A New Day, A Different Way The creative and photographic endeavours of a woman trying to add color and beauty to her world.

The challenge for this weeks Texture Tuesday over at the Kim Klassen Cafe is to do a picture with the theme "it's the little things".  There are so many little things in life to enjoy it was hard to pick one for this challenge but I went with something pretty typical for me...flowers.

I love the lilacs that line our back fence and every spring they are so beautiful.  I thought they would be a good match for Kim's Inspired Magic texture.

For this effect I added one layer of inspired magic and adjusted the blending mode to Screen at 71% opacity, I then added an adjustment layer and using the eraser at 36% opacity and removed some of the texture from the flowers right in the middle of the photo.  I then added a second layer of inspired magic, adjusted the blend mode to soft light at 70% and again added the adjustment layer and removed some of the texture from the middle.  I really like the way it turned out. 

Yesterday we hopped in the truck and went for a drive south.  I thought we had no destination in mind just a little road trip.  I was perfectly okay with that because I knew I would be able to get my husband to stop at the art supply shop on the way through Kelowna.  It kills me that we don't have a decent art shop in Vernon. 

Anyway it turns out that hubby did have a destination in mind but was keeping it as a surprise for me.  Knowing how much I love to photograph flowers he took me to the Summerland Ornamental Gardens.  The Gardens are over 15 acres of ornamental and xeriscape gardens along with a butterfly garden and an arboretum.  We barely scratched the surface of this place yesterday and I am sure we will go back.  Hubby was very patient carrying around my extra camera lenses while I stopped to take pictures of just about everything.  I will post more photos later in the week but here are a few.  All shots are unedited, straight out of the camera so they are not as good as they could be but I just wanted to share some of the beautiful scenery.

And along the way back we toured along the water in Summerland and Peachland and I snapped these.






And then to round off our day we went to a car show here in town.  We generally do this every year, we start with dinner on the sidewalk at a lovely downtown restaurant and then head out to see the cars.  Here are a few shots of dinner and the crowds of people.










And from there it was home, to a bottle of wine on the back deck...ah...what a fantastic day. 

Well I was by the lake actually but I like this title better.  On Saturday morning I was up early and it was going to be a beautiful day and I decided to go on a photo safari.  I thought I would go to the beach before it got too busy as I don't like a bunch of people in my shots.  Unfortunately I got to the beach took about six shots and my camera battery died.  So I headed home, not a very happy camper, and cleaned house instead.  This is one of the shots I took and I can't really say why but I am really drawn to it so I am submitting it for this weeks Watery Wednesday. 

Here is my submission for today's texture Tuesday challenge over at Kim Klassens's Cafe.

The challenge was to use Kim's Dream texture, which I did on the above photo, I then changed the blending mode to Color Burn and adjusted the opacity to 47%.

O'Keefe Ranch is a historic site right her in Vernon.  The ranch was founded in 1867 and many of the buildings are in fantastic condition.  The mansion on the ranch is amazing, it isn't a mansion by today's standards but at the time it would have been truly been impressive.  The main house had hot and cold running water installed as far back as 1910 which I found impressive.  It is a beautful place to visit.  I took a few shots while I was there and I have edited them using Kim Klassen's textures and Nelly Nero's actions to give them a feel that matches the time period of the ranch. 

I am feeling guilty because I have been ignoring my blog lately.  For some reason I have been having trouble getting motivated.  If I am honest there are a number of reasons why my photography and my blog are languishing.   My job is very stressful right now and actually so is my non-profit activity...something that I didn't expect and quite frankly resent.  I expect it from my job but they actually pay me.  I don't expect it from my volunteer work, it simply takes any of the joy away.  The weather also isn't cooperating it is either raining to just way to bright to take pictures and end up with anything decent.  And to top it all off my back pain is really acting up making it very difficult for me to spend time at the computer editing photos.  I have Thoracic Outlet Syndrome which is a nerve compression which causes a lot of pain in my back and radiating down my arms at times it really effects the quality of my life, it has been good for about six months but is getting worse again.

Another issue is that I simply am not happy with my blog, I haven't been able to find a blogger template that I like and I simply do not have the tech skills to do my own and since I make no income off my photography it is hard to justify spending money to get a new blog done up for me.  Although I may have found the answer to this issue here.  I am registered for this course and we will see if I am capable of learning how to build my own blog.

Anyway sorry for the rant, I just wanted to explain my absence.  I am going to try to get out with the camera this weekend, the weather is supposed to be beautiful and I will see what I can find to motivate me. 

And since this is a photography blog, not a Deanna bitching blog I had to include this photo I shot the other night while we were relaxing in the yard.  This is my princess. Her name is Trixie although I mostly call her big dog and she responds to it quite well.  We also have a little dog and he responds to nothing but the word "treats" but that is a story for another day. 

Friday night we were relaxing in the backyard, unwinding after a busy week and I decided to take some shots of the fire pit.  I love how the flames in this image look like a woman dancing.