Christmas fun

 Elf on the Shelf
has his eyes on
Val Barbie

The Troll Family gets together to exchange gifts....

Norman! I said 
somewhere NICE
not ICE!

Beary Christmas
 Rabbits

and Girry

Awkward Moments

Dragon Relatives

Gnomies

and

Snowmen

And finally I set 

the table for the 

two of us...

And that is all she wrote...

Hope you all had a beautiful day.

It rained today...all day!

...and I cleaned the house already and got supper stuff ready...
Laundry is put away...

So... Time to get out the toys and play. Here is "Creepy Baby" with his Funky Frogs imitating the Pinky and the Brain Show:

Frogs:
Whaddya wanna do tonight Creepy?
Creepy:
What we do every night! Take over the World!

[Some won't recall this show, but my kids loved it and so did I.]

....And they said Social Distancing Did NOT matter!!!

Think about it.

And this Dragon is practicing...Safe at Home.

The Unicorns didn't listen once before...but they are now.

These were shots from yesterday before I headed down the valley to look for skunk cabbage and marsh marigolds with Charlie.

 How it sometimes feels....

And lastly? I'll get around to working on my next set of Infrared Shots. I used a different filter this time and am finally getting the 'hang' of it.

Here is a teaser:

Good night all...

You did what?

So I felt like total awful certain crap yesterday. Last night was even worse than I thought it could be.

But before I got to where I decided to do what another blogger suggested, let me tell you what I did to entertain my clogged and fogged brain.

I decided to do some Still Life in the afternoon after taking care of chores most of the morning.



Hubby is still on restrictions from surgery and the weather forecast said that we'd be getting warmer and we'd have rain coming. The mud in the driveway and the lanes were still a bit frozen when I got Rich out of the house and told him to get busy with the skid steer.
Good thing I did! If we'd have waited longer it would have been impossible to get in and out of the Dexter Cattle Winter Lot.

I like carnations. I love buying fresh flowers when I don't have them to bring in from the garden. Recently I've tried other bouquets than just carnations.

Backlighting and soft focus taken in the upstairs spare room with just non direct light coming in the window.

After lunch I watched some videos regarding photography. One can always learn more. This series was regarding lighting and a subject. 
The guy I watched is Mike Browne and he is so enthusiastic about what he does that it actually inspires you to go out and try things. I actually learned quite a bit more about lighting and how to use natural light.

I didn't have a 'model' to try it out on so I used myself. 

Did I ever tell you that I hate myself as a model? My skin is aged and abused. Fine lines and wrinkles work well on a man, but I have both plus many freckles to contend with.

Oh yes, this is me with 'bad hair'. But I took my glasses off and backed into the very short hall way allowing the light to come in diffused and not from the side. It softened the lines on my face. I see that a turtle neck or even perhaps a nice pretty scarf would be in order to hide the old 'turkey' neck!

However after seeing my hair was such a mess, I set things up again, donned a cap and tried some more, this time using a speed lite to bounch off the ceiling just in front of me.

Now this is me. I normally run around in an old sweatshirt and ball cap. That is how I dress for farm life.
And I like how the flash and natural light sort of fade my finely wrinkled skin.  Amazing, I didn't think the 'hand' would look good, but guess what it covered up? That ugly neck!

I actually like this shot. 

So I decided to have a bit more fun. I got Morris involved.

 

I actually like this shot except for the fact my glasses reflect the light coming in from the bedroom window.

Alas, I'll have to figure that out!

He is licking his lips because I used bribery in the form of a dog cookie to have him come upstairs and leave his comfy place on the couch.

Now I have to figure out how to get both him and I in clear focus. I believe I'll have to change the f stop.

It is going to be pleasant today, so perhaps I'll try some shots outside in the fresh air.


And thank you to my blogger friend Lori Skoog for suggesting that I steam my sinuses! Yes it helped!