It Sounds Pretty Awesome...

 Last week I mentioned that I was out taking photos to be considered for inclusion in a tourism piece on Joplin, Mo. for Missouri Life Magazine. I'm not employed by the magazine by any means but thanks to my friend  Larry, I am one of several photographers on their mailing list that they contact looking for photographs that may fit their stories.(No actual assignments yet...)
 This is Grand Falls or a piece of it anyway. This area was awesome and I have no idea why I didn't know about it before. I know for sure that I'll be back in the summer to get a better look at it!
 At any rate, I'm in the middle of going through some photos I shot this weekend for another article that led me down some of Missouri's smaller yet no less amazing highways to points (Gray's Point to be exact!) that even I had never heard of before. I can't begin to tell you what a great afternoon that was. That afternoon in itself was enough to re energize me and give me that push that I needed to go forth and shoot photos and capture moments in time for future generations to enjoy. Well, it sounds pretty awesome anyway...

Somewhere You Want To Go...

 This dang computer keeps dropping the site and even as we speak the music that I'm listening to from this blog is malfunctioning so I'm just going to make this short and sweet.
 Here's a morning fog photo that I took last winter. I really like this one. It definitely sets a tone - a tone that I can relate with some days for sure.
  Anyway, hope that you like it too. Find yourself a good song that you think fits it well and click on it to get the full effect and just let your mind wander. Hopefully it will take you somewhere that you want to go...

A Little Harder To Come By...

 Just wanted to say that I hope everyone has had a good weekend. I know we had a pretty relaxing one for the most part. I got to go on a road trip to Joplin to get some photos to be considered for inclusion in a tourism piece.This isn't one of them by the way and I won't go into all of that now but maybe next time I'll give you a little piece of some of the sights I found there. We were invited to dinner by our good friends Brian and Heather. It's good to have friends that like to eat I always say. And on top of that we ran into Mark and Patty. As I told Brian, I've known these two since before I had whiskers. ( Actually, before I could grow whiskers! ) It's awesome to have such good friends as we do. Sometimes I get so caught up in the business of everyday business that I forget how lucky we are to have the quality friends that we do have. I know that in years past I've referred to more than one individual as a friend only to look back later and realize that they were only acquaintances. I guess that as I get older having someone that I can truly call a friend is probably a little harder to come by than I once thought but their friendship means so much more than it ever did with any of my acquaintances...

"If You Don't Have Anything Good To Say..."

 I guess that I'm in a post holiday funk. I seem to find it harder and harder to write about something and it takes forever to decide on a photo to post. I think that it happens to a lot of us. You know, the big let down after all of the hoopla of the season. The festive holiday season is over and now it's just winter. Cold and blustery and...cold. I don't know, it hasn't really been a problem before but for some reason this year it is. As usual there's one hundred and one things going on in my life and most everything needs attention now and what can't be reckoned with now needs a lot of thought. I need a good hike to clear my mind or at least to give me some space to let it all run it's course and get equal attention so as to maybe get everything lined out. All my ducks in a row, so to speak.
 Well I promise not to let this blog become dark with my complaining so for the near future if I don't have much text to go with the photo ( oh, there will always be the photos! ) then just know that I just don't have much to say. I know that it will all come back around. Actually it's pretty hard some nights to come home from work, have dinner, help with the dishes, try to get some quality family time in and then sit at this computer and and hope to have something entertaining to talk about in addition to what I might think is a quality photo and still get to bed at a decent hour. See, there I go already. So as I'm sure most of our mothers have told us throughout our lives... "if you don't have anything good to say..." well, you know the rest.

Thank Goodness...

 Well guess what? Yesterday was my birthday-yaaaay! So that being said, the yaaay part I mean, my official celebration is over for this year. We went to dinner tonight because yesterday was such a hectic day starting with the busted water pipe then Brendon's bowling tournament and getting dinner to my mom and a small list of errands that we just wanted to get a shower in and settle back. Birthdays sure aren't what they used to be...thank goodness!

A Case Of The Shivers...

 Oooh, it's cold outside! I'm not too bashful to admit that I do not like the cold! Is there maybe a possibility that it has to do with getting older? I mean, my joints don't hurt or anything like that. I don't have a job that keeps me out in it. The most that I absolutely have to be out in it is the short walk across the parking lot at work. The car stays in the garage ( I'm pretty thankful for that ) and the porch is mostly covered so I don't usually have to clear off any snow or ice ( maybe once in a while ) so really, I'm not overly exposed to the elements so much as to really have reason to dislike the cold so much.
 I think maybe it's the psychology of it all. My son Brendon has absolutely no problem with the cold and snow- especially the snow ( see the February 10, 2010 post ). I myself like to sit back and relax all snuggled in on cold winter days. Yesterday I came home from work to find Brendon outside in what was somewhere around 14 degree cold jumping on the trampoline. As it had snowed some the previous night the blanket of snow that covered the trampoline's um, the uh... "stretchy part" was exploding with every jump he made. Not until I got the camera and had taken a few "action" shots did I notice that he was jumping in his socks! 14 degrees and snow! He was right though. You can't jump on the trampoline with your shoes on. I should've know that I guess.
 Anyway as for me all of this talk of frigid temps is giving me a case of the shivers. I think that I'll go get my heavy winter socks and put them in the dryer to get them all nice and toasty before I go back to snuggling up on the couch. It's supposed to get down to zero tonight!!

The Man...

 This is my nephew Justin. Justin has served in the military for, I believe, eight years now. That's really pretty sad on my part not knowing how long he has been protecting our country I guess. It just goes to show how much we can get wrapped up in our own little cocoons and take it for granted that the rest of the world is running fine without us. We all know how that's working out. Fortunately there are men and women just like Justin that don't feel that way and they're out there making sure that we can stay in our cocoons all nice and snuggly.
 Anyway, I know that I can't really state too many specifics as to his service in the military so I'll just say thanks Justin. You're the man, we're all proud of you!

Plenty To Say...

 Well once again it's a new year! Happy New Year!! Obviously my resolution was not to not miss any more posts. I've kind of decided that it was an unofficial hiatus of sorts. Pretty short lived hiatus but still...
 So here we are in January again and other than the usual holiday fare nothing much new to actually start this new year out with.
 I didn't win the $330,000,000.00 in the mega millions lottery so I guess that life will continue to go on as planned. Although, I did have some pretty big plans... Could you imagine that? That's over a QUARTER OF A BILLION DOLLARS !!! How is it, I wonder, that we can give away such massive amounts as this but we sometimes can't manage to get enough donations to feed and clothe our own starving citizens? How is it that a professional sports figure earns millions upon millions of dollars and our troops have trouble even finding a job once they've left the service, not to mention the mere pittance they receive in exchange for putting their lives on the line daily and way too often losing that life.
 Well, that's a subject that could go on and on and at least for now, I'm not willing to spend my time complaining about the things that I can't change. I don't mind letting you know how I feel about it though - you can always count on that. But what I don't want is to make this blog about what's wrong with the world. There's plenty of folks out there who are more than glad to do it for me.
 So happy new year to all of you. I don't make resolutions but I will tell you that I'll try really hard to get back to a regular schedule of posting. I like to think that there are those of you that actually look forward to my posts so I'll try not to disappoint. Maybe I'll find better subjects to talk about in the future. Who knows, maybe I'll win the next powerball jackpot and then I bet I'll have plenty to say...