POTD Day 15 Black And White

I discovered these notebooks in college (read that as "forced to use"), they eventually became something I completely depend. I use them for all sorts of things other than just college composition.

I have one I use for my writing projects, one for my computer builds and settings, several that I have for my journals, another I used for my computer classes, or any other classes I take, one for keeping track of things about the house...etc. I have even an minature one I keep in my golf bag that I keep my golf log in.

They are awesome because they are bound so they don't fall apart like spirals do, they are compact and easy to transport. I get them in lots of colors and different exteriors but I still favor the standard black and white comp books most of all.

I took this  image with my Fuji Finepix f50, no flash, with macro turned on. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 for color and light and then added the fuzzy border.
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Four Years Ago on In My Words...Just Stuff

POTD Day 14 Three Things

Since moving on from electrical projects around the Bamboo Lagoon, plumbing has become my new "passion"...LOL. We had some substantial water damage a while back and lost a vanity in our lower bathroom.

So a new vanity has been purchased, but can't be completely installed until we get the floors redone. I want to do a "rough" install just to make sure that everything is going to fit before we commit to this particular vanity.

Well, on top of that, the faucet in the upper bathroom is almost shot, so I thought that putting the same one in there would be a great improvement. So here is the new faucet, a tub of plumber's putty and the faithful Channel Locks...

These three things seem to be filling my project days, and it is cool because I am always willing to learn something new.

I took this picture with my Fuji Finepix f50 without a flash on the new vanity in the downstairs bathroom. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 for color, light and then added the fuzzy border.
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Eight Years Ago on In My Words...And The Hits Keep Coming

POTD Day 13 Makes Me Smile

This pic is from a while ago, but it still makes me smile to see some of my girlfriends on Skype...we don't get to coordinate it often, but when it does happen, it is always a time filled with giggles and stories!

I actually have been slacking on the Skype scene, and I probably need to be better about it. I have it on both computers, but I don't normally turn it on, on the laptop, because it slows the wireless down a bit and I would rather be doing it on the regular PC. Unfortunately, I am not on the regular PC as much as I used to be, which is why I don't Skype as much as I used to.

Anyhow, seeing the group of girls here (even if we are out of focus and in questionable light) is loads of fun and we should definitely do it more.

I took this pic as a screen capture on my personally built computer running Win 7 with a Logitech webcam. I did edit it in GIMP 2.6 to balance color and light and remove names.
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Five Years Ago on In My Words...Trying New Things

POTD Day 12 Colorful

Cooking Thai dishes is one of my favorite things to do. Cashew chicken is a relatively new one to me, even though I have had the recipe staring at me for ages. Once I made it the first time, I was hooked. And now even if I am checking my calories, I can enjoy it over spring greens instead and still not feel deprived.

I love that the recipe I have calls for red bell pepper because it makes it so pretty and cheerful! This is one I can easily bring to bunco or family get togethers because it has no heat (chilli) to it at all.

I took this picture with my Fuji Finepix f50 with no flash but definitely macro turned on. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 for color and light balance and then added the fuzzy border.
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Four Years Ago on In My Words...Yummy In My Tummy (oh how I miss Coco Ichibanya)

POTD Day 11 Looking Down

Golfing is one of my favorite pasttimes. I am not good at it, but I still enjoy it very much. I haven't been playing that long so I try to get to the driving range when I can. For the last few years, the only time I really get to play is when I am visiting our grandpa in Nebraska but the driving range is still a lot of fun.

This pic is from my first trip to our local course and driving range last summer. We have a smalll 9 hole in our neighborhood even though our house isn't actually on the course itself. It is nice to have it so close, but somehow, I don't manage to get over there as often as I would like.

As soon as it warms up a bit, I plan to make it more of a priority since it is great exercise and really makes me feel good.

I took this picture with my Fuji Finepix f50 with no flash. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 for color and light and then added the fuzzy border.
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Nine Years Ago on In My Words...Golfing

POTD Day 10 Man Made

In the winter between 2003 and 2004, my husband and I went to Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. We had both been to Thailand many times at that point, and were there that December to help one of our friends celebrate his wedding, but figured while we were there, we would see some of the parts SE Asia that we had never seen.

So we made a trip from Bangkok, Thailand to Siem Reap, Cambodia and stayed there for four days touring all of the Angkor Wat area. We found this awesome driver the first day and hired him to show us around during our stay. Heang was great and we had some of the best experiences, and most of them were off the tourist agenda. We visited almost all of the temples and surrounding areas that we could manage in the four days.

We filled up our camera cards up the first day or so and ended up finding a shop where we could offload to CD and then free up our cards for more pics. It took me months to get through them all when we got home and get them labeled correctly. This shot is one of the guardian statues along the North Gate of Angkor Thom. There were thousands of faces through the entire complex created out of stone, and the amount of work that must have went into all those temples is just mind boggling. It really is one of the wonders of the world, and we are both so honored to have seen it.

I took this image with my JVC GC-QX5 with no flash. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 for light and color and then added the fuzzy border.
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Seven Years Ago on In My Words...My Towel Animals

POTD Day 9 Natural

There are these really cool trees in Portland that everyone calls Smoke Trees...I think the real name for them is Cotinus coggygria, and I am not sure the if the smokey look is considered the flower for the tree or not. I just know that they look pretty cool when they get all "smoked" out. It seems, if I remember right, that they are a bit of a mess when the smokey stuff drops down, but I never actually had one myself, just saw a lot of them around so I could be wrong on this.

Anyhow, this one was on campus at a school I was taking classes at and I really wanted to see how a macro of the smokey parts would look. I think it came out really cool, even though it doesn't resemble a tree or even part of a tree at all...it looks more like a galaxy to me, but that is okay, because I am completely fine with taking macros that are abstract and can be whatever you want them to be.

I took this pic with my Fuji Finepix f50, no flash but macro on. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 for color and light and then added the fuzzy border.
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Five Years Ago on In My Words...Solar Eclipse

POTD Day 8 Lucky Number

I don't think I really have a lucky number but the number 5 and variations of seem to show up a lot in my life. So I guess I would say that the number 5 is my favorite number rather than my lucky number.

Five was the first number I ever had when I started playing soccer and I seemed to end up with that number through much of my soccer career. My birthday is on the 23rd, which when added together equals 5. My first serious boyfriend in high school wore the number 23 on the basketball team. I tend to roll 5s well in bunco.

I don't know that the number 5 has helped me win anything before, except that it was on my back when I would win games on occasion...LOL.
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One Year Ago on In My Words...At Least One Thing

POTD Day 7 Upside Down

So I if you haven't notices, I like taking macros...I like the perspective of things from up close. The details that we miss when we don't look close enough at things. I also love the look of old metal or painted things. I have made two cards from images I have taken at an old fort in Washington State.

So this one is from a great wrought iron gate on the front of a family crypt at this awesome cemetery in Portland. We were out geocaching for the day and needed to find something on this crypt, which is one of the things that I love about geocaching. It almost always takes me somewhere I wouldn't have gone otherwise and to see something new.

I took this picture with my Fuji Finepix f50 with no flash but the macro turned on. I edited in GIMP 2.6 for color, light and to add the fuzzy border.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Geocaching Craziness

POTD Day 6 Happens Everyday

The image for today is supposed to be something that happens everyday, and I thought of a few things around the house that would fit the bill, but then decided that one of the big EVERYDAY things that comes up for me is enjoying the nature around this area.

We are lucky to have grown up and now be living in one of the most beautiful places. This particular pic is from one of our biggest rivers and the one that our valley is named for but besides this river, we have many others, as well as lakes, mountains, and forest. In fact, I am hoping to go snow shoeing at one of our National Parks that is only an hour and a half away.

Sometimes I don't have time to get out into the nature but I can see it all around me and sometimes it is just a matter of enjoying the nature in our very own yard...which is what I did today (yardwork...LOL).

I took this image with my Fuji Finepix f50 with no flash. I edited the image in GIMP for color, light and a fuzzy border.
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Thirteen Years Ago on In My Words...Seawall

POTD Day 5 Found

Today was a weird day. I woke up to hearing all the chimes on the porch clanging together. I looked out and the sun was out and there was no frost on the ground. I checked Weather Underground on my phone and it said it was 43 degrees out (which is unheard of at 7am in January here). So I got up and went out back to check our porch thermostat and it said it was almost 50 degrees in the shade. I was blown away...it was almost balmy.

I texted with my SIL who lives about 10 miles away and she was at 24 with fog and frost...25 degrees of difference in 10 miles with no real elevation difference. Crazy. Later in the afternoon we got close to 60 degrees so I decided to take advantage and turned off the heat for the house and opened up a bunch of windows to circulate in some fresh air. I also decided that I absolutely had to get a walk in for the exercise and to absorb some vit D from the sun.

I was able to go on my walk with shorts and a long sleeve running shirt. So I took this shot of my legs because I FOUND them today...it was the first time they have seen the sun in weeks and it felt great. I managed to get in 60 walking lunges too so I will be feeling some muscles tomorrow. I wasn't even 1/2 mile into the walk and was feeling all the benefits of the vigorous exercise as well as the sunshine...it was amazing!

I took this picture with my Fuji Finepix f50 with no flash in the afternoon sun on our pool deck (the only spot that still had sun for my photo idea). I edited it in GIMP 2.6 for color, light, and added the fuzzy border.
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Last Summer on In My Words...Driving Some Balls

Runs For Cookies Virtual 5K

I saw this on one of my friend's timeline on FB and thought, why the heck not? So I am signed up to do another Virtual 5K on the 25th of this month....perfect motivation for me at this point. Let's just hope that it isn't artic outside that day since this one doesn't have a window of opportunity, just the day of.

This sounds like fun, and really the only requirements are that it needs to be 5K distance and you need to take some photos and post about it...sounds like something I can totally pull off...LOL

Today is such nice weather (given that it is January in the PNW), that I am going to do some outside exercise this afternoon and might even open the house windows for a bit to get some fresh air in here even if the temp is chillier than the house temp is.
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Last Year on In My Words...Storm Rising

POTD Day 4 Words To Live By

This word is the one word that directs all the actions in my life. Loyalty, consideration, love, and so many others stem from this word and what it embodies for me. I expect integrity from those I have in my life, and I hold myself to that same standard. I just don't have the time or the inclination to deal with anyone that lacks it.

On that note, this image is not mine. I found it on the web, photographer unknown, and then I edited it in GIMP to crop and border it. I wish I knew who the photographer was so I could credit them...it is a great shot.
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Four Years Ago on In My Words...Looking Back

POTD Day 3 My Town

I took this pic last year during a hike in the hills above our home town. It has a nice view of the valley and I couldn't resist. This was a new trail to me, and it smoked my ass...but it was a fun discovery and opened up an entire area of trails to me.

My hometown is situated in the valley between two mountain ranges which makes for some awesome weather and some beautiful scenery. We have a ton of outdoor activities due to the river, lakes, mountains and forests nearby.

In all the places we have lived in over the years, this valley has always been home and some place we wanted to come back to.

I actually took this picture with my Nokia E71 phone, and then edited in GIMP 2.6 for color, light and adding the fuzzy border.
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Seven Years Ago on In My Words...New Cabinet (that J made for our fish tank)

POTD Day 2 Begins With G

This is one of my favorite Stash teas...super yummy. Ginger has so many beneficial properties that having it built into a tea just seems reasonable. I generally have a cup of hot tea midday in the colder months and this one is terrific.

Stash is one of my favorite brands of tea...I have one of their herbals, but mostly I drink their black teas (Earl Grey, English Breakfast, Chai, Ginger Breakfast and Double Chai). I have some loose teas (Thai, Ocha, and some herbals) but these teabags are fabulous when I am just making a cup for me.

I took this image with my Fuji Finepix with no flash but macro enabled on our kitchen counter. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 for color, light, and added the fuzzy border.
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Eight Years Ago on In My Words...Gross!!

POTD Day 1 Lunch

Today is the first day of a new month of Picture of the Day...which means a new list located here at Fat Mum Slim's site. Lunch was an easy pic for today because I knew at breakfast time what I was going to eat since it was leftovers and needed be cleared out of the fridge.

This is laab gai which is a Thai dish that I LOVE to make. I tend to not make the sticky rice that is supposed to go with it because I am trying to limit the amount of starch I eat, but I have gotten quite used to just eating it with cabbage and cucumber slices...protein and veggies!

I can make this from scratch but tend to do it from ground chicken plus a packet of seasoning I get at my favorite Thai/Vietnamese ingredient store in Portland. If I can't get there, I have family that can get things for me and send them...

Today is the first day back on the fitness bandwagon and that includes logging food, watching what is eaten and getting at least an hour of exercise/house projects done a day. So after a week of not logging, I am back at it.
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One Year Ago on In My Words...At Least One Thing

POTD Day 31 Celebrate

I am not a huge New Year's Eve kind of girl...in fact, it has been years since I have stayed up for the ball drop. When we lived in Japan, we had a big function we would go to, but since then, I haven't seen midnight on New Year's Eve.

So my idea of celebrating involves earlier in the day options. My mom and I have been wanting to watch the newest Hobbit movie and we decided to make an afternoon of it. We ran to the theater early to get our tickets (we learned the hard way on the last Hobbit movie), and then headed off to lunch.

We went to a local brewery that is close to our house and had a great hamburger, salad and pint of beer. We played some Bananagrams while we waited for food and then after eating for a bit.

We headed to the movie with perfect timing, and since we were full from lunch, opted for no popcorn. The movie was great. There was a bit of a temperature issue but we both had our coats so we just covered up.

Overall, a great way to celebrate the new year!
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Shutter Sisters For October

POTD Day 30 You

Anyone that knows me face to face or reads my blogs, knows that I am pretty careful about posting pictures of myself online. Even on my tightly locked down FB account mostly has only pictures of me from college or earlier and I tend to untag myself in anything more current than that. So for this image requirement, no one should be surprised that my pic is of my feet (or shadow).

My sister started this trend of taking pics of feet...her feet at different locations. Over the years, we have lived far apart so I started taking pictures of my feet in the different places we would travel to and now it is just habit.

This shot is from this past snow storm. We didn't have any snow left in our yard but I was able to step into some snow in the neighbors yard to get one last pic. I am wearing my Keen Delta cold weather hiking boots. I am in love with these boots. They are super comfortable, and my feet never got cold, and I used them for the entire week that we had snow and ice on the ground.

I took this pic with my Fuji Finepix f50, with no flash. I edited the image in GIMP 2.6 for color, light and added the fuzzy border.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Shutter Sisters For January

POTD 29 Reflect: Best Bit of 2013

This is a pretty hard POTD because there are always about a million "best bits" of the year, but one that sticks out in my memory is my cousin's visit in July. We hadn't seen each other in at least 6 years, and I was thrilled that he was making the rounds through our neck of the woods.

He brought his daughter, who obviously has grown a ton in those 6 years and has turned into an amazing young lady. They stayed at our house during their visit even with the construction mess. We were able to eat at a couple of great places, enjoy some good microbrews, get them tickets for an awesome play (thanks Uncle Laurie), and hang out in "nature" as much as possible. I have a new found adoration for goats thanks to my little cousin's amazement of all things hoofed and cute.

We are both Chicago Bears fans, so we even spent yesterday evening texting back and forth as our Bears were losing a clincher game to the Packers. His family lives in Las Vegas so during any cross country trip we have taken, we have always stopped to see him, but it was nice to get a chance to show them around some place new. I don't think he had been in our area since he was a little kid traveling with my aunt and uncle.

I took the picture with my Fuji Finepix f50, no flash. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 for light, color and adding the fuzzy border.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Week 2 MCP Project 52

POTD Day 28 Something Awesome

Born in 1921, this is the last of our grandpas. He still plays golf three days a week, and is in the senior league at his golf club in Nebraska. I fly out to see him at least once a year...hopefully finances will allow for more trips in the coming years. I try to spend about 5 days there, and help out in whatever way I can while I am there. He and his girlfriend Joyce live in a cute little house in a small town. We have other family that lives in nearby states so we all get to keep him busy with visits.

When I viist, we play golf together, in fact, he made the clubs I play with. While I was there this year, we played three of the four days I was visiting...the weather was awesome (compared to last year when it was really too cold). We played at his club twice and then eighteen at another course nearby. It was a ton of fun and a great workout for both of us.

He definitely falls into the category of awesome things. He is a great man, and I cherish every minute I get to spend with him. I try to send him and his girlfriend Joyce snail mail at least once a month. He doesn't write much anymore (although they did send a Christmas card), but I enjoy sending them cards and postcards when I can.

I took this picture with my Fuji Finepix f50 without a flash. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 for color, light and then added the fuzzy border.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Week 3 MCP Project 52

POTD Day 27- What You're Doing Now

Traditionally we have always done puzzles during the holidays. They sit on a table off to the side and we work on them diligently or in passing as the holiday passes. It is never the same people working on it at any given time. The last few years, we just didn't have an extra table to do this, but this year we decided we would figure something out. So we got puzzles that were small enough to fit on Gma's coffee table. The first puzzle that we got was a Route 66 puzzle, and we finished it in 2 days, so we picked up a second one the day after Christmas and have been working on it ever since.

This one is twice as many pieces but still small enough for the coffee table. It is a bunch of doors and it has turned out to be a much bigger challenge.

I took this picture with my Fuji Finepix f50 with no flash but with macro turned on. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 for color, light and then added the fuzzy border.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Week 5 MCP Project 52

POTD Day 26 Where You Slept

So this is a pic of me in one of my favorite sets of pjs. They are ESPN pjs and they are super cozy and I love wearing them in the winter.

I am laying in the bed before getting up and moving in the morning and thought I would snap a shot. I usually take some time when I first wake up to check my phone for the weather and news while my eyes adjust to the light...LOL

I am also wearing these really thick and cushy wool socks, that I love to wear in the winter. Feet stay warm, so warm in fact that sometimes the socks get pulled off in the night.

I took this picture with my Fuji Finepix f50 with no flash and macro turned on. I autocorrected it in GIMP 2.6 and added a fuzzy border.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Week 7 MCP Project 52

POTD Day 25 Best Bit Of Your Day

This day had a lot of great parts...but one of the best was playing this game with the family after gifts were opened.

I got it for my mother in law because she is a great game person and she always brings awesome games to all our family events. She had never played this one before and we played 5 games in a row.

I am thinking of buying a copy of it for us too because it is so fun and so easy to do.

On other fronts, having breakfast with the family, seeing all the great gifts Grandma got from across the country, and getting a chance to talk to those we couldn't be with, just made the day even better.

I took this picture with my Fuji Finepix f50, no flash, with macro turned on. Autocorrected for light and color in GIMP 2.6 and added the fuzzy border.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Week 8 MCP Project 52

POTD Day 24 Wrapped

I didn't have a lot of wrapping to do this year since we didn't do family presents but I did decide to make cookies for some of my family and they really needed to be wrapped.

So I did these cellophane bags over disposable Christmas plates. Added candycanes, tags and a little snowman clip to them and they were ready to go.

I have two boxes that need to be mailed that have some gifts in them so I did end up doing a bit of wrapping but it wasn't under the Christmas crunch pressure.

I took this image with my Fuji Finepix f50 with flash turned on. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 for light and color and added the fuzzy border.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Week 12 MCP Project 52

POTD Day 23 Tradition

I do these every year. The last couple of years I have done them out of printer paper, but in the past, I have done them from colorful origami paper, and wrapping paper, just to mix it up a bit.

I think I do them similarily to those we did in school a million years ago. I do the two triangle fold and then make an ice cream cone out of it. I start cutting at that point.

Origami paper in different colors is a lot of fun and super easy and economical. You can get the packets of paper for 100 yen or dollar store. It is super thin which makes the cutting much easier. And usually on pack has several different color options so you don't have to waste any if you don't want to.

I took this picture with my Fuji Finepix f50 without a flash, near the window in the living room. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 with auto correct for color and light, and then sharpened a bit and added the fuzzy border.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Week 18 MCP Project 52

POTD Day 22 Sparkle

There were things around the house I could have used for today's word, but since I needed to get a virtual 5K done, I thought I would see if I could find anything outside that fit the bill.

Amazingly, this was one of the first things I saw and I loved how the afternoon sun was glistening off it. We had 8 inches of snow on the 6th and some of it is still on the ground, which is so out of character for this area. I am guessing by tomorrow it will be hard to find any.

We were actually all the way into the 50s today and if we get another day like that tomorrow, it will be gone. The nights are still below freezing but that won't be enough to keep it around.

I took this image with my Fuji Finepix f50 with no flash. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 with auto correct for color and light, then added a lens flare along with the fuzzy border.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Week 19 MCP Project 52

Jingle Bell Hell 2013 Race Recap

Distance: 3.36 Miles or 5.41K
Elevation Change: ~90ft
Weather: 52 degrees, 3 mph winds, sun
Time: 46.3 mins
Laughed: Yes
Hell: Yes!

Okay, so I have known that I was going to do this race for a while. The time frame for this one was Dec 14th-22nd. I had lofty plans to do it the first weekend as training for the IRL 5K I had on the 21st. This did not happen.

On Dec 6th we got 8 inches of snow and then a week of below freezing temps made the roads completely impossible for any kind of athletic running or walking. I did do a lot of tromping around in the snow in my snow boots but none of that counted towards this. So the weekend of the 14th, things were just too icy still and plans throughout the rest of the week to knock it out (and get training for the IRL 5K) just didn't work out. I do not have access to a treadmill so that was never an option for me.

So yesterday, I did the IRL race in the morning with three of my family members. It was the first time I had ran in two months and considering that it was in the 30s and overcast, I think I did okay. I ran a large portion of it and ended up with an average time for me.

This morning I woke with a lot of muscles in my legs and torso letting me know they were unhappy with me for exercising yesterday, but I decided to ignore them. I knew that the exercise today would only be beneficial for the soreness.

So this year, I can't say that the weather or music circumstances were my Hell since both worked out well this year. I did have to choose a less desirable route only because I wanted to be sure I wasn't going to run into any lingering ice. This route doesn't have as much elevation as my normal virtual route does but it has more sun so I knew it would be better for safety reason. My hell for this year was just the fact that I had to do this race the day after completing the IRL race and my body and muscles really didn't want to cooperate and that was a challenge but I powered through and feel lots better for it.

My laughter came because in all the times I have done this route in the past, I rarely ever come across other pedestrians. The area of town I am in doesn't have a lot of pedestrian interest like our quaint downtown area does. Today, not only did I have to leave the sidewalk and run in the bike path a few times to avoid ice, I also had to do it to go around pedestrians. On top of that, I came up behind, not one, but two smokers today (which just sucks the life out of me until I can get by them)...and that is what gave me the final chuckle...not a chuckle of joy, but a chuckle of "just my luck".

I am glad that I was able to complete this virtual race, even with the sore muscles and not running all of it. Anytime I can get exercise knocked out in the great outdoors, I am thankful.
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Last Year on In My Words...Jingle Bell Hell 2012 Race Recap

POTD Day 21 On The Door

This is our front door wreath for this year. The bow, bells and hanger are reused each year but I like to do a fresh wreath. This one has done well so far, but that is because it has been super cold here. With the dark grey front door on the sunny side of the house, I was expecting this to dry out really fast but the weather prevailed.

In the second pic, you can see the garland with red balls we have along our front balcony. After New Year's Day, I'll put the red balls away, but leave the garland up through the winter because it looks pretty and smells great. You can see that the lights around the garage door are already on. I turn the lights on in the morning since they are LED lights so not only do they not get hot but they don't use as much energy. I have a timer for the garage door ones so they don't stay on at night, and I don't have to remember to go into the garage to turn them off each night.

I found a cute little metal bell that has a picture of Santa on it while I was at the Grange Co-op the other day and I have it hanging in one of the front windows. While I was there, I also found the new ornament for the year. I buy one for us each year and write the year on it, if it isn't already on it automatically.

I hope to get some snowflakes cut out from white paper later and put on our front windows. I  have loved cutting out snowflakes since I was a kid. You always get something new and unique each time.  I leave these up through the winter too...nice to have some decorations after the holidays.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Week 20 MCP Project 52

POTD Day 20 I'm Listening To

the cackle of the Duralog in our fireplace...it doesn't produce a lot of heat but the ambiance is awesome! I get two different types, one that burns about 2 1/2 hours and another that burns around 4 hours...and depending on what time I decide to put one on, I pick the particular log. This way, it will be out before bedtime and the fireplace glass can be closed against the cold.

We do the Duralogs (and variations of them) because the fireplace is not really efficient enough to mess with cutting, splitting and burning wood. If it is was a woodstove or even if the fireplace was internal to the house rather than being on an outside wall jutting out of the house, it would be worth all the rest of it.

I took this image with my Fuji Finepix f50 with the flash off but the macro on. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 with auto correct for color and light and then added the border.
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 Two Years Ago on In My Words...Week 21 MCP Project 52

POTD Day 19 'Tis The Season To

create...usually I would be busy making cards for the coming year but since most of my card making stuff is not here, I make due with what I do have. This means making cards from my photos and making blankets, scarves and other items from yarn.

Two of my nieces are having babies in the spring, so while I was at Michael's the other day, I stocked up on yarn for both of their baby blankets. What was really cool was that they were having a great sale on my favorite yarn so that took about 1/3 of the price off the purchase.

I took this pic with my Fuji Finepix f50, no flash. I edited in GIMP 2.6 to auto correct for color and light and then added the fuzzy border.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Week 22 MCP Project 52

POTD Day 18 Big

I was having a bit of a tough time with this...especially since I was running all day and the POTD was on the back burner.

I recently ran out of the glucosamine I usually take and had to buy new ones...and I thought the calciums were big. Obviously the macro makes the tablet look even bigger than it actually is, but they are larger than the calciums. Lucky for me, swallowing a tablet isn't a very hard thing for me.

I know this looks like a lot of pills but really it isn't. The flintstones are chewable, and the double tablets are just the dosage for the calcium and glucosamine. The bright yellow one is a b-complex...that is it, all the supplements I take on a daily basis. Keeps me heatlhy and fit.

I took this picture with my Fuji Finepix f50, with no flash, and macro turned on. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 to auto correct for color and light and then added the fuzzy border.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Week 23 MCP Project 52

POTD Day 17 Tree

We have had some rather normal weather for this area as well as some that is not so normal. We have a lot of clear cold days here during the winter, with clouds usually only proceeding a storm. We can get snow, but usually not a lot and it doesn't stick around for long. We do see days filled with fog at times, and we are not strangers to black ice either.

As you know, we have had a lot of snow in the last week or so, and then it has stuck around because of the cold temps we have had. Now we are experiencing quite a bit of fog, and because of the cold temps, freezing fog (which is a lot of fun).

The other morning, I was on my way to a small job, and while it was sunny at our house, it was very foggy a few miles away. I had to pass a cemetery on the way and I just had to stop and get some shots in this really cool spot. This image is one of them...the trees just looked so cool with the freezing fog on their limbs and the fog in the distance.

I took this with my Fuji Finepix f50 with no flash. I edited it in GIMP 2.6, auto correcting for light and color and then desaturated the image to shades of grey and added the fuzzy border.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Week 25 MCP Project 52

POTD Day 16 Makes You Feel Merry

I enjoy getting cards and letters from friends and family through the holiday season. Usually I hang them along a door frame or on the edge of the tv stand...but this year, I decided to drape some twine above the fireplace to hang at least some of the cards as they came in. I will have to hang either another line of twine or tape some along the tv stand if we get more of them in as the current twine is almost full already.

I have a couple more cards to send out, and then I am done...I managed to get out the long distance ones at the beginning of the month so those few I have left are only local ones.

I brought the live tree in from the garage (where I had it climatizing for a day or so) and decorated it tonight. Now the only thing left is putting the garland on the front balcony rail (but I won't have it for a few more days). It is a bummer that we didn't get the garland when we were supposed to, but the fundraiser that they were purchased from didn't get them on time and then we had the snow storm that hindered everything else. I won't be getting them this way next year, that is for sure.

I took this image with my Fuji Finepix f50 with no flash and macro turned on. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 using auto correct for color and light and then added the fuzzy border.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Week 26 MCP Project 52

POTD Day 15 Lights

Decorating for Christmas this year has been a gradual process. I still don't have the garland for the front railing because of the crazy weather we have had the last week so that item is still left to be done. I also don't have the tree decorated yet, but that is because it is a live tree and it was on the front porch when we got the snow and ice and I didn't want to bring it in and have it go into shock and die on me. So I waited until the snow melted off and I put it in the garage for two days so it could climatize a bit before it comes into the house. So I will be decorating it in the next day or so.

I have put up our wreath on the front door, and I had lights in the two livingroom windows done, but I hadn't done the lights around the garage (because it was just so cold outside), and I hadn't done the ones in the office window because it required a bit more time than the other windows had needed. I put up the gel decorations on the sliding glass door in the livingroom the same day that I did the livingroom windows.

Well today, after tackling some yard work, I decided it was time to get the garage lights done. They really didn't take that long to do and I have them on a timer so I don't have to remember to go down and turn them off at night. Once I got back in, I decided to tackle the office lights too and now they are done as well. For the office lights, I had to remove a hanging plant and the blinds to put the lights in and then put the blinds and the plant back...I had really  just stalled on it because it was more time consuming but it really didn't require that much more effort.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Week 27 MCP Project 52

POTD Day 14 Drink

These two items are things I drink every single morning...I try to have at least two glasses of lemon water to start my day off and of course my one cup of coffee w/1 tsp of raw sugar and almond milk in it. I try to be diligent about getting enough water in the day so the two glasses right off help but I don't always succeed in drinking enough at the end of the day.

I need to be better about bringing my water bottle in the car on errands so I get in enough. I did a diet a few years ago that required a lot of water drinking, and I found that my skin and overall body felt so much better when I was drinking enough, so there really is no excuse...it is the easiest "good" thing I can do for myself.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Week 29 MCP Project 52

POTD Day 13 Composition

So this is the first pic that is actually about photography itself. I tend to take a lot of pictures using the macro setting because I love seeing the details of things that we see everyday but rarely seem to notice. This shot is not one of them, but I loved the old stone staircase and leaves and snow and the fog swallowing up the top.

I read both the Fat Mum Slim post on Composition and this other one I found by Googling. Photography in general has a ton of different rules, techniques and recommendations that help to make those of us that aren't pros into decent photographers. I probably could read more about it than I do and I am sure that my photography would improve if I did.

Anyhow, this pic was taken in the afternoon of the first day of snow...we were up in an old cemetery on a hill and that explains the low clouds/fog. I like the most of the color was sucked out of this image.

I took this with my Fuji Finepix f50, no flash. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 using auto correct for color and light and then added the fuzzy border.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Week 39 MCP Project 52

POTD Day 12 Joy

This little guy just turned 2 (as evidence from the chocolate cupcake on his face), and the smile and chocolate are both JOYful to me. He is my cousin's youngest son, and a ton of fun. He is at the age now where he is starting to turn into his own person and is learning at lightening speed.

He is starting to talk up a storm (which also means we have to be careful what we say around him), and knows more way than we give him credit for. He knows how the whole birthday thing works and actually kept blowing out the candles before we could get the song finished...LOL. He seemed to really like opening presents and seemed to really appreciate the gifts (more than just the paper)...LOL.

Potty training is on the agenda these days, thankfully as his Auntie-Cousin, I am not reponsible for that...LOL.

I took this image with my Fuji Finepix f50 with the flash on. Edited it in GIMP 2.6, using auto correct for color and light and then added some magenta back in, and added a white fuzzy border.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Week 42 MCP Project 52

POTD Day 11 Green

Green is one of absolute favorite colors...I love to wear it the most...in fact my sorority in college had green, white and purple as its colors. How is that for destiny? I tend to buy things in green as well...not necessarily household decor, but items like Kleenex boxes, storage totes, pottery, china, and of course plants! As you can see, I managed to find these weights in green too...that was purely by accident though...green was the only color the 5lb weights came in.

I have these sitting on the floor near the TV stand in our livingroom because I use them all the time, and if I were to put them in the weightroom with all the other fitness equipment, they would never get used or I would spend a lot of time bring them up and down the stairs. I love that they are covered in a rubber-like substance because they don't rust, and they aren't loud when clanked together. I sometimes take them on my walks so I can do bicep, tricep and shoulder exercises while walking...they are very versatile.

I took this picture with my Fuji Finepix f50, with no flash, and macro turned on. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 using auto correct for color and light and then I used the blurring tool to blur around the edges a bit...
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Week 44 MCP Project 52

POTD Day 10 R Is For

I love to READ...anyone that knows me IRL or is friends with me on Goodreads, knows this...but there are times when I get behind, or get myself spread too thin and then reading almost becomes an item that needs to be added to the To Do list. This is not a good thing...because I love reading and I don't want it to ever be a chore (unless I am doing it for school and then that is completely acceptable...LOL).

Right now, I have listed that I am reading 5 books on Goodreads even though I have actually only started on three of them, and I have one magazine subscription...however, I get magazines from other places (friends, family, etc) and I am way behind on the magazine reading.

This can be easily explained...I read before bed on my Nook primarily. I do this because I don't have to have any other light with the Nook so it is super easy and convenient. When I take soaks in the bath, I usually tackle magazines, and I sometimes put a magazine in my messenger bag if I know I will be waiting somewhere and don't want to carry my Nook with me. Thing is, that lately, I have been reading a few books in hardback and so the magazines have been bumped from the tub soaks. Today I picked up a book I have had reserved at the library for a while...and because it is rented, I have to bump it to the top of the list.

These magazines have been sitting on our livingroom floor since last week because I was determined to make one day a "magazine catch up day"...and that has just not happened. I will get to them, and it will be soon...because I really don't want reading to become a chore and having these sitting here are making me feel like I am not tackling things on the To Do list.

I took this image with my Fuju Finepix f50 with no flash and macro turned on. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 to auto correct for color and light and then added the fuzzy border.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...January MCP Project 12

POTD Day 9 This Is The Weather Today

Our weather has been basically the same since Friday night when we got about 8 inches of snow on the ground. We have not gotten above freezing since then so the snow has hung around but the areas that were plowed or shoveled are now sheets of ice. The last two nights have been record lows for the area for the last 25 years.

I went up to the pool this morning to check it out (and to turn the light in the pump house to 24 hours) and found that the majority of the pool is frozen over. This is not a bad thing...as long as the water below the ice is still circulating, it will be fine and the corner where the water comes into the pool isn't frozen because of the movement there.

I even bent down and knocked on the ice and it is pretty solid...so this picture is of one of the ice crystals sitting on the surface. It was too cool looking to ignore. We should be getting above freezing tomorrow during the day so I am sure we will start to see some melt by then.

I have been limited in movement to those places near by that I can get to on foot...I have no desire to get our truck wrecked by someone that is driving recklessly. Many drivers seem to think that because the sun is out and the snow has stopped, that it is safe to drive however you want...and that is not the case. We get black ice really bad here and right now there is a ton of it. It is almost impossible to see (especially at night). I haven't had anywhere that I needed to go that wasn't in walking distance so it hasn't been a big deal for me. We have restaurants and stores all within walking distance.

I took this picture with my Fuji Finepix f50, no flash, and with macro turned on. I then edited it in GIMP 2.6 by cropping it to just the crystal, auto correcting for light and color and then added the fuzzy border.
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Last Year on In My Words...MCP Project March

POTD Day 8 Where I Shop

I took a pic while I was out running errands in the snow, of a snow covered tree, and a store I shopped at was in the background but reality is, this pic is more accurate of my shopping habits...LOL.

Today while out trekking in the snow, I saw a jack-knifed semi truck on the freeway. Must have been super scary for the driver. Fortunately he didn't roll over or anything. People seemed to forget that even though the sun is shining and the snow has stopped, the temp is still below freezing and that means ice!!!

On my way back, one of our neighbors called and borrowed the snow shovel. While we were chatting a Red-breasted Sapsucker flew up the spruce and flittered around the trunk. I had to look it up in the book since I had never seen one before and now I can add it to the bird list for this house. Unfortunately, I didn't get a pic of it in time...hopefully it will come by again and I can get a shop for my house blog.
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Last Year on In My Words...MCP Project March II

POTD Day 7 Six O'Clock

This is what I was doing at 6 o'clock. Eating kwiteow that I made yesterday. I learned to make it from both a Thai friend and a Vietnamese friend (it is called pho in Vietnamese). When we lived in Japan, I would have soup days at our house. I would make a big batch of soup and then invite friends to come over for lunch or dinner (or both) for two or more days.

The broth is the part that takes the longest but after that, it is just a matter of fresh veggies, rehydrated rice stick, and thin sliced meat. Everything but the broth is cooked right at the moment a bowl of soup is being made, which makes it taste so good and fresh.

Yesterday, with the snow falling, I had the hankering for it and I knew I had most of the ingredients already. I used beef short ribs and spices to create the beef stock, and started them boiling after lunch. Then when I walked to the store in the snow, I got the fresh ingredients I was missing. I ended up eating two small bowls for dinner.

Then today after my hike in the snow, I got the pot back out of the fridge and back on the stove so I could eat it for lunch and dinner. Lunch was a little bit late since I got home from the hike around 1pm but then I  had a second bowl at 6pm for dinner.

I don't feel a bit of guilt eating this awesome dish. Only thing that would have made it better would have been if I had thought to make some Thai tea to go along with it...but with the cold weather, I don't usually think of iced tea.

I took this picture with my Fuji Finepix F50 without a flash, and macro turned on. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 with auto correct for color and light and then added a fuzzy border.
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Last Year on In My Words...MCP Project April

POTD Day 6 Shadow

We have been scheduled for a storm since last week...and today was the day, although the time continued to change. Around 2:30pm it started to snow a bit and it picked up from there...by 6pm we had 5-6 inches of snow on the ground.

I had started making one of my favorite Thai/Vietnamese soup earlier in the day, and I needed a couple of fresh ingredients, so I decided to bundle up in all my snow gear and walk to the grocery store (about a mile away).

Before taking off for the grocery store, I had been listening to a live stream of our state police, local police, and department of transportation feeds. The roads were a complete mess which is why I knew I was going to be walking. I can drive in the snow, but absolutely didn't want to take any chances that someone else would slide into our truck. I felt bad for some of the drivers out there because the department of transportation made the pass "chains required" so there were lots of people stopping in town to get chains for their cars. I walked by three different people trying to install chains on their cars in the parking lot of a local DIY store.

While out, I thought I could take some pics in the snow, which I did. We have a street light right next to our house and this picture is from next to that before I started the hike to the store. The walk ended up being a fantastic workout and I was actually perfectly warm the entire time.

I took this picture with my Fuji Finepix F50, no flash under snowy skies with only the street light for illumination. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 with an auto correct for color and light and then added the fuzzy border.
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Last Year on In My Words...MCP Project For August

POTD Day 5 In The Cupboard

We have one full double cabinet that contains ingredients for the various Asian food I like to cook (mostly Thai and Japanese). There are two really good Asians markets about 4 hours from here so I tend to stock up when I need to.

We have a case and a half of Chaokok coconut milk and a 25 lb of Thai Jasmine rice, along with sticky rice, sushi rice, rice stick, soba and somen noodles, spices packets, roasted rice mix, and frozen lemongrass, peppers, and lime leaves. There are tubs full of curry, and jars full of soup base and chili paste. I like knowing that cabinet is full.

I love having the opportunity to make some of my favorite food whenever I want to. There are a few things that I would love to eat that I don't have ingredients for, like Soki Soba but I do have plans to try my best to make it someday.

We have a couple of good sushi places in the area that also make a fair amount of other popular Japanese and Korean food, however authentic Thai food is harder to find. We do have a good Vietnamese pho and banh mi restaurant which definitely makes life better...it would be cool to nail down a few other favorites, that is for sure.

Took this with my Fuji Finepix F50, no flash with macro enabled. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 using auto correct for color and light and then added the fuzzy border.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Shutter Sisters For June

POTD Day 4 Tiny

The idea behind the picture for today was pretty easy at first thought, but I did keep my eye open the entire day just in case something else would just grab me. I had a tiny bit of running around to do. One of the items was to check our mail box which contained a couple of nice surprises: the Christmas stamps I ordered so I can mail cards, and then a perfectly wrapped gift from one of my dear friends. Both things made me smile.

Next stop was the local hardware store to get something for the sidewalks in case we get a lot of snow or ice in the next few days. Then a quick coffee and a stop at the bagel shop to get a lox sandwich for lunch...yum, yum!

These ornaments in the pic are all very tiny...the balls are smaller than a dime and the penquins and girls are less than inch in height. These tiny ornaments adore the small live Christmas tree that I will decorate next week (I don't bring it in too early, because I want it to stay alive).

I took this pic with my Fuji Finepiix F50, no flash, macro used. I autocorrected it for color and light and then added a fuzzy border in GIMP 2.6.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Shutter Sisters For July

POTD Day 3 Silver

Today was an on the road errand day, and I actuallly contemplated for a moment just taking a picture of Jack the Colorado since it is painted Silver Birch, and I was spending my day in it...:)

Instead I found these cute silver bells in a DIY while I was looking for a real wreath for the front door. This was part of a door hanger set however since I already have bells on my bow for the wreath, I opted to not purchase it. It stilll didn't keep me from taking a shot.

While I was there, I also got a couple of 60 lbs bags of sand for the back of Jack to keep it weighted down a bit since we are hitting the teens over the next few nights and that means black ice in this region...not fun.

At the beginning of the day, I tried to get my tires rotated at the place I bought our tires at, but they were pretty busy with people putting snow tires on or purchasing chains for the pass, so I figured it would be a better use of my time to wait for another day.

The DIY was my second stop after picking up 24 skeins of yarn for baby blankets I need to make for two of my neices that are expecting. After the DIY, I hit three more stores and a sushi restaurant before hitting home. None of this was for Xmas shopping...just everyday errands.

This shot was taken with my Fuji Finepix F50, no flash, macro turned on. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 for light, color and added a fuzzy border.
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Eighteen Months Ago on In My Words...Shutter Sisters For March

POTD Day 2 Where I Stood

I was thinking about doing a scenic pic for this image requirement. But the weather today was rainy and kind of closed in, so I thought I would do something a bit more literal.

My yardwork for the last six weeks has mostly been about leaves. We have two oak trees that drop in our yard (one on our property and from the neighbors), and this year in particular has been a very heavy acorn and leaf year. On top of that we have three fruit trees that drop leaves too. Good thing raking is good exercise!

So for this pic, I thought I would take a pic of my feet standing in the midst of a pile of leaves I still need to rake. If you have seen any of my other pics, I take a lot of pics of my feet, in different situations. My sister started the trend and I started taking pics of my feet on our travels for her, and now I just take pics of my feet for me. So here are my feet in my mary jane toyah Keens with my Smartwool stripey socks surrounded by oak leaves.

I took this pic under cloudy/rainy skies, with my Finepix F50, no flash, and used GIMP 2.6 to auto correct color and light, and added a fuzzy border.
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Eighteen Months Ago on In My Words...Shutter Sisters For August

POTD Day 1 Red

Some friends of mine have been doing a Photo Of The Day project for the month of November and a new one started today for December and I decided I would play along.

We are going off the list from Fat Mum Slim's blog post, at least until we reach the 12 days of Christmas where it might change to something else for those 12 days.

I really thought I was going to get some holiday decorating knocked out today, so I thought that getting a pic for Red was going to be a piece of cake. While I did get the decorations out and organized, the actual decorating didn't start today because there were a few other things on the list with higher priorities.

Then as I was looking across the room, thinking about my To Do list in general, I spotted my wristgators that my sister got me a few years ago that I wear whenever my hands feel a bit chilly. I realized that they actually would make a great Red pic and the story behind them would be even better for me than a pic of Christmas decor would be.

So here is my pic for Red, taken with macro turned on, with my Fuji Finepix F50, no flash. I edited in GIMP 2.6 for auto color and light adjust along with a fuzzy border add. It just worked out that I was enjoying a fire tonight too.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Shutter Sisters For December (another photo project I have done)