Introducing a new product: Glass cutting boards - Functional art for your kitchen

I’m very excited about this new product.  I have been looking, and will continue to do so, for ways to use my photography in ways other than prints for your walls, photo greeting cards, and to jazz up my blog here.  I’ve found a source – www.artibly.com that allows me, or anyone, to create unique glass cutting boards using photographic art.   Here are a few that I’ve currently got for sale on my Etsy and Ebay sites. 

Spice up your kitchen with a custom-imprinted rectangular cutting board! Custom cutting boards are perfect for home chefs and restaurant owners alike. This functional, sanitary, and heat-resistant glass cutting surface is ideal for slicing, dicing, and mincing in the kitchen. This beautiful tempered glass cutting board has a grain texture on the surface. Includes self-adhesive rubber feet.

Any image in this store can be used to create your unique cutting board. I can even include lettering or custom copy. Would make a great housewarming, wedding, or hostess gift. You could invite guests to “Meg’s Kitchen” or inform visitors that they could be the next to be “Chopped”. Just indicate, in the notes, which image and sentiment you’d like. I will confirm and send a proof of the design before creating.

THE DETAILS:

Close up of cutting board top shows grain texture surface.

Image is printed on the bottom of the cutting board. Opaque printing surface allows image to show brightly through glass.

Use as a cutting surface. Tempered glass resists stains, odors and bacteria. Board makes a unique serving platter for hors d’ oeuvres. Artistic additions to any kitchen or wet bar area.

Cutting board is safe in most dishwashers, but we suggest board be washed by hand.

Keep out of direct sunlight. Board left in direct sunlight may fade gradually over time.

Board is about 7.9" high and 11.8" wide.

Radius corners are approximately 1.2 inches.

Board is approximately .16 inches thick.

Self-adhesive rubber feet are provided to prevent slipping on countertop.

PHOTOGRAPHY: In the garden . . .

Fresh picked yellow pear tomatoes in the bath

I can hardly tear myself away.  My camera sits on the counter by the door when I’m home.  I watch for the right light, for the sun to hit those leaves just perfectly, bringing out the texture and fragrance, and I go out and shoot. 

I need the thyme

This garden season is winding down and I’ve been photographing the progress and bounty since the seeds hit the dirt.  From the first emergence from the soil to the time they came to the kitchen, my camera has been as much a part of my gardening tools as watering can.

fell in love with the peppers early on

I thought I’d share the results of my hard work.  Hope you enjoy each little detail as much as I do.

Lots of bee activity on the sunflowers



Tomatoes early in the summer



Soon, tiny green tomatoes

Then a nice little group

Then into the harvest basket

ready to eat . . . yum!

 

portugal hot peppers

love the little guy

after a while, they got all twisty

then they got picked

nice harvest

late summer

containers bursting with peppers, tomatoes, herbs, and flowers

pots of peppers



beautiful basil



rosemary



sage with water droplets



all comes together for some awesome salsa

pretty and fragrant lilies



row of morning glories against that blue sky



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and then the sunflowers bloomed



love the bright yellow against that blue sky

love how they twist and intwined

feels like you could just slide right in

just look at them so hard at work

the tomatoes and green beans ready to eat

something very satifying about eating what you grow yourself

That's the end of my self indulgent food porn for today.  I would love to hear from anyone who enjoys photographing their garden's success and harvest.  Is there anyone so obsessed? 

On to the newest thing . . . the hummingbirds.  Beware.

Maine Travel: Camden Hills State Park, Mt. Megunticook

As we near the halfway point of this year, I took a look at some of the new year’s goals that I wrote down way back in January. As far as travel is concerned, one of the goals I had was to go to at least five places I had never been before, with two of them being in the state of Maine. Well, I hit a couple of new places this past Memorial Day weekend and will tell you about one of them today.




I told you all that I’ve been restless and craving adventure, so when my husband proposed going to Camden Hills State park to climb Mt Megunticook, the highest mainland mountain on the Atlantic coast, I thought “Cool! Nice day, blue sky, some exercise, some fresh air, more than likely some great photo vantage points, and it being Camden, plenty of scenic ocean vistas.” I was certainly game.

We packed a picnic cooler and set out, my husband, my daughter, and me. We meandered our way to Route 1 just north of Searsport and continued south, through Belfast and into Camden. Before reaching the harbor area and downtown Camden, we arrived at the park. Camden Hills State park flanks both sides of Route 1, the ocean side and the mountain side. Nearly noon when we got to the area, we decided that it would be best to have our lunch before climbing, saving a dessert something for the top of the mountain. We pulled into the ocean side of the park, paid the entry fee ($7.00 for 2 adult Maine residents, kids free) and drove down towards the shore. We parked in the south shore access parking lot and grabbed our lunch for a short hike. When we reached the shore trail, we could see the ocean, but were a bit leary of hiking down to the water, although there were people down there. It was a bit of a steep decent and with kid and cooler and an injured knee, we thought better of it and picked one of the picnic tables in the sun. After our leisurely lunch of sandwiches, chips, and cut up veggies, we packed it up, and got back in the car to cross over to the mountain side of Route 1.

We found the hiker’s parking lot, swapped the sneakers for hiking boots and spotted the trailhead for Mt. Megunticook. The trail is rated a 2 (moderate) and is well marked with blue blazes. The wet areas have board walks over them. Many of the inclines have small steps fashioned from the stones, making the climb a bit easier at some of the steeper points. We saw many other hikers with walking sticks and thought that might be a good idea for our next trip. The pamphlet issued by the park said the trail was a mile long and would take us about an hour to summit. It was a really pleasant hike with a few rests along the way. The weather was perfect for hiking that day, sunny but relatively cool, in the low 70’s with a breeze. The bugs were minimal. I heard a buzz in my ear, but got no bites, unusual for late May, prime black fly season. Sooner than I expected, I would spot the clear blue sky indicting an opening in the tree canopy and therefore Ocean Lookout, our destination. The summit is another ½ mile climb and we were content to enjoy the view from there before heading back down. From Ocean Lookout, you can see as far as Deer Isle, North Haven Island, and out to Owl’s Head light. Spread before you is beautiful little (or so it seemed from that height) Camden Harbor.

A nice harbor village with funky little shops and restaurants, a visit to Camden, complete with blog report and photograph, is sure to be forthcoming later this summer. The Lookout is a cliff of sorts and my husband commented that when he climbed Mt Meguniticook a decade earlier (without me) birds had hung aloft at eye level. I saw four hawks of some kind floating out there.

The hike back down was pretty easy, taking us 40 minutes to reach the parking lot. Along the way, my daughter spotted this little nest, snuggly tucked in under a fallen branch on the side of the trail. The eggshell color is just beautiful!

After a few minute rest in the parking lot, we decided to head over to Mt Battie. Mt. Battie has a stone tower at the end of it’s auto road that offers panoramic views.

Camping facilities are available at the park. You can visit http://www.campwithme.com/ for more information and to make reservations. Within an hour’s drive of the park you can visit other state parks such at Fort Point and Moose Point state parks. You can also explore Fort Knox State Historic Site and visit the lighthouse at Owls Head.



Camden itself has a lot to offer. Check out http://www.visitcamden.com/ for more information and check back for my reviews on our visit.

More info about Maine’s state parks can be found at www.maine.gov/doc/parks



I would recommend decent hiking shoes for the hike up Mt. Megunticook and the aforementioned hiking/walking stick is a good idea, too. Of course, sunscreen and bug spray are always a good idea. Bring plenty of water, too, but if you forget, you can buy bottled water from vending machines near the park gate on the mountain side.  Definately bring your camera and binoculars. 



Most of all, enjoy Maine’s state parks. They really are awesome.



I’d love to hear from anyone reading this about your experiences in any of Maine’s state parks.

Photography: Be Inspired!

I’m in a slump. I haven’t been able to shoot anything even remotely remarkable in the past week or so. The scene is great but the lighting is all wrong. The potential is there but I just can’t get the right angle on it. The subject is perfect but I’m rushed. Those conditions can lead to poor images or worse, none. It’s a struggle at times, to keep it fresh and going.

I need inspiration. How do you find inspiration? What is it that gets you out with your camera, creating images that upon view, just really please you? Isn’t it an awesome feeling to have made a photograph that wows you? I know that there are times when the perfect scenario blends into the perfect opportunity which makes a perfect photo. It’s breathtaking when that happens. I take my camera with me everywhere, in anticipation of capturing THAT shot.



I realize that these periods of diminished motivation pass. This too shall pass. I need to stir things up a bit. I recall that in the past, I have forced a change of scenery, whether geographically or mentally.



With a long weekend ahead of me, it would do me good to press the family for a road trip, to Acadia or Baxter, to Camden or Belfast. Day trips have, in the past, provided just enough of a geographical switch to keep me going for some time. Beautiful image feeds beautiful image. Flea markets, ice cream stands, parades always offer something new for my lens to take in.

Sometimes an assignment, even self assigned, can get me to view things a bit differently. The theme for this week at the 365 project is statues http://365project.org/discuss/themes-competitions/809/vote-statues. Pioneer Woman’s assignment for the week is “Coming Home.” http://thepioneerwoman.com/photography/. I’ve wanted to go out to the airport and shoot when the troops come in. I think I’d just cry, though, so perhaps not such a good idea.

I often look to other’s work to find a direction, however short lived, that may take me some where new. The assignments I just mentioned are one way. There are also sites like Flickr, where you can view the “interesting” shots of the past 7 days http://www.flickr.com/explore/. You can look to photographer’s blogs to see what others are up to. This is what my friend Amanda is doing these days. http://www.amandaproutyphotography.blogspot.com/. Miz Boushay is up to this http://booshay.blogspot.com/.

(Okay, now that’s two shots I’ve just seen of daffodils after the bloom. Perhaps the photo gods are trying to tell me to get down in the grass, let the sun shine through the seed heads, let the breeze blow and see what I get. One was even entitled “the clichéd dandelion. I guess this isn’t a new idea.)

My search for inspiration continues. The weekend could prove to be filled with photographic opportunities and I need to recognize them and sieze them. Perhaps I should view it like other things. Once you are aware that there is a problem, you can work to remedy it and find a solution. In this case, the problem is low motivation to photograph.


The solution is to look harder, closer, further, step aside, away, around, bend the light, cover the light, shoot into the light, work the shadows, find the blue, red, yellow, screaming purple and iridescent pink, tackle the texture, the waves, the dew and come out with something amazing.



I would love to hear how you find inspiration.  I have found that it sometimes comes from odd sights and changes in perspective.  That's what I propose.  Give myself a change in perspective.  Maybe even a laugh.