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This weekend our granddaughter, just turned six, made a beautiful watercolor. After she finished the creation, she showed it to me with pride, explaining that it was a dinosaur. “You can see the head, and body, and legs and he’s swimming in the ocean.� I admired it, so she left it on my desk for me.
Some time later she came back in and picked it up. She looked at it and then gave it a quarter turn. And another. And another, exclaiming in frustration as she did so. "This is wrong! This is wrong!! This is wrong!!! This is wrong!!!! It's not right ANY way!!!!!"
I sensed a meltdown coming on, so I said quickly, "You said it was a dinosaur swimming, correct? Show me the dinosaur." She pointed to it immediately. Then I said, "I think we are looking down at him, right?" She nodded.
Then I explained, "Well, that's the problem . . . and it isn't really a problem at all. This is an aerial painting. Aerial pictures don't have any top or bottom. They don't have sides. They are right from any direction. Shall I show you some on the computer?"
So she climbed happily into my lap and we did an image search on aerial pictures. Her favorites were some that we found in a collection of photographs taken over Iceland.
Pretty sure my next photography splurge will be a drone.

In the car on the way home Friday, our five-year-old granddaughter noticed some clipboards I'd salvaged from camera club and forgotten to take into the house. She immediately decided she wanted to make a book. I embraced the idea enthusiastically.

"Sure, you can use one. What else do you need?"
"A pen and some paper."
"Big pieces or little pieces?"
"Big. Three. Three is enough."

So when we got home, she went straight to the paper supply and got three sheets of paper. She set herself up at the kitchen table and proceeded to draw. After the first picture, she called me.

"Grandma. Can you come and write the words?"
"Sure. What do you want me to write?"
"An angel. Smiling at a cow. But I didn't draw the cow."

I obliged.
The next one was a slide, and even though there's a person beside it, that's all she wanted written on it. "Slide."

Then she drew stairs and a mountain.

That was followed by another angel. I was to write "The Little Angel" on it. She's been learning her letters this year, one per week, and is up to "T". She learns uppercase and lower case, practices writing them, learns what their sounds are, learns what words start with them and makes projects with some of those words - like a tiger this week. So knowing she knew all the letters in "the little angel", I suggested she could write it herself if I spelled it for her. We started with Little. All went well until she made an "A" for the "E" at the end. She knew immediately she'd goofed and looked up with a silly sort of "oops" expression.
Then she asked, "What did I write?"
"Littla," I pronounced.
"Littla," she repeated. And then, triumphantly, "That's her NAME! Littla!"
So "Littla the Little Angel" it was.

The other drawings included a robot and yet another angel - this one the mother of the angel smiling at a cow. And then we were done. The angels are roughly triangular in shape but with large scallops down the sides for the wings. They are invariably happy. Their halos look like apples with long stems - a circle perched on top of the angels' pointed heads with a line coming out of the top. I asked carefully about the lines, and she drew a circle in the air above her own head and then drew the line down to show how the halo is attached to the head. Who can argue with that?

Anyway, we read it three times that evening. She and I read through it when I finished stapling. Then she took it down and she and Papa read it together. Then it came upstairs with us and became one of our bedtime stories.

or The Saga of a Panoramic Print



A few weeks back I decided to have this photographic art piece, Ron's Automotive 2, printed for submission to a Panoramic Prints contest. The rules of the contest included the following statements:
1) a Panorama print is considered to be a photographic print with an aspect ratio greater than 2:1 with no square inch limitation; and 2) Open contest, any subject, mode or process, color or Black & White.
So, although I knew mine was an unconventional entry, I decided to enter in the hopes it might be different enough to catch a judge’s eye.

Here are the results of the contest:

The print received a score of 31/45 (not bad, really) with all 3’s and 4’s from three different judges (5 is a top score; entries are evaluated on technique, composition, and impact/interest).
The judges’ comments were as follows: “It’s a collage. Disturbing that parts of the buildings are missing. Jarring. An abstract. But does make you look.�

Fair enough. Decent but not winning scores and an accurate description and explanation of them. Personally, I don’t find the missing parts disturbing, but I also completely understand that some would; and within the context of the piece and what I was trying to communicate, I actually take “disturbing� and “jarring� as compliments. I was not surprised, nor was I sorry I had entered. I had another, more traditional panorama ready, but I decided to take the risk and go with this one.

Now, what was I to do with the mounted print – it was 10� wide and over 30� long, and I had no place to put it in my home. So I decided to see whether I could give it away, and that’s when the fun began.

I live in a small town (maybe 20,000), the building is local, and I knew it had some historical significance. I belong to a Facebook group created to promote the town, so I decided to see whether someone here might want it. I posted the image and set up a drawing, saying I would keep the offer open for a couple of days; to be eligible, people were to Like my photography page (I provided a link) and tell me in the comments or a pm that they would like to have it. Much to my surprise, the post got 22 comments, 10 likes, and nine people saying they would love to have the image. Two of the respondents were the administrators of the local historical society and the county museum who also posted some very interesting information about the building. I said I would make smaller, unmounted prints for them and drew from among the other seven names.

When I announced the winner, I offered to have an additional large, unmounted copy made for anyone who might want to buy one, setting a very reasonable price. One person took me up on that.

So in the end I learned some things about my picture and town, the image will be seen at four different places in town, my Facebook page got new likes, my art site got a number of fresh hits (I put a link to it in the thread comments), and best of all I made a number of new friends. Not bad for a contest entry that did not impress the judges. Not bad at all.

It's been cold here . . . real cold! So when the weather forecast for last Monday was that temperatures would climb from the 30's to the 50's, my husband and I decided to take advantage of the warm-up.

We went to Fontenelle Forest in Bellevue, Nebraska, a National Natural Landmark and a local treasure. The thaw had made the miles of winding, hiking trails in the 1400 acre forest so muddy and slippery we were unable to use them. Fortunately, there's a well maintained and extensive boardwalk, so we were still able to get out and enjoy the fresh air.

We saw a deer, but I couldn't get a good photo. A flock of turkeys was more cooperative. And I spotted a cool, new-to-me fungus, the scarlet cup; it was so bright that at first I thought it was a bit of candy wrapper or other litter some thoughtless person had discarded. By the time we headed back up the boardwalk to the visitors' center, the afternoon light was low enough to bring the few leaves that are still clinging to the branches to life.

Well, not exactly toadstools . . . and not literally my backyard . . . but geologic formations that resemble them and in Nebraska – that’s what we found on a recent trip to the northwest corner of our state.

Toadstool Geologic Park is in the Ogalala National Grassland which is part of the Nebraska National Forest. It is a small, remote park, but well worth the visit if you enjoy unusual landscapes with a western flavor. The first section of the one mile hike through these “badlands” is on level ground and well-marked, but soon after that the trail becomes a connect-the-dots adventure. U.S. Forest Service employees have driven posts into the ground to mark the way, but it’s up to the hiker to find a way to get from one to another.

Because there is no shade and the soil has a lot of clay in it, I recommend against visiting in the heat of summer or when it has rained recently (clay is very slippery when wet and the road out to the park is not paved).

A replica sod house located near the parking area is a fun bonus.

As promised, the weekend of the 17th we put up and decorated the tree. Well, we started to decorate it – we actually never finished. I had expected her to tear into all the boxes, taking everything out as quickly as possible. Instead she removed the ornaments slowly, discovering or rediscovering each one as she unwrapped it and, until I caught myself, it was I who was hurrying her along. Then I stopped to listen.

“Oh, my very favorite angel! I’ll put her with my other favorite angels.”
“A goose! Look, a goose! It can be the mama for the duck.”
“A spider web! That’s for Halloween.” And she hastily put it back in the box. The ornament was actually a dreamcatcher, but it looked like a spider web to her.
“ANOTHER cross. Mama had a lot of crosses, didn’t she?”

There are a lot of clusters on the tree – and a lot of bare spots, too. We got done what we got done. I finished the rest later, hanging not half the ornaments we have, but all the ones she had taken out and wanted on the tree.

We wrapped the presents for her family (we had shopped for them over Thanksgiving weekend). There were DVD’s for her daddy, her 16-year-old sister, and her oldest brother – “Happy Feet 2” and Barbie and Scooby-Doo videos. She confided that she hoped they would watch them with her and have snuggle time. And there was an adult coloring book for her mother, a book on how things are made for her other brother, and a set of plastic breakfast dishes and foods for her little sister that the two of them can use in their toy kitchen.

And we read more books – lots more books.

Two weeks later we ended our celebrations with opening stockings and presents, playing with said presents, reading more books, and writing thank-you notes. We were supposed to take down and put away the decorations, but somehow we never got to that. I’ll take care of it.

Yes, drawing it out and savoring the season works perfectly for us.

When it comes to decorations and other things associated with a holiday, some people are like retail stores - eager to put it all out at once, usually months in advance. Others are so caught up in their daily lives the date arrives almost before they know it. (Confession: for years, especially when I was working, that was me.)

Now that I'm retired and, more importantly, a grandmother, I have more time. Our five-year-old granddaughter visits every other weekend, and we're making memories together. We enjoy them the most when we draw them out and savor them, so to speak.

So this weekend we contented ourselves with the crèche, various table decorations, the Christmas books, and a nighttime drive to see the lights.

The crèche has sturdy, unbreakable wooden figures that she moves around as she quietly retells the Christmas story, embellishing it as only a child can. "Move over, Wiseman, you're knocking my sheep over."

The decorations include two large wooden deer, three much smaller deer that she calls "hay deer" because the forms are covered with a green, grassy fabric, and five evergreens cut from barn siding, much too small in scale to go with any of the deer. Scale does not bother our granddaughter in the least, and all of them end up on the same end table because the hay deer go to visit the big deer in the forest.

And on the dining room table are the five wooden angels that belonged to my mother. This year the porcelain headed German angel joined them for their performance. She was the teacher and they were the kids. One of the little angels even went to the bathroom (why not??) and the teacher had to send another after her to see what was taking so long LOL

The Christmas books can be but sampled in a weekend - I read them to her two, three, or four at a time, two or three times a day. We only read the ones with pictures in them, and we only got through about a third of them. Grandpa read her several, too; I listened as they started.
- "Frosty melts, Grandpa."
- "How do you know? I haven't read it to you yet."
-"I read it before! I remember from last year."

And the Christmas light drive was made even more special this year by the fact that it began to snow early in the evening - a lovely, fluffy snow that turned the night into a winter wonderland. When we got home, she spent 30 minutes walking around in the yard leaving footprints, and the next morning was even better. Enough had stuck (and it was wet enough) to build a snowman the next morning- her first.

Next time we will put up and decorate the tree. And wrap the presents for her family (we bought them over Thanksgiving weekend). And read more books - lots more books. And two weeks later we will end our celebrations with presents and a special dinner and taking down the tree. Yes, drawing it out and savoring the season works perfectly for us.

Mugs are perfect for coffee, tea, hot cider, or mulled wine, of course, and popular any time of year but never more so than in the winter. In this season of giving, they make an inexpensive but unique gift that says immediately, “I am thinking of YOU”.

That’s why I’m delighted to tell you that this item has been added to the line of products available with my images on them.

Though you can get almost any of my images on a mug, I think those in my Transparent Background gallery work particularly well. Notice that you can change the background color on these to any color you want – and you can adjust the size of the image, too. I like them as big as possible without running the risk of cutting anything off at the top or bottom, but you may prefer a more discrete size.

Other images work just fine, too. Here are a few ideas to get you started - not shown as mugs, but with the image size on the mug preview maximized. In most cases the image will NOT wrap all the way around the mug – it’s important that you select your background color carefully; click on Image Size to see what the background color on these will be.




So think of all the people you’d like to get a little something extra for. Now think of a place you’ve been together; their favorite flower, color, animal, or season; a hobby or interest they have; or anything else you associate with them - and get to designing. And above all, have fun!

Our five-year-old granddaughter picked out a couple of videos at the library yesterday. One of them was an Einstein one and they were teaching about the life cycle of the butterfly. Metamorphosis and all that. They went on and on. Finally they got to the part where the butterfly emerged from the chrysalis and Einstein (or one of the other characters - I wasn't watching) exclaimed with exaggerated amazement, "It turned into a butterfly!!" Our granddaughter declared - with more than a bit of attitude in her voice, "That's what caterpillars DO, Einstein!"

And indeed it is. And what else they do is look absolutely beautiful.

I love fall - well, except for the fact that winter follows close behind. But this year the crisp but comfortable temperatures and blue skies have lingered, so a couple of weeks ago my husband and I got out for a day of hiking and driving and photographing. We chose to go to the Loess Hills State Forest in northwestern Iowa. The color of the foliage was a disappointment, but we had a wonderful time and I did find a few pretty scenes.

On a sunny mid September day – windy but all the more beautiful for that as the wind was responsible for the event – David and I had the pleasure of viewing a staging of monarch butterflies.
Most people know these colorful creatures, native to North America, migrate. They go north in the spring (it takes three generations to accomplish that migration) and south in the fall (this journey is accomplished by a single generation). They over-winter along the Gulf coast, in Arizona and California, and in Mexico.
The butterflies have to rest and feed along the way, and these particular insects were taking shelter from a strong wind out of the south by clustering on the north side of a small densely wooded area, resting and feeding on the nectar of nearby wild aster and goldenrood while they waited for the wind to shift so they could continue their journey. It was very special to witness this event.

The “F” Word
HaHa – gotcha!
Just finished a weekend with our just five-year-old granddaughter whose pre-school is on “F” this week. So . . .
I present to you Fish, Fun, Flight, and Friends.

Hoping to find inspiration for an Automotive theme, my husband and I went to a local salvage yard last week. What an experience! Besides being very cold - below 40 degrees F and a brisk wind was blowing - I found the visit bittersweet. I was saddened by the rows and rows of discarded vehicles, but so many people were out there looking for reusable pieces to strip and buy at a bargain price, and that was actually exciting. It was also good to know that the stripped carcasses would be crushed and sold as scrap metal and then re-used. I love recycling :)
Here are four of the shots I got - you can see more by putting "salvage" into the search box on my page.

Going on a walk with our granddaughter is always a delight for me.

It’s a joy to watch her run on ahead (I’m slow, as she will readily tell you!) and then stop and look back to call, “Can you see me?” Our rules for walks include not going in the street and making sure she’s always in my sight.

It’s a joy when she chooses instead to hold my hand and walk quietly by my side, chatting about what she sees or, just as often, what she is reminded of that she doesn’t see.

And it’s a joy when she dances and skips nearby, noticing and sharing her view of the world around us: a bird in a tree (do I think it’s a mommy or a daddy?); a plane passing overhead (where do you suppose it’s going?); a flower by the path (is that one I can pick?); a gnome in a garden (she loves ceramic frogs and flamingos, too, though the latter are rare in Nebraska); the cracks in the sidewalk (they may need to be stepped on or over or even simply counted, depending on the day).

Sometimes she learns life lessons from our walks; more often, I do. Saturday, on a walk in Fontenelle Forest, she found an acorn and two acorn caps; they led to discussions about oak trees and squirrels. And Sunday, on a walk around the block, she found a brand new BAND-AID, still in its wrapping, that I let her pick up. AND she found this tiny sliver of concrete that had probably come out of a crack in the sidewalk. She picked it up and immediately declared, “A feather rock!” And so it is – the very best feather rock that I have EVER seen!



She brought it home to add to her collection. And I took this photo of it, front and back, not just to illustrate these musings, but to remind me of our walks and especially of the special gift of childhood, that of seeing everything with fresh eyes and of taking delight in even the most mundane of objects around us.

It's mid-August and for many in the United States that means back-to-school - either a week ago or within the next couple of weeks. As a former student, mother of former students, grand-mother of a pre-kindergartener, and retired teacher, this time of year brings untold emotions and many forgotten memories bubbling to the surface.
Today I was going through personal memorabilia my mother saved, including some of my elementary school report cards. Here are the comments sections from 5th grade.
First Period
Teacher’s Comment: Niki does excellent work. She shows good leadership ability. It is a pleasure to have her in class.
Parent’s Comment: Niki enjoys being in your class.
Second Period
Teacher’s Comment: Niki is continuing to do excellent work. She is too fond of talking to the children sitting by her.
Parent’s Comment: Am sorry Nik is thoughtless and disturbs class. Would a denial of privileges help? She gives reasons as: “Boy behind her breathes down her neck and pesters if she doesn’t answer” and also that she finishes her work and has nothing to do. I told her it takes 2 to talk – also I’m sure there are always books to read. Am also encouraging her to write fiction or non-fiction or poetry to enter in her “American girl” – By You Depart. Hope this is ok.
Third Period
Teacher’s Comment: Your interest and help has been appreciated. Niki has been better about the talking situation. I think that writing for the ‘By You Department’ in “American Girl” is an excellent idea. Niki does very well in writing poems and stories. This is a talent that is good to encourage.
Parent’s Comment: Nik’s current ambition is to be a 5th grade school teacher – I regard this as a measure of her happiness in your classroom this year. Many thanks.
Fourth Period
Teacher’s Comment: Niki is above average in all of her work. She will make an excellent sixth grade student. Her enthusiasm has made the room more pleasant all year. She has many talents and will always do well in whatever she tries.
Here are some of my thoughts, these many years later, about this exchange.
1. Teachers commented, in writing, on each student; and parents were offered the opportunity to respond, also in writing, to those comments. I’m certain I had to take the report card back signed – at the very least.
2. This teacher was not afraid to mention one of my shortcomings.
3. My mom was not afraid to address that shortcoming. She offered an apology for my behavior. Neither of my excuses impressed her much LOL. And she offered to help in ways that she considered practical and appropriate. And though I can’t really remember what transpired at home, I can assure you that she addressed the situation with me in much less diplomatic terms.
4. I grew, both academically and socially, during the year. And by the end of the year, I wanted to be a teacher myself.

We re-did our bedroom this summer. Lots of work! I had to strip wallpaper from two walls (I'd done the other two years ago) AND from the center of the ceiling!!), do a lot of repairing of drywall, and re-paint. Then we had someone come in and texture the ceiling to match the texture on the part that was around the wallpaper. Got new carpet, needed something for the walls, got a new king-size bed which led to needing a new cover and pillows . . . and on it goes.

Anyway, you see here the bed in its surrounding glory :) . The project gave me an excuse to order some of my own work so the three canvases over the bed and the two gold pillows on it are mine. I actually ordered a third, larger pillow to match, but the whole was too much yellow for me, so I put that one downstairs in the family room.

Here are the pieces I used to put the triptych over the bed together:
Hydrangea Leaves (left panel)
Hydrangea Leaves (center panel)
Hydrangea Leaves (right panel)

And I also have a single image triptych which could print as wide as 72" on canvas, is a bit of a different look, and would be quite a bit less expensive than ordering three pieces:
Networks

And here's what I used for the pillows:
Abstract in Brass - 2
Abstract in Brass - 3

I love it when I see an opportunity to take a picture others might not think to take, and I’m even happier when I work up the image and find that I like it just as well as I’d hoped I might. That was the case when I took The Window Box and the Meter. Here’s the back story.
I was wandering around the Old Market area in Omaha with my camera when I spotted this window box absolutely spilling over with coleus leaves and the perfectly lovely gas meter just below it. With the brick surround and the reflection of the city in the window, well, it was just too good to pass up. There was only one problem. It was half over the end table on the terrace of a restaurant, and two men were enjoying a drink at that table.
Maybe I can get the shot discretely, I thought. But when you’re lugging around a DSLR and you need an eye level shot and your preferred approach to composing and taking a photo requires using the viewfinder, it’s not easy to be discrete. I took the picture anyway and was about to walk on down the street when one of the men said, “Just out of curiosity, what were you shooting? So I told him and showed them both what I had composed on my LCD screen. “Wow, that’s way more interesting than I’d have thought!”
Not far to go since I’m pretty sure he’d never have thought to take the picture in the first place LOL

It’s been awhile since my last blog entry – life gets in the way sometimes. In my case, it’s been mostly good stuff – like remodeling the master bedroom and the family room. In the meantime, I’ve made another sale from my unofficial “Vintage Diner Collection”, so I’ve decided to spotlight those images this time.
"Diner #2" is my most recent sale. This is a close-up from "Diner #1", and another from the same diner, an old Wurlitzer with Stools has also sold more than once.

We were Skyping with our 4 ½-year-old granddaughter the other night, and she asked us what we had had for supper – the day’s menus are always of importance in our conversations.

“Tacos,” I said.
“What did you have for dessert?”
“Nothing. You know we never have dessert,” I said. (She frequently spends the weekend with us.)
“Yes, we do,” she asserted.
“We do? What do we have?”
“Cheese sticks!” she responded enthusiastically.
And so we do. Cheese sticks or fresh fruit salad or, very occasionally, carrot sticks with ranch dressing.

So what does all this have to do with this image?


Well, I guess what constitutes a treat at the end of a meal depends on the person eating it just as beauty lies in the eye of the beholder*. So here is a pile of old brake drums and disc brakes and a shock and strut assembly from the local automotive salvage yard; I found the shapes, colors and textures to be beautiful and quite a treat, really. Hope you do, too.


*“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” is attributed to Margaret Wolfe Hungerford in her 1878 novel Molly Bawn, but it’s also said to be a paraphrase from Plato.

Spring is back here in eastern Nebraska - well, almost. Yesterday was very cold and windy again but before that we had five days of very nice weather and the forecast for the weekend is exceptional for late February: 53 degrees F and cloudy on Sunday (meh but not awful) BUT 63 degrees and partly cloudy on Monday AND, better yet, 67 degrees and sunny tomorrow. I cannot wait!

Here are a couple of cheerful creatures from our neighborhood walk earlier this week, a cedar waxwing and an American robin. Flocks of both of these birds were sharing – not always peaceably – last autumn’s fruit on a small stand of crabapple trees.

How hard is it to let go of things?
I decided recently that it was time to get rid of some of our four-year-old granddaughter’s older toys and books and, well, things that aren’t really toys but that have been essential to her play in the past - like empty boxes. I thought that last weekend would be a good time to do so.
On the trip home from picking her up, I planted the seeds.
“You are getting to be a such a big girl.”
She, proudly: “Yes, I am.”
“You’re getting taller. And you are learning how to do so many new things.”
She, again, still proudly: “Yes, I am.”
“I think you are getting too old and too big for some of your toys. I was thinking this weekend we could go through them, and you could help me pick some things to give away to littler kids.”
She, a little dubiously now: “Okay.”
Pause. Long pause.
She: “But not my panda. I love my panda. I’m not too big for my panda.”
“No, no, not your panda. We won’t give away anything you still play with or love.”
She, only slightly reassured: “And not my baby animal book. I really like my baby animal book.”
“No, not any of the books you still like to look at or have me read to you. We won’t give away anything you still play with or love.”
I changed the subject and our talk turned to other things. But the first thing she did when we got home was go upstairs and start grabbing toys which she lugged down to the kitchen to show me, saying things like “I really love my Dora doll” or “This is my FAVORITE puzzle” or “Will you read this book to me tonight?”
And this continued, on and off, all weekend. I put a small, empty box by the back door and told her she could put whatever she wanted me to give away in the box. I assured her repeatedly that I would not throw away anything that was important to her. And she continued to haul belongings downstairs so she could declare her love for them before she took them back up.
She did put one book in the box. But it was a book my mother had sent our son when he was born, so I quietly took it out. At the end of the weekend, the box was empty.

This photo of our granddaughter's hand, taken when she was only a few weeks old, just took 1st place in the ABC Group's weekly contest - I Is For Infants.

It has been in her room forever, part of a grouping of four images (hand, foot, face sleeping, face awake) all in the same tones and framed to match one another. She loves them. Occasionally I think I'll change them out for something more suitable for her four-year-old self, but then she looks at them when I'm reading her bedtime books or helping her choose her clothes and says something like, "That was my hand when I was a tiny baby? I had really little fingers". And I say to myself, "Nah, I'll just leave them up a little longer."

"He says the best way out is always through."
-Robert Frost, A Servant to Servants

Stenophobia by Nikolyn McDonald
Also available in black and white and with text

Our four-year-old granddaughter visited this weekend and one of our projects was making cards to use for thank you notes for the people who had given her Christmas gifts. Good thing we had three days!

Making the cards was great. She loves to color and draw and cut and paste and put stickers and duck tape on and paint - AND she got some new glitter glue markers that were WAAAY cool! Even so it took 2-3 days per card since she wanted to do more than one thing and much of this had to dry between sessions.

Dictating the message and writing her name on the cards was the hard part. She was quite happy to say "Dear X, Thank you for X. Merry Christmas (or Happy New Year)" and maybe "I love you" but I wanted a little content and I wanted it to be hers - even if . . . uh . . . prompted. As for her name, she told me she couldn't do the "e" so I agreed to put that in for her; and, according to her, the "s" was "scribbled" - it used to be backwards but recognizable but I think someone is helping her get them right way round because now they look more like an elongated "c" with a little tail on it.

And then I had cool - I thought - colored envelopes so it took awhile to choose which color to use for each card. She put the card and note in the envelope, I wrote the address on, she taped the flap down (we were both delighted that she actually had a REASON to tear off pieces of tape), and she put the stamp on (I covered all but the upper right corner of the envelope with my hands which annoyed her but I told her it was the post office rules).

We got about 2/3 of them done; we'll finish the rest next time she comes.

"I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play . . . "

Now a familiar Christmas hymn, these words originally began a poignant, personally meaningful, poem written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow on Christmas Day in 1863. If you love this carol as I do, you will be moved by this account of when and why it was written as well as by a reading of the entire poem.

So incredibly appropriate for this day and age.

"If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there."
-George Harrison paraphrasing dialogue from Lewis Carroll's *Alice in Wonderland*

Lone Poplar and Road by Nikolyn McDonald

“You can't get too much winter in the winter.”
-“Snow” by Robert Frost
Sunset at Walnut Creek Lake by Nikolyn McDonald

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
Sunset Shrub by Nikolyn McDonald

"'Enough' is a feast.” Buddhist proverb
Cordial by Nikolyn McDonald

I love to get mail – real mail with a stamp on it and a hand written note that is meant just for me. Even though I’m eager to see what’s inside, I take my time opening it, just to draw the moment out a bit.

Mom died in the spring of 2012 and she was the one who always sent long letters, the envelopes bulging with newspaper clippings and old photos she knew we would enjoy or find interesting, so I no longer get many of those; but I do receive cards and notes upon occasion.

Sometimes it’s a note from my sister – the one who has so many of Mom’s old journals and loves to go through them – sharing a tidbit that brings my childhood back in a rush. Sometimes there’s a card from one of my nieces or nephews with a recent photo of one of their own children and I marvel at how quickly they are growing. Sometimes it’s a thank you note and I find out that I managed to select the perfect gift or bake a casserole that came in handy. When times are personally tough, a note from a close friend or a family member lets me know I am in their thoughts. At Christmas I enjoy catching up with friends and family we haven’t seen in years and years – but whom we continue to feel we are keeping up with just because of the annual correspondence. And of course on special occasions like a birthday or anniversary, a card, even if there’s no note on it, tells me someone far away was thinking about me long enough to select, address, and send it.

There are so many reasons to write – do you ever take the time to drop someone a note to someone just to say you care?

Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.
-Harriet Beecher Stowe

The Bay of Fundy - Low Tide and the Bay of Fundy - High Tide illustrate this wise quotation dramatically.
Photos by Nikolyn McDonald.

Once I spoke the language of the flowers. . . .
How did it go?
How did it go?”
-Shel Silverstein, Where the Sidewalk Ends

Emerging by Nikolyn McDonald

“Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment, until it becomes a memory.” -Dr Seuss
Ma and Pa by Nikolyn McDonald

The Three F's - Family, Food and Friends

Many of my memories of my own childhood and of the days when our children were young revolve around vacations or a holiday, and it’s no wonder. That’s when far-flung families get together, when “remember the time” is liberally sprinkled through every conversation, when traditions are born – or when they are continued. Even if geographical distance separates us, phones and FaceTime and Facebook and email allow us to reminisce and to share.

My sisters and I live in four different states; while some of our children and grand-children are near, others are not. Yet, in the days leading up to and including Thanksgiving, we all managed to spend time together.

As my sister in New Hampshire wrote, “Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday - the three F's - Family, Friends and Food.” As they prepared a 25 pound turkey, her daughter shared a photo and this thought in Facebook: Thanksgiving 2015 will always be remembered as the year our son weighed the same as the bird! My sister mentioned recipes that she keeps using rather than scan them into the computer. As she said, “Seems like Mom's stuffing recipe would lose something if it was in TIMES NEW ROMAN font.”

My sister in Colorado responded by saying, “I laughed at the thought of Mom's recipes shared over the years. My copy of her stuffing recipe is worn and covered with grease as well, but definitely treasured.”

My sister in New Mexico set tradition aside. Her son is on duty overseas and her daughter and husband timed a vacation so that they could spend the holiday with him. My sister and her husband had dinner with friends – only the second time in 31 years that she has not cooked for thirty! Because of a canceled flight, her kids almost missed their reunion; but thanks to some quick thinking and a long bus ride to catch a different plane, they finally got together – and a new memory that will be shared for years was born.

Our son and his wife entertained friends with a sit-down dinner for 15 and one of my pie recipes that dates back to his childhood. His wife, an excellent cook, would like to experiment and mix it up a bit, but no, they always have to have it and it always has to be made exactly the same way. And now, thanks to her FB share of the recipe, I suspect it’s destined to become part of the traditional menu for many of their friends and family.

As for us, because I took short videos of each step along the way and then made my first “movie” ever by combining them, 2015 will always be remembered as the first year our four-year-old granddaughter helped make the apple pie. She used almost as much flour to roll out the crust as was in the crust itself and took so long to fill the crust that half a cup of syrup formed in the bottom of the bowl of apples. And she will also remember the butter and cinnamon sugar on the left-over crust and will probably make it for her own kids in years to come.

Family, Friends and Food. Yes, memories are made of this.

Breeze by Nikolyn McDonald

"Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude." -A.A. Milne

Echeveria Hearts by Nikolyn McDonald

“Think and wonder, wonder and think.” Dr Seuss
View from Muley Point 1 by Nikolyn McDonald

"I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual."
-Henry David Thoreau
Lone Tree in Winter - Sunset by Nikolyn McDonald

"It's so much more friendly with two.”
-A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

True Love by Nikolyn McDonald

Because I like to be as accurate, informative, and thorough as possible in my key words and descriptions, I almost always search the internet when I am uploading photos for sale. I never copy and paste what I find. Instead I read as much as possible, jotting down possible key words as I go; then I write my description in my own words, paraphrasing and distilling the most interesting and relevant parts of what I have read into two or three interesting, content-filled sentences.

Even for a simple picture of a flower, I consult more than one source, but the single source I always include if it comes up in my search is Wikipedia. And that is why, when I occasionally see a fund drive solicitation from them, I usually pop off a small donation. So let me tell you about my recent experience.

On November 11, I did a search for something and a “please donate” box popped up. “It’s been awhile,” I thought to myself. So I clicked the Paypal box and sent $10.

Fast forward to this morning. I opened my email shortly after 7:30 a.m. and there was a very nice, informative letter from Wikipedia that began, “A year ago, you gave $10 to keep Wikipedia online and ad-free. We are deeply grateful for this past support, and we need your help again this year. Please renew your donation today.”

It looked as if I could reply to the email, so I sent a message saying I had resubscribed less than a month ago in response to a request at Wikipedia itself. Five minutes later (I kid you not!), I had a personal apology which said, basically, that they try to prevent this from happening and suggested that perhaps I had used a different email address or sent my donation after the filtering scan was run. They offered to update my address if I wanted them to.

By now they had my attention and I was impressed – I always am when I find out there are real people out there. I wrote again, saying I had made my donation on November 11 through Paypal and adding that I was only offering this information in the hopes that it might help them tweak their procedures. It was now 8:15.

When I checked my email again a few hours later, there was one last reply from Michael (by now we were on a first name basis).

He thanked me again for my email and support. He apologized again for the bulk email. And he explained that because I had donated from my home email account last year but made the recent donation through Paypal which is on another email account, there was “an error in how [my] previous donation records . . . were stored in [their] database.” He said they had corrected the records so the error would not recur.

I don’t know about you, but I call this a first class act.

There is always room at the top.
-Daniel Webster

Beyond the Room by Nikolyn McDonald

Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.
-unattributed
Perfection by Nikolyn McDonald

I love it when someone lets me know they like my work. Who doesn’t?
About six weeks ago, I was contacted by the director of the Washington County Historical Association Museum in Fort Calhoun, Nebraska, regarding the use of some of my photos from Fort Atkinson State Historical Park in a scrapbook for an educational project for fourth graders. I put together a collection of images for her to look through and, once the choices were made, printed them up.
In the course of our conversations, the idea of printing a calendar as a fund raiser for the Friends of Fort Atkinson came up. Again I was happy to provide images and, with the help of the art coordinator at a local publishing company, we put one together.
My copies (one to use and one to keep) arrived in the mail yesterday, and I am delighted. It includes 40 of my images, an assortment of people and objects, taken on Living History weekends over the last few years. I had uploaded relatively few of those images previously because the portraits are not for sale as prints; however, I created a special Fort Atkinson gallery and uploaded a few this afternoon so I could share them with you.
If you are interested in purchasing a calendar, they are $16. Just contact me through my site or Facebook page and I’ll put you in touch with someone who can help you.
Child of the Fort - inside cover
Salute to the States - January
In the Kitchen - February
The Tinsmith - March
The Quartermaster - April
The Cooper - July
The Colonel - August
The Blacksmith - September

With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.
-Eleanor Roosevelt

A New Day - Light Rays by Nikolyn McDonald

Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please.
-Mark Twain
- Assortment by Nikolyn McDonald

Nobody can be uncheered with a balloon.
-A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

Fantasy Flight by Nikolyn McDonald

Every sunset brings the promise of a new dawn.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Evening Stillness by Nikolyn McDonald

Normally, when I process a photo, I upload it in either color or in black and white and the decision as to which is clear to me; but occasionally I hesitate and can see strong advantages to each, so I upload both. That was the case with this photo I took recently on the Notom-Bullfrog Road in Capitol Reef National Park in Utah.

For me the combination of the rich browns of the landscape and the beautiful blue skies of this part of the country is almost always irresistible, and I love the classic Southwest landscape look they give the color version. On the other hand, while the bones lie just as I found them, they contrast almost too starkly with the rock formations and sky and are slightly unsettling.

In black and white, the skeleton(s) seem more integral to the scene. There is less tension in the composition, with the whitest clouds in the sky subtly balanced by the bones. The cycle of life and death that they suggest feels natural and not at all disturbing.

Ultimately, the choice is the viewer's. What's yours?

For me, sometimes a photo just begs to be rescued. Here’s one from our recent trip to Zion National Park, taken on the Riverside Walk.

A young buck was browsing near the river just off the raised trail and quite undisturbed by all the hikers. When he raised his head momentarily, I got this shot: nicely focused, good exposure, engaging pose, and a natural environment. Unfortunately, the environment was also a problem; it was very messy, busy and distracting. So I set about trying to minimize it.

To do that, first I used a Topaz Impression art filter which I erased from the deer. Then I used a Nik Silver Efex Pro filter that removed the color and faded the image out around the edges at reduced opacity. Finally, I applied two textures at varying opacities and using different blend modes, removing them from the deer but leaving them on the background.

I’m very happy with the combination of realism and painted look that I got in the final version

I love to travel and see new places, both personally and through my lens; but it’s funny how often my favorite photos end up being those taken within a few miles of my home. The Day's Last Kiss is a good example of such an image. This beautiful old barn is located less than five miles from my house. Because it’s on a slight rise, when the trees have lost their leaves, the structure shows well against the western sky; it is especially beautiful when the sun is setting. I was honored to have this image selected for a special feature and the November logo for the FotoPainting group this week. Many thanks to the group administrator, Jean O'Keeffe for her work in administering both the contest and the group.