have decided to spread my creative wings a bit. I promised Alan I would start my painting early last autumn. Well, that season came and went, and still no painting. Sigh. Everything caught up with me too quickly, then I injured my shoulder, and here I sit, with a canvas and paint and an easel staring at me, reminding me that time is going on without me. :) So, I have picked out four of my original photos from my file for 2006, now it's just a matter of getting into January, after all the holiday decorations are put away for another year and I can breathe again. It will be one of these 4 pictures, I am still making up my mind which one I will finally choose. I might even find the time to do more then one, we'll see. If you look on my sidebar, you will see my full list of resolutions for 2007. Hopefully one year from now I will be able to claim complete success. He thinks doing the painting it would be good for me. Like I said, "We'll see."

Extra Credit: Yep, I kept my New Year's resolution for 2006. I wanted to create some new recipes and I did. I even started a recipe blog. I only created a few new ones, but that counts... right? :)

-OndineMonet
Great Northern White Butterfly
Conservatory of Flowers
San Francisco, California
Summer, 2006
Afternoon

Rainy Days And Mondays

"True goodbyes are the ones never said or explained."

-Unknown

New Year's Day is on a Monday this year. Stupid New Year's Day! Yes, that's right, I said Stupid New Year's Day! As the holiday season leaves for one more year, and as I look back, I had a pretty good time. There were a lot of things to be truly thankful for, and I am, but there are one or two things that are hurting me at the moment, and while I don't usually like to share the things that haunt me here on Ellipsis, I do know when it it's better for me to just be honest and say... Stupid New Year's Day!

So, while I know I will be starting the new year with a degree of sadness, I know that in time I will think back fondly on those I miss and probably just smile. My friend says to me, "we will both move on, we will be ok. It's a new start for us. At least that is what I am told." Tee Hee. To which I say to my friend, "You're not the boss of me." Tee Hee. I know people come and go, it's never really easy, for anyone, but there it is. People don't always leave your life because they want to. Change happens. Seasons. Dates on a calendar. Minutes. Hours. Years that go by in a blink. And like the sun in November... especially the sun in November... the light is never really the same.

Rainy Days & Mondays
The Carpenters

Talkin' to myself and feeling old
Sometimes I like to quit
Nothin' ever seems to fit
Hangin' around, nothing to do but frown
Rainy Days and Mondays always get me down

What I've got they used to call the blues
Nothin' is really wrong
Feelin' like I don't belong
Walkin' around, some kind of lonely clown
Rainy Days and Mondays always get me down

Funny but it seems I always wind up here with you
Nice to know somebody loves me
Funny but it seems that it's the only thing to do
Run and find the one who loves me

What I feel is come and gone before
No need to talk it out
We know what it's all about
Hangin' around, nothin' to do but frown
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down

Funny but it seems that's it's the only thing to do
Run and find the one who loves me

Who loves me...

Hangin' around, nothin' to do but frown
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down.

-OndineMonet
"On A Late December Day In 2006"
Berkeley, California
December 26th, 2006
Afternoon

Round Robin Challenge: "Past v. Present"

"Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. And today? Today is a gift. Thats why they call it the present."

-Babtunde Olatunji

For the last Round Robin challenge of 2006, Connie has chosen for us, "Past v. Present," as our theme to tackle. Tee Hee. I am kinda breaking the rules a bit with this one, because I decided to post of photo of me when I was a little girl. Since I didn't take the "Past" photo myself, I can't really take credit for it, but I did take the photo below, which will illustrate my "present." I chose to use my own likeness for my challenge entry, because it represents a big step for me, especially here in the Internet world. 2006 was the first time I posted a photo where you could see my whole face, as opposed to the partial looks I had previously posted.



You kinda got to know me one feature at a time. LOL. An eye here, a nose there. Here an ear, there an ear... lips, feet, fingers. LOL. Yep, I confirmed I had all my parts, but I never showed myself as one complete person. Why you ask? Ok, well, hold onto your hats, see, I am basically a shy person. I have an outgoing personality, and I love people, and going places, but I am really a pretty private person in life. Weird contrast... yes, I know. Try as I might, I am just me. As I once said on my AOL journal, under the "About Me" section. "I am nothing special, just a lady who loves museums, and reading, and of course, discovering the world through my camera lens. Nothing special." As you can see by the two photos... I look almost exactly the same since I was 7 years old. I'm just me, past and present. :)

Thank you Connie! This was a great idea for a challenge! Be sure to visit the rest of the Round Robin participants.

Linking List

1. Connie... WINDSWEPT/Connie's Country Life

2. Karen... Outpost Mavarin POSTED!

3. Carly... Ellipsis... Suddenly Carly POSTED!

4. Janet... Fond of Photography

5. Julie... Julie's Web Journal

6. Suzanne R... New Suzanne R's Life POSTED!

7. Steven... (sometimes) photoblog POSTED!

8. Brad... We-Is POSTED!

Your Monday Photo Shoot: Loot!

"It isn't the size of the gift that matters, but the size of the heart that gives it."

-Quoted in "The Angels Little Instruction Book" by Eileen Elias Freeman

Your Monday Photo Shoot: Take a picture of a present you've received during the holidays. Should be pretty easy, right?

-John Scalzi (By The Way... )

Alan and I have wonderful holidays. We have always had the best time with our little traditions. For example, we put a Santa Claus hat on the top of our Christmas tree, as opposed to an angel or a star. We have breakfast in bed together, on Christmas morning, because he almost always has to work that day. So we spend some quality time together, and then I get most of the rest of the day to myself to relax, and have time to myself, before he gets home in the afternoon. We also have fun little traditions when it comes to gift giving, such as the one I am about to tell you about.

Each year Alan and I buy each other at least one gift from the Dollar Tree. We are in our mid-forties, and have everything we really want, so there isn't much we put on our regular Christmas lists. Books are good, jewelry is always a plus, but sometimes the best things are the practical things. The other day, Alan took a peek around my office, and noticed I had not yet purchased a 2007 calendar. Off to the Dollar Tree he went. When I looked under the tree yesterday morning, I was thrilled to see there was indeed a calendar shaped present, wrapped in pretty paper waiting for me.

When he got home, we opened gifts, and I decided to start things off by opening that present first. I am so glad I did... because we had a great laugh, when we realized that Alan had bought me a Spanish calendar of French Impressionist artists. LOL. And it was printed in Korea! So I guess my new calendar has an international dynamic too it! Tee Hee. We have too much fun sometimes. :) Thank you for my new calendar Alan!

-OndineMonet
"Los Impresionistas"
Berkeley, California
December 25th, 2006
Late Evening

Merry Christmas

"Fail not to call to mind, in the course of the twenty-fifth of this month, that the Divinest Heart that ever walked the earth was born on that day; and then smile, and enjoy yourselves for the rest of it; for mirth is also of Heaven's making."

-Leigh Hunt

-OndineMonet
Berkeley, California
December 25th, 2006
Early Morning

Don We Now Our Day Of Peril

"The Supreme Court has ruled that they cannot have a nativity scene in Washington, D.C. This wasn't for any religious reasons, they couldn't find three wise men and a virgin."

-Jay Leno

Things I think about while baking holiday goodies...

1. We've had three earthquakes, here in Berkeley, in the last three days. That can't be good!

2. I don't think George Bush really cares what I think. Sigh. He told me he cared.

3. "Don We Now Our Day Of Peril." That can't be right. "Don We Now Our Gay Apparel." Really??? See, that makes a lot more sense. I guess.

4. About Rosie O' Donnell, and Donald Trump... You can take the millionaire out of the trailer park, but you can't take the trailer park out of the millionaire.

5. Hmmm... I own a left handed measuring cup.

6. Damn it hurts when you drop a can of peaches on your foot.

7. All of Santa's reindeer are female. Hmmm.

8. Speaking of Donald Trump, he should really pardon Miss Nevada as well.

9. Did I remember to buy bathroom tissue?

10. "One toke over the line sweet Jesus, one toke over the line, sitting downtown in a railway station, one toke over the line."

11. Do I even own a turkey baster?

12. "Good King Wences's car backed out, on the feet of heathens." That can't be right. "God King Wenceslas looked out, on the feast of Stephen." Who is Stephen? And why does he have a feast?

13. I wonder if I will hear from my friend H. P. on Christmas Eve, gosh I miss him.

14. Yummmm... cookie dough rocks!

15. If George Bush gets all the money he asks for to spend on HIS war, it will have a cost of Five-Hundred Billion dollars. I wonder how many Americans will go hungry tonight?

16. Mosquitoes have 47 teeth.

17. We killed one of Bin Laden's generals... why is it we never kill Bin Laden?

18. I'm dwelling on Bush again... sigh.

19. A duck's quack doesn't echo.

20. Where the hell is the Cream of Tarter?

21. What the hell is Cream of Tarter?

22. Did I even buy Cream of Tarter?

23. For that matter... what is Tarter?

22. It's been 45 minutes, why haven't my pain pills kicked in yet?

23. I would love Sweet & Sour Pork for lunch.

24. BBBEEEEEEEP! The cookies are done.

25. It's going to rain all day on Christmas Day... I love that thought.

26. Shrimp can only swim backward.

27. Merriam Webster's "Word of the Year" is, "Truthiness." Hmmm... I would have chosen, IMPEACHMENT.

28. Camel's milk does not curdle.

29. "I picked a lemon in the garden, where they told me only peaches grew."

30. That knock at the door was the mailman, my Aunt Amanda sent me a present. She loves me. :)

31. Sing it with me...

God rest ye merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay
Remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas Day
To save us all from Satan's power, when we go astray
O Good tidings of Joy, comfort and joy
O Good tidings of Joy, comfort and joy.

-OndineMonet
"Nibbles"
Berkeley, California
December 22nd, 2006
Afternoon