Happy !

"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day." ~Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Hmmmm... anybuddy got any idea what that means??? (We'll chew on it a while!) Meanwhile, we're runnin' into , fast as we can, wishing you all a very...
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

"My" Billboard!

Yesterday as I drove towards Duluth from Minneapolis I was finally able to see the Grand Portage Lodge and Casino billboard, which has one of my photos of Lake Superior on it. The billboard has been up for several months, but this was the first chance that I had to see it. The picture of the billboard isn't the greatest (its a little fuzzy), as I just snapped it through the windshield as I drove by, but you get the idea. Its pretty exciting to see my photo up there! Here is the image that was used:

http://travisnovitsky.smugmug.com/gallery/6332258_Zj93j#399560384_4ErTU

So, the next time you're driving up towards Duluth on Interstate 35, the billboard is between Forest Lake and Hinckley.... keep your eyes open for it!

Last night's presentation at the spring meeting for the Duluth-Superior Camera Club went very well. Last fall I had been asked by Brian R. to do a slide show and a talk sometime about my photos for the club. As it turns out, the timing for the meeting worked out great as a "bookend" for my trip to the southwest. My slide show and talk concentrated on my newest images from the trip and I wrapped things up by showing a few images from the north shore, to show what it is that always brings me back to the area and what makes the area "home". After the show a number of members from the club came up to me to thank me for coming and tell me how much they enjoyed my work. We also talked "shop" about cameras and the art of image-making. I ran into some friends that I already knew and made some new friends. It was a great evening, one that I enjoyed and I hope the members of the club enjoyed it as much as I did.

Winter on Hungry Jack Lake

Here is another view of Hungry Jack Lake, this time a wide-angle view. The other day I posted a close-up, abstract shot of the snow drifts on the lake that was taken with my telephoto lens. The clouds were really neat above the lake when I made this photo. Because of the winds, the clouds were moving fast and it was fun watching the shadows move across the frozen surface of the lake.

R.I.P. PIPPIN (aka Pip, Pipsqueak, Molly, Le Cochon Noir, Piglet..)

PIPPIN 1998-..

A missed opportunity or a bullet dodged?

Yesterday I missed my flight to Melbourne because I managed to get stuck in a queue at the Gold Coast airport behind quite possibly the stupidest individual ever to inhabit this rock we call a planet. I would have put this up as a "tosspot of the week" post, but frankly, calling this guy a tosspot would be a gross insult to any tosspot who may one day read this post. The practical upshot of all of this is that my Alpine Classic came to a premature end this year. However, looking back on what has happened since, it's entirely possible that, rather than a missed opportunity, this may in fact be a bullet dodged.
30km into a ride this morning, I realised that last weekend's pedal problems were, in fact, the result of a crank arm that is now completely screwed. I was on the way to Canungra in preparation for the climb to O'Reillys when it happened, but on this occasion, I was able to limp home the remaining 30km without any problems, a situation that would have been a lot more problematic had it occurred half way between Wangaratta and Bright for example. The Blue Flame is likely to be off the road for at least a week, which means The Black Magic will be brought out again for the remaining two days of the weekend. I suppose the consolation here is that I'm getting all of my back luck out of the way in one hit, and in doing so, making around 50% of it redundant.
I'm not changing my views on the idiot, however.

It's bumper time!

That's me and Dixie in the pool. Got my bumper! And, it's hot today, so this cool water feels nice.
Shakedy shake! Getting ready to go again!

I can see that bumper you are dangling! Throw it already!
Ready to go again!
Here's the big hint as to who has been hanging out with me,...helping me do my bloggy and having a lot of fun playing with me....there's Dixie in the background...we're visiting Dixie and her mom for a swim.....

An Assyrian Wedding For Our Firstborn Son

This time last week we were in the wintry depths of Chicago. Or more precisely, we were lying around trying to recover from an eight-hour reception; Assyrian style. Boy, do they know how to throw a party!
I'll be posting here and there on different aspects of the wedding from a white girl's perspective. I'll just go ahead and say that it was fabulous! Right now...I'm still in recovery mode.

The Ultimate Mucky Pup

Talk about 360 degrees apart from my last post!
Sally over at http://sally.nemati.multilang.over-blog.com/ is having a contest for the biggest pig-in-the-mud heheh! Check out her blog and then please... see if you'd like to give me some points for my apres kongchasing cooldown mudbath pose. Ta ta dahlings!

Autumn Rainbow

Near Greenwood Lake - Cook County, MN. The other day I was driving the back roads from the Gunflint Trail back to Grand Portage. Along the way there were a few rain showers and at one point the sun came out and I saw this beautiful, full rainbow. Luckily I was in a place where the trees weren't as tall so I was able to get a good view of it!

An 8 Year Old's View

We gave the camera to Sam to take with him on a recent school field trip.
Digital technology is so great. I remember my parents getting pretty pissy about me wasting film whenever I took a gazillion pictures of my friends making faces or of my dogs and rabbits dressed up in baby clothes.

But now, who really cares what they're of...

A Little Birdie

I sat down at the piano at dusk tonight to play my troubles away.  As I was playing Bach, I heard this little bird outside the front porch window just singing its little heart out.  It was perched on the top of the porch swing with its head thrown back just singing away.
The phone rang, and while I was walking to answer it, I was fussing about our duet being interrupted and figuring that the bird probably wouldn't come back.  
Conversation over, I sat back down and began playing again.  After a minute or two, it again started singing to my accompaniment.  Another of life's grace notes; a gift from God.