A Visit to Arizona

My loving husband and I recently got back from a trip to Arizona. We visited my father and his wonderful wife. We also visited my husband's father and his lady friend and his aunt and uncle. We had a really nice time. As a surprise as we were staying at my father's place my brother and his wife who live in Colorado showed up. What a nice surprise.

 My father, when we took Benji their dog out for a walk.

The whole gang out for lunch, yum.

These were taken at Ramsey Canyon. Very nice place to go for a nice hike.

This was taken in Green Valley where my husband's relatives live.

A Bear For a Friend

I sent my chimp sketch to a friend and they asked me if I could do a bear. I said I never have done a bear before, but I have never done a chimp before either, so I proceeded to sketch a bear. Here is the results. This one is for you Dick.

Some New Sketches

Here are my latest sketches.

We Recently Went to Cannon Beach Again

I never tire of the ocean. I love the sound and the smell. I love the feel of the sand between my toes. The cold water is invigorating to my feet and the way my feet sink in the sand and the waves receed feels neat. I never tire of the sunsets which are different every evening and of course I always have my camera handy for the colorful ones.

I also love the flowers in the yard of the house that we stay at. It always seems that there is something blooming everytime we visit .

A New Sketch

I have been working on this sketch for quite some time as I draw every single hair and it takes time to do that. I am happy how it turned out. I am not sure what I will be drawing next. I like working with graphite rather than color pencils.

I am Sketching Again

It has been many years since I have done any sketching. I got bitten by the sketching bug recently and went to my local Michael's art supply store and splurged on art supplies. I am now sketching again. It feels good to be back behind the pencils, charcoal, and pastels again. Below are my first sketches in over 10 years.

Cannon Beach in May

We went to Cannon Beach this week and some of our friends went with us. My husband has some very generous friends that let the four of us stay in their lovely beach home. We were so very fortunate as the weather was perfect for our stay. We walked the beach a few times and also walked around the town of Cannon Beach. What an adventure we had. It was wonderful going into all of the gallerys in town and checking out the art work and photography. Speaking of photography I did bring both of my cameras with me on this trip and managed to come up with a few pictures to post.

The sun was setting and the way it was shining it really showed the ridges in the sand and yes I had to lay in the sand to get this picture.

Okay it is just a rock, but I thought the light from the sunset was nice and it was a cool looking rock.

I know it wasn't a colorful sunset, but it was still awesome.

I took this one while we were in town walking around. The sky was so blue and all the trees around were blossoming.

A little wave action here.

I thought this was a cool looking piece of driftwood, it seems to be pointing the way and no I am not afraid to lay in the sand to get a different view for a picture.

So the tide was going out so my friend and I checked out some tidal pools and look what we saw. Pretty cool. We walked on the beach until it was almost dark and between the two of us we found 4 sand dollars the size of nickels. So I guess you could call them sand nickels. What a nice relaxing visit we had. Thank you God for the perfect weather and great friends.

We Are in Full Bloom in The Northwest

So I am walking regularly even on not so nice days, but today was beautiful and I truly enjoyed my walk. There are flowers all over the place so I brought my camera on my walk today.There are so many of these dandelion seeds out  there that I am sure we are going to have an abundance of them in the NW this year. It is to bad that so many people consider them weeds. They are actually wonderful plants. The dandelion root dried makes a great tea for your liver health. Or it can be dried and ground up to a powder and put in capsules and taken. It is so very good for your liver. The leaves when young make a nice addition to any salad too. It is not a weed at all.

And the beautifully fragrant Lilac which can fill your house with  its calming fragrance.

Sun Again and Another Walk

I went for another walk with my Daughter and her family. Of course I brought my camera. What a beautiful sunny day, the birds are singing, the sky is blue with white puffy, cotton candy clouds. These days have been a long time coming. So along our walk I stopped to take pictures then I had to run to catch up with everyone else so I got a good work out on this walk/run. Here are some of the pictures. I wish I would have had my polarizer on especially for the last picture the contrast would have been beautiful. Oh well lessons learned.

Another intentional blow out. I am just experimenting. Thought the effect was neat.

Finally I Got Out With My Camera

It was a fairly nice day today. Out came the camera, it felt like an old friend in my hands. I was so very happy. I wanted to try a couple of things, something different. The first idea was my granddaughter's. She has an old Brownie Kodak camera, which is so cool. So with my camera aimed at the view finder of her Brownie and her camera aimed at her I came up with this picture. What a neat effect.

This one was a blow out, but an intentional one. I love the effect it had on the daffodil.

My granddaughter likes this one for the depth of field.

This is a tulip just starting to open.

In the near future I will post more pictures providing it doesn't rain the rest of the year.

Rain and More Rain

We here in the Northwest have had more than the average amount of rain this year. I am so longing for sunny days. I am aching to go on hikes with my camera in hand. I have truly been bitten by the photography bug, I guess I am a fair weather photographer though, but only because I don't want my camera to get wet. I looked over the pictures I took last year and thought that I would post a few since I haven't gotten out this year yet.

Water is Like Time, Always Moving

Last Fall for some reason I was obsessed with water drops. What ever hike my loving husband and I went on I found a picture to take. Below are a few of them.

Not many people know that red clover has medicinal properties. It is actually a good blood cleanser along with garlic and echinacea.

These were all taken up at Hoyt Arboretum, Portland, Oregon.

These two were taken in my backyard.

I just find water drops facinating. If you can get a clear enough shot and zoom in close the reflection of a water drop is really interesting.

Because I Haven't Been Out Taking Pictures Yet

I am so happy that we are getting bits of warm weather here and there. I am so looking forward to getting out with my camera. I recently got a new one and am still figuring it out. It is a NIKON D3100. I also got 2 lenses with it and bought a wide angle lens too. Oh boy! I am set to go. In the mean time I am longing for the warm sunny weather as I am hesitant to take my new camera out in drizzly weather. I don't want to ruin it.
I am going to post some pictures from the trip my loving husband and I took to Arizona last year.

What a cute little girl. I say girl as I think it is a nursing mama. It reminded me of my 2 little ferrets that I had at home at the time. One of my little girls passed away last October so now we only have one. We spoil her terribly.

Contrary to popular belief, there is water in Arizona and I took pictures to prove it.

It Has Been a Long Time

The winter weather is starting to disappear a little at a time. I enjoy hearing the birds sing in the morning. It is getting close to gardening time, which I am looking forward to. I am also looking forward to hiking and backpacking again. It has been many years since I have backpacked. My past summers were spent with grandchildren, whom I love dearly, but this summer will be more my own. So my loving husband and I will be doing more hiking and backpacking and of course I will be bringing my camera.

These pictures I took on one of our walks last year around a local garden by a college with the new camera my loving husband bought me. The trees above reflected nicely in the water.

The bridge you cross as you go into the garden.

This would be a nice place for a picnic.