14 June 2009
A Sunday full of pain and aloneness. I woke up late this morning in such pain that I could barely stand up straight much less walk around. I lounged about popping ibuprofen like candy until my stomach also hurt. Marita Beth left me to go to a crop, so I turned off all the lights and laid down to watch some movies. Unfortunately, all that pain also prevented me from going to my football match. Bottom line: No more Saturday night bowling if I have a Sunday night game.

I took this photo on the front porch just before I waved good bye to my woman.

Cheers.

~KR (Written on 18 June 2009)

Listening to:
Play for Today by The Cure
from Seventeen Seconds

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.013 sec (1/80)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 80
Exposure Bias: -1/3 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire

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13 June 2009
Kelly is home if but for a short (too short) time. To celebrate her return to the North Texas fold a number of us joined her at the Rahr brewery for several pints of adult frothy yumminess and then retired to the Yucatan Taco Stand for lunch and more yumminess. This is Kelly with a massive plate of nachos that Randy ordered not realizing it was going to feed an entire table full of people:

We had fun, good beer (including Toña, a beer from Nicaragua that I’d never had…one more for the beer log), good food (I had an excellent Portugese Chorizo and Clam Chowder dish) and a potent margarita or two. The only drawback is that the brewery warehouse is not air-conditioned, and it was a very humid 98º F outside.
After Rahr & lunch, MB & I ran home quickly to meet a client of hers, then off we went to a quarterly gathering of the Just-Us League. Great day, great fun, but by midnight I was tuckered out.
Cheers.

~KR (Written on 15 June 2009)

Listening to:
Darkman by Danny Elfman
from Music for a Darkened Theatre: Film & Television Music, Volume 1

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.04 sec (1/25)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: -1/3 EV
Flash: Off

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12 June 2009
Still trying to get some elusive lightning shots.

I’ve just had no luck with them my entire photographic "career." When I was very young and just learning how to use an SLR, I set up a tri-pod inside Caelum Moor (a local tribute to Celtic standing stone circles that has sadly since made way for suburban shopping centre development) during a heat-lightning storm and attempted to capture some long-exposure lightning shots. Unfortunately, I had mis-remembered my "training" and the aperture was almost fully closed rather than fully open and I was only exposing for a few seconds at a time. I thought I’d gotten better since then, but I most obviously have not since I’ve yet to capture a lightning shot at all.
Cheers.

~KR (Written on 15 June 2009)

Listening to:
No by Shakira
from Pure Intuation

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.125 sec (1/8)
Aperture: f/5.5
Focal Length: 23.2 mm
ISO Speed: 250
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire

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11 June 2009
Some of the most serious thunderstorms I’ve seen in many years rolled through on the 10th and 11th. They were phenomenal and dumped huge amounts of much-needed rain on the area.

I tried all this drive home to capture some of the spectacular lightning that was rumbling the sky. Instead, I got quite a few shots of the "windshield wipers slappin’ time." It was almost as though I was "holdin’ Bobby’s hand in mine."
Cheers.

~KR (Written on 15 June 2009)

Listening to:
Who by Fire by Leonard Cohen
from The Best of Leonard Cohen

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire

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14 June 2009

Flag Day

I woke up earlier than Kyle this morning, poured my coffee and took the dogs outside with me for my garden time.  <insert sigh of contentment, here>  I took this photo of Cormac while I was there.

The timing was perfect, for just as Kelly and I decided we wanted breakfast, Kyle was up.  We arranged for Kelly to pick up a couple of things at the store on her way to us, and by eleven or so, we were all eating scrambled eggs and having a bloody mary.  Welcome home, Kelly!

Next on my agenda, was attending Dana’s crop, and after allowing myself to get sucked into a chick flick with Kyle, I finally headed to her house around three.  Once there, I enjoyed the company of some wonderful women I love, and learned how to use the Creative Memories computer program.  Digital scrapbooking may just be the way to go for this busy girl.  We’ll see.

I got home much later than I’d planned and said goodnight to my husband who, sadly did not play in his football match due to a very sore back.  Bowling perhaps, is the culprit, there.  I’m not sure.  But, he’s unhappy and uncomfortable and I feel badly for him—after all, I am all too well-acquainted with back pain, and wouldn’t wish it on anybody!

Tonight’s a late night for me . . . my mama’s coming to visit!  I expect their arrival on Tuesday some time.  So, between now and then some housecleaning will have to happen!

~MB

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13 June 2009

It’s been a while since I’ve had the pleasure that this photo represents. A long time ago, it seems, I used to spend a few minutes every morning in this little garden in our front yard. I’d write in a journal, or read a magazine, and drink my coffee. But, in the last couple of years, with my springtimes being so busy with sewing deadlines, I’ve neglected this happy little spot. This year, I decided I wanted to reclaim that time, but the spot itself wasn’t ready for me, after so long untended. The Asian Jasmine had come on strong, and the bench was pretty unstable, so I let the ants and the splinters talk me out of my little corner.

On Friday I fixed it! I tore out a bunch of the jasmine, and reigned it back into submission. I changed the curve of the path, layed some new paving stones to keep the plants from growing up under the bench, and finally unloaded the new bench from my truck. Voila! Hard work pays off and I once again have my little meditation corner in my garden. And the path is more open, with room now for the dogs to lay at my feet.

I took full advantage of my corner this morning, and enjoyed a cup of coffee, and some Facebook and email time outdoors, in what was a surprisingly pleasant morning. Kyle had work to do (still making up for the nine weeks in a row that Terrell had to be the one to work on Saturday mornings), so it got me out of his way, as well.

By noon, we were on our way to the Rahr. Long-anticipated, this is Kelly’s first day back home after the end of the Georgia Renaissance Festival, and she had expressed the desire to visit the Rahr Brewery for their usual Saturday event. We don’t need much of an excuse to do that, so it became the plan. The heat was daunting, but, the group of friends who joined us there, the free-flowing Iron Thistle on tap, and the subsequent wonderful meal at the Yucatan Taco Stand made the sweating worthwhile.

And, I think I may have taken the photo that needs to be Kyle’s next profile picture for Facebook or whereever!

We came home briefly to meet Doug and Marianne so I could inspect Santa fabrics . . . that’s a whole different story . . . and then headed out to Main Event for our now quarterly meeting of the Just Us League.  This is a great group of friends from our years in the comic book industry.  And, although this was our first bowling event together, I doubt it will be the last! 

I can’t brag on my game this time, though, that’s for sure.  Between the recent physical exertion of all the yard work and tree trimming, and the heat, I was tired and not on my game at all.  But, it was fun.

And at the end of another wonderful Saturday off, there’s still a Sunday to enjoy!

~MB

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12 June 2009

It’s done. At least for now. The majority of the renovation work I’ve been planning for my happy little garden zone, is done. About two or maybe three more bags of leaves, and I’ll really feel like the job is complete. But, I’m thrilled with my new bench and pavers. I worked today in two to two-and a half-hour shifts, stopping in between for food and water (yes, I drank water!) and Gatorade. It was very hot, and I worked up such a good sweat, I surely must have burned off some calories.

By the time Kyle got home, I was already showered and resting. We were expecting a pretty harsh storm (which ended up shifting direction and missing us completely, hammering Cleburne and Waxahachie, instead!) and I was really enjoying the slight drop in temperature. So, I sat in my new, improved garden zone and listened to the wind in the trees for a while. And I played with my camera. I obviously don’t know nearly enough about my camera, and couldn’t get any good shots of the garden in the dark. But, I did get this cool shot of my stained glass fleur de lis hanging in the window of the Mickey Room. You can see the movement of the silhouetted photinia plant, in the gusty wind. I’ll take photos of the garden tomorrow.

~MB

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11 June 2009

I ran an errand today to the local Lowe’s store and purchased the last of the paving stones I needed to get to work on my little garden renovation project. I’ve been driving around with the new bench in the truck for some time, now. When I got home, I realized I really had a couple of other yard work projects that were more important . . . like dealing with the downed branches from the storm last night. So, one thing led to another, and it wasn’t long before I found myself on the roof trimming the box elder tree so its heavy branches weren’t leaning on our roof, and/or scraping shingles off in the wind. By the time Kyle got home, I had begun the icky job of moving our woodpile (something we have to do periodically to keep undesirables from nesting in it). When I quit it was part due to hunger and fatigue, and part due to the unusually large and voracious mosquito population we seem to have due to all our recent rain. I quickly showered and Kyle fixed us some dinner. Too tired to do much else, I watched something on television with Kyle, snapped this photo of the cool stuff hanging from the lamp next to my chair, and went to bed. Tomorrow, I’ll begin the garden project.

~MB

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10 June 2009

This is a piece of fabric I keep tripping over in my workshop. The colour just wouldn’t translate for me—it’s a rich, royal, purple. It’s not heavy enough for Renfaire use on its own, really . . . and the fibre content is all wrong. But, combined with other more stable fabrics, it will make for perfect accents or bias trims on some royal thing for her majesty!

~MB

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9 June 2009

I went on a quest today, for the necessary accessories for my new cell phone.  It came with a wall charger, but no car charger.  And it is pretty and new and . . . fragile.  So, I was determined that I needed a case for it, to protect it from . . . me.  Remember, the phone it replaces was the Nextel phone developed for construction sites and military settings—it was practically indestructable.  This one . . . not so much!

So, remembering that the case I wanted was available at Best Buy, that’s where I headed.  I bought a car charger there, but the case was twenty bucks, and left it in the store. The Sprint store sells the same clear plastic case in a two-pack with a silver one for twenty bucks!  So, I went to the Sprint store. They didn’t have it. I went to Radio Shack.  They didn’t have it.  I drove across Arlington, to the big Sprint store and they didn’t have it!

I was frustrated and had just about resigned myself to having to order what I wanted online and wait for it to come (they called the Mansfield store and found out they didn’t have it,either!), when one of the employees discovered what I was looking for on a sales desk.  Whew!  Happy, I gave them money and pointed the truck toward home.

Between the Radio Shack and the second Sprint store, I drove down Collins Street, and was again amazed at how that neighbourhood has changed.  I snapped this photo of the dominant object known by some as the JerryDome, while driving.  Not too bad, considering.

~MB

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