Saturday was a Creative Day

Rain, Rain, Rain. Mud. Heavy Rain. Saturday was not a day to be out and about. I'd gotten soaked doing the morning chores.

I resigned myself to getting things done around the house. I cleaned the floors and picked up things I'd just dropped in places. Supper was leftover Chili so I didn't have to work on that.

I finally decided to open up a file and work on my Tree Photobook. 

I popped on a pair of headphones and tuned Pandora into my favorite mix of music to drown out Swamp People, old Football Games, and other noises and 

got

into 

the 

Zone.

When I sat down to write, I had no idea what to do. I'd tried this several times and closed the laptop without inspiration. 

Perhaps the rain and dreary day would inspire me. 

For a bit I stared at the blank page in front of me.

B L A N K

I used the title from Mary Oliver's Poem: When I am Among Trees to jump start my ideas.

Interestingly enough, I did not include any artistic off the wall renderings of the photos I took of the trees. Most were black and white winter photos of the shapes and branches.

I only worked with photos from January through Spring. Most of the photographs I chose were ones I took in the winter months.

Then it hit me.

I was happy in the trees.

The trees fascinated me.

I like to be in the woods alone because no one sees me admire the trees and lean up against them as if they are my best friends. No one sees me put my arms around a sapling and reach up to touch their bark and admire their coat of moss.

Oh and...

Trees don't talk back to you...

While hiking I often stop dead in my tracks to look up and just

look.

I am always fascinated by the shapes made by the tree's growth.

In the summer these shapes are mostly hidden.

In the winter? They are laid bare.

I'd made a colorful and autumn like cover for the book and then decided that it would not work. Many photos of winter trees are stark and all about shape not necessarily color.

I had some color photos, but...

I think for consistency I will make all of the photos black and white? 

Well, perhaps. But there will be a couple that absolutely need to be in color.

I guess, in the end, it doesn't matter too much. I am just doing this for myself.

Sample photos:

The alternate cover?

Something like this:

or.....
this one.

It looks less foreboding and dark. Though I do like the starkness of black and white.

This is what I do for my Fall Fun. I used to write a story each fall when I had Mr. Morris in my life. I wrote for the Grand kids. They loved getting books of Morris's Toy Adventures. It was silly but fun.

It was time to do another Nature themed photo book.

Now to proof read it and edit.

I do use Blurb to do these projects as I've always had a great product from them. 

Now that I have just about finished this. I will complete my Trail Challenge and begin sorting for my next adventure story.

Thanks to Aurora for an incredible photo that I will use 

in..

Trails With Charlie/ A year's worth of Hiking with a tiny dog.

Photo Credit: Aurora Williamson

 

Meanwhile

 ~~~~~
Who ordered snow and rain stuff? April showers/snow squalls bring May flowers.

Mother Nature has her own mind. However the moisture is welcomed.

Yesterday was one of those days of rain then fog, then mist, then rain and then winds. I started to clean up the upstairs rooms and got totally sidetracked.

I came downstairs with an old wooden box. This old wood box used to be some sort of box for apples that were shipped from a company called Yakima Valley.

The box after so many years looks like this:

The original label would look like this:

I inherited this wooden box from my Aunt's house, it was filled with rolls of fabric that I intended to crochet into a rag rug.

I repurposed it for my hand me down toys and figures. Basically it is a Toy Box. What on earth am I doing with toys?

I thought it would be a fun day to try some more photography using my laptop monitor to make a suitable backround. Last year I fretted about getting one of those fancy little tabletop backround sets that click together and provide you with a beautiful backround for still life photography.

Ouch. The prices range from $79 to $99 just for the boards. I got some craft paper last year and taped it to some wooden boards and set it on the old trunk. It works well enough for tiny things but not for larger items. 

I thought I'd look in the toy box and see what I could do. Surely it would only distract me for a few minutes from the pressing chores of cleaning out 'stuff' from the bedroom upstairs.

First I set things up on the old trunk and messed around with different arrangements.

I intended to remove the white backround and replace it with some sort of cosmic scene. That was a failure. tea cups, monsters, Jack Daniels, and space dudes. I found it rather amusing. I love mixing up the characters from different genres. 

I moved to the laptop and set up a Predator on a box. He kept falling down 

It became a game of being able to make him stand on his own and balance. Here is the original shot:

He is standing on the box he came in. The day was overcast so the light coming in from the window highlighted his face.

I edited it to this:

I did a closer shot here in a slightly different pose.

The picture on the laptop is a fractal I created in Mandelbulb 3D. 

I did a couple of more figures. Storm Trooper:

Mandalorian. I just looked this guy up and I guess I should watch the show on Disney+.  I'm not perfectly happy with this shot, but that is the fun of being able to create a scene rather easily.

How it is done.
Get a box an set your character next to the screen then simply shoot a closeup and be aware of your light and shadows.

And finally I got the room picked up and tidied. But on the way, I ended up taking something to the bathroom and remembered to pick up something from the living room and then thought I should vacuum, and ... Charlie's blanket needed washing...

and then....

well, you get it.

Sometimes I can be so scattered. I tell my husband it is the result of a creative mind.

Just Squatching

I have a fairly large to do list but I tossed it aside yesterday afternoon when the temperatures were so pleasant I could NOT be inside. The weather for the rest of the week is supposed to be a bit dull, dreary, and wet. I figured the to-do list could wait for indoor weather.

As Charlie and I got ready to go, hubby asked what I was going to do, where was I going?

I replied: I'm going Squatching.

I got that look and then dug into my pocket and showed him Squatch.

I pulled out the little card that came with Squatch and read it out loud to him again. He shook his head as he searched for an old Western on Tubi. 

Sometimes I carry things in my pockets when I take walks. It adds a bit of fun if an idea pops into my head while Charlie and I are hiking.

The woods are rather dull looking right now, so I like to look at moss and lichen that give off colors in the rather bland landscape.

I decided to walk along the banks of the creek and look for color.

I found a part of a hickory nut and stuck it in my pocket. I wasn't sure what I'd do with it, but an idea was forming.

The creek was back to its low flow and I saw a log stuck against a rock. And an idea hit me.

What if Squatch floated downstream on the log? Why would he be doing that? What is he searching for?

Maybe he is looking for a place to stay.

Caves are okay, but they can get cold in the winter time. Maybe it would be a nice cool spot in the summer when it is hot. After all a Squatch is pretty hairy.

If it rains, he might need a hat. A Hickory Shell fits just perfectly.

Hmmm, how about a Squatch Hut?  Sticks, grass, rocks and greens to lay on! Nice!

Very Cozy...

Squatching. 
I will leave it at that.

The Loose Lightbulb

I had a fun discussion with my friend BJ on Sunday. We talk every Sunday without fail. How we ended up being long distance friends is really bizarre. It came about by the love of Daschund type dogs.

I mentioned to her that I'd had a project brewing for many years that I called simply The Project. It was to have been observations of how the creek in our valley changed over the years.

Our conversation turned to questions like: What inspires you to write?
What inspires you to photograph certain subjects?
What inspires you to study something you have never studied before?

Writing is like a loose lightbulb connection. You jiggle it and it goes out for a while. Whack it, and sometimes it shines brightly.

There can be long periods of boring nothing-ness and then a sudden insight.

So, with the delivery of the Giraffe Toy, my inspiration exploded into what BJ called a huge ADHD Bomb. 

I had to run around Saturday with a bag of toys to capture photographs while the bulb was shining brightly.

Here enters the ADHD DD H D AA dd a ddd...ddddd... or whatever. 

This morning I was browsing through my Flickr albums in search of my old Teddy Bears and The Project Album caught my eye. So I got sidetracked and began to look through photos in my album called The Project.
The original intent was to observe changes in the creek over a year.  Actually I have been recording changes for about 8 years. Because I just kept adding to the photos and never ended up compiling a project regarding The Creek.

Morris and I 2013

Hunting season 2013

2015

Just after the 

great floods 

of 2016.

All the mosses 

are washed away.

Summer 2016

A new tree came down across the 

creek during the summer storms here.

2017

And the trees keep sinking lower 

and 

lower...

Winter 2018

After the floods of 2019...

the mess of new trees fallen

and washed into 

this spot.

2019

Below, a shot of this same spot just 

beyond the mess and tangle.

Summer 2020

This spot in the creek has always intrigued me. I always stop here and take a comparison shot. It is fairly easy to find in my album because I think I keep renaming it The Spot.

My intent years ago was to combine all these into some sort of study of the creek. I'm not even sure what that means. I've observed the the creek for years and observed how the seasons change the creek and how flash floods change the route each time by rearranging leaves, logs, and rocks. Sometimes the change is so subtle and sometimes it is dramatic.

See? In conclusion, I am like that person who has so many ideas that are scattered here and there in my brain. Once in a while an idea pops up and I chase it.

Maybe I will compile my thoughts and notes about the creek and it's life because it is such an interesting and vital part of our valley and forest.

Just like BJ said. She was ADHD and had to address an idea when it came to her like a lightening bolt. 

I like that explanation because it fits me perfectly. Just like the loose light bulb. I may just be motivated to work on the project now that it gets dark so soon.

Perfect.

I'm going to work on my Loose Lightbulb. May it shine brightly.

Feeling Creative

Fall tends to bring about my creative side. I thought I'd make a Diorama type set up for ...um, whatever the reason. So I went out in the yard and grabbed some little sticks and brought them inside.

I had some extra Model Magic that was still pliable so I thought I'd make a mushroom and maybe some mini trees.

I used some medicine caps as the tree bases. I put a ball of the Model Magic in the cap with some Elmer's Glue and set it off to the side to dry.

This morning while waiting on my appointment follow up calls I got out an old pill bottle and filled it with tiny rocks for weight. It will be the base for the tree I am modeling to look like it is leaning way off to the side. 
I will  hot glue the bark to the pill bottle to make it look like a tree base.

Now the items have to dry. It will probably be about 2 days or so before I can add paint to the 'trees' I made. One method to make trees was to use foil and create a base to make a tree. That was fine, but I thought an actual branch would make more sense. And after all, I can just go pick one up in the yard.

Guess who was very happy with it so far? 

Groot! 

I love this character from Guardians of the Galaxy. I saw some of those movies while visiting this summer with my son Eddie. When I spotted this 'ornament' in the store, I grabbed it. It was on a new display and most of them were already gone. I knew his happy face would not be there next time I went in.

I set everything to the side to dry and then took the afternoon walk to check on fences, mules, and the colors of fall.

I was so surprised at a patch of Blewits???

There were so many on this old mule/deer trail between oak trees that I ended up spending a lot of time trying to photograph them.

Here is the one I brought home. It was pretty large.

Hubby said there was NO way he'd even try one. I'm not sure either quite yet. This one was nearly as large as my foot!