I am a sucker for dogs.

It’s pretty much a global statement. Ok, excluding genetic freaks that appear on the arms of Paris Hilton and ladies who lunch.

However, the rule is: the goofier the dog, the better.

Samantha and I use the laugh factor when selecting our dogs. If we see the dog, and it makes us laugh, we take it. That’s how we ended up with Wiggles, the Damnation Hound (Half Basset, Half Dalmatian).

Well, I have met my Dream Dog. Meet Larry.

You can see a LOT more of Larry here.

This weekend, we went to Maine and spent a wonderful time with the Bodines at the Sweetgrass Farm Winery. Things are rolling into high gear, and there is fruit in the vats, fermenting into fine wine.

I took the time to take some pictures in their old barn, and around the property.

If you like wine and are in Maine, you should definitely look for their grand opening in May

Tags: Sweetgrass Farm, Sweetgrass Farm Winery, Union, Maine, Union+Maine.

This Pine Cone is Empty

Originally uploaded by spierzchala.

A shot inspired by Gosiak’s Pássaros set.

Glaring Moon

Originally uploaded by spierzchala.

This is a garden ornament that was at the mini golf centre where we had Cameron’s birthday party.

It’s as though the museum exploded from the ground, and the house was too close to avoid its gruesome, and humorous, fate.

Picture by: baobee

It’s February 2, 2007.

And it’s finally flippin’ snowing.

Here’s the proof.

I’m the first to tell you that I know nothing about using a tool as powerful as The Gimp. I get Layers, but after that, there is a realm of madness that I have not yet reached.

I have learned a cool trick tonight. It’s building on a trick I learned a couple of weeks ago. It uses layers and the overlay method. Lifehacker pointed me to digital Photography School, and I learned the overlay Gaussian Blur method. I know use this a lot.

But once I figured out layers, I figured that I could really start stacking them up. As a result of my fiddling, I stumbled onto a really cool way to make those pictures leap at you.

Let’s start with a picture of the USB hub that sits next to me.

Sort of lame, with a distinct yellow hue.

Ok, create a duplicate layer. Then, INVERT the duplicate layer. You end up with something like this.

This, in and of itself, is pretty damn cool. But, there’s another layer under there. The original picture. So, what happens when you set the inverted layer to overlay mode?

Now, you may think there isn’t much difference between this and the original. So let’s put them side-by-side.

Pow! Instant Contrast! Things like the cable in the background, the cable in the foreground, and the front edge of the hub suddenly leap out at you.

Now, the true photogs out there are likely yawning. “Yeah, so what?”, they say. “I could of done that in 30 seconds.”

But hey, it’s new to me.