I scrapbooked tonight. It was delightful and creative and wonderful. I did 6 pages (well, three 2-page spreads) and chatted a lot and drank Dr Pepper and ate a tasty brownie. It was good for my soul. I realized that I really have missed scrapbooking. I think the last time I did any scrapbooking was last May! I can't believe I went that long without diving into my papers and pictures. Since taking this photography class, though, I find I am *much* more critical of my pictures. I can't help but evaluate a photo when I see it now--notice the composition, the lighting, the contrast, the busy-ness, all that stuff. They used to be just candids that I could shoot and be ok with but now I can't do that anymore. Kind of a good news/bad news thing.

I had a lovely chat with my neighbor this afternoon and showed her some of my pictures of my sister. She loved them. I was a little hesitant to show them to her because I wasn't sure how she'd feel about them but she totally dug them. I so can't wait to show those pictures to my sister. I did several today on warmtone paper and they turned out great.

I also learned the difference between variable contrast paper and fixed-grade paper. When you have a contrast-y negative, you need to use variable contrast paper so you can get even skin tones and grayscale. If you use a fixed grade paper, especially at the low end of the scale (1 and 2), with a high-contract negative, you get washed out areas and a very high-contrast print, even with low-contrast filters. So I have a box of 100 sheets of grade 2 paper. I tried to use some today with a negative of my dad playing pool but it just wasn't working. When I switched to multigrade (same as variable contrast), it turned out wonderful. That was the best object lesson ever because I learned through direct experience and figured it out for myself. I'll never forget how it works now!

Ed is sick. He worked from home today because he had a low-grade fever and sore throat this morning. I don't think he's had the worst of it--he was getting more and more congested as the day wore one. He's supposed to go to do some drypacking tomorrow for food storage (rice and flour and sugar) but I have a feeling that he won't be up to it.

My eyes are very tired and it's late so I think I'll drag myself off to bed. Later Gators!

--L