what I did on my summer vacation, 3

This was a photo I took in a cool flower/gift shop in Portland, OR. The black and white vs. color effect was done with an Ipad app that is a lot like coloring in a coloring book--perfect for a photoshop illiterate like me!

I went to visit Grams and Gramps in Kalamazoo and my dad was focused

on "digging up these flowers, so they can be moved" that week. He would

go out in the morning and dig and dig and dig... I'm still not sure where the

plants were being moved "to" but the accomplishment of having them "dug"

was the important thing for him!

what I did on my summer vacation, 2

We went to Michigan for a few days and we saw the Roaring Bear Clouds.(sort of like the Sleeping Bear Dunes... only different.)

This guy isn't roaring or sleeping, just sniffing around for something to eat.  The picture is taken from the car window on a road trip out west this summer.  And, full disclosure, we didn't just come across him in the wild.  We actually paid to drive through a "bear park".  I'm OK with that-- no bear spray needed!

what I did on my summer vacation, 1

I'm wearing a sweatshirt this morning--first in a long while, so starting in on end-of-summer activities doesn't seem so far fetched.

These cherries were done on my ipad. I had a lot of fun this summer learning

my way around the various art apps. Somehow working on a touch screen rather

than with a mouse has made it more accessible to me.

I helped teach a class about organic gardening, eating and cooking. Doesn't that

sound impressive? Well, it was for 12 year olds, and mostly I drove the school

van. My friend Mikki taught and organized the class and had some amazing things

planned for the kids to do. This purple pepper is from the organic garden on

the campus of the University of Wisconsin EC.

flower

I was at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts today and it happened to be set up day for an annual event called "Art in Bloom". Local florists and designers create floral works inspired by art works in the museum. It is always beautiful and it was fun to see some of the prep work that goes into the final pieces. I tried to capture the feeling of an Ikebana piece with Birds of Paradise, clouds of baby's breath and wonderful bent sticks.

An orchid from a shop in Florida caught my eye! They are spectacular!

Sunlight

Sunlight behind hair - an irresistible combination!

Woof

Well, sometimes it just happens. Personality - it comes through in the strangest places. It's that intangible that artists look for, strive for, try to create. The harder you try, the more elusive it is, like trying to remember the dream you had last night. Today personality showed up in front of me. In ten little pieces of broken cereal bowl - there it is. I love this little guy. Just something about him makes me smile. I'll put in another pic when he's all grouted up.

Update - it's a She. To clarify, I added a bit of bling!

Since she did the artwork this time, I'll do the photo--of my dog as a puppy. I couldn't let a title like "woof" pass by.

ReFocus

Time to start again. It's been too long saying YES to everything for everyone else, time to say: