Monday, March 19, 2007

old, borrowed, blue......itchy and new

Busy, busy, busy. For me anyway. I've spent the last 2 years probably working about an average of 20 hours a week. Some weeks, in the previous job, perhaps as low as 2/3 hours. Not enough sunlight I think. I'm certainly not going back on the happy pills.

Anyway, busy. That's right. Busy working, trying to earn a few grand bonus money for the first time in 2 years, looking good so far. Quarter ends at the end of March so we''ll see what's in by then.


Busy scanning old photos and trying to restore some. My parents celebrate their golden wedding anniversary next Sunday and I plan to blow up some old pics I've borrowed from them. A party is arranged for them and, though a secret, they may have already guessed as we arranged one for their ruby anniversary 10 years ago.

For some reason I got quite emotional on Saturday when playing with mini-me. Got to wondering what she would remember of me if something happened to me. How would she grow up if I wasn't around, that sort of thing. It was just after I'd found what had been causing the itching under my right arm the last 2 or 3 weeks, some patches of uneven discoloured skin. I don't think it's anything to worry about, though I did for a few hours. Obviously I'm not going to go to the doctor's. Anyway, here's an old one.

5 comments:

Sarah said...

I have been trying to do the same with my grandparent's old pictures. "Trying" being the operative word here.

The picture of your parents is wonderful. Genuine smiles.

The itchy skin- eczema maybe? I've had it in the past, and it normally showed up under my arms. Not much helps besides sunlight (really- the docs put me in a tanning bed for 40 seconds before claustrophobia set in).

Your thought on mini- I think of that very same thing all the time. I think Dylan would remember me- but Jordan would not. Breaks my heart. At least I know I'm not the only one...

monty said...

Sarah, I did some fast and dirty ones. Scanning at 300 seems to be enough for an ordinary sized print. Scan at 60 or above for a poster sized print.
Make changes on adjustment layers.
Used levels for b&w and curves for colour. Mostly used healing brush, patch tool and selective sharpening or blurring around the face to enhance.

My parents, 50 years.. I don't even know if they're happy now or not or if they just got comfortable living together. Divorce was very frowned upon for their generation here, a mark of failure.

jnuts said...

I love restoring the old photos. Actually relieves stress.

monty said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
monty said...

Look Sarah. Should have known Jock would be into that.
'Fess up Jock. Bullet-point technique please.