Quiet On The Set!

"Give them pleasure. The same pleasure they have when they wake up from a nightmare."

~Alfred Hitchcock

Yesterday, as I was tiptoeing through my 2012 archives, I came across a several photos that I liked a lot, but that I never got around to posting before the end of the year. So, in the coming weeks I think I will be posting a combination of brand new photos, and some from 2012 that for whatever reason, didn't quite make it to the blog. I am happy that I came across the photos from 2012 that are fresh to the blog because when the clock struck midnight on New Year's Eve it didn't just usher in a new year, it brought a nice little colony of ants along for the fun! Needless to say, I have been a busy lady lately.

Ugg... I hate ants. I managed to do really well with keeping them out of the garden last summer, just by maintaining a certain amount of diligent gardening, including the occasional deep dusting of cinnamon, which as you might know is natures best way to confuse an ant! No kidding! Cinnamon causes the ants to become confused, which in turn gives you a way to send them on their way without accidentally hurting any other little creature that might happen through the yard. The garden was an amazing success, and I owe it all to cinnamon!

I am going to Costco later today to purchase a large amount of cinnamon, to make the same liquid spray solution I used last summer, to try and eradicate this new collection. The ones in the house seem to be grease eating ants, which is fine, they are quite easy to deal with, but the trouble is, we can't seem to figure out where they are getting in. Ugg AGAIN!. We have been working on the situation, literally since New Year's Day, and it's just a never ending line of ants! There are a couple more things we will be trying this weekend, hopefully it will finally bring an end to the ant drama!

Think good thoughts for me, and bad thoughts for the ants! Okay?

If nothing else, perhaps I will get some good photos of the invaders. I need to do more practice with macro photography. Wish me luck with that also!

Will they be ready for their close-up?

Stay Tuned!


~Me :)
"Quiet On The Set"
AMC
Emeryville, Ca
August 9th 2012

Winter By Day Winter By Night

"Colder by the hour, more dead with every breath."

~John Green

 

"One moon lights a thousand forevers..."

~Meng Chiao

In continuing with my night photography project, I decided to see how the leaves that are left on the trees change the feeling of the photos when captured at night. I like the tree with the tiny yellow leaves, but the big leaf maple leaves me a bit indifferent. A goal is to do some early morning photography, but if possible, I would like to have some snow on the ground to help bounce the light a bit. About 30 years ago, while visiting my aunt in Maryland, I was lucky enough to see what the moonlight can do, when it bounces off some new fallen snow. It illuminated all the tips of the trees and leaves that remained, making it look like someone had poured tiny diamonds all over the earth.

"By day each soul must walk within it's shadow. Only night can make us whole again..."

~Nicholas Gordon

As if that wasn't beautiful enough, she had a rooster that roamed freely in the yard, and just happened to be near my window, and the feathers on the rooster just glowed. It was quite a scene. I would give anything to be back in that moment sometimes, only with my cameras in my hand. I would love to see another scene like it one day. With some luck and some planning, I hope to be able to head up to the Sierra foothills sometime before spring to get in a little practice working with the snow. It's going to take a nice full moon, a crystal clear sky, and some patience. It's that last part that I may need the most help with. It was 6 below zero in Truckee last night, brrrrrr. Needless to say, my arthritis would be protesting LOUDLY. Still, where there's a will there is a way!

"How lovely are the portals of the night, when stars come out to watch the daylight die."

~Thomas Cole, Twilight
















 

~Happiness

~Thoughts?

~Me

Day And Night

"The two most important days in your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why."

~Mark Twain

 

It's clear and painfully cold. That happens in January. This year it seems colder than any I remember, but the bright clear days and dark cold nights give me a chance to practice some ambient light photography I  have wanted to do for a long time. So far, I am pleased with the result. I am going to do more of this type of thing as the month moves along, maybe even in some rainy conditions to get a different kind of light play.

The baby bat
Screamed out in fright
Turn on the dark
I'm afraid of the light

~Shel Silverstein

~Me :)

Happy New Year 2012

"Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come... whispering... it will be happier."

~Alfred Tennyson

My dates for New Year's Eve!

 

As we begin a sparkly, snarkly new year, I wish you all the best! Hold on tight, 2013 will be a bumpy one methinks.

*New on Ellipsis in 2013...

The return of the Ellipsis Weekly Poll! There is a brand new one on the sidebar now, so, take part!
 

Q. If You Could, Would You Go Back And Change Your Vote From Last November?
Go answer on the sidebar. You know you want to. :)

~Me :)

New Year's Eve 2012 My Year In Photographs

"Tell him I was too fucking busy... or vice versa."

~Dorothy Parker

My word of the year for 2012 is ADVENTURE. I did a lot of new things this year, and it felt really good to just live my life. I like being 50. As my 50 year old self, I met some goals. I scared myself. I scared some others. I stood up to some bullies, and I allowed myself to have some fun. My thinking was centered around the possibility that the Mayan prophesy could be right. What if the world would end on 2012? Would I want to go into the next plane of existence a coward? Did I want to never face a fear, or follow a dream? If it was all going to be over in a matter of month, why not go out happy, and at peace with myself? So I did just that. I went out and made myself happy. I tried not to be selfish about it, because what fun is being happy, if those around you aren't happy also?As in every year, I thank the heavens above for Alan. He likes to go along with me on my adventures, and it really wouldn't be the same without him by my side.

 Here is all my best from the adventure that was 2012.

Enjoy!














































































2012 is going to be a tough year to beat, but I am looking forward to the challenge.

Stay Tuned!

If I didn't care for fun and such
I'd probably amount to much
But I shall stay the way I am
Because I do not give a damn.

~Dorothy Parker

~Me :) HAPPY NEW YEAR!

"Raygun Gothic Rocketship"
Rocket Art Landing On SF Waterfront (San Francisco Examiner)

The Visual

"Let it go over a cliff, die completely, and then come back to life... after that you cannot be deceived."

~Zen Proverb

A couple days ago I wrote a slightly humorous post about the hazards of making fun of an otherwise serious situation. In that particular case it was a matter of getting the song, Disco Duck, hopelessly stuck in my head, as I changed some of the words to fit the current showdown over the fiscal goings on in Washington D.C. . At that time I was poking fun of the situation because in truth there is very little I can do to help the negotiations. I did my part last November, but it doesn't seem like it was any help, at least not to any real degree.

A lot of damage is poised to take place, if no settlement is reached.

Most of which could have been avoided.

Mumphf.

There is nothing I can do. I am one person. But apparently my one vote and those who also joined me on election day together don't make that much of a difference.

Voting, it seems, really doesn't matter all that much anymore.

If it ever did.

The other day, with the post about the music in my head, I was poking fun at the thing that worries me. Don't get me wrong, Alan and I will be fine, but it's families, once again, that will be working harder and harder, and seeing less for it. It will be hard on those who remain on unemployment through no fault of their own, and then comes those who depend on Social Security and Medicare who will face even more uncertainty about what their quality of life will be.

It's hard to understand.

And yet, I think all the ones doing the negotiating have long since forgotten, or never knew in the first place, what it feels like to struggle to keep food on the table, or lights on, or clothe a child, or help an elderly loved one stay safe, warm, and in good health.

When I think about America falling off the "fiscal cliff" I don't laugh. I see a steep cliff, with a fence that isn't really strong, but working as a last barrier all the same. And I am thankful for that small fence, because what lies below are jagged rocks, deep cold water, and unless you know how to tread water, you know that when you hit that cold water, all that's left is your own eventual drowning.

When Washington thinks of the fiscal cliff, I think they see piles and piles of money, and falling off that cliff doesn't mean they will drown, it means they won't be able to keep climbing that green hill of endless money. They will be able to clothe their children, feed their families and take care of their elderly. Greed is good. Right?


~Me