Floral Friday!

"Ready For Anything"

Another peony from my wander around the much loved perennial rock gardens of Sam Lawrence Park, in Hamilton, Ontario. Today is rainy, gloomy, and cold. So I dedicate this image to all of you weathering something you'd rather not. Hang in there. The sun will shine again, that's a guarantee!

Have a great weekend gang! See you Monday!

Change It Up!!! ~Floral Friday

Rainy Day Magnolias, a photo by C.Duncan's Photography on Flickr.

Every creative person I know gets stuck. Moments where you're in a rut. You have artist block. Nothing seems new. Or interesting. You'd rather bury yourself in a carton of Super Chocolate Caramel Explosion ice cream and watch reruns of Wonder Woman... well... some of us anyways.

Thought I'd share my go-to list of things I do to switch things up and gain new inspiration. If you've been doing photography for many years, these will be old hat to you. But if you've never tried these, it can put the excitement back into photographing whatever comes your way. Here we go;

Set An Absurd Boundry ~ We all know the ideal conditions for shooting inside, outside, whatever. So give yourself a specific shooting condition and only shoot that way. Only landscapes in the rain. Only portraits at twilight. Shoot every day for an entire month only from your backyard, or along a specific stretch of road. Force yourself to get creative. And tell others about your
self-inflicted project so you follow up.

Use Your Gear... All of It! ~ Use your lenses in creative ways. Wide Angles for portraits! Yep, you heard me. Figure out how to get creative with your perspective and the POV you shoot from and get some cool portraits. Stop reaching for the obvious lens choice. Use your telephoto first when photographing architecture instead of the wide angle. Force yourself to see within a tighter, less chaotic frame. It's simply thinking outside the box but sometimes we're in a comfortable rhythm and can't see anything else, then wonder why our images seem uninspired.

Face Your Weaknesses ~ If you steer clear of macro nature shots because you can't seem to get what everyone else gets in the lens, start exploring what else you can aim a macro lens at. Over the course of a month, those skills will grow. If you avoid portraiture in general, start with a fun project with your family making crazy faces, or only your dog for a few weeks, in different light, in different locations, and hone those portrait skills you were afraid were non-existent. What you learn about yourself you'll be able to apply to what you do love. Or it may open up a new vocation for you completely. And how exciting would that be.

Invoke The Buddy System ~ Invite others to participate. The more the merrier, and everyone stays motivated, feeding off each others energy and experiences. This is what my friend Dave Pratt and I did with our Epic Personal Photo Challenge... we opened it up to anyone who loved photography and every two weeks a new person picks a theme we have to shoot in. We reveal all our images on the same Sunday and discussion runs rampant on what our individual approaches resulted in, and new ways to see a subject. It's fabulous and very inspiring. The fun is injected back into the act of photography, and you can tell by looking at the images each week. You can click the link above to join us if you'd like....

So have a fabulous Friday gang, and let's inject some inspiration back into our photography. Just change it up!

Soak Up The Sunset ~Floral Friday

"Awash in Sunset Light"

A quick little post just to say thank you to my readers. It's easy to think I'm just putting random thoughts and ramblings out there into the atmosphere and there might be a slight chance some one's listening. But my stats tools tell me there's so many of you tuning in every week, and I didn't want to go another day without saying how much I appreciate all of you. Thank you for journeying along with me. From the bottom of my heart.

I'm currently working on a survey which will be posted here and on Facebook... I'd love to know what you'd like to see or read more of quite frankly. Where you all are in your pursuit of photography. What topics are important to you. All of that good stuff.

So be on the lookout for it in the next week!

In the meantime, I'm starting off an iffy weather weekend here in The Hammer with this image I took down at Bayfront Park where the tulips are growing strong, tossed with daffodils, and where they seem to be set on fire in the sunset light. This universal approach to great light simply can't be beat. Have you tried it yet? Let's get out there then!

Have a super weekend gang! And thanks for reading along with my rambles...

Magnolias ~ Floral Friday

Magnolias in Rain, a photo by C.Duncan's Photography on Flickr.

Magnolias. They ooze old world romance and purity. I love trying to capture those things in the lens. I can spend hours photographing magnolias. And feel renewed afterwards. I was thrilled working on this image for today. Thrilled and ..... giddy. I just love magnolias.

The weather cooperated for once. I love photographing flowers after lazy rain showers, the sky still overcast. The colors are cleaner, no high contrast to work around, and a few rain drops still clinging. Add a little, and I mean little, fill flash to erase deep shadow on the subject and you have the makings of a fine photograph. Had my trusty tripod, plus bumped the ISO up to 320 since there was a slight breeze and I needed my shutter speed to freeze the blossom without loosing the exposure I wanted. It's extremely rewarding to see the image in your mind become the final product on the screen without excessive processing.

Now on to other news. You may have noticed that today's image has been posted through another source other than blogger itself. I want to thank Flickr for providing photographers with the option to post images through their site for a very important reason. I've noticed recently in my blog feed that someone is "lurking" about the blog, waiting for me to post images here, then googling the titles and copying my images on the google search site. NOT cool friends. I don't know what this person is using them for, but it's the sneaky way to ignore the copyright of any of my images. For the most part it's not a huge issue as I have been posting small resolution images, and I'm not naive about what happens in Internet land, but still. So posting through Flickr has eliminated a good portion of this problem as far as I know. And we need to spread the word... photographers work just as hard as anyone, the minute you take their images without permission, you devalue every photographer out there. We already struggle with being asked for free photographs every time we turn around. So let's enjoy the images, and if you're super attached to one, contact me, we'll work something out.

Thanks for the ramble today gang! I appreciate each and every one of you who show up to read the blog and let it inspire you somehow. Thanks! 

Spring Tide Arrived! ~ Floral Friday!

Just a sampling of Gage Park's "Spring Tide" 2012 in Hamilton, Ontario. I attended with fellow photographer and friend Ronald Barrons to photograph the displays and get our fill of spring color! And the colors are amazing this year! So vibrant! I was in heaven.

The spring bulb show continues until Sunday but unofficially remains viewable until the displays fade throughout the coming week or so. Admission is free. Let the staff know Christine sent you!

Merry Christmas To All!

"The Christmas Hearth"

Visited the Tropical Greenhouse over at Hamilton's Gage Park the other day and amongst the banana trees and tropical ferns was their lovely Christmas display... a Christmas tree and fireplace decked out in poinsettias and amaryllis, so very sweet and homey. This is one of my favourite times of the year. I love watching loved ones open their gifts in surprise, I love reading the true Christmas story, I love the food and the friends.

This is a shot of the wreath over the fireplace... and if you ask Ron, my photography partner in crime for the day, he'll confirm that the minute I lay eyes on it, I knew I wanted this close-up. The colors and the textures called to me. And there's some great lines on the background from the mantle and windows nearby. And I knew I'd wait and share it today, my last post before the Christmas celebration begins in earnest.

I do wish you all a very blessed Christmas, and even if it is not your religion or holiday of choice, I hope you'd not be offended that I send you all the best my own seasonal celebration has to offer. If the tables were turned, I'd be touched that you'd extend the same. And many of you in other cultures have already... I'd never consider it to be anything other than an honour. Whatever you celebrate in the coming days, my prayer is that you be surrounded with family and friends, that your coming year abound with adventure and blessings, and that the peace extended to us in the gift of a babe in manger permeate the entire New Year and beyond.

Merry Christmas friends. See you on the flip side!

The Little Things ~ Floral Friday!

"Curly Vine"

Without any naval gazing whatsoever today, thought I'd post a random list of all the little things that I've learned to remember whenever I'm out photographing flowers or anything for that matter. Here we go;

1. Keep a sense of adventure.

2. Use my Exposure Compensation button more. It's my friend.

3. Watch my histogram. NOT my LCD screen for accuracy.

4. The light dictates my technique. The subject in that light dictates the story.

5. A tripod slows me down. Sometimes this is good, but sometimes bad.

6. The flash comes OFF the camera. I get better photographs every time.

7. I need to continue learning about my flash.

8. I always look up. Way up. There's always something above you to see.

9. The right half of the right half of your Histogram is crucial to knowing if you have a photograph with the largest amount of information possible.

(Thank you David DuChemin for this one)

10. My telephoto will always require a tripod in less than brilliant light.

It's just a slow lens.

11. If my exposure is dead on in camera, or darn near close to, my higher ISO isn't going to ruin a photograph.

12. I do my best work in Manual mode. A total 360 from four years ago, I was terrified to leave Program mode. Total control in manual is so freeing.

13. It's okay to take sucky photographs. I learn from them. Every time.

14. Photography is hard. It's hard.

15. It's hard.

16. Keep a sense of adventure.

Flowers and... Trucks? ~ Floral Friday!

2011 Fall Mum Show, Gage Park, Hamilton

Back to Floral Friday and I thought seeing as we're now into the cold weather I'd post something bright and colorful... and automotive. Yes, you read that right. For all you men out there that think flowers are for girls... well, they are. But put a massive antique vehicle in their midst and suddenly you have men flocking to the nearest flower show. Ha.

The theme for this years past Mum Show was "Fire" and there were massive displays throughout the brand new spacious greenhouses that were full of bright color, dragons spitting fire, a giant flame, and these beautiful old firetrucks, polished to a mirrored finish and decorated to within an inch of their shiny chrome. Naturally, I had to take pictures.

The space was well light obviously, and the only downside was trying to photograph between crowds of visitors. Space like this requires you to truly pay attention to the clutter and chaos intruding into the frame, and to still try to get the big picture for those who may not have been there. The two shots up this morning were my favorite from the show. And I hope you enjoy, whether you're partial to flowers OR trucks!

Have a good weekend folks, and thanks once again for the ramble!

It's Glorious ~ Floral Friday!

"Bloomin' Sunshine"

I love a challenge don't you? Right now I'm preparing to try some new avenues within my photography for the coming new year. I'm reassessing my skills, deciding what needs an overhaul, where I might be wasting my time, and how I want to present it all. It excites me. It intimidates me.

It's a glorious process.

I'm going to try to include this process here on the blog... my attempts at change, what I'm getting inspiration from, what I fail at... all of it. My hope is that it'll help someone else out there step out of their comfy zone and embrace a different approach to whatever their own passion is. And as always, I'll keep posting photos!

Anyways, that's my plan over the next little while... just in case you see some changes! Have a groovy Friday gang, and thanks for the ramble!

For Colors Sake ~ Floral Friday!

"The Sweetest Blush"

I'm in love with the subtle range of hues in this image. Until the Annual Fall Mum Show last week, I had no idea 'mums could be grown in such elegant, rich color pallets. Not only that but they are enormous in size. Think blooms the size of a bowling ball and you'll get the gist!

I suddenly have the urge to go bowling... In a garden. Huh.

I pay very close attention to color when I'm shooting nature. I'm always making sure that for the most part I'm not relying on it alone, in place of finding better subject matter, to dazzle the viewer. That's lazy photography in my opinion. BUT... there are times when it's a crucial part of the image, or perhaps color even becomes the subject matter itself. Then it becomes another tool in your arsenal of imagery.

I saw these 'mums and decided that I needed their color to fill the entire frame. That, paired with the repetitiousness of the petals and enhanced by the deep shadows I exposed for, made sure the colors would be the impacting visual factor. And isn't that the reason we even take photographs? Because something made an impact? And we're driven to provide the same visual experience with others? I know that's why I do.

I chose an exposure, I chose a vantage point, I chose a subject, I chose a composition, and I chose my processing approach ALL for color's sake. That's a pretty powerful element when deliberately and carefully put to use.

Skip bowling. I think I'll go find me something colorful to photograph.

Fallen ~ Floral Friday!

"Fall Rushes In"

Well, they aren't exactly flowers, but they're close... and with my busy week I knew I needed to post an ol' favorite today in order just to get the blog up. I couldn't bear letting you all down yet again with a missing post.

This is a shot from last fall... mainly because the colors died on us early this year in the greater Hamilton area, just as I predicted. We just didn't have weather conducive to bold autumn color. I've noticed many a tree trying valiantly to turn color just within the last couple days, but many are simply dropping green leaves now since it's so late. Not good for picture taking that's for sure. But what can you do?

So I'm off this morning to the Gage Park Greenhouses to photograph the Annual Fall Mum Show. They installed a massive new greenhouse this summer, and have filled it to the brim with chrysanthemums they've nurtured themselves even in the midst of all the construction.

I highly recommend you come and support the show and visit their always lovely tropical greenhouse as well... the staff once again have outdone themselves and this is one feature we Hamiltonians need to be proud of!

Maybe I'll see you there?

Have a great weekend folks... next week, posts will be back to normal,

I promise.

Pure Joy ~ Floral Friday!

"Crowning Glory"

When was the last time you took your camera out just to explore? No daily quota, no must-have money shot, no pressure to perfect technique.

Just to allow the camera to be guided by your eye. By whatever delights you. By whatever intrigues you. By something pretty just for pretty's sake. Experience the joy of photography at it's most simple.

Set aside the expectations that we artistic types are always placing on getting "the" moment and just go with the flow for a weekend. Then try it for a whole week. I dare ya to try it for a whole month...

Dunno why I had this thought today... but some of us are trying SO hard that we've forgotten how to enjoy the process. Get your eyes off the results, and put your heart and soul into the "doing".

Start this weekend. Make it a good one.

And thanks for the short ramble friends.

World Photography Day! ~ Floral Friday!

"Bold Whimsy"

It'd be a shame if I didn't actually post on the blog today, seeing as it's world photography day! So here I am, a little later than usual but it's a post none the less. I saw quite a bit of activity today in all sorts of photo communities, celebrating World Photography Day. And if you didn't actually take a photo today, I hope you were able to appreciate some instead.

Needless to say, there have been some amazing people who have mentored or befriended, or encouraged, or supported, or inspired me on my own pursuit of better photography. If I named everyone, we'd be here all weekend. But you all know who you are. And my thanks knows no end.

You've been the ones that corrected my skills, and sometimes my attitude. You've applauded my efforts, and prayed for my future. Some of you have provided direction, some of you have provided honesty. Many of you have stoked the fire for my love of all things art, some of you have succeeded in stoking my determination at being a better business manager. Many of you have come with cameras and shot alongside me for an afternoon. Many of you I've never met but you've been my life line at some point. And many of you I've admired from a distance, gleaming wisdom from your books, workshops and blogs. And most important, you've extended your friendship or supported me as family.

World Photography Day! I'm so happy to share it all with YOU.

Vintage Roses ~ Floral Friday!

"Fair Is The Rose..."

Friday once again, and that means flowers here at the blog. I've had a week free of any work, which means you seen some photos manipulated, played with or just were wonky enough on their own straight out of camera. Just because it was fun to do so!

Today's image is brought to you by the letter R... wait... sorry, mild flashbacks of Sesame Street, ahem. Today's image provoked me to edit with something aged in mind once again. Sepia shots of old rose gardens with some hand tinting came to mind for this one. Taken in the right light, roses have this lovely crisp texture to them so I was dying to try finding something to compliment that in editing. I found it when I used a duplicate layer to add a sepia conversion and used curves on the same layer to pop the mid tones and highlights. I dropped the opacity on that duplicate till I liked how much color showed through for effect. Another layer was applied with a textured old canvas effect, and I used the eraser tool to soften and remove some of it especially around the roses. Layers were flattened, and a bit of high pass sharpen applied at the hard setting which suited the overall look.

I think I may have to print this one as a canvas... makes me think of some of the old postcards that my grandmother collected way back in the day. And I think I may do a series for cards, which will finally be going up on the website for ordering within the week.

Thanks for the Friday ramble... get out there and capture your vision folks!

Banishing "The Box" ~ Floral Friday!

"Whirligigs"

(1/8 sec.@ F/16, ISO 100, 50mm fl, overcast morning light, handheld)

I had to banish the blahs. You all know the blahs... when that creative muse doesn't show up, when inspiration and creativity elope to some far off destination without warning. When you'd rather let your kids challenge you to the 57th round of Mario Karts instead of pick up the camera or editing. Nothing piques your interest, nothing seems brilliant enough, and every idea feels like it's been done before so why bother?

And I'd had a great week don't get me wrong. And I DID want to shoot something, the urge was waaaay deep down inside though. Then I remembered a little lesson I learned years ago. I was very focused on painting and sculpture but nothing seemed satisfactory. I'd labour days, weeks, months over something to get it exact but was always left wanting. It was enough to make me want to abandon art completely. Then an instructor on exchange from Europe noticed my struggle in class and asked me why everything had to be perfect. I couldn't answer. Why DID everything have to be perfect? Next thing I knew, he'd prepped my workspace with the sloppiest materials I'd ever seen together on one table with some plaster and said "Don't think anymore. Just create something delightful - for you."

Needless to say, when I abandoned myself to just enjoying the process I wound up creating an entire series of sculptures that even sold at the local art show before I could get them all out on the table for display. Banishing the pressure to accomplish the perfect piece gave me freedom to just enjoy being an artist. To break out of the box I'd put myself in. The blahs always seem to come in a box. Ever notice that.

I marched myself out to the front lawn yesterday determined to keep the blahs in the box and looked at my front garden. It occurred to me again that I haven't done enough artistic photography lately, that I needed to banish the typical approach to photographing the garden and just shoot with abandon and see what I end up with that delights just me. Just because. So I did!

The image above is one of a series I think I'm going to post - just because I truly enjoyed the process. I love the colors so vibrant and fresh after the rain we finally got. And because cone flowers are so stiff and sturdy looking I thought I'd do something fun to them, make them move or dance or twirl. So, I dialed in an exposure that would give me a slower shutter and give me ample time to move the camera around.  At times I knelt down and zoomed up into them, hovered way up over them and swung the camera back and forth across them, and for this morning's post I arched the camera from one side to the other almost in a circle. I immediately was personally delighted with this one... the composition is good (merely by chance, these don't always work, it's hit and miss... but soooo fun) and the speed at which I twirled the camera was just enough so you still have context.

And voila! Enjoying the process meant I could banish "the box". The muse eagerly returned, inspiration and creativity grovelled at the door asking for forgiveness, and my addiction to the Wii, banished. We spend a lot of time figuring out what our cameras can do for us - but have we spent enough time figuring out what we can really do with our cameras?

Thought outside the box lately? Need to banish it? Get out there and play. My playing wasn't anything spectacular... it simply brought me joy. Thanks for the ramble today folks, get out there this long weekend and express your joy while banishing "the box".

Sunset n' Wildflowers ~ Floral Friday

"Summer Susans II"

I love wildflower fields. I don't get to shoot enough of them, my own fault really as I seem to get caught up searching for more architecture and less nature sometimes. I think some major rural scouting needs to be done soon, a few locations noted for some good sunset back road ramblings.

I have noticed I like to take the more romantic or artsy approach to wildflowers. None of the trying to isolate a single razor sharp specimen on a backdrop of green bokeh. I like to include what I now refer to as the "beautiful mess" of the field or trails. Keeping it very natural looking. The only real magic coming from the quality of light. And the quality of light is at it's finest just as the sun rises, or decends.

This was taken over at Princess Point, here in Hamilton at sunset. Trails are carefully mowed through the fields, allowing you to get up close to birds that nest in the tall wild grasses, and to tons of flowers that are encouraged to naturalize throughout the area...

It was quiet, it was natural, and it was bathed in sun. I love sunsets and wildflowers.

Thanks for the ramble, and have a great weekend folks!

Flowers for Dad ~ Floral Friday!

"Your One & Only"

Floral Friday is going to be a super busy day for me... so let's keep this short and sweet so I can hop on the train to Toronto and start this weekend! Whoo hoo! And on that note I'd like to dedicate this post to all the Dads out there for Father's Day! Yes, I know it's a flower image. Yes, I know it's pink. Yes, I know most dads would rather see an image of classic cars, hockey players, or their favorite golf course as the sun goes down whilst and at the same time the subject gets a hole in one... but you'll have to make do with this one. You're welcome!

I have had the privilege of having a wonderful and wacky father, a lovely father-in-law, and watching my husband be an awesome Dad to our two kids. Men who honor their families with everything they do, who are spiritual rocks you can count on, and who have worked to support all their family's endeavours with their whole hearts. Who could ask for more?

So to all the dads who cheer at soccer games in the rain, all the dads who've played chauffeur late in the night with a car full of giggling teens, all the dads that hand over the contents of their wallets for various and fully explainable reasons on a weekend and only complain a little about the volume of that "noise" they call music... this Sunday is YOUR day. If your dad has ever gone beyond the call of duty, or is someone you maybe haven't honored in a while for various reasons, nows the time. Cause you only have one dad.

Make this weekend count somehow folks, and dare I say honor him all year 'round and thanks for the ramble!

B&W Beauty ~ Floral Friday!

"Simple Grace"

Well, I did promise Floral Friday here at the blog and deviated from the Doors Open theme. But thought I'd stay with my theme of B&W that I kept with also through the week. I'll be curious to see what your thoughts on this are. When I thought about the perfect flower to convert into mono tones, orchids came to mind... unique shapes, great veins of texture, and a bit of a compositional challenge when you lack a macro lens to fill the frame with.

The Platinum fx filter in Corel is lovely to work with, or at least, it's become one of my personal faves. When you take it into the curves function in PSPx3, you can fine tune every tone, every shadow, every highlight with a nice depth that is a little less stark than a classic B&W option. Perfect for floral shots. But that's just me. Every artist has their own approach. In a separate layer I added a bit of subtle texture, and with an eraser tool erased most of the clean background revealing the canvas effect underneath, leaving the flowers for sharpness. I merged the layers when I decided I had achieved the right opacity. Otherwise, the background was too bright for the image.

I shot this in my kitchen actually. I was playing with window light, a cheap white sheet stretched across the window acting as a diffuser, and my telephoto to get in close to the orchid in the foreground, blowing out the backdrop slightly and using a larger aperture so that I could get a much shallower depth of field artistically.

Enjoy today's image folks, and thanks for the ramble! Have a fabulous weekend and please remember to click on the Circle of Moms badge on the right hand side of my blog page if you've been enjoying my photographs! Thanks everyone who has already voted!

Magnolias ~ Floral Friday!

"In A World of Her Own"

(1/400 sec.@ F/9, 50mm prime, fish eye effx in Corel, ISO 160)

Since I was away from the blog yesterday, I thought I'd combine florals and experimenting today. Ever look into a tiny raindrop and a whole new world or scene seems to be contained within? Well, I have and it's usually while I'm out in the garden after it's rained. It's right around that time that I begin wishing for a macro lens or fish eye lens to magically appear on my camera so that I can try valiantly to reproduce that.

So far the lens fairy's been a no show.

So what to do, it takes a week for a rented lens to arrive in my area, and sometimes I just want to get the overall effect without the cost that goes along with renting or buying... in steps PaintShopPro x3 to the rescue. I get to take an image like the one below, a fine image in it's own right, and pop it into the distortion lens effects menu option after I've done any editing to it I wish. I rotate the image's distortion in the fish eye selection vertically and horizontally till the composition is pleasantly filling the sphere. And then I save it. Magnolias in a rain drop. This is why the digital darkroom can be so delightful. You can create art that mimics photography without loosing a sense of what was so magical about the image in the first place.

"Magnolias in Sweet Sunshine"

As it is, this image was primed with a conversion into Corel's Cross Processing filter and then a Colored Edges Outline option, so as to give them some bright definition, emphasizing the full sun. All in all, it gave me bolder color, something I feel works for this shot... remembering that every once in a while, it's great to play in the darkroom! And that flowers still rock as a photography subject! I love Floral Fridays, how 'bout you?

Have an awesome long weekend Canada! And thanks for the ramble everyone!

Tulips to the Power of 10 ~ Floral Friday!

"Tulip Celebration"

(1/30 sec.@ F/11, 200mm fl, ISO 200, tripod, shade, 55-200mm tele zoom)

Tulips. Today's image is from my visit to the Royal Botanical Gardens for the annual Tulip Festival. And boy, the colors are fantastic. This week coming will be the week to visit, as they're just starting to open now. In fact, this past week, many of the shade varieties weren't even ready to pop. So this next week will be ideal.

The colors. Ever just take a photo because the scene seems to drip with color, and therefore almost becomes it's own subject. I spotted these variegated tulips across a small pond under the shade of a large pine tree. The bright sun was making it difficult to get many of the patches of flowers that weren't tucked away in some shade, so when I spotted these I pounced. And their sunny color really is the subject of this shot, along with the repetitive shapes, and contrasting reds and greens throughout.

Kept my telephoto on so as to get in tight and eliminate the surrounding trees on either side, and to compress the distance giving the effect of a sea of tulips. Filled the frame almost completely for impact. In fact the first few shots I took of these were taken vertically... then I realized they also worked on a horizontal crop. It has less space, filling more of the image. I could have cropped or composed so that I excluded the entire top of green in the background... but I liked how it echoes the greens in the immediate foreground so I left it.

With tulips, color is key. Hope you're out there injecting some bold color into your images once in a while. Something that makes you say "wow!"

In the meantime, thanks for the ramble, and for waiting for Blogger to come back online. Have a great weekend folks! Cheers!