Thursday, July 30, 2009

A Marbled Sunset

This was a recent scene over the top of my gazebo.
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Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Sepia Greeting Card

Hi, my name is Carletta and I'm a blogoholic! I readily admit that to my family and friends. It's a wonderful and creative process that I enjoy very much. However, I do have other interests and hobbies and I thought I'd share one with you today. The image above is of a white Rose of Sharon bloom. It isn't particularly a good image so I thought I'd see what I could do with it.
Using my software I sharpened the image just a little bit to make the flower stand out a little more and then I changed the color image to sepia. I then added some text. It's a quote by Lady Bird Johnson. When I was finished I printed out a four by six inch photograph.
I used cardstock and scrapbook paper to make a greeting card and added the photo to the top. I added a small copper resin piece that had the word hope on it to embellish the end of the quote. There you have it - a greeting card!


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Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Weeping Willows By The River

(click to enlarge)

"Going to plant a weeping willow,
By the banks green edge it will grow, grow, grow.
Sing a lullaby beside the water,
Lovers come and go, the river roll, roll, roll.
Fare you well, fare you well,
I love you more than words can tell,
Listen to the river sing sweet songs, to rock my soul."

~Grateful Dead

Sunday, July 26, 2009

SOOC Sunday and Macro Monday

This was taken this past Thursday as my black-eyed susans were just beginning to bloom. They front really tall ferns in the flowerbed and as it was getting toward evening I'm assuming that contributed the midnight green background color. It is one of the things I liked most about the shot.
(click to enlarge)
Only ten minutes earlier I captured this little fairytale creature flitting around the flowers but he wouldn't sit still and stay for portraits.


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Friday, July 24, 2009

In Pursuit of Dragons

(click to enlarge)

I've seen many photos of dragonflies in blogland and have wished for ages I would run across one. Finally, this week on the walkway off my deck this little guy appeared. I took many pictures of him but was never really satisfied with any of them. This one is the best of the bunch. Boy are they flighty little guys! No matter how quietly I tried to sneak up on him and lower my camera he was always one step ahead of me. Why? It turns out a dragonfly's eyes have about 30,000 lenses and it can see all the way around it. Eyes in the back of his head so to speak. The little rascal always knew I was coming!

A few other facts I uncovered:

1. The oldest fossilized record of a dragonfly is from the Carboniferous Period, over 300 million years ago. It had a 2 1/2 foot wingspan, and currently there are dragonflies in Costa Rica that measure 7 1/2 inches across the wings. Can we just say this species is OLD!
2. A dragonfly can fly at speeds of up to 36 miles per hour. (Not all dragonflies are that fast – one was clocked at this speed in Australia.)
3. There are about 5,000 different species of dragonflies all over the world except in Antarctica. 450 of the species can be found in the United States and about 80 species in British Columbia.
4. From the time a dragonfly egg hatches, it can live anywhere from six months to six years, but only about two months as an actual dragonfly. Most of the time spent is as a nymph in the water before the dragonfly’s metamorphosis into a full grown dragonfly.

Finally, dragonflies are sometimes known as the devil's darning needles. An old myth was that dragonflies would seek out wicked children and sew their mouths together with their claspers while they slept. That's a scary story for little ones and come to think of it for dragon hunters too!
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Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Remembering Grandma


This week for Sepia Scenes I'm posting a photo of my Grandma. I chose to take the old black and white shots and convert them to the sepia toning in honor of her birthday. That's me she's holding. At that age I have no idea what I was doing with pen and paper in my hand.
Grandma passed away many years ago. Tomorrow (Thursday) will be the 105 anniversary of her birth so I thought these old pictures would be quite fitting for Sepia Scenes.
If you came to check out my Sepia Shots you might want to go ahead and click and go and that's OK with me. You see this post might get a little long. I just need to say a couple of things about her here today. My Mom lost her birth mother when she was very young and my Grandma and Grandpa took my Mom to raise. Grandma was not related to me genetically. That did not make a difference to her. She loved my Mom and me and my brothers as if we were her own flesh and blood. When she would see us downtown on a Saturday morning or at church on Sunday her whole face lit up with joy. She would always have to kiss us on the cheek. If I happened to be with her on Saturday we might go in the local drugstore bypassing the red stools at the soda fountain for a booth seat. She would get us an egg salad sandwich and a coke for me and an orange crush drink for herself.
I spent a lot of time in the summer at Grandmas. We would feed the chickens, hang out laundry to dry and then turn around later and sprinkle them with water before ironing, cut up corn for canning, and sit in the rockers and sing gospel songs together. Grandma loved Orange Crush, Coco Wheats, Doublemint Gum, watching soap operas and me. Happy Birthday Grandma - I miss you.

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Tuesday, July 21, 2009

In A Puddle On The Porch.....

I found the sky!

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Monday, July 20, 2009

Ruby Red Slippers

What have we here? I see Mickey Mouse Cutouts surrounded by red.
There's that little gator! Now you know don't you?
Carletta has a brand new pair of red Mickey Mouse Crocs!

You may have heard the latest news this past week that the Crocs company is fighting an image problem and the once hot shoe is in declining demand and increasing inventory has forced the company to cut jobs and close production plants. Knock-offs and discounting have also hurt its bottom line. In today's economy it's hard to say if the company can become profitable again.

I only know they are the most comfortable shoe I've ever worn. I spent my last year of teaching walking and standing in comfort. Despite the company's woes I know a good deal when I see one and I scarfed these up this weekend for under ten dollars! Actually, I bought three pair of different styles all for less than the retail on these ruby red beauties!

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Sunday, July 19, 2009

Straight Out Of The Camera Sunday



(click to enlarge for best viewing)


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Wednesday, July 15, 2009

The Old Family Farm

The old barn sits silently amidst the tall overgrown grass. It's tin roof peeled back by the ravages of time and neglect. Inside the weathered walls once stood the implements needed to farm and garden the fifty areas of land. Bags of oats and corn lay ready to be mixed as a supplement for the milking cows. Cats and kittens roamed freely keeping the mice at bay and often lapped warm cow's milk for their breakfast.
This old barn sits on the farm once owned by my Hubby's family. As a young teenager he himself built the additional lean-to on the right of the barn. His family lived on the farm about six years until his Dad suffered a stroke and they moved to the city. His Mom and Dad and five of the nine kids are gone now but the stories this old barn could tell about hard work, country life, and love are numerous and warm the heart. I know and I miss hearing them.

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Monday, July 13, 2009

Red Vintage Theatre Doors

I remember growing up in small town USA where the Saturday evening entertainment was to go to the movies. Of course that was every other week because the current movie usually ran for two weeks at a time. You purchased your ticket outside the theatre before ever being allowed behind the doors.
The smell of fresh popcorn wafted through the open window. I never cared for popcorn much till I was older. I know, I know, but I didn't. No, once inside I stood in line for a Coke and a roll of Reed Cinnamon candy. I savored the smell and taste of that round Lifesaver like candy with its hot cinnamon taste from the beginning to the end of the movie. It was a pleasant sensation to my senses. To this day when I go to the movies I longingly look for that red familiar package that won't be there.
I found this mural juxtaposed by the theatre doors a little ironic. To me the mural depicts the drive in restaurants of the 'fabulous fifties' where you might go after the movie. The car hops would be busily skating around the parking lot delivering sizzling hot cheeseburgers, mouth-watering milkshakes, and golden french fries. Sadly our little town didn't have one of those. We had a Dairy Queen where the hot fudge sundaes and coke floats hit the spot on warm summer evenings. We also had the Queen Bee. More than likely that's where I would end up. It was walking distance from the movies. A little place that was always packed, the hamburgers and fries hot and fresh every time, and the jukebox loud and playing everything from country to rock and roll.
It's hard to say what movie poster last graced the glass marquee outside this theatre. Whatever the movie was I sure hope it had a good cartoon at the beginning!


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Sunday, July 12, 2009

Mellow Yellow Macro Monday

The little green bee lands on the anther and holds on for his meal.
He even hangs on upside down for the yummy pollen.
He makes sure he covers every little grain of pollen that's on the anther.
Sometimes he barely holds on in midair!

(Be sure to click the pictures to enlarge for best detail.)




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Shadow Shot Sunday: Summer Shadows

Swing the gate open
Wisteria offers shade
Friends always welcome.


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Saturday, July 11, 2009

Raven's Wordzzle and An Award

It's been a long time since I participated in the Wordzzle Challenge so I thought I'd surprise Raven with at least the mini challenge. You can click the badge to read other participants entries.
For what it's worth here's mine:

Obama says the recovery for the economy is a long way off, Michael Jackson is leading the choir in heaven this week and teaching the angels to moonwalk, I need a ladder to wash my windows and I haven't a clue where one is, AND the structure of this sentence is way too long by most standards.

There you have it. All the words are in one sentence in the order in which Raven submitted them.

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Did you all see Raven's post yesterday? It was her birthday. Once again Raven, HAPPY BIRTHDAY and Best Wishes for many, many more!!!


I'd like to thank Jientje for the blog award she bestowed on me yesterday for my photoblog, Carletta's Captures. Thanks Jientje! It was my first award for that blog which makes it that much nicer. If you didn't know I had a photoblog and haven't checked it out click on over there if you have time and see my photos of wild baby turkeys. These little guys can already fly!

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Noticing The Little Things

(click to enlarge)
After participating for a few weeks in Michelle's Nature Notes Meme I find I look forward to taking a walk in my yard and really looking around to see what's new. The flowers, especially the daylilies, continue to bloom and my Rose of Sharon bushes are showing signs of color at last. The ferns at the size of the house are almost waist high and the grass no sooner gets cut than it needs cut again. All of these are easily noticeable. It's the little things I'm noticing more and more. With camera in hand I've been looking closer and closer at what's around me. I love my camera and the macro abilities to see the unseen. Things I never really noticed take on a whole new meaning.
The collage above is made up of some of those little things I found this week. The wisteria vines are filling with new soft green velvety pods. The yucca blooms are long gone and have been replaced with seed pods. I noticed some were green and some purplish. While looking at the yucca I saw lovely red markings on the stems. Who knew!
I walked by my Tiger Grass that stands way above my head. The pale yellow and green stripes thrust themselves toward the blue sky.
While strolling around the yard I also found bees, moths, deer, rabbits and turkeys. Nature is certainly thriving here at Round The Bend!
What are you waiting for? Come on, get up, get out and see what you can find in your own backyard.




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Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Playground Memories

When I began reading the comments on my Playground Memories post below I got a wonderful surprise. My post had been chosen as Post of the Day over at David's Authorblog! I'm honored and humbled at his mention.Thank you David and a great big thank you as well to all who left gracious comments.


The teacher part of me is always fascinated by the little country schools I come upon in my travels around the countryside. The one above was in a grove of huge old trees. It was shady and cool. Rather than tear it down this one had been turned into a community center. Notice the red pump in the front. I can imagine on a hot day a teacher pumping away and the kids bent over drinking straight from the pump.
The slide was under a tree out of the sunlight. I can remember almost getting burned many times sliding in the hot sun. Come recess time you did not want to be the first one down the slide! When I was in the third grade we had a slide at least twice as high as this one. A classmate decided when he got to the top he was going to slide down the support pole to the ground. I happened to be down at the bottom. When he slid down he caught my dress with his foot and ripped it around the empire waist. Mrs. Goad stapled my dress together for the rest of the day.
I never did like Jeff!
Ah, the playground merry-go-round. The one piece of playground equipment that promised to trip you up and send you flying. This was the one activity I shyed away from during my childhood. It was always spinning round and round loaded with kids. When I look back to those days it's a wonder more kids weren't hurt. Surprisingly I only remember one child breaking an arm on our playground.
There was only one of these spring toys in the yard. The rest probably rusted away. You could get those things going back and forth so fast you could go flying off the front and planting your face in the ground if you weren't careful.
Swings - the one favorite piece of playground equipment everyone wanted to play on and there was never enough for everybody. They don't make this kind anymore. They're said to be too dangerous. Well, maybe so, but I can still remember swinging in the breeze and dreaming of what I wanted to be when I grew up and the voice of my best friend taunting me, "I bet I can swing higher than you."


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