Round Robin Photo Challenge: Tiny Things

A favorite glass bead,

and a whole collection of tiny things!

Be sure and check out the other participant's entries at The Round Robin Photo Challenges!

Sky Watch Friday: One Little Cloud

Sky Watch Friday's blogroll is at Wiggers World. Be sure and check out the other participants!

The Green, Green Grass of Home: Part Two

Living out in the boonies, especially lately, gives all new meaning to “just sitting around and watching the grass grow.” My yard is alive with critters who have all new hiding places since hubby broke the lawn tractor.


I called the repair center two weeks ago, someone will finally be out to pick it up today, and it will be another two weeks before they can look at it to see what they need to do to fix it, then they’ll order the parts… If I could just stick the blasted thing in the back of my pickup and take it somewhere to be fixed, I would, but it’s a little large for that, so we bought this warranty. Yeah. Pick-up and delivery is covered, but they sure do take their sweet time about it. I can't complain too much though because the poor guy doing the pickup and delivery has to come almost 100 miles to get to me. So, I did what any sensible person would do - I bought more Claritin.

The other good news? They pay to cut your grass if it takes longer than two weeks to fix your mower. I got real excited until I saw the maximum they pay. Anybody want to mow a few acres of grass for $25?

Wordless Wednesday

The Green, Green Grass of Home

And oh boy, do I have a lot of it right now. We normally keep it cut in the vicinity of the house so it doesn't go to seed and make my allergies kick in, but my lawn tractor is out of commission and will remain so for at least a month (busy season at the factory repair center.) Instead of stressing out about it, I'm going to take some Claritin, then sit back and watch the deer enjoy it.

I didn't have my camera in hand yesterday when a grazing doe outside my french doors got curious and came right up to the glass to look in... and you can't see the nose print she left on it in the picture I did get. The shots of the grass are pretty boring too (especially since I scared off the deer when I took my camera outside), so I went out and captured some of the greenery around here so you could see what a paradise it looks like right now. Click to enlarge, and enjoy!

Back to Basics

A trip to the health and beauty aisle these days is revealing more and more “organic” and “all natural” soaps, shampoos, etc, than ever. Everyone is jumping on the “green” bandwagon, and who has time to sort out all the hype they’re throwing at us? (Read here for some encouraging news along that line.) It’s certainly not how I planned on spending my leisure time, but after developing what seemed to be some kind of contact allergy to anything in my skin care routine that contained synthetic chemicals, it became evident that that was exactly what I was going to have to do. I had flaky, dry patches on my face and legs that would not go away despite multiple attempts to find something appropriate for my sensitive skin, my spray gel for my hair was causing weird breakouts all around my hairline, and Vaseline, my old standby for chapped lips, was suddenly making them worse instead of better. In desperation, I bought a vegan, organic lip balm, and hit pay dirt. One application and a few hours later, my lips were almost completely healed. I remained skeptical about a product that still had ingredients on the label that I could not identify, but I got a clue and began a quest to find simple, natural alternatives to my skin care products.

My soap and shampoo (technically detergents) with the ubiquitous sodium lauryl sulfate obviously had to go. Factor in known allergies since infancy, and this was going to be a challenge. I went straight for the simplest, purest products I could find, and got quite an education in the process. Clearly Natural unscented glycerin bar and Dr Bronner’s baby mild liquid castile soap both proved to be a solution. They left my skin clean and fresh without feeling stripped or dried out. Shampoo and conditioner was going to be a little more difficult. I finally turned to this website for an education on ingredients. There are plenty of alternatives for traditional detergent and chemical laden formulas, but hair type and personal preference can be a big deciding factor. I am currently using Burt's Bees pomegranate and soy formula and loving it.

Next up: dry skin. A friend had recommended the old fashioned formula of rosewater and glycerin as a moisturizer, and an internet search turned up several recipes for making it yourself, as well as some ready made products. I remembered hearing jojoba oil was also good for your skin, and added that to my list. My beauty routine was complete. After showering, I finish off by spritzing rosewater and glycerin all over, even in my hair. It leaves my skin feeling soft, fresh, and hydrated without that heavy feeling from typical drugstore moisturizers. The moisture retaining properties of glycerin also made it ideal for curl definition in my hair. Severely flaky, dry or chapped skin gets a few drops of jojoba oil massaged in. This simple routine has virtually eliminated my dry skin issues.

With the help of the products I have culled out of all the possibilities out there, I am well on my way to the healthiest skin and hair I have ever had, not to mention fewer chemicals going down my drain everyday; it’s even more cost effective. The shampoos and conditioners are the only items that cost a little more than the traditional drugstore variety, but even they are significantly less than most salon products. The sampling of products below are my favorites, but are by no means all inclusive. Check out the links provided and find what works for you.

Wordless Wednesday: Sunday Edition

And now for something completely different...

Lesson Learned

Amongst the things I love to photograph are people's pets, but animals can pose a bit of a challenge. They don't take direction well, they rarely hold a pose for long, and unlike children, they have a habit of running away when you're trying to take their portrait. (Actually, I've known a lot of kids to run away too, but they run slower than animals and are easier to catch.) The other thing that can make taking an animal portrait difficult is if they like the photographer. I was taking kitty portraits the other day, and two of the cats like me. A lot. So much so, that everytime they struck a pose and I got into position, they got up and wanted to be all over me. It became a game. Ignore the kitties, wait until they settled down, point the camera, and here they came. I got lots of lovin' but not so many pictures. Except for Ann.

Ann is a princess. She treats almost everyone with disdain.

Ann is the master of remaining cool and aloof.

Ann could care less about gettin' frisky with the photographer.

Ann also knows how to work the camera.




Lesson learned, Ann.

Sky Watch Friday

Misty early morning spring sky, as viewed from my bedroom balcony.

Don't forget to check out the blogroll of other Sky Watch participants at Wiggers World.

Portraits of a Muse

When I first moved away from the suburbs, I went through a stage where I was so busy just settling in, making new friends, and appreciating my new surroundings that I really didn't miss doing portraits, or photography as a whole for that matter. A whole new life style was beckoning and portraiture just wasn't a part of it. I did some work, created a few fine art pieces, but for the most part, it felt stale. It's been 4 years now since I did any studio work, and withdrawals are finally kicking in. The significant lack of small children in my immediate vicinity has had me reevaluating my skills and how I might use them here in the boonies. I've been playing around with animal portraits as well as some with flowers, and I've found my muse again.

A few years ago, I experimented with a new technique for flower portraits that I was very happy with.
I hadn't done much with it since because it worked best in full sunshine, something we don't get much of here in the Pacific Northwest, and access to a variety of flowers, a lot of which tend to be deer food around here, and I can't exactly just skip off to buy them at the florist or market whenever the mood strikes. The arrival (finally) of the flora and summer-like weather around here has got me exploring the possibilities again, and I have to say, I'm quite happy with the results.


I can hardly wait to see what other floral inspired opportunities the season brings!

Wordless Wednesday

The Gift

For those of you who read here regularly, you know that I write about my mother, and may have noticed that the subject of my father rarely comes up, and there’s a reason for that, but every once in a while, the universe reminds me that he’s still out there. I had a phone call today that brought a lot of things to the surface and made me take another look at the issue.

When my mother died, I came to a huge turning point in my life. A lot of things I had always known combined with new revelations; the puzzle pieces that were her life all came together, and I found myself facing a choice: honor her, or continue to have a relationship with my father. The two could not coexist.

Suffice it to say that my mother was oppressed. I’m not going to get into the whole unsettling theme of things here, and no one need let their imagination run wild; that’s not the point of this post. When she passed on 2 ½ years ago, I felt like an orphan. I say “passed on” as opposed to died because I believe her spirit died many years, possibly decades before her heart gave out. Shortly before the hour of her death, it became clear to me what I was going to be faced with. I’ve made choices that have not been popular ones before, but this was a biggy. I literally and physically walked away from my role as a daughter and began a journey of self discovery. Same house, same husband, same kids, but the beginnings of a whole new me. I started fresh, paying tribute to the spirit of a woman that had ceased to exist a few short years after my birth.

For those of you who known the assurance of a kind and loving parent, count your blessings. For those who have not, whatever the circumstances, it is never too late to make a positive change in yourself. I am 2 ½ years into a whole new me, and it is a gift my father gave me.

Knitting Around (and around...)

...and around. And so the socks go. When I picked up my knitting needles again 2 years ago, after barely touching them for about two decades, I thought maybe I'd make a few dishcloths, a hat or two, possibly a scarf. Of all the things I had knit in my life, socks were just not on the list. Not for a lack of technical knowledge; I have been knitting since I was a young child, but all those tiny stitches quite frankly just put me off. I'm pretty good at math, and when I calculated how many stitches it would take to make what I considered to be a decent sock, well, it was mind boggling. Then something happened:
1. I had more hats, scarves, and dishcloths than I needed.
2. I discovered sock yarn.

Long story short, I'm hooked. Living here in the Pacific Northwest, there might be 2 weeks out of the year that I don't wear them and store bought just aren't the same after you've tried a custom-knit-to-your-own-foot pair out of nice, squishy soft wool. That, and it's pretty hard to have too many pairs of socks. Check out my favorite sock knitting books by clicking on any of the widgets below and beware; the little buggers are addictive!

Cemetery Sunday

What is it we love so much about old cemeteries? I believe for some it is the sense of history, for others, the search for unique old epitaphs, and some of us just go to remember our loved ones. The latter has never been an option for me, as my nearest and dearest are almost all buried 3000 miles away. I hope that someday, I may be able to visit the cemetery where they are and take pictures to remember it by.

I like an old graveyard the best.

I love how this cherub's face is lit by the sun.

Where do you suppose these stairs are going to?
And what is Lattie's story?

What is it you enjoy the most about old cemeteries?

Round Robin Photo Challenge: Norwegian Wood

"Norwegian Wood - take a photo of anything wooden."
Merriam Webster defines the word "wooden" as: 1. made or consisting of wood. 2. lacking ease or flexibility, awkwardly stiff (e.g., wooden performer, a wooden speech)

Various other sources further define it as: stiff, ungainly or awkward; without spirit, animation or awareness; lacking responsiveness or alertness; so rigidly constrained, formal, or awkward as to lack all grace and spontaneity; made or consisting of (entirely or in part) or employing the by-product of a tree.

I found this to be a particularly intriguing challenge. I live in the woods, in a wooden house, surrounded by items made of wood. It would have been very easy to just take the direct route and photograph the wooden things around me. Instead, I decided to search my archives for less obvious and/or more interesting interpretations of the word. Here is what I found:

A close up of a piece of driftwood on our beach...

This ancient donkey who was most definitely awkwardly stiff, lacking alertness, and without spirit...
And one that not only is a by-product of wood, but speaks to me of a class of workers without spirit and wooden in their performance of their tasks.

Please visit the Round Robin Photo Challenge homepage for a list of other participants and their entries!

Skywatch Friday: The View From the Woods

Wordless Wednesday: Thursday Edition

Wordless Wednesday: The View From Here

Other Wordless Wednesday participants can be found here. Be sure and pay them a visit!

Picture This...

"Breathe in some of that nice, fresh country air!" That's what you usually hear people say when you pass a field of cattle, a humorous way of saying "Wow, that stinks!" Well, we haven't got any cattle close by, and the air out here in our part of the country is normally about as fresh as it gets anywhere on the continent, but we have a septic system that, well... stinks. The good news is, it's not the tank that needs pumping (been done) or the drainfield that needs repair (drainfield is healthy.) The bad news is, we haven't found yet what is causing it. Everything seems to work as it should, no backing up, no gurgling, but the odor coming out of the vicinity of the cleanout in our basement bathroom is enough to curl your nose hairs, and this particular bathroom has no window, and a ventilation fan that can't seem to keep up with the output.

So, the only part of this system that has not yet been thoroughly checked out is the vent. Picture this, (and if you can't make sense of what I'm talking about, never mind. You really don't want to know anyways. Really. Trust me on this one.) Three story house, one full bathroom on each story, stacked one on top of the other, all sharing the same vent/waste line. Said vent is black ABS pipe, three inch above the cleanout, four inch below. Four inch end is buried in concrete and goes to the septic tank, three inch end goes up three stories through the roof, delivering the "deposits" from all three toilets to the septic tank, and supposedly venting the system to prevent odors escaping back into the house. This vent runs through the wall, behind the toilets, and the cleanout Y's off the vent pipe, not outside where you would think, but inside, right behind the basement toilet.

Now, according to the law of gravity, all "deposits" flushed go downhill. We assume the line is not plugged or blocked in anyway because we've had no backups. Just the same, the plug on the cleanout has to be pulled to check the status of the line going into the septic tank. Did I mention the basement bathroom is carpeted? (Mission accomplished, line is clear. Phew.)

So far, all we've found is a few joints in the vent pipe that may have not been glued thoroughly, and hence allowing fumes to escape, so hubby slopped a bunch of ABS glue around them (which possesses it's own paint peeling, nose-hair-curling odor but hey, it smells better than it did before.) Outside of jackhammering up the basement floor, we've run out of ideas.

We're breaking out the big guns next. All the holes in the wall around the pipes are getting sealed with spray foam, and if that doesn't kill it, we may just be in the market for one of them fancy ionic air purifiers. Any other suggestions?

Which Side Is Your Bread Buttered On?

I've had an obsession with bread lately. I've always loved bread. Making it, eating it, and recently, reading books devoted to perfecting it. Our current lifestyle is very conducive to the pursuit of the perfect loaf of bread. I can bake a basic loaf from scratch in about the same amount of time as it takes to go to the store and buy it, and for a whole lot less money (with a whole lot less additives too.) Once I get my dining room set up to take pictures, I hope to share some pretty shots of my baking successes with visitors to the woods. In the meantime, be inspired by these books, available at Amazon or if you're lucky, your local library.

Dear Mom,

You know I've never been big on celebrating holidays, and this Mother's Day is no exception. It's the third one since you've been gone, and I still feel as if I was orphaned when you died. I have two gorgeous children, an amazing daughter-in-law, and a grand-daughter who is the love of my life to celebrate with, but being a Mom isn't the same as having one.

If you were here, I would share with you all the pictures of everyone having fun at the zoo before Bubba had to leave for Iraq. If you were here, I'd cook a special dinner for you. If you were here, I'd take a portrait of you, me, Sweetpea and Princess Cupcake so we'd finally have that four generation picture we always talked about.

Memories are all that I have left now. I was looking through old pictures of you and me again today, and found something pretty special. Not just you and me, but Grandma and Great Grandma too.
Happy Mother's Day Mommy.





Love,
Jennie

Copyright Protection and Why

I've been getting a few comments lately about my use of a copyright mark on my photos; some asking how I do it, and some asking why, or just outright expressing displeasure at having to look at it. I guess the time has come to discuss the subject of copyright protection and why I use it.

As I've mentioned here before, I used to work as a professional portrait photographer. The only reason I am not still working in a studio is proximity to the general population (or lack of it in my case) since I moved to the Pacific Northwest. That said, once a pro, aways a pro. My photography was my livelihood, and lack of respect for copyright was an issue we dealt with regularly. Try making a living selling your photographic works, only to find that a client who purchased a single $20 picture now thinks he/she has the right to scan it and make as many copies as desired to pass out to family and friends. Post that same photo online, and the problem reaches astronomic proportions. Copyright theft is rampant on the web. Do a Google image search and hundreds of images are there, seemingly for the taking, mine as well as many other pros included, but how many people actually stop to think before uploading or linking to an image found in a web search or on someone's blog that it might be stealing to do so? (There is a right and a wrong way to link to photos found on the web.) Many people have attempted to protect their work by placing their signature, or a small copyright mark in the corner, but that only protects your work from theft by the most honest of people. Many photos get lifted, copyright and all (a big problem on places such as ebay), and the less scrupulous retouch them out, and present the work as their own to greeting card companies, stock agencies, or just to use them on their websites.

I use a fairly intrusive mark as the most aggressive measure of protection I can without totally defacing the photograph. It is my only assurance that I am reasonably protected against theft of my work. Shown below is a typical watermark at a level of opacity that still allows the picture to be enjoyed.


Now, for anyone who thinks that this photo is ruined and that my watermark is interfering with the enjoyment of it, I give you the other option:

I appreciate the fact that people like to look at pretty pictures and not have the first thing they see be the copyright mark, and I do try very hard to respect that to the degree that is reasonable. I would imagine that there will always be those who just don't "get it" and will continue to express their dislike of copyright marks such as mine, and that's just fine, but you won't be finding any apologies here. On the occasional snapshot I post I usually don't bother with it, but for the most part, it's here to stay.

In the not too distant future, I will be offering prints of my work for sale. As may be expected with professionally taken pictures, they will be copyrighted; not intrusively as posted here for the masses to enjoy, but unobtrusively, with taste and respect for the art.

Photo Contest - Your Votes Needed !

Visit the Mother's Day photo contest at Soliloquy and cast your vote today! (And if you just happen to vote for Jennifer Robin's entry, so much the better!)

Skywatch Friday

The Good Stuff

One thing I love doing is cooking and baking, and never has it made more sense than in today's economy. With gas and food prices going the way they are, (that, and being 35 miles away from the closest shopping) I'm being ever more careful with the budget, and one of the easiest and best changes I've made is no longer buying highly processed foods. Eating out has never been our thing, but I never gave much thought to the garbage in the grocery items we ate almost daily until I read these books. I made a commitment to our health and budget and stopped buying almost everything except the most minimally processed ingredients. Gone from my cupboard is anything with high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated fats, and artificial flavors and colors, just to name a few. Eating almost exclusively at home, with meals and munchies being made from scratch has changed our tastes in ways I never dreamed possible. Once we got in the habit, commercially prepared foods no longer appealed to us.

I decided to get adventurous the other day, and got out a recipe for croissants I'd been wanting to try. They were wonderful... flaky, buttery, everything a croissant should be, but I wanted more. I had only used 1/4 of the dough for our dinner rolls for the day, and the remaining dough was just begging to be combined with some chopped pecans and brown sugar for pastry fans...


and some good quality chocolate chips for pain au chocolat.

I've eaten a lot of baked goods in my time, from a lot of bakeries, and none of them can hold a candle to these simple goodies made with real butter, the most basic ingredients, and a little imagination. I didn't use any "recipes" other than that for the dough. The pastry fans have a filling consisting of about 1 cup finely chopped pecans, 1/2 cup brown sugar, and 2 tbsp melted butter, adjust quantities as needed keeping the same proportions. The pain au chocolat filling is simply good quality chocolate chips/chunks with a small amount of granulated sugar, and I brushed the tops with evaporated milk and sprinkled them with sugar crystals for texture. Shape as desired, bake at the same temperature the croissants call for for about the same amount of time, adjusting time as needed for brownness. Wander on over to Chickens in the Road and check out her bread recipes. Your taste buds will thank you, as well as your wallet!

Wordless Wednesday

Knight Foundry, Sutter Creek, CA

Be sure to visit Wordless Wednesday's blogroll for a full list of other participants!

Wordless Wednesday: Tuesday Edition

Spring Fever

It's finally warming up here in the woods; the sun is shining, the flora and fauna abundant, and the hammock tempting. When you live someplace where the weather is perpetually gray and drizzly, any day the thermometer breaks 60 degrees is cause to break out the shorts and sandals. Get out the BBQ, mow the grass, take a walk down to the beach to dig clams; we only get a few sunny months a year and like to make the most of them.

For those who wish they could live in cabins/cottages all year round, and you lucky ones who do, here is a selection of books meant to inspire. You grab the lemonade, I'll be waiting in the hammock (unless it rains, which is always a possibility around here. In that case, the wood stove will be doing the beckoning!)

A Message From Surry

This Sunday marks the end of an unusually busy week for me, and the beginning of another that promises to be even more of a whirlwind than the one past. As I sit at my keyboard, trying to process the events of the week and the thoughts I have been wanting to share, I remembered something I found in Surry, Virginia.

The old cemetery struck me at first as one of the saddest places I'd ever seen. Graffiti on the church plaque, crumbling walls and headstones, unkempt grounds. Not much had changed since it burned in 1868.

And then I saw it. A handmade headstone, a plain slab of concrete, with a message etched by hand.

In all my wanderings,
around this world of care
In all my griefs,
and god has given my share
I still had hopes

It may not mean the same thing to you as it did to me then, and still does now. Some may find it sad or melancholy, or unremarkable. I find it inspiring, uplifting, and beautiful in it's simplicity.

It is a timeless message that survived over 300 years to say it all better than I ever could.

Round Robin Photo Challenge: Spring Cleaning

In this first photo, the spring cleaning theme is evident. In the second one, well, it might help to understand that I live in timber country, and the primary industry here is logging.

In the foreground, you see what the forest looks like after a clear cut. There is a pile of slash on the right of the photo, the logging crew's cleanup effort after taking out all the timber in this section. Slash piles waiting to decompose or be burned are part of the landscape around here, and no matter what time of the year, are representative of the "spring cleaning" going on in the logged areas of the forest.

As part of this photo challenge, we have been asked to come up with 3 ideas for future challenge topics. Mine are as follows, and are open to creative interpretation beyond the obvious:

Rear View - A picture taken from or of the view behind you or the back of something, the reflection in a mirror. Could be interesting!
I Made That - Something you made, be it food, craft, child, a mess, anything (besides the picture itself!)
Inside Out - The view outside through a window or door, contents spilling out of a box, inside out clothing items. Have fun with this one!

There are lots of other Round Robin photos to see; just click here for links and check them out!

Skywatch Friday

Portraits

There are two things I enjoy photographing as much as children. Baby animals have got to be the cutest things in the universe. Rarely staying still for more than a nanosecond, they're a challenge to capture, but oh so worth it when you do. Flowers are the polar opposite. They sit still, don't complain, and take quite awhile to get tired, frequently outlasting me.

Come to think of it, I guess there's not so much difference between the two after all.