February - A Look Ahead

Wow, did January zip by fast! I’m sure that February will go quickly too. I stayed very busy last month with lynda.com photography training and 2014 vacation planning. We also had some social engagements in January and celebrated the good news about Mr. Jim’s latest CAT scan. We’ve continued to have cold weather, and our area got a lovely snowfall earlier this week. February weather conditions are already looking more promising, with above average temperatures for the next week. It got to a balmy 58 degrees today. We’ll take it!

As of this morning, we finished making all the arrangements for our major 2014 journeys. We’re concentrating our efforts on independent travel this year to stretch our dollars and pack in as much fun as we can. We’ll be going to the Moab (Utah) and Grand Junction (Colorado) areas in March. On that trip, we’ll be participating in a small group meet-up for landscape photography. In July, we’re going sightseeing in eastern Newfoundland, Canada. We’ll follow the same itinerary planned out for last year’s cancelled journey. In September, we’re heading out west again to explore the Tetons and Yellowstone, two parks that we haven’t seen for over 40 years. With gratitude, we’ll be savoring each one of these wonderful trips.

My self-imposed photography training is going well. I’ve learned some new tricks to integrate into my post-processing workflow. I haven’t started practicing with the Wacom pen and tablet yet, but that is on my to-do list for next week. I will continue my studies for at least another month.

My elderly mom in Indiana has improved somewhat since her stroke around Christmas time. She’s been receiving care at a wonderful rehab facility since her hospital discharge. Unfortunately, I now hear from my sister-in-law that mom has hit a point where she is not progressing. She may be very well going back to her home situation because it doesn’t appear that my brothers there have taken any steps to arrange long-term care needs. The future situation does not bode well. Sigh…

As I posted yesterday, the next monthly photo challenge is fast approaching. This will be the 12th one! I’ve got a few photos that fit the “Street Scenes” topic, but I have to admit that this type of photography style is not my forte. First of all, it’s difficult to be discrete with a big, honking camera. Secondly, I am too much of a fuss-budget on composition and exposure to successfully take quick, candid shots. Oh well. If the challenges were all easy, then they wouldn’t be a challenge, now would they?

You can look forward to seeing more journey-related photos this month. In keeping with the winter them, there will be a few more from Churchill, Manitoba. I also have some architectural images from Charleston to share. You can expect some variety because those two locations don’t have anything in common except their names both start with the same letter.

Valentine’s Day is this month! So if we are still plugging along with winter weather, at least we have a little holiday diversion. I’ve been looking for primroses each week when I go to the store, but there are none to be found. I guess I will have to break down and buy some other kind of flowers for some indoor color.

I hope you enjoy the good times this month and keep busy. Before you know it, we’ll start to see some signs of spring! At least, that’s what Marty keeps telling me, LOL.