August 14

the Queen

I know, I know. The picture is not good. Again, I'm still trying to get back in the habit. I think I'm about to get caught up. (Confession -- not all the pictures in the past few days were taken on the date assigned, but I am trying to get that worked out too. :) ).

Anyway, I know the picture is lacking in quality in many areas. BUT, this bee was so cute that I just had to buy it when I saw it at the Mary Kay Seminar in Dallas. This was Kristi's "Mommy's home" present. For real, I bought it for her. ;)

August 13

Camera Family Portrait

How lame can I go?

Two canons = sony? Adoption of course. :)

I started to call it -- "Adoption, a Wonderful Option" or "Same Sex Marriage"

BUT

while I don't mind sharing my opinion, and even arguing when necessary, I really don't want to stir up trouble unnecessarily.

Yea, that's my story.

(The stickers -- yes, we left them on. I have found that when you take the stickers off, it leaves a residue. If you don't clean it properly (and I won't) it looks gunky in a few weeks. I'd rather have the color.)

August 12

tower

Inspired by a shot I saw on dpc the other day (don't remember the original photog or even what thread it was in or where it was at). That shot was much much better than this one. It's probably a good thing that I don't remember the orginator. This one would be a major insult . ..

August 11

My hero

My hero, Connie Lister.

Connie was one of my supervisors at the community college where I work. The woman was a walking stand up show. Wherever she went, we laughed.

Several months ago, Connie went to the doctor. She had been coughing and feeling "puny" for some time, and thought that she had bronchitis that just would not go away.

:(

Can we say lung cancer, boys and girls? crap. Not what we wanted to hear, and definitely not what Connie wanted.

She started her chemo, and it was a good report then a bad one, then a good one, then a bad one. Up and down, up and down. Finally, it simply got to where she could not work.

This picture was made on August 11, 2006 at a "Celebration of Life" party her children had for her at the Basic Skills Building where we work. She is a huge Jimmy Buffett fan (she intended on leaving hospice one night to make his local concert -- 2 hours away), so it was a tropical theme going.

Education was a very important thing to Connie. She loved the students and would always encourage them. As a result, it was announced at her party that a scholarship had been created in her name and would provide at least one (maybe two) annual scholarships to Haywood Community College, for a Basic Skills Graduate (Adult High School or GED), in Connie's name. There wasn't a dry eye in the place. The children also announced that any money from Connie's estate would go to the scholarship instead of them.

Connie, You are and will always be an inspiration to me. I loved the time I wasted (on the clock, no less) while we swapped family stories and laughed until we cried. Your outlook on life always cheered me up, and your sense of humor is one that will never be matched or even rivaled. I could always count on you to be honest about what I was doing, in life and in the classroom. And thanks for all the "pregnant advice" you offered and for all the times you kept me calm when I thought I was approaching a crisis.

I love you.

August 10

another Kristi

I think it is fun to see how she changed since I started blogging. She is just reaching that age where she likes to "pose" for the camera.

Kristi

YaHoooWooy

GREAT NEWS!!! Steve Davidson has been found -- alive and healthy.

Thank you for your prayers and thoughts; I'm sure the family appreciated it!

August 9

Just trying to get back in the habit. :(

Shot with my little sony.

A Special Request

A member at dpchallenge.com, stdavidson, has gone missing. Will you please look at the myspace page and memorize his face, tag, etc. The more people looking, maybe the better the chances of finding him . . .

Steve is Missing

July30 thru Aug 4

Okay my captions kept getting all screwed up. The hotelly looking pictures are where I stayed in Dallas -- The Anatole Hilton. The predominantly pink pictures are from "Awards Night" and the others are just airplanes and stuff.

Ya'll can figure out which is which.

One that I want to point out (I think I uploaded it) is the blond woman. Her name is Rean Tarbet and she is seriously amazing. She has been battling cancer for 31 years. She has had 75 rounds of radiation and countless chemo treatments. The last I heard, only a very small percentage of her heart was functional (due to the chemo and radiation). STILL, she was the number 3 national sales director at the seminar and earned (I think) 8 MILLION dollars in commissions last year. She is more persistent than the energizer bunny. From now on, when I have an obstacle that almost stops me, I just look at it through my Rena filter, and woohoo, it disappears.

If you need a hero, I strongly recommend her!

August 4

I am home from Dallas! What a trip. I have close to 300 pictures to go through, so it may be this weekend before they get up. Instead of doing "one a day" I'm going to just post a bunch for several days. :)

Laters!

July 29

No activity for a few days.
I'm off to Dallas and will be back sometime next week.

:)

Thanks for looking.

Toppers

Light as a Feather

Confetti

July 23 and 24

And I don't have one for the 25 . ..

July 22

Misfit

July 21

Masculinity

July 20

You will notice there is no picture for July 19. There is a really good, deep, philosophical reason for that. Truly.


I just flat out didn't want to take a picture yesterday. bah.

Truth of the matter, I'm a little bummed out by my recent scores at dpchallenge. They have all sit just under 5 all week, then barely eek above five at the finish. The saddest part is, the score is justifiably deserved. :( Anyway, just gotta keep plugging.

I DO have a picture for today, such as it is.

I call it "Femininity"

Candy lines

July 17

Follow the leader

Yea, right, like he follows her. hahahaha. Usually the other way around.
We went walking at Lake Junaluska tonight and met the most pleasant woman and her daughter. Turns out she was singing at one of the services at Stuart Auditorium, and had brought her daughter out to play until time to sing again. The daughter was just a few days younger than Kristiana, and they seemed intrigued by eachother. Travis had a ball playing with them.

I got some cute shots of the little girl (who was an absolute doll!), but I didn't use them today because I don't like to put kids' pics online with out parental permission/knowledge.

I do believe that I am now caught up with my PaD.

Past days explanations -- the animals were all present at our Vacation Bible School last week. The piano and "eyeliner" picture were considerations for the "lines" challenge at dpc (of which I still don't have anything to enter). And the candy picture was and outtake for "abstract foods." (yucky picture entered, yucky score received. :) )

Oh yea, my photography site is up. It is just one page, right now, but at least when someone looks at it, there is something there besides my name. :)

www.karmashuford.com

July 16

Eyeliner

July 15

Candy

July 14

Piano Lines

July 13

Maggie

July 12

Ozzie

July 11

Dr. Evil

July 10

Bloom Where you are Planted

July 9

BREAK!!!

July 8

The top of a fish. :)

July 7

Does this little critter look mad, or what?

July 6

I have three shots from today. All from my walk at Lake Junaluska (I could exercise a lot better if I would leave the camera behind). With these, I have several pictures of a LJ, and am thinking of making it a "series" or putting them together on a big poster type thing. I like doing that kind of thing. Definitely a thought.

I am determined to get a good picture of a bumblebee (that's up there with my goals of shooting camels next to pyramids at sunrise/set in Egypt, the Kalahari Desert, the Serengeti, The Sydney Opera House at night, landscapes in Ireland, the canals in Venice, St. Basil's Cathedral at night (I've actually done this one, but it was before I got into photography, and it is BAD), anywhere in Hawaii, the Canadian Rockies, Hatteras Lighthouse, and a silhouette of Santa Claus in front of the moon on Christmas Eve. Actually, I'm just kidding about the lighthouse, though it would be cool), but bumblebees are difficult to photograph. Which is why this bumblebee is a bumbler and isn't too good, but I figured I would chronicle my efforts. :)

July 5

Suction Cup thingys on a paddle ball paddle game thing.

July 4

From one holiday to another . . .:)

July 3

Merry Christmas!

I have no idea. :)

July 2

???

July 1

Paper curls

This was my entry for the "straight" challenge (no editing allowed). BUT, this version is edited and looks so much better. :( I may pull mine before midnight.

June 30

Feeding the geese


WooHOOO. Another month and I am still going!!! :)

Yea, for me. This is getting to be kinda fun, now. And I do think my photography is improving, somewhat. If nothing else, I am forcing myself to be more creative. I've had a string of good scores at dpc (for me, that is 5.3 and above), and even a blue ribbon.

So, 1/2 down, 1/2 to go!!

June 29

Kristi plays too

Travis putt-putting