Tell The Story With Two
June 13, 2009 by Puna
Filed under Photography
The story this year is rain.
Posted on Shutter Sisters.
SOOC Saturday ~ Flowers In Vivid Setting
June 13, 2009 by Puna
Filed under Photography
Today I’m using the vivid setting in my camera.
I’m also playing with the focal point…really trying hard…
to set the focus on a petal, a stamen, a stem.
And I’m holding my breath, so that my hands are steady…I wanted to keep these photos SOOC, no editing at all.
It’s takes practice, my yoga training comes in handy…
Happy to post this SOOC Saturday over at Slurping Life.
Happy Birthday Neighbor Chris
June 13, 2009 by Puna
Filed under Signatures
A couple of days ago, I received this cute email from Neighbor Theresa.
As many of you know, I am unfortunately leaving my husband behind to go to celebrate my brother’s wedding in Vegas this weekend. I am needed to escort my parents who are still in shock. Chris’ 39th Birthday is on the 13th of June. Please help him have a happy Birthday by calling him on the phone at xxx-xxx-xxxx and/or cell xxx-xxx-xxxx and tell him happy birthday and that his wife loves him very much. I would greatly appreciate this. 
Love to all,
Theresa
It was so sweet. So today I’m wishing Neighbor Chris a happy birthday.
I’m sure your wife is thinking of you today! You’re just a baby, 39?
The only photos I had to Neighbor Chris is one where he is dead or with a dress form. Sorry about that. I would invite him over for dinner but he’s allergic to the dog and the cat. I’ll have the girl bring him brownies tonight:)
No More Teachers No More Books
June 12, 2009 by Puna
Filed under Signatures
You have not lived until you hear a rousing rendition of Ozzy Osbourne’s Crazy Train played by the middle school jazz ensemble. I was tapping my feet.
The poms were awesome at the assembly.
And so were the cheerleaders. Though I think they were the same girls.
Anyway, so long to another school year. It’s bittersweet. One should never wish for the passing of time especially when one has kids. But I have to admit, I’m glad that this is the last day of school. I’m looking forward to a more relaxed schedule. As all moms know, when your kids have homework, so do you, so I’m looking forward to some down time.
And no more teachers dirty looks.
Julia asks what makes us happy today on her blog, Hooked on Houses. This makes me happy!
What's Your Play? no. 49
June 10, 2009 by Puna
Filed under Photography
I haven’t had much time lately to play with Photoshop but tonight, it’s how I’m relaxing. I have two plays for Laura over at dolcepics this week.
The before ~
Now you see why I wanted to play. This little girl is so adorable and the SOOC is just perfect.
The after #1 ~ I made her a drawing with a colored pencil fill.
My photographer geek friend Danny sent me this link and I decided to use it on this photo. I followed the tutorial but thought the end product didn’t really capture the little girl. After all, the photo that Mr. Barker is working on is a bathroom. So I chose instead to put the last layer on “color” in the layer palette. Then I lowered the opacity of the color and texture layer so that the little girl and swing was more prominent. I really had to play around with the layers and messed up several times so please make sure you make duplicate layers if you are going to play. Unless of course you know what you are doing, unlike myself.
If that’s a little too much, then I did this second play, using actions from TRA.
This is fun…I could stay up all night doing this but I don’t dare. Tomorrow comes pretty quickly!
Wordless Wednesday ~ The Itsy Bitsy Spider
June 10, 2009 by Puna
Filed under Photography
This spider-like plant is growing out front. I don’t know why, but I like it. I think I’ll die.
This photo is un-edited. SOOC.
Life On The Chesapeake
June 10, 2009 by Puna
Filed under Signatures
When we moved here almost six years ago, we didn’t know anything about the area. We didn’t think we would be here this long so beyond looking at the quality of the schools and proximity to the husband’s job, we didn’t do much research.
We thought we would be here for the standard three year tour and leave again. We now have officially lived here longer than we have lived anywhere in our 17 year marriage.
We didn’t know that the Patuxent and the Chesapeake were boating playgrounds.
That the beautiful Patuxent is a haven for protected wildlife.
That these beautiful majestic birds would be the object of my obsession very time I get in the water.
It’s another reason why the suburban life is a wonderful one. I think I’m starting to like it here.
Posted on Outdoor Wendesday and happy Love Thursday everyone.
Camera Ready
June 9, 2009 by Puna
Filed under Signatures
I’m outside photographing flora, when the boy drives the lawnmower by.
I yell, “Belly button!” over the sound of the lawnmower.
He adjusts…
That’s better. Hey, even Brad Pitt had a mom who told him to pull his shirt down.
Best Shot Monday ~ Osprey 7
June 8, 2009 by Puna
Filed under Photography
I hope to have many more photos of this beautiful bird this summer.
The Aloha Times
June 8, 2009 by Puna
Filed under Signatures
Today you will have to excuse me but I’m going to reminisce about Hawaii. This was brought on by Gayle at Planet M Files with her Monday Memories post and the iheartfaces.com post which asks us to post our vacation photos.
The coast of Molokai.
I feel like our time in Hawaii was a three-and-a-half-year vacation so I am going to walk down memory lane.
The girl’s 1st grade class…
When my kids wore flip flops and aloha shirts every day…
The boy’s spring aloha show…
When they swam with dolphins…
The Kahala Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Oahu.
And we all had matching aloha wear…
Christmas 2002.
My kids know words like keiki, mahalo, humuhumunukunukuapuaa, and used them all the time.
The Polynesian Cultural Center, North Shore, Oahu.
Where volcanoes spew red hot lava still…
Big Island lava fields.
Where my heart is…
Tenth anniversary at The Lodge at Koele on the island of Lanai.
I never left Hawaii for three and a half years except to come back to the mainland one time, to go to my Grammie’s funeral, the same Grammie whose wardrobe I tried to sell at my yard sale. I figured that if anyone wanted to come see us, they would come to Hawaii where they had a place to stay, a car to drive and built-in tour guides. And we had many visitors, including my parents who came about six times while we were there…People would claim to have gotten island fever, but not me, never.
So now I live in Maryland and I have to say that the transition was really hard for me at first. I didn’t work, I didn’t like my house (it was temporary remember) and the husband was making noise about retiring here…huh? We bought this house and I thought I would be here our compulsory three years and we would move on. But here we are six years later…
Our house…Honolulu…look closely and you can see the lights on.
I do like it here, I love my church and my neighbors, I have a brand new remodeled kitchen and the kids are well adjusted and love their school and friends. I’m also relatively close geographically to my parents and to my sister who is ailing from ALS, for the first time since I moved away after college.
Still…something in me wants another adventure. I miss it, I’m so full of emotion right now. I may be on a plane by the time you read this…
