Jacque’s Neighborhood

Do you recognize this poinsettia?  It is the same photo that I used yesterday with a bit of editing.  Sorry for the fuzziness.  Not enough pixels.  Anyway, I wanted to do something in black and white to introduce a web site that my daughter told me about.  If you want to see some really good black and white, go to www.thepioneerwoman.com/photography.   I didn't take time to check out the entire site, but there are some very nice portraits. 

We were busy today at work.  We had a lot of orders for tomorrow.  I went in today, because I want to take tomorrow off.  Most of the time, when we can, we make the cakes for orders the day before they are due, so that it someone calls in, etc. the orders for the next day are already taken care of.  I left an hour early, but we had most of the orders finished.  The last one I did turned out very nice, but I didn't have my camera with me.  They wanted yellow and peach roses, and I tipped each bag with white icing to put a thin white edge on each flower.  It really looked dramatic on the peach ones. 

I'm really glad I did leave early, because it was snowing pretty good when I walked out the door.  A heavy wet snow that stuck to everything.  By the time I got close to home, the roads were completely covered in places.  No TV service by the time I walked in the door.  Too much snow on the receiver, but I didn't go back out to brush it off.  I didn't want to watch TV anyway! 

 

Hmmm.  I decided to try one more shot of the poinsettia, this time with basically no editing, just converting to black and white.  I it still very fuzzy, while the original in my file it very sharp.  What's going on?  Is anyone else having this problem?  Do I need to reformat with more pixels, even though it will take longer to upload?  What pixel size do you use? 

I'm going to go to bed so I can get up early in the morning and go out to take pictures.  I could tell already tonight that it was sticking to all the branches.  Can't wait to see that it looks like tomorrow! 

Here's my poinsettia from Wal-Mart.  It seems to like this sunny window location.  It only gets this full sun treatment for a short period of time each morning.  And it is proof that we had a mostly sunny day today, and a high temperature of about 50.  I should have taken my camera and gone outside, but I was busy with indoor stuff today.  Cooking, cleaning, laundry, bills, wrapping, mailing, etc.  I even got my dental insurance issues resolved and made a dentist appointment.  Yeah!  If you walked in the door, you might wonder if I had accomplished anything, but I feel pretty good.  I even cleared most of the clutter off my desk. 

I am supposed to be off again tomorrow, but I am going in so I can take off on Saturday.  My hubby continues to eat well.  I cooked a lot of different things today:  blueberry applesauce, brown rice, creamed tuna with peas, cheesecake, mashed cauliflower, cranberry sauce, stuffing, and turkey pot pie.  I made extra sauce for the pot pie so it wouldn't be so dry.  Then I combined the pot pie, some stuffing, and some leftover cream gravy from last night, and blended it until it looked like baby food.  I alway lick off the blender attachment to taste the "meal" my hubby will be eating.  It's not that bad.  There are some things that I've learned to like better when they are blended than the way I used to make them.  I rarely have issues with heartburn or indigestion anymore, so perhaps this soft food diet is a good thing for me, too. 

I did get started wrapping presents today.  I finally got the one wrapped that has to be sent to Texas, but with priority shipping, they should get it in about 3 days.  Priority mail postage printed on the computer was cheaper than parcel post from the post office. 

Still no decorations or tree.  And no cards yet either.  I need to do the cards first.  Tomorrow! 

I know this is not a big surprise for this week's Quest!  This quest runs for 2 weeks so you have time to get some photos during this busy season.

Photos can be recent or old...you are free to use any photo enhancements, color or b & w or sepia tones. Make a collage, a Christmas card, a poster or just a single photo.  Post how you took the photo and what enhancements you used.

If you haven't ever posted before just jump in and have some fun.  No worries we are all learning here and enjoy seeing everyones photos.

Get creative and show the Photo Quest Group what Christmas means to you.  Is it about the ornaments, the tree, the cookies, friends, children, parties (this is for Yan), pets, nature, church...what makes a Christmas special for you.

Since this quest runs through Christmas...I want to take time to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas!

 

Maureen

This was the first time for this subject, shoes on Photo Quest.  It was fun to see what you creative minded photographers posted for this quest. 

First to post was Realworld with his Cat Shoes.  I want to know how he stuffed that kitten in the shoe?  OK so that probably didn't happen but what a cute, candid photo!  Nice job Realworld as it is hard to get the cat's eyes clear on a photo...mine sometimes look orange or a strange green.

Next post was from Maju, with her purple sneakers trying to run away from the boring black shoes.  Great composition with the purple shoe in the ROT spot.  This photo really made me laugh...nice work Maju!

Then along came CountrybyDesign with a very mystical photo of her shoes in the stream of light.  WOW this is a very cool photo and I think you should use this technique again with other subjects.  I like the slightly out of focus shot here as it makes the photo have a more mystical feel.

Not to disappoint, Cap'n Stephel brings us some very Jazzy, Saxie shoes.  Very nice play on dark and light and lines.  I liked the second photo the best as it has just enough light to make me want to check it out closer. 

Finally Yancunyong brings it home with party shoes.  Japan must be a lot more fun than I ever thought.  Yan seems to be parting it up big time.  Loved seeing the shoes of his fellow party goers.  I like the last photo the best...the red lighting and the reflection of the shoe was very cool. 

 

Thanks again all for a great quest...hope to see you again next week.

This is a more aggressively edited version of one of the Christmas cactus pictures from last week.  Somehow, they don't look the same here as they do in my photo editing program.  Is it because I have to reduce the number of pixels to get it to upload quickly?  Nothing really happens quickly with dial-up, but you know what I mean!

Today was a better day at work.  I wasn't by myself, and I didn't have a dozen or so orders to do.  I did do a couple of the big signature cakes for orders for tomorrow.  It isn't that they are so hard as much as it is that they take so much more time.  It isn't at all like the cake constructions they do on the TV shows, but they do require a bit of cutting and stacking together.  Most of our business is still birthday cakes.  We have done a few cakes for Christmas parties. 

I don't have to work tomorrow.  Yeah!  I haven't been home all day in over a week.  I have a ton of stuff I need to do tomorrow.  Hope I can strike a few things off my list. 

We spent most of the day today being happy and relieved by the good news my hubby got at the hospital this morning.  They scoped his esophagus again, and gave him a Botox injection.  His doctor said things looked cleaner than they ever have in all the time he has been treating him!  His soft food diet is working!  It will continue to be a challenge to keep meals interesting enough that he doesn't get bored, but he is so glad that he didn't agree to the surgery.  The Botox may make things even easier, but we aren't going to expect a big change.  I think we can go on for a long time just the way we are.  Thank God!

Hubby started calling everyone after we got home because I had picked up my phone and put it in my work bag instead of the bag I was taking today.  In the middle of his calling, the phone rang.  It was our youngest daughter calling to tell us that her husband's father wasn't expected to live through the night.  He hasn't been well for some time now, and has been in a lot of pain.  He has been in the hospital or nursing home since July.  He and his wife were planning to move out of their home into a retirement community next year.  Say a prayer for them. 

 US traffic policeman has turned his duties into a spectacularly choreographed dance routine.

 The Daily Mail reports for Tony Lepore, directing traffic is no mere routine - it's a dance routine.

The 62-year-old spins on his heels, drops to his knees, falls back on his hands and springs back upright, thepaper reports.

 

 

Remember when I used to post weird news. I think I'll try to bring that back!

Men suspected of eating a 25-year-old man

Parts sold to a kebab kiosk

Body parts found near bus stop

 

Russian police have arrested three homeless people suspected of eating a 25-year-old man they had butchered and selling other bits of the corpse to a local kebab house.

Suspicions were raised when dismembered parts of a human body were found near a bus stop in the outskirts of the Russian city of Perm, 1,150 km (720 miles) east of Moscow.

Three homeless men with previous criminal records have been arrested on suspicion of setting upon a foe with knives and a hammer before chopping up his corpse to eat, local investigators said in a statement on their www.susk.perm.ru Web site.

"After carrying out the crime, the corpse was divided up: part was eaten and part was also sold to a kiosk selling kebabs and pies," the Prosecutor-General's main investigative unit for the Perm region said on Friday.

It was not immediately clear from the statement if any of the corpse had been sold to customers.

I thought I had missed this week's Photo Quest.  I have been working so much I have lost track of the days.  Thanks for reminding me, Maureen!  This is a true accidental photograph.  I walked into the bathroom and was struck by the light peeking through the back of the door onto my shoes, which I leave all over the house.  It is out of focus, but I like it that way.  I took it without flash with a slow shutter speed. I like the shake of the bright spots of sunlight. 

 

I bought this pair of shoes ages ago to use as props for photos and I've never done anything with them.  Today, I took them outside for their first photo shoot.

Because they are black and shinny...not I didn't polish the

m...I set my exposure down from 1/2 to 2 steps depending on background of the photo.  I used my 28 - 105 mm lens, ISO 100, F stop from 3.5 to 4.5, WB set at sunny, focus on one-shot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The shoes and I had some fun today and I learned a lot about backgrounds and lighting.