180 - SCALE

A picture from the archives. All I can say is I am so glad I wasn't there that day to assist in cleaning this bunch. Scale, gut, filet. Scale, gut, filet. What a night of dreams that would have been.

179 - CULTURE

A bit of oriental culture represented at the Japanese Tea Garden in San Antonio. A culture I've always had some curiosity about but for some reason not enough to make me want to travel there. During my more youthful years, we were blessed with the opportunity to live in Okinawa for a couple of years. I remember it quite well. I was quite fascinated with the culture and was disappointed when our stay there was actually shortened. I think about those days quite often...you know those days when you sit and think about life, the paths you've taken, the what ifs and wishes. A culture that brings out my curiosity. A culture that captures me when I come across stories and articles on it. Maybe someday...I will travel there to satisfy a bit more of that curiosity....but there are so many other bucket list items that would have to be removed before I add this one.

178 - POINTLESS

I was on a short guided hike which for some reason...seemed quite pointless. I, of course, had my camera around my neck. As we stopped to listen...although at the end of the line on the narrow pathway, not much could be heard...I snapped a shot. A picture which at that moment also seemed to add another pointless fact to what seemed to be a day of pointless moments. A little artistic touch. A bit of vignette...maybe not quite so pointless any longer.

177 - HINT

It doesn't take much. Just a hint of seeds left in the feeder tray yet this little chipper found his way from his little nest below the walkway, up the poles of the deck, across the banister and into the feeder.

176 - OVER

Another Family Reunion over. Another group picture captured for the memories. Although we are short two people from this picture, RIP Sis and Dad, we know that in reality...they are there...right beside us...guiding us as much as we will let them. I love my family...regardless of all our different personalities, our spats, our differences and our distances. Mom did good raising six of us practically on her own with dad in the air force. We all turned out...pretty human....well most of us. (hehehe)

175 - WELL

Well...sometimes you just have to figure out how to entertain yourself....no matter how many people surround you. Or...maybe...well sometimes the kid comes out in all of us.

170 - MOST

This is what makes me continue taking shot after shot after shot most days. Somedays....snap snap snap. This is what makes me want to crawl under the blankets on a daily basis when my alarm goes off and I know if I climb out of bed it means another day locked up within four walls...in front of a computer....answering emails....fighting daily fires in a very inefficient environment. The surprises...that I find in my pictures when I look back at them. The flowers that I can literally smell when looking at the pictures. The magic that warms my heart and soul. Most days...this is what I look forward to. Most days...this is what I daydream about. Most days....this is where I find peace.

169 - WANTING

I don't know about you but I believe this look is that of a typical teenager at a family reunion wanting to be somewhere else. She really is quite beautiful when she smiles.

168 - PRAY

I love this time of the year...although it is running a few weeks behind what with the delayed end of the winter. All the flowers are shining...although not as much as they normally do given the fact that now, after a long winter, the rains keep avoiding us also. Daily as I drive miles back and forth to my place of employment...I pray and hope...that some day I will be able to sit back and enjoy all of this just a bit more.

167 - SECRETLY

She looked over the edges of the boat, watches the seagulls and pelicans from a distance, secretly wishing as quietly as she could, that she could join them in the water on this warm...okay hot....humid day in the midwest. She is a January baby and so prefers the colder months over these warmer ones.

165 - PARTITION

This teenager robin was not about ready to let the fence partition I had around my garden stop him from pulling yet another worm from the fresh ground. I, knowing that he will keep some of the other bugs down, was in no way going to discourage him from romping in and amidst my veggies.

Day 164 - ENTERING

Standing. Waiting. For that last group picture of themselves surrounded by their friends of the last few years. For some....friends of the past 12 or 13 years. Waiting. To throw the hats. Waiting. Knowing. That the step they take off of those bleachers represents the entering into the next chapter of their life. The chapter that will require more schooling. Maybe. Work. full time. Not just part time. Entering into reality of adulthood. Where work is now not just... a way to get of the house, a form of spending money to be received. Work is now...required..for the most part. A necessity. Hopefully a selffulfilling, productive and awesome aweome chapter two.

Day 163 - FEAT

It's a feat any teenager should be proud of...making it through that first important chapter of life. One that many I know, never succeeded at. One that many more will have a difficult time with yet a feat that society so demands these days to get a half way decent job.


At the same time, as we parents know and are all too familiar with, it's a wonderful feat for the parents also...to have been able to 'entice', at times' our children to keep on going. Definitely a feat to be proud of for both parents and children.

Day 162 - BALANCE

There is this one little path way coming off of the boardwalk that wanders through a quaint little foresty area at the marsh I frequent. A pathway on which I know there will always be the chippers skampering around doing what they do best....make me smile. This little guy tried to sit as still as possible and balance on top of this log in hopes that I wouldn't see him. I was amazed how close he allowed me to get. He sat. He watched. He posed. He smiled. He skampered away.

Day 161 -HELP

Go figure. Add timbers to make the garden bed look nicer and of course, it then seemed empty and needed some fresh soil added. Funny how all your friends and relatives seem to disappear when you need help with these projects. Too funny. Little do they know (or they should know) how much I actually enjoy doing it myself and therefore, the best help they can give is to...tell me how wonderful it looks when it is all done.

Day 160 - WEEK

. I discovered this plant at a local nursery, individually owned, and fell in love with it. I worried whether it would return this year but it did. It's one of the smoke plants. The above shows the floral bud it presented for quite some time. The buds start out fresh and reddish. As they age, they get dried out and then

It seemed that within a week of it drying up, it 'flowered' out with these fluffy smoky like 'flowers' that were so enchanting. A true challenge trying to capture it with the wind...even a slight breeze kept them in full continuous motion.

159 -ADD

Winter keeps me cooped up way too much. Even though I've been up here for 7 years now, after having lived south for 25 years and had gardening in my life for much longer than that...this time of the year brings all kinds of 'wantings' into my daily thoughts. Wantings to dig in the dirt. Sometimes, this means adding a new place to dig...and so... The garden wasn't added completely. Just renovated. I did add the timbers to line it nicer as this garden follows along the side of the house by the driveway. It was like night and day. This is it with the addition of the timbers.

Here's to hoping an appropriate word pops up to allow me to share more on this one.

158 - HUSBAND

Husband - to use resources economically; conserve

This group of Great Whites, joined by one Great Blue, were all grouped around one little, still wet, marshy area that apparently was over populated with crawfish and tadpoles. There was abundant food for all.

I sat parked in my car on the auto route watching them. Snapping shots every which way...when I wasn't amused and amazed at the 'dancing' they were doing. Rather, the bickering and fighting they were doing over the food. They definitely had no intention to husband their energy. Flopping and jumping. Flying here...over two feet...back five. Fluffing the feathers. Snapping at each other. Crooning their necks high and cackling so all could hear.

I think I was more exhausted than they were. Even I didn't have a chance to husband my energy...twisting and turning, focusing, snapping. Stopping. Watching. Smiling. Sigh.

157 - FRIVOLOUS

Frivolous - (of a person) carefree, not serious.

Here's the thing about us Gonia girls....we all have very versatile personalities. We can be frivolous. We can be serious. We can be extrovert and/or introverts.
We like to have fun, laugh, make others happy. We like to help. We like to learn and share our knowledge. In some form or another, we are pretty artistic.

Mostly, we are all pretty awesome...if I must say so myself.

156 - FILM

A picture of my children many years ago....taken with my Canon film camera. (I shoot Nikon today....and don't think I will ever go back.) Taken at my favorite park near Houston...which just made me realize how many years I have been visiting this park ....26 years. Wow...time flies when you are having fun.

I've loved photography for at least that long and which I could have realized that so many years ago and pursued it. Well...they say it is never too late.

155 - DISTINCT

My trip to the UP brought me much pleasure, adventure and excitement and challenges. The sun was probably a bit brighter than it should have been for waterfalls and yet the air was foggy when it needed to be clear. Yet another trip with perspectives a bit different than expected, challenging yet self fulfilling.

I found the beach where I wanted to try to get the sunset...and yet the cloudy skies just laughed at me. When I first got there, it was not a deserted beach...as the children laughed and played in the water in air much cooler than I would have ventured into water with.

Once they left...I continued trying to get shots of the waterfall and the lake landscapes....wondering if the clouds might break just enough to allow for a magical end of the day. It didn't.

When I finally gave in and decided to head back to the hotel...after all I had had a full day starting at 4:30 am in hopes of catching sunrise, over a hundred miles on the road and another six to ten hiking on trails, climbing hills and rocky ledges and sand dunes. I was exhausted.

I turned and was closing down my tripod when....this face....very distinct face...was smiling at me from the sand. He didn't move. He just grinned and welcomed the snaps coming from my 'looking glass'.

Thank you, sir. G'nite.

(He looks like a mix of George Washington and Fred Flinstone. Hey, I said I was exhausted.)

154 - RESULT

You have to wonder what this could be a result of....out of hand children, unsupervised? Problem children...or adults? Kids...just having fun? Artists by night?

When I see it...the colorful palette attracts me. I don't read what any of it says. The top portion looks as if maybe it was intentional....meant to be...put there by the town or some other organization, not knowing the reason.

Regardless...it makes me stop. Wonder. Amazed and yet not understanding. A wall of colors. A wall of mixed feelings...not only mine but of those that participated.

Result....unknown.

153 - HEALTH

I believe every one has their own 'antidotes' for sickness, their own traditions for maintaining health from day to day...whether it be physical or mental health. Or not...for those that just can't get it and continue to drive themselves into the ground insisting that bad habits of smoking and excessive drinking and poor eating habits, lack of exercise have nothing to do with the way they feel.

I try to eat healthy on a daily basis. I work out atleast four days a week even if it means just walking for 45 minutes at lunch when the weather cooperates. This in itself helps maintain my mental health and allows me to get out and away from the main stress in my life.

On those really, really bad days...and even on many good days, my photography, bird watching and/or hiking relieves all of it. It takes me to another world that I enjoy extremely. I have a favorite marsh area in which I have discovered some new areas this year where, well, birds can be birds...and can sit close enough and quietly enough and watch for pretty much as long as I need.

It brings peace to an otherwise disruptive day.

152 - BRIEFLY

.. Every fifteen minutes this female Hairy Woodpecker would swoop in, chattering the entire time until she actually flew to the feeder. She would feed herself for a very brief moment, grab one last beak full of suet, turn and fly away. As often as she returned and fed, flying off each and every time with a beakful I'm guessing she had little ones tucked away in a tree hole somewhere near by.

Later that day, after realizing it was always a female, I noticed visiting the feeder in front was a male Hairy Woodpecker, again visiting and feeding ever so briefly. He didn't seem to think it was necessary to take any with him though. Go figure.

151 - FLUSH

I've had a great opportunity over the past week to travel a bit to an area of north Wisconsin and the Michigan UP where several water falls can be found. I love the photographs I see of the water falls where the flush of water rushing over the rocks looks all silky. This is the look I still have some work to perfect in my photography. I get close and absolutely get it right in some photos. In others, I take several of the same view in different settings trying to get that silky look.
I have discovered that shooting falls on an intensely sunlit day is a true challenge. There is only so far you can crank down the aperture or

slow down the shutter speed. Sometimes it is a constant changing one this way and the other that way trying to find just the perfect combination of the two.

I did that for two days last weekend while I was hiking and finding falls to photograph. To some frustration and disappointment. On my way back home, I stopped at one last waterfall. It was early in the day. It was foggy and overcast. Voila....the shots came a lot easier. The flush of the water flow wasn't all washed out and blurry looking. Instead, it seemed Mother Nature had laid a silk blanket over the hillside, creating a magical, mystical view that mesmerized even the simplest of viewers.