Archive for Month: June, 2010
The Village. Bring It.
On May 31st our town’s pool opened up and we got our pool pass for the season. For three years we’ve enjoyed a couple of hours of swimming every day. The pool is safe, clean, and the kids there are well mannered (for the most part).
Yesterday, I encountered something that has never happened to me at the pool.
Davey and I were swimming around when I heard a teenage girl spewing from the mouth, “Oh my God, he fucking told me that she fucking said that they were going to Jay’s fucking party. What.a.fucking.loser!”
All the “fucking” had me a little perturbed.
Yesterday, I almost looked the other way, but I did not. (more…)
Blanche
“There’s no limit to how complicated things can get, on account of one thing always leading to another.”
—E. B. White
Weekly Winners {The “Our Week in Pictures” Edition}
“To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day. That’s a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you’re going to have something special.”—Jim Valvano
Our week filled with laughter, thought, and emotion…
Sunday: We enjoyed some fun time at Bogg’s Creek, laughing and splashing, getting all dirty.
Monday: We swam at our local pool where it’s filled with seven different kinds of crazy fun.
Tuesday: We hoped and prayed that Michael’s truck would start so we could get it out of Dawson Forest (it didn’t start, but we got it out, later that night, with help from a neighbor).
Wednesday: Just another lazy dog day of Summer; kick back, relax, read, and reflect.
Thursday: Davey and I admired Miss Beverly’s flowers at sunset. I also announced my “Shooting from the Hip” Photo Contest where you can win your very own HighKey Camera Strap; won’t you please enter!
Friday: Sometimes [you] just gotta fall asleep where you eat, making your Mama and Papa laugh at your snoring and cry about just how big you’ve grown.
Saturday: And, sometimes you just gotta eat, eat, eat, and eat some more! Thanking your lucky stars for a sale on meat, a slow cooker, and a man who knows how to make his own barbecue sauce.
Back to Sunday again! Now you must go visit Lotus for more Winners!
Shooting From the Hip
In 2007, when I got my Canon Rebel XTi, I remembered that Michael’s old Canon SLR had this awesome vintage-style strap on it. Despite the big, bulky spring snap and swivel eye I used that strap on my first dSLR, and it sort of became my signature.
When I got my Canon 5D Mark II the decision was made to go with the hand strap. I love that I have total control of my camera, along with the security that the hand strap provides, but I just couldn’t give up my camera strap. A photographer needs a camera strap when shooting.
A few weeks ago a Flickr friend commented about the strap in my photo. He asked if I had deliberately chosen to match my earrings to my camera strap. I replied that the strap was some type of vintage design and that the earrings were (my favorite) Fleur-de-lis. He replied demanded I get a Fleur-de-lis strap as soon as possible!
It’s widely know that I have an affinity for the Fleur-de-lis. Not only is it my business logo, but I have two different pairs of earrings, and Michael recently gave me a pendant for my birthday.
Of course it made sense; I should have a camera strap adorned with them, as well.
Enter HighKey Camera Straps.
The first thing I noticed was their clean, user-friendly website. I had no trouble seeing all the different styles in their photos. And, there’s even a page dedicated to the anatomy of the strap. It was love at first click.
Our goal is to equip photographers around the world with camera straps that fit their style and mood. Through our products and designs, we hope to supply you with the tools you need to do what you do, and do it with flare. We’re here to give you options. Live your life in HighKey.
At the core of HighKey Camera Straps are some extremely talented photographers. Real people with a desire to produce quality straps for other photographers. I was immediately impressed by the customer service and even more so with the craftsmanship of the strap when mine arrived. Another one of my favorite things about this company is that everything is Made in the USA!
There are well over 20 different styles to choose from, but the biggest draw for me was that you can create your own custom designed strap. Whoa! How cool is that? Let me tell you…it’s VERY cool! And the proof is attached to my camera now.
It took me all of twenty-minutes to design my strap in Adobe Photoshop. I downloaded the template, found the design I wanted to use, and went at it in Photoshop. Not only was it easy, it was fun. As I was creating this one I kept thinking of other designs. The possibilities are endless with custom design.
My favorite thing about HighKey Camera Straps is the slip resistant underside. Actually, these straps are the only ones in the world to use this unique material. In the couple weeks that I’ve used this strap, I have never felt so confident with the camera at my side. What a difference from the velvet underside of my previous vintage strap!
Then came the idea for my Shooting from the Hip Contest!
{click the link to read about how to shoot from the hip}
To enter the contest and win your own HighKey Camera Strap all you have to do is “shoot from the hip”. Basically, you put your current camera strap on your shoulder, hold your camera at hip level, point, and shoot. Link your image here and my fabulous judges Heather of The Spohrs are Multiplying, Piper of Love, Maria of Mommy Melee, and Meghan of A Mom Two Bosy will pick a winner!
The contest will run until midnight on June 30th with the winner announced shortly thereafter. Make sure you label/tag your entry (wherever you are linking from) with “Shooting from the Hip”. That way the lovely judges know for sure that this is your entry.
Enter the direct link to your picture submission below, using inlinkz!
You can also have another chance to win your own [custom designed] camera strap over at HighKey Camera Strap.
[Disclosure: HighKey Camera Straps provided me with my camera strap for review. The opinions in this post, though, are purely my own. I was not compensated otherwise.]
{life}
We found it.
We finally found it.
We’d gone looking for it the Sunday before, to no avail.
This Sunday, though, Michael figured out which direction we could go, and lo and behold we found it.
And, what fun was had.
The kids got wet, and dirty, and tired.
Davey and I had an intense game of splish-splash.
Michael rolled his jeans up and got his feet wet, too.
* * * * *
In the last two weeks, we’ve been here eleven times.
Pack the bags, grab the snacks, fill the water bottles with ice.
It’s loud there and I often go into sensory overload.
Until I glide into the water with Davey.
The kids do their thing.
They find their friends.
They jump into ten feet deep.
It’s our summer time hang-out.
* * * * *
Late in the afternoon, yesterday, I missed a call while I was bathing the chlorine off David.
It was Michael, and his truck wouldn’t start.
He said he wanted to let it sit for an hour or two; then he’d try to start it again.
I began cooking dinner.
Of course that’s when he called to tell us to come and get him.
We drove out to the forest, and there he was all sweaty and tired.
Today we returned so he could tinker with tools, to see if it would start.
Apparently, the old Ford likes it in the woods.
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