Circumstances in my life indicate I’ll be spending a lot of time in the near future explaining exactly what it does and does not mean to be goth.  I want to know what folks are saying

For now, enjoy the rainbows   We ran into these on the drive to the grocery after the Egg Hunt on Saturday.  Luckily Eric was driving and I could aim the camera out  the window!

~ sheila

Frozen fog sounds awful, but it sure is pretty. When I ran across town to deliver Alek’s backpack to the school [woops! he forgot it] this morning, I took some photos at the park.  I use this park for a lot of the product photos on my website.  I rarely see it in winter.  I think I’ve been missing out.

This is a rock wall which separates a picnic area from the playground.  I have to admit I’ve never noticed it before.

Just after I took this photo an older woman drove up behind me and rolled down her window.  “Lovely day for photos, isn’t it?”  And she shook her camera at me.  We talked about the ice frozen on the trees and agreed it was a shame that the paths weren’t clear for walking.  I would have loved to get down by the river which I could hear running in some place I couldn’t see.

I did push my way into the park a little ways to explore the winter.  I love how each branch is completely encased in ice.  And how you can see the unused playset in the background – oh, the cruel beauty that is mother nature

Happy to be back home, I’m enjoying a hot cup of coffee and will soon head out to the sewing studio.

~sheila

Last winter, my friend Kim and I started roaming the old cemeteries in the area taking photos to help out with some needed tasks at Find a Grave. As I am an amateur genealogist, it seemed the right and proper thing to do [before I could feel good about posting my own requests].  Taking photos for those requests, while still very important, morphed into taking photos for our own enjoyment.  Truth is these stones won’t be around forever. Even in a few months, we saw serious deterioration in one of our more frequently visited locations. Photography helps preserve them – just a little.  When the kids were released from school from the summer, they started coming with us.  I’d replaced my first digital camera with a newer version, so I’d bring along ‘the old one’ and let the kids take turns snapping pictures.  Because there are four of them, I’d occasionally hand over the newer camera and let them play.  I love digital cameras for the ‘no risk’ aspects!

On a visit to Seigler Cemetery in Frankton, Indiana, Ravynn captured this photo.

When I started listing some of my own work on our Etsy site, she asked me to list a black-and-white version of her photo.  I was happy to do it – I love this photo!  Several times a day, she’d come to me and ask if any sold yet.  I’d been warning her it could take a couple weeks or a month – even longer – for a sale.  Well, only two days in, when we returned home from dance classes last night, she checked email and found a sale.

Ravynn has sold a photo.  A professional at age 8.

Now, we’re all hoping for a short winter, so we can get back to work without freezing our fingers.

~sheila