Issues! Party of One?

What a way to start the summer... with a cold and cough. Not a kind thing in the south, where pollen is so thick, you think that it's snowing green gunk... Is it just me, or are the trees coughing too?

Well, I don't have too much to say. I am back from a trip to California to visit my Mom and Pop's, and a little side visit to Las Vegas... where I left some of my hard earned freelance monies...

I was stuck in the airport for three hours with nothing but shopping, eating, or gambling... Hindsight is 20/20, I should have gone shopping - I'd have something to show for the money gone...

Here's a couple shots I took while in Las Vegas, I'm not thrilled with any of my shots, but then again, I didn't go there to do photography either...

Mom's Little Nurse

Mom was diagnosed with Cancer about a year and a half ago. I'm guessing that's one of the reasons Mom decided to stay with us and heal is because of this little precious being... her name is Guadalupe (or Lupe for short). Lupe is a Chihuahua; hence the Spanish name.

I was just in California visiting Mom (& Pop) for Mothers day (Mom is in remission from Multiple Myeloma - yahoo!).

My brother would bring Lupe to the hospital "almost" everyday. You cannot believe the power of Lupe's presence in the hospital...

How cool of Hoag Memorial in Newport Beach (an exceptional hospital) to allow family pets to come and visit.

And, when Mom came home from the hospital, this little dog stayed by her side at every waking moment. We had to coax Lupe out just to eat and go potty, and then she was back by Mom's side in an instant. I noticed a bit of aging on this little one since my last visit. She has many grey hairs on her chin and some new moles on her head.

I was once told that our domesticated animals are here to heal with us... well... that little creature sure proved it...

God bless little Lupe - she worked overtime - a perfect example of unconditional love. I always say, "I want to become the person my dog thinks I am...".

DELIRIUM!!!!!!!

Can you say..? "Oh my God, that was the most incredible experience of entertainment I've seen in years!!!!!!!"

I went with skepticism because of the price of tickets. I thought to myself, "THIS BETTER BE GOOD!" and it was...! It was better than good - it was GREAT! I have wanted to see a Cirque du Soleil show for years, it finally came to Nashville, so I bit the bullet and spent $260.00 on tickets, ($220.00 for the tickets, and the rest of the monies went to bullshit charges).

My husband and I were so engrossed in this odyssey, we didn't speak the entire time the show was happening, there was so much going on, I was afraid I'd miss something.

Well worth the monies! GO IF YOU CAN - it IS a MUST SEE!!!

THREE Questions...

As I continue down my path to spiritual enlightenment (and learning how to love me), my teacher has suggested that I ask myself these three questions (in any situation):

1. Does this take care of me?
2. Does this harm anyone?
3. Is this in the greatest good of all?

Three simple questions that have left me somewhat puzzled...



So I called my teacher for additional clarity... The main thing I heard her say was, "I'm supposed to consider myself FIRST in any situation," (no one else). And that the answers are simple - Yes or No.

Guess...

... what kind of flower this is? It might be obvious to some, I'm hoping all. But I'm just not sure, so I really need your help. I shot it cropped like this, so I can't give you any more flower if I wanted to...

Of course, I know what kind of flower it is, but I want to make sure everyone else does too. You see, sometimes I invest a good amount of funds in flowers I'm crazy about... like when I have enlargements done for the gallery where my work is exhibited. And I'm sorta crazy about this one, the colors are just awesome...

What a rush...

I did stand-up comedy on Sunday for the first time in YEARS... I hated it the first time, thought there was no way I could continue cause it was just TOO hard... I think I was wrong... it was hard because "I" made it hard. I had a great time up there, and was very well received with LOTS of laughter.

I'm not saying that I want to become a stand-up comic now... I just realized it's not as hard as I thought it was... I'm done...

VERY cool!!! Aaaaahhhhhhhhhh!

I'm thinking I can apply this to the MANY things I make harder than it really is... sit back, relax... and BE ME...

Bored Outta My Gourd

How can I possibly be bored??? I am an Artist with multiple talents! At any given time I might be painting, making jewelry, photography, web designing or acting (up)… but I find myself EXTREMELY bored in this today. I have work I need to do, but I don't feel like doing it. Today I spent a good portion of the day dealing with medical bills... arggggggggh!

Even though gas prices are at a terrible high, I found myself venturing down a country road to see if I could find something I hadn’t seen before. Today I stopped at a roadside nursery and shot a few pictures of Columbines. Here they are…

I guess I'm drawn to flowers because... they don't argue... they are honest & true... they don't make excuses for themselves... they're just what they are... flowers BEING... beautiful!

I LOVE my MAC!

After four years of NOT A PROBLEM in sight, my G4 Mac decided to take a much needed vacation. It kept warning me that it needed the vacation and was about to have a nervous breakdown if I didn't reboot and archive... but I wouldn't listen, I just kept pushing it.

I had PHOTOSHOP running for days/weeks without a reboot, and then I had some 15 files open at one time... TRY THAT ONE ON A PC... NO WAY!!! Talk about the ultimate multitasker...

Anywhoo, it had a nervous breakdown and left me wondering why... WHY didn't I listen to its plea???

Well, thanks to a new version of Disk Warrior (retail $79.95). It's back and running like a new beauty. Course, I'm frantically backing up my digital negatives too! Yikes, it could have been curtains for this Photographer/Web Designer...

I love you MacGoddess! I am NOTHING without YOU! You are everything to me and my business.

MOMMA Nature

I went for a drive today, not specifically to see Tornado damage, but to look for a couple of historical places that I've photographed before... One was the Harpeth River Bridge in Ashland City, TN. This bridge is scheduled to be demolished some time this year, I wanted to make sure I had some good shots before she was killed.

Then I went in search of a church that was built sometime in the 1600 or 1700 hundreds... it was gone. Not because of the Tornado, just gone. I'll have to dig those shots up from my archive.

Anyway, here's some of the devistation from yesterdays tornado's... that I saw just from the road. I wasn't comfortable getting out. I shot these from inside my vehicle.

NOT A DRILL!!!

THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!! - the caption read at a local papers website. Tornado's hit my town today, leaving devistation everywhere.





Baseball size hail was found in Ashland City, Tennessee where I live... unbelieveable!




I am counting my blessings first and foremost! My prayers go out to those directly hit.

Which Way?

I can't decide which way this photograph looks better? I recently went in search of Plum Blossoms for a client who collects my work. She hangs enlargements of my work in her tea room; changes them out seasonally... I think that is so cool.

Anyway, I barely made it to find plum blossoms in the Nashville, TN area. The day I went out it was so windy, it was hard to get a good shot. This is one of my favorites, but I can't decide which way it should go, I like them both!

Consider this one as A.


Consider this one as B.


Which one do you like better? Let me know in the comments please.

PRO Photography

I was once again reminded that what I do for a living DOES REALLY make a HUGE difference. I am a professional photographer - with very high-end equipment & talents.

I recently threw a surprise 40th birthday party for my husband. In order to get pictures from the event, I asked two of my friends (non professionals) to bring their digital cameras. Obviously, I couldn't be the one taking the shots, since I was bringing my husband to the event.

Disclaimer: I am grateful that these cameras were at the party!

Then I was handed one of the cameras to use after arriving. (You might wonder why I didn't bring my camera to use after the surprise was revealed; that would have clued my husband into something being fishy if he saw the CANON 1Ds Mark II in the vehicle.)

Anyway, all I can say is: A PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER IS WORTH THEIR WEIGHT IN GOLD!!! AND, the equipment they arrive with (at least the pros I know - and myself) also makes a difference! I spent an hour and a half removing red eye out of the shots from this handy little digital camera... that would NOT have been the case with my equipment.

I thanked my friends for allowing me to learn that my talents and my equipment are valuable to the outcome of GREAT photography. I am soooo glad I had this experience; I was about to buy a pocket sized camera to carry around for times when the BIG DADDY Mark II (My husband calls it the HOWITZER) wasn't around.

I'll keep looking... I'm leaning towards the Canon Digital Rebel XT, it's not pocket sized, but it weighs about 100 lbs less than the 1Ds Mark II HOWITZER...

Oh, and by the way, the party was a COMPLETE surprise to Tim. HOORAY!

MISS IDA

My husband’s grandmother Ida fell and broke her neck in two places on Saturday morning. She is 95 years of age; a feisty woman who has always told people how they should do things. It was difficult to see her in the hospital in that condition. She is not paralyzed (Thank God!), but she is immobilized. She actually cracked me up when she saw us, because she said exactly what I knew she would say when we gave her the flowers we brought, "You shouldn't have...", and then shortly there after, she said, "I wish I could make you something to eat...". She made me laugh.


Although I'm never sure in a situation like this, whether it is the "right" thing to do; I brought my camera to the hospital room. This is one of the photos I quietly took. My husband caressed Ida's hand the majority of the time we were there... that plucked at my heart strings.

HAPPY 40TH SAINT PATRICK'S DAY!

Today is my sweet and darling husbands 40th Birthday! I am throwing him a surprise party, I don’t think he knows anything. Although he’s been acting really cool. AND, we’ve been getting along fabulously. I almost think he’s up to something….

I don’t know exactly yet how I am getting him to the party, as it is at a fabulous friends home 35 minutes away from here… hmmmmmm…. I’m still working on that one.

He’s outside planting flowers for me as we speak… I’m soooooo daring (perhaps stupid too) to update my blog with him less then 10 feet away… cause my homepage is my blog... hee hee hee hee...

Thank God I’m an Actor and can deal with this one… the ultimate IMPROV assignment!

HAPPY SAINT PATRICK’S DAY!!!

POPULAR is Profanity!

Here's a recent comment to my last post (March 8, 2006):

First, I must apologize for the difficulty in posting my response. I thought I had done everything correctly.
I also apologize for the timing of the second response. It did occur to me that you might slow in responding due to your accident, but I posted anyway. I hope you are recovering well.

You are correct. My little comment bomb was more than little. But brevity would have kept me from properly addressing your slap-dash statement on swearing.
I stand by my statement. Since you can't get it to post, if you like, you can send people to my blog http://dimland.blogspot.com/ I have your initial statement and my response.

I will look up creative license. Being a cartoonist/illustrator, I don't have any idea what you could possibly mean by that. It's been fun.

Then, my response on his blog:

It's ALL in fun... isn't it Jim? It's just another ride at the amusement park of life! Thanks for having a sense of humor... that can be a rarity at times...

By the way, I received another response (in my email) from someone named AMY. Can we say POTTY MOUTH??? Yes, I said it, POTTY MOUTH big time... I'll have to admit, after reading her response to my last posting (Blog Stalker=Verbal Diarrhea); I'm rethinking this profanity thing. My goodness did she ever get down and dirty. She called me a f---ing bitch...

See, the amazing thing is, in reading a comment or an email in general, WE are the Actors reading the script, we hear the characters speaking in our head. We make the choices for these characters without truly knowing the subtext. Sooooooo, it's so easy to mis-read the intent of the originator.

Amy's comment was... aaaaaaah... a bit OVER the TOP for me... that's why I'm rethinking profanity right now. But then again, it goes right back to my original question. There IS a time and place. And it takes skill to use it wisely... After reading Amy's response, I would venture a guess that SHE drives a truck (using the stereotype) by the way she talks... or hangs out at the local bowling alley bar (orders beer by the pitcher), has a cigarette dangling from her mouth that's covered in red lipstick (badly), lives in a single wide trailor park, and has bleached hair with roots crying out. OR maybe she's a regular at the corner of Hollywood & Vine... Who knows? Who really cares? NOT ME!

Also, an FYI... The reason I said that truckers don't really deserve that... My husband IS a truck driver, but he's not stereotypical. He's a college graduate who redirected his path. And, we've met some really nice truck drivers in the 10 years he's been driving. I like truckers better than the cut-throat car salesmen I met when he thought he'd try selling cars... (snakes in suits)...yuck-eee!!!