This weekend while playing with the work toys, we went over to Michael's parents house.  The best part about being over there is Daisy, Michael's dog.  Or at least that's what he says when his mother's not around.  She would fight us tooth and nail for that dog.  She's a sweet heart, and after it was too dark to be outside I came in and got some pictures of a pooped out pup.

Please excuse the amount... I normally wouldn't post this many but they're the best shots I've ever gotten of her.

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Thanks for looking and for all comments

I ordered a light tent kit so I could try to improve the photos of my handmade jewelry. I don't know what I was thinking, but the tent ended up being ginormous....way bigger than what I needed it for.  I thought about returning it, but then I had way too much fun using it as a mini studio to take pics of Dingo, my chihuahua!  Here's the best shot of the bunch,  though keep in mind that this is my first time playing with lights, so I don't know what the heck I'm doing yet. I can't seem to find a good balance...the pics come out either too dark, or washed out with too much light.

 Dingo 

On Friday I discovered that the camera store I ordered my D700 from, is out of stock and waiting for a shipment to come. So I got impatient, put my new lens on my D40 and took it for a spin around the backyard.

 Daisy

 Daisy II

 Back view of a Lily

 Lily Macro

 Meeshka

Sometimes I like to try to take pictures through somebody else's eyes.  I thought this challenge might be a good time to look at the world from Jake's perspective.  

The nice thing about having short legs is I'm closer to things on the floor: food scraps, toys, and chewy bones.  When I have a good bone all I see is that yummy bone and it is ALL mine.  But when I am outside my world is much bigger, farther even than my eye can see.  You just cannot believe what I can hear with these things.  I wish my humans would let me play with LT and CP but they are afraid I will scare them.  Yeah, right,  that black and white one is bigger than me!!

Just some fellas trying to stay warm in the morning haze of the after party.

Thanks for looking and as always:  Comments, critiques and suggestion highly encouraged! 

It doesn't matter what they do or where they are, greyhounds always make me smile.

Here's why:
Sleepy Time
Questionable Looks
Quite Squinty Eyes
Let me in Please!
Snuffle, snooty pants
Sneaky peeky

And just for fun, some flowers 1 and 2

It's been a while since I posted, so I needed to catch up some. 

Mother Nature and Opec messed up my holiday weekend plans for a photo trip to the Albuquerque zoo, so I thought I'd spend the day painting a portrait of Sparky.

I liked this photo, except that the red eye correction was awful.

Before

So I cropped it, switched to b/w, and stumbled upon a special effect that changed the eyes from "freaky" to "bright" and ended up with this portrait. 

Sparky___art_portrai

I like it so much that I decided to frame it and forget about painting - took a nice nap instead! 

I hope you like it too. 

And two quick shots that I hope will make you laugh...

It used to be a soccer ball .....
Sleeping Symmetry

Hope you enjoy!  Thanks for lookin!

Here are some of the highlights:
My dog Sam getting some air
The cousins getting some air
All of the girls
The restored lighthouse keeper's house
The view from the lighthouse
The parking lot
My sister "borrowing" one of my lenses
I dare you!
Huge air
Light, water, and kids
Done
Mothers and daughters
Heading home - the end of a perfect day

Beautiful Female Monarch With Open
 Wings

Here's a Male Gold Finch checking out the buffet on the deck rail...  I swear there is sweat on his little beak!

And my boy Jake says, "Can we got back inside now?  These dog days are killin' me!"

Enjoy!