Of course, I had to slather them with chocolate.

And someone tried to sneak one. (This photograph was her idea. I think she has a natural talent for multimedia communication somewhere there in her extensive skillset.)

But I can hardly blame her! They were incredibly easy and very good. Thanks to Charmian for the 3-ingredient shortbread cookies recipe.

This is the code to link to my Wordle, but I don’t know where in the blog to put it. (Hint: I’m hoping someone who knows will come by and tell me.)

  <a href=”http://wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/132444/Family”
  title=”Wordle: Family”><img
  src=”http://wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/132444/Family”
  style=”padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd”></a>

Oh well. I *do* know how to do a screen capture, so here you go:

TheWahmMagazine is an entirely digital magazine, “dedicated to validating, empowering, encouraging, educating and supporting work-at-home parents.” (And it’s eco-friendly too.)

That’s a lot for one magazine to live up to, especially when the editor/publisher is a WAHM herself with a toddler at home and a husband campaigning for a state office. But then, who better to do it?

I for one am enthusiastic about TheWahmMagazine. Working from home is a growing trend, but seems to be strangely unaccounted for in mainstream news and media. They focus on the “Mommy Track” and the “On Ramp,” as if staying home is merely a pleasant detour, a scenic overlook on the career path. But that will change. 

In fact, it has already started changing. TV and print magazines are currently in love with “mommy bloggers.” Those are women with blogs about, well, everything — from living changerously to the not-so-empty nest to freedom of speech and campaign controversies. (And they don’t just write, either. BlogHer interviewed Barack Obama for a video post. It’s a whole multi-media world out there. I keep hearing about how newspapers are still trying to grasp “new media.” Hmm. Maybe they should hire some moms to help them out.)

And of course, there are work-at-home dads out there too, bucking the system by making a living between diaper-changes. The lifestyle might not be for everyone: it does take self-discipline, persistence, and an ability to see through walls (both so that you can see what the kids are doing in the next room and so that you don’t begin to believe you’re the last living adult on the planet). But working from home is more and more becoming a valid option for parents across the world.

Work-at-home parents are individualistic souls willingly beating a path where there isn’t one. They would do it with or without support from the mainstream media or corporatations. But a little support is always nice. We have days where we doubt our choices, our odds for success, our place in the professional realm. That’s why I like TheWahmMagazine. As it succeeds in its mission, we find it easier to succeed in ours.

Assignment 1:  Abstract photo, using some of the composition principles discussed in the lesson:   

The object isn’t supposed to be recognizable. And as for composition, I tried to get a triangle in there. (There’s also an interesting leading line if you look closely at the bottom right.) And finally, the big “Rule of Thirds” is really important. I’m not sure if I’ve actually accomplished this. 

Below is another abstract with some interesting lines and triangles and things. It’s pretty recognizable though, in my opinion. I don’t know. Can you tell what it is? But I do think it is visually interesting. I think it looks almost like a tunnel you could walk through. Like a passage on a big wicker starship in some distant galaxy.

But, um, I have an active imagination.

Okay, next assignment: Take pictures of a subject from various viewpoints and post the best two or three. Well, I didn’t really LOVE how these turned out, but here they are:

 Layered leaves, 2 green, 1 yellow, from the front.

Same leaves from below.  

And then an interesting but not necessarily appealing shot of the leaves from behind the plant.

Now let’s get back to the really fun stuff. My camera has a neat little button called “Super Macro” for taking pictures really, really up close. I love that thing. I went crazy taking different abstract shots using the super macro feature. The lesson briefly mentioned framing shots, so I took a few framed abstracts.

Focus through a frame:

Focus on the frame:

Okay, only one more. I promise. (For now.) It’s just so cool I had to post it. It’s so abstract, even I don’t know what it is. And I’m so fond of it, I’ve given it a name. I call it Blob.

You can go to the online version of the magazine directly at www.womensfocusmagazine.com and read the article if you like (p. 51), but here’s a picture just so you can see what it looks like.