Another Blue Ribbon Winner.....

I submitted this photo in competition over the weekend and scored a 26 out of 27.

I won a blue ribbon.

This photo is completely unedited.

It is straight from my camera.

We had a workshop a couple of weeks ago which gave us the opportunity to shoot various creative objects that were set up for us.  The above photo was in a booth that used mylar film as the background and the flowers were arranged so that we could capture the reflection.

This was the last booth that I tried and the lady was getting ready to shut it down.

I happened to come along just as she was picking up the flowers.

I think I am the only person who captured this image.

I thought it looked really awesome and so I decided to enter it into Friday's competition.

I was very excited to win a blue ribbon and even more excited to have received a score of 26.

I've been told that if I win two more blue ribbons I will no longer be in the beginner's class.

I will have to move up to intermediate.

That's a good thing, right?

FMTSO- Water/Lakes/Streams

Ah, the goodness of water.  It's cool, it's refreshing and it's fabulous.

It's also this week's theme for the Friday My Town Shoot-Out.

We have a couple of lakes in Las Vegas, Lake Mead being the largest and most well known

recreational spot for fishing, boating and camping.

There's also Lake Las Vegas which is a semi-private lake for homeowners in that community as well as the guests of the surrounding hotels.

The photo below depicts a view of Lake Mead as seen by me just about two weeks ago.

I did a little bit of editing with a photoshop plug in.

The effect is called midnight which casts a darker look to the entire image and adds a bit of a soft glow.

I like the way it turned out.

Here's another photo of Lake Mead using the same effect.

Now I'm going into my archives to retrieve a photo of Lake Mead from Last year.

I think I may have posted this one before.

My favorite place to go in the summer is to Laughlin because the river is so clear

and beautiful and much prettier than the Lake.

The lakes in the desert are much different than the lakes I grew up around.

There are no grassy picnic areas to pull the boat up to,

nonetheless, I still enjoy being in the water and just drifting along feeling the serenity of nature.

To see more water photos click here.

No One Would Have Believed.......

That a twenty three year old man would meet and fall in love with a twenty eight year old married woman with three children and still be around thirty five years later.  But it happened.  The woman wasn't looking to meet someone even though her marriage wasn't satisfying.  Her husband was an alcoholic and a cheater who occasionally instigated physical fights with his wife.  So after many years of driving around town with the kids asleep in the car looking to catch her husband in the arms of another woman, she'd finally had enough.  She wasn't going to sit around with doom and gloom anymore.  She was attractive and she was worthy of having some fun herself.  It wasn't long before she had a regular babysitter that the kids adored and so the woman and her best friend started going out at night. 

One night the woman met a handsome stranger.  He was extremely forward, something the woman was not accustomed to, but she enjoyed the attention.  This man made her feel sexy and beautiful and wanted.  The man was very popular with the ladies and so the woman was leary of his attention.  Night after night the woman would go out and the man would be there.  As soon as he'd see her he would lavish all his attention on her.  He fell in love at first sight and the woman started having feelings for him as well.

As soon as the woman realized that she loved this other man, she filed for divorce.  The kids were angry.  They didn't like seeing their mother with another man.  They hated him for tearing apart their family.  They blamed him and their mother for hurting their dad and leaving him alone.  The woman's parents and her in-laws made death threats against the new man in her life.  They followed the man and woman everywhere and made prank phone calls threatening to kidnap the children and to kill the man.  It was a very scary time. The woman and her kids went into hiding and the kids missed their grandparents.  They didn't understand why they couldn't see them but they knew that the grandparents were behaving extremely erratic.  Eventually, the threats stopped and the woman and her parents reconciled. 

Even after all the craziness, all the threats, all the hiding, all the hatred from the kids, all the obstacles, the man loved the woman enough to stick around and to prove his love by supporting the woman and protecting her and loving her children.  He won over the children and he raised them as if they were his own.

The man is the best step dad in the world.  He is my mentor, a man I admire because of his strength, his character, his integrity and his love for my mother.  He is Joe W. Whittington and I love him very much.  He is the epitome of a real man.  He is good, kind, generous and loving.  I am so blessed that he didn't give up on my mom all those years ago when there were so many obstacles to overcome.  True love prevailed and I am happy to report that my parents are still very much in love today.  It's nice to see.

FMTSO-Rocks

This week's theme for the Friday My Town Shoot Out is Rocks. I'm kind of excited about the theme this week, not because I'm crazy about rocks but because I live in the desert.  All I ever see is dirt, cactus and rocks.  Okay, that might be a slight exaggeration but this theme affords me lots of photo opportunities in my town without having to think too creatively.  Wow, that didn't sound too good.  I love to think creatively.  I love a challenge. What I meant to say is that with my time seeming to be so scarce lately, this theme should be a breeze to fit in.

Now that I think about it, there was a time when I was crazy about rocks.  I used to walk around and collect the ones I thought were pretty with lots of color in them like greens, blues, reds and black and white.  Heck, at one point I even decided I was going to be an artiss and paint rocks and sell them and make a few bucks.  Yep, that was a long time ago and though I did attempt my hand at the paint brush, the artist I envisioned in my mind, never took over my body.  However, I do have proof that the idea popped into my head and that I actually tried to paint rocks....not my best business idea.  Well, maybe the business idea isn't so bad, but the artist in me failed big time.  See for yourself as this is the first of my rock photos for today's theme.

Circa 1986

Well, now that you've experienced my artistic talent I'll move on to the rocks found in the Las Vegas Valley.

Some rocks appeal to the wild life and are very useful as resting spots.

Some rocks are formed soley to create beautiful waterfalls.

Some rocks encircle the ashes and remnants of trash leftover from a camp fire.

Some rocks naturally create stairways

Some rocks look like the surface of the moon

Some rocks are big and have lots of shapes and textures

Some rocks even allow trees to grow

Rock formations create the mountains that surround Las Vegas

Pictured above is part of Red Rock Mountain.

We have lots of mountains within an hour's distance.

In addition to Red Rock, there is Mt. Charleston, Sunrise Mountain,

Valley of Fire, Black Mountain, and probably a few more that I have missed.

You could probably include Lake Mead Recreational area as the lake is surrounded by rocks.

Well, it's time for me to go scout out some rocks in blog land. 

If you'd like to follow me, get your feet wet and dive in right here.

Someone is StarStruck

And it's not me.

In an earlier post I had mentioned that we attended a car show near our home

and we saw and talked to a celebrity.

Before I reveal who it is I'll show you some of the photos I took.

This fancy fire truck was one of my favorites of the day.

The more I photograph, the more I see a pattern begin to emerge.

I'm developing my own personal style and I have discovered that I like getting up close and personal.

I prefer to zoom in and capture just a part of a subject rather than the subject and its surroundings.

For me at least, I think it makes more of an impact.

Anyhow, I digress.

The celebrity we saw is not in the mainstream category.

But he is very well known in the automobile circuit.

Lots of men who like cars probably know who he is.

I actually spotted him right off while we were walking around and I worked my way over to him

and waited patiently as he finished a conversation with another man

and then I caught his attention.

"Excuse me, I said.  Would you mind if I took a picture of you with my husband?"

"Sure" he replied.

That's him on the right. 

Does he look familiar?

 You know you've seen him but you just can't put your finger on where.

Well, I'll tell you. 

His name is Stacey David and he started out on a show called Trucks which originates from my most favortie state in the USA, Tennessee.

Now he is the star of a show called Gearz.

You can read all about him here.

I wish I would have taken a couple of more pictures. 
This one doesn't really do either of them justice.

But......
Stacey was a really cool guy and he talked with my husband and I for quite awhile.
He was very down to earth and friendly.
He talked to us like he'd known us for years.
It was quite refreshing.

My hubby was very happy that I was aggressive enough to ask for a photo and to move in close.

Okay, well maybe I was just a little star struck.

FMTSO: Menus

Last night I had a beginner's group meeting with my camera club.  Since the meeting didn't start until

7:30 pm Gayla and I decided to grab a bite to eat at Lone Star restaurant prior to arrival.

Although the steak sounded very appetizing I ordered a sirloin dip instead.

It wasn't fabulous, but it was tasty enough to satisfy me.

Earlier this year, after one of our club meetings we stopped at the mexican restaurant pictured below to have a drink and some chips and salsa.

I take my camera just about everywhere with me. 

Nothing is sacred if I'm having fun or if I think something is neat.

There's a an old fashioned ice cream and candy store in Boulder City that I love to visit.

Pictured below is a sign offering candy from the 1920's, 30's, 40's and 50's.

I love signs and billboards and I love sweets.  So obviously, I just had to take a photo of the sign below.

This is outside a gas station/store in California and I took this photo while on a field trip with my camera club.

Although I didn't buy any fudge or nuts, I did however, purchase some dried papaya.  It was very tasty.

Last weekend my husband and I went to an Indian Pow-Wow.

One of the great things about going to these types of events is the fabulous fry bread.

I didn't have any but I sure wanted some.

The line was way too long and I didn't feel like waiting for it.

Here is the sign offering this tasty treat.

And something to drink

Normally, I don't drink anything other than water or tea because I try to avoid as much sugar as possible.

(except of course when I indulge in a margarita or glass of wine)

But, being stuck in the desert at an event and no iced tea to be found I just had to have a cup of lemonade.

I'm telling you this was the best lemonade I have ever tasted.

They Native Americans running the stand made it fresh to order.

It was fascinating to watch the system they had down.

The man would cut the lemon in half, squeeze the lemon juice by hand with an old fashioned glass juicer then he would pour it into a cup.  The lady would then take the lemon juice and mix it with a concoction that she had ready.  I'm not sure if it was sugar and water, but whatever it was it sure made good lemonade.

I should have taken a photo of their process.

They worked really well as a team.

Well, although I didn't get any photos of fancy menus like i wanted, I did have fun with this theme.

To check out more menus from around the world click here.

EEK!

Last weekend we stumbled upon another car show just a couple of blocks from our house.

Normally, the car owners of these fabulous hot rods post signs that say, DO NOT TOUCH.

It's all very hands-off.  Look, but don't touch.  Fantasize but don't test drive.

Oh well.  That's the way it goes, at least some of the time.

The photo above displays the humor of the owner of this hot rod.

I absolutely loved his sign.

The mouse adds a little bit of whimsy but it's the sign that cracks me up the most.

I love it.

Oh yes, we also met a celebrity there.

I asked to take a photo of him and he said yes.

Most of you probably won't know who he is but I intend on revealing his identity in a later post.

Back Seat Driver

My photo doesn't do this artwork justice but I had to share anyway.