Furry Friends Friday ~ Texas Johnston

I took this side portrait of Tex yesterday while we were outside with the butterflies. Poor guy deserves a post just about him today. Earlier in the week he suffered a pretty grusome injury - he, somehow or another, tore out one of his back toe nails (well, the toenail is still there, but barely hanging on). We took him to our Vet, but he didn't want to inflect more pain or stress on Tex by "finishing the job" so to speak. He just told us to give it time; that the nail would either fall off on its own or that Tex would pull it off himself when it was ready. Yikes!   It still looks pretty gross, but thankfully it is getting better.   He's feeling well enough to go outside again and also well enough to stalk butterflies with me.  So, I think that's a pretty good sign.

I like this picture of Tex so much that I played around with it in Photoshop a little this morning. I just tweaked the colors and played with different effects. My favorite outcome (other than the one above, which was just brightened a bit) was this black and white version.

I'm really picky about what photo's I choose to turn into black and white...I love black and white photo's, but only when they are done right.  My "right" might not be the same as yours or anyone else's, but {to me} it all comes down to the composition of the photo - the shapes, tones, and textures. Shadow's (which is one of my favorite things about this picture) and highlights are pretty important too.  Anyway, with all that said (and getting off my soapbox now) I think this passes all those "picky" criterias for me and I think it makes a really nice black and white photo. 'Course, I think Tex is beautiful and looks great in any color. :)

Enjoy your Friday and have a wonderfully blessed weekend! 

Signs of SpRiNg!

While outside enjoying the sunshine and gorgeous weather afternoon, I witnessed one sure sign of Spring ~ butterflies!

A Black Swallowtail enjoying the nectar of a Carolina Jasmine vine.

I was only able to get a few picture of it before it flew off.

 

This Tiger Swallowtail was just a few feet away on the Mexican Plum Tree.

As some of you already know (or can tell by the pictures above) our Mexican Plum Tree (a.k.a our "Christie Tree") is in full bloom!!

YAY! {if you've followed this blog over the last year, you understand my excitement!}. This is yet another sign that Spring is just around the corner!

Spring is my favorite time of year and I'm so excited that it's almost here! I plan to get out with my camera as often as I can in order to capture it's re-birth.

Wordless Wednesday ~ 3D Pinwheel



One of Madi's Favorite things ~ Pinwheels


Wednesday links:
The Paper Mama

A sick day for Madi...

Madi had to take a sick day from school on Monday of last week.  She started having some stomach issues on Sunday evening and, after a rough night, she was still sick on Monday morning when I woke her up for school.  So, I let her stay home with me and we kissed that perfect attendance award goodbye! 

The majority of Madi's morning was spent watching TV and getting up to use the restroom.  About mid-morning, we got a visit from her Cami which lifted her spirits and by early afternoon, she was feeling a lot better.  Since she seemed to be over the stomach issues and feeling better we decided to take advange of the rest of the free day and do some fun stuff. 

The first thing she wanted to do was use her new Cricut machine.  She's been wanting a Cricut for years now and because we know how creative she can be and how much she loves to scrapbook, Jack and I gave her one for her 13th Birthday.  Unfortunately, due to a long and complicated scenario (that I won't go into right now) she hadn't gotten a chance to try it out yet. So, she was practically dying to get her hands on it!  For the next few hours, I enjoyed watching Madi do her scrapbooking thing...

Madi's Cricut ~ this thing is pretty awesome...I just might have get her to share with me :)

Showing me how to put the paper on the mat

Schoolin' me on how this thing works.



Showing me how small the print can get.



Some of the fun little cut outs Madi played with.   She did the M&C for  Madi and her friend Carly.

The weekend before Madi's Birthday, she had gone to a scrapbooking party hosted by Miss Debbie (her Uncle Andy's Mom).  Miss Debbie has a Cricut Expression and was kind enough to show Madi how to use it.  So, once I got the machine set up (which was super easy) Madi knew what to do from there. I was amazed at how much she knew about it and how easily she recalled what she had learned  *Thank you, Debbie, for taking the time to teach Madi!* 

After a few hours of scrapbooking, I asked Madi if she was feeling well enough to go for a hike. I wanted to take her out to Miller Springs Park where her Dad and I go trail running. She said she felt up for it and so we hit the trails.  We spent the next two + hours hiking and exploring. We enjoyed ourselves so much that we kind of lost track of time and were surprised when Jack called to say he was leaving the office and heading home.  I showed Madi one of the longer trails that Jack and I run on when we come to Miller Springs.  I took a few pictures of our journey along the way... 

Some kind of turtle laying on a dead tree in the Leon River.



A tree full of buzzards ~ creepy!



Already seeing trees blooming all about!

Although I hate that Madi was sick earlier in the day, I was glad to get the chance to spend some time with my beautiful daughter.  She may have gotten bored during the long hike, but we don't get many chances to get out and just spend time like this together.  I think it really meant a lot to us both, even if she doesn't realize it now, I know she will someday.  She is growing up so fast and I'll take as many of these moments along the way as I can.