East Texas Swamp Tour

With fall in the air, Debbie and I set out on another photography adventure last week. Upon arriving at Captain Ron’s Swamp Tours in Karnack,TX for a cruise down the  Little Cypress.

It was a beautiful morning and we were virtually the only ones on the river at the time.

We enjoyed the peace and quiet and just observing the scenery. Although we were in east Texas, it certainly felt like Louisiana as well with the towering cypress trees and Spanish moss hanging from every limb.

While narrating the trip, our boat captain also educated us about some of the flora and fauna. Even after living in Louisiana all of my life, I never knew what gave cypress trees their flare at the bottom. (Can you spot the birds in the next couple of pictures?)

I learned that the flare is created when the cypress knees close to the base fold in and join the tree as it grows. In addition, cypress knees are only produced in standing water, not on land, and will not be adopted by another tree, even if they pop up closer to that particular tree.

As the knees fold in and are incorporated into the tree itself, the flared bottom provides additional stability as it grows.

And have you ever wondered what inspired manufacturers to produce a water repelling products like Rain X and Scotch Guard? According to our guide, scientists were inspired by the water repellency of the leaves of lily pads and lotus.

He splashed water on some to demonstrate the principle that also allows them to float on top of the water.

After our tour, we wandered around a bit until we found the tiny marina café that was recommended to us for lunch.  And I must admit, the fried catfish that I enjoyed was the perfect ending to a great day!! 

The only thing better than inspirational scenery to photograph is having a great friend who shares your passion!

Let's Dress Up - Halloween Costumes 2017

2017 has literally flown by. Here it is, the end of October and I have not even caught up on my posts from September! One of my favorite things about fall, besides the cooler, weather, changing colors, crunching leaves . . . .  Okay, let’s be real. I love almost everything about fall! But, one of the most fun things I do is to create Halloween costumes for each of our grandkids.  And this year is no exception.

We now have six grandchildren, ranging in ages from 11 years to 16 months.  For the first time since I’ve known him, Michael picked out a store-bought “morph suit” costume and I can’t wait to see him all dressed up.  But, each of the others had special requests that I was happy to comply with. First up was Adellelyn. I received this picture in a text and knew I needed to follow up with a Facetime consultation to be sure I could capture her vision.

Adellelyn had very specific instructions for her Blue Maccaw (from RIO) costume:

·      Feathers under her arms to be her wings using the boa below

·      Light aqua blue color

·      Tulle is too scratchy

·      Soft full skirt for tail feathers 

For some reason, I can't find any photos of the outfit while working on it--I could have sworn I took some.  :-(  While she added different pants for a book character day costume, you can get a glimpse of what I created in this picture:

Archer loves dinosaurs! Last year I made a fun triceratops costume from a pattern I found online, but this year he wanted to be a T Rex.  There aren’t lots of great tutorials or patterns for a T Rex, so with old episodes of “Project Runway” playing, I channeled my inner Tim Gunn and “made it work”.  I pretty much love the way it all turned out!

Toddler D has been talking about his costume for months: a pumpkin! He went to the fabric store with me and also requested that it be very soft, so soft he gets!

For comparison's sake, here is a picture of his daddy at about the same age.  :-)

His other request was that his baby brother be his pumpkin seed. Instead, I was able to negotiate with him to carry seeds and let BabyD2 have a different costume. I made a treat bag with felt seeds on the front, but he really wanted to carry real seeds, so I added a clear plastic pocket to the front to hold his real pumpkin seeds.

Silas didn’t quite understand what picking out a costume meant, so his parents and I decided to go with one of his favorite books:  Dragons Love Tacos.  Silas will be the dragon, Jana the taco and Rob will be the jar of spicy salsa.

One of my favorite features of Silas's dragon costume is the fact that I made slits on the inside for his hands, so that when he raises his hands, his wings soar a bit.  :-)

Of course, he discovered that they still don't let him actually fly, but I think he's okay with that. 

Last, but not least, is our tiniest grandson, BabyD2. He loves dogs and cats, so a black cat seemed like the natural choice for him.

Well, Halloween is just hours (or days) away, so I'd better hit the Publish button and move on. I can't wait to see all of our little goblins decked out for the holiday!

Colorado Road Trip

Having just returned from a wonderful "girls trip", it still feels a bit unreal that at this time last month I was settling in for one of the best meals ever in a tiny town in Colorado with 2 of my closest friends! We had such an amazing time together---so much laughter and sharing and fun adventures. We started the trip with a day full of travel. Since this was the first time Debbie and Valine had spent much time together, it was a time filled with getting to know each other through some of the most ridiculous stories you can imagine. All three of us are doing the monthly Instagram challenges, so it was fun to brainstorm ways to interpret each prompt. We had so much fun together and I took so many photos, so I should warn you that this is a PHOTO-HEAVY post!  And because of the sheer number of pictures, I am posting them SOOC, with absolutely no editing at all. :-) But, as you will learn, I had lots of battery issues, so there are not as many as there COULD have been.

Debbie's baby, Cassie, joined us for the trip. What a sweetie!! She is so cute and well-behaved that both Valine and I came home wishing for puppy just like her!

Debbie's house in Colorado is beautiful and we had fun exploring the yard surrounding it our first morning. It was quite chilly that first morning and we got our feet wet jumping over the spring-fed stream, but had enough time to dry them a bit before we headed out on our first real adventure.

Debbie's good friend, Ruthanne, took us on an amazing journey up the mountains and through the passes in the four-wheel-drive side-by-side. 

 Everywhere we looked there was beauty--from the towering evergreens that still showed the effects of a wildfire to the quaking balls of gold and orange that clothed the aspen trees.

I completely forgot to charge my extra battery and my phone battery was not cooperating after the latest OS update, so I had no photography equipment for the second half of that adventure. Not to worry though: Valine let me use her camera while she used her phone and of course, I captured it all in my memory forever!

One of the really fun things about this whole trip were the somewhat impromptu, unplanned stops we made during the week.

• Lavender Ridge Farms in Texas

• Searching for, and finally finding, the ruins of Morley Church, all that is left of an old mining camp near Trinidad, CO.

• Stopping for pictures of old churches and buildings along the Highway of Legends, as well as the rock formations in Stonewall, CO.

Learning of a different route up to Lake City, that took us through tunnels of aspen trees and up to North Clear Creek Falls

Spending time in Lake City, CO (food, gardens, galleries, churches and deer)

• Watching the colors of Lake San Cristobal turn to fantastic shades of turquoise as the north wind blew in.

• Stopping to find a mama moose and her baby at Deer Creek Lakes

• The fun and quirky Tumcumcari, NM

• and of course, stopping by Cadillac Ranch on the way home.

Sometimes, when you put 3 women together, one of them tends to be left out. But, that was not the case with the three of us. We shared stories, laughed till we cried, relaxed when we wanted and explored the beauty of nature together without even a touch of uncomfortable vibes. Seeing such beauty will stay with me forever, but the very best part was the friendships that were deepened. As different as we all are, we shared something incredible that connected us in a way that is difficult to describe. I am so very thankful for the hospitality of a dear friend that allowed us all to spend that week together!