First Day of Spring

Yesterday was the first day of Spring, and Spring means thaw, and thaw means lots and lots and lots of water.  This is a shot of the old power dam in Cannon Falls on Lake Byllesby.  It usually looks tame and dead, but not right now!

The wind really whips across the lake this time of year, so the water spray was blowing onto nearby trees and fences, coating them with ice.  The trees tinkled when the wind blew them and little icicles would fall on my head.

After I finished with the dam, I took pictures of the broken ice along the shore of the lake. 

The last two images are exact opposites of each other.  One is beautiful and the other is disgusting.  Pick up after yourselves, people!

Baby Face

This is one of my grandnieces.  She's as cute as a bugs ear and I adore her.  I spent lots of time with her this past weekend, and I came armed and ready with my camera.  I think this is the first blog with 11 pictures in it, but she's worth it.

Here she is with her big brother.  She wants to follow him everywhere he goes and do everything he does, of course.

"I've got a secret and I'm not telling!"

 What a cute little smile.

"Nom nom nom, my blankie tastes good."  Mommy thought she might be teething again.

Both Mommy and static electricity were grabbing her in this shot.

"It's been a rough day."

"I'm vegging."

Oh, yeah!  She's gonna be a heart-breaker when she gets older.

Sweetie Pie

"I'm up to something.  Watch out!"

Death and Life

Genealogy research has been a hobby of mine for several years.  One of the great things about genealogy is that you don't have to dwell on death.  Death of a loved-one too painful?  Fine.  Go back to when they were a kid playing with their siblings.  Or when they were a young adult courting their mate.  Genealogy doesn't care if you have black sheep in your family or if you had a baby out of wedlock or if you have an extra toe.  It just is what it is.

Some people may think this image is macabre, but I think of it as peaceful.  Death and life coexisting.  I guess I'm still thinking of springtime coming too.  New life is about to sprout from the old, "dead" plants.  Wow, I sure am philosophical today!

Techie Corner
I was trying out some new Photoshop techniques which make images look more like illustrations than photographs.  This is two images blended together.  My beautiful little red-haired grand-niece wasn't sitting in a cemetery.

How Dare You...

...take my picture.  If looks could kill, I would be dead now.  Would that make me a ghost writer?

I haven't harrassed my cat for quite awhile and I wanted to experiment with one of my new flash attachments.  She usually won't look at me because she doesn't like the flash, but I managed to get a couple of shots.  I thanked her with some treats.  She forgave me.

A Shadow of Things to Come

Our Autumn Blaze maple is just itching to come back to life, but right now it's still naked.  Come on, spring!

There's life in them thar bones, I can feel it!