Lens Cleaner

Third Time the Charm?

On the long, slow, snowy drive, just over half way from town, I crested the hill and there it was.  The elusive lynx.  It was my second sighting of this cat in the four years we have lived in NW Ontario.  The first time I slowed the car to a stop in order to watch the spiky eared cat pad across the road on its large paws and then disappear into the forest.   It was a shady part of the drive, so I didn't even bother picking up my camera from the passenger seat to take a photo.  At today's sighting and before the cat moved off, I pulled over, quickly picked up my camera and shot a few frames, hoping to get at least one photo.  But, alas, shooting through a dirty windshield of a vibrating car does not a sharp photo make.  As I got out of the car, the lynx moved into the forest.  And then I noticed the smaller kittens that had already crossed the road and were in the trees.  If only I had been a minute or so earlier on the scene.  Sigh.  Maybe the third time around I'll get at least one sharp capture of a lynx.  But, as my spouse pointed out when I told her my story, at least I saw a lynx, and a lynx family at that.  It's a rare treat to see these secretive animals even once, let alone twice.

Made Me Smile: Ice Creams

Student Art Project: Paul Klee

I find it very difficult to teach art.  In a recent search, I came across an art teacher's blog that is terrific for a person such as myself.  The author writes clear descriptions and posts pictures to help you through the creation process. Encouraged by my spouse, who tells me that the only way to teach art to students is to do it yourself, I painted a "Paul Klee Inspired Heart Painting" on my own the previous weekend.  After my students learned about Paul Klee and we discussed some of his artwork, I then walked my students through the project this week, step by step.  They loved it.  At parent teacher conferences last night they proudly showed off their work. 

If you struggle with teaching art, check out A Faithful Attempt.  There might be a project or two that you can use for your class.

Wordless Wednesday

Project 365: Week 6

Taking photos this week was hard, mostly because of time restraints (report cards, writing assessments, reading benchmarks, etc.) and exhaustion. I quickly grabbed a capture each day, hoping it would turn out when I loaded the pics into Lightroom on the weekend. Tonight I tried my hand at some abstract photos because my earlier photos from the day were crap less than desirable and I needed to come up with something else. The abstract attempt became an exercise in frustration because I need a better tripod for macro work and a whole lot more patience dealing with olive oil (don't ask). I did learn some things tonight and will come back to the abstract later to improve upon it. So this week is done. In spite of all the extra school work this week, I managed to take a pic or two each day, which was the goal of this project.

Time to go clean up the mess I made...



You can also see the pics here or here.

Randomography: Morning Frost