oh my blog!

So neglected, I know!

To amend, I'm posting photos I took during of a crazy storm last week. I have never experienced such a massive rainfall, the heaviest raging for about two hours.
To be clear, most of the water was gone 15 minutes after the rain stop. Beside pool chemistry being totally off and the pool becoming murky pond - no damage.

More photos on my Picasa.

memory scraps fb train

Mscraps iDSD celebrations are always huge, filled with activities, fun, and with an enormous, free collab kit you can collect on CTs' and designers' Facebook pages and blogs. This November is no different, only that the collaborations is bigger than ever!!

Here is a preview of the whole kit:
(not all parts in in the preview)

and the is my part, available on my FB page.

the things we do to take a picture

I'm sharing pictures from a recent trip to Lundy Canyon in Eastern Sierra Nevada range. 

 I have never seen a beaver dam and here they were everywhere!. My husband loves to make 360˚ panoramic pictures and too often I watch him with knots in my stomach on some high spot, turning around as he takes photos. Spots like this include a cliff, a high rock or a top of a beaver dam - as in this case:

If you drag slowly toward the bottom of the window, you'll see me in action :-)
(don't forget to zoom in or out to get a different view)

http://www.360cities.net/image/lundy-canyon-beaver-dam-ii#567.99,39.69,70.0

and here is another 360:

http://www.360cities.net/image/lundy-canyon-beaver-dam#-93.19,9.42,26.2

some creations by master beavers

preset smitten

I have a preset as a thank-you for my Facebook fans. It's great for portraits as well for landscape and urban shots. It is 2012 process version, written for LR4 but LR3 will apply it as well, although the results will have more contrast. Personal use only, please.

You can collect it on my FB page - For My Fans tab. 

Feedback welcomed!

a couple of recent layouts

Here are some pages in a simple, sorta artsy style with lots of brushes or masking, probably closest to my heart. Celebrate the hour in which Jopke and her designs landed in Mscraps  :-)

Crafty Art Snippets 3 - Jopke Designs

Wavy World template by Cornelia Designs

monterey in august

We were meeting our daughter, who was coming from Southern California, halfway - in Monterey. I feel so lucky to live in an area with so many inspiration around, lurking, waiting to be explored...I just need to have my eyes open.

It started by spotting some classic cars in the Wharf while driving through Monterey, then we enjoyed typical coastal atmosphere, watching harbor seals watching us. 

I don't know about you but I consider eating Thai food a visual experience as well.  :-)

We spent the next day strolling around the picturesque city of Capitola (still the Monterey Bay) where I shot one of my five-star photos (link), experienced close encounter with brown pelicans and dissevered surprising beauty in watering fields north of Santa Cruz.

Don't miss the rest of the photos!!