Thirty Four

This week I went with the Chamber of Commerce Leadership Class to Purdy, MO for a retreat.  I climbed a high ropes course and jumped off the tower on a zip line, which was fantastic!  On the way, we saw this fantastic field of sunflowers and I insisted that we stop if we passed it again on the way home.  Everyone was tired and grouchy, so I only got one shot on a crummy camera, but I loved the flowers so much, I had to do it!  Some day, I hope to go back for better pictures!

Thirty Three

I've wanted to get a photo of our bloodhound Homer but he's afraid of the camera, so it's been difficult!  I love this boy more than I can tell you.  He came to us around Father's Day and has heartworms and other problems, but we will take care of him and love him as long as he is on this earth.  He's a big baby who loves to sleep in the bed and have his tummy scratched.  His only flaw is that he doesn't use his inside voice much.  He has the loudest voice I've ever heard and LOVES to talk.  God bless Homer.

Thirty Two

Thirty One

The Help came out this week.  Lots of great scenes of Greenwood and lots of familiar faces in the crowds. What a great book that was even a great movie.  That isn't always the case, but this one was exactly as it should have been.  Brent's Drugs reminded me of many egg salad sandwiches I ate there when I worked at the Jackson Journal aka Clarion Ledger.  I'm proud to say the Junior League of Jackson was nothing like the one in the movie when I was a member.  What change we have seen in just one lifetime. 

Thirty

As hot as it is outside, this fountain on the ASUMH campus always makes me feel cooler!  

Twenty Nine

Every year, ASUMH hosts a party for the Arkansas delegation in Washington DC.  For the last several years I've been privileged to go along on that trip.  It's always so exciting to walk the halls of the Senate and House office buildings and to travel underground to the Capitol.  This year, I had about an hour to sneak off and take pictures while everyone was changing clothes from "office visit" attire to "party" attire.  The lawn of the Capitol was beautiful and there weren't many tourists around (probably because of the heat).  As I look back through my year's photos, I know this one will be a favorite because of the trip and the experiences surrounding its setting. 

Twenty Eight

I had to make a trip down Highway 7 toward Russellville this week and stopped at the Buffalo National River for a quick photo.  As people lazily floated in the river behind me, I couldn't help but wish I had my swim suit and a raft myself.  The Buffalo is such a beautiful river!  I can't wait for a float and camping trip this summer myself.  Better start planning that soon.

Twenty Seven

I love Big Cedar Lodge outside of Branson, MO and will use almost any excuse to spend time there.  I knew I wanted to go take photos there during this project, so while I was alone shopping in Branson this afternoon, it dawned on me that I could go spend as much time as I wanted to there and try to get a Week 27 shot.  This setting has been calling my name since Bud and I ate dinner at Devil's Pool, right beyond this waterfall, for our friend Sonny's birthday.  Now that I see the finished product, I wish I had tried this as a vertical image too.  Because of the location of the tripod on a bridge I was limited too by the zoom I had.  I guess I'll have to buy another lens and make another trip to Big Cedar to try again!   Good excuse, right? 

Twenty Six

My husband loves to see a field full of hay!  It's his favorite scene as we ride the back roads.  So, when we began seeing fields full of big round hay bales this summer I knew I wanted to take a photo in one before they started storing the hay in barns.  This afternoon, Bud and I headed down toward Norfork and lo and behold, there was a field full of brand new round bales!   The sun was a little bright, but I hopped a barbed-wire fence and snapped a few shots.  Happy July 4, 2011 everyone!

Twenty Five

Twenty Four

I was in San Francisco last week for work and made my way down to the beach for my week twenty four picture!  What a beautiful day it was.  I was lucky enough to catch the bridge without the haze that had covered it for the previous few days.  I had a great walk along the shore and made my way back to the hotel by way of Chestnut Street.  The shops, restaurants and houses were amazing in this neighborhood and I can't wait to go back to spend more time there soon!

Twenty Three

We went down to the Mississippi Delta for Rebecca Durden's wedding and spent the night one night at a place I've always wanted to stay!  The Shack Up Inn in Clarksdale is the most incredible collection of shacks from old Delta farms that have been moved to Hopson Plantation.  Our shack was named The Electric Blue. The accommodations are one step down from Shabby Chic, in fact, they are plain-old-Shabby, but the sheets were clean and it was fun!  There were lots of good spots for photos, and I loved the way the 1960's coloring looked on the one I picked for Week 23. 

Twenty Two

Week 22 was a challenge to use light creatively in a photo.  I was out of town with the ASUMH Ambassadors in New Orleans this week, so I looked for a cool spot with light.  One night, while we were eating at House of Blues, I walked out to the Voodoo Garden to see if I could sneak in my selfie.  The red light bulbs were awesome and I loved the crosses and painted walls...but all my photos came out blurry.  Was it the light or lack of it?  Or could it be the voodoo effect?  Either way, here is week 22's light challenge photo. 

Twenty One

It was supposed to rain all weekend, so I slipped downtown on Thursday afternoon after work and sat down in front of my favorite storefront for a picture.  The store is a jewelry designer's tiny showroom and she had beautiful pink petunias and an old chair by the front door.  Perfect sun and a pretty setting made for a happy afternoon shot.  Lawyers were leaving offices next door, and I'm sure they thought I was a crazy person taking a seat and smiling at nobody on a Thursday afternoon downtown! 

Twenty

The water is rising all through Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana.  This week, Bud and I rode about a mile from our house down to Rim Shoals on the White River and it was as high as we've seen it in a long time.  It was cold down by the river.  We're ready for summer when we can get on this river in a canoe! 

Nineteen

I'm always trying to think of a new spot to take my weekly photos, and when Bud said we were heading to Branson to spend the weekend with some friends, I knew I wanted to stop in Harrison on the way.  The Hotel Seville in downtown Harrison has always intrigued me.  It's got a Spanish feel to the architecture and the 1929 property is classy, yet funky.  The round columns painted vibrant colors draw your eye from blocks away.  I love Harrison and hope to have a chance to stay at the Hotel Seville some weekend soon and hear my buddy Scott Hoffmann and his friends play music in the restaurant bar.  Anybody ready for a road trip?

Eighteen

Me on the Square is one of my favorite restaurants in Mountain Home.  Their big red doors have been calling out to me during this project, so this week, I stopped by and took a few pictures.  It's a wonderful restaurant and the decor is sexy!  If you are looking for a special place to enjoy a great meal, give it a try!

Seventeen

While dining at The Majestic Grille you might expect to see Myrna Loy & William Powell sitting at the bar, zinging witty one-liners at each other over ice-cold martinis.

Originally built in 1913 as the Majestic No. 1, a silent picture house that entertained Memphians for three decades, the restaurant gives diners a glimpse of the heady Hollywood days of ol’. From the beautifully restored Beaux Arts décor to expertly prepared classic cocktails to warm, gracious service to Chef/Owner Patrick Reilly’s award wining, yet remarkably comfortable food, you find yourself feeling transported to another time. Add to that the largest private movie screen in the city showing silent films & classic movies and you’re center stage in an atmosphere that reclaims the cinematic glory of the dawn of the silver screen

Named 2008’s Best Restaurant & Best Overall Downtown Restaurant, The Majestic Grille has won accolades in regional and national press. 

Sixteen

While I was out of town this week for a meeting of the National Association of Junior Auxiliaries, the NAJA Executive Committee spent some time working with children who were ill.  This precious child was one of the only ones we were allowed to photograph during our time there. She was so precious and kept telling me she needed a bandaid.  The only problem is that the disease she has cannot be healed with a bandaid.  Thank you to the ladies of NAJA who donated over $2,500 to this charity who works with children who are affected by or infected with HIV/Aids.  God bless these precious children. 

Fifteen

It has been raining in Mountain Home for a week. Today, I had to get out to take week 15's picture or it wasn't going to get done.  I've been watching this old truck in a field for several months.  I love it and I happen to know it belonged to the dad of a friend of mine.  I thought it was especially cool with the stripes of rain on the old blue paint.  I hope to go back for more shots when I don't have to wipe rain drops off the lens...maybe this summer!

Fourteen

There is an old ghost town in Calico Rock.  Cool old abandoned buildings abound.  I took several shots in front of this old feed store on my way back from Mountain View on Sunday.  You can tell the top was down on the car, as my neck and face are sunburned and my hands and feet are not!  It was a beautiful day for a ride down Highway 5.

Thirteen

I pass an old tire swing on my way to work every day.  Today, I stopped.  

The house is for sale and that tire swing looked so lonely! 

Twelve

The sun is out and the daffodils are in full bloom!  This weekend I didn't have to travel far to find a beautiful field full of daffodils.  I wish I could have picked them all, but that seemed greedy.  A handful was plenty to take home and enjoy the sweet smell and sunny color indoors. 

 

Eleven

I had to be in Philadelphia, PA, this week for work and wanted to shoot some photos while I was there for the 52 week project.  All over Philly, I set up shots with nothing spectacular turning up, mainly because I didn't have a tripod.  When I got home and searched through the photos for something to use, this hit me -- it looks like a typical vacation photo -- heads cut off, random people in the background, etc.  So, I gave it a 1960's hue and called it a week.  The funniest thing about the whole shot was how I was posing, setting up the camera on a window ledge, and a woman asks me in a very irritated voice to move over so she could get a shot of the crack!  I'll laugh every time I see this picture!

Ten

I almost let the week slip by without a picture this week.  As I was walking across campus, I saw a bench in beautiful light, sat down and shot a photo using the garbage can as a tripod.  I love the cast of light in this one and especially the way it turned out in black and white.  Sometimes, no plan is a good plan.

Nine

With Christye and Tiffany at No Mistake Plantation in Satartia, Mississippi.  Enough said.

Eight

 

Over the weekend, I rode up to Gainesville, Missouri, to meet my good friends Susannah Alms and her mom Janet Taber.  Janet helped put together an awesome quilt show for the new Historium on the Gainesville square.  As I expected, the quilts were phenomenal - all friendship quilts, each with a very unique story.  I got some great photos for my blog Miles to Go where I plan to tell that story!  After a great lunch on the square, Susannah and I hit the back-roads to shoot photos for week 8.  It was awesome having her tag along to help me pick locations and keep the tripod loaded and ready!  These are some of the shots we took, but my favorites were of her precious daughter and a brand new baby calf we fed with a bottle.  Those are for another blog story too!  Thank you to Sus and Janet for a wonderful time and for some great photos and memories.

 

Seven

This little photo project is getting harder and harder.  Learning about light has been the most challenging aspect of this lesson for me so far, but I am also trying to move from auto-focus to manual, and that offers a whole new series of challenges.  I rode down to Norfork this weekend to shoot these pictures and will hopefully go there again before this 52 week challenge is over.  There is an abundance of beauty there along the White River and so many interesting old buildings!  My pick this week was taken at Wolf House, a dog- trot built in the 1800's.  It's a beautiful home overlooking the railroad along the White River.  It's a perfect setting for any hobby, and I understand in the summertime, folks gather around the house to pick a little guitar.  I'm coming back this summer to take photos of someone else in this beautiful setting!

 

Six

On Tuesday, just before a big snowstorm came in, I decided to take some photos for Week Six during lunch. Thank goodness I did...we got ten inches of snow the next day!  These were all shot at the Vada Sheid Community Development Center on the campus of ASUMH.  I used a cleaning cart for a tripod.  The light in this building is always great, and the walkway out front makes for a cool background.