Memory Lane Is Never Closed

With a sad heart I’d like to share that my dear Mom passed away on February 23, 2010. She was filled with a passion for life and a curiosity and energy difficult to match. On her last day she went to the doctors for a routine checkup, had lunch with her very best friend and talked with all her children. She was in her home, tucked in her bed, watching her favorite TV shows. Sometime that evening she quietly and peacefully drifted into the night. It was a blessing that she lived a life without pain, surgeries or rehab, she never “grew old.” Mom was 79.

I haven’t slept since Tuesday night, I get an hour here and there. When I wake, I walk the house and stop at a window and look out. I usually stand there for a couple minutes then I go look out another window. The first night after she died the snow fell in large flakes, there was no wind so they fell straight down and I could pick one out and watch it fall. I kept doing this and it started to feel like tears from the sky, I’ve never felt that before.

The irony of posting an image with the title “Memory Lane Is Never Closed” 3 days before she died on FaceBook is going to stay with me a long time. My mom was a bit shy but she did post a comment on FaceBook and I’m so glad she did. (Her name was Rita Pezzella McCollough).

If your Mom and Dad are still living, tell them often you love them.

Let it snow….. I think

Wow, snow is beautiful, to a point. I like 5 inches, I like 10 inches, I even like 15 inches but when the ruler sank into the snow to 28 inches I knew there would be a lot of clean-up hours. It’s interesting how neighbors began talking again, one’s I haven’t seen in years came over to chat and catch up. I think the hustle-bustle and pressure to make a living is temporarily put aside and it’s OK to pause and say HELLO.

Photos: Both of these pics are HDR images tonemapped in Photomatix at the default setting. I followed with a BW conversion in PS using Image>Adjustments>Black&White. After some dodging and burning I went to my folder of textures and found some pics of a boat hull taken at the marina. I laid a pic of the boat hull over the image below and the image with the fence, I laid a pic of a painted piece of paper over the image. Splashing ink on paper and staining it with some coffee is a fun way to make textures.