Feline and Furball Friday

Steven has a weekly photo feature spotlighting our beloved furry friends. I don't post as often as I'd like...so I'm excited to have a picture to share today.

Here are my boys, Indie and Berkeley, out for a run on a snowy day. We had very little snow last year...so we're trying to take every opportunity to enjoy it this season. What is it about dogs and snow?

Still Life

I've come out from under my rock to participate in the latest Blogger Community Photo Challenge. I enjoy doing still life but I don't do it all that often, especially in winter. So today when the light was nice, I put together this little arrangement. I pick up broken shells all the time. I'm fascinated by their form and texture. Being broken or worn makes them that much more interesting to me.




I hope you'll visit everyone else who participated. The link list can be found here.

Another Snowy Owl

I went back out to Jones Beach very early yesterday in hopes of another view of the snowy owl. My luck was not so good overall, I had only a couple of very brief sitings. But, my luck was great in what I happened to see. Unfortunately, I was not quite set up to deal with the situation as quickly as it happened considering the available light.

(What is she talking about???)

I was walking down the path just past sun up and I saw two birds (one light, one dark) in a mid air confrontation. At first, I thought the light one was a gull but the flight didn't seem right and he was a little too plump. I looked through my lens and sure enough, it was a snowy owl. I learned later that the other bird was peregrine falcon (they happen to hate snowy owls). Apparently, he didn't think that beach was big enough for the two of them.

Well, I tried to get a few images in the brief opportunity I had. As I mentioned, I wasn't properly set up. On my previous trip, the owl was just sitting on a dune like a model so I was set for dim light and no motion. Most of my images are pretty blurry. But I got ONE....and I'm so happy with it, the rest doesn't really seem to matter. How about it?!?!

A Winter Day at the Beach

When I read in some of the local photo forums that there had been Snowy Owl sitings at Jones Beach...I was intrigued to say the least. When I saw some photos others had taken, I knew I had to give it a try. My expectations were "realistic" I think. I thought perhaps I'd see one, but most likely it would be too far away to get much of a photo of. I don't have a lens as long as my arm or that weighs as much as I do.

I got in touch with my friend Lori...who was more than game and we set off this morning. It couldn't have been much more perfect weather. It was chilly (low 40's) but the wind was light and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

Not only did we find a Snowy Owl, but we were able to watch and photograph it for over an hour. Other photographers arrived that had an arsenal of equipment (one guy was dragging his lens on a golf bag). I know they got tighter, sharper shots...but the bottom line is that Lori and I got our shots too. Today was a real thrill. I don't know how long the owl(s) will hang around here, but I certainly plan to be out looking for them again...SOON!

6th Night Lights

Morning Light

Creating a Rainbow

Aaron was away the last ten days. I've found that when he's traveling, it's the best time to try creative experiments that could be "a disaster." He is SURE that there's going to be an accident that destroys something and will usually try and talk me out of doing whatever messy activity I have in mind to do. So now, I do these types of things for the first time when he's away. Then I'll have ample time for damage control if I have an unfortunate event.

I browse a lot of blogs written by fiber artists and many of them dye their own fabrics. I've read about creating a graduated spectrum of colors several times and I've really wanted to give it a whirl. So....this past week was perfect.

These were done in three different batches using only four base colors (pink, blue, yellow and green). Duh, it didn't occur to me that it would result in one long gradation. I was tickled when I realized it.

It's not hard at all. I simply selected the two colors I wanted to work with and set up zipper bags of dye with the colors in different ratios. It doesn't take much space and if you're careful, it's not even that messy.

What will I do with them....as of now, I haven't the slightest idea. But one day I know I'll be glad to have them in my stash. I'm sure there will be more...playing with dye is addicting.