Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Wahoo! Wednesday

Feel free to enbiggen little Delmar, above, who was photographed at the School of Dentistry in Jackson, yesterday. I think that's his cousin, Petunia, in the header. But, I'm just guessing; she was in a hurry.

This has been a week of dramatic highs and lows, once again, so I'll stick to the good. It's better to ponder the positives, don't you think?

1. I've said this before, but I love 'em. Wahoo! for wacky teenagers:


They've gotten used to me and my ever-present camera and asked if I was whipping out photos while the professional photographers set up to take team pics. Yes, I replied. And, look how they mugged!! I love teenagers.

2. Wahoo! for my free Shutterfly book!!! I have been pondering the concept of creating a book of my own photos, but those services are pretty expensive. Lo and behold, one of the local high-fat restaurants had an offer for a free Shutterfly photo book with three dinner receipts. Well, it just sounded too good to pass up, so we ate there three times (I know-- the things we do for our art), loaded some of my nature photos, tossed in some quotes and sent away for it. I love it!!! The title is based on a quote by Kahlil Gibran, which I've got on the opening page:

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the wind longs to play with your hair.

Cool quote, eh? Here's the front cover:


And, my lizard spread. Y'all know I just loves me a lizard:


I won't post the whole darned book, but here's a random bird page:


3. Wahoo! for cold feet! Okay, so it's in the 80's, but it's at least cooling off the evenings and that's a start, right? We've been looking really hard for hints of changing leaves. Just for grins, this is last year's look:


Anyhow, all we're seeing is a few yellowish-brown leaves whose color could easily have been caused by the latest dry spell. But, hey, it's cooling off at night and we have to celebrate any little autumnal hint. Even if it is supposed to get to 90 degrees, tomorrow. Which reminds me . . .

4. Wahoo! for the Latter-Day Saints. You know, the guys who come to your door in white shirts and ties? The people comedians like to say "worship the doorbell"? Well, they're going to come work on hacking away my jungle, God bless 'em. I have to get up early to buy some extra tools because hubby has this knack for hiding mine and they said they don't regularly do yard work, but they'd be glad to do it as a service, ma'am. Honestly, I can't think of a nicer thing anyone could do for me. My yard is seriously embarrassing, so I'm really looking forward to their visit. And, I don't mind if they preach to me. I used to have some Mormon friends and I have nothing but respect for them. They moved to Utah, unfortunately, and we lost touch when I carelessly cleaned off the bulletin board with their addresses.

I was looking for an image of some of the young elders and found a terrific blog with copyrighted photos that you just have to see: Backroads Project. Page down far enough and you'll see a pic of the two Latter-Day Saints that led me to that page. The photos at that blog make me look like a hack with an Instamatic. The hack part might be correct, but I ditched the Instamatic years ago. I married a really nice little Olympus. I mean, a guy with a nice Olympus (tragically, it died).

5. It's been storming all afternoon and evening -- no lightning, now, of course. I'm Oklahoman, you know. We unplug things when it storms, so I'm slow to post and when I have to drive in the rain I'm always, always grateful to make it home in one piece. We get God-kicked-over-the-bucket rain, sometimes. This is one of those days, and I had to drive in it, yuck. Anyway, Wahoo! for not ending up like this car (that black thing on the hood is a child's car seat):


Or these (there were about 5 vehicles involved in this accident, which I hastily photographed while diverting around it via a parking lot - sorry about the focus; the black van at far right is one of the damaged):


Have to go nudge the kiddo - who, by the way, forbid me to post his silly photo (in which he ran his hands through his very thick auburn hair and made it stand up - just trust me; it was funny) - and read. Of course. What else, right?

18 comments:

  1. Good evening, Nancy. I love the squirrels. :-) And the book! Oh, I wish you could post all the pages, but I know that would be too much. From what you did share with us, it looks awesome.

    I finally broke down and hired a gardener. My husband and I just don't have the motivation to do yard work and I miss having a decent looking yard. We'll still struggle with the fenced in back yard ourselves to keep in practice, but at least our front yard won't embarrass our neighbors (or me!).

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  2. Hi Wendy!

    Thank you. Yeah, I can't post all the pages because it would be too, too much. I didn't like the way I did a few of them, actually - I wasn't consistent in my layout; some pages I decided to label the creatures and they just didn't fit the theme as well (the nature quotes were really the best part), but it was a good learning experience. I'll do better the next time. And, now that I've discovered how easy it is, I'll use Shutterfly, again.

    I would so like to hire one of the local lawn-care people (or services) and I may just have to go ahead and do so. Hubby looked really upset when I told him people were going to come work on the yard and they said they'd do it for free (not that I'll let them get away without a donation to the church). He is dead-set against paying anyone for anything. But, honestly, his knees are going and my allergies and headaches are horrendous. So, we need someone. Maybe if we can at least get it in shape and keep it that way for the winter, I can scout out someone who charges a reasonable price before spring!

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  3. The book is very cool! I don't remember if it was Shutterfly or another one but I was looking and contemplating someday doing that. I need to take some more photos first though. Love the new header, btw! :)

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  4. I love those books! I made a few one Christmas for gifts and am considering doing the same again this year. I definitely need to make one with my nature shots! Yours looks fabulous.

    We're growing gills up here in Nebraska. It's been raining (and I mean RAINING!) since last week. Our rain gage is overflowing and our yard is very soggy. Lots of thunder and lightning, too. Feels more like May than October.

    I wouldn't mind having a gardener, myself. We have very little lawn (takes Rod 15-20 minutes, tops), but I'd love to have someone come twice a month to tackle any weeds, trimming, fertilizing, etc. that needs to be done. I like a pretty yard, but just don't have the time or motivation to mess with it anymore. I'd rather read & blog! ;)

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  5. Every Shutterfly book I have seen (and there have been many) has been beautiful and yours is no exception. And how great is that to get one free!

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  6. Nat,

    I was really impressed with Shutterfly. Not only does the book look good, but it arrived quickly. A friend of mine owns a photo store (mostly printing) and they've sent away for books from several companies. She said they haven't received a single one, yet, and it's been at least a month or two since she mentioned working on them. Maybe it took them some time to lay the books out, but I think I'll stick with a company that I've found does a good job. You should definitely go for it. And, thank you. :)

    Les,

    That's my next project - photo books with pictures of the boys, for Christmas. It's not as time-consuming as scrap-booking, but the results are so nice.

    We're still getting a bit of rain, here, so I think I'll have to ask the LDS elders to come back another day. Even if it stops raining, this is supposed to be the hottest day of the week, up to 90 and with that humidity . . . ugh. Don't want to kill them, just get some help!

    We have a good-sized yard and it requires a great deal of maintenance, but we just haven't been doing it. I can't handle intense heat or heat with humidity and David's knees are going. So, we really just need to find someone who can help us keep the yard looking decent. We're subtropical, so it truly does look like a jungle if you don't keep up. And, we haven't. The birds love it, but our yard is embarrassing!!!!

    Joy,

    The only Shutterfly book I'd ever seen (before mine) was the sample at the restaurant! We thought it looked really nice, though, so hubby and I got all giddy about giving it a try. I'm so glad we found that offer. I don't have the space or time to scrapbook and a photo book is a wonderful alternative. :)

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  7. Anonymous9:54 AM

    Your book is wonderful! How many pages is it? I'm going to have to check this Shutterfly thing out :)

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  8. Iliana,

    Thank you! My book is 20 pages. I just love the results and I was also thrilled with how quickly they sent it. Shutterfly definitely gets a thumbs up from me. :)

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  9. I am glad I avoided the typical Oklahoman car wrecks that the storms seem to bring.

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  10. Yeah, wet weather is just not good weather to drive in! Same here. We have some roads that don't drain well and sometimes cars will hydroplane. I was on one of the notorious hydroplane-accident streets while it was pouring, the road was turning into a pond and I had to wonder how I got myself into such a mess!

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  11. WHat a gorgeous book! I'd love to do that myself but, yeah, they're expensive.

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  12. Chris,

    Thanks! I think the price is worth it, if only because they're nicely done (so they should last a good, long time) and it means no scrap-booking or sticking photos in albums!! Love that. :)

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  13. Delmar!!! Everyone and everywhere needs a squirrel mascot. We put out some squirrel feeders the other day, as a matter of fact, and I'm working on drumming up my own mascot.

    LOVE your photo book! You should be working for National Geographic or something.

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  14. Andi,

    Don't tell anyone, but I haven't really figured it out. Delmar could very well be a Delia.

    Oh, cool, have fun feeding the squirrels. You can probably tell I love watching squirrels (and photographing them). Love those fluffy tales and those cute little faces, the tiny paws and . . . well, I just love 'em.

    And, thank you. I'm far from good enough for National Geographic, but I certainly have fun with my camera. :)

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  15. I did something similar, using Apple's iPhoto service. I haven't seen mine yet as it was delivered to my sister in Memphis who's suppose to send it back to me ASAP. Can't wait to see it!

    Yeah to cooler evenings. It's been drizzly in the afternoons here so the nights are wonderfully cool. But then again, living in Singapore where hot and humid is the norm, I'll take that 1 or 2 degree crop in temperature any day!

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  16. Indigo,

    I hope you're as satisfied with your photo book as I am with mine. Might take a while to get it, though, yes?

    We did cool off, overnight, thank goodness. October is supposed to at least be cool in the mornings, so it's about time the month got its act together. LOL I know what you mean, though, about even a degree or two making a difference. We felt that way when it finally dropped from 104 to 100, believe it or not. This summer was intense.

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  17. Yeay for the free Shutterfly photo book! Nancy, you must post more pages, I am loving it!

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  18. Lotus,

    I might post a few more, next Wednesday. This weekend will be another hectic one - just two more weeks of swimming and band!!!

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