This entry is a smattering of family events, nature and experimenting wit
h bubbles!
On Dec. 4 our daughter, Lydia (left), had her Senior Showcase in Nashville. She will graduate from Watkins Institute of Art on Dec. 11. Her cousin, Kate (center), came to the festivities; she attends Belmont College. I'm the proud Mama on the right! :) Lydia will begin working with the Tennessee State Arts Commission later this month. Kenny and I are very proud of her and excited that she will be staying the area!
On Nov. 28, our nephew, Randy, got married in Bristol, T
N. He and Stevi had a late afternoon ceremony at Steele Creek Park. Randy will be serving in Iraq next year, we wish him a safe deployment!
This was my first attempt at wedding photography. It gave me a much better appreciation for professional wedding photographers!
I've started seeing some different birds at the feeder now. Unfortunately, I've also been seeing a bushy-tailed gray rodent who can quickly clean out the sunflower seeds!
I can't afford to keep feeding the squirrels AND the birds, so I purchased a "squirrel-proof" (we'll see if that is true!) to replace the one in the photo. I found one of the other feeders destroyed, laying on the ground where a squirrel had knocked it off. I hope this new feeder will help deter them. I noticed the cardinals were having a bit of trouble perching on it though. Hopefully, they'll learn how to hold onto it!
A new bird that has arrived is the
White-throated Sparrow 
(
Zonotrichia albicollis). They are winter visitors, so I may be enjoying them for a while. The bright white patch under the chin and the yellow spots on the head make these sparrows easy to identify. These little birds are ground-feeders, so I won't be able to get nice, clear "in-the-tree" photos of them.
I'm working on a unit on
Lig
ht for the American Museum of Science and Energy outreach programs. Yesterday I wanted to get some photos of bubbles since I was failing miserably at trying to draw them in "Illustrator". I can make a nice 3-D sphere, but I can't make the swirling colors on the bubbles. So, I to
ok a cup of water and dishwashing liquid outside, blew into the water with a straw and then snapped away. I was thrilled with the interesting effects I got! They are so cool looking! It would be fun to take movies of them too, the patterns change as the bubble gets thinner. This may be a new subject to use for my cards and prints. I wonder if people would buy them?! :)
I am just amazed at these bubble photos! The colors and patterns are just incredible. Bubbles are not very "forgiving" because they don't last very long! Here are some more photos. The first photo (top left) shows what
I am focusing on, I have to crop them very hard to get a full frame. Using a macro lens, I don't have a lot of depth of field to work with, if the bubble is too curvy, I just have a narrow strip in focus. The photo on the right shows a "dying" bubble. The "black holes" are signs of impending death, the bubble will pop very soon!
This one (left) looks like a Hubble Space Telescope shot of a nebula in deep space. 
I really like the intricate pattern of the bubble on the right. It reminds me of the crazy patterns from the early 1970's!
