Outside My Window ~ 6.12.2011

Outside my window…in a word, steamy.  At 11:00 this morning, it is 80°F with 73% humidity and relatively no wind…steamy.  Our forecast high for today is 89° with a 50% chance of thunderstorms.  Yesterday we had a 30% chance of storms and storm it did, for quite some time around sunset and into the night.  We received over a quarter inch of rain last night on top of the rain we received Friday night.  My plants are loving these rainstorms after baking this past week in unbelievable heat.  The whole week was hot but Thursday was incredibly hot…so hot I felt a wave of nausea wash over me when I walked outside.  Just miserable.  I am more than a little surprised my seedlings and the basil I planted are hanging on and actually doing quite well…considering I planted everything just in time for the heat wave we have been experiencing the last few weeks.  Perfect timing huh?  🙂

I am glad…for all the rain recently.  I’m not so fond of the thunder and lightening like this past Friday…that was quite intense…but the saturating rain has been welcome.  The ground was hard and a bit dusty looking in the flower garden….and I noticed some of the grass around the area was starting to look a little brown.   Now the soil looks darker, richer and definitely moist….mot to mention it helps keep the reservoirs full.

I am thinking…I would like to recognize my two nieces, Danielle and Molly, and my youngest daughter’s best friend Danielle, on their graduations from high school.  Congratulations girls!  Such a monumental achievement for you all…oh the places you will go, the things you will see!

I am working on…notes from Friday night and Saturday online photography course ~ Artistic Post Production.  Fabulous course…I learned more from this guy in these two days on creating and using textures than I have in the last year researching on the web.  Doug Landreth was lighting up all kinds of light bulbs in my head….many “aha” moments as I listened and watched.  I  have pages of notes I need to organize into something a little more legible and organized. I have to admit I have always wondered how much you could actually learn utilizing online courses…now I am a believer.  This was my second course but my third web cast.  The first was food photography and unfortunately I didn’t see as much of that one as I would have liked, but I got some nice tips and knowledge from what I did get to see.  The other was not officially a course but an opportunity to spend a day with Jay Maisel.  Actually, it was “Another Day With Jay Maisel” presented through NAPP as a documentary of a photo walk through the streets of New York City and a tour of Jay’s studio home.  The film was well shot and edited perfectly.  Several people commented that it would make a great documentary on this man’s professional life…and I would have to agree.  Just add some personal bits and it would make an excellent biography film.  As it was, it served the purpose of this web cast perfectly.  Jay visited the studio for the screening of this film and they combined this with a question/answer session during breaks.  Amazing…this man is way talented.  He also offers intensive workshops with a class size of 10 from his studio home in New York several times a year.  Unless I strike it rich sometime soon, I won’t be attending one of those….the cost is $5,000 for 5 days ~ meals included.  😉  And…..he sells out these workshops. Every. Single. Time. 

I am going to…enjoy a less stressful time at work this week.  Yes, there are still deadlines that must be met….just not as much work waiting in the wings for those deadlines.  Amen.

I am hoping…I get the chance to meet up with my niece and her beautiful family while they are visiting in Williamsburg these next few days.  I know how hectic vacations away from home can be, but we will hopefully be able to coordinate our schedules to spend a little time together.

I am hearing…the ticking of my many clocks….the hum of the refrigerator….an other wise quiet house.  I would wish for a slight breeze to make my wind chimes sing if I had a wish for the day….and maybe a little cooler temps.  🙂

Plans for the week include…closing out the year at work, finally….getting ready for the new fiscal year on July 1st….possibly working at home one day, maybe not….my least favorite job of inventory at the warehouse at work ~ critters live in warehouses and I’m on full alert the entire time for something to come skittering out from somewhere.  Of course I am generally teamed with my supervisor who gets a laugh at throwing small objects on the floor around me just to see me jump a foot as I scream “what was that”.  Yes, I live to entertain.

One of life’s little pleasure…air conditioning on a hot day.  Seriously folks, after the heat we experienced this past week if I were to see the individual that invented air conditioning I would kiss them on the lips.  Genius…I live in the mid-Atlantic and I have lived and visited many other places in the South, with the heat and humidity, I don’t know how anyone does it, or did it back in the day for that matter.  I know there are hotter places….but unless you have experienced east coast and/or deep south heat and high humidity, you have no idea.

From my camera…I produce photographs of how I see things ~ my vision of what I shoot.  A very dear friend of my family recently asked me “how much better my photographs can get?”…I answered “I hope a lot better”…because I never stop trying.  Thank you Linda, I appreciate that…you really made me smile when I read your comment on Facebook this morning.  My photograph today,  I love it when I walk into my bedroom and catch a sight like this outside my window….everyone is trying to keep cool I suppose…  🙂