Chronicles of a Country Girl

Camera phone weekend pix

2012-01-29T19:28:00.002-05:00

It was beautiful this weekend. Chilly, but quite sunny – and if you sat in the just the right spot – it was wonderful. I think I got some sun on my cheeks.

Here are a few photos I took using my Android phone.

The view from my seat in the backyard. Taken with the camera that came with the phone, then opened with Be Funky, one of the free processing apps I downloaded. I used the Orton effect on this one and called it a day.

A beautiful day.

Looking to my left, into the sun and sitting in the same spot in the yard. I used my Retro Camera for this one. I think.

It was such a sunny day, I poured myself a cocktail. This is my favorite drink: Yukon Jack and fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice.

Don’t be all judgy now.

This liqueur is a taste born of hoary nights, when lonely men struggled to keep their fires lit and cabins warm. I didn’t write that – it’s on the bottle and I wrote about it {here}.

Retro Camera again. George brought his squeaky toy outside – the one that makes the loudest squeak and he’s waiting for me to make another toss.

This is him after a half hour of squeaky toy shenanigans.

And this is my new love. I saved it for last.

Yes. I broke down and bought a Miele. I’ve been wanting one for years. Thank you for all your vacuum suggestions from a previous post I wrote. I went to a shop in Wilmington on Saturday morning and they let me test drive several of them. This was more than I wanted to spend, but it was a floor model, so I got a discount. Plus I upgraded the power brush and got a bigger discount on that. It has six different suction modes from low (for draperies) to mid (for Oriental carpets) to high (I love high). And the power brush head has five different levels.

I’ve vacuumed the entire house. Twice. No, I’m kidding. I only did it once. But it was a pleasure to do my housekeeping this weekend – much to my utter delight.

Have a wonderful week, my friends ~

Weekly Pinterest finds

2012-01-27T19:45:00.004-05:00

I love sharing things that I find interesting on Pinterest. It’s really not a place where I spend all that much time, but I do go several times a week. Sometimes I just want to escape, and it’s an easy way to do so for a small amount of time.

The following photos are from different boards I’ve created on the site. I started a new one this week called ‘Winter White’ because I happen to like snow.

Source: Uploaded by user via George on Pinterest

From my ‘Winter White’ board, an avenue in the snow. I would love to take a walk here and with the proper attire, I wouldn’t even feel the cold.

Source: flickr.com via George on Pinterest

A big, beautiful moon from my ‘Paris’ board. Some day, I’m going to get to Paris. My son accepted an internship at an architecture firm there in 2007 when he graduated from college. But right after he came home from the interview, the company he now works for in NYC called him and he chose that job instead. A wise move, to be sure. But I was planning on visiting him in Paris!

Source: pixdaus.com via George on Pinterest

From my ‘Feathered’ board. I can’t tell you how much I love this. It just makes me smile.

Source: magicalnaturetour.tumblr.com via George on Pinterest

I have a board called ‘Photography I Love’ and that is where this photograph resides. I love the pretty bokeh of the raindrops, the somewhat messy but deliciously soft comforter, and the photogenic kitty who has found a good spot to view its world.

Source: goodthingsarewildandfree.tumblr.com via George on Pinterest

These shoes are divine. Love the color, and the bling. They’re from my ‘Attire’ board. I would so wear these.

I mean, if I had anywhere to wear them.

Source: reddit.com via George on Pinterest

From my ‘Coolness’ board, this little ladybug on a flower bud in which both are completely covered with the morning dew. It’s quite an incredible capture and I love the sparklies.

Source: google.com via George on Pinterest

‘Movies I Love’ include Amelie, among others. Sometimes I watch this movie just to cheer up. My son introduced me to it years ago, and when I watch it, I remember watching it with him which makes it feel even better.

Source: louboosandshoes.blogspot.com via George on Pinterest

One of my favorite portraits of Marilyn Monroe. From the muted colors to her wistful look – everything about it is so beautiful in its simplicity.

Source: Uploaded by user via George on Pinterest

There’s nothing to be said here other than I laugh every time I see this. From my ‘You Have a Way With Words’ board.

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And on that note ~ hope your weekend is a good one, my friends. Mine is going to be a short one. We have our annual Open House at school this weekend, and I’m working half the day on Sunday. I’m glad I love my job.

A resurrection of four January days

2012-01-25T19:21:00.001-05:00

I’ve recently come to the realization that it has been over four years since I began writing this blog. I’m not going to say that I can’t believe four years has gone by so quickly because I don’t really think it has. It actually seems like I’ve been writing for much longer than that, and January 2008 almost seems like another lifetime.

So I’m going to do something a little bit different today.

I’ve decided to resurrect four posts from the past, all on a day in January as close as I could get it to today. I began writing this blog in December 2007 as a way of sharing my photography with my family and a few friends, who were the only ones reading it at the time.

Will you join me in a trip down memory lane? With the exception of the first post, they’re all fairly short ~

Hobnobbing with the Amish (Jan. 26, 2008)

The beauty of the morning (Jan. 24, 2009)

The eagle has landed (Jan. 26, 2010)

I love (Jan. 27, 2011)

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To those of you who have been with me from the start, all the way to those who have just recently begun to visit here – I want to thank you again for your encouragement, your kind, heartfelt, and often funny comments. I can’t respond to everyone, although I sometimes try. Please know that I appreciate you.

Completely random

2012-01-24T19:44:00.004-05:00

The snow has melted completely, and temps a little higher than normal are contributing to a muddy mess on the trails around the property. But at least I can get up and down the driveway again – and out into the world.

It’s been extremely busy at school and for that, I’m grateful. Glad to have a purpose in life, as well as pastimes that keep me content. For me, photography is one of those things that fills my soul. Today, I give you a small collection of things I found interesting this past week.

Frost on the windows of the spare bedroom on Saturday morning. We keep that part of the house chilly because it’s senseless to waste oil to heat it.

I love cream of wheat. Always have. We were out of milk over the weekend and stranded here because of the snow and ice, so I used a little half & half and some water. Totally yummy.

I love the view from my windows.

I just thought this was beautiful, and took it a couple of weeks ago on a frigid weekend morning.

I see doggie bokeh. Do you?

The pastry counter at Di Bruno Bros. on Chestnut Street, in Philadelphia. I loved this place when I visited earlier this month. They have every kind of food imaginable (it seemed) and their cheese section was out of this world. You can buy online, too.

Di Bruno Bros.

Tree in the side yard, taken with my camera phone.

And then there’s my little friend . . .

My little dog - a heartbeat at my feet. ~Edith Wharton

I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me they are the role model for being alive. ~Gilda Radner

Tonight I made another yummy meal and I believe my husband liked it. I still wish he would begin cooking again, or even shopping for groceries for that matter. But you can’t have everything. And I knew a good thing when it was going on all these years, so at least there’s that ~

Until tomorrow, my friends . . .

Weekend birds

2012-01-22T20:02:00.002-05:00

I’ve been stuck here on the property all weekend, and my plans were thwarted when the driveway froze shut Saturday night. We needed a few groceries, but have been getting by just fine with what I have stored in the cupboards.

It was cold here Saturday, and perhaps I could have made it down the driveway and back up again but when we woke this morning, it was a sheet of solid ice and by mid-morning, I knew I wouldn’t be going anywhere. I busied myself with housekeeping, a little knitting, some reading, and some bird watching out my kitchen window with my trusty camera at my side.

There’s still ice on many of the branches and I’m wondering if we’ll have a 2-hour delay tomorrow. Either way, I’ll be hiking down the driveway in the morning and meeting a co-worker who lives in the development through the woods.

I’ll be careful. And I’ll take the hiking poles with me.

These were all taken from my seat in the kitchen, though double panes of glass – some of which I noticed are not all that clean. Must address that situation tomorrow when the warmer weather hits. It’s supposed to go up to 50 degrees here!

I’ve decided to watermark all of my pictures from now on, to avoid theft. I also only upload low-resolution photos to my blog but after hearing what happened to a fellow blogger’s photos (they were stolen by someone who claimed them as his own), I’ve decided to try and combat theft in this small way.

I processed most of these photos using a vintage soft-toned action from Red Leaf Studios, and some textures from Shadowhouse Creations.

It was a bit windy on Saturday, and someone’s feathers were blowin’ in it. I think she looks pretty sweet with her crown going sideways like that.

And speaking of sweet ~ I hadn’t even noticed until looking through the photos I’d taken that I had caught a little junco jumping for joy.

That’s a whole lotta j’s in that sentence.

Ha!

Hold on there a minute . . . can I see that again?

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My goals for the week include cleaning the window in my kitchen, getting my husband to hang a feeder outside it (he took them all down because of the squirrels), and researching a vacuum to purchase. I’m serious this time – the handle broke on the poor excuse for a vacuum that I’m currently using, and I can’t go on like this much longer. I’m still enamored with the Miele, and have been for years, but they’re confusing me with all the different types they have, and of course – the one I want isn’t available online from Miele (USA) or anywhere else for that matter.

May have to visit a vacuum shop . . . which might be a good idea anyway because if I’m going to be spending that much, I’d like to take a test drive.

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Hope your week is a good one, my friends . . .

First snowfall of the year

2012-01-21T13:22:00.004-05:00

I was glad this morning to see that we’d actually gotten a little bit of snow. I thought it was just going to be sleet, so this was a nice surprise.

It was a gray morning, and I fell back to sleep because I enjoy the luxury of sleeping past six o'clock on a day where I don’t have to get up to go to work.

This is what it looked like out my bedroom window. I could hear my husband out there shoveling. But other than that, it was blissfully quiet ~ you know, the kind of quiet you get when there’s a blanket of snow on the earth.

After coffee, I put on my winter garb and my old Sorel boots, and with the camera around my neck, proceeded to take a walk around the property.

I only brought one lens, the 18-70mm. And I thought I’d try out the snow/beach setting on the auto dial (big mistake because it should be used for a sunny snow day and not a gray one). I’ll learn.

I used Florabellla’s Vintage Summer II on all of these photos to get the dinginess out of the awful SOOC shots.

I have had these boots since I was 20 years old, which makes them very very old. The D-rings are rusty, and the laces need another replacing, but as far as winter boots go, they were one of the best purchases I’ve ever made.

We only have a couple of inches on the ground, but it makes for a nice change in the landscape of my life here at the old manor house on the hill.

Winter must be cold for those with no warm memories. ~From the movie An Affair to Remember

Love that movie.

Everything had a coating of ice.

And I could hear the crystallized branches of the trees above as the wind gently moved them back and forth.

Every mile is two in winter. ~George Herbert

I agree with Mr. Herbert, because walking in snow boots is much more difficult than walking in my regular shoes.

But it’s good to walk on such a morning. It truly is.

And when I came back inside, my cheeks were quite rosy.

I have no plans for the day other than a little cleaning. And I may not even do that . . .

The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.
~ Robert Frost

These photos would look much different if I’d had the macro lens with me, but the close-up mode on the auto dial did just fine on this cold January morning.

So what are your plans for the weekend? Inquiring minds want to know . . .

The Anthropologie store in Philadelphia

2012-01-19T20:11:00.004-05:00

I promised to share photos of the flagship store of Philadelphia-based Anthropologie, and I’m making good on that promise today.

Anthropologie is a chain of retail stores that sells women's apparel and accessories, home furnishings, imitation found objects and an array of gifts and decorative items. Headquartered in Philadelphia, the company is owned by Urban Outfitters, Inc. (UOI), which also owns retail brands Urban Outfitters, Free People, Terrain, and BHLDN, and is currently under the direction of CEO Glen Senk. ~Wikipedia

I don’t know about you, but Anthropologie is cool enough in and of itself, and to find it housed in a 19th century Beaux-Arts designed mansion at the edge of one of the most historic sections of the city of Philadelphia, well it just makes it even more special.

The Fell-Van Renssealaer House at 1801 Walnut Street was commissioned to be built by Sarah Drexel Fell, the widow of a Philadelphia coal magnate. In 1898, Sarah moved into the mansion with her new husband, Alexander Van Renssalaer.

The home itself has served a number of different purposes. In this century, it’s been a private residence, an athletic club, and now a storefront.

Walking up the steps, you enter a great room that is divided into three sections anchored in the center along the back wall by a spiral staircase with steps made of long, rectangular cement blocks.

The lavish interior was gutted in 1974 and only the façade survives which is evidenced in the section above.

The windows and the light in this room is just amazing.

Lots of visually interesting pieces are scattered about the store.

But all along the walls lie the evidence of the past. I found this mantle on the spiral staircase.

Their displays are always different, fresh, and innovative, and the openness of the space really lends itself to the store’s trademark look.

I took the shot above standing on the middle floor and looking down to the street level. Note the tile on the floor and all the architectural elements along the Walnut Street façade there.

Inside is fun, too, with their eclectic displays and funky stuff. That wall caught my eye back there and I probably should have taken a close-up.

Browsing in this place could take well over an hour. Or maybe two if you’re so inclined.

The spiral staircase, looking down to street level from the top floor. The white hanging spheres are actually hundreds of straws with edges cut on an angle that have been inserted into globes of Styrofoam and suspended from wire.

One of these straws may have fallen on the floor while we were there. I couldn’t see any easy way to get it back in, so we may have nonchalantly walked away . . .

Standing on the staircase, looking up into this magnificent stained-glass dome makes you wonder how incredible this house used to be.

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Hope you enjoyed the little tour, my friends. There are 135 Anthropologie stores in the United States and its catalog and website ship to over 30 different countries . For the closest store near you, visit {here}. And to shop online, visit:

Anthropologie.com

To Becky up the Hill, who commented that she would like to know more about Sarah Drexel Fell ~
Sarah "Sallie" Drexel was the daughter of Anthony Joseph Drexel, financier, banker, partner of J.P. Morgan, and founder of Drexel University. He and his wife, Ellen, had nine children of which Sallie was the fourth and considered by many to be the most confident and forceful of the bunch. She married John Ruckman Fell in 1879, and they had five children. Her husband died of a stroke in 1895, leaving her considerably wealthy. For more information, visit the Drexel Archives.

Weekly Pinterest finds

2012-01-18T19:15:00.002-05:00

Because I’m exhausted, and because I’ve been crushing on Pinterest lately, I’m sharing some things I found interesting this week. These are all from my ‘Coolness’ board and are a myriad collection of things I find interesting.

Hope you like.

Source: summerwithlove.tumblr.com via George on Pinterest

I always liked Heath Ledger. And Heath Ledger with a camera is just cool. His middle name was Andrew, by the way.

Source: etsy.com via George on Pinterest

Although it’s way too expensive for me, this bird house rocks. The whole shop is chock full of one-of-a-kind gifts, too.

Source: tinywhitedaisies.tumblr.com via George on Pinterest

What a wonderful shot. Absolutely wonderful.

Source: whereisthecool.com via George on Pinterest

Drool. Leica is the bomb.

Source: scienceblogs.com via George on Pinterest

My love of spirals combined with misty cobwebs here.

Source: indigenousdialogues.tumblr.com via George on Pinterest

And this door knob? It would go so well in the manor house, wouldn’t it?

Source: weheartit.com via George on Pinterest

Books are magical.

Source: rikshawdesign.blogspot.com via George on Pinterest

Someone is giving George a run for his money in the coolness department here.

Source: mocoloco.com via George on Pinterest

And finally, this one is just wow.

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I haven’t been out to visit many blogs lately and for that, I apologize. Please don’t hold it against me. I’m just doing what I can and trying to keep my head above water here. You know how it gets.

Until tomorrow, my friends . . . and I promise to share the Anthropologie flagship store photos with you too!

Quick trip to Philadelphia

2012-01-17T20:48:00.001-05:00

Monday was a day off for me and I went to Philadelphia with my friend, Margie. She had a gift card to Anthropologie and it was a good excuse to visit with Mary Ellen, a former student at our school, who is my eldest son’s age. Caroline, another former student, came along too.

It was a beautiful day – a little cold, but it’s January and to be expected. We walked from Mary Ellen’s apartment to Rittenhouse Square, had lunch at Di Bruno Bros., and then walked across 18th Street to the flagship store of Anthropologie, housed in the old Fell-Van Rensselaer House at 1801 Walnut.

Taken standing in the center of Rittenhouse Square.

One of the urns that stands at the entrance to the park.

We walked through the park and so much caught my eye. There’s a really cool HDR photo of this little kiosk {here}.

The Evelyn Taylor Price sundial, near the southwest corner of 18th & Walnut. The bronze sculpture was created by Beatrice Fenton, a Philadelphia sculptor. I want to go back and take my time and really explore this park.

I have no idea what these little birds are – some sort of sparrow, I imagine – but they were quite tame, letting me come right up to them with my 18-70mm lens. There was a multitude of them chirping away in the sunshine as they perched on top of the bushes that lined the park along Walnut Street.

What sweet little birds.

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And tomorrow, I’ll show you a few photos I took inside the old mansion that’s the home of the Anthropologie store. Very cool place. Emily – why did you never tell me how cool this place was when you were working there during your college years? Or maybe you did and I just was too self-involved to listen to you. Bad Aunt Katy.

Here’s a small peek.

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Hope your day was a pleasant one. We’re so busy at school, entering grades into the report card system, along with everything else that has to be done at this time of year. But busy is good sometimes.

Until tomorrow, my friends . . .

A Sunday in January

2012-01-15T15:12:00.002-05:00

It’s been a beautiful weekend so far and here at the old manor house on the hill we’re watching the Baltimore Ravens play the Houston Texans in a home game today. Actually, I’m not watching at all, and had to look up to see who Baltimore was playing. I’m really not into football but I like the background noise that it makes. It’s kind of comforting.

My blogging friend, Caroline, {Constantly Evolving} introduced her readers to a new set of actions that are a really good deal. I purchased a set with 24 different offerings for only $25 at K. Miller Photography.

Thanks, Caroline ~

All of the photos in this post, with the exception of the last, were processed using the Chunfen action set. An action is a recording of a sequence of commands and operations in Photoshop. So rather than perform ten or more different things, you simply press a button and then adjust accordingly. I love actions.

K. Miller Photography

I used Tinto to process this one with the house in the background. I was standing in the little woods in front of the house. I love the radial blur and the softness.

The rest of the shots in this post were taken inside. It’s cold out there today! These are some of the books that are piled up on the built-in library shelves in the room we use as our living room. I guess I have a lot of books on Maine. I think I used Balla Lite and Harvest on this one, turning off some of the layers on the latter.

That’s a Lotta L’s in that last sentence.

If my walls look rustic, it’s because they are a little bit. The action brought it out some.

I thought the play of light through the lace curtains looked pretty here in the dining room. I didn’t stage anything for these shots – I don’t think I’m all that great at that sort of thing. And yes, I have feathers tied with a bow.

When we find feathers on the ground, I steam them over a tea kettle of boiling water to clean them. I don’t remember which action I used on the dining room shots but I believe it may have been Balla Lite.

This is a sweet present from my friend, Margie, who teaches art at our school. She made this for me, using things she found and modeled it after a prototype we found at ABC Home & Carpet in NYC. There’s a photo {here} of the original. I love this gift.

Tinto used on Margie’s gift and the photo above of the geraniums in the dining room. When I first downloaded my actions from this set, I wasn’t sure if I really liked them. But once I began playing with the layers, I changed my mind. Tinto has a layer with a lot of red in it and I lowered the opacity considerably for this one.

The mantle in the dining room where I have a couple of framed prints. The wave image is a recent purchase from someone who comments on my blog. I had no idea she had an etsy shop and fell in love with this print.

CheyAnne Sexton on Etsy

And finally, my little buddy on one of my newest acquisitions, a rug from my friend, Hilary, at Crazy as a Loom. George thinks it’s a really soft place to lie but I’m planning on using it for myself, where I stand to wash the dishes. Sorry, George.

Crazy as a Loom Rugs

The sun is shining and it’s beautiful here in Maryland, and quite cold which is as it should be for a day in January. This time last year, we had snow on the ground. Here’s a link to the post, below.

Winter arrives on silvery-toed slippers

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Until tomorrow, my friends . . .

Every which way but loose

2012-01-13T19:43:00.004-05:00

I know, I know. You’re totally shocked, aren’t you? Here I am posting three days in a row. Will wonders never cease?

It’s Friday evening and it’s been a good day. Aside from the fact that I caught a not-so-flattering glimpse of myself in the full-length mirror that our director at school has installed on her closet, it’s been a fine day. I got off early from school and oh, my gosh, was it ever cold. The wind was wicked and the air was frigid so I elected not to take George for walk and ended up watching Dr. Oz instead. Is that ever an informative program. And I’m this close to starting a low-carb diet, I tell you. This close . . .

Regardless, I’m always about the photos on this blog and today I have several to share with you that have nothing to do with each other. Well, other than the fact that they’re on the hard drive of my laptop at the moment. Yes, I am a loser because I still haven’t purchased a new external hard drive. I don’t want to talk about it, so let’s not.

This was taken earlier this month by my husband with our old D80. It’s a Straight Out Of Camera (SOOC) shot of one of the most beautiful sunrises which occured January 6. Everyone at school was talking about it that morning because we all come in at 7:30 am and we all witnessed the amazing skies on the drive to work that day.

Pier 1 on the Hudson in New York City. I took this over the holidays. The cloud action was pretty awesome.

Also taken over the holidays, this is my friend, Peg, with her darling little granddaughter. Peg, I just want to tell you that the guest room is ready. Bring wine. And bring Karen. I miss her.

My favorite window in the late afternoon. This is the window in my kitchen that faces west and has the most amazing light. I’m not too sure about the amaryllis plant there. It was a Christmas gift and when I opened it, it was pretty dried up. We’ll see how it goes, though. I bought some stones and a nice white pot for it to dress it up some. And I love that the geranium is blooming. On the left are some little spider plants that fell off when I was transplanting the parent plant this fall.

And yes, on the right you can see my pomander balls, made over the holidays, which still smell wonderful although they’re hard as a rock now.

The view out that same window.

Weird self-portrait.

I completely suck at these. And it’s so hard to focus.

I like the blur, though. And geez, my hair is really getting long.

And finally - tonight’s dinner. Friday night is take-out night and sushi makes me happy. My husband prefers a good cheesesteak and some onion rings, but give me sushi any day and I’m a glad girl. These are from Bamboo House in Newark, DE. On the left, we have Mexican Roll which consists of Kani mixed with wasabi mayo on top of shrimp tempura avocado roll. On the right is what they call the Brandywine Roll – Shrimp tempura, covered with avocado and topped with eel sauce. It was like a party in my mouth.

“And I find chopsticks frankly distressing. Am I alone in thinking it odd that a people ingenious enough to invent paper, gunpowder, kites and any number of other useful objects, and who have a noble history extending back 3,000 years haven't yet worked out that a pair of knitting needles is no way to capture food?” ― Bill Bryson

No, you're not alone, Bill. I, too, have a problem with chopsticks. I've tried to overcome my affliction to no avail and all I can say is thank God for forks.

Hope your weekend is wonderful ~

Mine will be three whole days which may or may not have a lot to do with my happy mood. That and the fact that my husband ate a regular dinner tonight (see cheesesteak above) and I think I saw him smile several times. Life is good ~

Let the good times roll

2012-01-12T18:59:00.002-05:00

Thank you for your comments on yesterday’s post. I can’t tell you enough how surprised I always am when I hear some of the things you say, especially when I almost pull a post after hitting ‘publish’. I don’t want to sound down or melancholy, but such is life sometimes, isn’t it?

So here’s to rustic bird feeders, the blues in January, poems by A.A. Milne, and most of all – to you. Here’s to you, my friends.

And since this is a random post where I’m just popping in to say hello, I give you in no particular order, some thoughts on today.

1. I took some photos of George rolling in the grass this weekend. And I made an ad out of it. I like it, although I have no idea what to do with it now.

2. Tonight I served pork chops, long-grain wild rice, applesauce, and green beans for dinner. And my husband did not eat just toast. This small thing made me so happy.

3. Our local MVA is where I spent some time this afternoon, correcting another mistake made not by yours truly, but by them. I’m figuring that the 3rd time’s the charm when it comes to changing my husband’s driver’s license. I think the fact that he had a CDL when I first changed it 4 1/2 years ago had something to do with it. It was purely MVA error this last time.

4. I love {this movie} and it’s a classic. If you haven’t seen it, I want to ask you what is wrong with you. But I’m too polite and will only think it, instead.

5. My new favorite obsession is a PBS show called Downton Abbey. I first heard about it on the national news Sunday night and then watched the first episode of the second season. And now I’m getting caught up with the entire first season. I can’t tell you how much I love English period pieces and this one is nothing but wonderful. One of the best shows on TV right now, if you ask me.

6. A co-worker was in the hospital this week and I visited him the other night. He’s home now and doing well and today I sent him a picture of what his senior homeroom wrote on the chalkboard on his room. It said that they loved him. And who doesn’t like hearing that?

7. My husband is playing with George. I think those were magic pork chops.

Until tomorrow, my friends . . .

January stillness

2012-01-11T19:19:00.002-05:00

I realize it’s been several days since I’ve posted and I’m not sure if you’ll run from yet another missive about birds. But it’s my blog and I can do what I want, and in January around here, there’s not much else going on at the manor house on the hill.

I took these photos over the weekend. The beautiful, balmy weekend.

I was thinking of using this as my new header but this is as far as I got on it.

I was wondering if it were winter that has got me down at the moment, but I’ve never been too bothered by this season. There’s so much beauty in it, you know.

I’m down for other reasons, but this little poem makes me smile.

If I were a bear,
   And a big bear too,
I shouldn’t much care
   If it froze or snew;
I shouldn’t much mind
   If it snowed or friz—
I’d be all fur-lined
   With a coat like his!
For I’d have fur boots and a brown fur wrap,
And brown fur knickers and a big fur cap.
I’d have a fur muffle-ruff to cover my jaws,
And brown fur mittens on my big brown paws.
With a big brown furry-down up to my head,
I’d sleep all the winter in a big fur bed.
~ A.A. Milne, “Furry Bear”

I bought a new bird feeder and some seed to go with it on Saturday. I thought it would be ever so much more photogenic for capturing bird images than some of the old ones we have and my husband promptly hung it up for me.

The birds don’t care how pretty my feeder is however, and preferred the old rusty standby with the nice perching spot over my new purchase.

Photogenic it is not.

But it was a lovely day, and after doing things that needed to get done, I spent some time sitting outside and enjoying the weather.

I read some more of my camera manual and learned a bit, putting some of it to practice.

I caught some wing action on this female house finch.

And the male looking backwards.

: : :

I went to a baby shower after school today. We held it upstairs in the faculty break room, which is actually an apartment on the 3rd floor of the building. It was lovely, but I think it left me melancholy for some reason. I’m very happy for my young co-worker however, and for her mother who works there as well. I took the photo below last Friday as I was walking through the old courtyard to the other side of the building. It was quicker than going all the way around to get back to the office.

Such a pretty sky.

Until tomorrow, my friends . . .

Pinterest finds

2012-01-08T17:56:00.005-05:00

As many of you know, Pinterest is a site I visit from time to time, to get inspiration, to look for recipes, or just to see what interesting things I can see. It’s very calming.

I’d like to share some recent pictures that I posted to my several of my boards.

Source: vmburkhardt.tumblr.com via George on Pinterest

These are booted racked-tailed hummingbirds that I posted on my ‘FEATHERED’ board. What an amazing capture this is. I learn so much from this site sometimes.

Source: msnbc.msn.com via George on Pinterest

Posted this on my ‘VINTAGE PORTRAITS’ board, this is an interesting portrait of Paul Newman at the Venice Film Festival in 1963. I think he looks a little sad here.

Source: chutzpahrummage.tumblr.com via George on Pinterest

From my ‘HOME IDEAS’. This would make a wonderful little reading cove, wouldn’t it? And, if truth be told, a good place to take a nap on a rainy day. Love the wallpaper, the old pictures on the walls, the rows of books that look like they're just waiting to be read.

Source: almostbourdain.blogspot.com via George on Pinterest

I have a board entitled ‘EATS’ where I store a lot of recipes I want to try. I’ve made several of them, too. These are Dutch pancakes and until I visited the blog source, I had no idea that pancakes to the Dutch are like pizza is to us. There are pancake houses all over Holland, and it’s rare to find one open for breakfast. This is a meal they eat at lunch or dinner and there’s a cornucopia of ingredients they use from fruit to bacon. This one incorporated apples.

Source: failbook.failblog.org via George on Pinterest

From my board, ‘YOU HAVE A WAY WITH WORDS’, I find this really funny.

Source: blog.yanidel.com via George on Pinterest

A street scene that I added to my ‘PARIS’ board. I love my Paris board.

Source: plumsiena.blogspot.com via George on Pinterest

This one’s from my ‘COOLNESS’. I have never before seen a hinge like this. What’s behind this door must mean a lot to the person who ordered this piece of art.

Source: sunsurfer.tumblr.com via George on Pinteres t

I have a board entitled ‘DOORWAYS’ and right about now, I’m finding this one completely entrancing. I want to close my eyes and wake up in one of those striped cabana chairs with a Corona & lime in my hand while I breath in the heady scent of the sea. Oh, my word, do I ever.

Source: imgfave.com via George on Pinterest

From my ‘PHOTOGRAPHY I LOVE’, the tilt-shift in this photo along with the muted colors and depth of field is just so cool.

Source: greenlikebathwater.tumblr.com via George on Pinterest

And finally, this – from my ‘CHRISTMAS’ board. I love the blur, and the silvery tones of this b&w image which feels like it could have been taken many years ago.

: : :

It’s been a beautiful weekend, and I finally managed to get all the holiday stuff packed and put away. I baked two loaves of bread, and right now the house smells of roasted vegetables that I made for dinner. That’s all I’m really hungry for – that and some fresh-baked bread.

Hope your week is a good one ~

A perfectly beautiful Saturday morning

2012-01-07T09:08:00.001-05:00

It’s a Saturday morning with the promise of a beautiful day to come, and I’m putting off taking down the holiday décor by taking photos of yours truly ~ George.

Yes, I know I have a lot to do today. There’s the two Christmas trees to take down, and everything else around the house . . . there’s grocery shopping (which I loathe) . . . and the laundry. But I just don’t want to begin it all yet.

These images aren’t great. I had the ISO upped way too high which made the whites almost completely blown out. I corrected it as much as I could in PS with an action from Florabella called ‘Highlight Protection’, and then I processed the images using an action from Red Leaf Studios called ‘Ceres’, which is one of my favorites.

I was sitting on the front porch in the morning sunshine enjoying my lovely cup of coffee and my husband let George out the door. George was carrying snowy owl and he wanted to play fetch.

I went back into the house to get the camera because he looked photogenic.

And I told him to ‘stay’.

I love it when dogs do what you tell them to do, and this one does 99% of the time.

There is no trick in training them other than consistency, and when he was a puppy, I made sure I was consistent. To this day, George will heel for me (yet he never does it for my husband, who is not using the right command). The command is heel.

I regularly practice heel with George just to keep it fresh in his memory.

This is one of those oops that I kinda like. Doggie bokeh, eh?

I do believe I need to get moving and get my a** in gear.

So I’ll leave you now with a wish for a beautiful weekend, my friends.

I’m so glad you stopped by today ~

And thank you for all of your sweet comments from my previous post, one I nearly took down several times after hitting ‘publish’ because I thought I was making fun of someone. I cope with humor.

Fiery gems for you

2012-01-05T20:08:00.001-05:00

At times I am completely overwhelmed by the comments and e-mails I receive by publishing this blog. The things people say have touched my heart, have made me embarrassed (but in a good way), inspired me, and made me feel less alone.

One reader told me recently that my blog reminds her of a an old song by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. The song is ‘Our House’, a long-ago favorite of mine that I hadn’t thought about in ages.

How odd that tonight, while I was editing photos to use in this post, I began humming to myself the very words to this song, which began while working on the window photograph below (the windows are illuminated . . .) I’m sure that so many of you know the words to this song.

Go ahead and click. And maybe go back in time a bit.

I'll light the fire
You put the flowers in the vase
That you bought today

Staring at the fire
For hours and hours
While I listen to you
Play your love songs
All night long for me
Only for me

Come to me now
And rest your head for just five minutes
Everything is good

Such a cozy room
The windows are illuminated
By the sunshine through them
Fiery gems for you
Only for you

Our house is a very, very fine house
With two cats in the yard
Life used to be so hard
Now everything is easy
'Cause of you

: : :

It’s not really like this here. This isn’t really our house; it’s just where our hearts reside at the moment. My husband isn’t who he used to be at this time last year. He doesn’t cook for me anymore, and he lately has been driving me bats because he’s not enjoying my cooking, preferring to have toast with cream cheese for dinner instead, which is what happened again tonight. So I’m changing the words above to

now everything is cheesy

‘Cause of you

: : :

I think it gives a more accurate description.

* snort *

Truly blessed here, despite the whipped Philadelphia brand.

Fair to middling

2012-01-04T19:53:00.002-05:00

It was in the twenties here today in Maryland which is quite a difference from the weather this past weekend. But it’s warm inside as I sit under my down throw blanket and toss the tug toy that seems to be our dog’s favorite thing at the moment.

I took these photos to share with you.

And I want to tell you how much I appreciate your visits to my little space here.

I don’t know what I’m doing half the time, and am wondering if it’s time for a change. Change is often good but I get so used to the routine that I don’t want to stray from it. And it’s been good only posting every other day or so.

I took these photos in very low light, upping the ISO to 4000. I really am enjoying this new camera.

Someone wrote asking me which camera and lens I’m using, and I want to point out that I’ve got my gear listed in the sidebar here.

I hope you’ll excuse me for not having much more to say. Oh, I’m fine and all that – nothing that a good trip to a tropical island wouldn’t cure – but sometimes . . . well, sometimes I haven’t got that much to say.

And that’s when I let the pictures do the talking for me.

Thanks again for stopping by today ~

Fair to middling is a term I often heard my mother use, and I still use it. Examples of its usage are found in literary works by Mark Twain and Louisa May Alcott, to name a couple. It seems to have originated in the early 1800’s, from what I can glean, and means something that is moderate to average in quality. Sorta like this post, I guess.

Smile and say cheese

2012-01-02T19:51:00.002-05:00

Returning to work today wasn’t all that bad. I was reminded of the fact that I have off two Mondays from now. Something to look forward to, I believe.

Today I’m sharing several pet photographs taken over the past few days. I may not be the most exciting blog you visit today, but I don’t think any of you are coming here for the sheer excitement of it all. If you have pets, then you should understand what I mean when I say that my life wouldn’t be as full without them in it.

I don’t post enough photos of the cat, but I believe I mentioned before that she just plain does not enjoy having her photo taken. She will watch me get the camera, and then she will make a dash for it.

That’s why these were taken through the long lens, the 70-300mm.

She doesn’t know I’m watching.

This was also taken with the long lens, as was the one below. I think I may have found what it takes to get a good picture of Miss Blackie.

Above, she is enjoying the New Year’s Eve festivities at the manor house. And when I say festivities, I’m using the term loosely.

How old are you, Blackie? I really have no idea. People were always dropping off cats when we lived on the various horse farms throughout our life, and she was the product of one who had a litter of four. I believe she’s 8 to 10 years old.

I should know better, but I just do not remember.

: : :

And then there’s George. As much as Blackie loathes to have her photo snapped, George adores it. He actually seems to pose for the camera sometimes.

Here he is sunning himself in the gorgeous weekend weather we experienced in Maryland. It’s since gotten biting cold.

He has two squirrels treed in this pose. Wait, I remember taking a photo of each of them. Here are the little varmints below.

Exciting, yes?

What’s really exciting is when they drop from the trees and make a mad dash for the woods. It’s really worth waiting for, which is why he’s under that tree.

What’s also exciting is frisbee. And it’s so cool that he picked up the disc in this one and has it turned so that you can read the words on it.

Good boy, George.

His life really IS good.

New Year’s Eve with his new santa toy. It squeaks (of course).

: : :

And now on a completely different note ~ I still have my Christmas decorations up and have traditionally taken them down the following weekend after the New Year. I’m ready to let Christmas go – I really am. I’ll put everything away, and won’t revisit any of my favorite movies until next December. One of the ones I enjoy the most, though, is Love Actually. And this scene with Colin Firth and the Portugese woman he’s just hired to do his housekeeping is one of the best. Jamie (Firth) has recently split with his girlfriend and has taken up residence in his French cottage where he goes about the motions of writing a book.

It’s sweet and it’s funny and I’m going to miss it until I see it again at the end of this year. (And I love the music).

Enjoy your week, my friends. May it be a good one ~

Had I but wings like thine

2012-01-01T19:24:00.001-05:00

Well, it’ll be back to the real world for me tomorrow and after two whole weeks off from work, I believe it might be a little difficult. Especially when so many others have the day off.

So rather than dwell upon the situation, I spent some time yesterday and early this morning getting things ready for my return. (My clothes are ready and so are my lunch choices). Today we had some company out for New Year’s and the weather was absolutely beautiful. In fact, the whole weekend was rather nice, weather-wise.

I shot some photos of the various birds at the feeders and have come to the conclusion that if we had an additional different seed, we’d get a bigger variety of birds. The only seed we provide here at the Casa de George is oiled sunflower but we do have several suet cakes, and these attract the woodpeckers and nuthatches.

I hope you’re paying attention because there’s going to be a test later.

You think I’m kidding, don’t you?

Common visitors to our feeders include the tufted titmouse above. They can be quite loud, especially when warning others about possible predators (me, I assume).

Another tufted titmouse on the wing.

The black-capped chickadee is a curious little bird who’s not the least bit shy.

This one’s sitting at the extreme top of the tree on a piece of dead wood up there.

The cardinal, on the other hand, is quite shy.

This is such a beautiful bird, but this one was hiding in the brush and difficult to capture today.

This white-breasted nuthatch is after the big seeds in the suet.

The nuthatch got its name from their habit of jamming large nuts and acorns into the bark of trees and then whacking on it with their sharp bill to ‘hatch’ out the seed.

This is a little bird, but it’s a pretty vocal one.

These two little male house finches were enjoying today’s 50 degree temperature while sunning themselves at the top of the dogwood tree. Of all the birds that visit our feeders, I enjoy the song of the little finch the most.

Here’s another.

I love the lacy shapes of the dogwood branches in the background.

Had I but wings like thine,
Free bird of flight,
To scale the heights that only wings can reach,
Or steer my passage o'er yon seas of light,
Whose cloudy beach
Is ever shifting like the sands of time.

~ Martha Lavinia Hoffman (1865-1900)

I am loving my new camera and the new lens. Have a great week, all. I hope the New Year brings peace and happiness.

More NYC photos

2011-12-31T09:07:00.001-05:00

I had originally wanted to post this last night after working on these few photos and a rousing day spent decompressing from my trip to NYC this week. I actually took a nap in the afternoon – something I rarely ever do – so this was how busy my day was. I did go out for lunch with co-workers to the new Olive Garden in town and I believe it was the single Italian margarita we all had that put me to sleep. My gosh, that thing was good. And they serve it with a shot of amaretto.

And then I watched The Adjustment Bureau. What a cool movie. Have you noticed yet how all-over-the-place this post is becoming?

So let’s get to the photos ~

Along Columbus Avenue around 69th Street.

The Apthorp on Broadway between 78th & 79th, is an historic apartment building that was built in the very early 1900’s.

The older buildings are so incredible. I’m not sure where I was when I took this one. I just thought it was beautiful.

As is this one with its cool water tower (if that’s what is on the top).

I took this from our table at Robert on Columbus Circle because I was so taken with the pretty trees.

There is so much to see and do in the city.

But I really am glad to be home again in my comfort zone.

I’ve never been to Lincoln Center, and we didn’t go inside, but wow. We tourists were quite taken with the steps and their advertising lighting that changed every few seconds or so.

There was a flash mob here at Halloween on these very steps this past October that featured Kelly Ripa. Not that I’m a huge Kelly Ripa fan, mind you. But damn, that girl has a lot of energy. And she’s pretty funny.

And finally, because I’ve got to shake a leg here, I leave you with this. We are actually having company coming out tomorrow, which is fun. It’s just a very small gathering, which suits my husband well. He can’t take too many people – too many voices. I’ve got cleaning to do, grocery shopping, and maybe someone is getting a doggie bath.

But before I go, I want to wish you all a Happy New Year.

Let’s hope it’s a good one.

Taken from my table at Robert with the lights of Broadway acting as the bokeh for this shot. The brush is a freebie download from French Kiss Textures that I found somewhere on their sidebar.

Happy New Year, my friends ~

In the city at Christmastime

2011-12-29T19:41:00.001-05:00

I returned today from a trip to New York City to visit my friend, Daryl, and meet up with a few fellow blogging friends. And I took a train this time, which is a first for me. Seriously. I’ve never been on a train before.

I just got home and haven’t had a chance to edit very many photos but here are a few that I’ll share with you because there’s a border collie who is super excited to have me home and I must tend to his every need. This mostly consists of fetch-related games and lots of pets.

It’s not New Yawk without the taxi cabs and during this trip, I rode in several of them. In one – and I kid you not – three of us were in the back and I was sitting in front and I actually had to tell the driver where to go. I think you should be very proud of me.

I told him he was a disgrace to taxi drivers everywhere and he told me it was his first day and could I please go easy on him. I’m kidding. I didn’t say anything about his geographic impediment and he told us all to ‘Have a Nice Day’.

The ToonMan and his babies. That’s Jack on his lap and Rosie on the desk. ToonMan is Daryl’s husband and one of the coolest guys you’ll meet. And he loved the potholder I made for him with my own little hands and my Hip to Be Square Looper Loom.

: : :

It was raining cats and dogs when we arrived Tuesday evening at Penn Station and after we got settled and dry, we headed out for a late dinner. On Wednesday, the rain had cleared but it was quite chilly and windy. It was great weather for walking, as far as I was concerned.

And walk we did.

Daryl took us on a mini-tour and I love being in the city, going out in the morning and not getting back until mid-afternoon. I felt like I did so much. And saw so much.

I have lens envy. Seriously – Daryl’s lens is cool and I’m going to save my pennies.

Nikon AF-s NIKKOR 28-300mm VR

Across the street from Lincoln Center is a very cool timepiece.

And I have a thing about sconces.

Daryl and Janice in the Apple Store.

Now ~ Of all the wonderful food that I enjoyed in the city, you may be wondering why this is the only shot I’m sharing today but I’m telling you – these fries were scrumptious. Served at Atlantic Grill, they’re gently seasoned with Old Bay, and the ketchup is delicately laced with wasabi. OMG.

My day was ever so much better than this, thank you.

The reason for my hat hair later that evening.

That’s Maria in the background there. She joined us from Atlantic City, NJ.

Hi, Maria.

And finally, the view from our table at Robert, a restaurant on the 9th floor of the Museum of Arts & Design on Columbus Circle.

Oh, be still, my heart.

Straight ahead is Broadway and to the right is Central Park West. The elegant atmosphere, gorgeous food, and the incredible view put me on a dining experience high – something I rarely experience in my neck of the woods.

And speaking of rare experiences . . . there I was, sitting at one of the ultra cool cocktail tables and looking oh-so-terribly chic (not really) when someone tapped me on the shoulder and asked me if my name was Kate. It turned out to be one of my friends from the blogosphere, someone who wrote me and told me she’d be in the city this week. But the window of time when we’d be there together was so slim that we didn’t even make plans to meet. What a twist of fate that had us at the same place at the same time. She and her husband had been visiting the museum and had come up to the restaurant for cocktails and were just about to leave. Hi, Gail and Robert! It was so nice to meet you.

My son met us for cocktails and ending up staying for dinner. Probably because the company was so darn interesting. And fun. And please do not note my hat hair. Oh, shit – made you look.

As great a time I had, it’s so good to be home in my comfort zone again. But oh, what fun to be in New York at Christmastime! More to come tomorrow ~

Until then, my friends . . .

And then it was quiet

2011-12-26T18:19:00.004-05:00

I had myself a merry little Christmas, and I am hoping that you did, as well. Our sons have left and all is quiet here again at the manor house on the hill. Yesterday afternoon, there was lots of laughter and lots of family at my in-laws home in NJ. In fact, it was a bit too much for my husband, as he prefers the quiet here.

But it was just what I needed.

Today, my husband called me to the window and pointed outside. And there, sitting on one of the large branches of the dogwood tree right outside our kitchen window, was a beautiful hawk.

I went to get the camera. And then to get the long lens, and then . . .

the hawk was gone. The little junco above was taken about an hour later from my bedroom window.

This was all I captured of the hawk.

: : :

This afternoon, I watched a Netflix movie that I’d never seen before. And I watched it from my tv. Our son gave us a Sony media streamer for Christmas and then set it up for us. It’s so cool to be able to stream movies on the big screen. Today, I watched A Christmas Carol (2009), the Disney film directed by Robert Zemeckis and featuring 3D CG animation. Jim Carrey voices Scrooge, plus all of the ghosts. Colin Firth, Bob Hoskins, Robin Wright Penn, and Gary Oldham, to mention a few, round out the cast. At times, I felt like I was on a Dickens Disney ride, as I swooped over the snow-covered, bitter cold streets of Victorian London. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this version of Charles Dickens’ classic tale.

And it’s on stream at Netflix. Here’s the trailer:

I am not particularly fond of this trailer, however.

My husband bought me new hiking shoes for Christmas and they’re really very nice Solomons and although I would have never bought shoes this color, they’re excellent on the trail. I tested them out today.

The skies today were sometimes sunny, sometimes cloudy and always interesting.

And the sunset this afternoon. Can you see the moon? This is another photo opportunity pointed out to me by my husband.

: : :

On Tuesday afternoon, I am leaving for New York City to visit friends, so I won’t be posting until I get home Thursday evening. I’ll be taking the train with {her}, then meeting {her} at Penn Station, then meeting {her} for dinner on Wednesday. I can’t wait and am so looking forward to having some fun in the Big City at Christmastime.

I’ll try to get some photos to share ~ but here are some from last year:

New York City at Christmastime

Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas

Hope your holiday week is a good one, my friends.

Christmas Eve

2011-12-25T01:15:00.003-05:00

It’s late and I’ve just put out the presents before heading to bed on this Christmas Eve. Unfortunately, now I can’t seem to get to sleep. So I decided to talk to you before I turn in.

It’s been a quiet few days here at the manor house and it’s been really nice having our son home. Our youngest turned up today with his backpack and his guitar, and proceeded to play us a song he’d been practicing.

I actually began crying because it was so beautiful.

And because he plays by ear, it makes it even more incredible to me. He’s taught himself the guitar, and has been playing just over a year now. Today we listened to him play Led Zeppelin’s ‘The Rain Song’.

If you’ve never heard this before, it’s really quite beautiful. It was a ballad constructed by Jimmy Page, with lyrics by Robert Plant who always considered it his best vocal performance.

My son’s rendition was beautiful.

(to listen to the original, click {here}). It’s a long song, but just listening to the beginning will give you a clue. And make some of you remember ~

Call me a sentimental fool, I don’t care. But I will always remember this gift. And this moment, sitting next to my husband on the couch, listening to music I hadn’t heard since the 70’s coming from our son’s guitar, well it was pretty moving.

Ok. I’ll stop now.

I’ll stop and share some random photos taken throughout the day and the evening.

Groovy.

I am a cookie baking fool.

I love these. They have a sort of cake-like consistency.

They are Orange Iced Cranberry Cookies.

My eldest son made me a sandwich for lunch today that a friend of his copied from a restaurant they used to love in college. This is a Chicken Cali, an open-faced sandwich with Boar’s Head sliced chicken, a layer of gouda cheese, a slice of pineapple, and BBQ sauce, served on sourdough bread. Totally yummy.

Taken from the front door just after sunset on this somewhat mild Christmas Eve.

I love my view.

: : :

I want to wish all of you a wonderful, peaceful holiday. I hope it’s full of things that gladden your heart. Thank you for your visits to my space here, for your encouraging words and support, and for your friendship.

And now someone else would like to say Merry Christmas . . .

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!

: : :

Until next time, my friends . . .

There’s only splendor for the sight

2011-12-21T19:02:00.001-05:00

Today was gray, but not terribly cold and I had a lot to do inside. I got up before sunrise because I wanted to get it all done, but take it slow. Vacuuming, dusting, and getting the guest rooms ready for my sons when they come home was first on the list. Wrapping the rest of the presents later on made me realize how few I really have, but I’m telling myself that it’s the quality, not the quantity that matters.

I made a batch of sugar cookies, then baked them and let them cool before applying royal icing and sugar sparkles. And all the while, I took it easy – trying not to overdo it. The Christmas music helped, although I’m not a huge fan of Michael Buble (but it’s the only CD in the house that I could find).

I took some photos, too, in between wondering where all my Christmas CD’s were hiding.

The bureau in the dining room.

The bookcase shelves in the living room.

I’m not a huge fan of Yankee candles either, but they are the only thing that fits this cute little glass lamp shade. Ok, let me rephrase that. I like Yankee candles just fine, especially their fall and winter scents. But when it comes to Christmas candles, I prefer Votivo.

Geez, I sound like an elitist. But if you smelled Votivo’s holiday collection, you would understand completely. And that’s the name of that.

My royal icing job is a tad sloppy but I prefer it to the hyper-neat. I have the best sugar cookie recipe – one that I’ve been using it since the 70’s. It’s from the Betty Crocker cookbook.

DELUXE SUGAR COOKIES

1 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. almond extract

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cream of tartar

Mix thoroughly butter, confectioners’ sugar, egg, vanilla, and almond extract. Blend flour with baking soda and cream of tartar using a whisk, then gradually add to butter & sugar mixture until dough forms. Cover and chill 2-3 hours.

Heat oven to 375. Divide dough in half. Roll each half about 3/16 inch thick on lightly floured board. Cut into desired shapes. Place on lightly greased cookie sheet (I used parchment paper) and bake 7 to 8 minutes or until light brown on edges.

TIP – Freeze the cookie shapes for about 8 minutes before putting them into the oven. This avoids spreading, and they’ll retain their crisp edges. I also sift the confectioners’ sugar before adding to the butter.

Betty Crocker’s Cookbook, 1969

I love the beauty of bare branches.

Last night I watched ‘The Bishop’s Wife’, and the night before, ‘The Family Stone’. I’m running out of holiday flicks and might do a Back to the Future marathon instead. I love those movies.

I’m thinking of entering this one in the holiday bokeh thing at PW’s. I love this little tree. Got the brushes from French Kiss. They were a free download on their FB page.

Tomorrow I pick up my son at the train station in Philadelphia and then we’ll have lunch with my niece, Emily. Fun ~

Thanks for stopping by and visiting my little corner of the world. Means much to see you here. Enjoy your days ~

O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
Thy candles shine so brightly!
O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
Thy candles shine so brightly!
From base to summit, gay and bright,
There's only splendor for the sight.
O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
Thy candles shine so brightly!

Cookies and sparkles

2011-12-20T07:58:00.002-05:00

It’s been wonderful having a holiday from work, and I’ve been doing things that make my heart glad. The cookie exchange was fun and I came home with some delicious treats that are difficult to stay away from.

I guess my cookies were all right, because I got a text later that night from one of our former students who was home from college. Her mom had come home from the exchange and shared some of the treats with the family. The text read:

Hey, Mrs. Young, it’s Madison. I’m planning on eating your entire bag of cookies. They’re banging!!!

I made White Chocolate Kissed Gingerbread Cookies, and heard of this recipe on Pinterest. It was originally posted on the McCormick spice website. I love gingerbread (as does my husband), and the addition of the white and milk chocolate piece adds an extra punch. The gingerbread is slightly crunchy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside, which is the way I like it.

Click on the link below for the easy-to-make recipe. The dough takes 4 hours to chill, so plan accordingly – and make sure your kisses are unwrapped before you take the cookies out of the oven ~

White Chocolate Kissed Gingerbread Cookies

I got the quote stamp {here}, from Kim Klassen.

Oh, I just love this song.

I also love the glow of candlelight.

This is one of my favorite decorations and is in the upstairs landing. Night is beginning to fall and I don’t even care that it starts getting dark by 4:30. The winter solstice is tomorrow and then the days will begin to get a little bit longer.

There’s a garden shop nearby that has a big after Christmas sale every year. All their holiday décor is 50% off, and that’s when I got this twig, feather, and pine cone spray a few years ago. I love it.

Something else I love is wrapping presents. Last night I poured a small glass of sherry, put on my Christmas tunes, and wrapped a few presents. These are gifts for blogging friends I’m meeting in NYC over the holidays.

I am taking the train up, and meeting one of them for the ride. (So excited!)

Two months ago, I didn’t think I’d ever be able to leave my husband, but he’s doing quite allright. And I need this ~ I really do.

This one has border collie bokeh in it. Oh, and speaking of bokeh, PW is having another ‘Holiday Bokeh’ photography assignment. Check her site to find out more about it.

Holiday Bokeh Alert

Thank you for all of your visits, your kind comments, and for following me over the years. It’s been a pleasure sharing my photography with you and I cannot believe that come December 26th, it will be four years since I began this blog.

So much has happened in four years ~

Enjoy your day.

ps - I'm linking this post up with Farmchick's blog, for her recipe swap. Check it out for more foodie goodness or to join in with a recipe and post of your own by clicking on the button below.

Evening stroll

2011-12-17T19:12:00.001-05:00

I was on a holiday-induced high when I arrived home from work yesterday. It was the last day of school before our holiday break, and we had an early dismissal. On the way home, I had 3 stops to make. One was to a student’s house to deliver his laptop that he accidentally left behind (after I discovered to whom it belonged), another was to our former headmaster’s house to drop off fudge made by one of our families, and the final stop was to the printer to drop off a project I’d been working on.

I also stopped to buy a fresh wreath for one of our doors.

The last Friday before break is one of the happiest days of the year at our school. We hold caroling around the tree in the lobby, and many of our former students return to visit with us. I love it. And I’m so glad to have off for the next two weeks.

I took the pup for a walk when I got home, and it was a bit cold out there, baybee.

I still love squiggles.

This is actually two photos, above. I did a panorama in Photoshop.

Choose file > Automate > Photomerge.

You can tell we’re on a hill in this photo.

This season is so difficult for so many people. If you’re having trouble, please remember that you’re not alone. And that it won’t always be this way.

And that I care.

Walking is just plain good for the soul. I remember my husband giving me these hiking poles one year and I absolutely love ‘em. They keep me steady, and the motion while using them is good for me.

Today I made 6 dozen gingerbread kiss cookies for the cookie exchange, using {this recipe} from the McCormick spice website. I’ll share some photos tomorrow.

Tonight I’m planning on basking in the glow of my little tree, having a cocktail, and watching The Holiday, a new favorite of mine.

This is rather lengthy, but the scene at the end grabs my heart every time I watch it. These little girls who play Jude Law’s daughters are so perfect in their roles. A good movie to watch this time of year.

Enjoy your weekend, my friends ~ and love one another.

Creativity abounds

2011-12-15T18:55:00.001-05:00

With all the talk about me baking the cookies for the exchange I thought I’d crash this weekend, and now this – you’re going to think I’m going all Martha on you.

But I’m not, I assure you. And just to prove it, I’ll let you in on what I had for dinner tonight. It was oh, so gourmet, and I’m almost embarrassed to admit what it was.

I had a bowl of Campbell’s tomato soup, accompanied by a hot dog on a toasted bun, and some multi-grain tortilla chips. Excuse me while I burp.

Last night, inspired by something I saw over on Pinterest, I created these little lovelies to add to the festiveness around the manor house on the hill.

The room smelled incredible while I was carving these navel oranges. I used a zester that also had a single hole scorer included and bought a jar of whole cloves to finish off the project. For the designs, I used the examples I found through Pinterest.

It was a fun project although in the end, I wondered why I was having trouble seeing the photos when I pulled them up in Photoshop.

It was then that I realized that my reading glasses were completely covered with orange zest.

I am such a dork.

These are simple to do, and they can add an elegant touch to your holiday décor. And if you have children about, they would probably love to help by pushing the cloves in place.

I didn’t attempt any styling when taking photos for this post, but if you want to see the beautiful photographs on the blog where I found the idea, please visit

Sjarmerende Jul

Gorgeous blog, although I’m unable to translate it ~

I love these note cards on etsy

2011-12-13T19:20:00.004-05:00

I want to apologize to my niece, Emily, for my forgetfulness in writing this post. Let me explain here. My lovely and talented niece, who you may remember as the newlywed, opened an etsy shop a couple of months ago. She sells handmade note cards and paper goods out of her online shop, My Ode To Rain.

I heard about it through one of the many e-mails that my sisters and many of female relatives write back and forth to each other. As soon as Em told us about her shop, I went to it and bought this set of squiggle note cards.

You know how much I love squiggles.

Getting back to the story, I’m apologizing to my niece because as soon as her beautiful cards came in the mail, I wrote her and mentioned that I’d like to write a post on her work. And then time went on, and Aunt Katy forgot.

Until tonight.

The cards I ordered came in a set of 6 with envelopes to match on good quality card stock. Each hand drawn design is different, and with the inside blank, I can use the card for anything I desire.

Ever since she was a young girl, Em (and her sister, Sam) was always prompt at sending her thank you notes after receiving a gift. As she got older, Em began designing her own notes and I always looked forward to seeing what would come in my mailbox.

You can visit her here:

My Ode To Rain

: : :

I invited myself to a cookie exchange after seeing the invitation on my co-worker’s frig at the faculty party on Saturday night. Today at lunch I told my co-worker that I’d seen the invite on her frig and that I was thinking of crashing her friend, Diana’s, cookie party. “I can bring a dozen cookies”, I told her. “It should be fun”.

I haven’t been to a cookie party in 30 years, I believe.

“Uh, Kate”, Christine said, “It’s 10 dozen cookies. Not one dozen”.

Holy shortcake, Batman. I’d better get baking . . . see you tomorrow, my friends.

It’s coming on Christmas

2011-12-12T19:18:00.002-05:00

Small things this weekend made me glad, and for that I’m thankful. That and the good report the other week from my husband’s oncologists. The computer specialist called me today to say that he was trying one more time, but that after all of their tricks to get the hard drive to show the files, it still gets hung up on one section and won’t move on. I told them to go ahead and try one more time, maybe we could still have a Christmas miracle.

My feeling is that I can take lots more photos, but it’s the ones of my husband that would hurt the most if I lost them.

Now back to the small things ~ I put up a little tree in the living room window. I know that sounds weird (in the window) but the sills are deep and the windows are wide, and it was the perfect spot for a small Christmas tree.

My husband has always insisted that we have a real tree, and we haven’t had one since we moved here in 2008. So this would have been our fourth Christmas without a tree, and neither of us had the desire to go out and get a live one. What is wrong with us, I wonder?

Do you remember {this tree} that he made for me? That was such a cool surprise – one that I’ll always remember.

I actually feel a lot better about the season because I’ve got some gifts purchased, and I’ve got some decorating done. Christmas is often so much pressure that we lose sight of what it signifies.
And because I had so much fun decorating the little tree in the living room, I decided to do one in the dining room window too.

Everything on this one is white and it sits in front of the lace curtains. My husband has mirrors in this window because he says it reflects the heat.

Um, ok honey.

I finally found my holiday CD’s after looking all over the house. They were in the car right under my nose.

Of course.

My favorite is Sarah McLachlan’s Wintersong. It’s incredibly lovely, with an almost melancholy feel to it. I enjoy her rendition of ‘River’ even more than Joni Mitchell’s (which I never thought would be possible), and her ‘I’ll Be Home for Christmas’ is ethereal. I have so many favorite songs on the Wintersong CD.

I also have a CD with holiday tunes that I downloaded myself and Death Cab for Cutie’s rendition of ‘Baby Please Come Home’ is one of my favorites. Feel free to let me know yours in the comment section.

I took this last night. Is he giving me the eye?

I love my new camera. It was dark in the living room and the ISO settings go up to 6400 with very low noise (grain).

Hope your days are merry and bright. Until tomorrow, my friends . . .

The fog comes on little cat feet

2011-12-08T19:34:00.001-05:00

I am trying not to get too down about this, but according to the computer specialist, it’s really not looking good for the recovery of the photos stored on my external hard drive. For those who don’t know, the drive crashed last week and I am facing the possibility having to make a decision regarding the recovery of my images. I will either have to spend a lot of money, or call it a day and chalk it all up to a learning experience.

Every single photo that I have taken since 2007 was on that EHD. I have several hundred stored on two online places (Shutterfly and Mpix) but other than this, nothing. I can’t imagine never seeing these images again, but I guess this is what happens to people who have boxes of photos and albums and lose them in floods or fires.

It is what it is. And like I said, I’m only facing this possibility. But it really doesn’t look good.

This may look dreary to you, but I think that the fog and the mist through the bare branches of trees is absolutely beautiful. This was my view one morning this week when I left for work. I had the camera with me because I was taking it to school to get the monthly photos of students that I always take, and conveniently captured these memories.

The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.
Carl Sandburg

I don’t want to think about all of my images. I can live without them, sure. But it could be five years worth of memories down the drain.

I’ll stop now.

: : :

I love how different the driveway always looks. Our driveway is partially wooded, and a third of a mile long with a gradual incline to the top. It’s really quite beautiful.

Plans for the weekend include cleaning, then decorating for the holidays. The Faculty Christmas Party is Saturday night and only a couple of minutes from my house this year. My friends, Christine and John, are hosting this year and they live in the development through the woods. They’re a fun family and have insisted that this year will be a blue jean casual affair. I can’t believe how happy everyone is about this. No, wait a minute. Yes I can! Fun.

Hope you all have a great weekend. And keep your fingers crossed for the recovery of my beloved photos, willya?

Amish land, through the car window

2011-12-06T19:28:00.001-05:00

My husband and I took a drive to nearby Quarryville, PA this past Saturday to stock up on some supplies. We needed bird seed, flannel-lined jeans, and a change of scenery. I had wanted to stay home and get the house cleaned in order to begin decorating for the holidays, but I’d just gotten a new camera and lens and I wanted to try them out. And my husband was planning on driving for the first time since his surgery in early October, so this was a win-win.

All of the photos in this post were taken through the car window. It’s not easy getting a good shot from a moving vehicle, and I’m warning you that these aren’t the best . . . but it’s not going to stop me from sharing them.

Eden is that old-fashioned house we dwell in every day
Without suspecting our abode until we drive away.
~Emily Dickinson

No man is born into the world whose work
Is not born with him; there is always work
And tools to work withal, for those who will....
~James Russell Lowell

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

For me the diamond dawns are set
In rings of beauty,
And all my ways are dewy wet
With pleasant duty.
~John Townsend Trowbridge

God give me work, till my life shall end
And life, till my work is done.
~Epitaph of Winifred Holtby

An Amish Rug
As if a one-room schoolhouse were all we knew
And our clothes were black, our underclothes black,
Marriage a horse and buggy going to church
And the children silhouettes in a snowy field,
I bring you this patchwork like a smallholding
Where I served as the hired boy behind the harrow,
Its threads the colour of cantaloupe and cherry
Securing bay hales, corn cobs, tobacco leaves.
You may hang it on the wall, a cathedral window,
Or lay it out on the floor beside our bed
So that whenever we undress for sleep or love
We shall step over it as over a flowerbed.
Michael Longley

All in all, it was a good Saturday. Until tomorrow, my friends . . .

Beautiful

2011-12-04T19:22:00.001-05:00

I am loving my new camera, but I’m also really enjoying the 70-300mm VR lens that my husband got for me. It’s great for my bird shots.

On Saturday morning, we took a drive to nearby Amish country to get a few needed items and I brought the long lens with me, hoping to get some photos from the car. Although we saw plenty of horses and buggies, and children along the road . . . it’s still difficult shooting from a moving car through the windshield.

It wasn’t until I got home and found a nice spot in the sunshine that I really began to appreciate this lens.

I took the camera manual outside with me to read, while I waited for the little birds to appear. Eventually, a little tufted titmouse landed on the picnic table right in front of me.

This is a noisy little bird, and not shy in the least.

The cardinals are shy.

This female was waaaay up at the top of the tree.

A red-bellied woodpecker on one of my husband’s many suet feeding cages. The bird looks small here, but this is actually a big cage (and a big bird). I think I mentioned before that my husband keeps the suet feeders double-caged in order to deter the squirrels.

I love lacy branches against the blue of the sky and they frame this little tufted tit mouse very well, I believe.

This week is another busy one at school where I work. Only two more weeks left and then it’s vacation time for me until after the New Year.

I look forward to this vacation so much because I love the cold weather and I usually love the holiday season. I say usually because well, sometimes it’s just depressing is all. I haven’t even begun to decorate yet, but I think that once I do, I’ll really begin getting into it.

What I don’t want to get into though, is all the buying hype. It would be so nice to just keep Christmas simple . . .

Like the birds do.

: : :

Isn't it funny that at Christmas something in you gets so lonely for

- I don't know what exactly, but it's something

that you don't mind so much not having at other times.

~Kate L. Bosher

A surprise

2011-12-02T20:43:00.001-05:00

I am so excited. And no, it’s not because all of the photos on my EHD have been recovered. I still haven’t heard from the computer specialist who is working on it. I am excited because I came home today to find a new camera waiting for me.

It’s a belated birthday present from my husband.

I am now the proud owner of a Nikon D7000 which is a definite step up from my the trusty D80 I’ve been using for the past four years. I’ve charged the battery and am following the digi-tutorials and reading the manual and hopefully, in about a year or so, I’ll have it figured out.

Ha ~

This is the first photo I took using the new camera. It came as a ‘body only’ because all of the lenses I have will fit it. I took this using my 50mm 1.8 and this is straight out of camera (or SOOC).

The colors are spot on. The light was low and this was taken in Portrait mode on the auto dial, for heaven’s sake. The dial is quite different than that of the D80, so this is going to take some getting used to.

I am happy. And to think that the only thing I had planned for tomorrow was cleaning out the refrigerator . . .

So happy!!

A few shares

2011-12-01T19:46:00.001-05:00

I’m sitting here this evening, playing with the Black & White who won’t leave me alone. When he returns his toy, he gives me the border collie stare-down until I shoot it again. Tonight we’re playing with super squirrel, which is a sling shot toy, and one of his favorites.

Ok – this is really funny. Speaking of sling shot toys ~

In the time it took me to type the first paragraph, George was digging about in his toy box and has just brought me the only other sling shot toy that’s in there, which is super chicken. I just needed to share that with you. This is a smart dog. (But you already know this, don’t you?)

Still no word on the photo retrieval of my EHD (external hard drive) but I’ll keep you posted. Right before I lost all my photos, I deleted all of the ones on the camera card because it was full. So, yay. My husband took a couple of pictures today of a big hairy woodpecker that visited the feeders at the breakfast nook window.

This was taken using the Nikon 70-300mm lens through the glass windows of the house. My husband has set up all sorts of cut tree branches like the one you see in this photo. Hanging from them are several suet feeders which are double encased in wire to keep the squirrels out.

George, will you stop staring at me, for heaven’s sake!!!!!

Want to see something a little different? A friend sent me this link today to a You Tube video that features a little porcupine named Teddy Bear who doesn’t want to share his ear of corn. I had no idea that porcupines made these sounds.

And because I can’t share any more photos, here’s a song I heard last weekend while listening to the Coffeehouse station on DirecTV one morning. It’s by The Script, and I like it.

Sorry about the commercial at the beginning.

Ok, I’d better go now. There’s a dog at my feet who won’t stop staring at me. For the love of Pete, George. Cut it out!!

Pete. George. Heaven’s to Betsy.

Until tomorrow, my friends . . .

Only kindness matters

2011-11-30T19:36:00.001-05:00

First off, thank you all so much for your kind thoughts (and helpful suggestions) regarding yesterday’s post and the loss of my external hard-drive. It was suggested that I take it to a computer specialist that we occasionally use at our school. He’s the ‘big guns’ we call in when something is really serious. He’ll take a look at it but said it sounds promising because it’s still making power noises.

I am still not too terribly upset about it. Why get all worked up over it only to find that it’s a simple fix? I’m still able to take photos, and will just store them on the hard drive on my laptop here. I am still able to edit the photos in PS, however 90% of my textures (both free downloads and purchased) are on that hard drive. And I have tons of textures. Still – plan on remaining calm until I find out the news.

Ah, well. I only took a few photos today. Took the day off work to do another trip to Johns Hopkins with my husband. It was a follow-up MRI, and all is well for the moment. We were told to have a happy holiday and to do something fun. So that’s good news!! We were both really surprised and glad.

Taken along N. Broadway, just south of Orleans St. in Baltimore

When we got to the city at 9 am, it was sunny and nice. When we left at 2, the sky was laden with clouds and it was quite chilly.

Chesapeake City Bridge, Maryland

I’d just dropped off the hard drive. This bridge is really high and traverses the C&D Canal which is a short cut between the Chesapeake Bay and the Delaware River for all sorts of huge cargo ships, and anybody else who wants to take a short cut.

Dinner

I made angel hair pasta tonight and heated up some homemade spaghetti sauce I had stored in the freezer. I was only planning on eating half of this meal and taking the other half to school tomorrow.

But I love pasta with sauce (and freshly-grated Asiago cheese on top). And besides, the plate is really small.

* burp *

Once again, thanks for your kindness, and for your friendship. I’m still reading many of your comments at this point ~

ps – figured out how to get my signature back. Can’t believe I didn’t think of it last night. I must have been a little bit frazzled!

Lost

2011-11-29T19:49:00.002-05:00

When I began blogging, I wanted this space to be a haven for people to take a little respite from their busy world. Because of this, I try not to complain too much when life takes its twists and turns.

It wasn’t that today was awful, but when you combine it with the sort of days I’ve been having lately, it was just par for the course. The icing on the cake, however, happened tonight when my external hard drive, the place where I store all of my photographs, ceased to exist.

I know it wants to start up. I can hear it wanting to and trying . . . but no.

It just dies.

I never thought I’d be writing this, that I would be among the ranks of people who lose their precious files from their hard drives, but here I am. I have a Maxtor One Touch 4 with 500GB of space, and the last time I checked, I had plenty of room. I’ve had this hard drive for just over 3 years. I’ve contacted a data retrieval company for a quote and am planning on talking to the tech geeks at work tomorrow as well.

Oddly enough, despite the fact that all of my photos are gone, I don’t feel like it’s the end of the world. This is why there are data retrieval companies. Right? So for now, I’ll share a photo I took over the weekend that I saved on my laptop. Unfortunately, all of my textures are on that hard drive too (I don’t even want to think of this) but the texture on this photo was downloaded from Shadowhouse Creations this afternoon and saved to the laptop. The brushes are from French Kiss and were a free download from their FB page.

Once I get back up and running, I plan on hosting a Giveaway. Because I plan on being happy.

Until next time, my friends . . .

(wish me luck)

ps – my signature is also lost.

While I was sleeping

2011-11-27T10:54:00.001-05:00

Hello, my friends. I’m sorry for my lengthy absence, but I didn’t have anything to say, and I wasn’t taking photos all week. Actually, I had a lot to say but it wasn’t anything I would have wanted to publish on this site.

It’s Sunday morning as I write this, and I overslept. I don’t like missing the sunrise but it’s my last day off in a long string of days off and I love the luxury of soft flannel sheets way too much to climb out of them early.

When I came downstairs, the first thing I noticed while waiting for my coffee to brew was that my husband had taken over a hundred pictures with the long lens this morning. So while I enjoy my homemade biscotti (from my sister’s kitchen – thanks, Char), I’ll share some photos my husband took while I was sleeping.

Standing at the edge of our property.

And when I say ‘our’ property, you know that I mean the property on which we live. We’re caretakers here at the manor house on the hill.

I had asked for a 70-300mm VR lens for my birthday, but that’s a whole other story I don’t care to share. These were shot with the 70-300mm Nikon lens I bought a couple of years ago. It has no vibration reduction, so many of the shots were blurry. But this one’s a keeper.

A morning sky full of birds reminds me of a documentary I watched this week: Winged Migration. The DVD would make a wonderful gift for the bird watcher in your life.

We saw the leaves go to glory,

Then almost migratory

Go part way down the lane,

And then to end the story

Get beaten down and pasted

In one wild day of rain.

~ excerpt from ‘November’ by Robert Frost

I love the trees of November. And I love some of the photographs my husband took this morning. The one above is one of my favorites.

I can’t stress enough how difficult it is to send off a frisbee and then take an action shot of the dog catching it. I found this one beautiful, and I love the sun glare.

Steam.

Yesterday we drove to York, PA to visit my sister and her husband. I lent her the book I read over the holiday (The Descendants) and we had wonderful leftovers for lunch. They are what I would call a ‘foodie’ family, and are always trying new and exciting things. Her husband, Dave, made the most amazing bread, full of nuts and seeds and flavor. Both of their girls are like this too, and for dessert I had a tiny slice of triple chocolate pumpkin cheesecake made by Emily. (She’s the newlywed who got married in Philadelphia this past September).

The pie was out of this world good.

I’m watching one of my favorite shows. It’s CBS’ Sunday Morning. They’re doing a piece on Ellen Barkin, who I’ve always found fascinating as an actress. One of my favorite movies is Sea of Love, where she stars alongside Al Pacino. If you’ve never seen this movie, I am telling you now: It is good. Suspenseful. Absolutely steamy. And it’s on stream at Netflix right now.

~ : : : ~

For my American friends, I hope you have enjoyed a wonderful holiday this past week. Mine was not so good, but hey – some years are like that. I’m going to get my day going here and I can feel a walk coming on with the dog.

Here’s hoping for a good week for us all . . . I’ve missed you, my friends.

The autumn poets sing

2011-11-21T19:17:00.001-05:00

Looking back at my last post, I realized I hadn’t written in days. Sorry for making you worry unnecessarily, and thank you to those who wrote asking if everything was ok. It really is ok here at the moment. My husband continues to get stronger although he’s anxious to get off the steroids and is looking forward to me having off from school for the Thanksgiving Break.

The weekend was mild and Saturday was sunny and lovely, so after my chores were finished, I decided to spend a little time sitting in my favorite chair reading some magazines and enjoying the warmth of the sun on my face. I love feeling the sun on my skin when the weather’s a little bit chilly, don’t you?

This was my view, looking up from my chair into the bare branches of the dogwood tree . . .

And straight ahead . . .

Besides the autumn poets sing,
A few prosaic days
A little this side of the snow
And that side of the haze.

~Emily Dickinson

Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.

~George Eliot

This photo was taken last November but I opened it up and used a texture I found through the blog of photographer friend, Kat Warren. Thanks, Kat ~ for introducing me to French Kiss Textures. I signed up for the newsletter and instantly received several freebies.

I used ‘Rosy French Script’ on the one above, and ‘Dandelion Fuzz’ on the leaf below.

Our eldest son arrived on the train last night from NYC and will be staying with us for a few days. I love having him here – we’ve always been close. Last night I stayed up until 12:30 am watching a show that he’s into, which I thought I would loathe. But I’m addicted now, much to my surprise. Whoulda thunk I would like The Walking Dead?

Seriously? Zombies? But to me, it echoes a little bit of Stephen King’s ‘The Stand’, a book I think I’ve read about 16 times.

Somebody’s going to get a Thanksgiving bath.

But we won’t say anything about that just yet.

: : :

Enjoy your week, my friends. Until later, then.

Feels like November

2011-11-17T20:01:00.002-05:00

I love the routine and the structure of my days and I’m so grateful for it. This morning was like many others – my weekday morning routine getting ready for work, packing my lunch, having my husband walk me to the car and then getting a big hug and kiss goodbye from him.

This morning however, as we were walking out the door we were greeted by fog - and even more special were thousands upon thousands of migrating birds.

I had to run back inside to get the camera.

My husband gets up early, and I noticed he already had some wash hung on the line.

We stood together in the mild November weather and watched the skies. The birds just kept coming and coming.

The Birds

are heading south, pulled

by a compass in the genes.

They are not fooled

by this odd November summer,

though we stand in our doorways

wearing cotton dresses.

We are watching them

as they swoop and gather—

the shadow of wings

falls over the heart.

When they rustle among

the empty branches, the trees

must think their lost leaves

have come back.

The birds are heading south,

instinct is the oldest story.

They fly over their doubles,

the mute weathervanes,

teaching all of us

with their tailfeathers

the true north.

by Linda Pastan

I thought it was beautiful.

And after one last kiss goodbye, I headed down the driveway to work.

I wave my arm out the window until my husband can’t see me anymore. It hurts to leave him sometimes, but he knows that I have to. Sometimes I come home at lunch to surprise him, like I did today.

He really needed it today, and I’m glad that I made the effort.

: : :

The temperature dropped considerably this afternoon, and the wind picked up a bit. To go outside now, I would need a warm coat, hat and gloves. Now it feels like November!

Thanks for taking the time today to stop by my little corner of the world. It was nice to see you here.

Until tomorrow, my friends ~

Book Review: A Watershed Year

2011-11-15T06:00:00.003-05:00

I was recently contacted by a representative at TLC Book Tours to write a review on a book of my choice. I chose Susan Schoenberger’s A Watershed Year because I found the description interesting, and truth be told, I liked the title.

From the jacket description:

It was the year everything changed . . .

“It made me feel better to think that we could talk, somehow, beyond the end of my life, that I could preserve my presence in some small way. And I haven’t told you everything I should have. I wasn’t finished yet, at least where you are concerned . . . “

Lucy never confessed her love to her best friend Harlan before he passed away. Two months after his funeral, she is haunted by the power of things left unsaid when she receives the first of his e-mails, arranged to be sent after his death. So begins the year everything changes – Lucy’s watershed year.

This is a beautifully written book, with complex characters, and I greatly enjoyed reading it. I especially liked the familiar setting – Baltimore, Maryland – so near my home. And I loved the main character, Lucy, a young college professor whose loss becomes the impetus for a major change in her life.

The book begins with the death of Lucy’s dear friend, Harlan, a could-have-been lover who became ill before their relationship took that next step. Out of all of his friends, Lucy is the one who cares for him in his last months, determined that he will get well. But Harlan knows otherwise, and begins to secretly pen letters to his friend that he hopes will help her in the time to come when he is gone. He arranges for them to arrive via e-mail at the beginning of each month, and when one of the letters mentions that she would make a wonderful mother, Lucy begins to wonder if she should adopt a child. Circumstances seem to begin falling into her lap, and before she knows it, she’s caught up in the whole adoption process.

The adoption itself, with all of its twists and turns, is an excellent plot that runs alongside the flashbacks into the relationship she and Harlan shared. Lucy decides to adopt a Russian child, and actually has to travel to that country to collect what she had originally hoped would be an infant, but who turns out to be an angry 4-year-old boy. I was on the edge of my seat while reading about the trip, as well as what happened upon her arrival home.

What I found extremely interesting was Lucy’s specialty at the college, where she studies and teaches the lives of the saints. I guess some of her friends found her vocation rather odd, but I liked the saintly anecdotes that were peppered throughout the chapters. At the time I read this book, I was going through some turmoil in my life, and I marked this page because of the mantra:

Grief rose inside her until it focused itself inside her throat. She took a deep breath through her nose as a prayer from Blessed Julian of Norwich came to her. It was a maddeningly bland prayer, so nonspecific that it bordered on the useless; yet somehow it always made her feel better.

All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.

A Watershed Year is Susan Schoenberger’s debut novel, and won the William Faulkner-William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition in 2006 under the title Intercession and was short-listed for the Peter Taylor Prize.
For more information, please visit www.susanschoenberger.com.

This book has been read and reviewed as part of a TLC Book Tour. You can check out the other stops of the tour [here].

Respectfully submitted,

More phone photography, and a contest elsewhere

2011-11-13T19:02:00.001-05:00

Maybe you’re thinking, “enough already” with the camera phone pictures, but I’m finding it extraordinarily easy to carry this little device rather than lugging around the big D80. So during a couple of my walks this weekend, I popped the phone into one of my pockets and off I went with the hiking poles and the dog.

The leaves lasted a good long time this fall, and it wasn’t until Friday that we really began to see a difference in the view. It’s beautiful when the wind blows because it rains fluttering leaves from above.

For most of these, I used my current favorite photo app for the Droid, Be Funky. If any of you know of other apps we might like, feel free to shout it out in the comment section.

I used Photoshop on some of these, and spent part of Saturday afternoon fooling around with pictures. Always a fun way to spend some time, as far as I’m concerned.

The phone doesn’t do a half-bad job at capturing things.

I love crunching through the leaves.

The path is actually under this pile of leaves. It was nearly up to my knees, as it runs right next to a wooded area.

I bought pillows on sale at the Pottery Barn, and am using them on the dog’s couch. I don’t know what else to call this couch because the main occupant of it is a border collie named George – who now has brand new pillows.

With goose down.

Nothing but the best for George.

All in all, it was a beautiful weekend.

And someone is very tired tonight.

I read about a contest for phone photography on a blog I visit. It runs through the month of December and anyone can enter – all you need is a camera phone and a Flickr account. You may submit up to 3 photos per week, giving you more chances of winning. Grand prize is a $100 Amazon gift certificate.

Cabin Fever in VT – Phone Photography Contest, Nov/Dec

Hope you enter. Should be fun!

Until tomorrow, my friends . . .

Camera phone pictures

2011-11-12T07:48:00.002-05:00

Boy, was I up early this morning. I woke when my husband got up and couldn’t fall back to sleep. I’m glad, though, because I have a lot to do this morning and I also got to enjoy a beautiful sunrise.

Yesterday, the wind blew off most of the leaves on the trees, and suddenly everything looks different. And it’s quite chilly this morning here in Maryland.

I took all of the photos in this post using my camera phone. Some were tweaked using the Be Funky app I downloaded to process photos in the phone. And some were tweaked using Photoshop, like my favorite one just below.

My driveway on Thursday morning.

It was quite foggy that day as I headed to work, and the driveway was so pretty that I stopped the car and got the phone out. I used a tilt shift effect in the Be Funky app on the phone, then ran Florabella’s tea time action in Photoshop, then PW’s Boost. I love this photo ~ and I promise you this . . . every single time I drive up or down this old driveway, I realize how blessed we are.

Even when there’s a tree down.

We are absolutely blessed to be living here.

Taken from my window seat at a restaurant in Chesapeake City, Maryland last month. I used an app from Be Funky, and one of their grunge borders. This is the view from the Bayard House Restaurant, along the C&D Canal.

Our house, earlier this week while we still had leaves on the trees.

Coffee on the front porch in my favorite slippers.

(i got them here)

Sunrise this morning. Bare trees, and the twinkling lights along the main road. I took this from the front door, and you can tell we live on a hill here.

Well, better get to work. Got some housekeeping to do today, and later our son is supposed to visit. What are you up to this weekend? Inquiring minds, and all . . .

Thanks for stopping by today. It’s always a pleasure having you visit.

Night comes early

2011-11-09T20:24:00.001-05:00

Early this morning I woke up to find that I had been denied access to my e-mail account, which was probably due, the message said, to a violation of their access terms. I wrote to google mail, giving another e-mail address I keep for school purposes, to dispute the charge.

Then I tried to open my blog, only to find that it had been shut down, also due to a violation of terms. I disputed this claim too, and began to wonder if something was up with google.

It was a message I had seen on other blogs, and I decided there are worse things that can happen in this world than losing your blog in cyberspace, so I let it go so that I could get ready for work. It worried me a little bit about the e-mail account, and if I hadn’t been through what I’ve been through the past couple of months, I probably would have gotten more upset.

But I wasn’t too upset. Because in the scheme of things, it was probably fixable.

And by the time I got to work, it was fixed, with a sincere apology from the google team.

Thanks to all who wrote me this morning asking if there was anything wrong. You were so sweet to do that. But all is well.

And it’s nearly dark when I get home from work now. And today, the almost-full moon was coming up as I took a walk with one of my favorite guys.

These were taken before 5 pm.

I love this weather. I adore fall days.

Autumn is my favorite season, second to spring.

Today was the first day that I was not only back to work full-time, but that I did not come home for lunch to be with my husband. I started back to work full-time last Friday and have been coming home at lunchtime to visit my husband who is recuperating well from his last brain surgery. He’s just really sad, and he’s lonely. And he loves it when I’m home.

Today when I got there, I saw a box from REI waiting on the table. My husband had ordered a couple of things and was waiting to show me what he’d bought.

Somebody got a new frisbee.

It’s a really nice one and it soars really well (even when I toss it).

And there was a hat for my husband.

And a pair of pajama bottoms for me. They’re very cute, winter flannel ones. And they looked . . . well, they looked . . . shall we say . . . a bit on the large size.

I checked the size and it said XXL.

OMG, I thought. Does he really think I’m XXL?

And so I asked him about the size. He said he was looking for an L. And he thought they were extra LL. I don’t really know what he said to explain it, and it didn’t matter anyway.

What mattered was that he bought himself a hat. And he also got each of us a little present. And that was kind of sweet, actually.

Just like this weather.

It’s kind of sweet, actually ~

Gotta go. Survivor’s on.

Until tomorrow, my friends . . .

Fruit tarts and other such deliciousness

2011-11-08T19:44:00.002-05:00

Warning: There are photos of food in this post. I’m just letting you know now that there is a plethora of delectable edibles here, and I’ll understand if you make a hasty retreat from this post.

I mentioned last Friday that one of the parents at our school stopped by to drop off some paperwork for one of her sons and happened to mention that she and a friend were going to the Italian market in Philadelphia.
She then went on to describe pastries, and cheeses, and all sorts of wonderful things and ended up asking if she could bring anyone something. I finally acquiesced, saying that I would love to take something home to my husband, and she ended up getting several pastries for all of us in the front office.

I have never been to this bakery, which is in the heart of the Italian Market, but it’s known for its award-winning pastries.

Isgro Pasticceria

It should say Pastries since 1904, because that’s how long they’ve been in business. I was excited just to open the sweet little box.

And inside was a fruit tart for me, and an individual Italian cream cake for my husband.

Oh, be still my heart.

I was thrilled that it wasn’t a yellow custard but rather a white, thick, and only slightly sweetened cream. The top of the tiny pastry crust was lined in chocolate.

And the tart was adorned with the freshest of fruit bits. That’s a fig making an appearance on the left above. I mean, how often do you see fresh figs?

I never do.

The tart was divine.

And then there was the Italian cream cake.

My skills at food photography are extremely limited. I try to get the light right, but am terribly lacking at the styling end of it. Looking at this, I want to yell at myself for not getting out a fork and slicing a piece off to show you the inside.

But I didn’t yell, because why beat myself up over something trivial?

It was layers of cake and cream, and oh so good.

Thank you, Suanne, for going to the trouble to bring back these wonderful treats for all of us.

: : :

But the food glory didn’t end on Friday. In fact, it only kick-started the weekend.

On Saturday, I made cinnamon raisin bread.

And I sprinkled chocolate chips on it along with the raisins.

I don’t know what possessed me to do this. But . . .

OH. EM. GEE.

On Saturday night, for dinner, I made these french fries. They were excellent, and I’d found the recipe on Pinterest. They’re actually healthy, too, because they’re baked rather than fried.

Oven Baked Parmesan Seasoned Fries

And I also made this. Another treat I found on Pinterest, but it happened to be on one of my favorite food blogs, Kayotic Kitchen. Kay, the cooking Dutch girl, calls it her Kaytucky Chicken. The chicken is made with a cheese spread inserted into a big slice in the chicken, then wrapped in a pastry shell and baked. Delish.

Crescent Chicken

I’m going to stop now because just writing this post made me so hungry that I had to go out to the kitchen and get a small bowl of Ben & Jerry’s Fro Yo. Oh, the sacrifices I make just to write a blog post, I tellya.

Hope you enjoyed ~

Until tomorrow, my friends . . .

Feathered, from Pinterest

2011-11-06T19:49:00.072-05:00

I've been on Pinterest again. This weekend, I made several recipes I found there.

I'll share them with you later. Today, I'm sharing some of my favorites from one of my boards. It's called 'feathered'. And this time, I'm going with the embed code for the credits. I've found that if you click on the code, it will take you to my board, where it will eventually direct you to the photographer's credit.

So much easier than what I did the last time I shared some of my Pinterest board photos.

And these are all so amazing . . .

Source: tumblr.com via George on Pinterest

Source: adme.ru via George on Pinterest

Source: wannasmile.com via George on Pinterest

Source: blog.patulrichphotography.com via George on Pinterest

Source: ineedfile.com via George on Pinterest

Source: piccsy.com via George on Pinterest

I loved reading about your weekends. It's the simple things that count in this life. Cleaning up the yard, family parties, dinners with friends, grandchildren and sleepovers . . . or just taking a walk in the park, your camera at the ready.

Thanks for sharing the small things with me.

Hope your week is off to a good start. I'm hoping the same for mine. Until tomorrow, then . . .

ps - unfortunately, those links under the photos don't work. They just take you to general pages. Grrrr. Why must things be so difficult?

Life is beautiful

2011-11-04T19:02:00.002-04:00

It’s Friday evening and I’ve just had one of the best days I’ve had in awhile. I started back to work full-time today, and although I would rather be home spending time with my husband, being away all day (and being productive) feels like things are getting back to normal.

My husband is feeling better, too, and getting stronger every day. Click {here} if you’ve been away from this blog for awhile to read what I’m talking about.

We just enjoyed an excellent take-out dinner, so that means no dishes. And today, although it was a bit windy, was really a beautiful fall day. One of the parents stopped by early this morning to say that she and a friend were going food shopping over in South Philly all day and asked if I wanted anything. She ended up bringing sweets from a wonderful bakery for the office staff. I’ll share them with you later.

What I mean is, that I’ll share the photographs of the treats with you.

Ain’t nobody gettin' my fruit tart.

While I’ve been home, I’ve been taking a few photos here and there, then editing them to get them just right.

Here are a few I’ll share with you today.

I love fall and all its colors.

And the lacy leaves.

And the way the light plays on the grass.

: : :

I’m not usually a big fan of floral photography in black & white, but while at Talbots last Saturday, I was stunned by two incredibly striking framed prints in the hallway by the dressing room. They were florals in sepia tones, framed perfectly. I was inspired, so I played around with some of my own.

A sunflower in the early morning, after a light rain. I used Kevin Kubota’s chocolate syrup action on this one which gives it a rich sepia tone. Then I layered it with a texture from Kim Klassen.

For the photos below, I used a cappuccino action, then layered it with a lightly colored texture from Florabella called ‘Seaside’, which I thought looked interesting.

I hope you like. And hey, even if you don’t – I like.

Life surely isn’t easy street right now, but I’ve got a husband who is still with me, and who is so incredibly thankful for everything I have done for him.

(Either that, or it’s the drugs talking . . .)

: : :

So tell me, because inquiring minds want to know . . .

What are your plans for this weekend?

Until later, my friends . . .

Vintage Photos

2011-11-01T20:09:00.002-04:00

In early October, my husband bought me a Canon scanner, something he’d been talking about getting for years. Maybe he had these (unrealistic) visions of me, diligently scanning all of of our old slides, negatives, and film into neat chronological order.

I really haven’t had the energy to do any of this, but I did get up the strength (ha) to scan a few more random photos of us. I had such a surprising response from my original post, with people asking for more, so I’m obliging here.

And once again, I ask you to please be kind.

Our friend, Jeff, took this photo of me one Sunday morning. We were all sitting around having coffee and reading the paper at our place – a little cottage on the first ‘big horse farm’ where my husband was employed at the time. Our children were really young, and I see that I’m sporting the 80’s look with ripped knees in my jeans.

Ever the fashion plate.

Years prior to the photo above, this is me on the first horse farm of my husband’s career. It was a small, private estate in Glenmoore, PA and we were 21 or 22, I believe. And for some reason, this was my favorite sweater.

Egads.

This is not one of my girlfriends. This is actually my husband (my boyfriend at the time). I took this with a camera I’d just bought for fifty bucks from one of the photographers at the newspaper where I worked. It was a Nikon F, completely manual, and I had no idea what I was doing. The two photos above were from my first roll of film using the camera. I remember being mad that the horse was out of focus, But looking back, I realize that I love it this way.

My husband with our dog, Alex. Alex was our first border collie, and was part beagle. I used to drive my little Fiat 124 Sport Coupe with Alex in the front seat and he would sing and be a guest speaker on W-DOG Radio, where I was the host. This was a game I played. He would howl when I sang ‘Chantilly Lace’.

Hey, I was young.

And I had a cool car.

And I kept the boyfriend around because he could fix the car, which was always breaking down.

Ok, and I liked him too.

Summer of 1980, at Cape Hatteras, NC. The year prior to this was when my husband’s parents began renting a house every year, and their three children and spouses (or significant others) would come to spend the week. I fell in love with North Carolina during those visits.

September, 1989 – the first year we rented our own house for the week at Hatteras. This is my husband with our youngest son, Shaun. Please note the Ernie doll, my baby's prized possession at the time. The doll never left his side.

I love this photo and have it in a beautiful frame on my dresser.

: : :

Hope you enjoyed the trip down memory lane. As I continue scanning, I’ll share more from time to time. To see my previous vintage photos, feel free to visit here:

Vintage Photos – 1

Have a beautiful day ~

My quiet weekend

2011-10-30T19:32:00.001-04:00

I love that things are settling down and returning to a new normal around here. This weekend was a quiet one, and very nice.

The driveway, as I was leaving for work on Friday morning, taken with the camera phone. I wave to my husband as I’m driving away, and then I get to this point on the road where he can’t see the car anymore. I’m not back to work full-time yet, but plan on doing so some time this week, as my husband continues to improve.

On Saturday, I was up and out the door by 9:30, headed to the mall with a 50% off coupon for Talbots. I found some great deals, then did some window shopping before coming home in the now-pouring rain.

It was raining sideways . . .

And then . . .

. . . it turned to snow.

But it didn’t last. However, it’s not too often that we see snow in Maryland during the month of October, so this was something different.

On Sunday, my goal was to finish bringing in the rest of the plants. These were outside in a protected area, and weren’t damaged by the freak snow. It’s a lot of work repotting plants. The asparagus fern had become pot-bound, so I transplanted it to three smaller pots.

Luckily, planter pots were on sale for half price at the local garden shop up the road.

I brought all the geraniums inside, planting them in smaller pots, to winter over.

I used to be able to go like there was no tomorrow, lifting heavy things, moving things around . . . but not any more.

I take more breaks now.

I love this little bloom, and this color.

I made Lemon/Rosemary-stuffed Chicken for dinner Sunday. The house smelled divine while it cooked, and my husband finds it interesting that I’m enjoying being in the kitchen. I find it interesting, too. Don’t know what’s up with that.

This is super easy to make.

You need a roaster chicken. Wash & pat dry, then salt & pepper inside. Stuff with a lemon (cut in half), and several sprigs of fresh rosemary. Rub chicken with olive oil and cook at 350 degrees for about an hour and a half, or until you can easily turn the drumsticks (that’s how I tell it’s done).

You can also cut up some root vegetables, sprinkle with olive oil, and some seasonings, and stir from time to time to keep the vegetables from drying out.

While surfing Pinterest, I learned a new way to tie a scarf, although this photo doesn’t really do it justice.

Fold scarf in half. Loop around neck. Pull only one strand of the scarf through the loop. Twist loop, then pull other strand through.

See what you learn coming here? It boggles the mind, doesn’t it?

: : :

I’m hoping to have a good week, and I’m hoping you do, as well. Until tomorrow, my friends . . .

Macro shots from my kitchen counter

2011-10-26T19:24:00.001-04:00

I took these shots last week and fooled around with them in Photoshop, and then completely forgot about them until just now.

I was trying not to dwell on the negative about everything that had been going on in my life, and the tiny little Queen Anne’s Lace in the little vase looked cheerful enough. It made me feel like things were in the pink again, when, in reality, I’m getting used to a new kind of normal.

One of the best investments I ever made was this macro lens. It has brought me nothing but happiness. Well, except for that one time I tripped on the driveway and smashed it, but that wasn’t the lens’ fault now, was it?

The vase I’m using for this is a diffuser from Agraria that I washed thoroughly and keep in my vase cabinet for tiny arrangements such as this.

The texture is ‘Platinum’ from set 1 of the Florabella collection.

I bought a new perfume and I like it just fine.

Plus, it’s photogenic.

I moved the flowers to the cutting board for a different background. This is pretty, too.

As I write this, I have the cat at my side, who is watching the dog make a fool of himself. He’s not really. He’s playing. But I’m sure Miss Blackie thinks the dog is a complete fool. He’s in play mode right now and is bringing me every toy in his box so I will throw it for him.

My sister, Char, knows how long a game of fetch can run.

I bought some mums after bringing my husband home from the hospital and planted them outside in planters. The ones in this little vase broke off and are still decorating my countertop. I love the pretty orange color against the pale wood of the cutting board.

Tonight for dinner, we had something that my sister left in the freezer for us – you know, for those times you just don’t feel like cooking? When she stayed here with George, she spent an entire afternoon preparing different meals and freezing them. I was completely touched by this gesture.

Another sister sent me a book to read that she thinks I’ll enjoy. It’s an historical novel set in Nazi Germany and she told me I may not be able to put it down once I begin reading it. The book is “Those Who Save Us” by Jenna Blum. So if you don’t hear from me for a couple of days, you’ll know what I’m up to.

Ah, finally ~ George sleeps. And the kitty does, as well. I can hear her purring . . .

Until later, my friends . . .

Chronicles of a Country Girl

Camera phone weekend pix

Weekly Pinterest finds

A resurrection of four January days

Completely random

Weekend birds

First snowfall of the year

The Anthropologie store in Philadelphia

Weekly Pinterest finds

Quick trip to Philadelphia

A Sunday in January

Every which way but loose

Let the good times roll

January stillness

Pinterest finds

A perfectly beautiful Saturday morning

Fiery gems for you

Fair to middling

Smile and say cheese

Had I but wings like thine

Had I but wings like thine,Free bird of flight,To scale the heights that only wings can reach,Or steer my passage o'er yon seas of light,Whose cloudy beachIs ever shifting like the sands of time.

More NYC photos

In the city at Christmastime

And then it was quiet

Christmas Eve

There’s only splendor for the sight

O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!Thy candles shine so brightly!O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!Thy candles shine so brightly!From base to summit, gay and bright,There's only splendor for the sight.O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!Thy candles shine so brightly!

Cookies and sparkles

Evening stroll

Creativity abounds

I love these note cards on etsy

It’s coming on Christmas

The fog comes on little cat feet

Amish land, through the car window

Beautiful

A surprise

A few shares

Only kindness matters

Lost

While I was sleeping

The autumn poets sing

Feels like November

The Birds

Book Review: A Watershed Year

More phone photography, and a contest elsewhere

Camera phone pictures

Night comes early

Fruit tarts and other such deliciousness

Feathered, from Pinterest

Life is beautiful

Vintage Photos

My quiet weekend

Macro shots from my kitchen counter

Had I but wings like thine,
Free bird of flight,
To scale the heights that only wings can reach,
Or steer my passage o'er yon seas of light,
Whose cloudy beach
Is ever shifting like the sands of time.

O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
Thy candles shine so brightly!
O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
Thy candles shine so brightly!
From base to summit, gay and bright,
There's only splendor for the sight.
O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
Thy candles shine so brightly!