Jigsaw Puzzles – a do-it-yourself kit

 

On a recent holiday out West, I snapped a lucky group photo of our some of our grandkids. It was a lucky shot in which all of the kids were posed nicely, facing the camera.

When we returned home, my wife remembered that she had stashed away a couple of do-it-yourself photo jigsaw puzzles that would make a nice souvenir of our vacation.

---

Here’s the do-it-yourself jigsaw puzzle. This one is called “Make-Your_own Jigsaw Puzzle” from Messisa & Doug, Item # 376. My wife bought the kit at a large craft store for about $7.
This kit is to be used with a 5″ x 7″ photograph. I printed a borderless photograph, cropped exactly as I wanted it to appear on the puzzle. The kit includes an adhesive sheet onto which you place to photograph face up. Turn the adhesive sheet over and you’ll see the outline of the twelve jigsaw pieces. Using scissors, you cut along the lines which mirror the shape of the wooden jigsaw pieces.
Finally, you remove the second paper backing from the adhesive sheet to reveal more adhesive. Each photo piece is then pressed onto the corresponding wooden puzzle piece. This all takes about ten minutes and then your photo jig saw puzzle is ready!

My wife ended up making two of these puzzles to send to the grandkids in the photograph. We’re hoping that it will help them remember our visit.

 

Written by Arnie Lee

 

---

I’m a baby boomer. I was born after my father, like millions of other soldiers, returned from serving in World War II. Not long after, he married my mother and they started their family. My wife is also a baby boomer and her family was started similarly.

The census bureau says that children born between 1946 and 1964 are considered baby boomers. Since I was born in 1949, I suppose that I’m at the leading edge of the baby boom generation. Last week as I was returning from a trip to the West Coast, I picked up a copy of the Sunday Los Angeles Times. I was literally stunned to read Tom Petruno’s article in the business section who presents this amazing fact: “every 24 hours for the next 19 years an average of 10,000 baby boomers will turn 65”*.

a baby boomer with daughter and grandchildren

Wow. Think about that number: 10,000 individuals every day for 19 consecutive years. Grab your calculator and do the math and you’ll see that 69 million of us will reach retirement age between now and 2030. Are any of you surprised by this fact?

Mr. Petruno’s article centered around the havoc that might ensue as retirees unload their stock market holdings. He wonders what would happen to the share prices if there aren’t enough buyers to purchase their shares. While the article is an interesting read, I’m thinking of other implications that such a large cohort will place on our nation.

My preference is to shy away from public discussions of politics and social welfare. So please excuse me while I skip over any serious political and social issues confronting our aging population and move on.

So how does this discussion fit into Stay Focused?

I’ll start with a local camera club to which I belong. It’s a rather large club with about 100 members. I’d have to guess that half of the members are baby boomers or older. This is quite a large proportion. These folks have the time to spend on their photography hobby (or profession). The time is well spent judging by the impressive results. You might think that the group is more “classic” – shooting landscapes and portraits. But the artistic side is just as evident as we regularly see in the creative competitions. And from all indications, the older generation has had no trouble making the transition from film to digital.

As a frequent visitor of many of our national parks, I’ve noticed that other older people are following me to some of these great sites. Rather than the greening of the national parks, there’s a trend to the “greying.” And of course every vistior comes into a park with a camera ready to record their memories.

Anyway, there’s a lot of us older people with seemingly more and more time on our hands. Maybe it’s time to start that business that I’ve dreamed of for so very long: “Photo Tour Guide to Yellowstone”.

Happy Shooting.

*****

Written by Arnie Lee

* from the Los Angeles Times, April 8, 2012.

packing in the sites when time is limited

 

Mom plans her getaway to her winter home in Arizona around the time the leaves start to fall in Michigan. When it’s time to leave the cold behind, she hops on an airplane for the 1500 mile flight and I volunteer to drive her car to Phoenix.

This year I chose to drive a circuitous route. Instead of heading directly for the southern route, I travel straight west towards Utah and Nevada. My plan is to do a some sightseeing. As it turns out, I visited five national parks and a few other interesting places.

To avoid a long slideshow, I’ve condensed this long cross country trip into a series of photos – one photo for each major stopover.

Are you ready?

OK, let’s go.

---

There is some snow in Colorado and this attractive bird is out looking for food.
We reached Arches National Park in eastern Utah about 10pm. The moon is full, inviting us to a camera challenge. Here’s a two second handheld photo taken at midnight without any other light except the moon.
The next day we travel to southern Utah and find a gorgeous and colorful Bryce Canyon National Park sprinkled with white stuff.
Before dusk we reach Zion National Park. Unlike Bryce where you’re looking down into the canyons, in Zion you’re in the canyon looking up.
That evening we arrive in Las Vegas. This city has always been a favorite of mine for night time photography. Can you see why?
After we leave Las Vegas we stop at the newly constructed bypass to the Hoover Dam. What a view. It’s an engineering and architectural marvel.
That evening, we arrive at the Grand Canyon National Park. Unfortunately, the clouds and rain moves in during the night and the next morning we are greeted with ground fog. The weather is perfect for “mood” shots like this.
Instead of crying about the cloudy Grand Canyon, we move south to Sedona and were able to catch some of the red rocks for which this area is noted.
Finally after five days on the road, we arrive in Phoenix. This seguaro cactus is a familiar and welcome site.

 

---

So there you have it.

I’ve squeezed 2700 miles into a few compact photos.

I hope you enjoyed the parks as much as we did.

 

 

Written by Arnie Lee

 

---

« Older Posts — Newer Posts »