What a difference a year makes!

Hola, Folks.
Crimony! It's been over a month since I last posted a blog. Sorry about that.
When I consider that I posted a blog nearly every day in November and December of 2012 and then I look at the paltry number of posts for this holiday season…
{sigh} Ah well.

However, when I consider that since last November/December I have been actively pursuing a Fiber Arts degree, that I have met a wide range of radically interesting and inspiring people in the last 10 months, and that my creative interests have bloomed dramatically in 2013…

What a difference a year makes. {Happy Sigh}
But I do miss writing on the blog and seeing from whence visitors come and if comments are left. As I'm sure you've guessed, I have been spending a great deal of time in the Ceramics and Weaving labs. And I am generally very pleased (and surprised) with the results of my time. The semester is nearly over and my Ceramics and Weaving projects are done/turned in/pending grading. I still have some more work to do for the Clothing Construction class so I'm not done yet.

But a little bit of down time before the next semester is up-n-coming and my to-do lists are being jotted/revised and "Blog" appears often on those lists. A fair amount of knitting and UFO pursuits are plotted as well.

Until the next blog "to-do" is fulfilled, here are a couple of quick pictures from the school adventures of the last few weeks.

Two "nose-level" views of my final project from my Weaving I class:

The collection of pots that came from the 2nd Glaze firing in Ceramics I:
{Yes, I like throwing pots on a potter's wheel!}

And…here's 3 more pictures.
These are the photos I entered in the 11th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest.
I know - it's ok. I don't actually expect to win.
{grin} I've seen the winning pictures from the 2012 contest.

However, I'm glad I did it. It's something I've never done before and I like the idea of trying even though I'm well aware of how remote the possibility of winning is. I'm mostly hoping that one of my pictures might be deemed interesting enough to be posted on the Smithsonian's Photo of the Day.
The finalists will be announced in March 2014 and the winners and Reader's Choice Winners will be announced in Spring 2014.

You've seen this picture before. I included it in the September 28th "More Landscape - this time in ink. Plus Photos from an Inky Dark Night" blog post. I took the picture a little after midnight with a flashlight held between my knees (so the camera could "see" to focus) and whilst dodging a large sphinx moth. {grin}

I tweeted out this picture in October after pausing in the breezy pre-sunset afternoon to take the picture at the Pima College West campus. This was taken with my aging iTouch - and the Smithsonian has a new category this year for photos taken with phones-n-such. 

Hmmm - I'm not sure how well this will come through on the blog (or to the folks at the Smithsonian).

This is a 360 degree picture taken with my iTouch and the Occipital 360Panorama app as I stood in the back of my little pickup truck and viewed alllll of the sunset-drenched Tucson valley and sky. It was spectacular and the photo doesn't quite do it justice.

You can also view this photo on the Occipital Website as a larger "flat image or in the original 360 degrees (use your mouse to click-drag-shift the image left/right). 

I plan to post again soon. Hope your holidays are going well!