The View Through My Lens: June 2011

Friday, June 24, 2011

Cross Process 22/30: Crochet

...Trying out some "new" (thrifted) crochet cotton with a quick and simple doily.

Cross Process 21/30: Loropetalum

Cross Process 20/30: Spiderweb

...in a corner of the covered patio.

Cross Process 19/30: Rose of Sharon

The two rose of sharon trees I photographed before are both still alive. They've even been blooming! One of them is white (as you see), and the other is a mauve-pink with a red center.

Cross Process 18/30: DaVinci's Challenge

Our first time playing DaVinci's Challenge.

Cross Process 16/30: Rainy Day

Cross Process 15/30: Bunch of Roses

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Cross Process 14/30: Pretty Sky

Pretty skies, but not a drop of rain. Things are still far too dry, here.

Cross Process 13/30: Paintbrushes

Been doing a little decorative painting-- furniture, coat hooks, etc.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Cross Process 12/30: 4 O'Clocks

Cross Process 11/30: Blinds

We bought and installed new blinds for a couple of rooms. These are much nicer (and more room-darkening) than the cheap ones we had before.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Cross Process 9/30: Clothesline

I'm not using it for all our laundry, but it's still getting some use every week.

Cross Process 8/30: Ominous Clouds

This was the day we got our soaking rain. The ground drank it right up and has put in a request for more of the same. ;o)

Cross Process 7/30: Growing Rose

The rosebush by the main gate has put on a lot of growth in the past couple of months, despite the drought. I'm going to have to move it a little over to the side, but I'll wait until a better time of year for transplanting, I think...

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Cross Process 6/30: Lizard

It was posing on the back of the swing. I think this may be the same one I saw a day or two earlier on the swing, in the middle of shedding its skin. I believe that was the only time I've ever seen a lizard shedding.

Cross Process 5/30: Step Outside

This boring photograph brought to you by a lack of inspiration and the fact that the other photos turned out too blurry.

Cross Process 4/30: Trixie Toes

Cutesy little puppy toes!

(They sometimes smell like Fritos. TMI? It seems to be a common Eskie trait. Otherwise, Eskies have hardly any smell at all-- unless they get wet, under which circumstances there is a little temporary doggy smell.)

Friday, June 3, 2011

Cross Process 3/30: Bird on a Wire

A bird very obligingly perched on the power lines leading into our place.

(It was rumbling in the distance when I took this photo, and the clouds actually managed to hold themselves together and visit us, too! There wasn't much rain, but at this point, any at all is most welcome.)

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Cross Process 2/30: Trixie

Cross-processed Eskibo-dog, who was infinitely bored.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Cross Process 1/30: Rose

The petals of one single red rose (on the neglected rose bush) still cling to the stem. Everything's so parched, the flower's practically drying itself.

May Wrap-Up & Cross Process June

I can't seem to make it through a month-long photo "challenge" without burning out on an idea. I even missed my first photo-a-day for 2011 this month. (Grr.) So I don't know if I'd call this month a smashing success... I think maybe "My Day" was a little too loose of a theme to hold my interest. (Plus I was just lazy about finding a photo that represented something I'd done each day.) Well, May's done now, anyway, so time for a new theme...

I haven't given this a lot of thought, so it may turn out to be a very blah idea, but I think I'm going with Cross Process for June. I'm not particularly concerned with being "accurate" in my digital cross-processing (...whatever that would mean). I'm just using it as an excuse to play around with post-processing and (most of the time, probably) attempt either a vintage/retro look (color-wise) or just a slightly weird, unexpected effect.

...Something like these:

So that's that!

(June. How'd it get to be June already, anyway?)

My Day 31/31: Watching the Sky

Those look like summer day clouds, and I thought we might even get a pop-up thunderstorm-- but no such luck.

I don't want the scary, dangerous lightning, but we could really use some rain.

My Day 30/31: Progress Bar

I did lots of reading over the long weekend. The Kindle is still a "no regrets" purchase. That's not to say that there's nothing I'd change about it... I would be even happier if it were possible to organize books into collections through the computer-- while the Kindle is hooked up it. Moving them to collections on the device itself is comparatively laborious. But still, over all, I'm very happy with my e-reader, and I'm definitely reading more fiction than I have in years.

My Day 29/31: The Rake

I brushed Trixie, using a regular (pin-type) dog brush and this-- the Rake. Doesn't that sound scary? But that's really what this type of brush is called. It's designed to remove the loose hair from the undercoat, which can be difficult to access with a regular brush.

Trixie's in a heavy shedding phase, lately, probably because the summer temperatures are ramping up. It's amazing how much fluff comes off that dog, considering that she still-- always-- looks very well-covered in fur.

My Day 28/31: Perpetual Motion

Donald and I played Perpetual Motion, a card game he picked up at a second-hand store.

We've been playing it a lot lately. I like the fact that it's relatively fast to play and requires very little brainpower-- perfect for those times when you're not feeling up to a brain-stretcher.

My Day 27/31: Pot Roast

I, um, made a pot roast. (As you may have guessed from the title...)

My Day 26/31: Rain

It wasn't nearly enough to make up for our rainfall deficit, but at this point in a drought, anything is welcome.

My Day 25/31: Vacuum Cleaner Trixie

My Day 25/31: <strike>Vacuum Cleaner</strike> Trixie

I had a little trouble with the vacuum cleaner today. (Donald got it working again, though.) I took a couple of very... "artistic" shots of the vacuum cleaner, but then I decided to spare you that. Here's a photo of Trixie, instead, as she lay on the floor watching.

Trixie is not a huge fan of the vacuum cleaner. I suspect she was hoping it had finally bitten the dust. (The vacuum cleaner bit the dust. Get it? Heh. (g))

My Day 24/31: Frugal Crocheter

I unraveled a $1 sweater and got a whole bunch of pink cotton yarn for my trouble. (Some might say it's not worth the trouble to unravel boring old cotton... but I enjoy my hobbies more if I don't feel I'm "wasting" much money on them. I can't help it.)

My Day 23/31: Keys

(I actually forgot to take a photo for this day. Boo! The first day I missed in 2011... Oh well. I took this one the next day to make up for it.)

We dropped the Elantra off to have some parts repainted and finished. Fortunately, it was still under warranty from the repair after the hail damage (however long ago that's been). It shouldn't have had problems this soon afterward, but for some reason, it did. (All fixed now, though!)

My Day 22/31: Par-tay ;o)

The family had a surprise get-together in honor of my maternal grandmother's 70th birthday. Baby Clara also made her debut (very briefly, as she slept through most of the get-together). ;o)

My Day 21/31: Star Stitch

I made a little crocheted pouch from a free pattern online. I like the stitch (which the pattern's author calls "star stitch"), but my final product disappointed me, so I'm probably going to rip it out again...

My Day 20/31: Rose of Sharon

I planted a couple of small trees ("Roses of Sharon"... or "Shrub Althea"... or a small tree/shrub form of Hibiscus, Hibiscus syriacus, depending on your preference). Mom transplanted them from her old garden. I've tried transplanting Rose of Sharon before with little luck, but maybe these will "take"... They make very showy Hibiscus-style flowers (so surprising in a Hibiscus, right?) when they're happy. I've taken care to water them through this drought, so I hope that will keep their moods lifted. ;o)