On the home front...

"When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength.  Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living.  If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself." -Tecumseh

Yesterday morning we were greeted with a nice blanket of fog, or as Mark called it when he was a little boy, a "hog." There is nothing that makes a more beautiful, and some what mysterious picture than fog.  This was especially beautiful because of the way the light was coming through: it was gorgeous with its nice golden tones.  I quickly threw on some clothes, grabbed my camera, and headed to the bird sanctuary.  The bad news was that the fog had lifted in this particular area by the time I got there.  Since I was out, I took pictures anyway, got a ton of mud on my boots since it had rained the night before, but was happy with my shots.   The only thing that could have made them better would have been to have people in them.  I prefer people in my landscapes.  

I was trying to get the rain droplets here.  I like the softness of the picture.

Some nice grasses with light reflecting in the raindrops.

Look at the nice golden tones.  Absolutely gorgeous.  

More beauty.  

Here Comes the Sun!

These three trees reflected in the water, show that fall is really here... most of the leaves have fallen.  

This duck took off as I came closer.  I love him in flight.

My cousin, Stephen Macintosh and part of his family, came for a brief visit to look at ENMU for his son, Lucas.  They came, they saw, and they went.  We did get to have a great visit over some meals and the last night they were here, we talked about old times, and genealogy.   I have a pretty complete family history of the Norcross side of the family going back to the 1500's.  What I learned from Steve was about the family history of the time they spent in Cuba.  My grandfather was a mining engineer in El Cristo, Cuba, hence much of my father's childhood was spent living there.  They left when Castro came into power.  It was all very interesting.  

Steve and his wife, Mary.  

I finished the last week of my Advanced Composition class.  Our last lesson was on "Still life" and it was the hardest lesson for me.  I spent about 4 hours on Saturday trying to get a good still life.  (And 169 shots later, had one I thought would do).

This is the one I submitted.

Here I wanted the lights to represent the steam from a cup of tea.  Warren did not think it looked like steam, and I liked my caterpillar cupcake better.  

Lastly, I had a coupon for 20% off cosmetics at BEALLs, so I went to see what I could find.  I always need anything that will help stave off wrinkles and old age.  I found a kit of "dark spot" deminisher.  Alas, my coupon was no good.  It had to be BEALLS brand.  This was Clinique.  I bought it anyway.  It was expensive.  I hope it works.  

Hope this stuff works...stay tuned.

That is about all that is happening around here.  One last picture...of Maggie. 

Sleeping Beauty!

It is late, and sleeping looks like a good idea.  Good-night.