Week 14~Up Close!

First things first...let me apologize for not being able to return any visits last week! Let's just say....it was one of those, and close the chapter.

I was excited to see Sally's prompt for us this week:

"The macro shot! Start exploring the details of the ordinary up close and glimpse a world that you may never have noticed until you observed it magnified "

It immediately brought to mind something that I discovered a while back in my stash of "jewelry goodies". I picked up this piece of shale on the shores of Lake Huron months back, while exploring with visiting friends from North Carolina. I grabbed a few of them, just because they fascinate me, and I thought I might be able to create something for each of them in the way of a remembrance of the Canadian Shield. I didn't look at them that closely, just picked up a few shapes that appealed to me.

And then one day I was looking for a focal, and noticed this.....

Click on the picture to enlarge....how many fossils do you see? *

.....and here are my other favourites of my pictures this week....two of the many shells in my collection

Let's see what the other participants have discovered in their macro explorations! You'll find them HERE. 

*PS....I count at least 4 fossils in that rock....how many did you find?

It was apparently a very buggy day those thousands of years ago!

Focus on Life~Have Faith

I believe for every drop of rain that falls
A flower grows,

I believe that somewhere in the darkest night
A candle glows,

I believe for everyone who goes astray,
Someone will come to show the way,
I believe, I believe.*

If you believe in the talent of our wonderful photographers.....check here for their latest work!

* "I Believe" sung by Dolly Parton, written by Jason Castro and Seth Mosley. 

Focus on Life~Observe the Curve

I'm a little late this week, as I really took Sally's prompt to heart, and spent two hours yesterday "Observing the Curve".....

The BIG big news here all this last week (hey, we're a small town!!) has been this:

ETA: I edited the photograph, because I wan't fond of it and another poster inspired me......thanks!!

Target's incursion into Canada has been big news for several months now, but 13 of the new-to-Canada stores opened in this area in the last week. So far, just a "soft opening", ie no Grand Openings yet, but the stores doors are open and people are checking it out. So, of course, I had to do the same!

I was disappointed to find no Cherry Coke, and no Ro-tel...both of these are unavailable in Canada and I had high hopes.*sigh* No such luck. But I am keeping faith, as the stores are clearly not fully stocked yet; in fact, there are lots and lots of empty shelves at the moment.

I DID find my favourite underwear!...and, the prettiest ever set of plastic tableware for the deck, which I reluctantly left there as a) I don't need it b) I can't really afford it and c) I DO want to take that drive south in May.

Like all stores, there are great prices on some things ($7.99 for my fave shampoo, for which I usually pay $9.99!) and awful prices on others ($9.29 for the 1 kilo peanut butter...are you kidding me??), so you really have to be aware of your pricing.

But I think it will be a hit! I'll be back, and will probably check out the (much larger) store in Newmarket soon....

For now, why don't y'all check out the much-more-interesting curves of the other participants in this week's challenge HERE

Focus on Life~Week 11

"The Possibilities are Endless" Sally says....and, indeed, I had SO many ideas for this week's prompt running through my brain.

Here's her clarification of this week's prompt:

"This week pay attention to your surroundings and your daily activities and show us what holds endless possibilities for you."

After a day or two of thought....I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to photograph. I had a day off midweek, and although it was foggy and lightly snowing, I didn't let it impede my progress toward my goal. I hit the highway, drove the thirty-some odd miles, pulled into my favorite parking spot, and jumped out of the car.

I responded to the friendly greetings, picked up my basket and got down to business. I was only there for 45 minutes, but it was an extremely productive visit; I found everything I was looking for and then some...and they had a sale on!!

Time to hit the road...still snowing, but not too slippery...and I had an uneventful although slow trip home. It wasn't until I pulled into my driveway that I realized....I FORGOT TO TAKE THE PHOTOGRAPH!!

So..here is some thievery from That Bead Lady's own site to show you what I was going to take the picture of This seed bead wall is my inspiration!! In fact, it's probably my inspiration way too often, as they know me by name....

But, so I'm not cheating TOO badly....here are my other two daily inspirations for endless possibilities:

My lovely colour wheel, which lives on the wall above my beading table:

And, of COURSE....this.....:

Be sure you check out what possibilities our other participants found HERE

Focus on Life~All Wrapped Up!

It's Week #10 of our year-long Photography challenge! Can you believe it??!

Here's Sally's prompt for this week....

"You have a prompt that has many different meanings, grab the camera and show us how you are interpreting "All wrapped up"!"

I was lucky this week to have a bright sunny day on my day off, so my camera and I went Exploring (my word for 2013) and here's what we found:

The yachts in the Marina, all wrapped up and ready for the ice to break up in the lake!

The ornamental cedars downtown....still all wrapped up in snow, but starting to awaken!

These are still all wrapped up....but they're soon to be unwrapped! *big grin*

My Bead Soup arrived this week (see previous post), all wrapped up in pretty lilac!

And, of course, I couldn't leave out this guy.....pretty rapt, isn't he??

Be sure to check on what our other particpants found over at Sally Russick's blog: The Studio Sublime

It's Heeeeeeeere!!

My Bead Soup arrived!! My Bead Soup arrived!

 Leah Tees has spoiled me rotten!

And a wonderful Bead Soup it is! It arrived packaged in a pretty sheer baggy, with a little hint of what was within:

Tea!! How did you know I was a tea grannie, Leah??! Now I can sip AND stitch :-)

I LOVE and design with colour and lots of it, but I really don't WEAR colour for some reason...I'm the Woman in Black! So Leah hit it head on with her choices:

....a gorgeous ceramic (?) focal from Tori Sophia

....another gorgeous gemstone focal...agate? Jasper?

...a pretty round silver toggle closure

...some really cool silver "paisley" charms

....seed beads in size ll/0 in three colours (yaaay!)

...some lovely-in-the-hand fat black drop beads...these feel yummy!

...three beautiful chunky ceramic beads, shading black to grey

...purple sparkle! (I'm all about the sparkle)

...a fun pearl/gemstone/sparkly mix of bigger seeds and shapes

...and last but not least, two softly rounded squares of striped jasper

A few closeup photos:

What immediately came to my mind...is Tropical Night Sparkle....I don't know where that came from, but that's what the muse says, and so that's where we're headed.

 Check back on April 13th for the reveal!

Focus on Life Week 9 ~ Knock, Knock

First of all, this week I found it very interesting and coincidental that Sally characterized Week 9's challenge with a quote from Temple Grandin :

"A door opened and I went through it". 

Not only is Temple Grandin a hero of mine (see my National Inclusion Project involvement...), but could that quote not describe ALL of our involvements in this challenge?? 

Sally says "Let's open some doors to see what awaits us on the other side..."

I spent some time early this week to see what door I wanted to open, and made a decision that I was excited about...but unfortunately, Mother Nature has chosen not to cooperate once more. My chosen door "lives" about 30 miles away and it has snowed for the fourth day in a row today, so the roads are just not conducive to day tripping. 

SO.....I've kept with my original theme and used a photograph which I took in October of last year, on my trip to Washington, DC:

This is a door which leads to the entire world.

 I am a lover of history, and this door to the Smithsonian Museum led me to several days of exploring the world, its people, its cultures, its jewels, its shoes, its dresses, its dark days and its brighter ones. Thank you indeed to James Smithson for his philanthropy and his foresight! I loved it!

A couple of examples:

What you might eat from if you are invited to dine at the White House:

Part of the original funding:

Hilary Clinton's inaugural ball gown:

The actual counter and stools where the Greensboro NC sit-in took place in 1960.

The rest of my Washington pictures are HERE if you would like to see them. 

Please be sure to visit the other participants linked at Studio Sublime