Saying Goodbye

Our kitty Ashana is dying. For nearly 17 years she’s graced us, this miniscule puffball packed full of more attitude than most wild tigers. She came to me as a kitten, during a time of such abject darkness I quite nearly didn’t make it out at all. I am here writing this today, in part at least, because of her. She was a tiny sack of bones back then, all fur and giant green eyes—relentless, demanding, amazing green eyes. Feed me. Play with me. Pet me. And oh yeah, LIVE.

We’ve known this was coming. Kidney disease, and probably cancer. These past few weeks Asha has started to eat less and less. I’ve baked chicken and rice, heated up five different kinds of baby food, six varieties of cat food, and last night I cooked her baby shrimp and mashed them into a pulp. Tonight I had six different bowls of food on the floor for her, hoping one would taste good. She looked down at the bowls, walked past them and sat right at my feet, staring at me for the longest time. I’ve been crying more or less ever since. I get it Asha. It’s okay.

Still teaching me after all this time. Some lessons just hurt way too much.

And so here are a few pictures I took of Asha and me last night. So stupid really, pet photographers without pictures of us with our pets. These pictures don’t do her justice…she is beautiful, even now, so old and frail. I will post some of just her soon. Jenn is out of town until Tuesday. I had hoped Asha would hang on until then but today I’m not so sure. We owe her an easy passing. She has given us so very much.

God does my heart hurt.

Love and Peace,

Heather

Ashana and Me

 

One more from the dog park….

Lost my muse lately. I suppose us creative types all go through this from time to time. Anyways, the only thing I seem to be photographing lately are dogs.

Dog park dogs.

Here’s one from tonight…..

Peace, Heather

 

The Muppet and the Dog Park Dobie

Just a quick posting here…we spend a good deal of time at the local dog park with our pup Moki. He’s the furry muppet in the back behind the dobie.  We’ve got tons of pix, and some day we’re going to start a dog blog. Lofty goal I guess, since we rarely seem to post to this blog anymore. We still take plenty of pictures, just don’t seem to have the time to dedicate lately to blogging.

Hope life is good.

Peace,

Heather and Jenn

 

Cattlemen Days

While most of us put our pedals to the metal to get our jobs done, there are still those of us out there in spurs and leather earning their keep. Cowfolk are still alive and well in these parts, anyhow, and they showed off their mad horse skills this year at the Paso Robles Cattlemen Days competition.

A few of us from the local Camera Club hit the fairgrounds to check it out and we were pretty danged impressed how well these folks can handle their horses. I’m lucky to stay on my bike most days…

Showing off the herding skills

In preparation

The action is fast to say the least…

Tools of the trade

And really, haven’t we all had just “one of those days”?

 

Animoto Wedding Video, Alissa and Marshall

Again, not our normal type of photos here, but we do do (doo doo?) portraits and weddings on occasion. We’re only about half way through processing the photos, but wanted to post this little video teaser.

Enjoy, Heather and Jennifer

 

Alissa and Marshall Tie the Knot!

Although weddings are not our normal gigs, we occasionally get roped in by friends and family.  This weekend my niece Alissa married her sweetheart Marshall, and they were adorable!  Alissa was beyond beautiful, and Marshall was amazingly handsome in his Dress Blues.  We haven’t had time to process many images, but here’s a quick taste of the joy and love we witnessed and photographed.

Congratulations Alissa and Marshall!!!

We love you!

 

Morro Bay at Night

Recently, our SLO camera club hosted a night photo workshop led by Howard Ignatius. (Check out his work at www.howardignatius.com. Awesome stuff!) Even though it was c-c-cold and foggy, Howard and the group were a lot of fun and I was reminded how much I enjoy experimenting with long exposures. Thanks, gang!

We were supposed to be shooting the iconic Morro Rock and the spectacular full moon rising. Oops. My mind wandered elsewhere…

Morro Bay Sunset

The Power Plant

Fencing

The Photogs

 

Old Timers

Does it get any more interesting than the Eastern Sierra?! Here we try out a little HDR (High Dynamic Range) on some old cars and other stuff we came across in an abandoned mining camp with our good buddies who live there. (In the Eastern Sierra, not the camp!) Still learning this technique, but the experimenting is a lot of fun…

 

Random Samplings

A few submissions from a recent Camera Club critique… I try to enter something besides the standard fare of pretty flower photos, but don’t always meet with great success! Ah, well.

Gone to Ruin
Salton Sea, CA
Went back to re-shoot this a few months ago, but alas. It’s now completely gone!

The Wait
Florence, Italy
Many buses had passed this man by and I wondered just what he was waiting for…

Golden Willow
Oso Flaco, CA
Macro shot with “golden” processing.

 

Newest Addition

Hope life is going great for everyone.  It’s been forever since we’ve posted.  We’ve been busy with lots of stuff,  not the least of which is this little guy…an amazingly cute (and amazingly head-strong!)  labradoodle named Moki. He fell into our lives about two months ago when some very dear friends had to give him up due to severe allergies and asthma.  It was bittersweet, that first ride home; feelings of excitement tempered with the sadness of our dear friends loss. We’ve tried to lessen that loss with a stream of pictures and stories of his antics (of which there are many!).  Our big sweet dog Tenaya is nothing short of wonderful with him–we never have to worry about them getting enough exercise!

Moki’s grown a bit since these were taken….we’ll post some recent ones soon.

Moki , 12-14 weeks old