October 28 Stormy Sky

October 28 Stormy Sky, originally uploaded by NedraI.

After a day of heavy rain the clouds finally parted. On my drive home I noticed these beautiful clouds to the west. I pulled over on a side street to take a picture and wonder if we were going to get hit with another storm. For now it seems to have passed us by.

October 27 Milkweed

October 27 Milkweed, originally uploaded by NedraI.

I had some free time this afternoon after a morning appointment. It was another glorious fall day. So, I took advantage of it and headed up to the woods near our home. I didn't have to go far to find what I was looking for; milkweed and bittersweet. I took LOTS of photos! I tried to remember what the photo teacher told me-take both verticals and horizontals. I came back and fixed up the ones I posted using Photoshop. It's fun but definitely time consuming!

October 26 Potato Hill Farm

October 26 Potato Hill Farm, originally uploaded by NedraI.

I debated which picture to use today. Funny how some days I have slim pickin's and other days too many choices. I went with this one since I was asked to go on the field trip to bike with the kids. The 4th and 5th graders spent their day at this lovely spot. The day was divided between a bike ride and a botany walk with lunch and a horse drawn wagon ride in between. Whenever I had a chance I pulled out my camera and snapped some shots. The day started cool and foggy but once the sun burned through it was an absolutely beautiful fall day.

October 25 Indian Corn

October 25 Indian Corn, originally uploaded by NedraI.

This weekend I wanted to go to a farm stand to take some fall pictures but after a rainy Saturday I forgot about it. Luckily Sunday afternoon I took a quick Plurk break from gardening and read a Plurk that someone was taking his kids to the pumpkin farm. I thanked him for the reminder and grabbed my camera and keys and headed out the door. Luckily it wasn't too busy so I was able to take pictures as long as I wanted with no interference. I was fascinated by this one ear of corn. I just loved the patterns in the kernels and the variety of colors. I also love my new camera and the great DOF it allows me to capture. Fall is definitely my favorite season.

October 24 Garden

October 24 Garden, originally uploaded by NedraI.

I forgot to take a picture yesterday. I thought of it several times-should I go out in the rain and take a picture of the leaves in a puddle in the driveway, or a picture of Gatorade, thermometer and chicken noodle soup to reflect on my daughter having the flu or something else? And in the end did nothing. So today was a beautiful day and I more than made up for no photos yesterday! I'm posting this as yesterday's photo. I've been negligent in my quest to take a monthly photo of my garden. This was before I pulled a few dead things out to begin the tidying up for winter process.

October 23 Carve a Pumpkin

October 23 Carve a Pumpkin, originally uploaded by NedraI.

Today my younger students spent some time working on those mouse skills by carving a pumpkin. No mess, smell or slimy seeds! They had fun. This picture was taken with my cell phone. Poor quality but the only picture I took all day.

October 22 Photo Class

October 22 Photo Class, originally uploaded by NedraI.

At my photo class we've been working with Photoshop the past few weeks. I'm enjoying the time to just play with a few photos and seeing what I can do with them. Tonight the instructor has helping a student who has a food blog. She's trying to improve her techniques of photographing food. Tonight she brought in brownies and pumpkin cookies to photograph and had extras for us to sample. In this picture she wanted to capture the powdered sugar falling to the brownie. It took a few tries but they got it.

October 21 End of the Garden

October 21 End of the Garden, originally uploaded by NedraI.

The fall garden is looking a little sad . And saying that makes me realize I haven't been taking my monthly garden photo. Oops! The Burning Bush has put on a brilliant display of red for weeks but only has a few leaves left. This plant here is one of my favorites. In the spring it's bright green with yellow flowers on top. In the summer it's all green and very full. Now the stems turn red and provide a little color to a very dreary garden after several frosts. If we have a dry day this weekend I'll be cutting down a lot of plants and trying to prepare it for the winter before the snow flies.

October 20 Gertie

October 20 Gertie, originally uploaded by NedraI.

Tonight I took some pictures of our English Springer Spaniel, Gertie. I used the macro lens that I've read is supposed to be a good portrait lens as well. Gertie's hair is still bleached due to the de-skunkings over the summer. So, I prefer the black and white effect. This is the intent gaze she gives us while we're eating if I don't tell her to go lie down. Yes, she is a beggar.

October 19 Clematis

October 19 Clematis, originally uploaded by NedraI.

It was getting a little late when I grabbed my camera and headed out to the yard to see if there was anything to photograph today. This first thing to catch my eye was the clematis with the setting sun glistening on it. I'll be home Halloween weekend. I'm hoping for nice weather so I can take care of some of the flower beds and prepare them for the winter.

October 18 New Hockey Season

October 18 New Hockey Season, originally uploaded by NedraI.

My daughter is back playing hockey, after a year off due to shoulder surgery, and is on a new hockey team. She plays in the Great Lakes League. Teams are from NY, PA and OH. Over the weekend we traveled to Cleveland before we had to start worrying about lake effect storms! We haven't won a game yet but it won't be long. Even though we have brand new players on our team they look pretty good. Hockey makes the winter pass by quickly.

October 17 Checking the area Attractions

October 17 Checking the area Attractions, originally uploaded by NedraI.

When my daughter and I attended a college visit at Slippery Rock in PA last spring we made the mistake of not checking out the town as well. All we could remember is that it was basically in the middle of nowhere. So today on our way to Cleveland for a couple of hockey games we took a little detour and went through Slippery Rock again. We walked down main street, ate lunch at a great little brew pub and then drove around the town. Here, my daughter is checking out a brochure with all the fall activities in the area. She was satisfied with what she saw.

September 16 Our Wall

September 16 Our Wall, originally uploaded by NedraI.

My husband and I submitted work for the Utica Camera Club show. When we attended the opening we were surprised to see our work together on one wall. When we stopped back tonight to take a picture of it the person in charge of the gallery said the woman that set it up didn't realize it as she hung the work. It was fun to see everyone's contributions to the show.

October 15 Photoshop Effects

October 15 Photoshop Effects, originally uploaded by NedraI.

At photo class we are learning some of the ins and outs of Photoshop. Our class seems to have dwindled down to 6 members so the instructor just rotates around the room and teaches each person what they need for the moment. When I opened my thumbdrive I discovered everything I worked on last week had vanished as well as many other photos! So I only had a few photos to choose from. In a way, I think fewer choices was good. I stayed focused and didn't hop around from picture to picture like I did last week. Tonight I started playing with different effects and liked the water color effect of this photo. This was my photo of the day back on September 9th,

October 14 Lucky Mom

October 14 Lucky Mom, originally uploaded by NedraI.

Today was a busy day starting with a meeting before school. I didn't have second grade or prek today so I thought I'd get a start on report card grades-no such luck. It seems all kinds of other things popped up that I had to deal with instead. After school I tried going to the bank, silly me, I should know they close at 4, and then I went to Boot Camp. When I came out of the gym there was a text message from my daughter asking if I'd pick up a few things at the grocery store for her. She sent the list and I did the shopping. When I got home she had dinner planned. I took care of the groceries and it was time to eat! It was a new recipe and it was delicious! After dinner I cleared the table and my husband did dishes before we headed out to run an errand. I am one lucky mom to have this kind of help at home!

October 13 Red Tailed Hawk

October 13 Red Tailed Hawk, originally uploaded by NedraI.

On my way home I noticed this huge bird sitting above the road with fields surrounding him. Luckily there was a spot for me to pull over and get a shot. It was so large I thought it might be an eagle. When I got home I zoomed in on the picture and went to Google images and typed in hawk and found out indeed it is a red tailed hawk. It is one intimidating bird!
Yesterday I played around with an online photo site called Aviary. The problem was with a free account they put their watermark on your saved picture. Tonight I went to the free Photoshop site. I hadn't been there in a long time. I cropped, brightened and sharpened the image. Not bad for free. Then I was able to drag it to my flickr folder and it put in my photostream.

October 12 Bread Bowl

October 12 Bread Bowl, originally uploaded by NedraI.

Last night my daughter had pasta in a bread bowl after her hockey game. That made me hungry for chowder in a bread bowl and with the chilly temps today it sounded even better. I set out in search for a recipe for bread bowls but didn't come up with anything so I decided to try my favorite bread recipe, Grandma's Old Fashioned Oatmeal Bread, and divide part of it into round loaves and see what happened. I tried it a few years ago with a plain white bread and it didn't work. But today it worked perfectly and this hearty bread with the oatmeal and molasses was a great compliment to my husband's tasty chowder.

October 11 New Hockey Season

October 11 New Hockey Season, originally uploaded by NedraI.

My daughter has played hockey since she was four. She's been on a variety of teams and loves the sport. Last year she wasn't able to play due to shoulder surgery. This year she is back and it's a new team. They practice at the same rink but there's new players, new coaches, new jerseys, new team name and most importantly a new team attitude. This will be her final year and I hope it's a good one! My husband has a sports lens and he took this shot as well as over another 100 during the game.

October 10 'Vettes on the Wine Trail

October 10 'Vettes on the Wine Trail, originally uploaded by NedraI.

Today we headed out to Geneva, NY to hit a few wineries. We went with another couple and we took our corvettes. When we came out of the first winery four more corvettes had pulled in and they arranged themselves around ours in order by year. We chatted with them for a few minutes. They were headed in the opposite direction so we didn't see them again. It was a fun day.

October 9 Pumpkin Light

October 9 Pumpkin Light, originally uploaded by NedraI.

Tonight I just took a few shots of a pumpkin tea light decoration. Then I went into Photoshop and played around with a few things we learned in our class last night. I figure I better play or I'll forget by next week.

October 8 Steamy Creek

October 8 Steamy Creek, originally uploaded by NedraI.

It was a beautiful drive to work with the sun shining on the red and golden leaves. On mornings like this it's hard to make the correct turns to go to work instead of just continuing the drive and enjoying the beauty. Just before I got to work I pulled over at this creek for my picture. Another teacher drove by and stopped to find out what on earth I was doing!

October 7 Easing a Tedious Job

October 7 Easing a Tedious Job, originally uploaded by NedraI.

My son's room turns into the ironing room while he is at college. Last year we had an extra TV that was set up in there and made ironing not seem quite so tedious. One tv died over the summer and I lost the one for this room. Yesterday we went out and bought a cheap TV so I once again have a TV to watch while ironing and working on school work. I'm not much of a TV watcher but every once in awhile it's nice like tonight watching Craft in America on PBS.

October 6 Brussel Sprouts

October 6 Brussel Sprouts, originally uploaded by NedraI.

The garden is just about empty. We have peppers and brussel sprouts left. In the very near future we're going to have more brussel sprouts than we'll know what to do with! I think next year we need to find someone to share garden plants with so we don't end up with an over abundance of certain veggies! I better find out if these will freeze well.

October 5 Coming in for a Landing

October 5 Coming in for a Landing, originally uploaded by NedraI.

Tonight I went to photo show opening and missed my class at the gym. So when I left the show I went to a nearby nature trail and just did a quick fast walk before darkness settled in. It felt good to be out in the brisk air and to hear all the geese on the pond.

October 4 Colorful Floor

Oct 4 182 Colorful Fungi, originally uploaded by NedraI.

Today we went to a corvette show at Eagle Mills cider mill. I didn't look at many cars but I had a wonderful day wandering along a creek and walking through the woods taking a variety of pictures. There is a local photo contest going on right now that only allows pictures taken last weekend. Of course last weekend I didn't get any shots that I really liked. Then this weekend I have several that I'm very pleased with, figures! I finally choose this one for my picture of the day because I like the bright green and all the different textures.

You can see more photos from this weekend here.

October 3 Grasshopper

October 3 Grasshopper, originally uploaded by NedraI.

My daughter and I took our dog for a walk in the woods today. Of course I took along the camera. The leaves weren't as colorful as I was hoping they'd be but I found other treasures to photograph instead. I really like this grasshopper. However, I don't like the brown leaf running across the green. So, when I return to my photo class this week I'll be asking for assistance in getting it out with Photoshop. I gave it a try but didn't like the results.

October 2 Country Road Fall

October 2 Country Road Fall, originally uploaded by NedraI.

Here's a fall shot of my country road. Now that I look at it there's more green than I realized! I will retake this shot next week. The road that runs parallel to this one is closed due to bridge work so there was way too much traffic on this quiet country road today. Maybe the sun will shine next week when I try it again.

October 1 Paper Mess

October 1 Paper Mess, originally uploaded by NedraI.

I'm a little embarrassed to show this mess! I'm doing a terrible job of keeping up with the paper piles at home. Believe it or not I pay all possible bills online. My goal is to get up tomorrow and before I turn on a computer to check Plurk, FaceBook, or Gmail I will sort through this mess.

September 30 Charity Animals

September 30 Charity Animals, originally uploaded by NedraI.

My daughter and I went shopping at Kohl's this week. They always have cute stuffed animals at the checkout and being an elementary teacher I'm always attracted to them because they are characters to Children's books and the fact that they only cost $5 and it helps their charity. Tonight I couldn't resist. They had the characters from Laura Numeroff's books. We decided to buy them now for the Teddy Bear Toss night later this year hosted by a local hockey team. I know none of them are bears but they'll take any stuffed animals. The animals are given to a police department and they in turn give them to children involved in accidents. It's a win-win-win-win situation for me-helping Kohl's charity, helping the hockey team, helping children and helping my pocket book with the reasonable price! They'll sit on this chair until that special game later in the winter.

September 29 Google Map

September 29 Google Map, originally uploaded by NedraI.

My 4th graders are working with partners on Google Maps. They are learning to add a placemarker and then writing about something fun they did over the summer. Once they finished I asked them how they could use the maps in their classroom. I'll take their ideas and put them into a Wordle to share with the classroom teachers. They are enjoying it and I'm enjoying them work together.