Living on the Edge

More Cheer Pictures...

The girls were having fun posing for the camera!  Now I just have to get comfortable taking the pictures. I'm used to taking wildlife and landscape shots...not real people :-)

I love the stumps in the backyard. We thought about taking them out, but it's turned out to be real handy for the bird bath.  And now they've found a new use...someplace to pose for my pictures!

I let the girls have fun choosing some poses...they are such hams!

This was a fun one!  I played a little with the color and now I LOVE it!

The 3 Muske-Cheers

My three girls...one borrowed daughter!

Thanks Pioneer Woman

A rainy Saturday morning and a few moments by myself led me to The Pioneer Woman's blog.  I've been reading her blog since before she became a published author, before she finished the tale of her and Marlboro Man's courtship, and back when you could actually post a comment. 

So I'm not sure how you can find time to be an amazing photographer and chef with 4 children that you homeschool!  But apparently she doesn't need as much sleep as I do or maybe it's just that she knows how to fit 26 hours into a 24 hour day.  I wish she would share that secret!

Well, if you won't share that secret....I do appreciate that you shared another secret!  I am now truly in awe and would love to kiss your toes...after you pick them of course!  

I have Adobe Photoshop Elements 6. Yes, dark ages...I take baby steps...but it works for me.  But I have been bummed that I couldn't download those cool Actions I see other people use to spice up their photos. This morning, thanks to The Pioneer Woman, I learned that Actions are possible!  

Here is the Pioneer Woman Link that shows you what her layers will do and leads to a couple amazing websites that you just have to bookmark if you are even slightly into photography....

CoffeeShop Rita

Texas Chicks Blogs and Pics

Clickin Moms

Here are some examples of what I can do with the Actions:

 

Our 3 favorite cheerleaders!

This one was fun...not easy to do with a husband hanging over your shoulder...but the picture turned out cool in spite of his helpl.  I really love the shadow on the ground too.

So...having Elements 6 isn't going to slow me down anymore! :P

Learning the Game

There's my girl!  JV cheerleader this year.  She has made some great friends and it's been a fun way to start high school.  What better way to not get lost as a Freshman in high school...become a cheerleader and wear a bright yellow uniform on game day!

Daddy says she isn't really watching the game.  Not sure what she is watching then...she does know a little bit about football now after two months of watching the game.  She knows which team to cheer for and she knows what offense and defense is...but not always when the team is ON offense or defense.  

Sunset on Priest River, Idaho

 After two days of rain...we got this pretty sunset Sunday night Memorial Day weekend.  I took it from the porch of the cabin.  The trees were my natural frames.  I didn't play with the color...this is just a natural shot.

Colors of Spring

Forget-Me-Nots

 

Photo Fun

One fun part of going out of town over the weekend...I had time to play with my camera.  So this week I'm going to post some of my favorite shots.  As usual...there will be a bunch of flowers :-) 

Giving Thanks to Those We Didn't Know...

We spent part of Memorial Day weekend in a cabin with friends.  It was full of fun and laughter.  But DD wanted a coke and I wanted to go along and see what there was to see up in the Priest River area, so I grabbed my camera and went along to the little store down the road...

   

Great little store in the middle of nowhere.  There's even the cutest little restaurant in there too!

Here's what it looks like in North Idaho.

And it looks like this too...

 

We spotted this fancy sign for a cemetery along the way and since it was just the two of us...we could do "boring grown-up stuff."  Someday they will do it too...in the meantime...we do what we like, stopping at everything along the way and check it out!

 

Don't ask me how to pronounce this name.  It was a mouthful!  It was established in 1890...so for this part of Idaho...it's pretty old.

   

For its age and remoteness, it sure was well taken care of!  We were very impressed.

 

I don't know who the Hester's are, but Harold was a logger and well...Helen...I know where you will end up someday.  I wonder if they gave all their kids names that started with H as well?  Isn't this an amazing gravestone?

 

This was the back side of one of the military markers.  We weren't sure what the letters in the star stood for.  But it was one of the oldest markers in the cemetery, but it looks like family or friends still remember this person even after 100 years!

This is the front of the above gravestone.

   

Here's another old military one.  No date...but obviously old.

Old stones and new too.  I loved the inscription on this stone.  I can think of a few ladies that this could describe...bet she was a fun grandma!

 

Grant didn't make it back from World War II.

 

These are the sad ones...the babies.  Little Sammy only lived two weeks back in 1899.  He was one of the first residents of the cemetery.  The broken little angel next to the stone looked  so mournful.  It really reflects the sadness that James and Bertha must have felt.  I hope they had more children to take lessen their pain!

 

This one was incredibly sad...the family lost three children in 1902!  14 year old Frank, 4 year old Effie, and almost 1 year old Jennie.

 

We would love to know more of the stories from that time.  There was obviously a bad illness that went around in 1920.  There were lots of people who died that year.  I'm sure they had more deaths that year, just in this cemetery than all the people who died from the swine flu this past winter!

As we left, we saw this sign on the way out.  It was so incredibly cool...I wanted to jump out and close the darn gate myself!

Aaaah...Spring....frozen in time!

I think the broccoli is ready to file a complaint!  This just isn't the weather conditions I promised them!

 

More Signs of Spring

 Before the green leaves come....

Pussy willows makes me think of little cat toes.  Below, I think these are Alders...if I remember right.  The catkins make it interesting.  Why do all these bushes have names related to cats?  Guess it sounds better than puppy willows and dogkins...

   

I love spring!  In North Idaho it lasts awhile...so we have lots of time to enjoy it!

   

More colors to remind us spring is here.

 

With every flower that blooms, we are a bloom closer to summer!