Amazing

This blog is amazing for two reasons one is that it got done at all.  We've been having problems with either our modem or our router and my internet signal keeps getting dropped.  It has been almost impossible for me to upload or download a photo and I always add photos to my blog.  My computer acts funky if the signal gets dropped while downloading photos even if the post is on auto save and I have to start all over, but this time so far so good.

The second amazing thing is my winter garden.  My raised garden pictured above and photographed yesterday was frozen solid last week.  When we had our ice storm last week my garden being raised, filled with icy water than froze solid. The garden was full of snow and frozen water with only the tips of the leaves sticking up. When it thawed this is what it looked like.  Looks yummy doesn't it; and I thought that I had all the greens I was going to get out of there.

Most of these greens are cut and come again and so since this is my first winter garden; I now have hope of having greens till next May when they will die from the heat.  Amazing simply amazing.
Johnina ☺☺☺☺☺

Frozen Georgia

Snow and ice

Here in Georgia, we very seldom get winter storms of snow or ice, we quite often go all winter without one.  This winter is quite the exception as we are already on our second storm and our winter storms usually come in February or March, so we could easily get more storms.  This storm was even an exception to the exception as it had both snow and ice.  I ventured out several times to take photos as it was to cold to stay outside for one normal shoot.  The photos I got I think are both beautiful and intriguing.  

Icy limbs and buds

Icy pines

Icy grass through the snow

Walking the dog

Icy car

Monster mouth

Frozen headlight

Please feel free to leave your comment on my photos
Look for the beauty around you and have a delightful day
Johnina ☺☺☺☺☺

Christmas snow

This is the first time we had snow on Christmas since we moved here more than 20 years ago.  It's been 17 years since there has been snow on Christmas anywhere in Georgia and that was probably in the north Georgia mountains.  My poor roses still have buds on them.  I think maybe they are a little confused.  I wanted to post these yesterday, however I spent most of my day in the ER.  I guess I have been pushing too much and my knee swelled up and hurt BIG time.  The doctor had told me to have my knee checked whenever the pain was different or much worse so down to the ER I went.  No breaks, a big worry with the vitamin D deficiency, nothing wrong with the implant, just lots of fluid on my knee for unknown reasons.  Tomorrow I go to the orthopedist and see if he has any reasons or suggestions to stop this from happening again.  Oh well.  The snow has kept Laura from coming down from Virginia, but she and the boys will be here tomorrow.  Hooray, I' looking forward to having more family around.  I thought it was kind of neat to have snow on Christmas, where we lived before we moved here the kids went Trick-or-Treating in the snow and it was usually knee high by Thanksgiving.  Sometimes I miss it, but the snow on Christmas night with the streets for the most part clear the next morning was almost perfect, kind of magical.

 Enjoy  Johnina  ☺☺☺☺

Scene at a stop light

Considering that it was snowing my preferred viewpoint for taking pictures was from the inside of my car. This photo was taken at a stop light in Fayetteville.

Photo Notes:
Basic editing was done on Picasa 3- cropping, color correcting, signing
I got rid of of distractions using the clone and smudge tools on GIMP
The borders were added from PhotoScape
(Both PhotoScape and GIMP are freeware that I downloaded from cnet.com)

SNOW DAY !!!!

When it snows here in Georgia the crazies begin. Even the threat of snow freaks people out down here. There is probably good reason for it though. We really don't get much snow here in fact we may go years with no snow or with just a flurry. Nobody has snow tire so everyone without 4wheel drive slides all over the road; if you add to that the lack of experience in driving in the snow and it is a recipe for disaster. Most people do not have proper clothing for the cold and wet, in fact it is hard to find warm clothing to buy here. When we were buying clothes for Emily to go to school out in Utah we had to order from catalogs or buy it there. For kids who are not dressed warmly standing out in the cold and wet; waiting for the bus is torture. I think you can get the idea of why Georgians freaks out. Just the possibility caused them to call off school today. By mid-afternoon businesses were sending their people home. We probably got about four inches which for down here is a lot. The first year we lived here, having moved from Utah where the kids went trick-or-treating in the snow, we had a snowfall where the grass was still sticking out from under the snow and they called off school. I laughed and laughed and the whole family thought it was nuts. We've lived here long enough now to understand.

Photo edits:
All photos had basic editing done in Picasa 3 (freeware downloaded from cnet.com) They were cropped, straighted if needed and the color balance set.
Photo 1: I finished editing this photo in picnik (free Internet editing software)
Photo 2: Went from Picasa to FastStone (freeware downloaded from cnet.com). I used the frame mask function and just experimented till I found one I liked. Then I went to picnic where I framed it using the Museum matte frame function, changing the color of the frame. I then signed it using the text function.
Photo 3: I used picnik to finish this photo. I went to the effect function and picked out the mode that edged it with white, I then put the border on it and signed it with the text function.
Photo 4: I used Photoscape (freeware downloaded from cnet.com) using the filter key I went to vignette setting to edge the photo then to the frame function to put the border on. The keys on the bottom of the frame function adjust the border. It was signed using the text feature on Picasa 3.
Photo 5: Signed using Picasa. Framed using the Frame function in PhotoScape, I used both an inner border lighter color and a regular border darker color.