Photo Storage Question

I recently purchased an external hard drive and I have been pondering the best way to categorize and store my photos before starting the task of saving them to the drive.  I haven't been able to come up with a solution that I'm 100% happy with. Sooo, my question to you photographers is 'How do you store and categorize all your images'?  Do you keep just your favorite shots?  Do you keep shots that are OK but could have some potential with some editing?  Do you categorize them by dates or events or categories?

I use Photoshop Elements 9 Organizer but I have to be honest, I don't really know how to use it that well for organizing or categorizing my shots yet.  If anyone has any great, easy tips, I'd love to hear about them as well!

Inquiring minds wanna' know!

Till next time,

Salt Springs III

This is the final post on Salt Springs, I promise!

Adjacent to the Springs is an old house that was built in 1900 by Daniel Morgan, a prominent Marion County resident and county commissioner who also owned a timber & turpentine business.  The house was built on the south side of Lake Kerr.  This grand lakeside home contained ten rooms, with the kitchen and dining room separate from the main house, and was constructed of heart pine and trimmed in cypress.  For more history on Salt Springs click HERE.  The house was later purchased by Columbus Townsend as a summer home for his family.  He proceeded to have it moved from the bank of Lake Kerr across the landscape to its present location, adjacent to the Springs.  Apparently, moving the house was quite a feat and took almost a year to complete.

Unfortunately, this once grand house now sits vacant.  It was rather difficult to get any decent photos as the property is fenced off and overgrown.  But this is what I managed to get...

Pardon the blurry streak, I was shooting through a chain link fence, but this is the front of the house that faces the Springs.  How 'bout the wrap-around porch on both floors!

This is a side and back view of the house and the detached kitchen and dining room.

Again, Country Boy and I would love to be able to purchase a house like this and restore it to its original beauty.  It breaks my heart to see these wonderful, old houses with so much history abandoned.  If walls could talk!

Now for some pretty flower pics!

This one looks like its been dipped in shimmery diamonds!

*It has been said that Salt Springs is the legendary "Fountain of Youth"... scientists have discovered that aging can be slowed by certain minerals and trace elements that are available only in unrefined ground-water.  The abundance and variety of helpful minerals in the waters at Salt Springs cannot be found anywhere else in the United States.

*excerpt taken from the Salt Springs Official Website

I hope you enjoyed learning about and seeing Salt Springs through my camera lens.  It is a beautiful place to camp or just spend the day.  Go check it out if you're ever in the Ocala, Florida neighborhood!

Till next time,

Getting Older Is Not For The Weak

My birthday isn't until Friday but let me tell ya' something... I was beginning to feel my age this afternoon!

It's that time of year for our annual eye exams so I made our appointments and Country Boy and I went this afternoon to have our eyes examined.  Country Boy went first so while I was waiting for my turn I spent the time perusing the frames and trying bunches of them on.  I narrowed my choices down to four frames and set them aside until after my exam.  I had plenty of time to do this since apparently my hubby was giving the Doc a hard time during the exam (Nah, ya' don't say!)  It was all in good fun though and he ended up with only a slight change that wasn't worth changing his lenses.  He did get new contacts that work better than his old ones so he was thrilled!

Me, on the other hand, whizzed through the exam and I thought I had actually passed!  Until... the Doc said I was beginning to get cataracts.  WHAT?!  I'm not even 50 years old!  He was floored as Country Boy and I both have the beginning stages of cataracts and we're not 'old enough' to have them.  He asked if I had ever taken any steroids.   Me:  "No".  He said the only other thing left that could cause them would be sunlight.  I guess I will have to wear sunglasses every time I step outside.  Yea, good luck remembering that!  I think I'll put a pair of them right by the front door so that I might see them on my way outside!  And I might need to stop buying the cheapos!

The next traumatic event was when the technician said that my reading prescription had doubled.  WHAT?!  I still have no prescription for distance but my reading doubled... go figure!  Well, what can ya' do?  So now it's time to choose one of the four frames that I had set aside.  Oh no!  They're too small says Mr. Technician.  We can't do a progressive bifocal in any of these frames say Mr. Technician.  Me:  "Not even my old frames?"  Mr. T:  "No"  *sigh*  I was devastated!  I liked all those frames and they actually looked decent on me.  All that time spent picking out frames to save time was now a waste of time.  Back to square one.  I was not a happy camper as I began looking at all these frames with huge lenses.  The problem I was running into was the bigger the lens the wider the frames.  I have a narrow face.  I was NOT a happy camper at this point.  Cataracts, doubled reading prescription and now big lenses.  Ugh!  Poor Mr. Technician was trying to help out but stopped when I said that I looked like Harry Potter in one of the frames he brought me.  Well, it was true!  Long story short, I finally found a pair of frames that would work for my narrow face and the lens was not much bigger than my originals that I had picked out but they were big enough that they would work.  Phew!  (hand swiping at brow)

Then came the bill.  Can I just say how ridiculously expensive the lenses are?!  Frames:  $25.00  Lenses: $116.00 per lens INCLUDING the 5% discount we get through our insurance.  Good grief, Charlie Brown!

Getting older is not for the weak!  Good thing I'm tough!

Till next time,

Salt Springs II

More pics of Salt Springs as promised!

There are some otters that visit the Spring in the mornings before all the people start coming in to do some swimming.  Country Boy and I got up early one morning and rode our bicycles down the the Spring to see if we could spot them.  On our way we came across several deer grazing for their early morning breakfast!

It was still a little dark out and I'm not good at low-level light shots but I did manage to capture this one, somewhat!  (Note to self, get one of your camera books out and read up on shooting in  low light.)  

When we arrived at the Spring, the otters were not in sight but we were up early enough to witness these beautiful sights!

I love the bird in flight in this shot!  Can you spot it?

After experiencing such a beautiful sunrise, we casually headed back to the campsites to have some coffee with our friends and their dog, Ginger.  She's a Shephard/Lab mix and is a really good camping dog!  She loves it!  Isn't she such a lady with her paws crossed?!

Country Boy got up early again the next day to do some fishing in the canal.  He caught several nice sized fish but didn't have a stringer or anything to put them in.  Too bad!  But, he enjoyed his fishing time and was thrilled to have caught some!

There were lots of these guys & gals around!  It was so dry at the campground that I put a bowl under the camper to catch the run-off from the AC so that the squirrels and birds could get a drink.  I wished I had purchased the small bird bath I had seen at WalMart last month.  It was the perfect size to take camping!  I hope they still have them!

Cattails anyone?

These pretty pink flowers were along the bank of the lake.

I have no idea what kind of flowers these are.  Anyone have any ideas?

I will have one more post about Salt Springs, I hope you're not bored with it already!

Till next time,

Salt Springs

Last week Country Boy and I went on a short camping trip with some friends to Salt Springs Recreational Area in the Ocala National Forest.  It's a really nice campground with roomy sites and a beautiful, cool, crisp Spring to jump in to cool off!  The Spring is a chilly 72 degrees year round.  I was a wimp this trip and could only get my legs wet this time which was enough to cool me off for a bit.  Country Boy, on the other hand, would walk down a couple of steps into the water and then dive in.  He said that was the only way to do it.  Yea, OK!  Have fun!  He did!  He had his goggles on and would check out all the Springs that were bubbling up.  He would dive down in the deeper ones as far as he could.  I guess he enjoyed the challenge of trying to swim down as far as he could while the force of the Spring was pushing him back up.  He would swim until he was just about chilled to the bone then get out for a while and thaw out!

As usual, I took a bunch of photos so I hope you have your favorite beverage and a snack while I show you around Salt Spring's swimmin' hole!

Country Boy is the one in the blue swim trunks with his face in the water!!

The 'hole' in the center is the Spring.  There are a total of four Springs.

Crystal clear, cold water!

I have plenty more photos to show you but I think I'll break it up into several posts!

Till next time,

And the Winner Is...

The winner of June's GiveAway is

BellaVida by Letty!

(Please contact me so I can get your mailing address.)

Congratulations!  I hope you will enjoy these little birds on your dining table!

Till next time,

Sunday Blessings

He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly.

Proverbs 14:29

I am linking up with A Rural Journal for

Nancy is hosting a fabulous giveaway!  A set of textures from Bonnie of Pixel Dust Photo Art!  Check out Bonnie's blog and her wonderful Free For You textures!

As part of this week's Your Sunday Best photo challenge, I have added two of Bonnie's textures to the above photo... je me souviens and Vintage Blues 1.

Till next time,

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig!

Country Boy and I made it home a couple of hours ago from our mini-camping trip!  We didn't venture far from home, about an hour and a half drive, but it was nice to get away!  It was a rather unusual camping trip for us in two ways.  First, it has been so dry at the campground that campfires were not allowed in the fire rings.  We usually enjoy sitting around the fire drinking our coffee in the mornings and enjoying some double-stuffed Oreo's and milk in the evenings.  No can do this time!  Second, it was SO hot.... mid- to high-nineties every day.  While we spent a lot of time down at the Springs (which is a frigid 72 degrees!) in the morning and late afternoon, it was just too hot in the afternoons.  We ended up spending the afternoons in the camper taking naps, watching nothing on TV, reading or cross-stitching.  (No, Country Boy was not reading or cross-stitching so you know what he was doing *laugh*!)  We love to spend the entire day outside while we're camping.  No can do this time!

I am drinking my iced coffee and will be catching up on my favorite blogs and looking at the photos I shot over the last several days.

Don't forget about the GiveAway!  Drawing ends at midnight tonight and I will announce the winner tomorrow!  Click on June GiveAway in the sidebar for more information!

Have a great weekend!

Till next time,

In Honor of a True Friend

I just read Marissa's blog at Life On Our Side of the Mountain about a new crochet project she is working on.  Reading and watching the video made we want to pick up my crochet hooks again!

It also reminded me of when and why I learned to crochet.  About ten years ago, during a family emergency, a couple that we barely knew from the little church that we had just started attending came to the hospital to sit with me while Country Boy underwent emergency bypass surgery.  This couple continued to help our family out and minister to us while Country Boy was recovering.  During this time, the four of us just seemed to 'click'.  Once my hubby was back to work the friendship grew stronger and blossomed!  The four of us were inseparable!  We camped together on every three day weekend; we got together at each others' houses every weekend for dinner and a rip-roaring game of Nertz; I started working at the same bank; our husbands were two peas in a pod; and so-on and so-on!  Then one day, my friend started experiencing some abnormal bleeding.  After a month or two of mis-diagnoses, she found out she had Stage Four uterine cancer.  We were blown away.  She fought hard for a year and a half.  One day towards the end of her battle, I was going to stay with her for the day while her husband did some errands.  She was going to teach me to crochet.  I brought several different hooks and some red, white and blue yarn.  I was ready!  When I arrived at their house, her husband told me that he was having a difficult time with her that morning and he could barely get her out of bed.  We discovered that she had had a mini-stroke sometime during the night.  Needless to say, there was no crocheting done and I spent the day caring for her.  I called Country Boy and told him he needed to stop by their place on his way home from work.  After all her family and friends were able to see her and tell her they loved her she went home to see her Lord early that evening at the age of 42.  I was fortunate to be able to tell her that I loved her and that it was OK to leave us.  She then took her last breath.  She fought a good fight but her time here on this earth was over.

That night, I promised myself that I would learn to crochet in honor of my friend.  It was several years later before I made good on that promise.  I bought some Learn to Crochet books and then a neighbor showed me some basic stitches and I attempted my first afghan.

In honor of my friend...

I enjoyed every minute that was spent on the  stitches of this afghan.

To this day, I miss her terribly!  I miss the four of us and all the good times we had.  True friends are few and far between but I am thankful that I had the opportunity to know this wonderful lady, my friend!  And I know that I will see her again one day!

Till next time,