a blog in search of creativity… and dedicated to my mother for her artistic inspiration
Cooper’s Office Supply on Cherry Street had some great reflections in their widows today. So! I stood there – focused and ready for someone to walk by.
And I waited.
So I strolled out onto the sidewalk and noticed no one in sight. I looked for another photo of the day opportunity when this guy headed in my direction. I hurried back to my spot just in time for the shot.
Our church had service outside today, along with a free fried chicken lunch – inflatables for the kids and a petting zoo area. There was a lot of great music, too.
These two girls were petting a two-week-old baby goat. But there were also chickens, roosters, lambs, a donkey and a pig.
We have a small pond in our front yard with three comet goldfish. Well, a frog moved in last summer. Joe named him/her Jethro after the character in “The Beverly Hillbillies.” Jethro wanted to be a frog man and practiced in the cement pond. He also calls him Jethro Toad.
He was small when he moved in. Not anymore.
I had to clean out the pond today because it was pretty gunky. This is a photo of Jethro looking not so happy with me. I had bailed out most of the water and he had nowhere to go. I scooped him out and placed him under the bush. He hung out with me for a while. My guess is he’s back at the bottom of the pond by now.
In our Bluff View Art District, there is a coffee house called Rembrandt’s. They have great coffee and desserts. That is where I found myself today on my daily scouting for a photo. It is not easy finding and determining my photo. Especially since I only give myself one shot. This one was a no-brainer, though. I saw those mugs and tea pots hanging there framed by the bread – with the employee right in the middle of it all. Click! And I was done.
My day started off by taking one of my dogs to the vet in the pouring rain this morning to get her yearly shots. We both got soaked. (My socks are just now drying out) Oh! And nothing like riding in an enclosed car with a wet dog.
I will be wishing for this rain when August rolls around, though; but right now, it’s cold and damp. I need a mood elevator. I felt a closeup of raindrops on the newsroom window would be appropriate for the snapshot of the day.
Another discovery: we need to get our windows washed.
This is what happens when I wait until 9:00 p.m. to take my photo of the day. I’m left with refrigerator art.
Joe has a great story associated with this little guy. I’ll leave it to him to tell it, though. He still needs to write that book of his. It will be full of stories like these.
Because of the way this photo project is set up, as usual I had about 10 minutes to find and take a photo. I drove a couple of blocks away from work today when I was at a stopping point, and ended up at the Chattanooga Choo-Choo.
As you probably know, it was originally a pretty large train station. But now it is a hotel/tourist attraction. It has recently added a new music venue – Track 29. I have not been there yet, but I hear it’s pretty cool for music-lovers.
And who could forget that great song our town is known for: “The Chattanooga Choo-Choo.”
This wedding dress is in a downtown window. I’ve walked past it several times, but the light today was so nice, I decided to go ahead and shoot it. I felt it was meant to be since I only had a few minutes this afternoon and a parking place was open right in front of the door.
But a funny thing happened right before shooting this photo:
I jumped out of the car and walked around to the passenger side to get my camera and change for the meter. As I shut the door, I noticed a guy I went to high school with standing next to me on the sidewalk. We both said hello.
I am always amazed when people from the “In” crowd actually know my name. He was in the popular crowd in our class. I was not even in the nerd group. I was very shy and never liked to draw attention to myself.
Well, we stood there for several minutes talking about mutual friends when a stranger walked up and asked me if that was my gray car.
Me: “Yes. Am I not supposed to park here?”
Man: “No, I just noticed there was no change in the meter; but if you’re standing beside your car, it’s ok.”
That was when I noticed he was a parking meter guy. He had a digital contraption around his neck looking for delinquent parkers. Great.
I said, “Oh! Sorry. I ran into someone I went to school with……I was going to put money in the meter — ”
And that’s when it happened. As I was trying to explain I had intended on putting money in the meter, I swung my left hand – the one holding the change – to show the guy I had the money – and it all shot out of my hand and hit the parking meter guy like a machine gun.
I shouted: “NOOOOOOOOOO!”
Change went everywhere. Including under the car. The parking meter guy dove under the car for me and retrieved my change before it rolled into the sewer grate.
And now we know why I was in no crowed in high school. Limited social skills.
This was my mother’s lamp. She is a Japanese Geisha girl. (The lamp. Not my mother.) As long as I can remember, the lamp never worked. My husband fixed her a couple of years ago, so I bought a red lamp shade for her and the rest is history. She makes me smile whenever I walk into the room. She really “brightens” up my mood.
I guess I never really thought about it but I was amazed today when I discovered they still make clothes patterns. My mother and grandmother used them all of the time for our clothes – and they were both really good at it. Below is an example of one of the homemade dresses I used to wear. This was taken outside of my kindergarten after our Easter program:
Here I am in my Easter bonnet I made during class. I remember that day well. The girls all had to be escorted around the room in a mock Easter Parade on the arm of a fellow boy student.
“A BOY!!!??? I have to hold a boy’s hand?????” I was horrified. I was so painfully shy. That was bad enough. But now this! I was numb from head to toe. But as you can see, I survived my one and only Easter Parade.
I am enclosing an additional photo today for the heck of it. I took it with my new handy-dandy cell phone. I was testing to see how good my new camera phone actually is. I thought it turned out so well, I’d upload it.
Apparently her name is Audrey. And she likes to ride horses. I just thought she looked so cool sitting there. I couldn’t resist.
Photos and Migraines 