It's back. Weekend Guessing Game #12

Easy one for you this week. I'm guessing that the first or second person to see this will get it right. So if you come into the comment section and see the answer there already, don't be discouraged. Everything will be okay. But if you don't see the answer there, go ahead and leave a comment as to what the heck you think this thing could be.

Or you could just say hello.

Now for some clues.

You know, I'm not even going to give any clues. It's way too easy as it is.

So, GAME ON NOW, as of 6 PM est. Winner will be posted around 6 PM tomorrow, Saturday. Oh, almost forgot to mention: there is no prize, other than the sheer delight you will feel at having won this completely mundane little game. Did I mention that the delight will be sheer? That's the best part, you know. So have fun guessing!

Cherry trees are cheering me

In late April, the cherry trees begin to burst forth along the main farm road and for a couple of weeks, I can come home at the end of the day and be met by the cheerful, beautiful blossoms of three different types of cherry trees. Don't ask me what they are, but the tree blossoms shown here on this post always appear first. The other two types are still gearing up and will soon burst forth. But today it looks like this. Actually, Monday it looked like this because that's when I took these photos.

On a personal note, my knee is healing. Not as fast as I would have liked, but I'm walking more. And I'm rarely icing it anymore. No ibuprofen. Nary a pain pill. It's been 3 weeks today so you'd think I'd be much closer to being healed, but I'm getting there.

Today I have the day off from school. It was a scheduled 3-day weekend in April and this is one of the few years we've actually gotten to use it. We usually always had to give up this day due to snow day overflow from the winter. But not this year! And to make matters even better, it's the most beautiful spring day we've had. I have a couple of errands to run, but after that, the world is my oyster.

Sounds good, doesn't it? Actually I don't really have any plans other than to be outside doing something. With George.

Look for the Weekend Guessing Game to appear at 6 PM tonight. For some reason, I simply forgot last weekend and remembered at some point on Saturday. Sometimes I'm like that. I'm planning on remembering this week, and I actually already have a picture chosen. Still, you never know with me. I could forget again.

Today is also my mother's birthday. She passed away two summers ago. Happy Birthday, mom. Spring was my mother's favorite time of year (next to Christmas). I have a distinct memory of my mother when I was a very young girl. She was ironing and I was watching her and listening to her sing "Life is just a bowl of cherries . . . " and thinking to myself that this is what happy means. Hey, Char, do you think ironing made mom happy like it does you?

Perfect Spring day

Today was a beautiful day in Maryland. The sun is shining, the grass is green, and everything is blooming. The temperature was nearly 70 degrees. So when I came home, I took George on a nice walk and brought along my macro lens. The first thing I saw were these beautiful violets. After taking several pictures, I continued down the macadam farm driveway and made a left onto a gravel farm road that turns into grass and found another bunch of violets that were even more purple than the first.

George stayed with me and practiced his heel. He will walk right alongside me and then I'll let him go off. While I take my pictures, he waits patiently for me by the fence. He really is a good little dog.

After we got home and ate dinner, I opened up my photos and was cropping them in photoshop and George was outside playing by himself in the yard. Our dog has all sorts of doggie toys, but what does he go for? In consecutive manner, he drug a big old boot around the yard. When he got tired of that, it was the old plastic milk jug that he's been playing with for months.

And when he was done mauling the jug, he gently pulled a stick out of his stick teepee that my husband built for him. Then he pranced around with that stick in his mouth for a bit, finally settling down with it between his paws. I could have taken pictures, but sometimes I think I just have so many George pictures, it's crazy.

Hope you enjoy these violets today.

Tagged again, but this I can handle

I must be popular (not really) because I've been tagged yet again in another of those darn memes. But this one is something I can handle. Dylnz got me this time and the rules are simple enough. Open your front door and take a picture. Then go to your back door and take a picture. Easy. This is the view from my sliding glass door out back. I'm posting it first because the view from my front door is not as pretty. I can see the view out back from my loveseat when I'm on the computer. The backyard has already been mowed once and is in need of another. And this not-as-nice view is from my front door. The farm's maintenance shed and dumpster are there, but to the right is a lovely pond and another horse farm in the distance. There's usually a lot of activity in this area during the farm day. Workers converge over there and somebody's always driving by and doing something farm-related. Our neighbor, Clyde, lives just to the left of the pickup truck pictured. He has a fenced-in yard and a yellow lab named Natasha that George loves to visit.

And this is a third photo that I'm throwing in. It's the view out my front door and just to the right. I love looking at the pond, and the sunrise, and the sky. And there sits our beloved Honda Element.

And now I must tag three people. Or more if I want, I assume. So I'll tag Jeannelle, Russell, Tammy and last, but not least, Tombstone Annie. Have fun!

Me and Bobby McGee

Once again, I have been tagged with a meme. This particular meme, however, is getting way too personal for my taste, so I'm keeping it brief. I don't want to say too much, you know.

It's a meme about your significant other and I've been tagged by my good friend, Tammy, at The Color of Home. Now, don't get too excited. I'm just warning you . . .

How long have you been together?

Since 1976. We were both 19 years old.

How old is he?

He's 51. He looks much younger.

Who said ‘I love you’ first?

I honestly can't even remember.

Who is taller?

He is.

Who is smarter?

He is. But only about some things. Well, okay, most things.

Who does the laundry?

We both do.

Who does the dishes?

We both do. But he'll tell you that he does. Honestly, I did them for the past 28 years. I think he can do some now, don't you?

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed?

He does. I like my side. It's on the left.

Who pays the bills?

We both have sets of bills that we pay.

Who mows the lawn?

He does, but years ago, I did. He taught me how to use a riding mower when I was in my early 30's. I was afraid of it at first, but then I fell in love with big machinery. And I was quite adept at using the big riding mowers on the horse farms we've lived.

Who cooks dinner?

Him. Always. Unless I do. Which is rare. I get the take out on Friday nights. That's my job.

Who asked who out?

If I can't even remember who said I love you first, how could you expect me to remember this?

(He did)

Who proposed?

We both decided to marry. I mean, we already had two children, so it was the next step, I guess. You're not sure whether or not I'm kidding about this, aren't you? Ha! you'll never know!

Who is more sensitive?

Not me. That's who.

And now I know I'm supposed to tag people, so this time I'm going to tag Dlyn, Mental P, TS Annie. But I'm not going to tell them. Let's just let it be a surprise.

While I was sleeping

I'm not the only person in this house who enjoys taking photographs. My husband is actually a pretty good shot himself, and when I woke up this morning, I came downstairs to find that both he and George were gone and the camera was missing. And not only was the camera missing, but the zoom lens was as well.

Now, this is a big step for my husband, because he never changes lenses or settings on the camera. He just picks it up and shoots. But it seems that he is getting adventurous. And I find this very interesting. Don't tell him that. I don't want it going to his head.

When they returned from their morning walk, my husband had a story about a fox that George had spooked up and I wish I could have been there to see it. Fox like to play, you all know that one, right? Well, this fox darted out of the woods and ran up the fenceline and George chased him, running alongside. They ran like this for a while. The fox knows that George isn't allowed into the horse paddocks. I don't know how the fox knows this, but it does. So they're running up the fenceline together, not 3 feet apart from each other, and the fox stops. Just stops. George runs on about 30 feet or so and realizes that Mr. Fox is not next to him anymore. The fox waits until George gets it, and starts running back the other way! Ran right under the fence and into the woods. It happened so fast that George actually looked surprised, my husband said. Outfoxed, he was!

I love looking at pictures that someone else takes, especially my husband's. I try to figure out where he was standing when he took them and I see the farm in a whole new way, through his pictures. I chose these as a sampling I'd like to share with you of my husband's walk with George on an early Spring morning in April. These were taken before 8 am, which is when I got up. I like to sleep in until 8 am on Sunday.

Happy Birthday, Judy

Judy, Judy, Judy. The second-born, 18 months after me, of seven children in our family. I thought it was just going to be me and my parents. But then Judy came along. At first, I was probably upset. I don't remember, but I probably was. And then I ended up becoming really close with my younger sister. We were the closest in age, except for the two sets of twins that came after her. Can you imagine growing up in a large family? With two sets of twins, one right after the other? Can you imagine all the diapers? And my mother used cloth. And taught me how to diaper. At the age of four!

I actually loved my large family. But not all the time. I have a distinct memory of myself at around age five. My parents were going out shopping and my teenage cousin, Barbara, was babysitting the four of us. My mother asked me, "Katy, is there anything you'd like us to get you from the store?" I couldn't think of anything, but I do remember telling her not to bring home any more babies. There were so many of them, I guess I assumed they were just picking them up at the store. My parents loved telling this story at cocktail parties.

Judy was two grades younger than I was in school and when she was a teenager, suddenly she turned gorgeous. She had perfect hair, perfect skin, a perfect body. So, I decided I'd have to hate her. Just a little bit. But a lot one particular night.

We rarely went out on dates together. But when I was a senior in high school, I had this boyfriend who introduced Judy to one of his friends. And so we decided to go on a double-date. I mean, we didn't actually call it that. That would have been weird. We were cool. And it was the 70's. But that's what it was. A double-date, I mean. And we all went to see a movie that had just come out and it was called The Exorcist.

Oh, my God. That movie scared the s**t out of me. I was freaked. Afterwards, as we drove home through the cold and the fog, all it did was creep me out even more.

Now, I must tell you that since there were seven of us kids, a lot of us used to share beds. Double-sized beds. The twin boys and my brother had bunk beds and Char and Ginny shared a bed, as did Judy and I. So when we got home that night after the movie, I put on my pajamas and went right to bed and pulled the covers over me. I was still scared from that movie. Judy went downstairs to the bathroom and did whatever she did to keep herself beautiful and I don't know how I managed it, but I fell asleep. And shortly afterwards, I was awakened by my bed shaking up and down. I started to scream. It felt like it was The Exorcist and the demon was coming to get me.

Oh, but no. It was Judy who had quietly come upstairs to our room to find me asleep. And so she picked up the end of the bed and pulled it up and down really fast, as hard as she possibly could. Can you tell I am still traumatized by this experience?

But no, really. I'm not. Judy's great. She works harder and longer than I do. She's raised three kids, one of whom got very sick as a child and who is absolutely thriving today. And his illness led her to a career in medicine when she decided she was smarter than the nurses who were caring for him. And she was! She put herself through school and graduated at the top of her class. I was never prouder of her than I was that day.

So Happy Birthday, Judy. Have a great day. And remember, someone in Maryland loves you. And that someone is not traumatized any more.

Postscript: I wrote this post about a month ago and opened it up tonight to get it finished for tomorrow. You would not believe what is playing on the Chiller station on DirecTV. Yeah, you guessed it. It's The Exorcist. Weird, eh?

Free set of Photoshop actions available on Pioneer Woman's site

I have made no secret as to how much I'm inspired by Ree, of Pioneer Woman fame. Those of you who read my blog should be well aware of this fact. Yesterday, when I checked her site, I saw that she was offering a free download of a specially designed set of actions. An action is something that includes all the different steps in Photoshop to achieve a final result. You 'play' an action like you'd play a song or a movie, and then you can watch the action happen. Well, sort of. It doesn't take as long as a song or a movie, and in fact only a couple seconds! Luckily, my son was in town and he explained some of this to me. So today, during a rainy spring afternoon, I played with the new set of free actions I've just downloaded.

And they are awesome.

Ree explained that some of these actions are geared more for landscapes, some for people, you get the picture. So I thought I'd try them on horses. And here's what I came up with.

My favorite result for this particular photo is what PW calls "Soft & Faded". I think it's beautiful in this particular setting.

And here are the rest I tried. I will admit that I got a little carried away with them, making a chart for myself in Photoshop, but it was raining out today and I'm in love with Photoshop anyway, so what the hey.

And finally, here's the Straight Out of Camera (SOOC) shot. Cute picture, but it needs help.

To download these actions to your Photoshop CS2 or higher program, visit http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/ and click on her Photography tab. The post with the download is entitled "Actions!"

Hope you have as much fun as I'm having with this first set she's offering. And PW, if you're out there, thank you.

Apologies to those who could care less about Photoshop. I'll try to stop talking about it for awhile. It's just that I get really excited about things sometimes . . .

There's one in every crowd

Over the years I've spent living near them, I've come to the conclusion that horses are like people in a lot of ways. Some broodmares, in particular, are very ladylike. And others are, how shall we say, not-so-much. Take, for example, this little scene I came upon the other day.

Here we have young George, a sweet and gentle puppy, just minding his own business.

When up walks Ms. Grey Broodmare, wondering what the black and white is doing at her favorite itching post.

"Yeah, sonny boy, watch yer eyes there now.

Ah gots me some scratchin' ta do."

"Hey, little one, stick next to yer momma here now. While ah. Ah . . .

Oh, yeah. There. Yeah. Right there. Oh, yeah baby."

(I cannot stand when they speak in this manner. I want to go over and cover George's ears.)

"Oh, yeah, mah achey breakey ass.

Yeah, oh daddy. Right there. Oo. Ooo. Ooo."

"This is gotta be the best damn post I ever had. Wow, whattapost. Yeah. Oh, yeah."

(This is enough to make me sick. Yet she continues her bleating song.)

Hot damn. That was a good'un. Yeah. Oh, yeah daddy. Now where's that youngun' o mine?

(The stuff you hear on this farm. My ears are burning.)

And George covered his ears on his own.

Disclaimer: No prescription drugs were used during the writing of this post.

Home at last

Readers of this blog may remember the Valentine's Day love story I posted about my teacher friend, ALISA and her family. If you haven't read it, please do. It will warm your heart.

Well, I'm happy to report that STEVEN has finally returned from Iraq and is now home with his family, who are all smiles in this picture I took of them in front of our school this afternoon.

Alisa is the happiest I've seen her. Ever. And she's a pretty up person to begin with. But today, it made my heart sing to see this family reunited and Alisa, please forgive me, but you said the sweetest thing today. And I hope you don't mind me repeating it here.

Today you told me that the very best moment, aside from seeing him again, was when everyone had fallen asleep last night and you were still lying there awake. And you were so happy because everyone was where they were supposed to be. For the first time in such a long time. And the sound of your house was a safe quiet sound. Like snow when it's falling.

I thank God for bringing Steven home safe and sound to you and Courtney and Chris and Grace. And thank you Steven, for everything you and your entire family have sacrificed for our country. Amen.

The new kids in town

I didn't go far today because I just didn't have it in me. Lately it's been two steps forward, one step back and today felt like a step back kinda day. It's ok, though. I'm not down about it or anything, so no worries.

After work, George and I took a very small walk to the barn I can see from my house. It's really not far and I needed somewhere close as a goal. On our way back, I stopped to take these pictures of the mares and foals who were being quite docile after their supper this afternoon.

The first picture is a foal and was it taken very close to his head. He was very unafraid, and the only one in this new group to be so. Usually the sound of the shutter scares the little ones, but not this guy.

The second picture is a close-up of his mother, who enjoyed her modeling debut. Perhaps she's passed her quiet temperament on to her offspring.

I think I've mentioned that True Grit and the rest of that herd have all moved into paddocks further out and these new youngsters showed up late last week.

All my adult life, I've lived near horses. I don't think I ever want to live where they are not.

As an aside, I'm looking forward to the weekend because my eldest son is visiting from the Big City! I love my sons. M's coming down to attend the Alumni Banquet on Saturday night with some of his classmates, and his favorite teacher (my friend, Margie) is also attending. I'm going as well because I've been invited as a member of the faculty. I haven't been to one of these affairs in about three years and find myself actually looking forward to it.

Do you have a teacher that you remember who influenced you in a positive way? We have so many teachers at our school who fit this bill. It's such a wonderful school. But I promised myself not to post about my work. I learned that from Heather B. Armstrong of Dooce.com fame.

I secretly love it when Josie does it, though. I enjoy her stories about the Black Widow Spider!

My friends, Karen and Adrienne, were planning on coming out this weekend, but something came up and we've postponed it until next month. Maybe then we'll be able to set up the tent in the backyard. They're camping kind of girls. We can have the campfire out there and it will be fun. Something to look forward to.We have a walk-in tent that we'll use. We also own a tent for backpacking that's really lightweight. My husband and I used to backpack a lot. We took our sons when they were younger, too. But carrying 70 pounds on my back with my knees the way they are isn't something I consider healthy right now.

This last photo is a section of the herd I call the new kids in town. They're all still hanging pretty close to their mothers for now. I love Spring, don't you?

Taking the long way home

Inspired by a fellow blogger, I decided to take the long way home from work this afternoon. After travelling over the bridge that crosses the C&D Canal, I went through the town of Chesapeake City. I travel over this bridge every single day and I love it because it's very high and the views are incredible. On a clear day, I can see west almost to the Elk River which flows into the Chesapeake Bay, and east to the Delaware River. The Chesapeake & Delaware Canal is a short cut for ships to get from the Chesapeake Bay to the Delaware River and the ports of Wilmington, DE and Philadelphia, PA. And to infinity and beyond!

I stopped by the newly-built viewing platform at the waters' edge where I snapped the first photo. My favorite restaurant is off to my right. We enjoy bringing our visitors to this little town for a wonderful meal and a walk about afterwards. My husband and I have been coming to the same restaurant since the early 1980's when we lived in Pennsylvania. Back then, it was well over an hour's drive to get to the place, but the food was and still is incredible.

I got back in the car and headed homeward, passing the nursery that's near my home. I was thinking of taking a picture of the trees lined up like this for one of Miriam Lovell Dyer's photo assignments last week. But I didn't have my camera with me. Besides, I shot this one out of the car window, so it's not lined up like I would have preferred. It still gives you a sense of depth, though. And this nursery is huge.

Then I saw this beautiful tree and got out to take a close-up shot. I wanted to ask my husband what kind of tree this was, but he went to bed early tonight, and it's not in our Audubon tree book! Nor can I find it on the internet. It looks almost like a chrysanthemum-flowered magnolia but it doesn't have enough petals.

I came home and heard about what a naughty dog George had been this afternoon. He didn't come when he was called and he could tell by the sound of his father's voice that he'd done something wrong today. So he hid behind me. Naughty dog for his father, sometimes George is. (Sounded like Yoda there, didn't I?)

I ended my afternoon by taking George for the first walk since my knee surgery. We went down to the end of the driveway and back, staying on the macadam farm road. Yay for me! I did it.

Sometimes taking the long road lends itself to a few surprises, doesn't it? I don't often come this way, but I'm glad I did today.

Hey, I warned you not to get too excited here. If you're looking for excitement, you've definitely come to the wrong place! Unless you're into inter-species love. Oh, yes. Just see the post below . . .

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways on my paws

This post was meant for yesterday. I'd written it Sunday afternoon and was planning on posting it that evening for the next day. However, when I came back to check it before clicking "publish", I thought "Oh, my God, they'll all think I'm crazy." So I didn't click the button. Instead, I quickly wrote another post and used that one. At school today, I told a couple of people what I had done and they immediately said, "Oh, but you HAVE to publish that one." Don't expect much, really now. I'm sure they'll tease me all week about my dog being in love with the cat, or the cat from 'the wrong side of the farm'. Good thing I'm tough and can take it. And so here it is . . .

This is what happens when I have too much time on my hands and have taken a pain pill. Yes, I broke down Sunday afternoon and took one. I overdid it Saturday; let's leave it at that.

My husband was probably sick of seeing me limping about all hurt, and then he suggested I take a pain pill. I reached for the Advil but he said, "just take the real ones, Kate. I promise you that you'll feel better". Oh, and he was correct. I do. I do. I do. Feel better.

But this is what happens when I'm in lah-lah-land and out of pain and my camera with the zooooom lens is at hand and I'm sitting on my little couch. Regular readers of this blog will remember the stray cat that I've been feeding. I've been chided for not taking it in and/or naming it, but I'm over it. If you had any idea of the amount of stray cats I've seen on the horse farms I've lived. And how many I've named and taken in. Oh, don't get me going on this subject. Anyway, I feed it. I say 'it' because I don't know what sex it is. It doesn't let me get that close. But George, well he loves this cat. And the cat? Well it truly loves my dog.

The rain has stopped and there is suddenly a multitude of birds at the feeders. Here, SC is crouching while he was looking at all those lovely birds. He hears a noise behind him. It's his dog friend coming. "Hello, my friend", says the cat.

As you can see, George is very excited to see his cat friend.

"Hello to you", says George who proceeds to have a lie down to cuddle (read: chew) his best buddy. They do this all the time. The cat really does seem to enjoy it.

"What's that you say? I can't hear you. Oh, you love me?" asks George.

"Ah. You had me at hello", says George.

"You complete me", says the cat.

Cue Bruce Springsteen's "Secret Garden".

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A pebble for your thoughts

It's been a relaxing Sunday with rain this morning followed by a chilly, gray afternoon. I was trying to follow a tutorial in my Scott Kelby Photoshop book; one that I saw that was indicated "for pros only" but I tried, nonetheless. And failed, again. I've tried this one before and still quite can't get all of it. It's making a gallery print. I just can't get the border around the photo.

I took this photo with our little Sony Cybershot point & shoot on Pebble Beach at Acadia National Park in Maine. The 'pebbles' are actually stones that are surprisingly difficult to walk upon, but they're beautiful.

My husband and I have a 2 month window of time that we can take vacation somewhere together. Because of our jobs, July and August are the only two months that we're able to do this. Today, I was dreaming of our visit last year to Maine. At the last minute, we decided that's where we were going and within the space of 3 days, I'd booked us what turned out to be the most wonderful place we've ever stayed. It was an odd-shaped home, like a series of blocks, built on the side of a slope, into rock. It sat on one of the thousands of bays along the coast of Maine and had a wonderful water view and its own little beach. It wasn't a beach you could actually sit upon, but still, it was beautiful. There was also a hot tub that I soaked in every day when we returned from our hikes.

We were about a half hour drive away from Mt. Desert Island, our daily destination. We hiked several trails there, sometimes staying out the entire day. In my youth, this would have been a complete breeze. But I found it difficult, and extremely rewarding at the same time. Acadia National Park is one of the country's most beautiful parks, and the ocean views afforded from so many different places are incredible. I will post some of the pictures from time to time on this blog.

Blog-hopping on a rainy Sunday morning

It's raining here in Maryland this morning and I've decided to put my knee up and on ice. I did a little too much yesterday, and am now paying for it. So it's easy-does-it for me today, but the bright side is that I now have some time to visit my favorite blogs out there. Here's a picture of George and it's the straight-on view I have from my little couch. To my left is the sliding glass door and the paddocks beyond.

Over the course of the weekend, I've had several new visitors to my site and I try to take the time to welcome them all. I do this either as a follow-up in the comment section where they first appeared, or a comment on their site. It is just polite blogging etiquette to acknowledge visitors. I have come across two photography blogs that I am so moved by that I have a burning desire to share them with you. Immediately. I've already added them to my blogroll (see the bar on the left, entitled "Sites I'm Liking Lately").

The first is BITSTOP, is by Karen Chappell, who resides in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada. Karen posts a photo-a-day on nature scenes, macro photography, cityscapes, animals, still life, everything. I found her photographs stunning, to say the least. She has a still life of an orange buoy on her post entitled "Harbourfront" that I fell in love with. Its simplicity and use of color were the first things I noticed. I urge you to visit and think you'll be glad you did. There's a whole other world up there in Newfoundland and I feel so lucky to have 'found' Karen.

The second is PARVUM OPUS, by Olivia in Otowa. I can't even put into words how I feel when I look at Olivia's photographs, but will try. The first photo I came across when I opened her site was one entitled "curly tailfeathers". I knew I had found a kindred spirit when I saw that. Then I went onto her flickr site and I was blown away. So I'm warning you, prepare youselves. This is all I will say.

Sometimes I feel like just giving up when I go onto flickr and see the photographs of other photographers. I think, "why bother?" There are so many excellent people out there. But that's just ridiculous. Karen and Olivia are real people who happen to take magnificent photographs. And if I could some day be a fraction of the photographer that both of these women are, then I will be truly blessed. And please, don't comment about my photography and how good you think it is. Honestly, I am NOT fishing for compliments. This is not a post about me. I guess what I'm saying is that I'm inspired and it's a really good feeling.

Know what else is a good feeling? It's Sunday morning and my husband's only day off. It's raining now, but we're on the backside of this front, so maybe the sun will come out for him. And he just put a seasoned rack of pork ribs in the oven to slow cook. I love when he puts things in the oven to slow cook. The smell will be divine pretty soon and simple things like the scent of something cooking . . . well it just makes me happy. And that's a good feeling.

Have a wonderful Sunday, everyone. It's just stopped raining. And the mares and foals are out eating the fresh grass.

Somebody's happy to see me

George was stuck with gimpy today. Totally boring for him. For those not in the know, I'm gimpy. My husband just wanted a break, I guess, so George got to watch me cleaning and vacuuming, then for a treat, he got a ride in the car. He LOVES that. By the time we got back, we'd been to four different places and I could not wait to get home and put my knee up on ice. Then my husband came home from work and immediately took George out for his Big Walk of the day. They went to the sitting place, which is a nice long walk, but no owls came around today. After the ice on the knee, I made my new favorite drink and headed out back to sit for a spell in the sun. We don't really say sit for a spell around here. I just threw it in there. Anyway, there I was out back in the sun, with my knee up and my drink and my camera. I noticed they were on their way back because a couple of deer ran out from the woods into the horse paddock down below. Then a great blue heron got spooked up. Then a kestrel (or some kind of hawk) and shortly afterwards, they came through the gate.

MOMMY'S OUT HERE!!!!

George seems to be thinking that. And he runs towards me.

How happy does this pup look?

He's just had his muddy bottom-half hosed off and when I look closely, I can see the water droplets coming off of him.

I'm sure my husband is hoping that another photo of him will appear on this site. Not really. He's pretty shy in real life.

I'm not.

I think that's why he likes me.

Dog + Stick = Nirvana

Fame awaits guessing game winner

Miriam Lovell Dyer's husband, DAN, is our winner for Weekend Guessing Game #11 with his correct guess of A GRAPEFRUIT. Congratulations, Dan!

We actually had several other people guess correctly and I really thought Girl had it when she said it the first time. But then she changed her guess at the last minute, leaving Dan open to swoop in and claim first prize. And we all know that first prize in this game is the fame that winning this contest can only bring. So have a pen handy, Dan, for all those folks up there in the Big City who will want your autograph because they've seen your picture on this blog! Dan and his wife, photographer Miriam Lovell Dyer, live with their two girls in NYC.

Other correct guesses of grapefruit, besides Girl were Kelly in VA and my sister Char. The first guess was funny, of my swollen knee~! Sponges and Sponge Bob were popular, and Tracey's guess of foam from a latte or a beer made me thirsty. So this afternoon, I drove to my favorite licorice store. Someday, I'll have to post about why I call it that. But I don't want to digress too much today.

Thanks to all who participated in the game this week and have a wonderful weekend, everyone! I think I'm going to go have a half a grapefruit now. Or maybe a piece of lemon meringue pie, which was Josie's guess. Thankfully, we only have grapefruit in the house!

How YOU doin'? Photoshop slimming trick

There are few easier tricks I've learned than this simple slimming and trimming step. It can be found in Scott Kelby's The Photoshop CS2 Book for Photographers. You must have your photo ready to begin which means you've done all the work on it to get it to look its best. For help with your technique, I suggest you visit The Pioneer Woman site and click on Photography. From there, you can visit Donna Boucher's site as well. She's listed on the right hand bar as a contributor.

And now I'd like to introduce you to my model.

The Handsome Handyman you see here is my brother-in-law, JAY. You remember me telling you about him, right? Chuck Norris came to the wedding of he and my sister, Ginny. I haven't asked Jay if I could use his picture, but I'm so sure he won't mind that I'm just going to run with it. He's ready to lose a quick few pounds (not that he needs to, mind you) and he seems excited to begin. So here we go.

STEP ONE: Open up the photo you want to use and make a duplicate copy of it. It's helpful to make some off the gray canvas area visible, so expand your image window a little bit by click-and-dagging its bottom-right corner outward. Then press Command A (PC: Control-A) to put a selection around the entire photo. Then press Command-T (PC: Control-T) to bring up the Free Transform function.

STEP TWO: Grab the left-center handle and drag it horizontally toward the right to slim the subject. The farther you drag, the slimmer the person becomes. How far is too far? Look at the width field in the Options Bar for a guide ~ you're pretty safe to drag inward to around 95% (or even 94.7%) without getting caught (looking too obvious).

STEP THREE: When your person looks "naturally" slimmer, press Return (PC: Enter) to lock in your transformation. Doing this transformation leaves you with some excess white area on the left side of the photo; so with your image's selection border still in place (from Step 1), go under the Image menu and choose Crop to remove the white space. Press Command-D (PC: Control-D) to get rid of the dancing dashes and you're done!

Your subject will instantly look about 10-15

pounds slimmer. The original photo is on the top and the trim photo is underneath. So, try this trick and see how it works on your photos!

For those who don't use Photoshop or care about any of this, I apologize for this post. And for everyone else that does, I'm just trying to spread the joy that comes from a simple little trick. I tend to get excited about little things like that.

The Weekend Guessing Game is posted below.

Winner will be announced Saturday at 6 PM.