Larimore, ND pop. 1312

Doug and I took a little ride this past weekend to the teeming metropolis of Larimore, ND, pop. 1312, to see what we could see.

I warned Doug that as soon as we entered this little town, we would be noticed, just because we were there. And I was right.

It was actually more photogenic than I expected.

While photographing this building, which use to be a bank, a man approached me, pulled out his camera, and also started photographing it! He was the one who told me it used to be a bank building.



And that he was actually there visiting his grandmother, decided to get a photo of this for her, because his grandfather use to be the bank president. He said his grandfather was in the bank in 1930 when it was held up!



And I liked the look of this railing on the side.



And then while I was standing in the middle of the street, a van pulled up along side me, and a man leaned out saying, "I was just thinking about how photogenic this little town is!" Or so he claimed!!!!!! But then he continued to circle around several more times, and we became suspicious of him, although maybe he was just being suspicious of us. . .

ETA: Oh, WOW! I just wanted to add, I just made this from my SIL, Maria's, blog tonight, and it is delicious! I also foresee leftovers, which is gooooooood!

The Road, by Cormac McCarthy

This is a novel so bleak and harrowing that you never learn the names of the two main characters. A father and son struggle to survive under such bleak circumstances that even the father's identity has been stripped away to the extent that at one point, encountering his reflection in a mirror, he nearly raises his pistol to shoot himself.

At least 6 or 7 years have gone by after a cataclysmic event covers the world in ash, blots out the sun, and destroys all plant life. What remains in the ruins of habitation has been thoroughly, desperately, plundered for any objects of sustenance or survival.

Before the novel ended, I found myself wondering whether all slivers of hope would also be a casualty in their lives.

Terribly brutal but still strangely fascinating to read!

And here's a few photos that seemed to capture the mood of this novel.

Blockade Billy on the Nook

Stephen King may be known as "The King of Horror", but he is also known as a fantastic painter of characters! He has such range in finding ways to present a character! Blockade Billy is one side of a conversation of an elderly man in a nursing home with Stephen King. He's telling King about Blockade Billy, a very unusual baseball player that he knew long ago. It's more of a short story than a novel, but an enjoyable couple hours' read. Those who like and follow baseball are more likely to enjoy all the references and context, but the "baseball ignorant" (like me) can still manage just fine to go along for the Stephen King ride.

Cyclamen Blossom

The cyclamen that sits on my desk at work seems to love me! It just blooms and blooms!

Today, my two favorite Nikon lenses are the Nikon 105mm 2.8, and the Nikon 16-85 mm 3.5-5.6.

Hoyas Gone Wild!

Remember the plant that I told you about? The one that crept into my office, across the ceiling, under stealth of night (and day)?

It's bloomed, and this is what I see now when I look up above my head at work!





It's just one of life's little reminders that it really, really, does have a sense of humor!

More Topaz Adjust

More play with Topaz Adjust. . . .








. . . . I love weekends in the summer!

Sunflower Topaz Adjust

Nicki suggested my sunflower photo might lend itself to Topaz Adjust, and this is something I've thought about trying for awhile. I finally downloaded the 30-day free trial, and played with it a little with this photo. This particular adjustment is "dramatic". I tried the HDR adjustment, and thought I liked my own version better, but I don't know how to work with all the sliders in the program yet. I also liked the "ghostly" version, but it definitely results in a creepy, Stephen-King-like vampire sunflower field! The painting adjustments were also fun to play with.



Thanks, Nicki! I think I'm going to enjoy playing around with Topaz Adjust!

Sunflower Mob and Dragonfly Portrait

Doug and I went for a wander in the woods, and saw this bad boy stalking the perimeter.



Then we headed off in search of buffalo, but they were no where to be seen this weekend. We were, however, accosted by this mob of sunflowers.




We paid their toll, and they let us go home. . .

Turtle River State Park

Turtle River State Park is this little park about 20 miles from our house, perfect for a wandering in the woods, getting out of the house, little venture. On the way, we passed a sunflower field and a buffalo farm. . .
The park is not grand, by any stretch of the imagination, but it's got water, campground areas, mosquitoes, and kids fishing and splashing, picnic areas, and outdoor weddings. . . . even a touch of the old poison ivy. It makes for a very pleasant escape from indoors.


Nicki asked about how to make photos larger on blogger, and I stumbled upon a way the other day. I'd tried the same method in the past, and it never worked. But because it seems like blogger changes its format every now and then, I thought I'd try again. . . .

And it's easy!

You know how when you are entering a new post, you have the option to either edit html, or compose? After you upload your photo, go to the "edit Html" view.

Look at the code for a photo. Your specific numbers might be different, depending on how you prepare your photo for the web. In my code for a photo, I see:

width: 400px; height: 266px;

. . . and I just delete this. Delete it all the way from "width" to "px;", but make sure you leave the " after "px;" that stays in the code.

Next, a little further down in the code for the photo, you'll see something like:

s400

All I do here is change the "400" to "900" and there it is! A nice big honker of a photo! And if you click on the photo, you get it even bigger! (And then, . . . go ahead!. . . . click on it even one more time!)

Wonderful for those of you who might be having EyeBall issues (thank-you-very-much!), or just like things BIG.

I'm not sure if all the blogger templates will behave nicely with this method, but it worked for me. Give it a try, and let me know what you think!

Calling BIG PHOTO Fans

Wow! I didn't know blogger would now accommodate a photo with 900 px on one side! This is going to be fun!





I went to a friend's son's wedding shower two weekends ago, and it was so much fun to take random shots of the sweet couple, and random items in my artistic friend's house. It's so nice to have tolerant friends, who let me scope out their houses and yards for Beautiful Things to photograph!!

My sweet friend, Ruth, told me that after the wedding shower, her yard was nominated for "Yard of the Week" by the local newspaper--except they botched it and sent their photographer to the neighbor next door.

Here are a few photos of the right yard: