More Challenges Ahead

I think the most challenging aspect of this challenge is keeping track of which one I'm on! I think I may be off by a day or two...I'm just not sure. So, I'm justing going to keep on working my way through them. No one said I had to do thirty pictures in thirty days, right? I mean, not really...

Anyhoo....

Day Eleven: Something Fun

Day Twelve: Close Up





Day 10: Something You Made

Until everything came to a screeching halt, I had been quite productive in terms of creative endeavors this summer. To make myself feel better about lots of things, I threw together a piece last night. This is the third one of these that I have done, and I'm thinking of putting them up on Etsy. Of course, I'll have to reconfigure my little shop...Hmm...



Day 9: Faceless Self-Portrait

Challenges are Challenging

I can't seem to turn my hand over for anything creative.

My friend, Laura, and I had a discussion about creativity and its continual ebb and flow. Each of us hit stages where we are creative machines, cranking out creative endeavors like it's our jobs!

And then the  inevitable moment when creative drives ebb away. It seems that we tend to ebb and flow against each other...

...I am definitely on an ebb.

I finished a mixed media piece that, I guess, wiped me out. I have no inspiration to do another one of those right now.

I have a ton of photos to process, but when I open my folder to look at all those unprocessed images, I yawn.

Even this photo challenge seems...challenging.

I just don't want to do anything. Sigh.

But I do have two new pictures to add to the challenge, although you'll see that I did phone it in on one of them...

Day 6: Childhood Memory

A Little Girl's Favorite Sleuth

When I was in second grade, I was allowed to go to the 3-6 grade library. Instead of picture books, it was filled with chapter books, pages after pages of adventures that went beyond learning about colors, shapes, and nursery rhymes. I remember my eyes widening in awe when the librarian took me there to look around. And thank you, Mrs. Richards, for taking me straight to your favorite section: Nancy Drew. She filled my childhood with adventure and escape, and she forged no small part of who I am today...

Days 7 and 8: Something New and Technology

Using Something Old to See Something New

My much beloved and much abused laptop is kaput. Well, not entirely or I wouldn't be typing this. But when I opened it up the other morning, I heard a horrible Crack! and gasped in horror as I saw the side of the monitor split open and the hinges pop open.

Ouch.

So I have a new laptop on its way. And I type away on my old one, feeling glum. This laptop has been a dear friend to me. I have poured a great deal of myself into different projects via this laptop. My first book of short stories was typed on this laptop. My first book of barn photography was published on this laptop. Countless images were processed and uploaded on this laptop.

Wow. I am really glum over this.







Three More Days

I would say that I decided not to post every day throughout the course of this 30-Day Challenge, but that would be a fib. I simply have been busy and traveling the past couple of days, so today's posting is a three-for-one deal.

Speaking of fibs, I considered telling one about the image for Day Three. Considered and discarded, favoring the truth instead: I forgot. I got caught up in making an eggplant lasagna that took most of the day to make, and I simply forgot to take a picture for Day Three. It's not a huge deal, though; Day Three was a rainy, stormy mess, and the skies were that bland gray. Not even good storm clouds!

In any case, here are the next three days of the challenge:

Day Three: Clouds

Yesterday's drive. Not the most spectacular clouds, but clouds nonetheless!

Day Four: Your Favorite Color

Blue Jeans: My favorite color is one of comfort!

Day Five: Someone You Love

Well, duh! Of course, it's my little guy!!

On deck for days six and seven? You'll just have to stay tuned!!







Challenge Me This, Challenge Me That

It's pretty obvious that tending to this blog is a challenge for me. (So is tending to plants which is why I have none, but that's another story...)

In any case, in an attempt to try to do better, I am borrowing from another blogger. On the blog "Oh So Lovely", Sherry challenged herself (and her followers) to a 30-Day photography challenge. I stumbled across it and decided, "Better late than never!!"

I should have blogged yesterday. Didn't. So here are my first two contributions to the challenge. I don't know that I'll actually post every single day. Would that drive you batty? We'll see...

In any case, day one was the dreaded self portrait. Thanks to a good face day and the magic of processing, I came up with this vintage shot:

Are you lookin' at me? Are you. Lookin'. At. Me?

Day two is today, and the prompt is "What I Wore". Well, I felt it awkward to photograph my chest since what I wanted to show was the t-shirt I chose for the day:

Go Mounties!

I'm looking forward to tackling each day of this. I've decided to only use my iPhone; that way, it can just be a quick burst of creativity to add to my day!

What little bits of creativity are you squeezing in?







Pretty Posies

Sometimes, just sometimes, I take pictures of things that are not barns...

I know, I know. It's hard to believe. "But Nichole! You only take pictures of barns! At 80 mph!"

It's true. Usually. But there are those times when I just stand still and capture the world around me...

Industry

Do Not Disturb

A Summer Lullaby

.



Doggone It!

I am really bad at updating this blog.

I see the link on my toolbar. I see it, and then my vision gets blurry. My eyes dart to the next link, a mindless waste of time, and I click that one.

Sheesh.

It just seems like I would end up saying the same thing all the time. Or does it? I don't know...

In any case, I decided to blog today. And I'm going to try to blog again this month. I am, doggone it!!

We took a recent road trip out to Dayton, Ohio, to visit my brother-in-law. Instead of hopping on the turnpike, Hubby decided to extend the trip in order to have a little more scenery along the way. We drove up to Mansfield, Pennsylvania, where we went to college together, and then we drove across (mostly) Route 6 to Cleveland. We spent the night there and though we didn't have reservations, we were able to get an outstanding room with a view!

Check out this room! Top floor (15th). We were

agape when we opened the door.

A nice view of Cleveland

We couldn't see the game, but we could see the crowd at the

Indians's game.

Even the little guy got in on taking pictures

of the view!

Eventually, we finished our drive to Dayton. And I must say that although we took the turnpike on the way home, between our drive out and our drive back, I was able to snap pictures of dozens of barns. So excited!! Here are the first four images that I processed from the drive:

"In the Neighborhood"

"Show Me the Way to Go Home"

"Hushed"

"A Red Barn in Passing"

There. I feel like I've been more productive. I still have tons of images to process, and I promise to try to post them here as I go through them. Note: that's promise to try. Ha ha!!