photos…

And now, for something COMPLETELY different…

…a short story about a car, or three.
Taking a break from editing my Florida vacation photos (* you can see them if you go to the post below, and look for the word PHOTO)….

While on vacation, the three car switcheroo began. My stepson Josh’s car died …this was a distressing moment for my husband, as it had once been HIS car (and was involved in another three-car switcheroo years back, but I digress)….

Timmy momentarily, in a fit of insanity brought on by grief, suggested maybe selling his current car, the Grand Prix to Josh.

I however, knew this to be a bad idea. Timmy LOVES his car, as can be seen by the attention he lavishes on it. And Josh, no offense, wasn’t the best steward of the last car Timmy loved.

I, on the other hand, view a car as an appliance. It runs, gets me where I am going reliably (and has a good sound system) and I am good.

So we sold Josh my Montana. This opened up the opportunity for Timmy to go car shopping (one of his most favorite-ist things in the whole universe!!!)

He has had a little crush on the Pontiac Aztek for YEARS, despite the fact many think the car is ugly. And, as I don’t really CARE, that is what he located and chose for me to drive. Here, to the right, are some photos of it, now that it’s been all detailed…clean and shiny.

Part three of the switcheroo, where-in he trades his PT CRUISER convertible (his other part time mistress, who has done him wrong, apparently) needs to wait, as the value of the car versus the value of the car he’d like to replace it with (a Sebring convertible or a Bonneville, in case you care) don’t line up….

In other news, you’ll possibly note I have relegated the snow pictures to Flickr and now have some bright and shiny flowers up. Well, maybe not shiny, I’ve done some aging to them. These photos are available for sale, to you, my reader!!! Just go to my ETSY site, and ask me to sell them to you. I’d be more than happy to oblige!

Florida…10 days, 1000 photos?

Florida…10 days, 1000 photos…does that seem excessive? No? Good!

Now, the hard part. For ME, uploading, eliminating, and post-processing.

For YOU? Waiting to see all my fun vacation shots (and guess what, we are even IN some of them this year!!  PHOTOS )

We had 10 days of fun in the sun. We went to…

Wait, no. How about I post about the kind of things we did, by photo folder? I was able, for instance, to pre-edit down to ONLY 49 sunrise/sunset pictures. Those are the ones I am going to run through Photoshop Elements and process. (That means I DUMPED an equal amount. I need you to understand how many I have sacrificed in order to keep my computer from crashing, and to keep me from going blind sitting here, or getting fired for forgetting to go to work while I play with my pictures, lol!)

Nah, maybe not. it would be a very inefficient process, considering I am not nearly that organized. I barely feel capable of saying I have a routine for processing (that I actually STICK to).

This is what we did, where we went, and what we saw. I will link photos as I get them finished, (for the moment, by folder) which means you will need to keep coming back to see things. It also means you need to encourage me to keep posting by commenting!!! (SUBTLE harrassement may get the photos up sooner, you never know)

We left Virginia on Friday afternoon.

Saturday, April 25th Jacksonsville—quilt shopping at The Olde Green Cupboard (getting the important things out of the way first), lunch with Timmy’s online friends at Mojo’s, then GUANA RIVER STATE PARK BEACH.

St. Augustine, roaming through the streets of America’s oldest city, then Daytona Beach by dinner time. Ate at Buca Di Beppo’s, which turns out not to be an overgrown crazy Guido Italian family thing but a wildly outrageous, gaudy Italian delight…

Then The Daytona 500 Speedway, then DAYTONA BEACH , where we took the PT Cruiser out onto the sand for a photo-shoot (his shoot, not mine, I only modeled).

By now, it’s Sunday night. Drove to Cocoa Beach and had a lovely romantic anniversary-eve dinner at The Mango Tree, and then enjoyed a dip in the pool and spa. Up early Monday for sunrise on COCOA BEACH photos.

We spent our anniversary at the Kennedy Space Center, (my camera set on JPEG this one day only PHOTOS )…. It was an amazing place, I will admit!

Monday night, since we were running late, we delayed plans for dinner with an online friend of mine and headed to Homestead, so we would be at the beginning of the Keys Tuesday morning.

Tuesday, lunch at 7-Mile Grill on Marathon Key, and managed a mid-afternoon arrival at Key West. This means we only stopped occasionally for photo ops. We found our wonderful accommodations at the West Wind on Eaton St. We picked up our trikes and meandered our way down to Mallory Square to get an overview of the place before sunset.

We misunderstood the depth of fervor over watching the sun set, as we had scoped out a few choice locations for viewing at 4 pm, and then abandoned them to ride around town before sunset, at 8pm. We witnessed a possibly career ending injury, one of the hands on the docks where the cruise ships leave, got his fingers caught between the ropes and a pole as they were leaving….he was incredibly stoic and quiet while stuck, and walked away, but the next night, our sailing crew said it sounded as if it may be an unfixable injury… gives you pause, to think how things can change in an instant, as we had sat there, watching them casually wait out the cruise ship, enjoying the sun and the weather along with everyone else. (don’t think I’ll share THOSE photos)

Sunset in Key West is viewed as something between a carnival and a religious experience, with an equal number of people simply mesmerized by the setting sun as those who were partying and enjoying the joie de vivre that is Mallory Square. I was conscious of this fact before arriving, but it is truly an experience not to be missed. To think, the sun does this EVERY day, everywhere, and how few of us stop to consider it….A perfect sunset Tuesday, applauded at it’s conclusion, so that all could find their way to Duval Street for further festivities and celebration!

But still, amazing sunset pictures.

Wednesday, more of the same, (which, while reading a simple line, may come off as ho-hum, but don’t believe it….we had more of the SAME….sun, fun, water, people –and rooster– watching) and despite a low cloud that cut short the display of the golden orb as it touched the horizon’s edge late that afternoon, we were out on a sunset cruise on a Sailing Catamaran. You can’t beat that! Timmy reveled in the experience.

Thursday found us saying goodbye to the Keys, (after Key Lime Pie on a Stick for breakfast and a quick stop into The Seam Shoppe ) and heading to Miami. We had dinner at Scorch with an online friend of mine…. A delicious dinner, wonderful high energy atmosphere, and fabulous company!

Friday we drove out to SOUTH BEACH for a bit, (the beach-y bits, it was 11am) took in the skyline of Miami, and then along the northern edges of the Everglades, got some wonderful photos, and even caught an alligator trying to cross the road. Sanibel Island for sunset this day, and again, it didn’t disappoint….

Saturday, we had plans to take in Caladesi State Park, in Clearwater, but decided to take a brief detour. We found ourselves spending the entire day in Tarpon Springs, and out on a cruise to the Gulf of Mexico, where we watched dolphins enjoy the wake of our boat.

Sunday Honeymoon Island was the final beach destination, instead of Caladesi (so close of course, but time…..) and the de facto end of our 7th annual honeymoon vacation to somewhere. We swung back across the state that night in time to get into the world’s largest Harley-Davidson shop so Timmy could gawk.

Monday was a travel back home day, trying to avoid the rain (which we did surprisingly well, considering the number of times we looked overhead during the week to see our little black rain cloud, which we take on vacation with us EVERYWHERE, hovering, waiting to rain on us…)

Monday, home.

Tuesday? Rain.

Wednesday? Rain.

Today? Rain.

Thank goodness I have all these sunny beach day photos (and some peeling skin) to prove I ever left!

(—-WHERE, you ask, are the photos??? A THOUSAND, I said… it’s gonna take time… look back on occasion for the word—PHOTO—to be hyperlinked….I’ll get them up, I promise [not all 1000…who would want to look at 1000 vacation pictures that belong to someone ELSE?? Didn’t that all go out when Slide projectors died??]—)

Where does the time go?

They say (revise that to IT IS SAID, ‘they’ will be dealt with in another post) that as you get older that time goes by more quickly. Maybe that is why I thought it was just the other day that I posted. Where does the time go, indeed. I just spent a wonderful Easter weekend with my family up in Connecticut. All of the little kids are still insisting on growing a foot between visits and losing teeth and getting cuter. Heck, one of them even got her drivers license!

But that is nothing on the feeling old thing that my daughter pulled on me on Tuesday last, when she had the audacity to turn a quarter century! 25. Amazing. She is a beautiful woman now, don’t you agree? She graduated last May and is still looking for full time work. The only jobs she’s ever left have been because she moved away from them, and even those she found hard to quit, because her boss’s would bend over backwards trying to keep her. She worked for me while in high school and I will honestly say that she was my second best employee. (It’s ok, she knows I favored her boyfriend, Ozzie.) She will do ANYTHING at this point. You won’t regret hiring her for almost anything, almost anywhere. ANYONE???)

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Checked in on Dad on the way home from Connecticut. As you may know we have an odd relationship, but he is enjoyable to be around. Keep your thoughts flowing positively in his direction, as some of those spots have re-appeared on his lungs.

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So, now that I have all this free time since I am not writing anything currently, you’d think I would have made headway in the studio, in any fashion, right? Wrong.

But, I DID open an ETSY shop. I am selling my photography. I have only two prints available at the moment, because I want to be able to order them, sign them and ship on demand, not have a large inventory. At least that is my idea for the moment. I am TOTALLY open to suggestions as to that thought, by the way. Part of that is probably my lack of confidence in what is considered ‘good’ by other people. The pictures I like are not always saleable. Or maybe that is merely the deep-seated procrastination in me.

I decided to just do it! I have been debating, plotting, thinking and ruminating over my photographs lately. I pull them up on PSE6 and play with them; I colorize, and age, and re-touch new and old images and generally have a grand time playing with them.

…but, it is time to motivate. Get moving in a direction that means something…I need to be more active in pursuing this goal; not forgetting the show deadline at PRAC every month, get down to the show, put art in the show..

…is it laziness or fear?…whichever…

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What else….hmmm. Here, click on this link to my husband’s photo page. He went crazy at the New York International Auto Show last week, and has written a very good intro and his captions are amazing (even if you think he may be speaking in tongues)

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They think a tornado touched down at the corner of Temple and Puddledock this evening…far better than last year this time, when it shredded part of our roof at work, while i was hard at work under it …(a half mile from tonight’s action…it may be time to get out of DODGE!)

OK. Think we are all caught up.

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We are off to Florida on Friday for a ten day vacation…. Beach, sand, sun, seashells…. Bring it on!