Photog Field Trip for One and a History Lesson

We were in Mountain Home for a few days last week and one day was so pretty that I decided to go search for something to take pictures of.  I didn't make it far. 

I'm not in love with Cotter, mainly because I'm holding a grudge against the police officer or constable or postmaster or whatever he was that gave me a speeding ticket a few months ago.  BUT I decided to put my feelings aside for one day and take advantage of some of the good things it has to offer.

I love railroad tracks, bridges, and rivers.  So in theory, I should like this place!

I do think Cotter may have some potential for a night photography session.  Maybe once the weather warms up...and I brush up on my night photography skills.

The next day I thought I'd see what Flippin had to offer but didn't find anything worth stopping for.  It reminds me of Cave City so I'm sure the beauty is in the people who live there.  Maybe I need to do a little research on the place and try again.  I did find the cemetery where Brad's grandparents are buried so it wasn't a wasted trip.  I'd been to the cemetery once before but I'm terrible with directions.  I guess its hard to get lost in Flippin, Arkansas though. 

From there, I went on to Yellville.  The Marion County courthouse is really cool but they still had Christmas wreaths on most of the windows that didn't have a window unit air-conditioner hanging out of it.  And it must have been court day.  Court day in north Arkansas is different than court day in Little Rock but if a person wanted to take photos, court day in Little Rock would be way better.  At least you'd get to see a prison van.  

There are several things to photograph in Yellville, but the weather wasn't that great so I just looked around and didn't get many photos.  

I stopped at the visitor's center and talked to the lady working there for a couple hours about the history of the area.  She was basically a walking Marion County history book and happy to share her knowledge.  I love Arkansas history so I was happy to listen!  I think she knew everyone in the county because she remembered when Brad's uncle passed away in Flippin a few years ago.  And I don't know why she'd know that unless she knew everyone.  I wish I could have talked to her all day but I was sure she had things to do other than talk to me.  I'm definitely going back to Yellville one of these days (I wonder when they take the Christmas wreaths down??).  I know a small amount of its older history from volunteering as a docent at the Old Independence Regional Museum after college but the nice lady gave me some websites I can go to and learn more.  

Jenny's Tree

Several months ago Jenny told me about a big, dead tree she wanted me to take a picture of for her.   It was up past Evening Shade and since I never go that way, she and I ran up there when I was home to do Christmas with her and Heather.  I like dead trees so I understood why she liked it, but I imagined it would be out in a field and a difficult shot.  Luckily, it wasn't.

Its sitting right next to the highway and the original shot had a sign in it but my friend Dawn edited it out for me.  

Jenny wants to get a large canvas of this and I think it will look fantastic!  I might even want to get a print of it for myself.

Random shots

Brad had to work in Mountain Home last week and I went with him.  I got a lot of things accomplished while I was there but I had some free time too.  So I decided to play around with my camera and took some really random shots.

Self portrait

Granddaddy long-legs (is that what you guys call them?)

Giant tree

I love my macro lens.

Weekend

Brad and I were both off this weekend so we went to some antique stores on Saturday.  We love to look but rarely buy much.  

That sounds like such an old-person thing to do.  Oh well, if the shoe fits....

I did find a Sports Illustrated with Dick Butkus on the cover!  YAY!  I had to dig through a box that had about three years of SI's but it was worth it.  I have a lot of the covers that the Bears have been on but the only other complete magazine I have (other than the ones since I've had a subscription) is the one with Walter Payton on the cover right after he passed away. 

Last night we drove down by the Capitol and I tried to get a good photo of it but FAILED!  My tripod is not that great so I had my ISO set really high so I could hand hold my camera and my photos were pretty grainy.  I need to get a new tripod or figure out a way to make mine work.

Today we went to Memphis to go to two of our favorite stores.

Like always, we got some great deals at the WS Outlet, mostly things we needed or have been wanting for a long time.  We have a huge list of things we have to get there before I quit working at PB and it was nice to mark a couple of things off.  

One item we didn't have on our list was this super cute watermelon knife (because who would really put a watermelon knife on a list of needs??).  But I decided since I'm from the home of the world's SWEETEST watermelons, I kind of needed it.  We usually get a couple CC watermelons a year so this year we'll be set!    I wish we weren't watermelon snobs and could just enjoy a regular one from Kroger just so we could try out our knife.

Dick's is our other favorite.  They have a big golf section and we always find something we need on sale.  I got a new outfit (super cheap!) and Brad got a couple outfits for a tournament in August. Why he wants to play in a weekend tournament when it's that hot is beyond me!  

I wish Little Rock would get a Dick's.  Hot Springs is the closest and that's not really close.

We had a great weekend and now I'm looking forward to a 4-day work week!  Brad is too, but when you work 12 hour shifts, I don't think 4 days is anything to get excited over.

The Aluminum Show

Have you guys heard of The Aluminum Show?  I hadn't until my boss offered me her tickets for last night's show at Robinson Center.  I wasn't real sure what to expect but it was so much fun!     

We thought about not going after I got home from work last night because it was raining AGAIN and we didn't want to get out in it.  But it was well worth braving the yucky weather!

Sick Days

We've been sick around here the last few days.  Brad was actually sick all week and I finally came down with it on Wednesday.  I didn't even go to work today and only went for about an hour yesterday.  

I didn't get much sleep last night so I hope this concoction of medicine helps enough that I can sleep tonight.  
We were supposed to go to Mountain Home this weekend to look at  land but neither of us are going to feel up to it. And unfortunately this is the only weekend we were going to be able to go for a while.  Oh well, I think we need rest more than anything else at this point!

Old Toys

A friend from work asked me to take some photos of her dad's old toys for her nursery.  I love almost anything old and had so much fun taking these! 

 The Tinkertoys were my favorite but I wasn't sure how they would turn out for a framed picture to hang on a wall.  Because of the depth of field, this one didn't look so good printed.

I couldn't really figure out what to do with the marbles.  I loved all the colors but she didn't want the prints in color so she ended up not using it in the nursery.

Isn't this one cute!?!?  I thought it looked so good on the brown burlap.

I didn't really like this one at first, but it looked really good framed.

The next two are the color we had all of the shots printed in.  It was black and white with a brown overlay.  She had them matted in blue and framed in brown.  I was amazed at how good they looked in her super cute nursery!  

This is the Tinkertoy shot she chose to frame.   It was my favorite one in the nursery.

This one was the easiest one to photograph.  It wasn't old but looked good with all of the others.

The hardest part of this project was trying to get a shot that could be cropped to an 8X10 and fill the frame.  Several of the shots were better than what we ended up using because part of the image was cropped out.  

I thought this was a great idea to put in a little boy's nursery and was thrilled that she let me take the photos for her!!

Activities of daily living....

The (not so sweet) Sugar Bowl

The Razorbacks made it to their first ever BCS bowl this year so the excitement level has been high among Hog fans!!  We would have loved to have went to New Orleans for the game, but it would have been difficult for both of us to get off work.
So instead, we had a couple of friends over to watch the game on tv and even brought out the "good stuff" to eat our bbq on!

And we had a special guest......Lucas!  

He kind of looks like he's smiling, doesn't he?  It must have been because it was his one month birthday.

We really wanted to use our new Razorback cookie cutter but after two attempts, we just tossed the cookie dough in the trash!  The dough was too soft for us to transfer to a cookie sheet.  Frustrating.  Any advice??

This face pretty much sums up the way we all felt after the game.  The Hogs lost 31-26.  :(

Just playing with my lens....  Lucas' sweet, tiny hand.

New lens

Brad gave me a new lens for Christmas!  It's the macro lens that I had this on my Christmas list, so I was very happy to get it!  I played with it a little but I can't wait to have more time to figure it out. 

I took a shot of the Flowering Quince in the back yard that is actually flowering right now.

A Christmas gift tag...

Some Christmas reading material...

I'm ready for spring to get here.  It's too cold to get outside for any amount of time to take pictures.

It's always something around here...

A couple of nights ago, Brad had given Tiger quite a bit of food in his bowl on the back patio.  In no time, the food and bowl were completely gone.  We found it up on top of the hill and it was obvious the wind wasn't responsible.

Well, I figured out tonight what it was......

A raccoon!!

He was on the patio right next to the back door eating Tiger's food when I found him!  I grabbed a golf club and my camera and scared him up a tree in the backyard.  

I guess we will just have to live with him because I don't know how to get rid of a raccoon!  We'll just be more careful about how much food we give Tiger.

This was the first time I used flash on my camera.  I used the automatic portrait setting for these because I didn't know any other way to get flash.

Christmas....Schulz style

I decided to start early on decorating for Christmas this year and I'm glad I did.  I had my tree up and most of the rest of the house decorated before Thanksgiving. 

It is hard for me to get a good picture of my tree because it sits right in front of the window.  But I love my little tree.  It is the perfect size for our small house!

I LOVE this Candy Cane sign.  I got it at Hobby Lobby years ago.

This little tree is in Brad's bathroom.  I got it on sale at Pottery Barn last year.

I have several of these snowflake ornaments and they are some of my favorites.

 

This pillow is new this year, from Pottery Barn and Instant Imprints did the monogram.  

Front door wreath.  It's really kind of pathetic.  The berry part is actually a wreath and I just wrapped a small part of a cheap garland around the edge.  The ice skates came from Coldwater Creek on super-after-Christmas sale several years ago.  I'm going to have to work on it now that I've seen a photo of it....it's kind of lopsided!

Even Spatz is getting the Christmas spirit!  Although the look on her face would lead you to believe otherwise.

Brad has to work on Christmas so we don't have any plans.  I won't have any excuses not to get the house back to normal if I have it all to myself!  

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family!

(Especially the two of you who are reading this!!!)