Cold Harbor National Battlefield Hike

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Sydney has finally gotten big enough to fit into her harness and has learned to walk on a leash well enough to take her on her first hike.  It was such a beautiful weekend we decided to try it out at Cold Harbor National Battlefield  just down the road from the house.Up early, we headed out.  She was so excited (her harness was not secure so it looks like it was falling off :) She followed Riley's lead and did so well.
Poor baby was just exhausted when we got home and cuddle up on the chair for most of the eveningShe did so well. Can't wait to take her camping and really get out on some trails.  

How I Connect my DSLR photos to Instagram

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2016-03-03 11.36.13I have been asked a few times what /how I am handling my Instagram posts for photographs taken with my camera (Olympus OMD-EM1) vs. my iPhone. For those who don’t know Instagram only allows you to post from a mobile devise so you can’t upload directly from a computer.  Yes I could just use the wireless setting and send photos from my camera to my phone but I shoot in raw 100% of the time so the photos on my camera are basically negatives that need to be reviewed and adjusted (at times).  I could use latergramme but I don’t like that I have to share account passwords so that isn’t for me.To use these steps you need to use Adobe Lightroom and have a Flick’r account and the Flick’r app installed on your iPhone. While I do have a Dropbox account, I have found this is an easier method for me.   You must also have the Flick’r collection module activated in Adobe Lightroom software and have it set to upload the photos as private.The first step is to upload the photos off your camera and on to your computer. Once you have finished reviewing and editing your photos in Lightroom you copy them to the Flick’r Collection and then use the publish key to move them to the Flick’r site.After uploading the photo to Flick’r your next step is to open the Flickr app, find the photo you want to share on Instagram and using the curved arrow activate the photo to download to your IPhone.Once the photo is now in your camera roll just open Instagram, click to add photo and the photo is now available to use.  Choose it, add your comments and hashtags and share.  It’s that easy!If you want to make it easier, and who doesn’t? Upload several photos at a time to Flick’r from the Flick’r module in Lightroom, making sure they are marked private Then open up notepad on your iCloud account via the web and type up the descriptor and the hashtags ahead of time.  I usually do this on Sunday evenings for the entire week.  Now when I am ready to post to Instagram the entire process becomes a copy/paste step.Another step easier is to create a Notepad note of possible hashtags you think you will use regularly based on your style of photography then they are ready when its time to write the descriptors.  Don’t forget Instagram limits you to 30 hashtags per photo and to make things less cluttered you should either place 6 period (horizontally) following your descriptor before you add the hashtags or just do what I do and add them as the first comment.These steps are what works best for me. Sounds like a lot bit actually it the descriptor and hashtags are prewritten it takes just a minute or two. You may find a better way and if you have one let me know.  Always willing to look at easier, better options.  p.s. don’t forget to go back to Flick’r and activate the photo from private to your preferred sharing setting once you have shared on Instagram so that you are now sharing there as well.  

York River State Park

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We are having some crazy weather here in Virginia.  This past Saturday it was a beautiful early spring day (except it is still February) in the mid 70's so Guy and I decided to take the day to ourselves and we headed to York River State Park to hike the trails and see what we would see.When we arrived at the park we found that a collegiate bike race was happening so we were delayed entering the park but once inside we spoke to a park ranger about the different trails and then decided to take what we were told was a moderate trail.  It was a 4 mile round trip trail that wound its way around the marsh and woods area.
About half way through we saw a squirrel rush up a tree and hide in its' nest so we hung out for a few moments and awaited it peeking out at us.OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAHow cute is he?Once the squirrel saw us and went back inside we headed off to finish and of course I had to get clumsy and tripped over a huge root sticking up in the middle of the path and down I went.  I stayed down for about 30 seconds and then very gingerly got up, I knew nothing was broken but also knew something didn't feel right but since there was nothing that could be done I  hobbled on and finished the hike. Once in the car I took off the shoe and my ankle immediate swelled up. We had to make a stop at a friends home on the way back so I didn't say much about it to Guy, just threw the shoe back on and made sure I did as little walking as possible. Once home, while still swollen it wasn't quite as bad and hadn't bruised but Guy insisted I raise it up so onto the recliner I went for the rest of the evening.  While sore for a few days luckily it didn't get any worse.Despite the fall it was such a great day, we both really enjoyed the hike and look forward to getting to do more of it once Guy has his knee replacement complete this spring.

Family Treasures

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When I was young my parents had an antique kerosene heater as a decoration piece in our family room for as long as I can remember.  I think they picked it up at a yard sale or antique sale, spray painted it black and had it sitting along the fireplace.  
When I was starting to think about decor for the new house I remembered that heater and told Guy I was going to start looking for one and then kinda dropped it into the brain bucket of things to look for.

Speed up to a few months later, we stopped by my Brother In-laws house as they were having a yard sale and we thought we would just say hello. After chatting for a while, in the corner of my eye I saw it, a old beat up kerosene heater.  I asked Guy to ask what they were going to do with it and they were going to donate it as no one had bought it.  I immediately said "how much? I want it".  Next thing I know my brother in-law is putting it into the car and says no charge, its a family heirloom!  I really didn't know what he meant so asked him more about it. He told me how it had been their grandparents heater, Guy and his, and how he could remember that they would use it every winter to heat their bathroom in their old one bedroom house.  Guy's eye lit up and you could tell he remembered it as well.

As you can imagine, I was honored to have something that was really a family item and not something we found in a thrift shop.  It means so much more.

I've taken the heater home, scrubbed it painted it and it now sits in our family room, although we don't use it to heat the house, we could as it has all the parts including the original wicks but I chose to instead imagine the warmth it provided to family so long ago.

Here it is when we brought it home:

2015-10-24 14.54.23

2015-10-24 14.54.23

                 After some cleaning up:

and now painted and in the new house.

File Feb 10, 3 36 05 PM

File Feb 10, 3 36 05 PM

 I need to find a permanent place in the house for it but so for now it sits in a corner until I can create a display of sorts with it)