Not only is this photo of a reflection, but it makes me reflect, personally, to a time when Mr. Blue Eyes and I worked at the resort pictured. We spent so much of our lives there for several years, it is still strange to think of it as only a memory now.

If you would like to play along, put up your own reflection-themed photo and hop on over to Bush Babe's site to sign up! And if you're like me -- living in a frozen, frigid, arctic tundra -- be sure to soak up some of her other lovely photos of Australia. They're what's getting me through the winter, I tell ya'!

My subject matter for this week, in case you've never visited here before, is my husband, a.k.a. Mr. Blue Eyes. He was snowed in at a coworker's house last night and since I was lonely for him I decided to gaze at his whiskery mug for awhile and practice my photo editing skills. I ♥ this face a whole bunch.

The kicker is this: She wants to know what we're finding in our own backyard today. Tracey, are you sure? Because what's going on in my backyard is quite literally blizzard conditions. And I have no inclination to go out there and take pictures of it, because the picture would basically be, well, white! Mother, may I stay indoors, please? ;)

Luckily I did go out and snap a few photos last week on a particularly magical frosty morning, so I will share one of those...

Good to be back, everyone! Can't wait to see what you all are posting today!

I've been sort of a slacker lately, photographically speaking. When we first arrived in MN I was snapping pictures left and right and proud of myself for continuing the quest.

The quest for what? I'm not really sure. Do any of us photography addicts know what compels us to take pictures? Is it the search for light? An addiction to contrast and light? Something in our genetic make-up that draws us toward clarity, natural light, saturation, composition, and what-have-you?

I don't fully understand it.

Let me restate that: I fully don't understand it. And I never want to. I want my love for photography to remain mysterious and soulful. Reason and understanding have no place in the photography corner of my psyche.

Anyhow, I've fallen behind in the last couple weeks, partly because I was manning the front while Mr. Blue Eyes was away in Colorado, and Miss Peaches decided to get really good at crawling while he was away. It's hard to be squatting and bending just a hair to the left to get the perfect shot of your dog's muzzle when you're trying to make sure your child doesn't eat rocks off of the driveway.

Lately, I've also been kind of picky about the kind of thing I want to photograph... If the day is somewhat hazy or overcast and the colors just aren't 'popping', I'm not interested in grabbing my camera. I'm craving contrast these days.

That reminds me, a little tutorial on contrast is on the agenda for the photography section someday soon. I'm waiting for the perfect photo(s) to demonstrate exactly what contrast is.

See? Picky.

In all honesty, I'm a little ashamed of myself for dropping the photography ball, so to speak, these days. I don't know why I'm being such a stick-in-the-mud... We've had some dreary weather. Maybe that's what's got me down.

All I want you to know is I'm giving myself a verbal spanking (try to visualize that!) for my poor attitude and performance and promise to bring you some shiny new photography posts real soon.

I always mean to keep track of my edits on these and lay them out for any of you who happen to check in, but here's what always happens... I open up the picture in Photoshop (7), create a new layer, try out a few ideas, backtrack, adjust opacity, start over completely, dosie-doe around the square, create some more layers, realize that even if I could get it together enough to explain what I'm doing, I don't think I could write it out comprehensively in any fashion that would be understandable to the rest of you anyway, and reconcile myself to just playing around with the photo until I'm happy with it and sharing it here. I feel guilty about this for about two seconds, then I move on with my life and look forward to next week's Fix It Friday.

Here's the original...

Once again, for your viewing pleasure, here's my version...

 Hop on over to I ♥ Faces to check out more edits!

But I don't wish that someone might take a picture of me, while jumping off a dock, from this particular angle.

To see more various leaping and diving shots, click here.

To see more pictures from My Best Shot Monday (Tuesday? sorry... late this week) click here.

I'm having a good ol' time tromping around my sister's yard in my new mud boots and taking pictures of all the vibrant colors of spring. Things are lookin' up, including my camera lens.

Below... The perdiest darned tulips in the county, one of the many yellow finches that inhabit the bird feeders, and my sister's new mud boots (they're the only thing more vibrant than the flowers around here)...

I'm not the only one bursting with 'best shots' today. Go visit Tracey to see more!

Above is my edit for I ♥ Faces  'Fix It Friday' this week. She is so lovely and peaceful in this shot that I had to go for something soft and quiet in my editing. To see the original and check out the other edits, click here!

A little squirt getting a little squirt. Life doesn't get much better than this as far as he's concerned!

Man, oh man, do I need it. I'm just going to sit here and stare at it for awhile.

But thank you, Mr. Sunshine, for working so hard to take all the snow away! You're super.