on the creative side

Sun and Pyramids

Originally uploaded by mrsonion42

Jimmy Buffett said, “If we couldn’t laugh, we would all go insane.” Thank you Evo for making me laugh every day!

Checkmate.jpg

Originally uploaded by mrsonion42

John Rockefeller said, “I can think of nothing less pleasurable than a life devoted to pleasure.” One of my greatest pleasures is photography. I have begun to play more and more this year. More often than not I am with my camera while I am running around town. I have been asked to shoot two hockey events this weekend and a family’s portraits at the beginning of March.

I had begun to complain that my laptop was running rather slow as of late. I have since found out what was causing this issue ~ 6600 plus photos. Last weekend I transferred those images over to an external hard drive. My wonderful husband bought me Aperture 2 for my birthday. I can’t wait to start playing with it!

Jack Rabbit3

Originally uploaded by mrsonion42

So we had a golf tournament last weekend for NJ’s high school hockey team (fund raiser type stuff). Since my family doesn’t play golf we were volunteers on the course for the day. Evo and I sat at hole three and watched for hole-in-ones. We only had one golfer come close but he did not make it! Basically, we sat for many, many, many hours watching the golfers. I took my camera with me and took pics of the golfers and the wild life (sometimes they were one and the same)! Here is one of the shots I took of a jack rabbit. They were just chasing each other around the golf course.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox said, “All love that has not friendship for its base, is like a mansion built upon sand.” I think this is so true. I have seen many marriages come and go over my lifetime. The ones that seem to stick are the ones that begin as friends. Now I am not saying that you literally be friends first but that you truly must be friends! Evo and I have been married 19 years in May and have been together 21. I think we are both extremely supportive of each other. We both have busy lives (both personally and professionally) but we still find time daily to sit and chat about our day. I have come up with some wild things to do in the past and he helps me to work through all the kinks and make it work!

My hope is that everyone can find someone as wonderful as I have to share their life with.

Enjoy life!

Forever

Originally uploaded by mrsonion42

Albert Einstein once said, “Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.” I find this an extremely funny quote. Sometimes I would like my reality to be an illusion that I could wish away if need be.

Currently there are things going on within the community in which I teach that I am shocked still go on within the world. I am speaking of racism. I am not so naive to that it doesn’t exist but on the scale to which I am seeing it is what I am upset about. There is a movement to try to get the school to stop busing in students from other areas.

I guess the old saying is true, “Two steps forward, one step back.” We shall see where this ends up.

Sheila

Fire and Water.jpg

Originally uploaded by mrsonion42

Georg Wihelm said, “Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion.” I have had a renewed passion for my photography! I have always enjoyed taking pictures but I had never really set out to create a series or a portfolio. I am working on several projects right now that are a lot of fun and I am learning in the process.

Last night we were out at the Tempe Market Place. They have several fountains throughout the center. One specific fountain has a fireplace on one end with the water flowing at the other. The water is illuminated by different colored lighting (as seen here)!

This morning I woke up and immediately went outside in my pjs and took pictures. I am hoping to edit those images tomorrow so that I can get them posted for whoever would like to take a look. I have a small water fountain in the backyard and was able to capture water droplets in motion.

Look for more water pictures to follow!

You can always check out the photos at Flickr.

Enjoy…

Just Hangin’ Out

Originally uploaded by mrsonion42

Fran Lebowitz said, “I must take issue with the term ‘a mere child,’ for it has been my invariable experience that the company of a mere child is infinitely preferable to that of a mere adult.” After the week I have had dealing with some parents (who have suddenly become eduction majors) I think I prefer the company of children mere or otherwise to that of some adults.

I have come to an understanding, as of late, that some people who have found success in business and life think that they know everything and will be successful with everything they touch. I am here to say that is so not true. I have several parents who are trying to tell me how to teach and what to teach. However, even when I have implemented something they have requested they are still not happy! It is truly a no-win situation. I am learning to smile a lot when I am not happy!!!!

Have a great weekend!

Traffic Never Stops

Originally uploaded by mrsonion42

I am going to start posting, hopefully, more often! One of the things that I really enjoy is taking photos and playing with my camera. I am having a tough time at work and I am going to make it a priority to shoot and edit more.

This last weekend I convinced Evo that I needed a new camera lens (macro) and a new tripod. This image was shot just right down the road from my house with the new tripod on Sunday, January 20, 2008 at sunset. I will be posting a few more from this shoot over the next few days!

Have a great week!!!

A Rose By Any Other Name…

Originally uploaded by mrsonion42

Well, we went back to school on Monday. I had a great vacation! I accomplished a lot and had fun with friends and family. I was able to make the basement an area which we want to hang out in.

NJ’s bathroom had been done in a golf motif (non of us play golf). Now he has earth tones and some of my photos up in his bathroom. I gave him the option of having wall art or my photos and he chose photos. He picked out everything in his bathroom from the colors to the towels. It look very nice in there now.

Evo’s office had not been a place where he wanted to work. We painted two walls a tan color and he is enjoying that space now. We still have some work to go in there with work space (desk etc…) but it is on it’s way.

The basement has an open space which we use as a game room. NJ received a flat screen TV for winter solstice and we mounted it on the wall. Now NJ can play games or watch TV comfortably.

I was able to scrapbook during the break as well. I am working on a high school album for NJ. He is currently a junior and I am a little behind (his freshman year still)! I did get three different layouts done. YEAH!

The only thing I didn’t get to that I really wanted to was jewelry. I have the stuff to work on it but just didn’t have the time. I think I need to add about 4 hours to my day.

I hope your new year is as good or better than years past! At least enjoy what you have. I am going to try to work on not getting caught up in what is happening right then and there but looking at the bigger picture.

View from the Top

Originally uploaded by mrsonion42

Ok so I like flowers in my house when we have company. I don’t buy them often but we were having a few friends over and I decided we needed flowers. I bought a bunch of purple and white flowers. This is one of the many shots I took. You can see more at Flickr.

Let me know if you have an idea for a photo shoot. I am always open to new ideas.

Drinking from the Cup

Originally uploaded by mrsonion42

We have spent the last five days going from one hockey rink to another for a hockey tournament with NJ. We started the tournament with a 5 to 3 loss. Then a 3 to 3 tie, followed by another tie of 1 to 1. This put the U16 Thunder On Ice team in the semi-finals of the tournament.

The semi-finals were played Sunday, December 30 at Alltel Ice Den. We ended with a tie of 4 to 4 due to a last second (literally) goal by the other team. However, there had to be a winner to move on to the finals. Thus, a five minute sudden death overtime was set up by which neither team scored. Again there had to be a winner so we went to a shoot out. Nine rounds later Thunder On Ice was the winner and was moving on to the finals.

The final was played Monday, December 31 at Alltel Ice Den. The Thunder team started out slow but held strong for a win with a score of 4 to 2.

NJ played four and a half out of the five games. He kept his head about him during the shoot out. The coached deemed him MVP of the tournament.
Needless to say he was an extremely happy boy!