Nevadanista

Can I let go, or can I let go? Methinks I can... HA! Let's just have a moment of silence please, for the year of blogging that wasn't. For the memories not recorded that are now forgotten and ever will be, because brains can't remember everything, unfortunately.

*moment of silence*

Okay then, moving right along... but what to say? Hmmmmm, I'm not sure. I'm blogging again because I decided it's good for the soul. Last week I read through some of my old posts and I have to say, I made myself LOL a few times. I also made myself cringe a number of times, but I'm not gonna reveal over what, haha. But reading past posts made me want to give blogging another go. So here I go!

Last night I decided to go out and take a picture of something. I haven't been doing much of that the last few weeks because I've been busy, but the mood suddenly struck and I hopped in the car with my camera. I drove around for a few minutes and spotted what looked like a small dog darting around the hills with some mustangs. But I new it wasn't a dog right away... I knew it was a frolicking foal.

I don't know if it's actually been medically proven, but I can tell you for sure that watching baby animals frolic is good for ones health. Good for the soul even.

Judging from what I've seen in other foals, I would guess that this one was probably less than a week old... a little boy.

It kind of looks like I did one of those photoshop painting treatments on these, but I didn't. It was nearly dark when I snapped them, about 7:30 pm, so I had to bump my ISO way up and lower my shutter speed to get enough light. The combination of low shutter speed and staying focused on the foal while panning the camera created the background blur, and the blur of his legs. I like these kind of shots! So I didn't do a painting thing, but I did drastically play with the color tones and brightness etc.. Basically, I've become a post processing FANATICO!!! It's kind of an illness I think. But that's how I roll these days, so deal with it ;-)

In other news, Ella has a boyfriend, Sophie and Eva just tracked off for the month of April and Sophie is sick, Spring has sprung (as of today) and Matt will be on the verge of a nervous breakdown any minute now with so much work to do... and finally, I have something exciting to share with you about my brain in the near future. I think... haha. Maybe not. But maybe yes.

Until then, ciao for now peeps :)

Sometimes you just have to let go of some things... like the idea that your 365 day photo blog project will be perfect and that you'll never miss a day, but if you do miss a day (even though you never will, but just in case), you can catch up pretty easily and move right along, never missing another day and nothing will ever stand in your way again. And so, I am letting go of those things, those ideas, and I'm letting go of all the things I wanted to write about this post, and I'm just going to post it as is... as it was when I was working on it over a week ago. I've been too busy this week to think about it - my mom went into the hospital again on Saturday. I was her personal ambulance service of course (photos coming soon), but don't worry, she's alright - just couldn't breathe do to the pneumonia they sent her home with two weeks ago, that's all. They kind of forgot to mention that stuff on her chest x-ray after they mistakenly told her she had had a heart attack and gave her a nitroglycerin tablet. Anywho her insurance is trying to kick her out today because she's not dying, but the doctors and nurses are trying to keep her one more day at least, which would be really nice for me because I'm doing my first ever photo exhibition for the Hidden Valley Wild Horse Association Fundraiser tonight, not to mention the fact that it would be nice for my mother's health. But hey, whatever happens, we'll make it work (Tim Gunn is so inspiring), cause that's how we roll. And I'll be back soon to carry on with my 365 day, but not really 365 day, photo project :) Ciao for now...

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#59 March 19

#60 March 20

#62 March 22

#63 March 23

#55 March 15

Distraction (and Dedication)

My mom wasn't very cooperative about having her picture taken when I was staying with her last week, so I had to pretend to be a fly on the wall (holding a large camera). Here she is doing one of her favorite things ever - watching a favorite tv show (Castle) whilst doing something distracting. Be warned... you don't want to watch '24' with her if you don't want to give a minute by minute account of each plot twist and who just exploded. What you can't see in this pic are the report cards on her lap. She's writing report card comments... and she writes a book on each one people :D But that's how she rolls.

And as I mentioned in the last post, nothing will keep my mom away from parent teacher conference week and report card comments! She laughs in the face of adversity... and in the face of reduced kidney function. Last year she laughed right in the face of kidney failure itself. She laughs at reduced oxygen intake and asthma - okay, sometimes she can only wheeze at it. She laughs at significant blood loss, dehydration, heart fibrillation, broken ankles and ankle surgeries, at fractured vertebrae in her back and balloon kyphoplasty. Pishposh... what are any of those things when it comes to kindergarten? NOTHING!!! I can say without reservation, that there has never been a more dedicated, persevering and caring teacher than mi madre :) That's just has she rolls.

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#56 March 16

The Grand Cafe

On my way home last Tuesday, I stopped at the Grand Cafe on Main Street in Susanville to take some pictures through the window. I had noticed the evening before, when I took the Pioneer Cafe picture, that is was closed and for sale, but everything was still inside and looked interesting. As I had my lens pressed against the window taking pictures, the owner came out from the back and asked me if I wanted to come in and take some. It was as if the universe was rewarding me for not trespassing a few weeks back.

The owner, George, gave me tour and pointed out all the special things about the place. It has been in his family for over 80 years, and I was really sorry I wasn't a buyer... and he probably was too. It still has all the original counter seats, including hat clips on the backs, music players in each booth from the 40's, the original stove and grill, WWII posters, etc., etc.. It was a real treat! I wasn't even tempted to trespass later on when I stopped to take some more pictures of my favorite abandoned house.

So, if any of you are in the market to buy an eighty year old cafe on Main Street in Susanville, I know just how to hook you up.

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#57 March 17

Pinch

Wearing green on St. Patrick's day still wasn't enough to protect Sophie from Janene's (my sister) pinch.

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#58 March 18

Grandpa's Underwood

I dug around the garage last week to find my grandpa's old typewriter (Sophie asked if it was a computer). I think it's actually my great grandfather's - I need to research that a little more. But amazingly enough, the ribbon that has been in it since I boxed it up 25 years ago (and was probably in there when it was given to me (or maybe I just claimed it because no one else seemed to care about it)) stills works! That's like a triple lifetime guarantee.

#52 March 12

Waiting

The only other pictures I took that day qualify as TMI. And oh man, seeing this one almost made me attempt another Renown Medical Center tirade, but then I remembered how long it would take me to get it out of my brain in a satisfying way, so I stopped myself. Viviana was very nice though... maybe they could hire someone else to write up the discharge papers and report so the nurses can actually take care of the patients. Just sayin'.

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#53 March 13

Out of Africa

They kicked us out to the curb released my mom Friday evening after 7 pm, just as a storm was hitting, but we managed to make it up to Susanville without incident by 9:30. My grand father's travel chest is in her guest room where I stayed. During WWII he worked for Douglas Aircraft as an airplane mechanic in Northern Africa, including Egypt. If you'll remember the original Indiana Jones movie, or if you just remember your history, you'll recall that the NAZIS occupied parts of Northern Africa. That's where he spent most of the war, and this essentially was his luggage.

When I have my tripod with me sometime, and some black backdrop fabric, I'll do a proper photo shoot with this trunk!

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#54 March 15

Pioneer Cafe

This picture is kind of cheating because I didn't actually take any photos on Sunday. Does that make me a bad person? It was the Sabbath after all ;-) So this pic is one I took Monday night on Main Street in Susanville... and I really really really really like it :)

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My mom is doing much much better and is back to work already teaching kindergarten :O Nothing, and I mean NOTHING will stop her from making it to parent teacher conference week! That's the week I would try to get sick and admitted to the hospital for sure, but not my mom... cause that's just how she rolls :)

#49 March 9

Rachel's Cactus

I made an exciting discovery Tuesday (for me anyway), while hiking on the back side if the Damonte Ranch 'D' hill - cactus. According to my intense research on teh internets, this little cactus plant looks to be an Opuntia Polyacantha (Panhandle Prickly Pear), and I have officially named it 'Rachel's Cactus' :) It's all by its lonesome out there, as far as I can tell. I've never seen anything like in all the time I've lived in Nevada (11 years). Yay me!

You can see the Grand Sierra Resort in the distance.

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#50 March 10

E.T. Redux

My mom totally rocked an E.T. go home finger in the ER on Wednesday. She's awesome like that! But speaking of the ER (and the 20 hours my mom spent there before they finally put her in a room), I just deleted a tirade about how I want to kick Renown Medical Center's trash. Because... who really wants to read that? That's what I thought. And it wasn't really coming out right anyway, which kind of makes want to launch into another kind of tirade about my freakin' brain!!! If I could change one thing about myself... well, okay, if I could change several things about myself, one of them would be that I could be a prolific writer. That I could effortlessly get the thoughts in my brain on paper without it being a mental struggle. You wouldn't believe all the brilliant things in this brain of mine that have never, and will never see the light of day, because something just goes wrong in the transfer from brain to fingers.

*sigh*

But, I'm happy to report that I brought my mom back home to Susanville yesterday (I'm staying with her for a couple/few days), and she's on the mend :)

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#51 March 11

A Room With a View

'A Room With a View' happens to be my all time favorite movie. This room with a view though, is room 722 at Renown Medical Center. It distracted me a little from wanting to kick Renown's trash, but Renown might not be so lucky next time.

This post is incomplete... I was going to write all kinds of stuff about how I can't live without the Rhapsody music site and how Alice and Wonderland creeped me out as a child. But my mom has fallen ill and I don't have time to write all that at the moment. I'm just waiting now for Ella to finish writing her a little note and then I'm off to the hospital. My mother is too tough for her own good sometimes, but she's in good hands now. Thanks in advance for your nice thoughts on her behalf. Ciao for now.

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#43 March 3

Rhapsody

At 11:50 pm, Tuesday night, I still hadn't taken a picture, but as I was listening to my new (old) favorite song 'Night Life' on Rhapsody, and thinking of what I should shoot at the last minute, that freaking freaky Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter picture kept popping up. It seemed like as good a subject as any.

As it turns out though, I like this pic as kind of time capsule type photo. It's already out-dated, in fact. Sade has fallen to #5 on the Rhapsody charts, Ke$ha to #7, and unfortunately, Lady Gaga is still at #1. But don't even get me started on Lady Gaga! She's not even deserving of my critical analysis... on my blog that is.

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#45 March 5

Slumber Party

One last slumber party with some of the Colorado cousins (and one reno cousin).

Colton on the far left sleeping on the couch, Eva giving a peace sign, Preston on the floor left, RJ middle, and Sophie.

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#46 March 6

"I need to get used to the paparazzi"

That's a direct quote by Eva, uttered only two seconds before this shot.

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#47 March 7

Mario Kart

Tyler (nephew), Ella and Sophie

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#48 March 8

I'm officially over 3D, and I'm officially 'eh' about Alice in Wonderland... didn't love it... didn't hate. But that's actually a positive review, considering I DID NOT want to see it until I saw how huge it was at the box office over the weekend. I'm kind of ashamed that I fell for the 'everyone else is doing it' thing. But hey, everyone else was doing it.

#44 March 4

Busted

The photo nazis in this town are startin' to cramp my style people. No sooner had I taken out my camera and snapped three quick pictures Thursday night, including the one above of Ella at the far end of the frozen aisle, than a Wal-Mart photo nazi snuck right up behind me and told me I had to stop. Picture taking is verboten in Wal-Mart, as well as Cinemark theaters, apperently. You already know how I feel about photo nazis, so I'm going to spam my own post with Wal-Mart pics, cause I really feel like stickin' it to the man!!! HA!

Watch out for this guy if you have a camera in your hand. He's a tricky one.

#40 February 28

Cousins

Sunday, late afternoon, we were at the park with all of Matt's family, including his brother's family, the Denver Hamrick family of Denver, Colorado (I really wanted to work in the Denver in Denver thing), and I was getting a little stressed that the light of the setting sun, diffused perfectly by a thin layer of cloudy haze, was being wasted because no one wanted to stop playing to do a photo shoot. Then I spotted these four cousins standing near a bench, drenched in the beautiful light, and was able to get them to squish their heads together for a few seconds... so the light wasn't a waste in the end after all :)

Pictured: top, Eva... bottom L to R, Morgan, Adam, Anna

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#41 March 1

Some Sagebrush, Some Rusting Desert Junk... Rock Candy Suckers and a Giant Jaw Breaker

In this photo: Jonas, Eva, Sophie, Colton and Ella

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#42 March 2

It was hard to choose a favorite photo from Monday because I took a lot of pictures that day that I liked. We had fun with the family all day and then had a par-TAY at Chuck E Cheese. I was shooting away through it all. Then Tuesday came, the relatives were gone, and at 8:30 in the evening I still hadn't taken any pictures and didn't have any ideas. I was at Scheel's with Ella looking for track shoes though... hence the photo of the fake Andrew Jackson in front of a three story indoor ferris wheel with a bokeh-fied Ella waving from one of the carriages. This has to one of my most brilliant compositions ever ;-) Read about bokeh here if you're not sure what it is.

If you've never been to Scheel's to shop for sporting goods and stopped on the second floor to hear the creepy fake orange Abraham Lincoln deliver the Gettysburg Address in front of a faux Lincoln Memorial facade that sits between the escalator entrances with the three story indoor ferris wheel in the background, then you're really missing out on an incredibly heartwarming and special patriotic moment!

#37 February 25

Hollister

Interestingly enough, they sell clothes in there.

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#38 February 26

Banana Seat

Sophie: "Mom, what kind of bike is that?"

Me: "That's a banana seat bike... the best kind of bike ever made."

Sophie: "Cool."

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#39 February 27

Van Down By The River

Watch it here

In this photo from L to R: Matt, Colton, Jordan, Anna, Travis, Jorge, Joanie, Jim

#34 February 22

Sisters In The Bathroom Together Not Fighting (Because They Were Trying To Out Pose Each Other To Make It Onto This Blog)

#35 February 23

20/20

This is Dr Hearne's optical refractor which said Eva's vision is 20/20. Isn't it so much fun having your eyes dilated when your a kid though? Everything is blurry... you go around all day trying to read things, without success, and you point out to your mother at least one hundred times in the space of about six hours that everything's blurry and you can't read anything. And there's really no point in going to school if you can't read anything, right?

#36 February 24

"The Ladies Are Gonna Love This"

Devon's motha, Jessica, said that's one of the first things Devon said after spiral breaking his leg last Saturday. And indeed, the ladies are lovin' it!

#31 February 19

Red Tailed Hawk

The Red Tailed Hawk is a bird of prey, one of three species colloquially known in the United States as the "chickenhawk," though it rarely preys on chickens. It breeds throughout most of North America, from western Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West Indies, and is one of the most common buteos in North America. Red-tailed Hawks can acclimate to all the biomes within its range. There are fourteen recognized subspecies, which vary in appearance and range. It is one of the largest members of the genus Buteo in North America, typically weighing from 690 to 1600 grams (1.5 to 3.5 pounds) and measuring 45–65 cm (18 to 26 in) in length, with a wingspan from 110 to 145 cm (43 to 57 in). The Red-tailed Hawk displays sexual dimorphism in size, with females averaging about 25% heavier than males.

I sound like I really know my birds, hah? Teh internets is just incredible, isn't it? Alls I did was google 'birds in Nevada', and a few clicks later I had figured out what kind of bird I had photograghed in the RC Willy parking lot. Then I just copy and pasted a passage from wikipedia :)

#32 February 20

On Clearance

Ha Ha! Look who's gathering dust with Woody & Friends on clearance at Wal-Mart (snort snort snort). He's only 50 cents people, c'mon :D

#33 February 21

Retreat! Retreat! Retreat!

It was a fierce snowball fight with attacking snow dogs and everything! Eva was clever to don her snowboarding helmet and goggles. She knows how to go into battle properly attired!

#29 February 17

Sophie finally wrote down the phone number of a friend from school she's been wanting to call on the phone. Two friends actually, they're twin sisters in her class. Until now she's mostly just chatted on the phone with cousins and other family members, so calling her friends was uber exciting for her. The conversation lasted more than thirty minutes... maybe forty-five minutes. She paced and did laps around the kitchen, living room and family room as she spoke. Here are some excerpts from the conversation I jotted down in real time:

"Do you know why we should not be divas... you know divas? Yeah............ because they................ because they are not nice."

"Do you know why boys are so weird? But they always chase girls. I know. Why are they so mean to us? Yeah...... but not nerd boys."

"Do you like the Cheetah Girls? Yeah, they wear like... cheetahs, and I don't like them. They are like divas."

"Do you know what we should do? We should save the Haiti people. Do you know the Haiti people? Yeah............. I'm trying to save them, and I know a song."

Then, after covering a few more choice topics, she held up the phone to the youtube video of 'We Are the World - 25 for Haiti'.

Do you people have any idea how many times I've had to hear to that song? Do you????? And do you have any idea how much it makes me want to stick hot pokers in my ears???? Oh... except for the part when Celine Dion shouts down Fergie. I like that part. Oh, and when T-Pain sings with his Auto-Tune. So classy! And oh yeah, when Babs tries to steal the show but doesn't really succeed. Ella said to me,"who's that old lady", and I said, "Barbra Streisand", and she said, "never heard of her in my life." :D Is there no better way to raise money for the Haiti people??? Puuuuulease! But I digress.

When Sophie was was helping save the Haiti people by holding the phone up to the video for her friend to hear, I was able to completely tune it all out and wasn't tempted to harm myself at all ;-)

#30 February 18

Gangsta

Just a couple of gangsta girlz grabbin' a bite to eat between thuggin' and homework.

Gangsta girlz don't like dey mutha's all up in dey grillz though. Ya gotta be careful.

Uuuummmmm, this photo project is kind of hard... I'm struggling to keep up.