11/365: "My dear father; my dear friend; the best and wisest man I've ever known, who's taught me many lessons and showed me many things as we've gone together along the road of life." ~ Sarah Jewett, slightly altered by me

MANY notes above! :)

Dad, I love you with all my heart. You have given me such a wonderful life. You've always stood by me and encouraged me to try when I didn't think I could. You saw the potential in me that I didn't know I had. You have always made me feel like the best and brightest star. Much of who I am today is because of your wonderful upbringing and solid foundation. Thank you so much for my life, dad. Happy Birthday!!!

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ABOUT THIS PICTURE:
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A few days ago, I realized that my father's birthday was coming up and I knew instantly that I'd dedicate that 365 Day to him. After thinking it over for a day or two, I knew exactly what I would do!

Back in October, I went to visit my dad in San Francisco, and while I was there, I had some time to look through and scan many of our family pictures. I didn't have time to scan in all that I wanted, but looking through the images, I was happy to see that there were more than enough to create a collage for my dad's birthday! :)

I spent a couple of days putting the collage together, and yesterday I went down to our granite valley, where I picked out many dozen rocks that I would use for my border. Last night I lined my rocks up, picking out the right shapes and arranging them. This morning I took my two rows of rocks outside and placed them on a rubber mat we have outside, sprayed them with water and took a picture. Then, I took that image, selected the rows of rocks and removed everything else. I then enlarged my image canvas size to that of my father's collage. I copied and pasted the collage into my rock image, aligned the rows, desaturated the rocks by about 60% and...PRESTO! Save To Web, and the picture is done!

Sarah Orne Jewett (September 3, 1849 – June 24, 1909) was an American novelist and short story writer, best known for her local color works set along or near the southern seacoast of Maine. Wikipedia: Sarah Jewett (The original quote is this: "My dear father; my dear friend; the best and wisest man I ever knew, who taught me many lessons and showed me many things as we went together along the country by-ways.")