Ten Down, Two To Go

For the past five weeks, I have been taking a class on line called, "Creating Web Pages I." This seems to insinuate that there is a "Creating Web Pages II." Whether I dare to take the advanced class depends upon whether or not I pass this one. There are two more lessons to go. They come to me from never, never land. I know the name of the teacher, but his whereabouts are unknown...an undisclosed location.

I won't bore you with the vast knowledge that I have absorbed. All the tabs, titles, jpeg, gif, html stuff, quotation marks and spaces have driven me to distraction. In order to maintain some sort of sanity, I go to my fun place...photoshop. I could spend hours there, but there are things I must do instead. I need a maid and a cook. I need them now.

Here are two images that I played with today. The first one is sooooo boring. You can tell I didn't do any enhancements. I guess I could "pop" the color and deal with the shadows, but I'll save that for later.

Next I changed the image to black and white and did a little manipulation, or two...or three.

All of this playing around was a pleasant break from web world. Tomorrow, another lesson will appear and the stress will return. It won't last long. Only one more week and then the final. Help me Rhonda!

Goodbye, Annette

Today was a sad, sad day. One of our co-workers, Annette Beldon, passed away on February 14th and her funeral was earlier today. The service was beautiful. Her parents, who live in Puerto Rico, read scripture and both her brother and sister gave testimonials. They presented a video celebrating her life that her brother produced. It was a masterpiece that produced tears and smiles.

It was through the testimonials and the video that I learned a lot about Annette that I didn't know. Even though we had worked together on numerous occasions, I didn't really get to know her like I wish I had. Annette was a quiet person with a sweet spirit and a beautiful smile. She had conquered breast cancer years ago, but it returned in the past year. She was a fighter and didn't let the disease stop her. She continued to work through her latest treatments, and I think she continued to play on her tennis team in the early part of last year.

After the funeral, as I was on my way to an appointment, I passed this area. Although it was a dreary, sad day, I stopped and took a few pictures.

In a month or so, this river will be full of people rafting and children playing on the banks. The trees will be in bloom and the sun will be shining. I know I'll think of Annette every time I pass by. One thing I learned from losing Annette is this...We all should stop and get to know our friends just a little bit better. Every one has a story and maybe we should do a lot more listening and a little less talking. At least I should. I will miss Annette and her kind, gentle soul.

Somebody Just Can't Wait

It's the middle of February and look what's popping out of the ground. It's too soon for this. Maybe it's because we had some really warm days last week, or maybe it's global warming.

I though as long as they're out, I might as well make the most of it and take a few shots. I used both cameras. This one is the fastest and easiest. Later this week I'll post the ones from my rebel.

Then I started playing around and came up with this one.

Gotta love photoshop!

Once Upon A Time

I work part-time, or used to, in a great store that carries everything you want and very little of what you need, like: furniture, gifts, flowers, candles, soap, jewelry, etc. It's a wonderful store to buy a gift for whomever...hostess, birthday, teacher, baby ...you get the idea. Well, bad times have finally hit east Cobb. The hatchet has come down on those of us who are part-timers. Even the full-timers have taken a hit. Most of us have worked together for several years and we've become good friends. Worried that our friendships might just fly away, we schedule dinners to keep us together and in-touch with each other's lives.

Sunday evening was our first dinner after the HATCHET. One of the girls bought a poem she had written and I thought it would be fun to put it in this post. So here it is.

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful place.

It was the kind of place that most all who visited got caught up in the pace!

It had so many wonderful things to see, like candles and clothes,

and little rings for your toes!

Things to sit on and light your space,

nearly everything to suit your taste!

On most days, things were okay...but on other days,

the bad spirits got in the way.

You see, there were secrets near the back that spread like wildfire,

and in recent times, it seemed quite dire!

Without the beautiful and talented princesses, nothing could be found,

but, listen carefully...whispers of, "Oh stop Tom, put that box down!"

Many years showed promise. Hopes and dreams got high, and then...

the mean and ugly queen poked them in the eye!

But even when the end was near,

the princesses held each other dear!

As you can tell from this poem, we are a great support for each other. I told them at our Christmas dinner how much their encouragement meant to me when I would bring in a picture that I had just taken or a card that I made. Just hearing their "oohs" and "aahs" gave me the motivation to do more.

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So now we wait for spring. Soon there will be parties (hostess gifts), Mother's Day (jewelry), Teacher Appreciation (candles and soap...we don't sell wine), weddings (dinnerware and silver), Easter (trinkets for the baskets) and on and on. Before you know it, we will be back behind the counter ringing up hundred dollar sales, making boxes and pouchets, giving "expert" advise, and stuffing our mouths with untold amounts of junk food. It's just around the corner... I'm sure of it.

Just Who Is James Hunter?

This is what I asked Tommy when he told me that Jason and Holly were coming to Atlanta, and wanted us to meet them and others at this guy's concert. (This was a birthday surprise for Holly.) Now I know that the shagettes and shaggers are just bent over laughing, but remember I live with Tommy and he doesn't play white music. When he hears me play a Steve Tyrell or a Rod Stewart CD, he leaves the room and on some occasions, leaves the house!

So last night we went. He was appearing at a nasty joint called Smith's Olde Bar. This is a fire trap ready to explode. My apologies to the owners, but the Atlanta Fire Department really needs to make a visit. The show was upstairs (wooden) which added to my fears. At one point, Steve, who came with this wife, Donna, from Raleigh, pointed out the AC units over our heads with unknown inches of filth on the filters. Good thing it wasn't warm weather or those units would be blowin' asbestos and vermin all over the room. It reminded me of those old college bars (the UL at Marshall) where you couldn't distinguish if the odor you were smelling was beer, cigarettes, fried food... I could go on, you know. It had that scent that we have all experienced. I think there was a little scent of dope in the air as we entered the room. Kind of a unique welcome, don't you think? But this wasn't what I was going to write about. Enough background, I think you get the point. Besides Butch said many times how he liked the place. Poor thing.

We arrived early, around 6 p.m. James was going to come on around 10, so we had lots of time to get ready. There were people from North Carolina and South Carolina, and, of course, many locals. Four guys came who rented an RV for the trip from Charlotte. I swear if I didn't know better, one of them was Milton N.'s son. We all know that Milton has never claimed to have a child, but this kid makes you think. They were sloshed, so I don't know if that vehicle is still parked at the curb, or if they made it back to Charlotte. The names that come to mind who were in attendance are: Jason, Holly, Mary, Clyde, Butch, Steve, Donna, George, Jeff, Dana, Scott (Milton's child), Tommy and myself. There were others from the world of shag, but I didn't get their names.

At eight o'clock, the red light came on and we went upstairs. Thirty minutes later, a small band entertained (?) us for an hour and then around ten, James and his band came on. I really like his music. Tommy thinks all of the songs sound the same. James is a friendly, outgoing guy. It's kind of hard to understand what he's saying when he speaks to the audience because he has such a heavy British accent, but when he sings the accent disappears and in some songs he sounds like the old black artists from back in the day. The audience seemed to know all of his songs and James was impressed that so many sang along with him. The band was great, especially the two guys who played saxophones.

If you too, don't know who James Hunter is and would like to hear a bit, go to: http://eventful.com/performers/James Hunter, and then go to the videos. I liked the one titled, "Walk Away."

Here's something that you need to know. James can be bought. Steve wrote a song title on a ten dollar bill and Butch handed it to him. Three songs later, he was performing Steve's requested song. Now that I think about it, maybe Tommy would take requests if the pavilion people would write their requested song on a twenty dollar bill. That's the ticket! Hope you had a Happy Birthday, Holly! It was fun.