I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!!

Well, I finally have my wits about me (a little anyway), and a fast enough internet connection to catch up on posting my images.

So here goes:

SEPT. 9

Our plane, seen as we were waiting in the plane terminal. Reminds me of the song by Peter, Paul & Mary--Leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again...

SEPT. 10

SEPT. 11

SEPT. 12

Overlooking Florence through the balustrade

SEPT. 13

An Abbey Ruin

SEPT. 14

SEPT. 15

SEPT. 16

SEPT. 17

SEPT. 18

The "Group" plus the instructor in front of our "home away from home".

SEPT 19

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!!

Sept. 19 is the day we drove back to the airport in Rome. It was a three hour drive. Then security. Then restrooms. Then boarding the plane. We were separated but near each other. The flight was 8 hours.

The plane landed on time and our shuttle was there to drive us from JFK to Albany. My son picked me up in Albany and I arrived home around 11 pm. I finally got to bed by midnight, and when I woke up at 5 am, one of my first thoughts was

I can't believe it--I completely forgot to take a picture yesterday!!! Oh aaarrghhh! I only spent the last 10 days doing almost nothing but taking pictures, and then I go and forget to take one of the trip home.

So no trophy for me this time.

SEPT 20

My baby is leaving. Caleb and Brian left this afternoon to drive to Missouri to deliver this snowmobile to Caleb's friend. The friend is in the military and has been transferred to Alaska. Brian will return home, and Caleb and Rob will drive to Alaska.

Caleb plans on staying there and looking for a job.

No idea when he'll return to NY.

I'm sad.

What Do You See In September?

Last Thursday's assignment was to photograph things seen in September. I had a few ideas in mind, but they didn't work out, but I'm even happier with these images than I would have been had I found the others.

Connected Again!

Hey to all of you who visit my blog. I'm finally connected to the internet again. It's slow, but not too slow.

I just read all of your blogs from the 9th to now. Don't have time to comment since we're getting ready to leave for another "location shoot", but I will comment on each one as I have the chance/time when my eyelids are not too droopy.

Here are a couple of shots from yesterday. We were in Florence.

Me and Cupid--kind of an 0xymoron.

A view of Florence

Thursday's Assignment

I know, I know, it's only Tuesday. But since I'm leaving for my trip early tomorrow morning I decided to shoot the assignment today. I've been thinking about what photos I'd take since Leslie told us what the topic is. All kinds of ideas started rolling around in my head, unlike most times when I'm clueless and thoughtless.

So today while I was out, I managed to get some shots. BUT, I'm not going to post them until Thursday, IF I can get access to the internet. I almost posted them tonight, but then I thought I'd tip my hand and I'm more interested in seeing what everyone gets without seeing mine first (not that I think mine are so amazing--it's just fun to see everyone's original ideas).

I will include a new image taken on Thurs along with the ones I took today. If I can't get online, I will post all my images with the appropriate date at one time.

So here's today's photo--

Everything's ready to go--I'm still pinching myself!

You Mean It's a Holiday Today?

In an effort to get things in order and and to finish up all those little jobs that I keep putting off--so that I can leave for my trip on Wed. with a clear conscience, I spent the day paying bills, writing notes, looking up information and cleaning. Really--literally the entire day. Every once in a while the thought would occur to me, "you mean it's a holiday today? You mean I should be out somewhere having a barbq with friends/family, and I'm sitting here paying bills?"

Well, it might have taken all day, but there sure is a sense of satisfaction when it's all done. At least for about 25 more days, when it will then start all over again.

Last Thursday's Assignment

Today I decided to give myself an assignment: to use only my wide-angle lens. So when I went out late this afternoon, that was the only lens I had with me. As I was driving down Rt. 5S and realizing that I was losing light pretty quickly, I decided to get a shot of this structure and see how it would look. With that lens (almost a fish-eye) I was able to stand within mere feet of the yellow staircase.

Then I used Photoshop Elements to transform it into bw in honor of last Thursday's assignment that I didn't do.........until now.

While I was still at the site, I stepped back and took a wide-angle shot of the structure, and then made it bw too.

Where In the World IS The Concert?

I spent the morning today working my shift at the Pro-Life booth at the Fonda Fair. My plan for the rest of the day was to hang out at the fair until 7, when I would then watch the Powder Puff Demolition Derby, and then at 8 attend the Oak Ridge Boys concert. So while I was waiting for the Demo-derby, I wandered around and got some shots of the goings-on.

I finally headed over to the grandstand a little early in order to get a good seat. Luckily I had a book with me, yeah, Ladder of Years, so I was able to occupy my time while I was waiting. Not too many good photo ops from where I was sitting, until...

...the festivities began. It was a little difficult to get good shots because of the chain-link fence, but I tried.

The Powder Puff Demo-Derby finally began. It was awesome. I LOVE watching these things--I probably should be embarrassed about admitting that, but I can't help it. I want to compete in one of these things.

Thinking that they should soon be setting up for the Oak Ridge Boys Concert, I waited patiently, only to see that they were getting ready for another demo-derby. This one--The Grand Slam. Okay, the concert would follow I was convinced.

There were 21 cars in this demo-derby. OhMyGosh!!! It was so fun.

When I turned in the other direction, I notice the full moon. Very beautiful.

As they announced the winner, people began leaving in droves. I was very confused--why were they leaving if there was supposed to be a concert? I thought, "Where In the World Is the Concert?" So I asked the people next to me and they said, "Oh, it's in the horse arena and the line is really, really long". Ooooops! Gotta get going.

So I put on my running shoes (figuratively speaking) and got there in no time flat--with no line in sight, and the "Boys" were only halfway through their first song. Whew! So as I put my hand in my tote to find the ticket, I found it immediately. (now that has to be a record, normally I'd have to empty the entire contents out on the ground just to find the one thing I was looking for--totes tend to be like the big black hole whenever I'm trying to locate something).

As I entered the arena, I saw that it was packed and wondered where I'd find a seat. So I walked along, looked up, and there was a seat.

Well, to end this missive, the concert was great and I even managed to get some tolerable images of the group.

Altogether it was a good day.

The New Book

All the ladies from bookgroup just left a little while ago. Our next meeting is at the end of October. THAT means that I have some time to read a book just for me.

This is my favorite Ann Tyler book and for a number of years I read it at least once a year. It's been a while now, so I think it's time again.

Goodnow Mountain

Today was hike day. We headed up north on Rt. 30. The trailhead for Goodnow Mt. is past Long Lake. A long drive, but on such a beautiful day as this, it wasn't a problem.

On my way to Amsterdam this morning at 6:30 am, this is what I saw. This time I pulled over to the side of the road to get the shot.

We saw this tree --very interesting

This is a horse barn, about halfway up the two mile hike.

On the way down the tower.

The hike was two miles each way. A reasonable ascent. But the 360 degree view from the fire tower was fantastic.

On the way home, we stopped at a restaurant in Indian Lake for dinner. It, too, was fantastic.

By the way, for some reason I never received the assignment for this Thursday. I didn't know what it was until I read the other blogs. I'll try to do it by the end of the weekend.

The Return of My Camera

Last week I went to CameraWorks and retrieved my point and shoot camera. Hooray! I'm so happy to have it back.

Tonight I had to go out to the supermarket to get groceries for bookgroup, since I'll be hiking tomorrow, and Friday I have to get busy preparing the food and the house--if I waited to go shopping till Friday, I'd use up half the day running errands. I didn't really want to go out tonight, but it's crunch time. So as I was driving down the road, I decided to take some photos in order to amuse myself and make the trip to town a little less objectionable. Thank God for the return of my camera.

Okay, so I really did take some of the photos while I was driving--(good thing for the lcd screen so I didn't have to be looking through the viewfinder)--but I only took the photos when there were no cars coming in the opposite direction.

Approaching Fonda is pretty risky at this time of year. The Fonda Fair is in full swing, and there's usually quite a traffic jam. Luckily it wasn't too bad this trip.

A few minutes later I arrived at my favorite supermarket.

After paying for the groceries and taking a tranquillizer in order to deal with the "sticker shock", I loaded the car and headed home. If I thought I was having fun up till then, I soon realized that the real fun was still to come--unloading the car, putting the groceries away and cooking the darned food on Friday.

After getting everything put away it occurred to me that I had neglected to get myself anything for lunch for the hike. Sigh. Oh well, PBJ tastes pretty darned good when you're hungry!

By the Way--thanks everyone for telling me what books you're reading.

A Blast From the Past

Okay, for anyone who doesn't know, I'm a sap. I cry at baby powder commercials, I cry when I hear a toddler belly laugh, I adore sappy movies and I've seen "You've Got Mail" about a thousand times and my favorite TV channel is the Hallmark Channel (speaking of which--the Hallmark Card commercials bring tears to my eyes every time!).

So today I was in the post office buying stamps for work. I always ask to see the selection available. When the clerk showed me these, I almost jumped for joy and I just HAD to buy a pane for myself--it might get framed, along with the pane that Trish gave me several years ago--you know, stamps of the bw photographs that are amazing.

Anyway, I took close ups of the shows that I watched regularly--quite the blast from the past, bringing back some nice memories.

Maybe you can get your own pane...