Dragging out the Old Brownie Box Camera

My mother was a camera bug. She told me that one of her older brothers gave her a Brownie box camera for her birthay when she was 16 and she proceeded to document everything from there on. Amazingly her pictures turned out quite good considering what she had to work with.



Below is what I take pictures with - an Olympus SP-560UZ with an 18x optical zoom lense and dual image stabilizers. But I'm not so sure my pictures are really any better quality than hers. I don't profess to be a "photographer" by any means, but I do have fun and have in the past taken some awards at the county fair - just out of pure luck I'm sure.




So I decided to share some pictures with you - nothing great - just some snaps captured on the run.



A truckload of dogs getting ready to go for their ride - believe me - that truck doesn't leave the property without them.

Just a country road in the middle of winter. See the drift coming up that we have to drive through? Doesn't look like it from here, but it was about 3 feet deep.

A somewhat bleak winter sunset.

One of my wren houses - needless to say there's no wrens living in it now. And the sign below says "Out Biking" - Not hardly!!

This was taken from my front yard just experimenting with the zoom - that's Lovely Daughter's house with one of her Watch Cats in the window. He's watching the birds.

Just a shot of Ole working in his shop. He's restoring a 1934 Dodge for a customer.

One of the little guys I've been keeping fed this winter. I curse them in the summer when they eat my flowers, but can't stand to see anything go hungry in the winter.

I find this one really interesting not because of the makeup of the photo, but because I think the goldfinches know something we don't. Goldfinches that manage to stay here throughout the winter are usually a very muddy brown and don't turn their bright yellow until about the time the trees start to leaf out. For some strange reason I've had a ton of finches all winter and they are all starting to turn their bright yellow now. Maybe they know something we don't? I sure hope they're right because I'm developing quite a case of cabin fever this year for some reason.

And now for some truly brave but not very smart souls. I saw this clip on TV this morning and had to share it. I LOVE the big guys in their tutus.

http://www.truveo.com/Ice-Swimming-Season-Opens-in-Russia/id/2814666696

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Happy Winter!

As the World Turns (On and On)

First t'ings first - der's another entry over at the Smelly Lutefisk factory. I no longer post on Diaryland, so if you're going over there to look for it, it's not there - ha, ha! If you want to read it, or haven't kept the info from last time, please email me at LenaSwenson@gmail.com and I'll give you the secret location!!

My, my, my (waves white dish towel like a fan to cool off) things have been busy at the Ole and Lena household. Saturday afternoon we went to the local Home and Garden Show sponsored by the local builder's association. It's a great place to get ideas for remodeling and such. Ole says it's a great place to get ideas on how to spend his money! But MY money's in HIS pocket so I just tell him I'm spending MY money (snicker). It always takes a long time to get through a show like that and see everything because Ole has this gift of gab, you see. Because of the business that he was in for 30 years he knows EVERYBODY and stops to chat for hours on end. It's always an ego booster for him because everyone he runs into from the industry tells him how much he is missed. It's good for him to be able to "pop his buttons" every once in awhile.

We ran into friends (2 couples) so we decided to all meet for dinner that night. We arranged to meet them out at the Golden Corral - a new to our area restaurant. The food was delicious, but we'll probably never go there again. I guess some of their expertise is how to pack folks in like sardines. You could hardly move in that restaurant, and the way we were seated we felt like we were sitting on top of the next table infringing on their conversation!! Someone should tell the Golden Corral that packing folks in like that doesn't leave much room for the belt expansion that you need when you try to get your money's worth at a buffet.

The next morning (Sunday) our church was serving their annual ham dinner (mmm - it's so good). I sold tickets and Ole helped in the kitchen slicing ham. We were there early enough to help with some of the preparation and stayed to help clean up - so we were both ready to check our eyelids for leaks when we got home. Mine didn't leak for over two hours!! So Sunday night was a good night to stay home - guess what we had for supper - ham sandwiches!!

Monday night, of course, was burger night at the Local Watering Hole. It was just Bob and Ole and I. Carol was picking up a friend (May) at the airport, and Jane was far too busy at the City Office to come over (whew - a peaceful night). Dick & Jane, along with Ted & Alice are leaving for Las Vegas tonight. They'll be gone until next Monday - HURRAH! (I'm so nasty.)

Last night we were invited to a going away supper for May. Remember - I've told you about May before. She is from Turkey, where her parents arranged her marriage when she was 15 to a doctor that was 20+ years older than her. She's been visiting her daughter and grand daughter out in NYC for the last several months and has decided to move out there. We'll miss her a lot - she's such a joy. So anyway, last night we all got together at Bennigans to wish her the best. And of course Dick and Jane were there and Jane was in her usual Big Mouth form. I'm not even going to go into details because they just don't matter anymore - but she was doing her usual loud-voiced arguing with everyone about everything. She's so embarrassing. And as usual she chewed with her mouth open and talked with her mouth full - enough to make one gag. This time food even fell out of her mouth at one point!! My new policy when I'm around Jane is to just keep my mouth shut, be quiet and not say much of anything. I'm not going to give her anymore ammunition that she can twist and use against me anymore.

Well, today's my day to work on income tax preparation - isn't that a "downer" then? Our appointment is on Friday afternoon so I suppose I better get my ducks in a row!!

More gossip tomorrow - okay?