Yes, I stood in the stream to get this photo. I found secure spots for the legs of my tripod so that I could blur the rush of the water with a longer exposure. I could have stood on the bridge, but that wasn't the photo I wanted. Sometimes, you have to get wet to create the image. 

I got wet swimming today. Duh, by definition that happens. But today, it rained while I swam. I have been using a full face mask to allow me to strengthen my knee since the injury last September. So for lap after lap, my view point is from the underside of the surface of the water. It is another world experience with the sunlight sparkling through the ripples on the surface. Today, it rained as I completed the last few laps and the drops would pierce the surface about an inch or so during the brief cloudburst. It was awesome. And I felt the cool raindrops on my body as I swam and saw them plunge into the pool as I watched them. Wow! It's great to be alive!

We stay home during the summer. A pool and a daylily garden with 100 varieties encourage us to enjoy our personal resort. But we have been taking extended trips in the fall. And 2018 has all the possibility of being another fun experience with a cruise, and train rides, and bus trips, and a lobster boat, and Niagara Falls and completing our visits to the fifty states. I can't call it a vacation since I no longer work. I just call it fun.

I began with film, long before there were digital images. And when I first developed my film and printed my first photograph, it was black and white. I was stunned at the magic, despite the absence of color. One of my first jobs was working in a black-and-white darkroom, processing film and printing enlarged photographs. I love the simple monotone images.

But I forget even my own attraction to them. It is simple in Adobe Lightroom to see a black-and-white version of any color image by pressing the letter "v" on the keypad. I need to consider that option more frequently, like this one today.

Most of my adult life, I have watched the dial on the bathroom scale jump from one number to another. I admit I have been a comfort eater in my attempt to deal with personal stress. So I gained weight each time I moved from one community to the next. It wasn't a great amount with each specific move, but it added up over time. I would go on a diet when I reached a number that I thought was too much, and I would lose pounds. But they seemed to always come back. About ten years ago, I did reach my peak. I was too heavy. I see how obvious it was in old photos. I did lose some pounds and gained back some. And the roller coaster continued until recently. And I have been diligent with Weight Watchers online and exercise for 4 1/2 months. I will continue as I am probably just a little over halfway to my goal. I regret that I hadn't been more successful in the past. But I am doing it this time. And it's pretty exciting. The good news I found out in June was that my bathroom scale weighs two pounds heavier than the one at my physician's office. So this post is not photography related, but I wanted to depict how erratic I see the pointer as it bounces between the numbers on the scale. I took a number of photos where I varied the weight on the scale. And then I opened each photo as a layer in On1 and used the multiply blend mode and then merged all the layers. And you see the result. Pretty easy. 

Judy and Maddy spotted this bug floating in the pool yesterday. I took this photo with my iPhone so that I could identify it. Apparently, it is a red footed cannibal fly, Promachus rufipes. The size of these species of robber flies is 28-35mm. It was every bit that big. And looks ferocious. It is predatory with every other insect and will even attack hummingbirds.

This is my sister-in-law and her eight-month old great-granddaughter. I saw the opportunity for a fun photo when the family told that Karlee was beginning to pull herself up to a standing position. And that her favorite place to perform this was to use the window ledge. Sure enough, she crawls over to the window, reaches up to the ledge and pulls herself to a standing position. I took several photos as stood there, and then got an idea for Wanda to go outside and look through the window to her little girl. The moment didn't last real long, but long enough for half a dozen shots. This was the best one.

Last Friday, Judy and I were away from home, visiting family, and decided to take a morning walk in a local park. One of the features of that park was a rose garden. It was large, well-maintained, and aromatic with a variety of colors and shapes. We don't grow roses in our home garden. I don't think a real rose gardener would count "knock-out roses". Real roses require care. Judy complimented the two gardeners who were caring for the garden that morning. The man said, "Wait until you see next week." Alas, we would be at home and not witness the glory that he predicted. This specimen was pretty spectacular all by itself.

What is it about the ocean that captures our attention? No moment is exactly like another. The sky changes. Each wave is unlike the one before or the one after. We stayed in Navarre Beach, Florida for nearly the entire month of February and were enthralled by the scene each moment of every day.