Blog Challenge Feature: New England Crafters

Nice surprise for a Monday morning . . . I received a notice from Kris at New England Crafters via Etsy that one of the photos on they Etsy site has been included in their weekly blog challenge. The topic was Earth Day with a focus on green.

Here is a link to their blog:  New England Crafters

Very cool.

This is the image link to my Etsy store: Feels Like Spring Lupine Leaves with raindrops

Thanks for the feature!!

In My Easter Bonnet . . . Colorful Easter Carnage

Ok so it’s not really carnage.  Nor am I wearing a bonnet.  What defines a “bonnet” anyway?  It’s Spring!  Easter is Sunday.  I love this time of year!

Granted, it isn’t warm out, but it’s mild and there’s no snow and I made it through another Maine winter and hardly had to wear my long johns but still complained about the cold and waited patiently for this day or days like these.  Maybe not so patiently. 

Beyond finally basking in the light at the end of the tunnel, I love this time of year for so many reasons.  The crocuses are up in the yard.  The robins bob around my front lawn.  The daffodils are poking up bright green through the desolate garden beds.  Flowers will bloom!  The sun will shine!  All will be right in the world! 

And with Easter at our doorstep, the very best of it all . . . PEEPS. 

Ok, I have to admit I love peeps.  I tried chocolate bunny peeps (are they still a peep without a beak?) and almost melted into a puddle. 

I should probably get help.

This morning I worked out for two hours.  See how I try to justify my complusion?

This afternoon I ate two (so far) blue peeps.  With their little brown dot eyes . . . I couldn’t resist!

The Cadbury eggs have been around for a while, too.  I have to proudly say I have been able to stay away from them, even the caramel filled one.  And caramel is my favorite gooey sweet substance on earth.  You could put caramel on a tire and I’d eat it.  Well I guess that doesn’t hold true since --- ta da! --- I haven’t eaten a Cadbury egg.  I have had many opportunities.  I buy them for my daughter, who loves them and therefore I use it as a bribery tool to get my way.  I wish I could record an evil cackle after that.  I don’t bribe (much) I reward, but I tell her in advance what her reward will be . . .

When I was a kid, my sister and I would wake up so early on Easter morning and slither downstairs where my mom would have placed two identical (they had to be or we’d kill each other) baskets of Easter goodness. 

Growing up Catholic and therefore being forced to participate in the Lenten ritual of sacrifice I would usually have given up candy or some other innocuous item, since back then I really had no true vices from which to abstain.  I was a kid.  What do you know about sacrifice when you’re eight?

So after forty days with no candy that heaping basket was looking mighty fine.  My sister and I would sit on the floor with the baskets.  Mom and Dad would be awakened by our chatter and would haul out the camera as we dove in.  

Jelly beans by the thousands.

A pastel rainbow of wrapped chocolate things.

The aforementioned PEEPS!  (this must be where my habit developed.  So much for an innocent holy life without vices).

And always . . the star attraction . . . a huge chocolate bunny.  (Sorry but for some reason I don't have a chocolate bunny photo)  Colored candy eyes, sometimes a smart little bowtie . .  usually hollow but I didn’t know the difference.  I’d go for the ears; my sister, the feet. 

Somehow we’d survive the sugar overload in time to put on our Easter dresses that were purchased special every year for this occasion.  Sometimes scratchy.  Sometimes rough.  The Easter parade of matchy jumpers and patented leather shiny shoes still haunts me. 

Obviously this holiday has scarred me.

But now, I cope by buying my daughter the Cadbury eggs and picking up a couple of racks of Peeps, then hiding Easter eggs around the just bloomed crocuses and daffodils.

Enjoy my spring flowers and Easter candy visual overload.  I did it just for you. 

The dewey magnolia . . .

Next up:  Garden Season!!!

and it begins . . .

Travel Photography - Favorites from California

Water Lilies at San Juan Capistrano

In August, we traveled.  Vacation to California early in the month, then a business trip to Philadelphia later on.  Hysterical.  Delicious.  Saturated.  Gluttonous.  Exhilarating.  I could go on, but thankfully you might say, won't.  For now, I will share some of my photography from the road. 

One of my favorite stops - kind of a surprise - was at the Mission at San Juan Capistrano.  Yeah, I had heard all about the swallows and certainly enjoyed the story - But the gardens, and the buildings, and I just fell in love with the feeling of the whole place.

Loved the cacti and the adobe.  They compliment each other.

The flowers, the palm trees, oh my!

 

 

 

 

The blooms and the arches.  So pretty.

Our stop at San Juan Capistrano was on the way between Los Angeles and San Diego.  In San Diego, we planned a trip to the world famous San Diego Zoo.  Here are two of my favorites from that day?

I know you're not supposed to cut off the heads of zoo animals but I just loved the shot of the little guy.  The giraffes are my second favorite animals of the day.

This one - the flamingo - is my favorite.  Just look at how delicate the feathers are.  How soft a place to rest one's head.  Too bad you have to stand on one leg to do it.

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.