Gratitude Monday --Play

A little while ago I discovered some settings on my camera that let me play with the colours.
I am sure I read about them when I read the manual when I got the camera. Absorbing the knowledge is a whole 'nother story.
I'm so happy to have these settings.  I really like B&W, but I've got to say sepia has its moments.
I'm grateful for these settings, for finding them, and for the fun I'm having as I play with them.

Photo-Finish Friday - Less Steamy Edition

Here's another picture of Yellowstone Lake.
By way of comparison, here's a similar scene covered in steam.

Extracting Fun in the Rain

It's been raining most of the day and that's great for writing. It can also make for some interesting pictures. I was enchanted by the droplets of rain clinging to the mountain mahonia leaves out my writing window and thought they'd be a good way to show the weather.
It also seemed like a good time to play with some of the settings on my Pentax K20, the bulk of which scare me.
This is the color extraction setting. I found I really liked the effect.
What does the effect do for you?

Two Sentence Tuesday --First Draft Done

It's done. The first draft of Dead Broke is currently fermenting in a dank back corner of the hard drive. In a few months I'll haul it out, clear away the mildew, and very carefully open the file lest it explode.
More likely it will whimper and fizzle, and that's fine, too.  As long as something is left to work with I'll be happy.
Once it was done I took a few days off from writing. I wandered around the house bumping into furniture I'd forgotten about while trying to decide which of the other three novel manuscripts needed my attention.
They all do.
I finally decided to go with the first one I'd written. It hadn't been touched in so long it screamed when the mouse clicked over it. I'm pleased to say it's calmed down and I'm able to work on it.

Before it's too far gone in the fermentation here's a bit from near the end of Dead Broke:
"He glided out of the room. His bare, brain-burdened head cocked to one side to avoid the lintel."
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Not writing means more time for reading. I just finished Pharaoh by Italian author Valerio Massimo Manfredi (first published in Italian in 1998. English translation by Christine Feddersen-Manfredi, published, in 2010 by McArthur and Company).
The author is many-times published and an archaeologist whose specialty is the ancient world.
The book is a thriller set in the middle east with plots to cripple the US and take over Israel while a tomb is discovered that could rip the faith from the three major religions.
It's a good page-turner, good for taking readers away, and bits of it read like a reasonable echo of  9/11 despite being put out three years earlier.

Two lines:
" 'Please allow us just a few minutes," said the man with the coat. 'You'll realize that we had no choice.' "
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Thanks for being here. It means a lot to me.
For more or to get in on the fun please see The Women of Mystery.

Gratitude Monday -- Faery Tale Edition

Mountain Mahonia takes over.

Every year my husband cuts back the mountain mahonia we have growing along the south wall. Every year it comes back bigger and better.

This year he cut it back around the south window in July and by last week it had grown back and then some.

I sit at my computer and look out the window as the leaves hang down obscuring the bird feeder.

It is private, it speaks of resilience and the will to survive, and it suggests many of the old stories where someone rests in an enchanted sleep for years and the world grows around them.

It allows me to suspend this world and enter a different one as needed such as for writing, and for that I am grateful.

Photo-Finish Friday --Wheeling Through Time

My husband and the world's largest wagon wheel and pick axe at Fort Assiniboine.

Fort Assiniboine, Alberta, is my hometown and the second oldest Fort in Alberta. The wheel was put up a few years ago as a tourist attraction and to drive home the fact that the Fort is on the Klondike Trail.

Hey Big Deal Retailers Get Out of Alberta

Some big deal stores are boycotting Alberta oil due to our oilsands. The GAP, Levi Stauss, and Timberland are among retailers who've decided to jump on the big green bandwagon and put on a show for their customers.

You make me sick.

You won't use our oil, but you'll take the money from the people who work in the industry.

Put some spine into your boycott retailers. Close your stores here. A huge percentage of your Alberta customers make their money from the oil and gas industry. If you won't use the product, then you're nothing but money-grubbing hypocrites for taking the money from the people who do.

C'mon big retailers. Prove you mean it.

Get out.