Winter Wonderland

Back home in our winter wonderland. We got over Stevens Pass safely Friday night, though it was a longer then usual trip do to an accident closure outside of Gold Bar, but all in all not too bad of a trip. Of course we get home and there is a whopping foot of snow in our driveway plus whatever the plows have pushed into the entrance. So we parked on the road and spent about 20 minutes shoveling out the driveway. Better to do it then, then compress everything and make it ice.

We sure are glad to be back to the slow drag of Okanogan. It's a chore going on vacation now because there are so many little things you want to do that you don't have the opportunity to do in Okanogan. Guess that is more of the life of living in a small town.

Yesterday Shawn enjoyed playing in the snow with his new snowshoes. I have a pair too, but he never seems to want to pause his playing to take a photo of me. They are our Christmas presents from his parents. We have yet to hit a big trail, but our yard worked pretty darn well for Shawn's first exposure to snowshoeing.

The cat also got some play time in the snow. It was much deeper then he remembered and I don't think he appreciated us throwing him into the middle of it.

Today we hit up the infamous Sheep Slaughter Hill. Oh my! Shawn rates it even better then Pilchuck for all you classic sledders out there. There was a jump pre-built that Shawn had a bit too much fun with. I'm expecting some sore back complaints a little later tonight. We hope to return on Tuesday with Amy and her family. I'm sure Shawn would have more fun with other sledders. I braved the hill only a few times, but mostly enjoyed watching Shawn and the other actual kids playing and got a few pictures in :0)

Fancy Family

A little impromptu photo before dinner last night. Of course why would I bring the tripod my brother gave me for Christmas when the cabinet works just as well in the hotel room. I wish I could have spent a bit more time playing with posing the shot, but hey we were in a hurry to get to the complimentary drinks in the hotel lobby.

From left to right is Shawn's dad, Bob; Shawn; me; Shawn's mom, Robin; Shawn's bro, David; and David's girlfriend, Kaylee.

The Other Side

Back on the other side of the mountains and all it seems to do is rain here :0) The sad part is we are missing the snow back home. I think they are supposed to get another six inches. Hopefully it will all still be there when we get back.

We got to Shawn's folks late Friday night and left early this morning for our annual trip to Seattle. I lugged my camera around the first half of the day of shopping in hopes of finding some good photos, but gave up as the rain just kept coming. We did get a picture of all of the family prettied up before dinner which I will get edited and loaded up hopefully this evening.

We stayed at Hotel Monaco which has to be one of the most unique hotels I've stayed in. It is completely pet friendly. You can have any size dog and you can even bring your cat and rent a litter box. Since we didn't bring any of the animals we got a goldfish in each room to help keep us company. Connected to the Monaco is one of my favorite restaurants in Seattle, Sazarac. Their motto is American food with a Southern flair. It is the only place in the NW I've been able to get my favored fried chicken livers. Oh so good... sometimes I can be such a southern gal.

Then we headed to the 5th Avenue Theater for "Jersey Boys." It's a musical about the career of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. It was like being treated to a concert. It was great. Though Shawn and I enjoyed "The Buddy Holly Story" a bit more because I think we knew a few more of the songs, but it was still fun.

After the play we wandered to Purple for a late night treat. Purple is a wine bar with a crazy amount of wine and a staircase that goes to nowhere. It was pretty neat, but by then I was starting to catch Shawn's cold and wasn't feeling my best.

It was a fun night and I'm not sure if we'll be able to pass up this tradition to have a white Christmas at home.

Christmas Spirit and Frost

We got the lights up on the house. The first time we've actually had a house to decorate together. We put a limit of $50 on lights and I think we did alright don't you? We started the afternoon of the 1st and by the time the snow was done Monday morning we had 8 1/2" of it. So sad that it melted as fast as it did, but we had some flurries this morning and there is snow forecast for this week.


Thursday, on my day off, I finally pulled my camera out again. The freezing frost was simply amazing! I stopped down at the Legion park and took some photos. The river is trying to freeze over, but not quite yet. Then I took some more at home when the sun peeked out for just a few moments. I got some blue sky and the ice crystals on the wind spinner, but it quickly fogged over again. I don't think I have ever seen a frost/fog quite as think and long lasting as the one that happed that day. It was very beautiful though.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

Six inches and counting. Yup, we have a real winter on this side. It started pretty heavy last night around 5 and the Mickey just wasn't sure what was going on. Of course with it dark, no pictures to really speak of, not for not trying :0) Shawn got up nice and early this morning and shoveled the walkway and our driveway where the snow plow pushed in a good amount of snow. Not that we are really planning on going anywhere. We were supposed to go get a Christmas tree east of Tonasket, but I think neither of us are comfortable with heading up here. We'll see though, if my co-worker is driving, then we might be game. If not we'll walk down to the High School Christmas Tree sale and drag one home.

My picture contribution today is Mickey. He was a bit surprised how deep the snow got when I tricked him to run through the snow.

Snowbirds

So the snow has fallen! Our first measurable snowfall... or should I say the first snowfall that we can make snow drinks out of. Shawn had two last night. It's a family tradition of mixing snow, milk, sugar and vanilla and eating a yummy slushie.

This morning Mickey enjoyed some outside time without my supervision. I had accidentally left the cat door open so he was out exploring. While I was hanging up some Christmas lights he came bounding around the corner very excited with himself. He ran around for a bit more in the snow while I finished up the lights and then willingly went inside because his little paws were so cold.

My only pictures of the snow so far. I have a hard time visualizing photos in the snow. Maybe it's all the white and lack of color. So here are some of the neighborhood quail in the snow.

SNOW!!

Our first significant snowfall! Possibly we'll get 1-2" tonight so maybe some photos tomorrow in between the gym and work.

Turkey Day

Our turkey day was relatively uneventful. No 40+ pound turkeys this year, no turkey frying fires, I mean the grass just grew back from the last incident two years ago. Nope, this year was pretty quiet. Though this was the first year we really had to travel a good distance home to Shawn's folks. A four hour drive later and we were on the warm side of the state. You can sure tell the difference now that we are getting used to these 18 degree mornings in Okanogan. Pretty soon we'll be wearing shorts when we go home to visit family.

No Black Friday shopping for me, instead I drove another three hours south to Kelso, just north of Portland, to get an afternoon visit in with my mom. She was in for the weekend to judge a dog show in Longview and I figured it would be a good chance to see her, since it has been about two years since the last visit.

My big accomplishment for the weekend vacation was my 6 mile run. Yes, 6 miles! I've been at the gym for about 2 months now and figured I'd test out my road running. I had Shawn drop me off in Machias on the Centennial Trail and I ran/walked/limped to my friends' house in Snohomish for an early Thanksgiving breakfast. I made it in an hour and half so I'm pretty darn proud of myself. That earned me the right to eat whatever I wanted in sickeningly large amounts and the rights to sit and do nothing for the rest of the day.

Now that we are home we are all hoping for snow soon. There is a big storm coming in and the Spokane news says snow every day this week, I just hope we get some of it. It sure feels like it's ready to dump. Hopefully that adventure will lead to more exciting photos then this one I took of Shawn and his brother frying one of the two turkeys for Thanksgiving this year.

Wedding Planning

Since you have all seen the ring, here's what I've been working on in secret: http://ingwedding.blogspot.com. Since we decided we needed to start planning a wedding before it became official with a ring I started jotting down my ideas. Enjoy the read.

The Ring

Photo by Zanna. Credits

Photo Shoot

I had such a blast taking photos this morning. Lisa asked if I would be willing to take family photos for her and I was very excited to do so. The girls were great and everyone was very photogenic. Here's a sample of a few, the rest you can view in my portfolio. Thanks for the opportunity Lisa, I hope you enjoy the photos!



There is finally snow in the forecast, never mind that it's in a snow/rain mix format.

My best friend Brent and his girlfriend Zanna are riding the train to Wenatchee where I'll pick them up next weekend. I'm excited for them to come visit. I've got to show Zanna digital scrapbooking and it will be good for Shawn to see his friends. I'm sure they will go golfing and maybe we'll go get some more wood. There is something very appealing to showing off this small town to our friends and family. Even though we all came from a small town, it's just different. Maybe it's the climate and that it doesn't rain all the time. Come on snow!

Happy Halloween

"The night before Halloween and we finally carved a pumpkin. This is the first house we've been in so it is exciting to display a pumpkin and look for trick or treaters. Shawn was the master carver of a pirate ship theme. Maybe we'll make it a tradition to carve the pumpkin the night before Halloween."

Credits Here

High School Soccer

The high school girl's soccer team was sure great today. They beat Cascade in the first rounds of district playoffs in a shoot-out. It was great to watch. I don't really follow soccer, but I got just as excited as everyone else around me during the last part.

I did get some photos of the girls. It was a real challenge basically shooting into the sun, but I'm impressed with how many came out. For all of them check out the gallery. Here's the teaser:

Pretty Peacock

I've been going through some of my older photos looking for some scrapbooking ideas. Thought I would post this one from the Vancouver Zoo this last spring. It was nice living in Bellingham simply because you could just hop across the border for an adventure.

Geocaching

We got out to do some geocaching finally. In case you aren't familiar, caching is basically a treasure hunt using a GPS. I can pretty much blame geocaching for my photography because we visit some amazing places that you wouldn't usually go to if it weren't for a Tupperware box buried among rocks.

The trip yesterday was also to see Conconully. We haven't really gotten out and about in the area yet. It's quite a neat little town. We could both see ourselves living there if we were retired, but I think it's a bit too far for us now even though there are some amazing pieces of property. Added bonus of the little restaurant, Lucky D's, that we went to had the best fries ever and an amazing chicken sandwich!

We explored a bit of Green Lake off Salmon Creek Road and saw some very cool RC hydroplanes. We were going to attempt Amy's hubby's cache up by Ruby, an abandoned town site, but I think we missed the turn. It was getting later by then, so we just decided to save it for another day of exploring.

It was nice to get out on such a sunny fall day. We took my truck and the chainsaw and used the opportunity to grab some wood on the side of one of the roads. From what I understand you can collect wood on public DNR land, but I have yet to figure out a safe way of telling whether the land is public or not. We didn't see any signs for quite some time so figured the wood was fair game. Got some nice big rounds that Shawn finished splitting today. It sure is getting colder. I think we can pretty much kiss nights above freezing goodbye for awhile. So far the fireplace has been pretty sufficient in heating though, we blast it in the evening and stock it really well for the night and it keeps the house warm enough. Then the wonderful sunshine does a pretty good job during the day. We'll see how much longer we can last without a fire during the day of course if I get a job during the day we won't have to worry about it.

Shawn at Green Lake

"Lake Grass" on Green Lake

"Fall Glimpse" along the North Fork Salmon Creek outside of Conconully

Scrapbooking and more

I've tried the traditional paper scrapbooking and, quite frankly, hated it. After giving digital scrapbooking a try my opinion has changed drastically. I have now officially made a page a day this week for a total of four pages. Shawn kept asking what you do with the pages afterwards and I just figured a slide show somewhere, but I visited Amy yesterday and she showed me what she does. She simply prints off the pages as an 8x8 and adds it into a photo album and presto... instant photo scrapbook. I have figured with all my photos I would just put together a simple plain piece of paper photo album for people (eventually customers) to look at, but now maybe I can do something a bit more involved and tell a bit about the location of my good shots. I usually have an interesting story behind them all. Apparently I have become marginally obsessed. Obsessed enough to start a collection at Scrapbook-Bytes. Go take a look at what I've done so far.

On other news I just got home from dropping off another two resumes. I think I have a total of four that I remember at this point. At least two that I've been turned down on and one word of mouth that never really resulted in anything. It is frustrating and I'll be the first to admit it. The most ideal position of all would be if my photography took off. I made another sale in my Cafepress store on an image I don't even have in my portfolio. I figured I would get that updated this afternoon with the photos from South Carolina that I have on disc.

So off to stare at Photoshop some more.

First Attempt

My first attempt is relatively successful I do so think. I gave digital scrapbooking a try. Thanks to Amy and Lisa's blogs I just decided to give it a try. Though I feel like I don't take the right kind of photos for scrapbooking, but this could still be a fun little past time. I do think it is much more fun on the computer then trying to do it with paper. I gave that a try a few years back and it was pretty hopeless. At least this way I can just delete what I don't like and not get upset about the money I spent.

Homecoming Parade

It was supposed to be a dark and nasty day on Friday. Shawn wasn't sure if the students would even be able to have their Homecoming Parade. Apparently the weather got the message and it was an absolutely amazing day on Friday. The sun was so bright and the temperature was just right for a fall day.

The parade was a unique small town experience I think. Even going to school in Granite Falls, which was small, never yielded a parade down the middle of the main street with firetrucks, floats and onlookers spilling out of local businesses. It was a next experience.

The Band

The Freshmen

The Sophomores

The Juniors

Senior Class 2008

And the great staff. Of course Shawn had to sit on the other side.

A Walk around Bellevue

I've gotten through all the photos and am quite pleased with myself. I got a few good ones out of the hundreds I took. I also didn't have any photo regrets... sometimes you look through your photos and see something you should have tried. Those are my photo regrets, but I didn't really have any. I felt like I tried everything I wanted at the right times. Some ideas still need refining.

My first photo stop was Downtown Bellevue Park. It's a really pretty green place in the middle of the concrete jungle. I sure don't miss living in the city. Seattle was fun at the time, but I wouldn't pick it now, it's still a great area to visit though.

Then I found a pretty cool little niche. The Bellevue Botanical Gardens. It is a free, very well maintained garden that isn't very far off the beaten path.

I played with logo ideas and here is my test run on my "Gentian" photo, what do you think?

There are still more photos on the web page in the portfolio and I have added options to purchase prints if you are interested.

Logo

So... Stephanie has a great little logo and I'm jealous. I want one too. Anyone have any ideas? I guess I've been pretty happy with just the copyright symbol, but it isn't nearly as fun as a logo. I'll have to toy with the idea.

In the mean time here's a great early morning shot of the Okanogan county courthouse tower. It's going to take me a bit to get through the photos from Bellevue.

"Morning Time"

Bellevue

I'm having a great time in Bellevue while Shawn is slaving away in his Math conference. I left my card reader at home, so no pictures until Sunday at the soonest. I've had lots of photo opportunities too.

Yesterday I walked down to Bellevue Square from the hotel and found a nice little park. The fall colors look great now so I sat on a bench for a bit and snapped a few photos. Then I wandered around the mall for like two hours. It was actually kind of nice to not have any time constraints and be able to just wander at your own pace.

This morning, although it was drizzly, I wandered up to the Bellevue Botanical Garden. Who knew there was such a cool free botanical garden in the middle of Bellevue. I spent two hours walking around taking a ton of photos. I'm very excited to review the 300 plus I took. I know, overkill, but it means there has to be at least one good photo right?

Football Thursday

Took the camera with to the Okanogan Middle School football game last night. The Bullpups took on the Grand Coulee Dam Pirates. The sun was blasting on the field and I wondered how the images would turn out and I am quite satisfied. Then when the sun dropped behind the clouds I got a gorgeous sunset to take pictures of. Though as soon as the sun set boy did the cold set in. The temperature dropped like a rock and the wind kicked up from the north.

Here's a sampling and the rest can be found in my portfolio via my web page.

"Practice Lineup"

"Sidelines"

"October Sunset"

Lazy Fall

My fall has so far been incredibly lazy. No beautiful shots of the fall foliage yet and no pretty pink sunrise photos. I'm up every morning at 6:30 to walk with Shawn to school and of course the times I don't bring my camera along the sunrises are beautiful. I'll bring the camera the next day and then there's nothing worth taking a photo of. Frustrating.

Homecoming is coming up on the 2oth and Shawn will be chaperoning. I've always begged him to take me to the dance and now he can. Actually I will hopefully be assisting one of the local photographers with taking photos of the couples. I'll probably just be doing paperwork, but it is still a good way to learn and I'm looking forward to it.

I'm also looking forward to a trip to Bellevue next weekend. Shawn has a math conference so I'm going to tag along and maybe check out Bellevue Square with the camera or ride the bus into Seattle. We're taking a district car so no driving anywhere too exciting while I'm there though.

In lieu of fall pictures here's one from just last month. I drove down to Bridgeport and pulled off the side of Hwy 97 to grab this photo. I saw this barn on the first trip we ever took to Okanogan and knew I wanted to get a photo of it. I'll be interested to see how it changes with snow, which I am pretty sure isn't too far off.

Photos Uploaded

While they may not be newly taken photos, I've uploaded some new photos to the portfolio on the web page. The "Flowers and Gardens" and "People" categories have been updated so go take a look when you have some spare time.

Post any comments or questions about photos in the portfolio here and I'll be happy to answer.

Newspaper Nod

I just received a nod in the local newspaper along with all the other fair winners from last weekend. It took a bit of searching but my name is down in the photography - landscape section of the Omak Chronicle.

Yea! for me.

Cooler Days

Finally we are receiving some cooler days and nights for that matter. No seeing our breath in the morning yet, but fall is getting closer. Today is such a great day, very nice weather, not too hot and not too windy, especially after yesterday's 30mph winds.

Shawn is getting along quite well in his teaching. He says it is everything he expected. I guess that would be better then a lot of unexpectedness. The kids really seem to like him as do the other teachers. He was offered the c-squad basketball coaching position, but he hasn't made a decision yet. I'm trying to work the courage up to have a teacher get together at the house, but I'm just not one to entertain, I frankly like being entertained.

Our little garden is producing, though through no work of our own. The grapes are becoming very fragrant, if the wind is blowing in the right direction you can smell them from the back porch. I clipped off a big chunk and walked down to the school yesterday afternoon munching on them. I think they may be concord grapes. Of course I really don't know too many types of grapes, but they remind me of the place my Grandma used to own in Texas. There was an arbor on the way to the big garden and the grapes would always be staining our hands and mouths.

Memories are sweet like grapes aren't they?

Fair Fun

Wow the Okanogan County fair has been such a blast. I still need to go back this evening and pick up my photo. I plan on indulging in a big, fat plate of curly fries before it's all said and done.

So my photo won a blue ribbon. I was very happy with that since it was such an impromptu entry. Now I'll leave it all framed up and hang it in the bedroom. I need something of a little interest on the walls in there.

I do believe my favorite part of the fair was just how small it was. I have never been to a fair this small, but it certainly didn't detract from the quality and I think I may even like it better then the big ones. We had a personal tutorial about the fitting and showing of steers and hogs from the Okanogan FFA teacher and we watched the sheep and goats being shown. Everyone was just willing to answer any of your questions.

The big event for us yesterday was the horse racing. You know the history of down home horse racing started out at fairs and I got a good sampling of it. My favorite event was the 13 and under pony relay race. Yes, all the kids riding were 13 and under. It was amazing. They ran half the track with one pony, then with adult help practically flew off the one pony and hopped on to another and ran the other half of the track. It was amazing to watch and the whole town turns out for it. They had some races that started from an older set of gates, but the walking starts were my favorite. In between all the races they had roping practices for the rodeo folk so it was entertainment all around.

I have a few photos to display from the fair. Here is a sample to tempt you to more. Check out the horses section in my portfolio.

Fair Entry

The Okanogan County Fair is coming up and I wasn't planning on entering anything since I just moved to the area, but then I got to thinking, why not? So I called up the office this morning and they are accepting photography entries through tomorrow night at 8. The only picture I have around that is an 8x10 is "Lone Fishing" so I'm going to give it a whirl. It really isn't my number one choice, but I still think it has its qualities. Wish me luck.

Bellingham

We did a rocket blast across Hwy 20 this last weekend to return to Bellingham for Shawn's graduation from Western Washington University. I think he secretly enjoyed my forcing him to return. He never walked for his undergrad at UW, so I think it was worth it.

Of course a trip anywhere wouldn't be complete without geocaching and photo taking. We took a break at the top of Washington Pass on Hwy 20 for some leg stretching, caching and photos.

In the background is Silver Star Mountain.

Shawn signing the logbook while I found the perfect rock tripod.

And finally the happy graduate with his parents.