Bridge Rail Foundation Conference and Workshop

The Bridge Rail Foundation will hold a conference and workshop in San Francisco on November 6, 2010.
More information to be found here:

http://www.bridgerail.org/

Today is/was purple day

Quite a few of my Facebook friends (and plenty of others) are/were wearing purple today in support of the gay teenagers who were harassed so badly they saw no other way out than to take their lives.
There isn't a whole lot I can say about this, I'm not good with words and it's all been said I would think.
I am quite familiar with bullying; always having been on the small and timid side I made an easy target. I am quite certain that bullying also contributed to what happened with Henry. Not necessarily bullying towards the end but along the way. He was a rather sensitive child.
One of my friends said it perfectly in her blog post today: It does get easier. And I can attest to that. One grows up, learns to deal with things, gains a certain distance, realizes that the problem is the other person's (the bully's) and, with any luck, is the stronger for it.
Sometime today I remembered a quote by Eric Idle (of Monty Python fame) I heard recently: Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will make me go in a corner and cry by myself for hours. So true!

A slide show

It worked. Wow. My second "real" slide show. The other one has somewhat cheesy music, this one does not. And I did it all by myself - nobody holding my hand, standing over me, giving advice. Just me and the computer (we aren't such great friends). Maybe there's hope for me yet?

This is October?

I realize this is a pretty crummy picture, BUT .......... it's the middle of October, it's after 3 p.m. and it's 95 degrees outside. What's going on? Yes, I know we had a nice, cool summer and saved tons of money by not having to use the A/C, but this a a bit much. The second or third (I've lost count) heatwave since September. I'm ready for cooler weather, I want to wear jeans again, not little dresses.
Okay, enough whining. I realize I've slipped in my little challenge. Even though I've taken quite a few pictures (my memory card proves it), I haven't uploaded any here (there are a few on FB). But I've learned a new skill in Digicam class: I can make slide shows now and set them to music (if the computer cooperates). There's one on FB and if I could only learn to upload it here, I just might (even though the music is kind of cheesy). I have ideas for many, many more, just need to find the time, take a few more pix and find the motivation. Spending the day in front of the computer is NOT my idea of a good time anymore.

From the archives

I'm cheating here - just a little. I did take this picture myself, just not today. And I won't be taking a lot of pictures until I get all my old ones sorted, organized and stored and possibly off the computer. I still haven't completely wrapped my head around the way I'm supposed to do it. Thankfully, we're not running out of memory yet.
We're taught in class to upload to the computer, Photoshop Elements (whichever version; we're using 7 in class and that's what I have at home but I've only just installed it; version 9 is just out) and to organize into folders there. Then the folders are supposed to be burned to CD's (two copies, one to take the place of negatives, one just to be on the safe side) and, after checking that everything worked, everything is to be deleted from the computer. I'm not quite ready to do that. I'm organizing and deleting bad or unnecessary ones, but I'm not at the point where I can do the rest of what I'm supposed to do.
Who would have thought that photography could get so complicated?

The rock that didn't last

Ever since somebody told me about this beach on the Marin Headlands where you can find rocks with holes that are suitable for wearing on a necklace, we've been looking for those rocks. The beach is Rodeo Beach and the rocks are not easy to find.
But, a couple of weeks ago, I did find one with a perfect hole. Unfortunately, it's much too big to wear as jewelry, but I liked the looks of it, so it came home with me.
This morning I picked it up - it's been sitting on the rail of the deck out back - and it literally fell to bits. Obviously, a case of failure to thrive outside its natural habitat.

Playing with close-ups again

Publish Post

I was going to go "into the archives" for a picture today because, quite honestly, all this editing is very time consuming. Love to take pictures in the first place, but uploading, cropping, signing etc. takes a long, long time. And that's really not my favorite thing to do to start with.
But then I decided to try playing with the aperture (mixed success) and eventually add a macro/magnifying filter and this is what happened. There were a few more, but this is the one I kept coming back to.
I obviously like close-ups best of all and I especially love the fuzzy background effect. Sooner or later, though, I'm sure I'll run out of things to photograph up close :-) My little challenge will continue until the end of the month only. As I said before, it all takes quite a bit of time.

Preventing teen suicide

This was on CBS this morning:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6923266n&tag=channelMore%3BlatestRight

I don't know how to put up this clickable video thingy, so, it's just a simple link.

It's not just about the GGB. It mentions Tyler Clementi and a few programs meant to help young people at risk. Well worth watching.

Today's picture

Today's picture was hard to decide on - there were three in the running. This one was one of my choices (I had two) , my husband had yet another favorite.
I'll let you decide which you like best, the others are here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=232476&id=708398128&l=18fb3b95de
My other choice was the stagecoach, my husband liked the sign that advised not to put kids in "wheelbarrels."

Somebody deserves hazard pay for this one

The picture quality leaves something to be desired, BUT ..... this was shot through the windshield in a moving car on the back of the truck in front of us. Obviously, I was NOT driving, but I still do NOT recommend doing this. There was a lot of complaining about he bumpy road, the inability to focus the camera and various other problems. But this was the one and only shot I took and I think it's acceptable.