Chuck's Birthday

Did this layout for our trip to Burton. Journaling: Chuck and I stayed at the Red Maple Inn in Burton for his birthday - a wonderful and relaxing weekend. We walked, watched maple sugaring, had coffee at a cool coffee shop/antique store, read, played pool, visited Lake FarmPark and just generally had a great time. I love you, Chuck. Credits: Lightly Letterbox and Color Inspiration digital paper, Fall Orchard elements, cardboard journalers, and stamp, all Katie Pertiet, Designer Digitals. Fonts are Khmer UI and Dear Joe Four.

Full Moon at Perigee

Just about froze my butt off trying to get this shot - glad I did. Taken from my driveway.

Levi Keim at CVPS and the First Flower of Spring

Levi Keim, from Beach City, Ohio, gave a wonderful presentation of his film work from out west and Ohio. Really stunning shots of water droplets, star trails and the western landscape. Imagine taking a photo and having no idea what it looked like until you came home and developed it.

Since it was a lovely day, I took the camera out. There's a short loop trail next to Happy Days conference center, so that's what I took, and ended up in Mater Dolorosa cemetery. These shots are from the cemetery. It's peaceful, and only slightly melacholy.

I think this is a winter aconite - it was right at the opening into the cemetery.

Patrick and Magaret Cassidy's plot at Mater Dolorosa. They died a month apart in 1885, at 84 and 79 years of age. Sweet and sad.

Beech leaves backlit by the setting sun.

Happy Birthday, Honey

We had a wonderful dinner last night at the Welshfield Inn south of Burton. They even had a birthday cake for Chuck.

Hope you had a very happy birthday, Chuck - you are the best!

Before & After

Sunset Pond at North Chagrin Reservation (Willoughby Hills, Ohio) has a bunch of feeders outside the visitor center. I went there February 19th after visiting with my brothers at Mom’s, mostly to get a little outdoor solitude. It was the day after Larry died, and I just needed peace. These little guys provided a welcome distraction from the sadness. Chickadees are one of my favorite birds. Pert, bright-eyed, and relatively unafraid of people, their cheerful calls brightened up a tough day.

Here’s the before – the wind ruffled up the feathers on her head, pretty cute.

After cropping, adjusting the white balance, brightening up the exposure, “clarify” (has to be my current favorite tool), sharpening, and some selective sharpening of the beak and feet, here we are:

From blah to sweet! Lightroom is an amazing tool.

Messing With Lightroom

Another photo of one of my childhood treasures – you can see the broken foreleg. This was processed in Lightroom using a few of Matt Kloskowski’s LR presets: classic duotone, medium edge darkening, heavy grain, and bleach bypass. I like the grainy desaturation for this photo – looks good with the coloring and dark points of the figurine.

Broken Legged Treasures

Four china horses from a shop in Shoregate shopping center. I bought them when I was a horse-obsessed child in Willowick and have moved them from one house to the next. Despite careful packing, most of them have broken legs – one is still in rehab, waiting for its turn in front of the camera. The palomino was always my favorite, but the appy and buckskin are pretty darn cute, too. And the fourth you’ll see after the glue sets.