Day 184: Hat/Heather

It wouldn't be the holidays without a Santa hat. Because I didn't decorate until Christmas morning, I decided to leave everything up until the 1st. I hung this up by the front door in a space that I felt needed something.

f3.5, Exp. 1/60, 18mm

Day 183: Hair/Heather

In September, my friend and I bought season tickets for this year's "Broadway Across America" series. We had tickets for "Hair" tonight (hence the theme). I knew it was about a group of friends in the '60's but was definitely more than a little naive about what I was going to see! No wonder my co-worker was so sure I wouldn't have any problems staying awake despite being exhausted...

f3.8, Exp. 1/60, 27mm

Day 182: Socks/Heather

I love fun holiday socks and this year had enough Christmas themed socks that I was able to start wearing them on 12/6. While out Christmas shopping, I found them on sale and had to add to my collection. Between the ones I bought myself and received as a gift, I will be able to start Christmas socks next year on 12/2 which I am already looking forward to.

f4, Exp. 1/60, 31mm

Day 181: Flame/Heather

Since there seems to be a film on the inside of the glass on my fireplace, those shots didn't turn out. So I went for Plan B: taking a picture while lighting a candle. It turned out to be much easier than I thought it would be.

f4.5, Exp. 1/80, 70mm

Day 180: Paper/Heather

This year's wrapping paper (it will probably be next year's too):

f4.5, Exp. 1/60, 70mm

Day 179: Angels/Heather

This little guardian angel was given to me for my birthday this year by a co-worker. She does a great job of protecting the guest/craft room from my little weapons of mass destruction. Of course, it does help her cause that I don't let them go in there!

f4.5, Exp. 1/60, 70mm

Day 178: Nativity/Heather

My friend asked if we could have a potluck here today and I agreed. Since it was sort of last minute, I had a lot to do today (like decorate) and as a result did not get out to get the shot I was planning to take.

My mom painted this nativity set many years ago when we she was going to ceramics weekly to have a hobby that got her out of the house for a while. I set it up on one of my end tables every year with gold garland "straw."

f3.8, Exp. 1/60, 25mm

Day 177: Starts with "X"/Heather

I was going to find something that said Xmas to use for today's shot but when I was out running errands, I passed this sign and could not resist using it instead.

f5, Exp. 1/500, 31mm

Day 176: Cards/Heather

This is my 6th Christmas in this house. I have a wall in the kitchen that I have found to be perfect for displaying Christmas cards. As a lot of the cards I received this year were photo cards, I chose to use a shot for this that didn't have the faces of anyone's children even though it wasn't the best of the bunch.

f3.5, Exp. 1/60, 18mm

Day 175: Family/Heather

When we first decided to do this and I saw "family" on the list of themes Selina proposed, I started to cry. I don't have family here and the thought of having nothing to do for this picture made me feel so very much alone. And then an idea came to me. This isn't the best picture, but here's the family I cherished so much: James, with Haiti behind him, and myself with Charlie and Sammy. I wore that sweatshirt on purpose because it was James' and I loved how he looked in it.

f4, Exp. 1/60, 31mm

Day 174: Stripes/Heather

For today's shot, I used one of James' ties. I donated his suits to a church but kept the ties with the goal to eventually make a throw pillow out of them. Since I'm not really sure how to do that, I have decided I need to get some used ties from Goodwill first to play with before I make the real deal out of James', so his are still hanging up in the closet for now.

f4.5, Exp. 1/60, 46mm

Day 173: Silver/Heather

I'm getting really lazy with my pictures! Today's shot is of my big silver snowflake that I set candles on to protect the table.

f4.2, Exp. 1/60, 34mm

Day 172: Childhood Memory/Heather

When my brother and I were kids, we were allowed to open one Christmas present on Christmas Eve. The present we got to open was usually predetermined, especially when we were younger, and was something that would keep us occupied until Mom and Dad woke up on Christmas morning. Coloring books and crayons were given to us on more than one Christmas Eve!

f4.0, Exp. 1/60, 31mm

Day 171: Pencils/Heather

My friend came over today to finish a Christmas present for her partner. What should have taken a couple of hours at most to finish quickly became a comedy of errors that took MUCH longer than it should have. I had an ugly Christmas sweater party to attend so as we were packing up the sewing supplies, I quickly snapped a couple of shots of the fabric marking pencils in case I got home too late to take a picture of regular pencils.

f4.5, Exp. 1/60, 70mm

Day 170: Checkerboard/Heather

I was going to use one of my Dad's flannel shirts for this shot, but it isn't quite the checkerboard pattern I thought it was. So I pulled out the actual checkerboard for this. It's older and not the flatest of boards but it works for this.

f4.5, Exp. 1/60, 60mm

Day 169: Brown/Heather

I didn't look too hard to find a subject for this picture, which also would have worked great for texture. It's Charlie and Sammy's food.

f4.5, Exp. 1/60, 70mm

Day 168: Ornaments/Heather

Since I have been in a pretty Grinch-y mood this year, I haven't put up any decorations. I found this ornament that somehow did not get put away with the rest of the decorations last year and stuck it up on my Norfolk pine so I could take this shot:

f4.5, Exp. 1/60, 70mm

Day 167: That's Random/Heather

My friend Preston has been following our daily themes and posting his pictures to his Facebook page. When he asked about a theme for today because one wasn't listed, I told him we didn't have one yet and he said he'd just take a bunch of random pictures. I decided to make that the theme because there was something I found to be totally random that I really wanted to take a picture of.

I pass this lot on my way to and from work everyday. It is usually empty but this year was used to sell Christmas trees. At first it was just the trees, and then the flags appeared. I can't think of a more random combination of merchandise!

f4.5, Exp. 1/60, 70mm

Day 166: Tea Time/Heather

This teapot is actually a music box but is also part of a full tea set. I have never tried to see if it is functional as a teapot. I have the full set; it sits in a display case in my kitchen. It belonged to my grandmother and was given to me after she passed away. I refer to the cups as "reversible" because on one side, they have the dancers but on the other side, they have the gold flowers. I display them with the dancers facing forward.

f4.5, Exp. 1/60, 62mm

Day 165: Starts with "H"/Heather

The subdivision I live in is interesting in that part of it was grandfathered in as rural property. It's kind of cool to be driving through the neighborhood and see a couple of properties with horses on them. I wanted to take a picture of one of them but naturally, the horses were nowhere to be found. I took a couple of shots of my friend's little holiday village houses but as I was driving home from her house, I passed the church up the street from mine and decided this was a much better idea.

f4.5, Exp. 1/80, 44mm

Day 164: Stocking/Heather

I have been in a very, "Bah, humbug!" Scrooge mood this year and as a result have not gotten any of my decorations out. This little stocking was my white elephant gift last year and never made it into the box with everything else. It even comes with three lumps of coal-which seems perfect for my lack of holiday spirit.

f4.5, Exp. 1/60, 50mm

Day 163: Rocky Road/Heather

My idea for this shot was a nice, gravel road in the country. But after work it was too dark to go and try to find one. So, I had to settle for the candy bar instead. As I was taking the pictures, it dawned on me I have never actually had one of these before. They're okay but definitely not my favorite.

f4.2, Exp. 1/60, 34mm

Day 162: On the Side/Heather

The original thought was for this to be a picture of a Thanksgiving side dish but it got moved to today when we decided to use snow for a theme. I went around and took pictures of the side view of a few things and my favorite of the bunch was this shot of the side of the computer.

f4.5, Exp. 1/60, 50mm

Day 161: Gloves/Heather

Yet another lazy shot due to my schedule: a pair of my gloves and a pair of James' I found in the back of the closet. I will be donating his as they are a little too big for me.

f3.5, Exp. 1/60, 18mm

Day 160: Pine Cones/Heather

I was given a pair of tickets for tonight's Trailblazer game against Phoenix (Go Suns!) so between work, an appointment after work and picking up my co-worker to get to the game in time, I didn't have a lot of spare time. So I snapped a couple of quick shots of this bowl of pine cones my mom spray painted years ago that I keep in my craft room. One of these years, I will find a use for them. (Maybe when I finally get around to making that wreath I keep saving the fronts of Christmas cards for...)

f4.5, Exp. 1/60, 18mm

Day 159: Bottles/Heather

One of my favorite things about this time of year: Martinelli's Sparkling Cider, which I refer to as my bubbly. This is the only time of year I really let myself indulge in it and by the first of the year, someone glancing at my recycling bin probably gets the impression I'm quite the alcoholic!

f3.8, Exp. 1/60, 24mm

Day 158: Nutcracker/Heather

Insanity is said to be the act of doing the same thing repeatedly expecting different results. I had my moment of insanity today by taking everything out of the utensil drawers 3 times looking for the nutcracker I apparently just think I own but can very vividly remember James using once upon a time. By the time I got around to taking pictures today, it was pretty late so I had to settle for this shot of the front of a Christmas card.

f4.5, Exp. 1/60, 60mm

Day 157: Decoration/Heather

It just so happened that my agenda for today included going to the "Festival of Trees" with the Portland/Vancouver Photography Meetup group and a friend of mine. For the first time in a long time, I had a hard time choosing which picture to post! I finally decided on this little guy as I think he's pretty cute.

f4.5, Exp. 1/30, 65mm

Day 156: Tire/Heather

There's really not a lot to say about this one. It's the top of my bicycle tire.

f5.6, Exp. 1/125, 70mm

Day 155: Starts with "E"/Heather

We had some fun at work today trying to come up with an idea for this one. I really wanted to find an elf, but surprisingly with this being the holiday season, they are in short supply. I did take a couple of pictures of my "Snowdrop" doll who is one of the friends of "Herself the Elf" and technically an elf. I also took a few shots of the engine in my Lancer, but ultimately, my favorite shot from today was this one I took of eggs.

f5.6, Exp 1/125, 70mm

Day 154: At Eye Level/Heather

Wow. There is not a whole lot of interest at eye level when you are only 5'4"! It doesn't help that it was dark when I got home so I had to find something in the house. I started upstairs as that was where the camera was and finally found the perfect shot when I made my way downstairs. The picture is of the harbor in Ochoa Rios, Jamaica. It was James' favorite picture from our cruise and was taken the day after he proposed to me. Next to the picture is James' urn. It's funny-for as often as my eyes rest on this, I never noticed it is perfectly at my eye level.

f5.6, Exp. 1/125, 70mm