Misha has a Visitor

Our dog Misha had a little visitor today. She is 5 years old and full of excitement awaiting a visit from Santa.

~Jackie

December 22

Its beginning to look like WINTER....brrr

I took the following pictures Saturday at Presque Isle. I really needed to go shopping Saturday but the sky was awesome and we just had an ice storm so you know that calls for a brief side trip for a mini photo shoot. Luckily it was freezing and I did not wear a hat or gloves so that did keep me some what to my tasks to do that day or I might have wanted to wait all day for the perfect shot.

Thank you for looking. ~Jackie

Christmas Elves Finishing Up

Gosh it has been over a month since I last wrote an entry or shared pictures. Before Thanksgiving Jim and I started our annual family Christmas project where we work together to create a little homemade gift. Jim loves woodworking and I love to paint. We rarely have time for either of those activities though out the year so it's a fun time when we can pull some ideas together and come up with some sort of Christmas creation. As much as we love this project boy is it hard work!!!! We really challenged ourselves this year. Last year I bought Jim a router so that necessitated a design which he could round the edges. He was very busy with all the special features cutting notches and building little jigs to make some of his steps easier. My job painting was a little less imaginative but I still found plenty of time to whine that I won't be able to figure out how to paint the face or why did I put so much holly on these? lol. Well, any way we got all 16 done and all in the mail last week or delivered personally and are so happy they all reached you safely and that you loved them. Thought I would share a few pics of the elves at work.

Jim Wearing His Dad's WoodShop Apron to Begin the 2008 Santa

Early Faces

Me Painting in the Background

A Few Finished Santas Backside View

So in these last few days before Christmas and the cold winds and snow are blowing outside Jim and I are inside, relaxed that our project is done and looking forward to Christmas day. Kara dear, you know how much I will miss you this year being your first Christmas away but I know you and Michael will have a nice Christmas down in S.C. Hope you can all relax a bit this week. Merry Christmas all.

Green Finger Project

Abby went to DC this past week end with some classmates to participate in a Green Festival. This is a festival devoted on education and awareness of environmental initiatives that DC is participating in along with education forums devoted on sharing how neighbors, community non profits, and city departments are working together to make their cities healthier places to live. STERIS, the company Jim and I work for are working hard to release Green products to surgical suites and other healthcare or scientific labs.

In the right had column of my blog you may notice a section titled Family Links. The first link titled Abby Goes Green will set you up to a U-Tube Video.

When you click that link the video Abby is on will cue up. You will see a screen that looks similar to my screen shot below. See where I circled in red...You will see an option to view this in high quality. It is best to watch this in high quality. If your computer states to view this in low quality click here do not do anything. Your system is all ready defaulted to high res.There is music playing so make sure your speakers are on. By the way Abby is the first one up and the cutest so be watching.

Thanks for looking.

~Jackie

Sunday, November 9th

Thanks for looking. ~Jackie

November 08-08

This morning actually turned out to be fairly nice. I went to Presque Isle to take a few shots before grocery shopping. Thanks for looking.

~Jackie

November 5th

With the time change last Sunday I have very little time to take any daily pictures. Knowing that it was going to be a beautiful day here I decided to pack my camera and head over to Presque Isle for lunch. Gosh!!!I wish I could have stayed all day waiting for some wildlife to appear but only had a few minutes to take a few shots. Sometimes its nice just to get some fresh air.

Thanks for looking. ~Jackie

Happy Election Day All

Jim and I cast our votes in Pennsylvania today. Despite hearing stories of voters waiting in lines for hours we found our voting district much slower. We voted during our lunch hour and did not have to wait in line at all. I cast vote number 516 and Jim was 517 for our district four location. Well I am sure everone will get there fill of political talk today so I will post a couple scenery shots from Wintergreen Gorge.

By the way I hear Kara and Michael are feeling much better. She hopefully will listen to Auntie Di and stay away from those tanning booths and Nana and Papa don't worry that orthodontia work did pay off. I also hear they may consider taking some vitamins and Kara is always on the look-out for a nice face cleanser.

Hope you enjoy these shots. The leaves are falling quickly now.

Thanks for looking. ~Jackie

11-03-08

I was all ready to post just a beautiful fall picture that I took at WinterGreen Gorge when I got a disturbing email from my beloved daughter Kara.

Kara, after graduating from college moved from PA to the lovely state of South Carolina. I promise when Jim and I drove her down this summer we were relieved to see such a beautiful small town with friendly caring people. Kara got a nice job in her field after only a couple weeks of searching. Despite her couple pleas of a little financial help till she got paid we were really happy to see Michael and Kara living in a beautiful home and both beginning great careers. We have talked just about daily and I never have felt worried about her changing at all. I can see her in my mind that sweet young woman glad to finish school and ready to start her next adventure. I guess, especially with Michael by her side being a school teacher and all I just really thought they would take care of other. To be honest I am not sure whats going on. Even Michael has changed so much. I am sure there are other parents out there that think their child changed so after leaving home but gosh this is just so drastic. I almost didn't recognize them. I know a mother will always love her children but I tell you she is testing me. They did send a pic so I guess I will update you all since you probably havent seen them in a few months.




P.S. Sure I probably could adjust skin tones and fix red eye in Photoshop but right now I am just so shocked.





Kara and Michael together. Picture taken October 31st, 2008





Happy Halloween all. Kara and Michael thanks for the pictures. You two are the best.

~Jackie

November 02, 2008

A quick pic I took today at Winter Green Gorge

Tail End of Fall

I went to Presque Isle tonight after work. Its so sad now having only about another hour of sunlight. Erie was back to more normal temperatures for Fall so I took my camera and headed to the beach for a few quick pictures. I was kind of sad to see much of the leaves are way past peak. Of course yesterday there was up to 8-10 inches of snow in the surrounding town so I should have realized there would not be much of a show. Still nice to see a few lingering signs of Fall colors and a beautiful sunset with lots of pinks. Here are two pics from tonight.

Thanks for looking. ~Jackie

Blue Heron

I took this shot of a Blue Heron at PresqueIsle this past summer. I cropped in a bit from what I shot to get a closer look. Thanks for looking. ~Jackie

Monday October 27-2008

A month ago I went to the Erie Zoo with the Erie Photography Club. We were able to go in for free and also enter about an hour before the zoo opened for the day. In return, all those that attended have to donate a matted 8x10 that they will auction off at their Fall fundraiser. Well the prints are due tomorrow so last night I finally made a decision on one to print. Printed it on my printer on some great paper went to Michaels Craft tonight after work and picked up a really nice double mat and assembled it. Gosh!!!! Talk about waiting till the last minute.

I guess some of my procastination stemmed from not taking a picture that was really really good. But with it printed and matted it does look very nice. Thanks for looking. ~Jackie

October 26, Sunday

Well a couple days ago I told you I would tell you about my class at the Art Museum. Thursday night was our last class for a beginning Photoshop class for Photography. Last Spring I started working on a small project at work that I would design and send out our company's monthly eNewsletter. This was a project that I was thrilled to try even though it wouldn't mean more in my paycheck. But as a bartering tool I said I think I really need Photoshop CS3 to do this right. So since May I have had Photoshop but mainly used it to create some very basic things not necessarily use it in photography. When I came across the Erie Art Museum schedule for Fall classes I had been dying to get into the Photography class then by chance I saw this class offered too. I am so glad I took it. The Art museum gets the greatest teachers in. This class was taught by two local professionals. Its funny but when I think of relatively small town Erie, PA I didn't realize the wonderful artistic talent that is here, or how many working professionals there actually are. Ellen Anon who is a freelance photographer and writer and actually authored a wonderful book with Tim Grey called Photoshop CS3 for Nature Photographers. If your into working with any type of photoshop or elements program and want to make the most of your photos check this book out. Art is more of a commercial photographer so he offered a different perspective than Ellens which really gave us a nice mix of what kind of a work flow we could implement in processing. Both of their approaches were similiar on the fact that photoshop isn't going to take your poorly shot photograph and make it great but instead take a great shot and give it that Wow or make it come alive look.

Now in six weeks you cant learn all the program but we were all able to take peices of the lessons and apply them to our work flow when getting a digital file ready to print or share on the web. So here are a few pics and some simple photoshop techniques showing before and after. Thanks for looking. ~Jackie

p.s. Since these were not great photos to start so you probably wont being saying wow!!!!lol But just sharing some improvements.

Thursday 10-23

Tonight I had a class down town at the Erie Art Museum. Super class taught by Ellen Anon and Art Becker. Both incredible professional photographers. Maybe I will have some time tomorrow to talk about that but before class I stopped at Perry Square to catch a picture of the fountain with Pink water to bring awareness to Breast Cancer. Its late so I will post only one.

Thanks for looking. ~Jackie

October 21 2008

Here are a few more pictures from the weekend.

Thanks for looking. ~Jackie

October-20-2008

Thanks for looking. ~Jackie