The sun rises over the mountains, touching our frost-tipped apricot tree.

This morning I looked out into our yard to find the plum tree frosted over and the morning sun just beginning to rise, causing the branches to sparkle. Two minutes later I was there with my camera.

Processed with the Winter action in Florabella’s Colorplay action set. The cool turquoise tones felt right for this frosty shot.

Happy New Year! May 2013 be filled with hope and joy for you and your families.

There’s a special connection between a little girl and her cat. Here Sunshine and Rosie sit side-by-side in our family room, facing away from me, leaning against a window and looking out into the backyard. Sunshine talks softly while Rosie meows in return. Their discussion is a mystery, but they are enjoying their connection and are at peace.

By the way, I finally have an iPod with a camera and I’m now on Instagram (which, yes, I signed up for the day my iPod arrived.) I’d love to be friends if you’re on there, too. Either leave your address in the comments of this post or follow me at http://instagram.com/caryncaldwell so I know how to find you.

Disclaimer: I’m still pretty new at taking photos, editing them, and posting them with Instagram, but I’m learning more every day and having a great time experimenting. Let’s have fun together!

And, for kicks, anyone who’s been on Instagram (or even Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest) lately should enjoy this Nickleback parody. I admit I’m guilty of a few of these…

Twin daisies reach toward the summer sun. Processed with Florabella Colorplay actions.

First of all, I posted over on my regular blog. It’s a mock tutorial on how to cook oatmeal in the microwave. (Hint: Don’t do it the way I do.) Would love to have you stop by and weigh in on things you keep doing even though you know they’re doomed to failure. (Really, it’s more fun than it sounds!)

And now some news. As it turns out, winter is brown. And it is cold. And it is dark when I’m ready to go out and take pictures. As a result, I’m having a little trouble finding my inspiration. Pair that with a book I’d like to finish revising this year and a toddler who has not been napping, and I think I’m going to cut down to a once-a-week posting schedule, at least for the next few months. I would rather do that than post photos I don’t love (which is only fair to you, the viewer, too). Starting next week, you’ll find new photos by me posted every Wednesday morning. I also hope that this new schedule will allow me to visit all of you more frequently — something I have not done as much as I would like to because of time constraints. When the lovely spring returns, with all of its flowers and green things, and even butterflies, I should be back to my Monday/Thursday posting.

Detail of the tips of a pinecone. Same pinecone as this one, but with a different focal point, and in color.

Day lily, slightly desaturated and with added vignette for mood.

Aspen leaves, turned autumn gold, shortly before letting go of their branch. Taken near here.

A pile of leaves found in an aspen forest near here. The water droplets are from a light rain that passed through shortly before I arrived – a storm that was still clinging to the nearby mountains.

Aspen trees glowing in the setting sun, with cloud-shrouded mountains behind them. Processed with a toned-down version of Pioneer Woman’s Old West action for a little different effect.

Also, sorry for being non-responsive on comments! I LOVE comments, but with this new system all messages went to moderation and I didn’t receive any notifications. Hoping the glitch is fixed now!

With all these autumn colors, I’ve been missing spring a bit so I thought I’d plow through my archives and find a flower photo. These are apricot flowers from our tree. I took the picture this spring, but didn’t post it because I’d already put several others up. Now it’s time.

By the way, I’m testing a new comments system, so if you have any problems with it please contact me!

I couldn’t resist taking this shot of our friend’s daughter a few weeks ago. Despite looking bereft, she and Sunshine were actually having a terrific time playing in this soft, sandy spot out in the desert.

A single yellow aspen surrounded by pine trees, glowing in the light from the setting sun. Taken just down the road from my previous post.

Happy autumn! This one seemed an appropriate one to post for the first day of October. (Speaking of the calendar, how is it already October?!?) I took this one up in the mountains a few days ago after my husband pointed out that the aspens were at their peak yellowness. Thanks, hubby!

Same leaf, different angle, this time cross-processed with a hint of pink toning.  (Thanks to Coffee Shop Blog.) The grass was just a little wet, hence the round bokeh in the background.

Actions: Colorplay by Florabella Collection Perfect Color (toned down) + Wildheart + Summer Peach + Dramarama (toned down)

I am in love! These actions just came out, and I convinced hubby to get them for me for our anniversary. Okay, I strong-armed him into okaying the purchase under the guise of our anniversary. Two minutes later I had paid for them, begun the download, and opened the photos I wanted to play with (including this one from an April session. Note: See the others in this series here and here.)

(Another note: Happy anniversary, honey!)

I was afraid these would be redundant with my other actions, but they are not. The Perfect Color action really is what it claims. For a good, basic, beautiful, and easy processing job, one go of this action makes a wonderful photo. Nothing else necessary. (Though the individual layers sometimes need adjustment, of course, depending on the photo. In the above case, I toned the whole set down because I knew I’d be doing other things with it.)

The best part, though? Colorplay comes with many different actions  - and the ability to run them all at once, with all the layers turned off. Just go into your pallet, turning the various actions on and off, mixing and matching and playing. I can spend forever doing this. The results are different with every photo, making for endless experimentation.

I highly recommend it!

Taken in the mountains between Durango and Colorado. One of my favorite late summer flowers, this time with the sun and a developing thunderstorm behind/above.

Autumn is coming.

Our day lilies have gone to seed, their pods opening gracefully to reveal what could become next year’s blooms.

Sunshine adores pinecones. She hunts them when we go to the park, and she asks for them whenever we take her stroller near a pine tree. As a result, we have a little pile of pinecones in the planter near our front door. This is one of them.

Taken in a field near Mancos, Colorado.