300:365

Well... another milestone of sorts was reached today as I took my 300th photo for my 365 Photo a Day project ( here and here ). Who'da thunk I would have made it this far?!

In fact, I almost didn't make it today... which would have been the first time in 2yrs that I would have missed. I didn't realize I hadn't take a photo today... except for one lone shot that I took around 8:30pm. And so... I had only one shot to work with today. Ah well. Fortunately, I was happy with it ( and it is shown at the bottom below). While it is not technically perfect * it could certainly be sharper*... I am happy with the mood it evokes...


And... speaking of "mood shots"... I was looking back thru some of my photos today, and came across the other 2 photos on today's blogpost. I took them exactly a year ago today... and they still "speak" to me ... encouraging me to enjoy life... to enjoy where I'm at ... to be satisified with the way things are... while still looking forward to where they could go in the future.

*photos by Elaine A. Russell

201:365

Having dealt with debilitating illnesses before... you'd think that I would know when to slow down. Or stop. But I don't. I think sometimes that illness (at least in my case) can therefor sometimes be a good thing; in the sense that it forces me to take time and rest.
This whole past month I have been working up to a "good" case of bronchitis. And now, for the past several days... it has consumed most every moment of my existence.

Stupid stuff completely wears me out.

I have been trying to sort thru the house ... and this past weekend I sold some of the stuff off of Craigslist. The stuff that didn't sell.... I loaded up and took to Goodwill this afternoon. It was all I could do to basically drive it up there... and somewhat help unload it (fortunately... I very nice guy helped me out). By the time I got home... I was ready for another breathing treatment... and some Tylenol for a killer headache.

One thing that never seems to wear me out though... is taking photographs. Both of the shots for today's post I took on the way home from Goodwill. They are sunny.... and remind me to keep "looking up".... and keep on keepin on....


------->photos by Elaine A. Russell

155:365

Theme: Abundance

Theme: Surprise

Theme: Melody

Theme: Face

Theme: Juicy

Theme: Illuminate

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Tonight I am posting on a FlickR group I belong to; called the ECHO Project.
"In Autumn of 2009 we (Christy Hydeck & Susan Tuttle) decided to take a creative journey together, a collaborative photography venture we simply titled: ECHO. "
Every two weeks, a new theme is posted... and photographers in the group (who generally are paired off into teams), come up with a set of photos (or diptych) created with one photo from each of the partners... based on that theme.
My partner is Brenda Seaholm-Wampler (blog site here), and together we have done 12 challenges... all of which are shown here in the order in which we did them.
(if you click on the photos, they will enlarge so that you can see them better)

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Theme: Collections

Theme: Blossom

Theme: Dim

Theme: Abstract

Theme: Fauna

Theme: Rouge

99:365

Well.... dad's fever has finally somewhat stabilized.... and he is tolerating the IV antibiotics he is getting. His spirit is strong... but his body is betraying him these past few days. Today... it was discovered that he has a significant blood clot in his left femoral artery *left groin/upper leg area.
Ironically... the best thing for the pneumonia is to be as active as possible.... but with a clot.. he is confined to minimal movement at best... as he is getting blood thinners and such to absorb the clot and minimize more from forming. It is a viscious cycle almost.....

Mimicking the up and down of dad's health... is the weather here. I took this photo of a stained glass art piece in my parent's living room looking out to the backyard... and not even an hour later... we were in the middle of a massive snowstorm.

The snow didn't stay of course.... and I'm sure the weather will improve... it just seemed horribly ironic....

Walking around the house... I was really tired... and trying to figure out what I would take as my photo for the day....

And so.... I am including a photo of probably some of the most *ahem* interesting wallpaper ever.... (in my parent's bathroom)... and a photo of a hand-colored photograph of my dad taken when he was about 3 years old. Yes... my grandmother really did dress him like that for school. He says it was how he learned to fight so well as a kid (>>giggle<<).

* all photos by Elaine A. Russell

66:365 (for Sunday)

---------------------------------------------------photo by Elaine A. Russell

so.. in my mad rushing about; I actually forgot to write a post for yesterday. I think that may have been the first time ever that I missed a blog post... in the entire 430some posts I've written so far.

Oooops.

So. Yesterday.... I did manage to get an enormous amount of stuff done... thanks in great part to my family... who pitched in. I got my hair cut... got groceries... cleaned the car... transplanted a bunch of plants into new dirt that needed transplanted...swept the patios... cleaned the entire house... gathered garbage.... did laundry... did cooking for the week so that the boys didn't have to.... did dishes...did my business taxes for the quarter... mailed out some packages from sales and such...and burned a bunch of cds worth of photos for people.

I have been very fortunate in the past few months, and have had people request permission to use my photos for their websites, etc (Los Poblanos, ABQ Trolley Co, South Broadway Cultural Center, the Santa Fe Recycle Show folks, and the guy we hired to do our kitchen remodel)... so that has been absolutely incredible. Yesterday, I got all the photos burned onto cds and mailed out (thanks to my hubby who did the actual burning).

It was simply amazing. I have been sick for long enough... that I had gotten way behind on the everyday stuff that it takes to manage a house, etc... and it was kinda overwhelming in what all I had gotten behind on. .. or at least it felt that way.

When my son got home from work... he went out and not only got me an ice cold coke... but he bought me a snazzy food cooler for the car for this trip. And... my daughter has decided to go along... so that is awesome.

So... starting with the next post... we will be on the road... traveling from ABQ to PA... 1900 miles one way.. .. in the SmartCar ♥

36:365

(photos by Elaine A. Russell)

Normally... I would be posting a review of a local gallery today. But, I woke up after only 2 hours of sleep with a fever and a sore throat.... so all bets are off at the moment. This is not an unusual event (having Lupus)... but I also know that it probably means that I will be "toast" for the rest of the day.. and not to plan on doing anything major. Tonight is the "First Friday" gallery events here in ABQ... so hopefully I will be better by tonight so that I can go.

Ah.. but enough of that.

As you all know... I have been taking photos forever... and have more than the average person's stash of photos lying about. It has been my goal to eventually get them all scanned and saved into digital files so that:

1. I can access them more easily
2. store them more easily
3. not have a closet full of photos

Yesterday I was looking at a bunch of my photos that I have saved on my husband's computer from last year (*before I got my own laptop). The photos for today's blog are 2 shots that I took last February. In fact, almost to the day... a year ago. There is something so reassuring about the river area here in ABQ. I have always been drawn to water... but there is something majikal about the combination of river and the huge cottonwood trees down there that is just amazing.

And so... I will leave you to gaze upon the beauty that is the Bosque....

Living Simply Tip for the Day: Try to keep your collections small. If that is not possible (say you have a collection of several thousand photos---ahem... )... try to keep them organized and in one location. In my case... scanning and saving all my photos to digital files is a long and arduous task... but one that I will definitely reap the benefits of in the future.

27:365

So... when I was traveling this past weekend... the weather was just incredible. We had just left ABQ proper; when it clouded over and became like this (*photo above)...dark skies and threatening looking formations....

The storm was so low to the ground, that from the car; it looked like it was actually rising up from the fields. It began to hail.... big chunks of icy snow came down... and then it just as suddenly cleared up...

And there was nothing but blue skies all around us. The scenery here in New Mexico really is unlike any I have seen anywhere else. You can literally see for miles. It's no wonder that so many artists and photographers come here...

I have been reading a book called "Art and Fear" lately. It's a fairly hard read... not exactly something that is easily absorbed into one's consciousness. But ... it brings up some very good points about being an artist. The authors (David Bales and Ted Orland) talk about "how art is made, the reasons it often doesn't get made, and the nature of the difficulties that cause so many artists to give up along the way." For me (and I haven't finished the book yet)... the striking example has been... the fear of failure. The feeling that no matter what you do; it just isn't good enough. But the authors point out... that this fear itself is what makes artists give up. The fear of rejection by one's peers for example... when in reality... while they may not like your art; it's not really up to them to have a say over what you as an artist is making. That if we all waited for the perfect piece of art to present to the world; we would never get anything actually made. That no work has to be perfect... in fact... what is perfect to some; would certainly not be perfect to all.

It's an interesting take on an age-old issue. I think the "beacon of light" for me; is to give myself permission to just create... to just do... to just be. And hopefully; someone will be inspired and moved by it. After all; that is why we create art in the first place... to share some bit of our soul, some glimpse into our point of view, some feeling we are trying to convey... with someone else ...through the creativity of our hands.

I have been very fortunate these past few months to have been given some wonderful opportunities to further my art. I have taken some great classes by some very talented instructors, and I have had some of my photographs published and/or used by some local businesses. I am honored ... and grateful.

...and I am looking forward to a creative and interesting future.....

*all photos by Elaine A. Russell

thankfulness

*photo by Elaine A. Russell

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle.

The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

— Albert Einstein

A friend of mine loves Albert Einstein... frankly, I never read much of his work... but now am seeing how insightful he really was. Today I am thankful for my family, my friends, my health... and so much more.

ABC Wednesday

*photos by Elaine A. Russell

ABC Wednesday is a blog posting with a twist. The host (Mrs. Nesbitt) hails from Great Britain... and there are participants from all over the world. Each week, people focus their post on a letter of the alphabet. They started with the letter "A" --and each week you post something in regards to the next letter of the alphabet. It is a fun, imaginative exercise... and it is great to see what everyone comes up with. This week's letter is, "N".

nemophilist -- Ne*moph"i*list\, n. [See Nemophily.] One who is fond of forest or forest scenery; a haunter of the woods. [R.] ; one who loves the woods

I am a HUGE fan of the woods. Yes.... a "haunter", a wanderer, a wannabe biologist and/or botanist, one who is profoundly at home in the middle of trees (and ferns!).

Our Lady of Kazan Skete

*all photos by Elaine A. Russell



The other day, frankly, I was lost in Barelas. I am not familiar with the area at all, but it is such a photo op of an area... that I just had to drive around for a bit. It was pretty much a perfect afternoon. I went to my jewelry class, then went for a drive around town... got a coke... and went exploring.

To my delight, I came across this wonderful grouping of buildings, known as the Our Lady of Kazan Skete. "The monastic community of Our Lady of Kazan began roughly 25 years ago south of Downtown Albuquerque as a skete - defined as a small community made up of 2-3 monks.....

The community has grown over the years to offer a counseling center, and works to pass on its skills and training to the surrounding community at large - including gardening, herbalism, bee-keeping, honey production, beeswax candle-making and iconography classes with our iconographer. " (http://www.kazanmonastery.org/)

Works of profoundly awesome art from the community are available at ORO Fine Art Gallery (http://gallery.orogallery.com/)

at the gardens

photos by Elaine A. Russell

So -- yesterday, the hubby and I decided to take a stroll at the Rio Grande Botanical Gardens (http://www.cabq.gov/biopark/garden/). We haven't been to it in years, and it seemed like a "weekend" thing to do. Seeing as I overslept, we ended up going mid-afternoon... and only had a couple of hours at the park. I had intended to see the aquariums, but we ended up spending our alotted time exclusively in the gardens.

There is alot more garden area than I remember, and alot of it seems relatively new. It is fabulous. We strolled through the Children's Fantasy gardens (led by 2 very enthusiastic young boys), through the Sasebo Japanese gardens, the Mediteranean gardens, the rose gardens (my mother-in-law would've loved this), the Heritage Farm and gardens (my parent's would've loved this), and the cactus gardens of the southwest.

Having just a simple Kodak camera now... I was a little worried about getting the kind of shots I would like. However, my little "koda" surprised me. Of course, it won't take the macro shots that I would like.. but it is turning out to be a really nice little camera. As I get them re-sized into more accessable pics, I will load them onto my FlickR link to the side --->

We stayed until closing (5pm) ... then we went for supper at El Patio. The hubby and I have eaten lunch there many times... and it is a nice dependable place to get quality New Mexican faire. I had the huervos, and he had the chicken burrito plate. yuuuuuuuuuuuuuum. http://elpatiodealbuquerque.com/

perseverance

photo by Elaine A. Russell

When I was little ... growing up in the backwoods of PA...I had a neighbor up the street who had the most beautiful gardens. He and his wife were already "old" by my childhood standards .. and spent their days working in their gardens, drinking cocktails in the evenings and throwing garden parties for their friends at night. The man was a descendant of one of the first settlers in our area, and the house was a veritable museum of taxidermy animals, old books, and great china. I remember they had a taxidermy Great Horned owl that sat in one of the big windows.. and even though I knew it was there.. it always startled me. One of the first jobs I ever was "babysitting" their geese flock for a couple weeks when they went on vacation. But I digress.

I think my love of plants started then. They owned the whole back hillside as well as the property across from the dirt road by their house. This property consisted of a sizable hill full of forest, a creek, a couple ponds, an underground spring, lots of bear/ deer/ wild critters... and tons of wildflowers.

On the flat area across from their house, they had planted extensive flower gardens. One of the most brilliant flowers there was a very tall variety of tiger lily. I remember that the lady called them "turkish nightcaps".. and I imagined that little Turkish elves would come at night, dressed in all their woodland finery.. and wear the flowers as caps. I imagined that the lady elves would be wearing skirts of day lily petals in yellow and orange and red... and they would dance by the ponds under the stars when no one else was about.

Just this summer I went again to visit these woods. The properties are all "suburban" now... it was sold and divided years ago, and now there are 4 houses where gardens once stood. It is very sad to me... and yet.... I was surprised to see this one lone stalk of tiger lily pushing itself out of the ground and raising its petals to the sky...

*I just found out that one of my photos is now published in the Schmap Guide to ABQ ( see link on the right ) WOOT !