In and Around the Lake

One of these days I will get caught up. I hope you have all been well. Recently, I decided that this will be a year for me to get out and meet more people, which means disengaging from the computer more often. I hate that, but after three years of mourning my mother's death, it's time. Past time.

These are some of the things I've been doing:

 - joined a local photography club;

 - took a photography class on advanced focusing techniques;

 - attended an art exhibit;

 - participated in a night photography workshop;

 - volunteered for the "Paddle Patrol"...kayaking around Lake Martin to protect nesting birds;

 - attended an astrophotography lecture and saw Comet Lovejoy through a massive telescope;

 - this week there is a hummingbird lecture and tour + a field trip with my photography instructor;

 - joined a Photography Meetup hosted by a local photography instructor.

In between all of that I have been taking photos. Before I can post though, I need to get caught up on 2014. Below are some November images I have not yet shared. All of these were taken at LSU Lakes.

Linking to

 

Double D's Picks

Hello gang! I hope everyone had a beautiful holiday filled with food, family, friends and fond memories. We had two wonderful gatherings with my kids, two weeks apart. Those visits pretty much wiped me out. I'm still in recovery mode.

After waiting several days for the sun to shine, our window of opportunity finally arrived: New Year's Eve day. So Double D drove me to my favorite spot in Madisonville, LA. I had hoped the morning light was going to be behind me, bathing the pelicans in light, but no such luck. Whether I had gone in the afternoon or morning didn't matter, since the sun was positioned on the sides of the water. I photographed from every angle imaginable, fiddled with my camera settings, and still, I could not expose the pelicans properly. Just when I thought I might have it figured out, we got run off by the cops, because apparently they are still working on the sea wall. Drats.

I worked with these shots in Lightroom and PS for a long while, finally losing perspective and patience. After two days, pulling every trick I knew, I summoned Double D and asked him to be totally honest and tell me which ones he liked. These are Double D's picks. :)

We were both on the fence about this shot since the bokeh is so overwhelming.
Although distracting, we thought it was a cool pic.

I will finish making blog rounds this week. Y'all have a good'n, and thanks for stopping by!

Check out other birds
around the world at
Anni's Bird D'pot!

Pre-Merry Christmas!

Vacajun on the Water

For an explanation of Vacajun, see this post. None of the events of our vacajun will be posted in order, but who cares? I have so many photos and I might get around to them before the end of the year and I might not.

This was our adventure kayaking with my daughter, Autumn, and her fiance, Jason. First timers!

Autumn got into the kayak just fine. She was a little tentative at first, but she got the hang of it pretty quickly.

Is this a Neotropic Cormorant? It looks different from our Double-crested Cormorants.

8'-10' Alligator. I asked the kids if they were scared and both said 'No.'
We had our kayaks in a semicircle around him and just watched.

Jason was all smiles from the moment he entered the kayak.

After a few minutes, already like a pro!

Thanks to the lovely Anni for the link-up!

A Joyous Vacajun

Autumn (my daughter) thought Jason said he was looking forward to their "vacajun" in Louisiana. She misheard him, but a new word was created and we love it!

Oh, y'all...I am drained. In a good way. The visit with my daughter and her fiance could not have been more perfect. This is what Autumn wrote on Twitter on the third day: "Amazing visit so far with @gailadixon. We saw a guitar god [Gregg Wright], found my wedding dress, kayaked and saw lots of family." 

Jason and Autumn both LOVED kayaking. My daughter kept saying she could see why we love it so much. And that was after paddling pretty close to an 8'-10' gator resting on a log.

Every moment was special. Bridal shopping was a priority, and by gosh, she said Yes to a Dress!

This dress was a contender. Of course I can't post the real dress just in case Jason decides to get nosy. :)

Here are snippets of the real thing. A deeply discounted Lazaro gown. She looks like a princess in it. When she stepped out of the dressing room I cried. 

After the kids left I had some problems getting my blood pressure under control. When one of the readings was 171/111 I admit I was a little scared. Double D wanted to at least call the doctor, but I am stubborn. I rested a lot and resumed taking my b/p pills and that is helping. I guess I had too much fun with the kids. 

Thanks for sticking with me. I promise to get to everyone's blogs today, though it might take a few days to get through them. I looked at my Feedly roll and y'all have been busy! Hope everyone has a great week.