Saturday, January 29, 2011

Into the Archives: Palisade Sunset

Scanned Polaroid

I had not planned to spend all morning taking dust out of scanned photos, but I wanted to get into my prints and negatives, see how they would come out, and get a few online. (I didn't do the spotting as completely as I would have if I felt like I wanted to devote the time today.) I had started with a completely different subject in mind, and when I couldn't find those pictures right away, I began with this sunset. There are eight images on the page, all different, so come on over and check it out.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Tuesday, January 04, 2011

Impulse Purchases


Back home. This is the only picture I took today. I took it with the camera in my phone, and it rather boggles my mind that it came out so well. For the first two years of my Blackberry career, my camera had no phone. I'd see phone photos online and they were so poor I didn't care about not having one, but when I got my second Blackberry (a Bold), I could not believe how well the photos came out. I don't want to go into Blackberries much today, though, because I have a whole story about phones I may want to rant about. Back to this picture. Right away I notice the lovely multicolored drawstring bag. I bought a bunch of them over a period of time when I lived in Colorado, using them for tarot cards and other things. I became so addicted, I bought way more than I needed, even sending fabric I'd bought to be made into bags, but I have to say they are one of the purchases I have never regretted, because I use them for many things and have gotten so much pleasure out of the colors and patterns. I use this one for my portable hard drive when I travel, so that's why it's on the desk. "We" just got home.

The big, wide cup is an impulse buy that I'm glad I made. I bought four just because I saw them and they appealed to me. I use them every day for just about everything from oatmeal to soup. The shape and size are perfect. They were probably pretty inexpensive, but when I bought them every dollar counted even more than it does today. I remember it was a struggle to convince myself I could have them. So glad I did it.

The green box is another story. At the moment, it's only holding my computer up at eye level, which would better be done with books. (I should swap it out.) I thought it would be cool to digitize all, or at least some of the dozens of cassette tapes I'd made from borrowed music or had purchased on cassette - especially one I have yet to find on CD - but once I read the instructions, I got scared. I'm only half geek, and the other half was pretty sure I was going to do irreparable damage to my files, disk or something. That was quite a long time ago, and I still have the thing.

Enough babbling for today.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Monday, January 03, 2011

From Bend to Home

Redmond, Oregon ~ January 3, 2010
6:45 in the morning

Adam dropped me off at the airport on his way to work, so I got there pretty early. Thankfully, the highway was dry, not icy, as the images of terrible fatal accidents on that same road were fresh in mind from the news.

I'd been sick since Christmas day with some kind of bug plus complications, so the wheelchair is significant. I was going to try to use one despite feeling like it was stupid, because I *can* walk, therefore I *should* be walking, even though it hurts and will have repercussions for the next couple of days. Being my first time, I didn't handle it very well. The lady was curt, there was nobody to push after I got through security, and I was in the dang thing in the first place because of muscles as well as feet. The muscle thing meant it was actually harder for me to push myself in the chair than to get out and walk. This is temporary. I know it's temporary, but it's been chronic for awhile, and what happened this holiday was a setback of sorts, even though it was a move in the right direction getting off the anti-inflammatory medication that had been keeping the muscle pain at bay. I will not be in a chair permanently, but it sure would have helped with the long distances in the airports. It is so hard sometimes to ask for help, especially when I *can* do it. If I'd had a broken leg, people would have been falling over themselves to help. We can relate to a skiing accident. It's hard to relate to someone who looks healthy and has "something wrong."

At the other end, there was no wheelchair for me at PDX, although I'd asked for one to be there. I didn't realize I might have to wait, and I didn't ask. I walked anyway. When I saw the chair pushers coming, I was nearly to baggage claim. I told them one chair was for me, but I couldn't remember where I'd put my flight number, so they kept on going to where, I knew, there would be nobody waiting.

Driving back to Astoria was fine, but there was frost on the ground mid-day from Longview to Astoria. I've never seen so many tire tracks weaving back and forth across the median, so although the ground wasn't slick when I passed through, it certainly had been.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Saturday, January 01, 2011

Snow for Happy New Year

Bend, Oregon ~ January 1, 2011

It's been cold and clear most of the week - really cold!



This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.