"9!!!"

Christmas decorations always came down on Jan 6th - twelfth night and my ex's birthday. Last Sunday I had mentally prepared for the packing away of all the Christmas stuff. Of course, the best laid plans are always interrupted.

Instead, I had a last minute plea to take my Mom to the airport as my sister was 'unavailable'. Somehow, I knew that would happen. Fortunately, although overcast, it wasn't raining and the trip to the airport was smooth.

On my return home, I detoured along back roads and found a plethora of old barns that are absolutely amazing! I think our photo assignment for next month is abandoned buildings and although I have many already taken, I still love coming across them. They hold such mystery and untold stories.

Today, the Christmas decorations will finally get put away - which requires me to back my car out of the garage so I can get the step ladder out and get the totes labelled 'Christmas' off the top shelf. My little fibre optic tree has it's own box to be placed into, on the top shelf along with the other stuff, and that'll take care of that! Done for another year.

This past Monday was incredibly busy with a lot of errands before going to photo club. Holy cow, I didn't even have time for dinner and with Mom being away, didn't have the luxury of her making it for me and visiting ahead of time.

Getting to the club, I was anxious to see how my photo for the 'wet' assignment would do. I was quite apprehensive when we started off, as the adjudicator started giving really low marks to some of our more experienced members.

I have to admit to being quite disappointed at the lack of creativity in the 'wet' theme. There were the usual photos of running in the rain, umbrellas, waterfalls, etcetera, etcetera. I suppose, that's why the rather mundane marks. I thought I'd see a wet hen (madder than a wet hen) or the back of someone's head as they bent over a sink with water pouring behind their ears (wet behind the ears) or any other imaginative interpretations. Obviously imagination was lacking for this assignment.

Then, my photo of 'Wet Your Whistle' pops up. A glass with a whistle dropped into it and the resulting splash with a black b/g. It's totally out of the realm of what I usually photograph. I knew (which was confirmed later) that many people would think it was one of two other photo members that usually contribute studio photos.

The scores up to this point had ranged from 6.5 to 8.5, with most of them being 7.5. I hoped I'd at least get an 8. 'Nine' he called out! Woohoo!! The first 9 of the night. Yes!! My mentor, who was sitting next to me, gave me a nudge and thumb's up. His photo, after mine, also received a 9, and one more nature photo received a 9.5.

I was thrilled! My other two submissions received an 8.5 and 9 with critiques that were extremely helpful. Two women that I sit near always give me a hard time, as last year, and the year before, I couldn't seem to break 7 for the life of me. It's not that the photos didn't deserve 7's - I just couldn't seem to progress. The two women told me that was enough of the 9's for me and to just stop that. lol.

So I had a very rewarding and wonderful evening on Monday. The woman in charge of one of entering photos in the monochrome competition asked me to submit my 'Wet Your Whistle' as she thought it was an excellent photo and worthy of submission. Wow! I'm so flattered and honoured, as many of these people have years of experience and fabulous photos.

Today, along with getting the Christmas stuff put away, I have to buckle down and get my photos for the store display chosen and in to be printed, and find the other photos that have been requested for purchase and get those printed as well.

Better get to it. I now have two requests for 24"x36" canvases along with the other requests for prints. I never, in a million years, thought I'd be selling my photos and making money at something I thoroughly enjoy!