Delaware News: Gotta Try!

It is my goal today to visit the Artists' Gallery in Lambertville and drop off my portfolio.  Meanwhile, I heard from Seagate regarding my crashed external drive.  This is what they told me via a personal phone call.  "We accidentally charged your credit card 30x, and currently are working on removing the charges".  NO KIDDING.  "As a result, we will not charge you anything for the recovery process."  But I have yet to be informed exactly what was recovered.  Truth is, so far I am pretty satisfied with the regular contacts regarding the process via email, and the phone call. 


Spring in Lambertville

The Foils, Foibles and Follies of MaraBella and Me.

Holy good dog.  As indicated before, MaraBella the crazy, rescue, devildog, usually makes three steps forward and a few back before going forward once more.  She has been a real challenge and a delight, as well.  With her head on my lap as I type, and her eyeballs, rolling around her head as she dreams, she brings me comfort.  Outside, she is distracted by everything.  She needs some new distractions which I am sure will give me new things to write about.  Anyway....The best news is I let her loose in the field, once again.  I know, I know, probably stupid, but figuring she would just go home I wanted to give her an opportunity to run off some energy.  I hoped by now, all of the deer had to be cleaned up anyway.  WRONG.  Not only did she find something to snack on, but she found a lone deer bone.   Good news is she brought the bone to me when I called her and dropped it in front of me rather than run home.  Bad news is whatever she ate, made her puke twice.  Nevertheless, upon arrival home she reminded me much of myself.  She rolled onto her back and kicked up her feet, much like I do when I lay down on my couch with my feet up on the back cushion. 

Delaware Issues Common Cents...GIVE ME SOME SPACE

Not the best image...WHY? because I was incognito, using my iPhone, and had to twist my body 180 degrees to get it.  OK OK OK.  So, here I am sitting outside at a restaurant across from my sister at a table for four.  Its nice and comfortable and we have already ordered and are enjoying our lunch. When all of a sudden I feel like there must be an earthquake.  I'm jostled in my seat, bumped and banged.  I have to hold on to my spoon, not to dribble soup down my chin.  And then I realize what is happening.  Someone is squeezing in behind me.  SO I PULL IN, to give them some room, WHEN MAYBE I SHOULD HAVE BACKED UP AND SAID EXCUSE ME?  Because next thing I know I am wedged up against the table and could hardly move.  WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE.  I kid you not when I tell you that although the two newcomers chose a table for four, and could easily have sat on the other side, AWAY from any other guests, they decided to sit right behind me, both of them on the same side of the table.   The rather large women dropped into her chair and proceeded to back it UP, LITERALLY, RIGHT ON TOP OF MINE.  REALLY!   And this was after I already moved in.  I WAS TRAPPED.  PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE,  it does not cost a penny, a nickel, a dime, a quarter...it is free to be AWARE of your body in space, be polite, give way to others when possible, don't back people in.

 

When we had finished our lunch and paid our bill, I politely turned around and said, "Excuse me. I would like to leave now".   It took her several tries to heave herself up enough to lift her chair off mine, bang, wobble, boom,  and then a few more tries to move herself forward, even though it seemed she had more room than I did between her body and the table.  Still I had to turn my chair 45 degrees, to get up and slither out.  Is it too much to ask for an inch or two of personal space when dining outside?   

 

 

Delaware Hues

Went to Dogs and Cats Rule to spend $100 on dog food, and treats for training.  This employer has a dog she always brings and this bird, who just may be better behaved than MaraBella.  The store in Pennington is expanding right into the next shop.  Reminds me of the time I wanted to open "UPTOWN HOUND" in New Hope and got scared.  Probably one of the biggest growing businesses in US has to do with our infatuation with Pets.

 

 

Had to change the background in this one just a bit, so I used the clone tool.  Wasn't to careful and if you look really close around her hand, you may be able to see where I worked.

Sunday Funday at the Lost River Caverns

It was a fascinating coincidence that occurred when I mentioned to Furman that I would like to go the Lost River Caverns, in Perkasie.  We had gone to bed with no Sunday destination in mind and when we woke up I picked the cave and he picked the Dam Good Café also in Perkasie...so we were able to enjoy both.  After a delightful breakfast we got back on the road for the 20 minute ride to the Lost River Caverns.   It was a bit hokey upon first view, with one of those big painted wooden boards with people panning painted on it, only there were big holes for a visitors faces where the heads should have been. And there was an outside sluice that would only be appealing to children.  I did notice a trail off the parking lot but we did not wonder on it.  We went directly inside and entered into a small lobby.  Off the lobby were several museum cases with artifacts from time gone by and then you walked down a ramp to a gift shop.  Most of the stuff in the gift shop was trinket and souvenirs but there did appear to be a very adequate collection of jeweler's tools and equipment.  The entry to the cavern was just off the gift shop and once in the cave you could really feel the difference in the temperature.  All of the sudden things were cool much more interesting.  At 100 feet below ground and with a young informative guide to explain the mystery of the lost river and the formation of the stalactites and stalagmites, it turned into an educational experience for both young and old alike.

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Foodie Friday: Delaware Chews at the DAM GOOD CAFE

Seriously, that is the name of the place.  Just a small little restaurant in Perkasie, the Dam Good Café was Dam Good!  I had a nice sampler; pancakes, eggs, bacon and potatoes.  There were two pieces of bacon, but I often start eating before shooting.  Took this one with the iPhone, since once I started eating I didn't want to take the time to attend to Olympia Omde.  Not real maple syrup but could hardly tell.  It was perfect and filling...left some pancake and was still stuffed.  Furm had a breakfast burrito that could have been a little warmer...the cheese was hardly melted, but he gobbled it up anyway. 

 

I'm always looking for a new way to view.  Got down low and grabbed this shot as Furman was exiting the building. Put the nice flowers in a pot in the foreground with all green leafs shooting up and out.  Thought it worked well with the lines of the roof eave heading out in the other direction.  And there in the midst of it all my happy, sated hubby.

 

Delaware News

Success at the PEAC and a total of 7 sales for the month of June has boosted my confidence.  I have done a little investigating into the gallery scene and have picked out the Artist's Gallery in Lambertville to submit my portfolio to be juried for possible membership.  Here is the bio I put together.  Created in two layers, reducing the opacity of the background river image to let the black letters stand out.

Delaware Issues Common Sense

I tend to be a planner.  Like to know what is coming at me and have something to look forward to.  I can be spontaneous too.  Sometimes that has benefitted me and sometimes not so much, when spontaneous leans more toward impulsiveness.  We have fallen into a nice pattern of Sunday breakfast runs on the BMW K1600 GTL.  We had planned to go Belvidere but the detours due to damaged bridges started to confuse us.  We ended up having our breakfast in Riegelsville.  What I am trying to say is, even when you make plans, you have to be prepared for the detours.  It is good to have the attitude that you can always cross that bridge when you get there.

 

The Foils, Foibles and Follies of MaraBella and Me.

Took a week break from the VIEWS.   As far as I know, only one person noticed!!!  Well that sure is indicative.  THANK YOU RUTHY.  I miss you.

MaraBella is back in obedience school at Golden Grange Kennels and the training is going going going.  I feel like we are always taking 3 steps forward and one back back back.  Literally, as we are working on heeling and back is actually a command to get her into the healing start position.  With treats visible, she can go quite a few paces.  Squirrels, cats, of course other dogs, people and even birds and planes distract her.  Yesterday we had to walk past a fox who was quite a distance away but still an attraction.  Today we walked down a path, with horse and geese in the pasture on one side and 4 deer in the field on the other.  She was so engrossed in the geese, that I don't think she even noticed the deer, following us with their eyes in the early morning light of this beautiful day.

Still she is characteristically sweet!  Aaron adores her and enjoys a good tug game as much as MaraBella.  I know this because he brought her a new toy so they could play. 

 

She LOVES it!

 

Photo taken with iPhone. 

The Foils Foibles and Follies of MaraBella and ME

We have a new puppy in the hood, MAX and he came to visit.  Just shy of two months old the little puppy was at once interested and scared of MaraBella and took position under the grill.  MaraBella was just so excited and wanted to play, but had to be reminded to be GENTLE.  It was a good exercise for both dogs.

 

 

Delaware Issues Common Cents

I know my images are not so GREAT that  people would want to steal them.  But there is always that one out there in the crowd.  I have seen it and it is not pretty.  I have images that I sell in limited edition and it would be just awful if someone were able to get the image and reproduce it.  So although I'm not always consistent in my efforts I do try to sign posted images and resize them small enough that enlarging them would create a pixelated view.  Most cameras provide EXIF data, so when you download your images you can click PROPERTIES and see a lot of info regarding the image, such as the date and time it was taken, and your camera settings.  You can even put in your NAME...and that is what I try to do.  Now a good scammer can probably remove all this data, but it is in your best interest when posting to be diligent about safe guarding your favorite images.  This is not so great...but it is the best one I got of a hummer, on a foggy grey morning with a 300mm lens held in my hands.  On a mission now to get a good hummer image, just in case NOTHING is retrievable on the external hard drive I shipped out for recovery.

Delaware Hues

You know I love red, right?  I mean, I don't really have to say Delaware Views Hues of RED, do I?
Delaware Hues should be enough .  I don't know why people think red is so hard to shoot. I find trying to get a good image of MaraBella, the Devil Dog, wearing black and white is much more difficult.  Red is everywhere.  My favorite place to find it is in nature.  Had a grand sighting today after an auditory clue that there was a wood pecker near by.  Furman declared, "WOODY THE WOODPECKER IS HERE".  Didn't take me long to grab my gear and go and find two Pileated Woodpeckers on the tree across the street.  Have you ever seen such hairdos, or let me ask that more appropriately, "featherdos"?

Sunday Funday and the Not So Super Moon

Went out last night at about 8:30 to shoot the moon rising over the river.  By about 8:45 it was still no where in sight and I tired of the wait.  Guess ill have to wait for the next one.

Delaware Chews at Paulies in Ewing

I like this place and it is close and convenient.  It is a bit pricey...but not any more than the other restaurants of its caliber in our area.  Hard to leave for much less than $40. after indulging myself ever so slightly with a nice entrée, glass of wine and coffee.  Well why not, it's worth it to sit outside in the evening with my good friend Patti, and dine on the patio at Paulies.  The night we went we were offered perfect weather,  and the service was excellent adding to the dining experience.  I had the Angeloni Fish advertised as the signature fish, herb encrusted and topped with a garlic white sauce.  It was cooked to perfection, tender and tasty with the light summer sauce.  Patti was able to order a vegetarian meal that completely satisfied her.  There was no rush, despite the patio filling up and we enjoyed tea and coffee and a nice chat outside in a lovely environment.  Think I might have to go back a little more often.

Delaware News: Everything Is Not Always As It Seems.

As you may now know, I did not have a good plan to back up all the thousands of images I had stored on an external hard drive.  Big Bad Lesson Learned.  I'm sending it off to Seagate to see if they can recover the data.  My outlook is dim on the matter since I tried everything I might, which meant I powered up probably way more than I should have and am likely to have done some serious damage. Family photos, and some very excellent images are probably gone forever.  Meanwhile, I spent some time playing around with this which is really four images layered on top of each other.  Just goes to show you that not everything is as it seems.  That is my current hope.   Perhaps things are NOT like what they seem and I have not lost some 50 thousand images. Three weeks to find out.

The Foils, Foibles and Follies of Marabella and Me

I have been using positive reinforcement to train MaraBella.  I'm not sure it is working.  She wont eat breakfast anymore opting to wait for the treats she knows she will get on her morning walk.  Simply speaking, she works well for the treats but not always when I don't have them to dole out.  This is what I am faced with when I go to Dogs and Cats Rule to pick some out.

 

Seriously, this is some big business.  We brought MaraBella home in February and I have already accrued enough points at the pet store for a $15.00 discount.  She is expensive.

Delaware Issues Common Cents: Use it or Loose it

I  don't think this saying could apply any better to my current circumstances.  USE SOMETHING TO BACKUP YOUR IMAGES.  DO IT NOW.  DO IT TWICE, DO IT THREE TIMES.  Find an external hard drive, cloud, card, another computer, a memory stick, ANYTHING.  To make my point I am posting NO IMAGE today.  WHY?  Because I did not have any common cents and did not do what I bid you to do.  As a result, I will spend way way way more cents just to see if my images are retrievable then I would have on a back up system.  OY

Delawares Hues of Red

I have been taking my Iphone out on my morning walks with MaraBella.  It gives me a chance to take advantage of the morning light.  This bug was just begging to pop with selective color.  I am sure there are multiple ways to achieve this.  Sometimes I just find the easiest is to use the magic wand tool to make my selection.  Copy the selection.  I desaturate the original image to remove color. Then I can simply paste the color selection right back into place.

 

Sunday Funday

Well, what did you expect.  It is the holiday weekend!  So I went out to shoot the fireworks and learned some valuable lessons.
1. Much better with tripod.....so very important to know how to use one. 
2.  A long lens probably would have been better than my shorty,  ya this is cropped.
3. Using a long exposure time, small aperture,  and setting focus at infinity was a good plan. 

Foodie Friday: Delaware Chews at Via Ponte in Stockton, NJ

 

It happens every now and then that I cant really say a whole lot of good things about a dining experience.  Went to the via Ponte in Stockton with 3 others who ordered a lunch plate, while I chose a breakfast sandwich.  I can't quite figure out how someone can mess it up, but in this case I will say I was not pleased.  The lunch diners had nothing to complain about, but my bagel was egg style which I do not like, the meat on the sandwich was overdone, and the whole thing together was pretty bad.  We were able to sit outside and eat and that part was nice.  The service was also good.  So I may have just been unlucky on this day, since everyone else felt content.  I guess it might be worth one more try for lunch or dinner, but egg bagels just don't make it for me.  Better yet, next time we go to Stockton early morning, I might have to try the Stockton Inn.

Delaware News IS VERY GOOD NEWS

I surpassed my goal of selling one image from PEAC.  What a surprise and delight and bit of inspiration and encouragement and WOOOOOHOOOOOOO.  Maybe you remember the picture Tim sent me with an image showing a SOLD sign.   I was so happy just knowing a member of the family took the time to go view the work.  Honestly, Tim....I did not even notice the sold sign until June commented on it.  I had to go back and look.  Then when you told me that 2 or 3 had signs on them, I thought, how does one confuse 2 with 3.  So I put my detective friend Patti, who frequents the gym regularly, right on it and she kept coming back holding just ONE finger up.  That is, until she took the time to notice the blank spaces on the grid and sent me this.

 

 

  I'm already doing black flips and would wear a helicopter beanie, if there is just one more blank spot on any of the other 3 walls with grids!  Guess I better put on my helicopter beanie...by the time I got there to take it all down a total of five images were GONE!  Sold, 5, WOW, Me, I did it.  Back flip...high as a kite with my helicopter beanie.

The Foils, Foibles, and Follies of MaraBella and Me

It is still a bit of a struggle to get MaraBella across the River Road, but I don't have to drag her anymore.  It is soooooooo much better when Furman is with me or a few more people.  She wants to be with the crowd.  She is also getting much better at walking on the dock with the water all around her.  Once on the pontoon, her little nose twitches almost non stop at all the scents available to sniff.  She wants to see and smell everything; the water, the birds, the tubers, and other boaters, so she rarely sits still.  Up to the front, back to see me, up on the platform, looking off to the east, west, north and south.  I look forward to the time when she can just relax and enjoy the ride.

Delaware Issues Common Sense and gets Spicey

Everyone should know that when a snake's pupils are round and human like they are safe.  If the pupil is cat like, you better watch out.  There is likely to be venom.  Everyone should also know, that when a friend goes to Budapest and comes home saying BUDAPESHT, and is so kind as to bring you back Sweet Paprika from Hungary in a RED package, with a wooden spoon no less, it is time to toss the orange and yellow packaged, DURKEE you got at the flea market.  Thank you Ellen.