today...

"hold fast to your dreams, for without them life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly"

~

today

i'm thinking: that taking the time to do absolutely nothing is a true gift to ourselves

i'm creating: a list of other editing programs to share with all of you

i'm feeling: lucky to be loved the way i am and slightly spoiled

~

what are you thinking, creating or feeling?

*

blinded by the light.....

karen

who challenged me last year while i was in florida

threw another one at me this year

"find someone to make sand angels for you"

well i think i get extra credit since i found three little sweethearts

who answered the "sand angel" call

~

the poor little boys didn't last very long though just laying in the sun,

as they were truly blinded by the light. so cartwheels and handstands prevailed.

*

thanks karen for your challenge. anyone else have something they want me to photograph?

after the storm....

a few nights ago, an early evening storm rolled in.

unfortunately it brought it with it, jellyfish.

now granted, they are amazing to photograph. but oh they're gross.

thankfully the beach is wide and you can still walk barefoot. carefully.

these little unassuming guys have tendrils and from what i understand,

they can still sting you even after being washed ashore.

{does anyone know for how long that's possible}

my apologies. i know. this one is extremely phallic. 

oh and don't tell me, "what. i don't see it" because i know you do.

most of them are blue in color

some of them are lonely

and

some of them have families

unfortunately 

all of them make it impossible for me to take sophie's leash off

when we're walking on the beach.

~

but am i complaining. absolutely not. 

after all we're walking on the beach for pete's sake.

 taking photos and laughing and eating ice cream.

*

life is good

formatting and mourning....

my wintertime intermission continues and has yet to disappoint. i know when some people think of florida, hours of laying in the sun in tiny bikinis comes to mind, but that's not what it's like here in the panhandle at this time of year. hence the reason we love it so much.

while i hopefully have your attention for a few minutes, let's talk formatting. did you know that when you delete your photos from your camera, you should never use the delete button. the delete button is fine to get rid of a few individual photos every now and then, but when you're done with a large group of photos {you've downloaded them to your computer} and you're ready for a fresh start on your memory card, go to formatting instead of deleting. formatting will delete all your photos, while keeping your memory card very happy. i don't know the super fancy technical reason to do this, but i know it's important.

there's a huge group of us who are very disappointed and would love to give google a kick in the ass...me being one of them...for taking away picnik. picnik was a great online editing program, used by adoring flickr fans, and isn't like any other editing program out there. honestly, i loved it more then anything photoshop has ever done for me. 

so, sometime next week, i will be sharing all of the online editing programs i have found and have been testing, that are user friendly and similar to picnik. 

i don't know about you, but april 19th i'll be wearing black while i mourn.

1.2.3.....

jump

for those of you who know me

you're probably surprised it's taken me this long to share some jumping photos

last year's "winter intermission" was during tallahassee's winter break

which gave me so many college aged jumpers 

but 

they're all back in school now

and

all the families from last year....well they're just not around this year either

thankfully these middle school aged kids were available today

and

happily jumped for me

*

thanks girls {and a boy} for being so much fun

maybe mom was right....

"and charlie, don't ever mess with a jellyfish"

he had heard his entire childhood

"but it doesn't' look dangerous," he thought

"and i'm a big boy now"

"so maybe i'll just smell it for awhile"

"i can't believe one little peck can hurt me, right"

"whoa. you are one tough little blob aren't you"

"that first little peck would have been enough, but i have something to prove to all the other gulls watching me. so let's just get this over with. one more full beak peck just to prove how manly i am"

*

we have no idea if he was truly eating it or just pecking at it, but it was fun to watch. i did google it and gulls do sometimes eat jellyfish...even with fair warning from their parents.

wintertime intermission....

that's what jennifer called my time here in florida

and 

i pretty much love that

~

not a vacation. not time away. not a reprieve.

"a wintertime intermission"

~ 

so here's the big question of the day

"does he or does he not eat the washed up jellyfish"

BUT WAIT

don't go to google. just take a guess.

~

thank you everyone for the debate/discussion regarding watermarking. it was a good one. 

there are so many opinions to what's right or wrong. what's good about it. what's bad about it. 

why do it. why forget about it.

at this point, i'm still a bit conflicted. the biggest reason being the need to save my photos twice. 

one set with watermarking and one set without. i'm wondering if those of you who only share low resolution photos, also save a copy in high resolution for yourselves.

~

oh the woes of protecting ourselves. darn you thieves. darn you.

~

(and no, i didn't have a photo of mine stolen and used in a gallery. thank god. that was just a "what if" question of something i thought would be really horrible)

*

you'll thank me later...

seriously

i'm at the beach

but i know after yesterday's photos and now even more woodsy pictures today

you're starting to question me

but i promise

that once the sand and sea and jelly fish photos start showing up

and

i inundate you with more beach photos then any human should ever have to look at

you'll thank me

that i have a backyard full of pine needles and mushrooms

*

ps...in the past few days, i have read on a number of blogs, the importance for watermarking your photos. that there really are people out there stealing what belongs to us. what's your opinion. what do you think about watermarking. how would you feel if someone in, let's say san francisco, stole one of your photos, called it his, printed it and framed it for a gallery in his hometown.

*

you did "knot".....

oh yes i did

after a 17 hour drive  

i'm on the gulf enjoying the warmth

and

even though the ocean is "right there"

our cottage backs up to the woods

and 

for some reason

i can't get enough of these vines

so i figured i'd start with these photos first

(since the beach photos will be plentiful soon enough)

i hope your weekend is filled with the good kind of "knots"

too

*