Ball (Theme 111)

Learning my camera has been been a fun thing for me and being able to shoot photos like this inside without a flash is so exciting. The High School teams had a game on Friday and asked that the Elementary/Middle school teams play during the half time. The boys team played in the middle of the High School girls team and the girls played during the boys game. I was able to use my 85mm 1.8 lens and it works like a charm. This was one of my favorite shots, if not my favorite. I'm planning on giving all of the photos to the High School Coaches after I do a little photoshop effect. Maybe it will get my name out there for some future business.

Fruity (Theme 50)

Now this one is just plain funny, it't not a ball. We have a fruit bowl inside and every now and then one goes bad so we throw it out in our backyard in the wooded area. What he has in his mouth is a grapefruit. The raccoons and other creatures must not like grapefruit but Copper sure seems to like it. He is funny because he has to have a ball of his own so the kids can play. Copper is such the scent seeker that he will find whatever we throw out if the animals haven't gotten it the night before. Copper is a ball hog.....he loves his toys and will not give them up for anyone. You have to take it from him to throw it and he will chase it a few times and play the game but then he decides different he will got get the ball after you throw it and then sit on the other side of the yard letting you know he's done. On this particular day he sat down with his fruit and watched the kids play football and basektball and didn't bother them at all.

Angel (Theme 343)

This is the only Angel we have around my house other than that we have little devils running around. Maybe they aren't so little these days. Ok, so they aren't little devils either........just Angels with tarnished halo's. This photo came out great in that the background is soft. It really makes the blue gems on her wings stand out.

Handmade (Theme 16)

Handmade........I have many things around my house that are handmade but "A Season in Time" is one of my favorites along with "At Home in the Woods". I have a huge wall that is home to both of my quilts and a large entertainment center. This quilt only took me 1 week to make working around 6 hours a day, sometimes less given what block I was working on. My hands were sore after all of that cutting but the outcome was a good one. I know the photo is small but there are raccoons and squirrel in the tree and if you look more closely there are other animals. Julie posted this link in my comments, I forgot so thanks Julie. This link is to one of my gallerys showing my quilts in detail. Stop by if you want to see more details. http://www.viovio.com/photos/gallery/21957?page=1&gallery_id=21957

Coffee (Theme 201)

This is my morning java and let me tell you it's great. I just love the size of this mug. I have 3 mugs that fit my hand just right nad this is one of them. It has to have a large handle.....nothing dainty will work. I spill that all over myself. I know, what a yutz right?

Here is my bouns.....ff Spouse is at work I get to have my flavored coffee. He's not into the coffee unless it's the regular type so I get out my selection of the week and brew away. My ultimate favorite is MillStone's Vermont Maple. It makes the house smell like pancakes. I can't get anyone in my immediate circle to drink flavored except my sister and she is hours away so I will just drink it when everyone is away......that's ok............more for me!!! Some of the others that I like are the Pumpkin Spice, Peppermint, Hazelnut Cream and French Vanilla. I'm always looking for the coupons so if you see any, send them my way. Gotta run........my coffee is done brewing, I can smell it.

Quilt (Theme 165)

This is my first full quilt and it's done by the applique method. "At Home in the Woods" is the official name and since we are in the Smoky Mountains it fits the bill. Currently it's hanging in my family room and each time I look at it I'm amazed that I did that. It took me working quite a few hours over the course of 3 months to finish the top. I then had my friend Jennifer from Quilting Queens in Oregon quilt it for me. She did a beautiful job. The fun part is that in each quilt she works on she adds a crown somewhere on the quilt. Her mark......It has been a few years and I have yet to find the one she put on here. Still looking though........

Holographic (Theme 277)

The Lady Vols played Vanderbilt at Thompson Bowling Arena here in Knoxville on 1-20-208 and beat them 79 to 63. It was a great game. My only problems were that we needed oxygen for the seats we were in. HE HE HE and the worse part was that when you sat down the back of the seat in front of you touched your shins. I couldn't even make it thru the 1st half before I had knee pain. There was no room to move. If you had to leave the whole row had to get up. I loved going to the game but will NEVER return to watch if those seats are open, even if they are free.

Cow (Theme 204)

Here is Tilly the Title Cow, she is the office mascot and I bought a fun bowl with the cow print for my desk. See, my desk it clean and neat..not like the clutter photo of my boss' desk. His mascot should be a little piggy!!!! We let Tilly travel all over the office and you never know where she will show up next. Fun to have one that you don't have to feed, walk and love one. We do love Tilly as we place her in the next hiding spot. She's a worker all right......we just don't pay her.

Black & White (Theme 172)

This is my niece Avery and she always takes a great photograph but this one really spoke to me and I had to play with it to get it just right for printing because my sister will hang this one on her wall along with the other B&W photo of my other niece. Making a B&W is not as easy as you would think. First it came out flat, then you adjust level, use gradients, certain layer need to lightened, all in order to give this depth and dimension. All the work payed off in this picture but then again, look at what I had to work with.

Music (Theme 169)

How about a huge guitar for my music. It is the center focus when it's dark because it is decked out in neon lights. This is also the center hub for outside entertainment in Louisville, KY. The are concerts held here and the street become packed with activitiy. We were there, obviously, during the day and there weren't many people so we had lunch at The Pub and then strolled across the street for a friendly game of bowling at Lucky Strick. It was a fun day.

Clutter (Theme 344)

This is actually my boss' desk. He has 3 desks around the office and I don't know how he functions because they all look like this. I know cluttered desks are a sign of a brilliant mind........so they say but in my opinion a cluttered desk is the sign of disorder and chaos such as this. He does use my desk for most things because it's clean, clear and in order. Maybe that's why he keeps me around the office to straighten him out. I call it a "Reality Check". I may have to take pictures of the other desks to show you what I mean. I would go crazy!!!!!!

Laughter (Theme 2)

I believe I nailed laughter here. This is so funny in that Avery, the one in pink, was trying to get down and Sadie, the 6 month old labordoodle, wouldn't let her. I tried to get all 4 to sit, look and smile........RIGHT. Like that's going to happen. Well, here is one of my many tries and this is my favorite. Regan and Riley had a ball with this one because Sadie wouldn't leave them alone even after this shot was taken.

Job (Theme 27)

Walking to 4th Street Live last weekend we had to pass this crane so we looked up and this is what we saw. Many men working to move this unit (heating/air I think) into this small space. I was amazed that they only had 2 straps holding this in the air. The workers used ropes to guide the crane operators efforts. You can see on of the ropes on the right side of the box. If you look close enough you will see the middle worker actually pulling. There wan't much to see on this building to know exactly what they are doing or what the building houses but we were sure to stay far enough away in the event that those straps gave way and all came tumbling down.

Photo (Theme 150)

The theme is photo and as you would know I have many scattered around the house as many people do. This is Ryan's sports wall showing off his favorite activities. The baseball pictures are from where he went to the World Series in Sulpher, LA and his team placed 9th. Photos will be updated in the little frames since that was t-ball. Football and Basketball are current collages that I have done. He does have more wall space and would like to fill it so we are working on it and should have it filled soon at this pace.

Time (Theme 41)

The view from my office is of this tower on top of the Blount County Court House. Even the sky gives this picture an ominous look. 11 am and it looks like potential snow clouds but dont' be fooled, we are in the Valley and although we do get snow it's mainly in the Smoky Mountains and we get a dusting. Then when the tides evenutally do turn the folks around here will be blessed with all white out conditions and a 10 inch snowfall. We are hoping that this happens this year because it has been long time since we had any large accumulations in our area. Beside, I'm ready to get out and have a snowball fight, ride the sled and act like a kid.

Swing (Theme 246)

This is my beautiful niece Riley having a little fun in her backyard with her sister and cousins over this past weekend. We are trying to spend as much time as possible with them before they move to Alaska later this summer. Then getting together for the weekend will no longer be possible. The kids are already talking about getting together next year. I won't mind them moving there for a short time but if it's going to be for many years, we all will be sad because we are all so close.

Make up (Theme 24)

Here is a little makeup that I use daily. I try not to use much because I'm of the school that less is more. The only thing that I don't have on here is my blush but that is just a shade of pink to give me a little color.

Wooden (Theme 14)

Walking around the Zoo the other day I noticed that many of the exhibits had walkways and there were some really nice paths. This was one of my favorites and having a camera in my hand was just another shot but when I got it home and loaded on the computer I really liked the look so I decided to use it as todays theme.

Warning (Theme 212)

I believe that this sign will do for my warning theme. I would hate to get shocked by this one because to keep the animals in I know it would pack a powerful punch or shock. It makes you wonder if they have been shocked or just stay away from the perimeter out of instinct because I never see the animals close to the fence.

Rainbow (Theme 89)

This was taken at the Zoo yesterday and I was trying different settings for stopping water or getting that dreamy effect. I didn't know what I had until I got home and uploaded the photos. I was surprised to have had this rainbow. It is out of focus but that is because the shutter was open long enought to get the camera shake. I didn't take a tripod with me. I need to find it......it's missing in a secret place SOMEWHERE!!!!

You can see that my stamp says 07 but it was taken yesterday and I have corrected by brush in photoshop so they will have the correct year.

Heat (Theme 226)

I thought since my last post on the Fire Department and I talked about an photo that scared me that this would be the best photo for HEAT. My husband is the one standing in the door way followed by another AFD Fire Fighter Kevin J. and a Blount County Fire Fighter Stephen C. This is an amazing photo in that you can see thru the wall that Tom is standing in front of. I have never been scared for him when he goes to work but this photo puts things into perspective and now I think twice. No one was hurt but as you can see, it was a total loss for this family.

I know this photo is a 2007 shot but It will have to do until I replace it with something I take this year. I will mark it as completed on the list you see but my list will show needs update. I just had to share this one of some of America's Finest at work.

Newspaper (Theme 9)

On January 3rd, Alcoa Fire Department had a busy day. This is an extended stay motel where the heater in this room sparked and caught fire. No one was hurt but they did lose everything they had in the room.

Tom, my husband, is the one on top hanging over the roof talking to his fellow fire fighters below. White helmet's are Captain rank, Red helmet is Lieutenant and Yellow is a Firefighter.

Donate (Theme 107)

After Christmas it was time to clean out the kids rooms and get rid of so many things that have not been played with over the past year and that includes clothing that no longer fits. I had extra boxes that were going to be thrown out so we jumped in and cleared the closets out. Now the kids rooms are spotless, so much so you can see the floor. There are some children that have lost everything due to a house fire so we are donating all the good condition working toys, games and clothes to help the local fire victims. This is only one small load, I have already filled the van once and this is going to be the second trip.

Shoes (Theme 170)

Shoes is the theme and how about this one. Water pipe in the attic at my mother house burst and soaked everything in the closet. What a mess and it has been a chore to clean up. The pipe was well insulated but the vent to the outside must have let in too much cold air and well..........you get the idea. These are 3 of the shoes that we poured water out of.

Forgotten (Theme 141)

Helping my mother with her water disaster this week I went outside to get some fresh air and enjoy the warmer weather. This sign caught my eye and I just imagine, I had my camera so I shot a few frames. I really like this sign and plan on using it an a few of my layout for photo books.

Candlelight (Theme 59)

Christmas candle on the table. My Mother-in-law always decorates so beautifully for each holiday and this is just one of her decorations that deserves to be part of this challenge. This is simple and beautiful. In our homes we don't take down our decorations until after New Years and in many cases work gets in the way so it is a few days after the New Year.

View (Theme 61)

This is a view from inside the downtown Knoxville Sunsphere looking at the Worlds Fair water park that is a hot spot for summer fun if you like to get wet. This is something that has been built in the last few years and was not around in 1982 at the Worlds Fair......it would have been a welcomed area back then.

After I posted this photo, I realized that it was a 2007 shot, it says so right on the bottom right. I will be updating this one with something taken in 2008 as soon as I get back to the Sunsphere or find something similar.

Such Great Heights (Theme 38)

This is the Sunsphere in downtown Knoxville, TN. It was built for the 1982 Worlds Fair and housed an observation deck and restaurant. Now, it's just an observation deck and old photos of how things were looked in 1982. Beautiful sight even if you driving thru Knoxville on I-40.

Needlework (Theme 5)

This is a thread painting of a scanned photograph of a little boy named Palmer. The picture really doesn't how off the depth of this embroidery. I'm really pleased on how it turned out. This is only the second thread painting that I have done.......the first one was of a little girl named Emma.

Sparkle (Theme 1)

How about a little sparkle? These are some of my Christmas decorations that were sitting on the table after I took down the tree. I didn't put these away for a few days because each morning as the sun was rising it would shin on these glass balls and my entire ceiling would dance and sparkle.

Cat (Theme 8)

These are my 3 little sidekicks, Molly (multi colored), Bo (B&W) and Loafy (orange). This is where they sleep every night with the exception of Molly who sleeps there only when I lift her to the bed. Who needs a heating blanket when you have these little heaters.

Why I created a blog

I'm a member of a wonderful site/forum called Photoshop Creative Elements Community aka PCEC by many of the members. Well, one of our members (Lindajay) posted a thread with the header of 366 Photos for 2008. As many of you know I have my new Canon 40D and need loads of practice so this challenge is perfect for me. I printed the list and have been taking pictures but didn't know where to show my 366 photos. A good forum friend suggested Blogger and I just jumped at it so here I am.....

Here is how the Challenge works: 366 photos and they all are from a different theme. Since it's a Leap Year that is why there are 366 photos. Thanks to Linda for this challenge. You can read more on her blog. http://lindas366photos.blogspot.com/ and find links to others who are participating in this challenge. The themes can be taken in random order, and the pictures don't absolutely have to be one per day. If you miss posting a picture one day, it can be made up. The bottom line is that you post 366 pictures spread out over the year and covering all 366 themes

I'm learning this blog thing as I go so please excuse the simplicity of my posts and how I upload or edit. Thanks for taking a look around. I hope that I have created an area in our vast computer world that makes you want to revisit my small little area.