Weekly Kitty Fix

Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? By Neil Gaiman and Illustrated by Andy Kubert

I will confess, this is the first Batman graphic novel I have read and the reason was because it was Neil Gaiman’s Batman.

Thus I cannot compare it to other Batman’s, but I thought it had the same surreal dream state of his Sandman series. Batman attends his own funeral (or at least it appears that way) along with his dearest friends and deadliest enemies. Each of them gives quite a different eulogy of the Cape Crusaders life, and death. As the Dark Knight hears the contradictory tales, he must determine the truth for himself.

Amazing story telling that pares perfectly with the bold and macabre illustrations. Then the bonus material is chalked full of that Gaiman dry sense of humor that I love so well.

Kitty Fix

Where's Gretel?

Freekibble Hi-5

Today is Freekibble Hi-5. They will be donating 5x's the kibble today when you answer the Bow-Wow Trivia question (right or wrong). If you have time today please try to visit their site and feed some hungry shelter dogs.

Playing Around with the Camera

Early morning snow shots after last week's storm (well, that is early morning for me).

Kitty Fix

Hansel & Gretel

Halloween Cupcakes

This year part of our Halloween entertainment was decorating cupcakes. A HUGE thank you to Mom for letting us make a frightening Halloween mess in her kitchen.

Getting Crafty

Trying to get more crafty in my older age so last weekend I painted coffins...what?!?

Kitties First Snow

Hansel, how did all this white stuff get on our deck?!?

I so need to get those little flakes

It is not only on our deck but all over our back yard too

What are you going to do about this?

Okay, we may be over it now.

Fall Foilage

Playing around with the camera in our front and back yard trying out a a few pointers I have picked up in the CreativeTechs online photography class with John Greengo. Excellent class, I have learned a lot even with having a point and shoot camera. Perhaps one day I will be able to afford an SLR. Dare to dream...of lenses.

No Photoshop was done on these next two photos, the color change was done with lowering the shutter speed and aperture.

What the chair would look like if I lived with my sister

What the chair looks like today

Hiking in the Mountains - Part 3

The final grouping of the hiking photos, tomorrow I will have some exciting backyard fall foilage shots. I know you are shivering with anticipation.

Must always start out with man and his hiking dog, LaKeit

Moss on a rock

Now with the 3 series of water photos. Wasn't as happy with these, will need to look at my class notes on how to keep the exposure down when the shutter is open for a length of time and your apeture is at its lowest.

Fast shutter speed

Medium shutter speed

Slow shutter speed

On these two I was playing with both shutter speed and depth of field.

Fast shutter and greater depth of field

Slow shutter speed and less depth of field

Eventually she will just come and de-install Photoshop from my machine

Oh yes, more playing with Photoshop

One last view of those gorgeous mountains on our way out of town

Hiking in the Mountains - Part 2

More pictures from our hike up in the mountains a couple a weeks ago.

Man and his dog...on a hike

Reflection of trees in water, in hind-sight I think a better composition would have been 25% landscape behind water and 75% water vs. the 10/90 because I think it is hard to make out

Mighty hikers on bridgeThe next series is again me playing with the shutter speed, starting with a fast shutter speed to stop the action of the water and then steadily increased the shutter speed to blur or get a cloud effect with the water.

Fast shutter speed

Medium shutter speed

Slow shutter speed

Again, playing around with Photoshop to the dismay of my sister (Photoshop guru), but I did make the water purple for her

Another view of that mountain range on the way home

I will try to get the last of the shots posted tomorow.

Hiking in the Mountains

A couple of weekends ago my husband and I took a late anniversary trip up to the folks and hiked down to the river. I am taking a photography class through CreativeTechs so I ventured out of the Auto mode for these shots (side note: if you are not familiar with CreativeTechs please check them out as they offer a lot of great online courses, and trust me, you can't beat the price). I took way more photos than I thought thus I will post them through out the week versus inundated my Mom with them all at once, since she is probably the only one looking at them.

Start of the trail head

Reflection of tree in water

Mighty Hiker

Trying to be artistic

These next 3 are a series of rushing water pictures where I started out with a fast shutter speed to stop the action of the water and then steadily increased the shutter speed to blur or get a cloud effect with the water.

Fast shutter speed (or as fast as a point and shoot can do)

Medium shutter speed

Slow shutter speed

Playing with Photoshop to the dismay of my sister (Photoshop Guru)

Mountain scene driving back home

Will post more tomorrow.

Kitty Fix

What on earth are you looking at?!?

Oh, an owl.

Happy National Punctuation Day

What's today? Drum roll please...National Punctuation Day!! Dust off all your apostrophes, colons, semi-colons, commas, brackets, quotation marks and other fun-filled punctuations and get out and party hardy with them.

To find out more about this festive day, you can visit the National Punctuation Day website. Though I was disappointed when I found out it was meatloaf vs. a cake.

Birthday Boy Golfing

My husband and dad have the same birthday and decided to go and play a round this year. Here are a few snapshots of the Birthday Boy Golf Outing at Fossil Trace Golf Course in Golden CO. A fun and sporty golf course, highly recommended for all you golfers out there. We all had a great time or should that be, we all had a ball ; ).

Black Orchid Written by Neil Gaiman; Art by Dave McKean

The artwork and the fact it was written by one of my favorite writers, Neil Gaiman, is what drew me to Black Orchid. I read the description:

After being viciously murdered, Susan is reborn fully grown as the Black Orchid, a hybrid of plant and human, in order to avenge her own death. Now as this demigoddess attempts to reconcile her human memories and botanical origins, she must also untangle the webs of deception and secrets that led to her murder.

Okay, I was hooked and the Black Orchid came home with me. I finished it over two weeks ago, but struggled with how to summarize it. The story is rich, dark and surreal, almost like you are floating through a poem. Though imagine my surprise during that poetic journey when I turned a page to stumble upon the cape crusader, Batman. Never saw that coming. I think fans of The Sandman and MirrorMask would enjoy the Black Orchid’s story and the psychedelic images of Dave McKean.

Weekly Kitty Fix

Perhaps one day when I can get a camera with a faster shutter speed, I will be able to get other pictures of them besides sleeping...or the ones with the blurred streak going across them.

A Little Weekly Kitty Fix

Hellboy 8: Darkness Calls by Mike Mignola

In volume 8, Hellboy: Darkness Calls, Hellboy is still on sabbatical, but that means anything but rest for our red dehorned hero. Hecate, the queen of the witches, is presumed destroyed and now they need a new leader. They offer to make Hellboy, King of the Witches, but for those who are familiar with Hellboy, we know what he told them they could do with that offer. Which just a piece of advice, not wise to turn down such job offers from witches.

Hellboy’s rejection hurls him into the world of his old nemesis, Baba Yaga, who is still seeking an eye for an eye revenge against Hellboy. Even though they are now on her battlegrounds, Hellboy still finds a few alliances, but Baba Yaga is willing to conjure up whatever it takes to get her revenge. Meanwhile, the witches embark on bringing back an ancient entity that most likely will destroy the world.

Unlike the last couple of volumes that consisted of several short stories, Darkness Calls is just one action packed tale filled with folklore, mythology, theology, and demonology.

I don’t think I can sum it up better than Jane Yolen in the introduction: “It is a deeply human story for all its monsters.”

I can hardly wait to start reading volume 9, oh wait, there is no volume 9 :(.