The earth has music for those who listen. George Santayana

I’d Rather Be…

Today I’d rather be a dog.  Our dog Finn to be precise.  His day started with a nice walk followed by breakfast next to the heater.  Late morning meant it was time for a nap in his favorite sun spot then a second trip outside so he could patrol the yard looking for squirrels while carefully listening to the wind. It’s now 2:30 pm and he’s curled up next to Ryan for you guessed it, another nap.

I have paid bills, cleaned the kitchen, driven around town doing errands and am now organizing paperwork for taxes while looking out my window at the very trees in the picture above.  Finn’s favorite place for listening to earth’s music.  Maybe I’ll turn up my office heat and open the window so I can share the song.

Posted as part of the Weekly Photo Challenge:  I’d Rather Be…

Lisa16 Comments

My Year In Photos – May Week 5 & June Week 1

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Processed with VSCO with e8 preset

After nearly 1.5 years of taking and posting daily photos along with a 2 year tradition of regular weekly wrap-up posts here on the blog I’m finally throwing my hands up and admitting this time around I’ve totally blown my self-induced deadlines.  I hope you like this super-sized post covering two weeks in one!  As you can see from the size of the gallery above I am still keeping up with a daily photo routine but my writing time has really taken a hit so today I’ll keep the commentary to a minimum and let you enjoy the photos. 🙂

May ended on a good note and my first seven images reflect some of what filled our days.   Gardening, sunshine, music and donuts.   The first photo is a “work in progress” shot of one of my new baskets while the second is from my Memorial Day walk along the waterfront.  The third is a close up of a lamp I admired and the fourth is one of the hardy clover plants that thrive in our yard.  The fifth photo is a screen shot of my in-car entertainment for the day and the sixth is how Ryan and I chose to celebrate National Donuts Day. Our week ended with a fun afternoon at the theater watching a stage production of Billy Elliott and a walk through Issaquah, WA.

June started with frosty Root Beer Floats at this 50’s themed diner and then you see Finn searching for two stray Samoyed dogs who appeared on our porch looking for fun.  Tuesday I was happy to see this hydrangea opening and Wednesday found us back at Children’s Hospital for another Orthopedic check-up.  Ryan’s healing is continuing to follow the slow and steady plan so our fingers are crossed that by the end of the summer we may know if he can avoid surgery.  Thursday you have a close up of this small wood statue my father-in-law brought back from a trip to Peru in the 1960’s, Friday is a collage of the finished baskets and Saturday was my Birthday.  We enjoyed a relaxing day at home, John cooked a fantastic dinner and for a mid day break we took a ferry ride over to Kingston for ice cream and a walk along the harbor.  I thought this photo really captured the temperamental nature of June in the Pacific Northwest.  Every day brings an unpredictable mix of sun, clouds, rain and wind so we dress in layers and always have a spare jacket tucked into a bag on the side.

Coming soon I’ve got a great set of new photos almost ready to share here from our latest adventures and if you’d like to follow along in real-time don’t forget I post my daily photos on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. If a once-a-week blog read is more your speed my weekly recaps will continue here along with caption notes containing editing information for each photo.

Lisa14 Comments

Sally D’s Mobile Photography Challenge: Challenger’s Choice (Shades of Finn)

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve joined Sally’s weekly photography challenge but I’m ready to end the year on a high note and jump right back in with two images for this week’s theme of challenger’s choice (animals).

When I opened our Etsy store in November I knew it would mean a lot of extra work and that my hands would have to make a choice each evening between blogging and creating something new to list in the shop but sometimes these two endeavors can coexist and last night I found a way to do both.

Of all the things John and I have learned to make this year and of all the big ideas we have on our future “to do/to learn” list I never expected these little wool dryer balls to be our most viewed and best-selling item.   I hand-roll each ball but my fingers can only take so much winding before cramps set in so after each ball I take a little rest to shake things out.  Last night I discovered this is just the right amount of time to edit a photo so today you get to see my break-time handiwork.

I like both images for different reasons so since I missed last week’s black and white challenge I decided to go ahead and share the pair.  The original photo was taken over Christmas weekend with my iPhone 6 while Finn was waiting for John to come back inside.  The black and white was edited in VSCO cam using the LV2 preset while the color version was edited in Oggl using Ray Mark II and Estrada 83. I like elements in each photo but would love to hear what you think.  Black and white or color?

Lisa37 Comments

iPhoneography Monday: Animals (Fun with Finn)

Well, at least one of us was having fun… This was my first day experimenting with Hipstamatic’s shake-it-to-randomize feature and Finn was being a good sport but really all he wanted to do was sleep.

iPhone Monday 1 2-23-15

iPhone Monday 2 2-23-15

Both images were taken with my iPhone 6 in Hipstamatic using Bettie XL and Big Up.  Posted as part of Lens and Pen by Sally’s Phoneography and Non-SLR Digital Devices Photo Challenge:  Challenger’s Choice (Animals).

Lisa22 Comments

Black and White Animals: Heidi

Black and White Animals

I’ve never met a Lab who didn’t love playing at the beach.  The combination of water, sticks, sand, other dogs and stinky things to roll in make for a fun-filled afternoon and a happy, sleepy dog who goes to bed early is pretty nice too.

Posted as part of Cee’s Black & White Challenge:  Animals.

Lisa20 Comments

Black and White Tuesday: 9-17-13

B&W Tuesday 1 9-17-13 2

When I’m working from home Heidi is happy to nap outside the office door as long as she gets a short walk in the morning and a longer one in the afternoon.   Yesterday was busier than normal though and our afternoon walk had to be postponed until later in the day.  By 3:00 pm she let me know loud and clear what a boring human I am…

Lisa23 Comments