So There World!!!

This humorous picture is my new granddaughter at 2hrs old.  Although it was a lucky shot maybe she has a bit of her grandma in her. lol.

Bradenton and St Pete’s Beach

 

7

This was in the window of an empty store??? I can’t figure it out.

Run, Forrest, Run!

Sunshine Skyway Bridge

This is the bridge between Bradenton and St. Pete’s Beach. For some crazy reason I love this bridge.

Even the pelicans love the bridge.

Salt Marsh, St. Pete’s

Fort Desoto beach, Florida

Iheartfaces

Over at  iheartfaces.blogspot.com they are  having their weekly contest.  This is my entry.  It’s from a photoshoot we did when my newest grandson came home from the hospital.  This is  his 2 year old sister Mira.  She is such a sweetheart.  Full of happiness and joy.  Everyone who meets her is infected by her personality.

There are lots of other sweethearts on Iheartfaces this week. Check it out at  iheartfaces.com

Introducing….

It seems to make sense that in my first post on WordPress I should make an effort to introduce myself.  I have passed that 5-0 number and not just the last couple of birthdays either. But in many ways I have found life really does begin at 50.  I am married to the love of my life – Hugh – who I just couldn’t imagine living without.  Hugh is retired and I am retired for medical reasons.  We have 6 kids, 3 boys and 3 girls who have blessed us with 9 grandchildren.  Life with kids although wonderful was busy and hectic running here and there, hockey, dance, baseball, etc., up all hours of the night. I certainly don’t regret one moment of it and I have many fantastic memories but the life of a grandparent is the cream at the top of the bottle of milk.  You younger people, ask someone older what this means :>) You get to enjoy all these little creatures who you love to bits and back but they go home with their parents at the end of the day and you can process all the pictures you took without any interruptions. Our kids all live within a 2 hr drive of home.  One lives 5 minutes away and one lives an independent adult life in her old bedroom in the basement. See, again life over 50 – not bad at all.

Next to Hugh, my kids and my grandchildren I live for photography and all its aspects.  I got my first camera when I was about 9 or 10 and since then it has been a constant in my life.  I love making the pictures and I love editing and playing with the results on photoshop and lightroom.  One of my fondest memories of university is standing in the darkroom of the camera club watching as the first hints of picture started to appear on the paper. Yes, I am that old.

I am not a purist.  Someone who thinks you ruin a picture if you over process it or touch it too much with photoshop. To me the processing is part of the joy of photography however I don’t mean that you take a perfect ooc picture and start changing it.  And your goal should always be that perfect shot, never, well I’ll fix it in photoshop later.  I do think computer-altering of  photos is a new art form and although I rarely go that far I think it’s great.  I usually just stick to trying to make a photo the best it can be but once in a while I bring out the warp tool and have a little fun.

I’m writing this blog to try to chronicle our life as an extended family and as an outlet for my voracious appetite for picture-taking.  The blog is a little out of whack because when Window’s Live ended anything on my Windows Live blog (which was not very much) transferred over to this blog.

It’s titled phototrail for a reason.  It will be a meandering stroll through the upcoming years.  It won’t be consistent because my love is photography not blogging but I am really going to try.  For today I am going to end this blog with pictures of all 6 of our kids, 5 of whom are married so there will be scattered loved in-laws in there as well.  Plus there will also be assorted grandchildren pictures.

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!

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First post what does one find to say. There are some big things going on right now. Our desktop crashed and is at Future Shop. We had the blue death screen so the prognosis is not good. Naturally I haven’t backed up all our great pictures, so many of them might be lost for good. My stomach turns at the thought. Software will also be lost.  All we can do is wait and see.

Tomorrow promises to be a horrible day. We are bringing Cisko to the vet for the option conversation but things do not look good, not good at all. 

Friday, however is a day of new hope and birth. Ryan and Brigette are booked for an induction on Friday, so hopefully we will have a new little life to add to our family. I hope so.

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