Tooting My Own Horn -- so to speak....

Okay! Since SSMW gave me the prerequisite boot in the butt, I guess I'd better take her seriously and get typing!
Yes!!!!! Back in July, I was talking to some friends who were discussing the upcoming County Fair and the fact that they were entering some of the competitions for their woodworking projects and photography. Photography!!!! Who's the photographer here? Although I am the only person in my crowd to have professional classes under my belt, a recent adult education class in Photoshop, and membership in the local photo club -- no one has seen any of my current work! Between my laziness and the fact that my computer needed updating, I think I have the world's largest collection of memory cards from my digital camera. Not many photos to show for it. Working at the Zoo, I carry my camera with me and have caught some very unusual photos, from the extreme close-up of the tiger against the window taking his nap (this photo won me the Grand Champion ribbon in the "color enlargement - animals" class!!!) to a slightly blurry pic of two tortoises in mating season! Once in a while, I'd run to Mal-Wart and print a shot for a gift or my photo club meet. A month ago, I let a friend take my computer down for a couple weeks, and upgrade to a new computer. I AM STILL TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO USE IT!!!!!! Anyway, I digress. I checked out what it takes to enter the photography exhibit at the Fair, signed up, then spent two weeks choosing, printing and mounting photos. I consciously balked at entering the particular Tiger Photo, because it is so unusual, and in the end, I decided that I like it, so it's going in. Imagine my shock (yes, I actually gasped when I found the Blue and the Purple (Grand Prize) ribbons on that photo! I was still standing there when another woman came in and found the ribbon on my photo and proceeded to have a conniption fit about it. She obviously didn't care whether or not hers was good enough, she just felt that she deserved the ribbon more. So, here I apologize to all who read this, for the lack of the infamous Tiger Photo, until I have the time to figure out HOW to post it!!!!! Hope you are not offended by exclamation points, because I use them a lot. Heck, I don't apologize for that -- that's the way I write, and you are not my writing teacher, are you?
Haven't been blogging because I have been working, stressing, fighting with my mother about things that I love, stressing, volunteering at the Zoo, trying to learn my new computer, stressing, knitting squares for a young soldier heading for Kosovo, stressing over my daughter's upcoming wedding AND her pregnancy, working on my photography, and putting some hours on my kayak (unstressing).