Author: pugdes

  • Lately

    I’ve been taking photos lately but the holidays have kept me busy. Now that we’re past all that, I had a minute to post something. One really cool thing that happened was one of my photos got selected for the 52 Picks album on 52 Frames, where I’ve been submitting photos weekly for 23 weeks so far. The challenge that week was Fill the Frame. I have to admit I was super excited to see it featured. I got the email that it had been chosen on Christmas Day, so Merry Christmas to me! LOL. Here’s the image:

    The next week’s challenge, for the new year, was self-portrait. I am NOT a self-portrait kind of person, but you know, I’m old enough to be able to do that without it being a big deal. And it actually was kind of fun. I figured out how to get my camera to focus and shoot with the app on my phone, which was pretty cool. Then once I was done, the kids who were visiting got in on it, and I even did everyone’s passport photos. Fun times!

    Hazel is always in on it.

    Also for one challenge, I went to the woods near here and got a couple of fun shots, I thought:

    And I have a new obsession: fountain pens. Apparently it’s a whole thing with pen shows, YouTube channels and all of it. So I said goodbye to some more money and have been buying pens, ink, paper…but they just write so nicely. It makes it a joy, and it’s becoming a lost art, in a way. I had some time to go through some of my old boxes of “stuff” and found all these old letters from my dad, mom, grandparents, aunts, friends. And just seeing their handwriting was really moving, but also when I’d see it, I would know immediately who it was from without looking at the signature, and it was such a nice thing to see. So I want to do more letter writing. I think it’s just such a great thing.

    And I’ll close with some fun photos from the holiday break from the iPhone (new one, 17 Pro…it’s nice).

  • Cafes and Chairs

    I really love the look of the cafe chairs in France, apparently, because I took a lot of photos of them. I like the repetition and patterns I think. And there are plenty of them to choose from!

    All images taken with my Fujifilm X100VI.

  • Bretagne, France

    We took a weeklong trip to Pont-Aven, France in Bretagne. I loved it there so much and I took so many pictures. Way too many to post here, but I’ll try to make it reasonable. I just really felt connected, engaged and inspired there. I have some themed photos that I’ll post later, but for now, these:

    All photos taken with Fujifilm X100VI.

  • Resurrecting this Blog

    Because I don’t know what else to do with all of these photos. And hoping it’ll become a habit and not something I do for a day or two and forget.

    So here are some photos from our trip to Ohio for GOBA (Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure):

    And some from RAGBRAI. This was our 7th.

    And some from our trip to Bordeaux, France in September. Really a beautiful place!

    Aaaand that should get me started. I’ve got plenty more to post, but those are a few highlights from 2025. All photos in this post were taken with my Ricoh GRIIIx or iPhone 14 Pro.

  • Christmas Trip to Mississippi

    Frostier than usual for this time of year.

    Nikon Z50 with Lensbaby Sol 45; some with macro filters. Had so much fun playing with this lens and filters.

  • Gary

    Learning to be a model

    Nikon Z50 and Lensbaby Trio 28 on sweet setting.

  • Bouquet of Flowers

    A good way to brighten up the gray days lately.

    Nikon Z50 and Lensbaby Trio 28.

  • A Walk in the Woods

    Took the camera on a hike.

    All photos were taken with a Nikon Z50 and a Lensbaby Trio 28. Such fun.

  • My little bit of the universe

    Getting back to having an online space for things I’d normally store on a hard drive.

    I had a blog, previously, that is missing now. The hosting company I was using apparently has gone defunct and I can’t get my blog or my domain name from them. So here we are. I wanted a place to put thoughts, photos, projects and the like because what else am I going to do with them? I don’t really have an agenda for this blog. Just a place to put things. I still miss my old blog. It had some things, like our trip on the Katy Trail in Missouri, that I’d like to still have. I have the photos but not the text, so it would be fun to look back on that. By the way, meet Gary the Pug. He’s the center of our household and an odd, but very sweet guy who owns the neighborhood and barks at all the noises. We love him.

    So what you’ll see here: photos, particularly using Lensbaby lenses because that’s what I’m into right now, quilts, Gary, maybe some drawings.