My husband is awesome!

Not only did he take me to the beach -

He’s handsome -

And strong!

And! He gave me this lovely necklace for my birthday!

Hmmm, 41 year old toes?  I don’t think so . . .

I can’t be 41, I’m in a sand dune!

It’s just Bastlille Day, not my birthday . . .

I’m too goofy to be 41 . . .

But I am!

My grandfather always listened to the ballgame on his transistor radio.

My grandmother always had a tissue tucked into her watchband.

Last night, sitting next to this older woman at the ballpark, with her hankie tucked in her wristband and her transister radio plugged into her ear, I felt connected to them.

Happy Sunday everyone!

Time to play.

Here’s the original image:

And here’s my fix -

So, here’s what I did:

1.  First, I ran a bunch of Florabella actions, because I just bought her Vintage Set, and I LOVE it.  However, I didn’t love it on this photo, and I scrapped all of those edits.

2.  I realized that her hot pink skirt was bothering me, so I got rid of it.  I converted the image to black and white.  Then, I ran one of Isabelle LaFrance’s soulful B&W actions.  Then, I brought back some color by applying a layer mask to the original black and white layer, setting a low opacity to my brush, and brushing back some color.

That’s it!

Go check out some other Friday Fixes!

The written assignment;

What I hate the most about myself is that I´m (insert your word) __________.

2. When you have your words, I will ask you to make a sentence using all 3 words. One sentence with all 3 words. Write the sentence down on a piece of paper. Do it your way, it dosen´t even have to make sense to others just to you. you will need to use this sentence in you photo assignment.

There are so many small things in this world that easily delight me, it’s easy to get lost in reflection, and procrastinate.

3. Last but not least I will ask you to reflect on your negative word, but in a new and positive way;

The good thing about being (insert your negative word) ___________ is that__________.

The good thing about being a procrastinator is by the time something gets done it’s usually right, because I’ve been thinking about doing it for a long time.

Okay, now take your sentence with the 3 words and use it in your photo somehow. There are no rules about how to do this, just make sure the sentence is in the picture. You can write it on a post it, on your body, on a mirror with a lipstick or paint it on a wall – it´s all up to you. Remember; no limits!

 Are you ready for some 5th of July baseball??

So why so glum?  Because it’s 101 degrees out, and the gate doesn’t open for another half hour?

Don’t look at me, husband says – I thought we’d be able to see batting practice.

Yeah! Time to get in line. Eh, don’t worry — he just looks miserable . . . he’s a teenager.  See, he’s happy . . .

We missed batting practice, but we did get to see Roy Halladay do his yoga -

Yes, I know – it looks like just stretching.  But  it’s not —  he’s doing yoga, and becoming one with the ball.

So, now it’s time for baseball, right?

Nope, it’s time for the 5th of July salute to the military!

And then, it was time to put the flag away . . .

So, now it’s time to play baseball, right?  First, the General had to throw in the first ball.

So, it’s time to play ball, right . . . no, it’s time to eat!

And, definitely time for something cold!

Huh, and I’m out of photos – I guess I forgot to take pictures of the baseball.

Oopsy.

Hope everyone had a great holiday.

For:

Because what’s more America than baseball, and of course apple pie!

And

Hosted by Cecily and Serious Krystyn

In a comment to my Who I Am Post, Piroseper asked about my sweet little teacup.

There are actually three teacups, I just put my favorite in the hodgepodge picture of my life of things.

These teacups were my grandmothers’s. 

I remember going to my grandparents’ apartment as a child.  They had several apartments while I was growing up, but in each apartment, the set up was always the same.  There was a large couch, across from a television set.  There was a marble coffee table in front of the couch, in the shape of an S, and on each end of the couch, there were cherry wood end tables.  On each end table was a scary looking lamp, with a gargoyle carved in the marble just below the light fixture.  And, as ugly as these lamps were, that’s how beautiful the teacups looked, resting on the top of the tables.  There were six cups, and when my grandparents passed away, my mother and I split them up.  I have three cups, my mother has three.

My grandmother came to this country from England.  She, her parents, her sister, and her two brothers first settled in Canada, where the first wave of the family had moved.  But, there were no jobs, and the boys found themselves across the border in Detroit, finding jobs in the auto industry.  My grandmother often visited them, and during one visit, at a vintage keg party, she met my grandfather, and it was not long after that she married him.

She moved to Philadelphia.  A brother and his family, and various cousins stayed in Canada.  Another brother moved back to England, and I still have family there, as well.  And, even though the family found itself on different continents, in different countries, they stayed close, visiting when they could.  And these teacups were sentimental gifts that were given to my grandmother when she would visit.  I wish, when she were alive, I had asked her about the teacups – about which teacup was gifted on what visit.  There are pictures of my mom with her Canadian cousins, different summers, different hairstyles – which cup went with which summer?  At least one of the cups was a gift from her brother, when he visited from England.  I don’t know which cup, and neither does my mother.

My grandmother had the loveliest hands.  I did not inherit them – I have my father’s small stubby fingers.  My grandmother had long, thin fingers, and beatiful nails.  At some point, before my mother made me throw them away because they smelled of mothballs, I had a bag of little white gloves that my grandmother would wear to work.  When I look at these little cups, I think of her with white gloves, sipping tea. 

Not that she actually drank tea out of these cups.  In fact, I think she became an Americanized coffee drinker.  But, no matter.  During the Depression, she didn’t have depression glass, she had these lovely cups.  And, when I was growing up, I wasn’t allowed to touch them.

I was always told they weren’t for play, they were special.

Creative Prompt – Denim -

But wait that’s not a pair of jeans, or a denim purse, or a denim anything . . . or is it?

This -

+

This -

=

With a Kim Klassen texture, Primed, thrown in on top.

Denim magic!!

Hope everyone  is having a fabulous holiday weekend!

Yep, thought I was done, but nope – it’s ANOTHER CREATIVITY WORKSHOP!!!!  Fantastic!

The creative director of this workshop is Christina Greve, the utterly inspiring photographer behind Divas and Dreams, a blog that I have been stalking for quite some time.  She is a master at seeing light, and creating a scene with ingenuity and joy.  Her photos are dreamscapes, ethereal, yet very real, and I can’t wait to follow her prompts like a smitten puppy. 

Ok, enough gushy – onto the business of creativity.

This week’s assignment:

The photo challenge: Show me who you are by collecting some personal stuff that describe your personality. What objects do you have that describes you the best? Find the things that symbolise you, what you love, what you dream about, what your history are ect. There is no limit on who many or few things to show.

The written assignment: Pick 3 things that you chose to photograph and tell why you chose it or what it tells about you.

1.  My husband’s college ring (sitting on top of our wedding photo) – When we were packing up Joe’s apartment to move him into what was then just my house before it was our home, I found his college ring.  I giggled – can I wear it, can we go steady?  What do you want to wear that big clunky thing for?  But, I really did want to wear it.  In high school, I had always been jealous of those girls who walked around with their v-neck t-shirts, showing off their boyfriends ring, worn on a chain.  He shrugged, picked it up, and said, “Wendy, you want to go steady?”  And, I put the ring on my finger.  I wore the ring throughout that summer, through the fall and winter, and into the next summer.  It was big, I wore it on my middle finger, it was really a silly thing.  And then one day, a few days before my 40th birthday, we were playing football in the surf at the beach.  I threw the ball, and the ring sailed off my finger, into the ocean.  We searched, and searched. There were tears, and yelling.  It took several hours, but soon I was forgiven, and every morning, and every evening, when the tide was going in and out, for the rest of the week, I searched the sand for the ring, but it was gone.

And, the next month, Joe replaced the college school ring with the ring I wear now, and will wear always.

Sometime in the beginning of September, I got a call from Joe’s parents, with whom we stayed with for our week at the beach.  Joe and his father share the same name, and his father had received a call that day from a man from the suburbs who had been vacationing with his family.  The man had found  Joe’s ring, a ring engraved with his name – and his father’s name, who is right there in the Sea Isle phonebook. 

A tiny miracle, but I think the really beauty is that in those hours after I lost the ring, Joe made the decision that he was going to accept me as I am – and I am person who loses things, who is clumsy – and he was going to love me for my faults and my strengths. 

You can see in the photo there are a collection of mementos from our wedding, and I included this ring because I am still very much a newlywed – and that ring is kind of what being newly married is all about – love, acceptance, compromise, and tiny miracles.

2.  My skincare products, including my Neutragena On the Spot Acne Treatment.  I’m going to be 41 in less than 2 weeks.  Why oh why does my skin still break out?  Why do I still have signs of teenage adolescence scampering across my face – at really, the worst times – when I’m opening to a jury, when we have an event to go to, not on a day when I just have to get out of bed and do my every day thing.  One of the perks of age should be acne free skin, shouldn’t it?  I’m really not concerned with aging – I’ve never been in a better place – I’m a happy newlywed, my job is not just a career, it’s a calling, and a satisfying life’s work – and I feel very young – at the beginning of everything.  Yet, I see the age on my face – such a contradiction, the wrinkles and the occasional acne.  And, that very contradiction, in a way, is very much who I am right now.

3.  My Kindle.  The Kindle has changed the way I read, and to a certain extent, what I read.  I no longer judge a book by it’s cover, and no one can judge me by the cover of whatever I’m reading. 

And that’s who I am – for this post, at least.   

Happy Friday!

On Tuesday, when it was 90 degrees, and only getting hotter . . . and hotter, I trekked out to the suburbs to spend the day with my mom.

We went to Peddler’s Village in Lahaska, and if I could find a fence like this every Friday, I would definitely become a member of the Fence Friday gang on Flickr, but alas, there are no picket fences in urban Philly – only wrought iron gates and barbed wire.  Sigh.

After mom patiently waited while I photographed a fence (a fence? what’s so special about a fence?), we went to lunch, and sat outside.  Of course, we needed cocktails!!!

Does my face look a bit strained? That’s what happens when I hand the camera over to my mom – push the button down. No, not that button, the other button. No, the button in front. Push it half way down. Nothing’s happening. Push it half way, then all the way, its on auto. Nothing’s happening. Did you turn it on . . . Sigh.

And after she’s had a cocktail no less . . . sheesh.

Does that look good, yum!!!

After lunch, we walked around Peddler’s. I found — well, I didn’t really find it – it was right in the middle of the grounds – this windmill -

Here is before I hit it with some textures:

And here it is after:

Art perhaps??

Then, I “found” this waterwheel -

And a few textures later -

In the end, a lovely day was had all around!

Enjoy the holiday weekend!!!

And there you have it, my Friday photo story!

Hosted by Cecily