Photo Solitaire picture 171

         I don’t know how old my kindle is.  I am certain a relic according to Kindle standards.  A while back I would not be able to finish playing games as they would freeze up until I finally deleted them because really . . . what was the point of having a game take up space if I wasn’t able to play it?  It’s not as if I was all full up and lacking for space.  Turns out the games I’m playing are also relics – thought it is hard to label them as such because I feel that I am at least 4-6 times older than they are and I don’t consider myself a relic.

        Anyway there was a while there in which I had only six games to play and was getting bored as only three were word related.  The last couple of months have given me other game options – recycled games.  I know they are recycled as I continue receiving messages that this game will expire at the end of October (or some other month) – 2016.  Um . . . 2016 was a while ago.  "What are you talking ‘bout Willis?"

        One of the games I had added is called Photo Solitaire.  

Normally I don’t go for the photos as I rarely see all that the creator had – or the same thing with four different names (curtains, drapes, lace, fabric) and am horrible at figuring out the adjectives or verbs that aren’t as apparent.  I thought Photo Solitaire might be easier than the other picture puzzles as it offered a Mahjong twist. Each Mahjong game that I have played have dimensional pieces that have to removed from either left or right ends but not anywhere – unless the tiles are piled higher than those next to it.  But with Photo Solitaire any letter that is visible can be part of the word no matter its placement. 

        I must confess that I don’t always see everything on the list – especially the last few that I’ve looked at.  Fortunately there are cheats for some of puzzles that I have installed - Photo Solitaire being one of them.  First off the following photograph looked like a double exposure.  

I was able to punch in the words: “hands”, “prayer”, “board”, “flames” and “light”, but I was missing a few.  It didn’t dawn on me that “faith”, “hope” and “religion” were also words that I should have found – and did once I looked them up. 

        I’m grateful that Kindle has brought some of these to life again.  I have enjoyed many of the games I have downloaded.  Thank you Kindle and to all of those who create games for the devises offered.

Among the Missing

I did have a few photos of me at various dances such as my high school Junior Prom.  It was held at the capitol building and I had asked a guy that I worked with.  I thought it would be cool to attend the junior prom in my junior year but was not popular enough to be asked out.  Thus I had asked someone who went to another high school and school district. We both felt like outcast in this luxurious room full of students that neither of us shared commonalities.  We left and went to Snelgroves (the ice cream parlor where both of us worked) and had some ice cream.  Afterwards we decided to go to a disco scene called The Front Page.  We were serverly overdressed – but had a lot more fun at the Front Page than at the capitol building.

 There was another dance I had attended when I had gone to at Ricks College – I don’t even remember the theme or dance name.  I remember my date making pom-pom figures to match what we were wearing.  I think we may have had one other date and that was it.  I don’t think I would even have thought about my missing photos except for Jai’s senior prom is coming up.

Jai’s Senior prom is scheduled to be held at the Grand Victorian where she has played parts in theatre productions.  Originally she had wanted to make a garbage dress similar to the one that Cruella wears in this scene 

Only instead of using newspaper, she was planning on every homework assignment.  Only she hasn’t figured out how to fix it off herself and transfer back onto herself.  Richard wants to take her shopping for an actual prom dress – which I really don’t mind but I loathe shopping and I loathe spending money on an item that may only be worn just once.  I enjoyed wearing dresses when I was her age but she hates wearing dresses probably more than I hate shopping.  (Shopping online isn’t all that bad – but she really should be trying the dress on . . . .

So here are the photos I do have:

This is the dress I wore to the prom; this photo was taken 
the following year when I ran for Miss Teen Midvale

I don't know what possessed me to think that jacket might look good
with a recycled choir dress.  The dress that my mom is wearing is the
same one I am wearing in my wedding picture. Made for good use, I thought.

Star Dedication

I dedicate these stars to my readers and followers.  May you appreciate my abstract photography
 

This star attached to decoration on fireplace

the star that hangs above Jenna's nativity

I tried taking one on the tree.  It came more distorted than this

how it appears when lit up

I don't have pictures or even know all of my followers
but here is an old one of me and one who reads my blog

  Here are two more that Jenna took to dedicate to Ooki (here) and Bonnie

I did share this on an earlier post the year we obtained it

Ooki, Jenna (the year she turned one) and me

My Custom Heirloom Walking Stick

      Jenna and I first met Chris just over a year and a half ago.  We met him at Millsite Park.  Jenna and I had been walking around and Chris was looking for the perfect stick as he had a request for making a cane similar to his (see this post)

      I thought that would be nice to have a custom-made cane for myself, and thought I would start collecting words that might describe me and ask him how much he charged.  Chris said he walked in Millsite all of the time.  That was the only time that I saw him.  I don't even know his last name. 

      When Roland was playing Friar Tuck in Hi, Ho, Robin Hood, he had stripped one of our wild junipers to make a walking stick for the character.  I decided that when he was through with it, I would adjust it to my own needs.  I would strip the wood, sand the stick and start a decoupage.  I decided to use more photos than words. Instead of multi colors, I hoped to keep them in the same color as the wood.  It didn't turn out as I expected, but there you have it: 

My custom heirloom walking stick:

stripping down the bark

printing pages full of words and pictures

Cameras and Referral Sites

          When Jenna told me her assignment was on camera history, I smiled as I had recently touched on that same subject in class discussion post that I briefly mention here.  I ended up with this thought on digital cameras versus film:

       " The digital camera was made available to the public in 1988 (Ternholm, 2007).  Before the start of the 21st Century,  I had known several people who had tried to sway me into the perks of having/owning digital.  I don't remember all the reasons I had for sticking with my 35mm and rolls of film, but one of the reasons was because I had convinced myself that the picture quality was better from the film than the digital results.

        "It wasn't until our family had an opportunity of hosting a foreign exchange student that I was "swayed" to the perks that a digital camera could provide.  My "son" would take several pictures and post them to a blog that he had created.  I had had the option of retrieving copies of pictures I had taken with my 35mm.  If I put in the right code, I could view them online and even save them to the computer if I chose.  It was nice to have that option, but the quality really wasn't there.

        "I received my first digital camera in 2006.  I found many perks to a digital camera that weren't available on my 35mm.  Not only was the quality better when I viewed it on the computer, but I could view all pictures before they would be "developed".  I had the option of deleting the ones I didn't want and would not have to pay for a lot of dumb pictures I wasn't able to view until after they were developed.  Digital feels like less of a gamble and less of an expense than does film.  Taking thousands of pictures without having to change film was the deal breaker.  I love the digital camera." 

          I was not at home when Jenna returned from school yesterday as I had a dentist appointment in Riddle.  Yesterday morning I had taken time look up a few references related to the camera and had also written down my own memories - none of which she used.  Instead, she went with my initial suggestion to interview Bill and was on the phone with him when I returned back from the dentist.

          She wanted to start her paper off with a humorous introduction and went with " I want to take up photography as it is the only job you get to shoot people and cut their heads off without getting arrested."  My suggestion had been to ask the question "Why is it that people didn't smile in early photographs?" but I am happy that she made her own choice - as the quote does capture her personality.

          I had read an article on the TIME website here that provided two possibilities of reasons why people didn't smile in the early 19th century photographs.  The first had nothing to do with the camera, but the second possibility was the one I had been looking for that the long process of loading the film and taking the picture was just too long for sitting still - let alone wearing a smile for that length of time.

          She barely touched on the subject of people not smiling and heavy equipment used only by professional photographers.  Mostly she ended up quoting everything that Bill had told her.  Meanwhile, I had suggested my own memories of cameras and film.  As she did not include any of my memories in her report, I will post them here.

          First I went through some names of inventors and original invention found here before starting in with the memories, the first was from my mom.  She was telling me about a red box camera that her father had used.  She said she recalls that he would go into the closet every time he had to change the film.    Not a whole lot of pictures were taken, but we do have some.

Grandma Mary, Uncle John and my mom about 1943

in San Francisco

 

          I don't recall my first camera or how many cameras total.  I know that both Patrick and I had our own cameras when Kayla was a baby as she was often the subject of our pictures.

 We had a Polaroid at one time.  Those even harder to keep in the photo album than those tacky corners.  In 1978 my parents bought me a colorburst camera. 

came with its own rainbow strap.  How cool is that?

It was cool to get instant pictures, but again, the bulkiness of the photos themselves.  I remember scanning in several photos and do know that Polaroids were among them but cannot seem to retrieve any at this time except for this one that I found on my brother's facebook page

 The camera was available for only two years and discontinued as Polaroid had brought a lawsuit against Kodak which evidently took years to resolve with a heavy fine which Kodak had to pay to Polaroid found here, here and here.

         

          I remember Kodak had sent out discount coupons or certificates or something to compensate their customers who had purchased the colorburst.  I remember purchasing a disc camera.  It is the one that I used while on my mission here.

         

          When I worked at Patrick Dry Goods, I had purchased and several lenses.  I think it was the only camera I had owned that wasn't solely automatic.  I had fun experimenting with the lenses, but it was short-lived.

          Throughout the years I've had many cameras including these two:

probably my first with built-in flash

I had purchased this for durability.  I figured it was a tough camera.  As a leader, I took it to YW camp

 

          Even though digital was available before I was married, I did not have my first digital camera until after Jenna was born.  The digital camera doesn't seem to built to last, however. I am currently on my 5th camera in the last twelve years.  My first camera was a used sony, and actually the best camera of the ones I had.  It died after 6,000 plus pictures.  Every other one has lasted less than four years.  I'm hoping my current camera may outlast them all. It has a lot more features and is the biggest digital camera that I've owned.

          It is said that there have been over 40 camera brands and over 2,000 models.  I have tried at least seven brands throughout my life.  I lost track of how many cameras I have gone through.  The camera truly is a great invention.

Familiar Faces

            About a year and a half ago, I was on facebook checking out their statistics, though I generally don't put a lot of stock in what results are given.   According to facebook, my husband Roland and I are the most opposite of me and any of my facebook friends.  I can believe that.  According to facebook, my soul mate is Carolyn - who I had known less than a year.  I've now known her for almost two.  The more time I take to get to know her, the more it feels like we have in common.  I guess facebook was right.

            Not only that, but every time I added a family photo, facebook will automaticlly tag the pictures and actually get most of them right.  But every time my mom is in the photo, facebook puts Carolyn's name on the photo instead of my mom's. I guess there is a resemblance.  I do see more between my mom and Carolyn than I do between my mom and Peggy Bird.  Peggy was our neighbor from across the street.  I bet  one was mistaken for the other at least once a week.  None of their children saw it.

            I know I have a face that often looks familiar to most people.  Perhaps that is why people always used to talk to me on the bus; they thought they were talking to somebody else.  I know for a fact that some doors were open to me on my mission because they thought I was somebody else.  We would start our approach and they would look at us and then our name tags and finally figure out I wasn't who they thought I was.  That was weird.

            Carolyn said she thought my mom looked younger than her.  I would have never guessed that Carolyn is as old as she is.  She and my mom are two years apart.  Carolyn is younger.  I had mentioned that my mom had passed away in 2013.  She was quite disappointed and said she wanted to meet mom.

            "You will," I assured her. "But just let's hope you don't meet her soon."