33/52 SLOW DOWN AND LOOK BACK

This week's theme is 'Slow Down and Look Back'. This is an old barn in FloMo that I have always wanted to photograph. I don't know who owns it or how it is still standing but it reminds me of what it must have been like to live in the days when FloMo wasn't a town but a wide space in the road.

We missed setting a new record

This week, we missed breaking the 1980 temperature record in the Metroplex by 2 days! We went forty days in a row with tempertures over 100 degrees. On the forty-first day the clouds rolled in and we only got to 97 degrees. During the 41st day, it was cloudy and then late in the afternoon the sun came out. We went to dinner on Grapevine Lake in Grapevine, Texas, and I took some pictures of the lake. The drought has lowered the lake considerably but the lake has successfully survived so far.

FIX IT FRIDAY

after:

From the iheartfaces.ning.com/forum/topics/fix-it-friday-108 blog's Fix-It-Friday article, I edited a photo taken by one of the authors. Anyone who wants to edit the photo can and then post it for everyone to see. I tried to focus on the face of the boy and get it clearer so his mother would fall in love with the shot. I used the Bohemian Symphony Collection from ohsoposhphotography.com.

I did a little lightening of his face and body and used BOHO 'Field of Dreams' and then the 'Morrocan Spice' to really bring out the the fall colors. I then brighten his shirt and tie. Sharpened the picture and sized for the web.

I highly recommend the Bohemian Symphony Collection. It just came out this week and I purchased it on the first day it was available.

Memorial Day

For Memorial Day, we had a combination Reagan/Currie-Strickland family fruit basket turn over. All of Lisa's family and all of the Reagan clan showed up at Lisa's house bearing baskets of food. The Reagan's got to meet all the Currie/Strickland kids as well as Lisa's one year old grand-daughter. She was having fun; but, was a little confused by all the new faces. Ashleigh was a trooper and dealt with us the best she could by ignoring all the fools making faces and strange noises at her. After a few tumbling exercises, she looked a little sleepy but was able to buckle under and stay up late with the 'big people'!! Maybe she liked us after all.

Catching up

I got to spend some time this long weekend working on my pictures and got caught up on some things I have been working on. I thought I would share this photo of Ashley at her birthday party. She had so much fun and didn't mind wearing her Angel wings. She has grown up so quickly this year. She is walking and talking and growing into such a big person. Her Mom had better hold on to her or she will be grown up before her very eyes. Have a great year, Ashley, but don't grow too fast.

An Open Leter to My Great-Niece Upon Her Graduation

Congratulations on graduating from high school. To date, this is the most important milestone in your life. You did it with the love and support of you family, their friends, teachers, and your friends. Tomorrow, you will start walking alone. Every step going forward will be yours to make. Everyone will be available to give advise; but, you get to make the final decision. My Mom always said 'Remember who you represent' every time we walked out the door. She taught us right from wrong and we knew every move we made revealed the way she had raised us.

MAY FLOWERS

This is the Cactus Flower I found across the road from the burnout hills in Pala Pinto county, Texas. It symbolizes hope after a rough and unexpected winter.