**

Apple. You're going down.



Last night as I viewed Mac commercial after Mac commercial I determined that Apple is involved in false advertising. They state over and over: one reason to by a Mac is that "they don't get viruses and they don't crash."

Imagine my glee in hearing that claim when only 30 minutes before I was told by the young lady working at the Apple store that " We don't make the hard drives. You never know if they will last one day or ten thousand days."

"You put it in your machine. I paid a thousand dollars more for this machine thinking I was buying the best and now you tell me that you can not promise me more than one day???"

Then she proceeded to tell me about all the backup software they sell.
That is not the point.

The other thing that makes me mad at Apple is that they are touted as being so intuitive. To tell you the truth, I do not know what the heck they are talking about.
Our Windows machines let you know if you are nearing some sort of break down.
This machine. Not a word. Dead in the night without a message of warning at all.

We were also told that Mac does not do hard drive retrieval service.
They tell you that you can send it away and it will cost $800 or more.

There is a chance that the 'genius' at the store will be able to get some information off of the hard drive.

This is my hope.

But with my experience of false advertising, rude service and a bad machine, that hope is slim.

I will be looking to see if there is a class action suit against Apple for false advertising.

To me, not standing by the hard drive is like not standing by the engine of a car.

I propose a new slogan for Apple;

Tuff Luck.
We don't make the hard drives, man.

Here endeth my Apple rant. I will not rant again about it here.
But if you would like to join me in my fight against the hip computer giant, let me know.


***




Here is our beautiful baby girl, Emma.

Look! She had curls. And that tummy!!! Did you ever see anything so adorable in your life?? I bet you did. On your own babies :o) he he

I found this gem in the files on the basement computer.
This picture is my silver lining today.

Oh my goodness. I can not get over the cuteness of her.

Let's talk about those curls. Those are baby curls.
I didn't cut Emma's hair until it was down to her bum. I couldn't cut it because at the very end of her hair was a curl. Her hair flipped up at the end. Just like I had curled it. Her bangs, that had been cut many times at this point, were straight. So I knew that when I cut off that lovely curl at the end, it would be the end of the baby curl.

I finally did cut it and saved it. Her curls in a white envelope.

Precious babies and their curls.
I think, I will think abut that today.

And their tummies.



Encourage one another,
Donna-who is going to be just fine

Hello.

It's Friday.

My big, fancy, Mac is temporarily done broke.

It seems to have fallen ill in the middle of the night.

This is not suppose to happen. Macs are not allowed to crash.

Fortunately, Patrick is working on it.
Unfortunately he can not come home from work right now.

I am trying to remain calm and not awfulize.

Do you know what awfulizeing is? It's when you go over all the scenarios and you concoct the most awful outcomes. Over and Over.

Awfulize. I know you well.


But, Emma came home last night and Katie needs to get to school so I will end here for now.

I am typing on an old computer in the basement and it's not so bad.
I am not totally out of touch.

Hello basement. You are a little chilly and damp.



Hello Katie.

You make everything alright. Right?





Amen.



Worried in Wisconsin,
Donna

In which I take my own advice.




Thank you for adjusting my hair, sweetie.
Why look! You have nicely covered my chubby chin.
God bless you.



A spontaneous kiss.
Bliss.


****

LOST


I want to hear what you all are thinking about last night's show.
I was pretty disappointed. The show seems to DRAG for me and the commercials were too long and annoying.
I timed it. Eight minutes of show. Four to five minutes of commercials.

I feel the story telling was way off and sketchy last night. Sawyer and Juliette should have said their goodbyes BEFORE Jack dropped the bomb. Had it detonated, they would have been without their goodbye. All of them. I feel they totally blew by this scene. I would have added a whole "I WILL remember you" moment.
But nada. zippo. zilch.

Well, Maybe not zilch. I saw a teeny blink of the eye by Kate. But I took that to mean, "You can do it Jack. I'm behind you."
Not. Goodbye. I love you. I hope this works. See you on the other side. yada yada yada.

And Ben. He has finally dropped his basket.

What did Jacob say to him?

And Jacob. Huh? What?

Please. I want to hear your deepest thoughts on last nights show. My mind is a disappointed muddle.

Oh Yeah. Dead John Locke. Not scary at all. Really. I'm not being sarcastic.


****

American Idol



I blame Paula Abdul.


*****


"I will find you."




Want to know something?
I have never seen The Last of the Mohicans.
I did, however, see that movie trailer so many times, the dramatic "I will find you" is ingrained in my psyche.


This is what LOST was missing last night.


Off to school.
Keeping a close eye on Katie. She has been having tummy troubles.
Emma comes home today!!! Hooray! I don't have to drive to Chicago.
Isn't that great!?

Have a great day!


Encourage one another,
Donna

The Biggest Loser Finale.

Well. Bust my buttons! The old folks won Biggest Loser!

Never in my wildest imaginings would I have thought it would be Helen!
What a great surprise. It is inspiring to me since she is over 40. That magic age when so many of us start to struggle.

Good. for. her.

And Jerry. Wow.


Does anyone know how many weeks it was since the marathon?

****

Who will go home tonight on American Idol?

I really can't see anyone beating Adam at this point.
I would prefer it if he didn't scream. But his normal singing voice and amazing showmanship really set him in the top spot. IMHO.


I have to tell you. I have never watched Kris sing a whole song. Soooo boring to me.

And, oh my gosh. I HATED the song Paula chose for Danny. Man. Was that a set up or what?

Any opinions on this weeks show?


***

I think tonight is the season finale on Lost.

Better go check it out before I write that here.

Yes. Tonight. Two hour season finale.

Will the island blow up?




****

Bokeh Wednesday Baybee!








"It's so much fun sitting out here on this beautiful spring day. Only my mother would drag me to a grove of weeping willows after school to take bokeh pictures. It's a good thing I heart mi madre. Now. Where did I leave those Tootsie Rolls?"



I think that is my favorite bokeh ever. Sorry if it took a long time to load. I really wanted to share it.
It is so beautiful to me.

Blow, weeping willow
yellow green limbs glowing with
glistening bokeh


Ah. Well. I'm not the best at Haiku.

But I think it's a good time for a round of Spring-time Haiku.

Any takers?

Leave your Haiku in the comments.

Thanks!


Encourage one another,
Donna

Along with chocolate malts. My hubby loves Tootsie Rolls.

I think they are kind of an obscure candy choice, don't you?

But you want to talk about obscure???





How about these?



Our dad would come home with Circus Peanuts all the time.
And shoestring potato chips.

Where did he go to get these things?


Does anyone in your family have a favorite candy choice that is a bit unusual or unique?






****

I'm sorry I forgot to talk about The Amazing Race yesterday.
It was a real heart stopper for me.

But I can't believe I didn't mention the week before when Jen stopped off to tinkle and they lost the race!!!

Here is what I want to know.

Would you have wet your pants to stay in the race???



****

Dancing with the Stars was a bit long winded last night. I did enjoy the family visits, didn't you?

Do you think the judges were hard on Melissa? I still think she is the best dancer.

I loved Shawn's first dance but thought her jive was clunky.
I was glad that Karianneandabba agreed with me on that one.

The Frenchdude, gosh, I just don't know. He is graceful, that's for sure. But to me all of his dances look the same.

And Ty. He should go. While he has improved, his Latin dancing is SO AWKWARD!
I'd waltz with him any day tho.


So who will win??? I think this is the first time they have had tree excellent dancers heading into the finals.

I would never have believed it!


***



“Everything is a miracle. It is a miracle that one does not dissolve in one's bath like a lump of sugar.”

Picasso



Encourage one another,
Donna

A recipe.

A recipe I actually made up all by myself.

And my husband thinks it is the very best thing in the world.

Imagine my joy in knowing how to make something that he loves. It makes me so happy.

And it is economical. I like that too.

We shall crown my crowning achievement.

Patrick's Chocolate Malt.

You will need.

Some good vanilla ice cream.
Hershey's chocolate syrup
milk
Carnation Malted Milk/ Chocolate
Blender





Fill the blender up to the 32 oz line with ice cream.
This is about 3/4 of the way up on ours.

The ice cream is not pressed down. It is just scooped in.
There are air pockets.

Squirt in roughly two tablespoons of Hershey's Chocolate Syrup.

Measure a cap full of Carnation Malted Milk and add to the blender.

Add one and a fourth cup of milk.

Turn the blender on high. Use a spoon to help.

If the malt is too thick to mix easily then add one fourth a cup more of milk.

Keep blending.

Taste it. Adjust it. Squirt in more chocolate syrup if necessary.

Pour into one large and one medium size glass.

Make your family happy.




Helpful hint: We save our big fat MacDonald's straws. We wash them and reuse them.
(You can not buy nice big fat straws like this and I don't like to take them so we have resorted to washing them.)

Budget tip: It is much cheaper to make your own malts. In our neck of the woods a malt goes for $3.50 at MacDonalds to $5.00 at Michaels. One of those big buckets of Dean's ice cream costs about $5.50. (Even less if purchased on sale.)

Recipe site: In case you didn't know. I have a recipe website. I put only the recipe's that I know how to make and make well.
There is not a lot over there. But if I die, my tried and true recipes are all in one place.

Check it out; Recipes I have know and loved


***

Katie cooked up a little Mother's Day surprise for me.



I am especially fond of those eggs and that STICK of butter. The girl knows her momma.



I LOVE the water colored petals on this wonderful project!
So very beautiful, sweetie!

I am funny, a helper and hug a lot, says Katie.

That's okay by me :o)

She is also funny and loving and a great hugger, too!



My dad use to add a raw egg to his chocolate shakes.
Isn't that interesting?

Have you ever heard of that?



Have a wonderful Monday!


Encourage one another,

Donna
(Your pony-tail wearin' friend)

What a mother's day surprise!



Look! I WON!


Thanks to everyone who voted for me!

Especially Steph!

Love,
Donna

Our beloved Esther Jean.




“All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother”


*****


Yesterday was a surprise day off for Katie. And a blessing to her momma.

I loved having her home. It was perfect outside. Just gloriously, gorgeous.

Katie invited a girl friend from school to come over to play.
(She is a real beauty, inside and out.)



They coaxed me into a game of foursquare.

Do you remember that game?

I like that game. I can kick little nine year old butt. But I held back :o)



Ella liked to spice up the game with all sorts of new rules. Like throwing the ball and making us run after it.

Ah hem!



She said when you want to play it straight, without all the fancy rules, you call out

"old fashioned".

That's me...all the way...baybee!

****

A mother's day message from Katie,






Some chalky love for her madre and padre.


****

My heart is full of thanks to God for all of the ways He has blessed me.


That includes you!


Encourage one another,
Donna

It has been about nine months since Katie started
school away from home.

And well.

The empty nest thing has just hit me.

What thing is that, you ask?

It's that feeling of loneliness and loss of value.

I was busying myself with volunteering at school and photography and blogging.

There is value in those things, right?

But, I have gotten off track with my thinking.

True worth and value isn't found in things I do, it is found in the fact that I am precious to God.

Even tho I thought I knew this. I don't think I really did. I was homeschooling. I was doing something worthy with my time, something of value.

But now that is gone, I have been trying to find something worthy and of value to do with my time.

And while that is not a bad thing to do. I mean, it's better than trying something unworthy and horrid with my time.

The focus is still on me, me, me.
And that kind of focus is always precarious.

If I succeed I am loving myself.
If I am mediocre, I am despising myself.

It's not suppose to be all about me.




I seem to have lost grasp of the lesson I learned about fourteen years ago, when I read Stepping Heavenward.

Katy keeps a journal. She is bed ridden at the end of the book. She has to depend on others and can not 'do' anymore.
But it doesn't matter. She has never been filled with more joy.

"Yes, I love everybody! That crowning joy has come to me at last. Christ is in my soul; He is mine; I am as conscious of it as that my husband and children are mine; and His Spirit flows from mine in the calm peace of a river whose banks are green with grass and glad with flowers. If I die it will be to leave a wearied and worn body, and a sinful soul to go joyfully to be with Christ, to weary and to sin no more. If I live, I shall find much blessed work to do for Him. So living or dying I shall be the Lord's.
... But not till I was shut up to prayer and to the study of God's word by the loss of earthy joys, sickness destroying the flavor of them all, did I penetrate the mystery that is learned under the cross. And wondrous as it is, how simple is this mystery!

To love Christ and to know that I love Him-this is all!"

Eyes off of self.
Eyes on Christ.

Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go, Lord, if you lead me.
I will hold your people in my heart.
D. Schutte

Encourage one another,
Donna

On the way home from school today.

I did this.



My camera is my right hand man, I tell ya.

It whispers in my ear, get out there, look around, let's find something pretty....




On Monday, I posted a picture of Katie. It looked like we were on a farm.
But really, we were on a construction site.

A large computer software company is building a GIANT campus near our home.
We are amazed every time we drive over there to see what they have going on.

It's Katie's favorite place to take pictures AND it has a view of the sunset.




This is just one of the fantastic new buildings.



See, how much she loves it!



"Come down here. I need to take pictures of you and the sunset."





Her new favorite pose.




I have no clue how to do a sunset picture.

Can someone ask Ree to do a tutorial on sunset shots?

I need some hand holding here.


****


Not much going on around here... So sorry...

I think I will go and try to hold the cat.



Encourage one another,
Donna

It's tulip week here in Wisconsin.

It's a lovely thing?

Anyone ever been to Holland Michigan?

They have a tulip festival there and the streets are lined with tulips.
People plant them along the curbs of the streets.

I want to do that.
I want to live in a place where the streets are lined with tulips.

Don't you?


***

American Idol

I happened to love the duet between Kris and Danny.

It seems that rock genre fit all the performers quite well.

If it is not Danny and Adam in the finale I will be very surprised.


***

Biggest Loser

Biggest Gabfest.

I can not wait to see all of the transformations next week.

Tara should win. She is unstoppable.

Do you think Mike's brother will be in the next show? I do.


***

Dancing with the Stars.

Who would have thought Ty would get more votes than Lil Kim?
I would die if the audience booed for me for staying.
That's embarrassing.


***

On May Morning
by John Milton

Now the bright morning Star, Day's harbinger,
Comes dancing from the East, and leads with her
The Flowery May, who from her green lap throws
The yellow Cowslip, and the pale Primrose.
Hail bounteous May that dost inspire
Mirth and youth, and warm desire,
Woods and Groves, are of thy dressing,
Hill and Dale, doth boast thy blessing.
Thus we salute thee with our early Song,
And welcome thee, and wish thee long.






In my cleaning spree I found a few lists sent to me by my blog friends.
These lists were full of Friday five suggestions and questions.

Here is a question I thought was fun;

List five people in history you wish you could meet and why.


I would like to meet Jesus, Abraham Lincoln, Princess Diana, Mother Teresa and Martin Luther King Jr.
(Just off the top of my head.)



Encourage one another,
Donna

Miz Booshay's Frequently Asked Photography Questions: Answered





Following are the links I promised.


Photography Tutorials by Donna Boucher


Ken Rockwell


DP Review



To answer a few questions that I didn't cover in the video and that I don't cover in my tutorials:

How do you size your pictures for your blog?

I upload my pictures at Flickr and choose from the sizes they offer.
That's all. When I started this blog, Blogger did not have photo capabilities so I had to go somewhere else to get the html for my pictures. I started with Walagata (who has dumped my pictures without a word and that is why you will see 'x' in the first few years of my blog. This broke my heart!) Then I used Photobucket to get the html but the size was too small.
Flickr has the best size choice for me.

How do you focus ?

The secret to focus

It's not much of a secret. But that tutorial says all I can think of saying about it.

How did you take that tulip picture?



Camera: Nikon D80
Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/640)
Aperture: f/1.6
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 100

This photo is SOOC. Straight out of camera. The red in the tulips makes my camera act wacky so I didn't want to fool with it in photoshop.

I got down real low. Sat in the grass. I set my aperture or f/stop on 1.6
By doing this and focusing on one of the tulips in the front, I knew the others would be out of focus.
I set the camera on 1/640 because that is where it lined up for proper exposure.

See that bright white spot in the top left. That is bad. But, I didn't really care.



Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/800)
Aperture: f/1.6
Focal Length: 50 mm
Focal Length: 50.4 mm
ISO Speed: 100


Same with this one. This is way over exposed. That means I metered the light wrong.
But I didn't care. That's the fun of digital. You can experiment and do wrong things all the time and like them anyway :o)

I have pointed the camera toward the sky and front porch and that is why it's so blown out.


Do you edit all of your photos?

Yes, I edit almost all of my photos. Of the pictures I print. All of them.

I use photoshop to make the picture look how I see it in real life.

Most digital images need contrast. So I do that.
Most images need a tiny sharpen. So I do that.
Black and white is considered editing. I really like to do that.
For professional work, I take away pimples and scratches.

Actions?


For art's sake I like to mess with the editing by using Actions.

I use Pioneer Woman's Actions, Sesame Ellis Actions, Cinnamon Rose Actions, Totally Rad, Jinky, MCP, Brenda's, JOtte's and Leah's actions.

Holy Cow. That's a lot of actions!

My favorite black and white actions are Sesame Ellis Black and White, Cinnamon Rose Tritone, and MCP's Newsprint.

Photoshop and Lightroom

I use Photoshop CS3 95% of the time.
I fiddle around in Lightroom.

I have found my style and touch in Photoshop lately so I am just sticking with that for now.

Book Recommendation

I bought one book.

The Digital Photography Book by Scott Kelby

I liked it a lot!



Camera: Nikon D80
Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/2000)
Aperture: f/1.6
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 100

All I did to this picture was a slight lighten and a slight sharpen.

But I did do something, so I must confess.

(The one on the right is the sooc)

I know, this one would have been fine without the edit. But some of them really need the help :o)

The camera is set on 1.6 so I get the blurry grass.
I have turned Katie so she has gentle shadows on her face.
(I usually stay away for shady shadows, but the light was pretty this evening so I think it worked well enough.)
I am especially picky about how the light is hitting my subject.
It's the most important thing.

The light.


Become a connoisseur of the light.

If you know Latin you already have a great clue to what photography is all about.

Photo means light.
Graph mean write.

Photography : To Write with Light.

It's all right there...in Latin.


It all begins with the light,
Donna

Lord, teach is to be generous:
Teach us to serve You as You deserve,
to give and not to count the cost;
to fight and not to heed the wounds;
to toil and not to seek for rest;
to labor and not to ask for reward,
save that of knowing that we are doing your will.

St. Ignatius of Loyola





The garland briefer than a girl's....

The way the tulips bloom and die so quickly reminded me of the the line from that sad poem by A. E. Housman,
To An Athlete Dying Young.



***


I am going to work on a Frequently Asked Question page for the blog.
Every day I get emails asking about the camera and lenses I use and I get asked for camera recommendations.
Sadly, I don't know anything about other cameras and only have two lenses, but I will put up links on the FAQ to direct the inquiring minds as to where else to look.

If you have a question you would like answered on the FAQ page feel free to post it in the comments and I will see if I can answer it in the next few days.



***

Monday Blessings everyone!

Encourage one another,
Donna

Talking photography is so much fun!



Especially with this California girl.




Katie's children are photographed just about as often as our Katie.
Their blue eyes dazzle!



Look a rainbow! I wonder how that happened. What a happy surprise :o)



This is the pose I got when I told Katie to move her arms.

She is so obedient.



Hey! Are you yawning?



he he



Oooo...this spot has some nice light.




"Here's Johnny!"







***

Thank you for sharing your favorite books.

Here is my list of favorites. It is based on how often I recommend it and how often I have read it.
I kind of feel that if I haven't read it twice, it must not be a real favorite. You know what I mean?

Just being honest.


The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Seventeenth Summer by Maureen Daly
Sister of My Heart by Chitra Divakaruni
Better Off by Eric Brende
Keep a Quiet Heart by Elisabeth Elliot.
Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

A number of these books I have read out loud to sisters or friends.
Whether they liked it or not!

Maybe I will do a talkie blog and read out loud to you.

:o)






Hope you have a great weekend! The sun is shining here in Wisconsin, so we are off to an excellent start!


Encourage one another,
Donna