Making time to take lots of pictures, but no time to write about them

Who needs winter anyway?

Typically, one of my favorite things about living in Kansas is we get to experience 4 completely different seasons. Well ... this year, winter has hardly shown up. We had 2 days of very light snow, that quickly melted. The weather has been uncharacteristically warm, and sunny, and pleasant. By this time of year, I'm normally wearing my pajamas inside out, sleeping with a spoon under my pillow and doing all kind of praying for snow days. Not this year! If our district doesn't use any snow days, the students' last day is May 24th! Can you believe it? That would mean that my summer would actually start before Memorial Day. I don't remember the last time that happened!

Minnie and I've been enjoying many, many trips to the dog park this winter. Today, I rushed home from work so we could get a nice walk in at the park before dark. It was a beautiful day! See for yourself:

65 degrees. At 6:00pm. On February 22nd. I approve.

The sun makes everything look pretty out there.

Can you see the dogs in this one?

She's one happy girl!

A striped sunset through the trees.

I need your help. No more wishing we'd get some snow this winter. Keep crossing your fingers for more days exactly like today!

Did you think I forgot about you?

Clearly, I rarely have/make time for this blog anymore. How in the world did I post something more than just a picture for 365 days in a row my first year here? Some days I can easily post my picture on The View Across Town and other days I'm running around my house with my iPhone taking pictures of things at 11:30pm.

To share a little bit more of what I have been doing ... this post will serve as a way to catch up through photos. Here are some of my 2nd favorites from the first few weeks of 2012 that weren't picked for the other blog. Enjoy!

A visit to Park Place on January 1st for a post-holidays family brunch.

And then a family dinner that night at Molly & Erik's. This little one went around the entire table taking dessert orders (with the short-order cook, Molly, in the kitchen). She did a great job! Her reward was her own bowl of ice cream with a Girl Scout cookie on the side (that she didn't know existed until this night).

The first day back to work was tough, but I did get to go out to lunch with my fabulous teammates! Have you been to Unforked yet? It's awesome!

Playing around with the new iPhone lenses I got for Christmas from Mom. I love this macro shot.

A profile shot of my silly schnoodle.

I love my Instagram app more and more each day. This was a quick shot I took when out walking Minners.

Looking at her Momma!

Staying up too late on a school night. It's always hard to get back in bedtime routine after a break from school.

I like this one because I love to take pictures like this of the sky with beautiful clouds. Here is the same scene ... in a paint by numbers kind of way :)

We FINALLY got a little bit of snow. It didn't last long, not that I'm complaining. It's always very pretty ... but walking a dog in the snow is one of my least favorite parts of winter.

A new "portrait" taken against my favorite piece of art in my condo. Jill says it makes for the perfect photo studio background.

Wearing flip flops. In January. In Kansas. Love it! See? I told you the snow didn't last long.

A perfect day to head to the dog park. We've been close to 10 times this "winter".

Here is a photograph that's very close to the painting 5 pictures up. Such a great day to be outside!

I hope to get back to sharing things on this blog more often. I realize I may have lost many of my regular readers since it's been a while. Keep coming back ... you never know what I'll post next!

Did you see this moon tonight?

It made me want to go shopping immediately for a fancy lens for my camera to get a truly great picture of the moon. This one isn't bad, but the moon was SO beautiful, you could see all the craters clearly, and my camera couldn't get close enough. I hope you all got out today to enjoy the beautiful weather ... and that you got to enjoy this sight, too!

Beautiful!

Seen on our walking route

{Yes, that's a mattress & box spring under the highway.}

{Tree completely covered by vine plant. It's GORGEOUS in person!}

{She stopped half way through our walk to rest a bit. Cars driving by laughed at us!}

{Minnie's new "friend" that we ran into on the way home. This poor turtle was awfully far from any sort of nature. I wonder how long it took him to get on the walking trail from his home.}

Who wants to join us on our next walk?

The biggest front yard I've ever been in!

I've been participating in my Project 365 with other friends & photographers on Twitter since January. For months, I've been hearing about people doing "photo walks" in their hometowns. The idea is for a group of people with various levels of photography skills to get together, take pictures & share tips.

Most days I'm that crazy lady on the walking path by myself, crouched down on the trail or in the weeds getting a picture of some rock or shadow. I even was "caught" by one of my neighbors when he was out walking his dog, too. People look at you funny. If you go with a group of people ... there is safety in numbers. Or at least, I like to think so.

I wrote some friends on Facebook with a wide range of photography skills: takes photos for her job, takes photos of her kids, used to work as a photographer, wants to get better with her camera, etc. The first date I picked fell on a busy weekend for many people. I ended up going to Loose Park with just Molly and Ellen. I never got pictures uploaded from the first one, but you can see them on Molly's blog.

I wanted to schedule another photo walk before May got completely hectic and crazy. Today was the day. So I asked for suggestions from the girls and they came up with great ideas. Molly's suggestion was the Nelson-Atkins Museum lawn. I haven't been there in years, but I knew it would be a great place with many photo opportunities!

We showed up at 10:30, and the group had tripled from the last time. Progress! We stuck together for the most part, but some of us broke off on our own for various shots.

You can see Jill's pictures on her blog. And Marie's pictures on her blog. Oh, and Molly's pictures on her blog. In case you didn't already know it ... in order to be my friend or family member, you should have a blog! :)

Here are my pics in a slide show. They seemed to be easier to share this way.

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Who wants to join us for the next photo walk? I'm thinking I'd like to schedule a monthly get together, weather permitting. You would NOT have seen me out in the snow last winter for a photo walk! :)

Thanks ladies for coming! I had a ton of fun!

Too pretty to pass by without taking a picture

Found right outside the door at school. A sign that Spring is here ... oh, and we have just 6 more full weeks of school! :) You can find teachers all around the country counting down the days!