CPR

CPR: Creative Photography Retreat = a chance to become a better photographer, meet new friends, and learn from the some of the best scrapbooker/photographers. I had a marvelous weekend in Dallas, TX (if you exclude the 102 degree weather with 85% humidity!) learning as much as my brain could take in! We spent 16 hours in class, lots of hours outside of classes taking photographs, and very little time sleeping! Here are some of my photos:

I met Donna in my classes; we had the same track so we spent two days learning from each other. She's from the Houston area and was a great photographer and mom of 2 girls. We had to go on a photo scavenger hunt and this is one of the pictures I took of "natural light."

I met Kristin in my very first class; she didn't have any other classes with me but what a wealth of information she was. She was well on her way to being a professional photographer and she helped me gain confidence in my shooting skills (she encouraged me to shoot in "manual mode" rather than in auto mode (aka dummy mode! by our instructors!). This photo is taken in manual.

Kristin took this picture of me during dinner. I am having a ball!
One of our classes focused on wedding portraits. I'm telling you, this is hard stuff! Our instructor had couples set up to come and "recreate their wedding" and I love this shot. She is telling us we need to be aware of where the groom places his hands (I'll let you figure this one out!!!).

Our hotel had a beautiful pool; the only free time I had was when the pool was closed so no swimming for me!

This is a picture of a flag outside the hotel at the CompUSA building. The entire building was reflective glass and I loved the design. I also wanted to give a perspective to the next picture:

I took this picture standing in front of the flag. The building formed a "V" at this point and both of these flags are reflections of the flag pole. I entered this photo in the "Best of Dallas" competition and won an honorable mention (5th place). The coolest part was I took it in manual mode, edited it as best I knew how and really was pleased with the outcome. I had never entered a photo in a contest before and to receive an honorable mention on my very first entry was amazing! I feel very blessed and excited about this! I now have a 13 x 19 photo of this to hang in my scrap room! What a great weekend!

SKUNKED!

Rusty has (or should I say had) a new playmate. Only this one isn't the type I want to keep around. Late Thursday night, I took Rusty out for his nightly "duty" and he literally bolted off the steps. No way was he stopping. I'm thinking "he's after a cat - no stopping him now!" As I yelled for him to stop, he kept going not even looking back to see if he was in trouble! I should interject this at 10:40pm! Suddenly, the brakes came on as he accessed the river bed rocks and came up close and personal with: As I stepped off the deck, I knew what stopped him - the smell totally gave it away. Yep, he discovered why skunks don't like to play! Luckily, he stopped just in time to avoid being directly sprayed but managed to get most of the spray on his legs and tail. Not quite sure how it happened that way, but I can tell you I was very glad!!! Now Rusty, on the other hand, wasn't quite so glad. He kept shaking each paw as if to shake off this disgusting smell. Pretty funny sight!
I called my neighbor (after checking to see if lights were on) and told her not to let her dogs out as there was a skunk now in her yard. She assured me she had just let them out the FRONT door so all was safe. She then said to bathe Rusty in pure vinegar (doesn't matter white or cider) or Listerine. I had both but decided to try the vinegar first.
Now, Rusty normally loves his bath. Not so much this time. He kept fussing with his legs, even licked one (wish I had the camera to catch his expression after that!) but settled down once the vinegar dissolved the oil and smell.
We had no lingering smell in the house nor on him so we all managed to crash around midnight and call it a good night! Not an adventure Rusty is likely to repeat any time soon! (Or at least we are hoping!)

Our little "Tuscany" trip!

Our date weekend was one of exploration. We decided to embark on a country journey and explore "out of the way" wineries. So we plugged in the trusty GPS and away we went. These wineries were not your fancy, have-your-wedding-here establishments but had the true charm of wine making. We came away with some pretty fun stories and met some great people.

This winery has the funniest name and it's why we went there! It's called "The Purple Cow!" The winemaker/owner of the vineyards was a young dad named John and he was very entertaining. He is in the process of designing his winery but for now, he makes and bottles his wines at the neighboring winery. He gave us corks that are stamped with purple markings that looked like cow spots! This is Tualatin Estates, which has been purchased by Willamette Valley Vineyards. It was interesting to see this winery as we were first introduced to their wine when we were guild members of WVV. The hostess in the tasting room was very knowledgeable and told us how they got started and what types of grapes are grown in this region. The view from the hilltops was beautiful.

Appolini Vineyards and Tasting Room was a great treat. The barrels are right in the room and creates quite the ambience. The winemaker, Alfredo, who is the owner as well, is from Italy and specializes in blends that remind him of Tuscany, Italy. We spent about 2 hours talking with his wife Laurine, about their adventures in Italy and all the great things about Italy. We are definitely going to return to this winery for some of their summer festivities (they host a buffalo BBQ as well as other summer events).

Greg enjoys the sunshine; his only comment was "where's the wine?" Not a good idea to have when you are driving!

One of the views from the hilltops. It was a perfect day and we really enjoyed exploring the back wine country in our area! We plan to do this again and take in the harvest.

I've got the Blues

It's blueberry season here and we were off to the blueberry farm! Last year, we got a little crazy - took Mom and Dad - and ended up picking 125# of them!!!! This year, we decided to scale it back and just pick for us, Andy & Teresa, and Ryan & Aimee! So 54# later, we were home and ready to put up the berries!

We picked 4 1/2 buckets - the 1/2 bucket was a new variety and we wanted to just have those to eat. Unfortunately, after they weighed them, the gal dumped them in with all of the rest! (They did taste really good right from the bush, though!)

Blueberry jam is done and ready for the freezer. My daughter-in-law, Aimee, talked me into trying this last year. We love it!

MMM, good!

Fabulous, I say, Just Fabulous!

I can only say "WOW!" These photos were taken at the Independence Fireworks. We all were in awe over the display and now I'm in total awe over the pictures. Credit has to be given:
These were shot by professional photographer, Adam. Check out his fabulous website: http://www.adammathiasphotography.com/ You won't be disappointed!

Dog Days....

of Summer....that's what the blocks originally said. Then Greg vacuumed and decided the blocks didn't say it right! So here's what we have now! (We really laughed and laughed when I discovered it - Greg got a big kick out of changing the "traditional saying!")

It's the pits!

Yep, 25# of cherries to put up.....this is just the first 15 pounds! We love these and I froze 35 cups so far. Tonight it's cherry jam making time!

Independence Day In Independence

It was quite the celebration weekend. This year we hosted Independence Day. It's been a few years since we had most of the familiy here. When we were in Lewiston, we had quite the gatherings (since we had the pool and boat then!) so this was very fun for us to have the holiday back in our home! The guys are hanging out watching the Mariners and catching up on whatever it is guys talk about when there's a game going on!

It was a hot day so Greg cooked his bacon and meat for his specialty beans on the griddle on the deck - didn't want to heat up the house! Rusty says......yum......please!?!?!?!?

We took in the old fashioned parade - Bryan found himself a seat on our friends' pickup and kept himself cool under the big umbrella!

We decided to wear our "Team Pelican" shirts: Here are Beth, Bryan, Greg, me, Mom and Dad!

On Sunday morning, the family gathered for breakfast along with friends of ours that have been a part of the festivities too. We really enjoyed ourselves and are looking forward to this again next year. We have decided what better way to celebrate our great country than in Independence on Independence Day!!

FOR SALE!!!!

Anyone want to buy a plane?? At a garage sale???? You bet! Greg has his plane up for sale as he wants to start building his new one! So he thought that he could generate some interest in it during our annual yard sale. Good thinking.....we live in an airpark......there are LOTS of pilots here.....and pilots know pilots......so who knows?????

No takers yet but we're not giving up! We did get a lot of lookers and people commenting on it. Most of the comments went something like this.....You fly that?.....You actually go up in that?....Are you crazy?!!! It will be somewhat bittersweet when the plane leaves our hanger but it will be exciting too because that means the new plane will be started! (And I won't have dress up like the abominal snowman in cold weather!)