Feline and Furball Friday -- Socksie in a sun square

This is one of my favorite pictures of Socksie, in a sun square created by the sun coming through windows in my back door onto my kitchen floor. I like the way she has her paws curled up, too. I think she looks so cute!

To play Feline and Furball Friday, go to Steven's blog (sometimes)photoblog to get the rules and see who posted the week before. Present week's participants are in the comments. Come join us -- it's fun! We include feathery creatures, too!

Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot #26 -- Hit Me With Your Best Shot

This has long been my favorite shot of all of my sunset shots, which are what I feel are my best. It was taken at Seaside, Oregon, many years ago. It was a film shot, not digital, as at the time digital cameras were brand new if they were even around at all. This is as large as Blogger will let me post the shot so the seagulls in silhouette on the rock aren't super-easy to see.

Carly at Ellipsis says that for extra credit we can talk about our personal style as a photographer, why we like a particular subject, and what is the most challenging aspect of photography for us.

My personal style seems to range from cats to flowers to sunsets. People, especially family members, are often my subjects, too. And food! These are the subjects I find most interesting. I like sunsets in particular because of the dramatic colors a pretty one will produce. The most challenging aspect of photography is the motion shots, whether of cats or of people, but especially of cats. I keep my camera's automatic setting on the action mode just in case I am able to take a fun series of cat pictures.

Head to Carly's at the link above to see links to last week's pictures, and URL's in the comments that will take you to this week's participants. There will be instructions there on how to participate if you would like!

Round Robin Photo Challenge -- Light Moves

The Round Robin Photo Challenge this time has the theme of "Light Moves." I have a number of pictures which I have posted below, showing qualities of light moving or shimmering or shining. Some were taken at my favorite venue, the Oregon Coast. I think they are quite self-explanatory.














To go to the Round Robin Photo Challenge blog, follow the link in the first sentence. You will find instructions there for participating. It's lots of fun!

Feline and Furball Friday -- 2 kitties in the window

One day last week, Socks and Silver decided to get up in the utility room window together. I never did figure out what inspired this togetherness, because I couldn't see anything like a neighbor cat or a bird that was capturing their interest. It was very unusual for them to do this. What a couple of funny felines!

To participate or see other participants, go to Steven's (sometimes)photoblog. Sometimes there are feathery critters featured, too!

The Sixth

I am doing a quick meme tonight. The mission is to share a photo and write about it (why I took it, what it means to me, why I’ve kept it, etc) - the photo is to be the 6th photo in my 6th folder of photos.

The only problem was that I didn't have 6 photos in my 6th folder of photos; I just had this one. And I have kept it mainly because I haven't gotten around to deleting photos that I don't want to keep, although I think it's a really cute one of Socks and Silver. The title is "Almost playfighting." It's not unusual to see them in these kinds of positions but I'm not often quick enough to catch them at it. I took it because I think they are so cute when they play-fight. I love my cats and enjoy getting fun photos of them.

The meme comes from Karen R of the blog Passions of My Heart. I will do the same as Karen and not tag anyone but if you want to do it, feel free.

Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot #25 -- Birds

Today Carly of the blog Ellipsis wants to see our bird shots. I didn't think I had any until I did a search at my Flickr site and came up with quite a few! I think it's quite unlikely that I will get any current pictures of bird but if I do, I will add them later.

Here they are, in no particular order. The first is of a swallow that tried building a nest on my back porch a couple of years ago. That didn't work out very well for the swallow couple and the nest was abandoned.










These white geese (and I get extra credit for showing white birds) were a couple that I photographed up on Vancouver Island when Steve and I were there many years ago, at the Ladysmith Marina. I don't know if they were an actual "couple" but I thought they were cute together. ;-)










Another white bird -- this is TJ the cockatoo, who belongs to my daughter-in-law Kamie's parents. He is a pretty bird.










This bird was photographed on a trip that Steve (my late husband) and I made to Wildlife Safari in southern Oregon many years ago. I wish I knew what kind it was. It's beautiful, I think.











Another bird spotted on a trip with Steve -- this one in Hawaii, while eating breakfast at our hotel, the Outrigger Reef, if I'm recalling correctly. The bird was very cute, the way it scavenged for crumbs beneath our feet.










I have pictures of seagulls but none that are very good, and so I didn't include any of those. I love the seagulls at the beach!

If you would like to participate in this fun meme, go to Carly's blog via the link in the first sentence. You can put your entry's URL in her comments and also visit last week's participating blogs, which she has listed in her post. Great fun!

Feline and Furball Friday -- Silver on the treadmill

Today for my photo for Feline and Furball Friday, sponsored by Steven of (sometimes)photoblog, I have included this one of my only male cat, Silver, sitting on my new treadmill. He at first initiated it by sharpening his claws on it, but he hasn't been doing that too much since. He hasn't joined me in walking on it, either -- I think he's afraid of the motor noise. He's such a funny little guy!

To participate, go to the link in the first sentence to Steven's entry and follow the directions on his blog for getting involved. There will also be links to last week's blogging participants. There may be feathered critters included, too! It's fun to see everyone's furry friends!

Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot #24 -- The Color Red

Carly of the blog Ellipsis would like to see items of the color red this week, with one stipulation, which I will get to in a minute. I don't have a lot of red but I did get the following little bear, named Valentino, free for buying 4 Valentine's cards at the superstore Fred Meyer, and he has some red on him, so he qualifies. Following are other red items I had pictures of: A red rose just blooming, and red Dove candies.








For extra credit, we could picture Valentines items that weren't red. These are old, old Valentines candies, from the 1920's or 1930's, I'm guessing, that have come down to me from my late mother-in-law, who kept them in a steamer trunk that I inherited. I think they are just fun! And likely petrified!












If you would like to participate in this meme, head on over to Carly's at the link in the first sentence. She has directions for doing so. If you would like to see what the other participants have posted in last week's photo shoot, Carly has links to go to them on her blog. URL's for this week's participants are in the comments.

Round Robin Photo Challenge -- Joy: What Makes My Heart Happy

This time, the Round Robin Photo Challenge was the first based on the suggestions we had made as a group, and the result was a combination of Kathy's suggestion, "Joy," and Wammy's suggestion, "What makes my heart happy." The things that make my heart happiest are my family, and here are pictures of the people in question.

At a Christmas dinner a couple of years ago, my grandsons Michael, then about 8, and Alex, about 6, and son Tony:












At Thanksgiving the year before last, grandson Michael, then nearing 9, and his mother, my daughter-in-law, Kamie:












My daughter-in-law, Kris, and son, J.D.:











My son, Jeff, and daughter-in-law, Steph:











Jeff and Steph's son, my 6-year-old grandson, Noah:
















Noah's sister, my granddaughter, Emily, then just over 2:











There are many more things in my life that bring me joy, such as my cats, my house, my business, my sisters and brother, but the above immediate family members bring me the most joy of all.

To get the links for more participating bloggers, go to The Round Robin Photo Challenge blog. You may want to play, too! Directions are there!

Feline and Furball Friday -- Stevie with my stuffed chef, Jacques

Some years ago, I bought a stuffed chef to keep in my banquette booth just for fun. The cats from time to time have shown interest in the chef, especially Stevie. I caught this picture of her cuddling up to him the other day. BTW, he came with the name of Jacques; when I told my then 3-year-old grandson, Michael, that was his name a number of years ago, he said, "I'll just call him Jack." LOL!

Go to Steven's (sometimes)photoblog in order to see today's entry. He will have links to last week's players and this week's players will leave their URL's in the comments. Sometimes the critters have feathers!

Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot #23 -- Winter Days

This week, Carly at the blog Ellipsis wants to see a representation of winter, and for me, that is my young red maple, all bare with no leaves or buds, out in my back yard. For extra credit, we could show a thermometer and mine was higher when I took the picture of it, at about 10:30 a.m., than it most certainly had been earlier in the morning. It will go up a few more degrees before the day is out but that will still definitely feel cold!

To see other participants, go to Carly's blog linked in the first sentence above and within her blog entry will be links to last week's players, while in the comments section will be the URL's of this week's blogging participants. Join us, if you can! It's fun!