Escape to Freedom

I’m trying to raise money to move out of Washington State and go some place completely new to start over. Besides selling what few valuable possessions I have, I came up with the idea that I would sell my prints. And that’s what I’m hoping you will help me. I have some prints of my best work uploaded on Zenfolio for sale. This is difficult for me to ask… and I don’t want to sound desperate or make you feel obligated but I would really appreciate it from the bottom of my heart if you could buy a print to help me raise the funds I need to get my freedom back. Also, if you know anyone who might like to have a nice print, it would be great if you could pass this post on.

Here is the link the Zenfolio page.

Click here to buy — Escape to Freedom Prints

If you would like to help without buying prints, you can donate at my PayPal account. Thank you so much!

This will be my last post for now. I hope to be back posting as an independent, free woman as soon I am settled in my new home. I’m not exactly sure where I’ll end up but I’m sure my instinct will show me the way. I know everything will eventually workout for the best. However, I certainly could use and appreciate any prayers and good wishes you can send my way… Thank you everyone for all your kindness, support and comments about my work. You have been a great source of comfort and encouragement for me during this difficult time. If you have questions or concerns, please contact me at emilygoochphotos@yahoo.com however, with limited Internet access; it might take me a while to get back to you. Take care…

Make a Great Day!

Emily

Snow Wimps In Action

I woke up this morning expecting the rain to come and wash away all the snow but since I live in the convergence zone, we got more snow instead — while the rest of the greater Seattle area got freezing rain on top of the snow from yesterday’s storm. Needless to say, the city pretty much came to a standstill from layers of ice. While I do agree, Seattleites are terrible drivers in snow but was it really necessary for the L.A. Times newspaper to insult us? Yesterday, the L.A. Times did a report about our snowstorm and called us snow wimps. The reporter was very condescending about our reactions to small amount of snow. I mean really… of all places, L.A.? They don’t even know how to drive in the rain and I doubt they would know how to drive in the snow at all — yet the reporter has the audacity to lecture us about our snow driving ability? I don’t like it when people make judgments without knowing how it really is. Does the reporter even know what the Seattle streets look like? I find the reporting really rude and not to mention bad journalism.  I know when I first moved down from Alaska, I had no problem driving in the snow but over the years, my ability becomes more cautious because of lack of practice. It’s hard to practice when it snows maybe a few times a year if even that. And that’s part of life… when you don’t continue to practice, you are not going to be good at it and eventually you might even forget how to do it. So… Take that L.A. Times… we are snow wimps and proud of it!

And speaking of practice. It has been a while since I shot my furry kids in action and with all the thick, fluffy snow; I thought it would be a good opportunity to practice my action shots. By afternoon, the snow fall had lighten up enough that I thought it would be okay to take my camera out in it. And of course, the furry kids love any opportunity to play in the snow.

One great thing about shooting Max in snow is his golden red fur. It creates nice contrast and makes it easier for me to get the correct exposure. Unlike Ms. Evie whose creamy white fur blends in too much with the snow. I tend to shoot her a little underexposed so that I can capture the details of her better.

Max is quite an athlete. He can catch Frisbees, knows how to play basketball, and he loves soccer. Nothing like a fun game of soccer in the snow. This was his first time playing soccer in the snow and as you can see, he was pretty good at it.

Winter Wonderland

Saturday was the first snowfall of the season and it has been snowing intermittently since. From the weather forecast, it looks like there will be a big snowstorm tomorrow. They are forecasting 4 to 6 inches. Yes, I know… for a lot of places — these measurements would be considered more like flurries than a storm. However here in the Pacific Northwest, anything over a few inches and they call it a storm. We don’t get snow here very often except up in the mountains — so having snow a few days straight is not a common sight. Unfortunately, this also means a lot of people are terrible drivers in snow. On the news, I saw Metro buses and cars sliding down hills, slamming into each other. It doesn’t take much snow for the roads to become chaotic. So I hope the snow doesn’t stay around too long. In the mean time, I’m glad to have snow. It’s definitely better than rain.  At least I can finally go outside with my camera. I took these photos late today. The sun came out long enough to cast a nice glow on the snow-covered landscape around my neighborhood. These shots were taken at the golf course field. It’s amazing to see the transformation a little snow can make.  It transformed the golf course into a winter wonderland.

Cook, Shoot, and Eat

I’ve been following Karen’s blog: Back Road Journal for some time now and what a world traveling blog it is. She has taken me on some amazing European trips, entertained me with her wonderful photos, stories and sense of humor; she also introduced me to many cuisines from around the world. Not only does Karen have a great passion for food, she is also a wonderful cook. I always look forward to see what recipes she would come up with. A few days ago, Karen posted a delicious looking recipe of Spaghetti alle Vongole; meaning in Italian, Spaghetti with Clams. I love how it sounds so exotic in Italian. Even though Karen had posted many yummy looking recipes before, for some reason this particular recipe stuck in my mind. While I was at the grocery store yesterday and saw a tank full of fresh manila clams — the idea for my 250th post came to mind. I decided to recreate Karen’s recipe and do a photo shoot to tell the story of making her dish.

The recipe is very easy. It would take less than 20 minutes to make the dish. However, it took me over two hours to make and shoot it. I had to stop and style each shot just right before shooting. Good thing my subjects were very compliant. Oftentimes in food photography, the dish becomes inedible by the time the shoot is over; but in this case, I was able to eat it. I had time it so that I knew when I was done shooting, the dish would make a great lunch. And it tasted absolutely delightful.

I love manila clams. Not only are they tasty, they provided me with wonderful memories of my children. When my boys were young, we used to dig for the clams at the local beaches. Oh… the joyful smiles and squeals of my children’s happiness were priceless.

One thing I discovered while cooking the clams — the sauce is actually really good as it is. The clams were really tasty coated with it –  much better than typical restaurants — of serving it plain with a side dish of melted butter to dip in. Boring… So… if you are looking for a new and flavorful way to eat clams, cook it with the sauce and just skip the pasta.

When buying wine for cooking, don’t just buy the cheapest. Buy the wine you would want to drink and that way you can have it with your meal. But since I don’t drink wine and mainly just using it for cooking and props, I do buy the cheapest.

The dish was a success!  And of course, it passed the stringent inspection of my personal foodie consultant.

Click here for the recipe: Spaghetti alle Vongole

Thanks Karen for the recipe. And no, I didn’t use cheese.

New Year Sunset and Guilty Conscience

After weeks of rainy days, the sun finally broke through. This is the first sunset for the New Year.  Sunsets are amazing. It doesn’t take much for its beauty to leave a lasting impression — just like your wonderful compliments about my work and all the awards bestow to me. I can’t express enough how much your support means to me. I know lately I haven’t been keeping up with my responses and visiting your blogs. I apologize for the neglect. It is my hope that this New Year will pave a better road for me. And I will be free to be…

And that’s why it is not easy for me to write I’m going to write next… and hopefully, I don’t sound rude or ungrateful. But I feel it’s time I clear my guilty conscience regarding this matter.

Yesterday, I received another nomination for the most Versatile Blogger award. While I have received many awards since I started this blog, I never did follow the rules for getting the awards. And that is to write 7 things about myself and then to nominate 15 other people’s blog for the award. I want to apologize to those people who have taken the time to honor me with these awards but I chose not to follow the rules. It’s not that I am not grateful; I really appreciate your acknowledgment and I hope we continue to support each other. For those blogging friends who have follow and commented regularly on my blog, I show my appreciation by putting their links on my Blog Roll. While I appreciate any future nomination, I sincerely hope you will not take offense if I don’t follow the rules. Thank you.

A New Journey Begins

Another year has come to an end… and today a new journey begins. Although, I’m not sure where this road of life will continue to take me. One thing is for sure; I know  my journey will not be empty.

I’ve  had my share of challenges this year and at times I feel so used up, I just want to give up. But I made it through and in the process learned some valuable lessons that I will take with me as I continue on this journey — in search of my destiny.

Seeing the forest through the trees…

Learn to see ordinary things from a different perspective.

Because by seeing things from a different perspective, you might discover a better point of view. And turn the ordinary into something unique and different.

And when there are stormy mountains to climb…

Don’t give up! Because you just never know the wondrous beauty you might find on the other side.

Thank you everyone for all your support and wonderful comments. Your encouragements and kindness definitely have helped me through many of the detours I’ve encountered these last couple of years. I am so grateful to have your friendship. Wishing everyone a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

My Grown-Up Christmas Wish

Warning Signs and Common Sense

While I do have a lot of opinions about life in this crazy society of ours, I generally keep the opinions to myself — unless I’m asked to share. However… sometimes some problems are hard to ignore — especially when it might have an impact on me in some way. I find the need to put in my 2 cents.

One of the joys about living in the Pacific Northwest is the abundance of wilderness parks and recreation areas available for use. I enjoy going on hikes and exploring the back-countries with my camera. While most of the popular national parks and forest areas usually are well maintained by the U.S. Forest Service, still… whenever I visit any of the parks and recreation areas, I am fully aware of the dangers and risks of venturing out into the wilderness. And if I choose to ignore signs like this, and I get hurt… I have no one to blame but myself.

I guess that’s why recent news of people suing our Park Services for wrongful death really infuriates me. While it is sad that these families suffered the loss of their loved ones, however by not willing to accept personal responsibility and placing blame unjustifiably and seeking compensation with frivolous lawsuits will end up making these beautiful places inaccessible for others to enjoy its natural wonder.

Last month a woman whose husband was killed by a mountain goat last year, is suing for 10 millions dollars. Her lawyer is claiming the national park service knew the goat was aggressive and dangerous and they should have kill it or remove it from the park… Gee, what a great idea… let’s kill and remove every dangerous wild animal from the wilderness so that it is safe for people to visit. And yesterday, the parents of an 11-year-old girl, who was killed accidentally by a huge ice boulder at the Big Four Ice Caves over a year ago — is suing the U.S. Forest Service for their daughter’s death. According to the suit, the parents and their ambulance chaser, lawyer insisted that the Forest Service did not provide enough adequate danger signs warning people about the risks of collapsing ice, snow and unstable caves along the trail to the caves.

I’ve visited the Big Four Ice Caves a couple of months ago and there were warning signs along the trail — not to mention the sign at the end of the trail giving the final warning about staying off and out of the ice caves. And from what I’ve read from other visitor’s comments, the area always have warning signs about the dangers of getting too close to the ice caves. The parents chose to ignore the warning signs and put their children at risk. During my visit at the ice caves, while I did heed the warning of not climbing on and staying out of the ice caves, I did make the choice of venturing out into the danger zone to take some close up photos of the ice caves and waterfalls. I was at least 25 feet away from the  ice cave entrance. The father said the family was standing about 15  feet away from the ice cave entrance to get pictures when the accident happened. Trust me… when a large chunk of rock falls off the mountain above the ice caves, you would need a lot more than 15 feet to be safe.

In my opinion, with or without the danger signs, anytime you are hiking in the wilderness; you should always be aware of the hidden dangers and obey the warning signs or proceed at your own risk. It’s not right to blame others if you choose not to use your common sense. Okay, I’ll get off my soap box now… thanks for listening…