Stop trying so hard

Can I tell you something?

All week long I’ve come here, and try as I may to write a post or even choose some photos to share, nothing is forthcoming. I can’t talk, I can’t write, and all my words keep getting in the way of each other.

I’ve decided to stop trying so hard. I simply cannot post every day.

So rather than have the words fighting with each other, here are some photos I took this week to share with you.

 

I love Sunday breakfast. I’m going to look forward to that this weekend.

 

And I love my new bowl from {here}.

This one was half-price at the local mall.

 

I love salsa on my eggs.

Actually pico de gallo is what I prefer, but when I’m out of that, I’ll go with the salsa.

 

: : :

I am loving Instagram too, especially when I haven’t much to say.

Because all I need to do is upload a photo.

Here are a few that I shared this week.

 

Taken this Spring at 30th Street Station, Philadelphia.

 

Taken yesterday evening in Charlestown, Maryland

where I met co-workers for dinner.

 

My friend, and co-worker, Nancy.

 

Sometimes, I just want to fly away.

Far far away from my troubles.

Do you feel that way sometimes, too?

: : :

And now, because inquiring minds want to know . . .

some questions for you.

1. Do you remember your favorite subject in school? How about your least favorite?

2. What was your favorite book as a child?

3. When you hear the word ‘summer’, what comes to mind?

4. What is your favorite summer drink? (Alcoholic or non – doesn’t matter)

5. If you’re living in the US, what are your plans for the 4th of July?

See you in the comments, my friends . . .

A quiet weekend

I spent my weekend doing a little of this and a little of that, and have a few photos to share with you. Because it’s all about the pictures, you know.

The heat wave finally broke in the form of a vicious storm that blew through Friday around dinnertime. It downed trees, and took out power but when it was all over, cooler temperatures prevailed.





On Saturday morning before I started my chores, I sat out on the patio where I took pictures of the birds while having my coffee. I could not have done this on Friday, because the heat and humidity – even very early in the morning – was absolutely oppressive.

A male hairy woodpecker above.





And a mockingbird. I had no idea their eyes were golden until I viewed this image.





And my noisy little friend, the tufted titmouse.





I caught some wing action from a little chickadee, but it was pretty blurry.

: : :

I got totally into two things over the weekend. One is a series I found on Netflix called Doc Martin. Don’t know why, but I can’t seem to get enough of this British comedy drama. The main character is a gifted and prominent surgeon who develops a fear of blood and is forced to stop practicing surgery. He accepts a position as a GP in the sleepy coastal town where he used to spend holidays as a child with his aunt. His interactions with the locals are amusing, and the scenery along the Cornish coast is really lovely.

The other thing I got into is Instagram.





Instagram is a free camera app available for iPhone and Android. It’s pretty fun, and so easy to take pictures because I always have the cell phone with me.

I set the kiddie pool up in the yard over the weekend and snapped these pics, uploading them to Instagram after fooling around with them in other camera apps.

Some day, I’m going to have a real pool.

But until then, I can handle this.

Hello ~

Anybody home?

: : :

And finally, this short video is for my friend, Reena, who loves pelicans. I found this on Onecoolthingaday.com. The cinematography is just beautiful, and hey – I even learned a thing or two.

Hope your week is a pleasant one, my friends. Until next time, then ~

PS - on Instagram, I am KATYDID56.

Rambling into infinity

Greetings from Maryland where the temps are hot, and the humidity is high. Actually, much of the Northeast is experiencing the same type of weather which is just in time for the start of summer.

We’ve had a beautiful spring, so I have no complaints here. Plus it’s Friday (woot!) and I have off from work. I have a few things planned for today but early morning was spent relaxing under the dogwood tree with a cup of coffee and watching the birds in the trees around the edge of the property. I brought the camera outside to let it acclimate to the weather so I could get a couple of macro shots to share with you.

 

First sunflower of the season. And it has a little visitor.

 

 

We have a lot of sunflowers.

 

 

And I have a new coffee mug for summertime.

Available at {Anthropologie}.

 

 

The morning glories are blooming, too.
 

 

 

Morning Glories

First thing
summer mornings

I would come out
to the porch,
tiptoe down the steps,
pad barefoot
across the grass

stand behind the trellis
and look up to see
how many of her
morning glories
had opened.

They were so blue
and pure, beaded
with dew

as if miniature
gateways to the skies
had swayed open

allowing me
to ramble
into infinity.

~Norbert Krapf

: : :

Have to run ~ Enjoy your day, all. Until tomorrow, my friends . . .

Some lessons don’t come easy

 I could never be a professional photographer. Know why? I could never be one because I don’t like having client deadlines looming over me. I tend to procrastinate. I often do the same thing when it comes to cleaning.


So rather than edit the school photos taken in April (for Pete’s sake), and the graduation photos I took in June, I figured I’d procrastinate even more and fool around with a few of my camera apps (for Android). This first one’s called Photo Grid.

view from my chair under the dogwood tree yesterday afternoon

This app will pull up pictures from anywhere on your camera and create a collage with them. There are plenty of grid templates from which to choose as well as the free style grid that I used above. Not many backgrounds but I like the leather one I used in this collage.





The app is available for the iPhone or the Droid. Not a ton of creative control, but fun to play with nonetheless.

: : :

And as far as Instagram is concerned . . . the jury’s still out on it for me. Today I created an account, only to find that I’d already done so a couple of months ago. Then I remembered how confused I was back in March after it asked to link to FB. I ended up figuring I hadn’t really created an account and then never went back. Today it told me that someone with my name had already created an account, so I signed on in, and was surprised to see that I already had followers. I still had no idea what to do, or how to start. So I just googled instructions and went from there.

Shared on Instagram

Taken with Camera 360, edited in Little Photo, then in Be Funky.

Just because I can.

It’s fun playing around in Instagram and as far as sharing goes, I like it fine. But for editing and effect purposes, I find it completely lacking compared to every other free app I have. In my phone I use Be Funky, Little Photo, and Camera 360 for editing, and they were all free downloads. Today I downloaded Magic Hour to see what that’s like.

Update: I am loving Magic Hour almost as much as I love Be Funky.

Shared on Instagram.

Taken with Camera 360, edited in Be Funky.

Shared on Instagram.

Taken & edited with Magic Hour, then Instagram for the tilt/shift.

This is my favorite pillow.

Please try to contain yourselves, people.

: : :

Ok ~ enough of this nonsense. Let’s have something fun to drink.

I really want to make this.

I think it would be worth the effort,

and there’s rosemary in our garden.

{Rosemary-Tangerine Cooler}

(i’ll keep you posted)

This also is something I’d like to try.

{Watermelon Agua Fresca}

Maybe with a little silver tequila . . .

or perhaps not.

.

Love this song. Girl is a walking miracle.

And with that, I will leave you until next time my friends . . .

Update: For those who asked, my Instagram name is katydid56

Short and sweet

It is what it is.

My weekend, in few words.

On the lookout.

Over the bridge.

Miss Blackie sleeps.

He loves a good stick.

Grass needs cut.

Bees in clover.

Blackberry pancakes.

Tufted titmouse.

Gray catbird.

Strawberry shortcake.

{recipe here}

Pansies still blooming.

I’m still crazy.

Orange you glad you stopped by?

i am

Ah, summertime

Sorry I’ve been MIA the past few days. Had a lot to get done at work, then took a quick overnight trip to the beach with some girlfriends that live nearby. I want to tell you that I have not been to the beach – a real beach in a long time. I had so much fun. And I so needed this.

I left the camera at home, planning only to use the camera phone (Droid X2) for images and these few are the only ones I took while away. All were taken using Camera 360, then edited in Be Funky, one of my favorite photo apps. I also love Little Photo.

Heading to Cape Henlopen State Park (DE), where there’s a wonderful beach.

Driving over the bridge on Rte. 9 into Lewes.

(you pronounce it Lewis)

The ocean is at the horizon point there, and just
and around the bend is the Cape May - Lewes Ferry)

When I got to the beach, the wind was blowing at a good clip, my friends were already there, and some were wrapped up in blankets. Other people (tourists) were swimming, but to each his own.





This morning after breakfast, we walked our beach chairs to the end of the road and soaked up the sunshine for awhile at Rehoboth Bay, talking and laughing. This was the view from my chair.

And looking to the left.

Loved that property there on the left with the two Adirondack chairs.

Four of the friends.

Christine left earlier that morning.

The food was simply amazing. Diana is a chef and had her own catering business for years. She loves to cook for her friends, and the only thing she asks is that someone else does the cleaning up. And since I love washing dishes, it was a perfect match. And I found a new red wine that I love.

Apothic

On the way home, we stopped at Candy Kitchen on the main drag in Rehoboth. George got a starfish doggie treat from here.

(I tried to get a photo of it after coming home but the icing had melted on it, leaving it not very photogenic). George liked it, nonetheless.

I can’t believe I only bought a doggie treat in here.

Everybody else was buying good stuff, chocolate covered strawberries, salt-water taffy, chocolates, hard candies and Swedish fish . . . but I know that if I have it in the house, I'll eat it.

And we can't have that.

Driving home I missed my turn-off and ended up going over the Rte. 1 bridge which I’ve always called the sailboat bridge. The day was as pretty as a picture.

Heard this song on the way home. Good driving music for me (and if you know me at all, you know that sometimes I just need to rock out).

.

Hope your weekend is everything you want it to be. Thanks for coming by to see me today in my little corner of the world.