An Undefeated Season Continues!

Coach South and Coach Yoder pep talking the Storm prior to the start of their playoff game. The Storm won all their regular season games and are anxious to see if they can outscore their opponent once again!

Alexander takes a great shot! In excited anticipation, we watch as the ball circles the rim and falls, not scoring two. No worries, Alexander scored later in the game.

On the prior shot, Alexander was fouled. His free throw form looks incredible!

Alexander and his teammate putting "the squeeze" on their opponent.

Papa and Grammy surprised all of us when they arrived for Alexander's playoff game! Alexander was SO happy to have them watch his game!! Thanks for the wonderful surprise!

Next week the Storm heads to the Semi-Finals!!

Good luck Alexander (lucky #7)!

Warmer Thoughts

I'm sitting here laughing at myself as I realize I must look ridiculous with 3 layers of warm clothes and a blanket wrapped around me--shivering! As I glance out the window, little snow flurries are floating to the frozen ground and the howling wind adds to my shivers. Alexander happily told me that we're expecting 1-4 inches of snow. So, I thought--maybe a little bit of warm, humid, lush, tropical and beautiful Mexico--would provide some warmth. These were some of my favorite landscape scenes--I hope you enjoy them and hopefully thinking of the tropical South will help warm you too!

Trying to stay warm in Ohio--

The Last Class Draws Near

For Christmas, Trey gave me a wonderful gift--photography classes. I have enjoyed each session and feel like I have gained a wealth of knowledge. I'm slowly gaining a comfort level switching between all of my settings; including manual. Our assignment this week was to experiment with shutter speed. After Trey arrived home from work, we set off to Inniswood Gardens in search of the waterfall I remembered from the summer months; unfortunately, the waterfall doesn't exist during winter months. We did find a substitute; not as breathtaking, but enough to allow me to experiment with contrasting shutter speeds. While I'm disappointed that class ends this week, I am no longer overwhelmed by the many tasks my camera performs and am eager to continuing learning and experimenting. Thanks again Trey--photography classes were a thoughtful and memorable gift! The red cardinal contrasted against the barren winter landscape was stunning

A slower shutter speed blurring the substitute waterfall

A quick shutter speed "stopping" the water in mid air

While Trey and I were searching for another waterfall, we heard this strange noise. I looked up and high in a tree, this squirrel was busy gnawing on his acorn. He was so engrossed in his task that I was able to switch lens and focus several times on him before taking a shot.

Portrait Photography--not so easy!

I didn't realize how challenging portrait photography would be! Most of my pictures are not worth posting, but I decided these were two of the best. Of course, it's not easy to practice when your participants aren't willing. The picture of Sophie was taken through the glass of the back door. The above picture was too cute not to try...Sophie was on her way to dreamland while Noah was resting on her.