12/28/2010 ***Canada Goose*** Must view in X3 for paint and paper textures. This was actually taken in a parking lot, the bird heading for a nearby curb. But with a little bit of cloning and a lot of digital painting, she looks a little more at home on a beach. Fun with CS5 :)

12/27/2010 ***Jimmy's Visit to Hundred Acre Wood***

12/25/2010 ***Merry Christmas from our house to yours!" No matter where we live in this world, we are all united today under God's limitless love for humanity.

12/24/2010 ***The Weary World Rejoices!***

12/23/2010 ***Thank you for all of the birthday wishes for Andrew. What a surprise for him! ***This is the original SOOC shot for the image I will post for Christmas Eve :) I am please with the book I bought on digital painting in Photoshop. I am posting this one for the 23rd so you can see the drastic change from the painting techniques.

12/22/1010 ***Happy birthday, Andrew!*** Our youngest son, Andrew is 15 today! I told him to look psychotic for this shot. I think he rose to the challenge quite well. I love Andrew's sense of humor. In fact, recently, he was asked to play a serious role in a skit. The director wasn't too sure. He said "I've never seen you serious about anything but the punch line". But Andrew took on the role and is doing a great job with it...despite his sense of humor. I love you, Andrew. Keep smiling and making the rest of us smile too. Thank you for all of the comments on my experiment with the mask image. A couple of people asked how I did it. I sent an email to one but am not sure if it went out. There's no record of the message in my email account. For anybody who is interested, I will be happy to share the technique. After I rewrite the instructions, I will post them in a separate gallery. Blessings to all! I hope your week is peaceful so far. Remember not to sweat the little stuff.

12/21/2010 ***Lost in a Sea of Faces***

12/20/2010 ***Ashley and Luke*** At first I had trouble with the backlight of the aquarium. Then I remembered the setting on the flash for backlighting. But Ashley and Luke were completely oblivious to the camera drama anyway.

12/19/2011 ***DCYC 2011 Youth Animators*** Here they are, the stars of the Diocesan Catholic Youth Conference. I cannot wait till they take the stage in January. What an awesome group of kids, We spent this past weekend with them on a retreat working on the skits and dramas that they will be doing at DCYC. They are going to be phenomenal. Of course, I can't share the details yet, top secret stuff ;-) Have a blessed week before Christmas and remember to embrace the things that matter the most and let go of the little things. If it's a detail that probably won't be very important any more by February, then don't compromise your peace for it. Look at the faces in this picture, and think about the faces that matter the most in your life. Then live this week for them.

12/17/2010 ***Sunset on the Freeway*** This was somewhere in Louisiana yesterday evening. I shot it through the passenger side windshield at about 70 mph. No time for processing this morning. So I posted sooc. David and I are home now, but right back out the door this morning to spend the rest of the weekend with the youth animators for DCYC. Have an awesome weekend!

12/16/2010 ***You have Lukability!*** The English language is expanding to accommodate our grandson, Luke. He has his very own descriptive noun =)

12/15/2010 ***Hitting the Road*** Our last day in Georgia and it was a cold one. I went for a walk around the lake and followed a little community of geese until they took to the water. The freezing rain started during my return walk.

12/14/2010 (A) ***Penguin in Flight*** These creatures are so tame, they swam up to the glass to greet us and then they swam with us as we walked. We weren't sure is it was because they were tame or because they were just curious. But when one hopped up on an employee's lap and laid his beak against her shoulder to be pet, we knew, these are some very tame animals. (For your penguin hug, please see the video I am also posting in the Dailies. It's sure to leave you with a warm feeling all day long.)

12/13/2010 ***Our Seal Maiden*** Today, we went to the Georgia Aquarium. We were admiring one of the fish tanks and look who we saw in a porthole on the other side of the tank...our little Celine. This shot reminds me of Celine's favorite children's tale, the Seal Maiden. It kind of looks like she has found her seal skin and is heading back to sea with it.

12/12/2010 ***Sweet Dreams, Jimmy*** It was hard to believe I managed to get this shot (with flash) without waking him up :) Usually, the grandkids wear out the grandparents, not the other way around.

12/12/2010 How could I post one and not the other? These are our two grandsons, James on the top and Luke on the bottom. We are having a wonderful visit with them in Georgia. I think I'm going to re-edit Luke and increase the warmth a bit though.

12/11/2010 ***Sunday's Grandchildren*** Well here they are with Auntie Celine :) Jimmy has grown so much sine we saw him last year and this is the first time we've met Luke. He was born in April this year.

12/09/2010 ***Relics of Amy*** David's first wife, Amy passed away seven years ago today from breast cancer. I never met her. But sometimes, I hear her friends talk about her as if she were a saint. So I often look at the three beautiful children she left behind as her relics. I have three living relics of Amy. The group picture of them was taken about two weeks after she passed away in 2003. The three individual pictures were taken in 2010. How they have blossomed. She must be looking upon them with such pride.

12/05/2010 ***Indirect Exposure*** Sorry for my absence over the weekend. It was another youth retreat weekend getting our youth animators ready for the conference in January. I can't wait to share some of the pictures I took. This one is from a different event. Several parishes held a rally to get the kids fired up for the upcoming event in January. This is just a playful "portrait" of two of my young friends from my parish. There's a third one hiding outside the inner frame. He should have leaned in a little, huh?

...And pet portraits with character.

11/29/2010 ***London Bridge*** I had not seen children playing London Bridge since I was a child....until we shot the wedding Friday. At the reception, the kids were playing it. It brought back memories. Then we found out why they were playing it. They were imitating what the adults were about to do. Yesterday, I posted a beautiful Mexican wedding tradition. So today, I'm posting a fun one. The bride and groom stand on chairs with friends supporting them and the groom takes hold of the bride's veil. Then the men hold hands, forming a chain and run under the bridge. After the men do it, then the women do it, then everybody...all while the band plays festive Mexican music. Meaning? I have no idea. But it sure was fun to photograph.