Alligators, the Irish and Fireballs

It's been a week for news.

First - my mother played the Catholic Mother Guilt Card of "Oh, won't you come visit your poor blind mother".  She's not - just in the very early stages of Macular Degeneration.  But she really wants me to come visit.  So I will be traveling to Florida March 21st through 26th.  And I'm getting excited, not just to see my family, but because I can bring my camera, and go wildlife stalking.  They live in Sarasota, and there are both Keys and a State Park famous for wild birds nearby.  And I might get to take a picture of an alligator.  In my professional opinion, alligator pictures would be SO AWESOME.  Family is awesome too - but I'm too much of a geek not to be totally revved up by the possibility of giant carnivorous lizards.

Referencing my post about not thinking enough to stay out of the road when I am taking pictures, I think my husband is going to have to talk to my dad about making sure I don't get eaten.  Perhaps I should wear a belt so that he can pull me out of the way easier.  Although that would make a great obit.

Second piece of news - I am still scheduled to exhibit at the Irish Cultural Center here in Phoenix, but my exhibit has been delayed until July or August.  They will probably be opening the new cultural library building there in May or June, and they had already reserved a specific artist for those months.  No problem for me, I'll just have to look for some other places to exhibit in the meantime.  The only thing I am worried about is that Phoenicians do not tend to go out during the summer if they can help it - and I worry a little about what the traffic is going to be like during those months.  The center itself is air conditioned, but there really isn't a lot of shade in the courtyard around it.  But the upside is that if I get really cool alligator pictures, I will have plenty of time to get them ready to include in the show.  I will post the revised exhibit dates as soon as I know what they will be.

And finally, I managed to dig out all my negatives from a class I took on black & white film photography a few years ago.  I took some really cool fire pictures during that time (Great Balls of Fire is one of a series), but never got most of them transferred to digital format (because, y'know, the class was FILM photography).  I just took them down to the lab I use, and I should get them back by the end of next week.  So I should be posting them soon.