One Photo and Twenty Words
There’s nothing finer than a beautiful summer Saturday morning,
a walk with Tracy to Park Avenue, and eating breakfast outside.
Linking up with Abi’s meme One Photo and Twenty Words.
Zoom In, Zoom Out: Flower Garden
Our lettuce and zucchini are being eaten by some critter in our vegetable garden. We’re having a hard time figuring out how that’s possible, since our plot in the Community Garden (fenced) is fenced again, but somehow it’s happening. Fortunately, my perennial bed is doing well, and we’re enjoying bouquets of flowers from the garden each week.
I’m joining in once again with Helena’s wonderful meme Zoom In, Zoom Out.
Zoom In, Zoom Out: Week 26
It’s hard to believe the year is half over. I have no idea what’s happened to the month of June! Keeping up with Helena’s meme is one of the goals I’ve managed to keep up with and enjoyed all year. Last week a friend introduced me to white (also known as Rainier) cherries. Evidently they’re only available for a couple of weeks. I’ve never been a big fan of cherries, but Tracy and I both love these. I’m hoping there are still some available this weekend when I go back to the grocery store.
Not only do I love summer for the fresh and local fruits and vegetables, but also for the opportunity to try new fruits and vegetables as well. You can check out other ZIZO pairings right here at Helena’s blog.
2014 Summer Scavenger Hunt
I’ve got a pretty good start on Rinda’s Summer Scavenger Hunt this year. I’ll have a link to a SmugMug gallery up next week sometime, but for now here are the ones I’ve found so far.
#1 A sign welcoming people to your home town.
We live on the border of Brighton and the city of Rochester so this sign is just a short walk away from our house.
#2 A garden gnome
I found these lively guys for sale at our local grocery store. I gave some thought to bringing one home, but decided against it. I’ll have another offering for this in a week or so. My mother-in-law knew I was looking for one, and found one in a neighbor’s yard.
#5 A rack of post cards
These postcards were displayed at Sauder’s Amish Market when we were there Saturday.
#6 An urban stree scene
Last night was my last photography class at the Community Darkroom, and we were sent out to take photos for the first 45 minutes of class. I didn’t expect to have this one checked off until later.
#7 A rural landscape
I knew I’d find a good prospect for this item on our trip to Ithaca on Saturday. I was hoping for black and white cows with a red barn, but was happy with the sheep and the blue silo.
#8 A tatoo on a person
My daughter, Sarah, has wanted a tatoo for years. Frankly, I thought she’d given up on the idea, but that is what she wanted from Adam for Christmas last year. She worked with a tatoo artist in North Chicago to create the tatoo she wanted. The three large stars are for her three boys, Micah and Judah (the twins who did not survive), and Caleb. I knew what her plan was, but was surprised by the size of the tatoo, expecting it to be much smaller. When Rinda published her list, Sarah was here visiting and was willing to pose for a photo.
#17 A lamp post
Another find thanks to my photography class. This light post is next to the Frederick Douglass-Susan B. Anthony Memorial Bridge. You can see the underside of the bridge in the background.
#18 A waterfall
Ithaca is surrounded by gorges and waterfalls. This photograph was on Saturday’s agenda.
I’ll have my Zoom In, Zoom Out up tomorrow morning, and then I’m off to the Presbyterian Church’s 221st General Assembly in Detroit. I’m going as an observer just for the weekend since the head of staff at my church is standing for Moderator of the Assembly. You can read about that here on one of Adam’s posts.
Saturday Road Trip
Saturday dawned clear and sunny, the perfect day for our road trip to Ithaca. We always start our day there at the Famer’s Market. This year we bought a few plants, a loaf of sour dough bread, and some Rainbow Swiss Chard.
Then we drove to the Cornell campus to the Johnson Art Museum. Much to our surprise (since it was reunion weekend), we had no trouble finding a place to park, and the museum was not overly crowded.
The museum has a nice collection of Ansel Adams photographs, but only a handful were on display this weekend. There’s also an extensive collection of Asian art, but for me the architecture and the views are as good as any of the art.
By the time we finished at the museum, it was time for lunch. One of our favorite places to eat when it’s nice outside is the Boatyard Grill at the end of Cayuga Lake.
We sat outside on the covered patio (none of my photos from there were particularly good), but my fish tacos were definitely good!
While we were waiting for lunch, I glanced through a free Ithaca newspaper I picked up on the way in. We discovered the Cornell Plantation was having a plant sale, so instead of heading out of town, we went back to Cornell. The peonies in the Botanical Garden were stunning.
I’d love one of these, but there weren’t any peonies for sale. We did buy four varieties of day lilies in a variety of colors which Tracy planted among our peonies this afternoon.
Our first stop on the way home is a favorite in the spring, summer, and fall—the Cayuga Creamery. All their ice cream is homemade, and it is delicious! I had No Doze–coffee ice cream with espresso beans. Yum!
Matt and Betsy gave us a gift certificate to the Hosmer Winery for Christmas so that was the next stop. We shared a tasting (too full to consider anything else!) and quickly decided on a wonderful 2011 Lemberger. We both like this red wine, but it’s not easy to find a good one.
We made one last stop at the Amish Market in Seneca Falls, and called it a day. And it was quite a good one! (I’ve got a few photos for Rinda’s Summer Scavenger Hunt to share as well. Later.)
Zoom In, Zoom Out: Week 23
Sarah and Caleb left yesterday afternoon, and our house feels very empty and quiet this morning. Life with a two-year old is certainly a change for two empty nesters, but do we ever enjoy having them here! We spent a lot of time with Matt, Betsy, and Skylar over the weekend, and I’ll be back with photos later this week. The party at Shadow Lake was fantastic: perfect weather, beautiful setting, tons of happy people! I took my camera, but didn’t take any photos at the party. Too busy having a good time. Fortunately there was a professional photographer there so I’ll eventually have lots of photos.
I’m nearing the end of an eight week course called “Beyond Your DSLR” at our local Community Darkroom. I’ve really enjoyed it, and will be back to post more about it when it’s over. This week’s assignment was to choose a subject and take ten photos of it. I’ll share just four of them here (I actually took a lot more than 10), for this week’s Zoom In, Zoom Out. This is the Frederick Douglass-Susan B. Anthony Memorial Bridge that crosses the Genesee River. Much of the walkway in this area is lined with parks and restaurants.
I totally forgot there is no railing or fence along this walkway on the Genesee River. Fortunately, Sarah and Tracy were able to monitor Caleb’s movements while I got my photos!
For an earlier assignment, we were instructed to use Raw + JPeg and set our cameras to Monochrome. When you upload the photos you get a black and white image as well as a color image. I’ll be using this setting frequently.
I’m off to see what I can do to organize myself for the rest of the week. My list of projects seems endless, and like Rinda, I’m getting ready to try some block scheduling as outlined here by Ali Edwards. I’m hoping it will help me get to some projects that just don’t get the attention they need.
Zoom In, Zoom Out: Runniculas
May seemed to be slipping away from me, and then I ended up with a nasty cold which is so unusual I was quite taken aback. So my hopes of getting a lot of watercoloring done fell along the wayside with most other creative endeavors.
A friend recently brought me a beautiful bunch of runniculas. As part of one assignment for the photography course I’m taking I pulled out my macro lens and had some fun.
I’ll be back later with a long (long overdue) One Little Word post for April. I’d better hurry as it will soon be time to talk about May’s intentions!
Zoom In, Zoom Out
It’s time for Helena’s wonderful meme: Zoom In, Zoom Out. You’ll have to indulge me for awhile. It was such a long, gray winter I’m obsessed with the beautiful spring flowers. This week when we walked through the park, the magnolia blossoms were mostly on the ground. The tulips, however, are still gorgeous.
I love the colors in this collection planted near the conservatory.
And I always love red and yellow.
Happy Mother’s Day & Watercolor #4
Today is Mother’s Day in the States, and I’ve had quite a lovely one. Before I share a little bit about my day, I thought I’d share the cards I sent to my daughter and and gave to my daughter-in-law. Sarah’s been spending a lot of time in her yard, so I sent her a gift certificate to a lovely nursery around the corner from their house. A floral card seemed appropriate. One of my goals this year is to use some of my older stamps and decide if they are ones I want to keep. The stamp collection is the one thing I really didn’t spend a lot of time purging in January, although I did give a nice sized box to the charity shop. I decided this stamp of tulips by Lockhart is a keeper.
I colored it with Copic markers, adhered it to a Paper Source embossed flat card, and then to a card made with Simon Say’s new Fog cardstock (a new favorite.) The sentiment is from Avery Elle.
Betsy’s card is another card for the Watercolor for Card Makers class. I posted another card using this technique earlier. This time I was quite happy with the way the Distress Inks stamped off the acrylic block.
The die cut is from Simon Says “Happy,” and the rest of the sentiment from Winnie and Walter’s The Big, The Bold, and The Happy. After mounting it on Papertrey Ink’s Tropical Teal card, I added two gold die cut hearts left over from a previous project.
This is also the week of my birthday, and I took some money I’ve been saving and purchased a fixed aperture 17-50mm lens for my camera. We’re finally having some splendid spring weather, and the Lilac Festival in Highland Park opened on Friday. This morning Tracy and I walked through the park and I had a chance to try out the new lens.
This is just one section of a huge pansy bed they plant for the festival each year. The design is always different.
Despite a lot of rain Friday night and some pretty strong winds (we were in the park for Tracy’s brother’s band performance), the magnolias have survived rather well.
My main motivation for purchasing the lens was to improve my ability to take photos in low light situations. I’m asked pretty frequently to take photographs at Presbytery events, usually in a church where I’m uncomfortable using my flash. And then, more importantly, I’d like more consistently good shots of grandchildren indoors. But I have to say, I’m pretty pleased with the way the lens performed outdoors today. It’s the heaviest lens I own, but wasn’t a problem during our three mile walk.
After lunch, we went to the nursery and purchased the geraniums for our patio bed, and a flat of marigolds to plant along the driveway. Tracy bought me a beautiful hanging pot of geraniums, vinca, and lobelia which is hanging by the front door. (Forgot to take photos of these!)
Matt, Betsy, and Skylar came for dinner, and we had a nice long Face Book session with Sarah, Adam, and Caleb. I couldn’t have asked for a nicer day!
Zoom In, Zoom Out: Week 19
I got an early Mother’s Day gift from Tracy this year. I didn’t have anything particular on my wish list, but several weeks ago received a flyer from the Community Darkroom. An instructor who I knew through Camera Rochester was offering a course “Beyond Your DSLR,” and it looked like something I’d enjoy. We just finished our third class, and it’s been very interesting. Much of the first two weeks were quite technical, but I knew enough to keep up, and had several “ah ha!” moments. He has me shooting on manual again which I hadn’t done in a long time, and our first assignment was to learn how to set custom white balance. I found that relatively frustrating, and not particularly helpful since I shoot in Raw and can easily adjust white balance in Lightroom.
Last week’s assignment was to shoot 10 images all with Daylight White Balance since that replicates the old film world more closely. We were to work on good exposure, focus, and composition. I put off doing the assignment until yesterday (the day of the class) since I was hoping for good weather, and finally got some.
Although these are not the images I shot for class, I did remember to get some shots for this week’s Zoom In, Zoom Out while walking through Highland Park. There were lots of photographers walking around the park yesterday. It was a gorgeous day, but folks are a little worried that the lilacs won’t really be blooming by Friday when the annual Lilac Festival begins.
The flowering trees, however, are in full bloom.
And most of the magnolias survived a week of wind and rain. I love the contrast of them against the deep blue sky.
You can check out other Zoom In, Zoom Out photos here on Helena’s blog.
Zoom In, Zoom Out: Easter Fun!
The Typepad platform has been down (in my case) for over four days. Whoever or whatever hacked the site certainly caused a big hassle!
But it’s back up today in time for Helena’s meme Zoom In, Zoom Out. This week was a no-brainer. After church we quickly changed clothes and went to Matt and Betsy’s to “help” Skylar with her Easter egg hunt. She loved it. We loved it.
Zoom Out
Zoom In
“Oh, no,” cried Skylar when she saw this egg. Although the plastic eggs had only been in the yard a few minutes before we arrived, a squirrel had eaten away both ends of the egg and stolen the M&M inside!
We found another surprise during the Easter egg hunt, just outside the fenced in yard.
If you look closely you can see a nest with three tiny eggs. Here’s the momma who wandered off the nest as Skylar was looking for eggs along the fence. She didn’t seem overly concerned about us at all.
A family friend of Betsy’s arrived with a little wagon filled with two stuffed bunnies while we were there. Skylar loved the bunnies, but the wagon was the best gift.
Fortunately, Skylar is tiny so she’s not too big to be hauled around in the wagon herself. After her ride, she hoped her dad could get in. Not so much.
While we were in Chicago we took Caleb to the Museum of Science and Industry. Grandpa picked out a bubble gun for Skylar, and it was a huge hit with both Skylar and her dad.
I loved the pretty bokeh in this one. I hope you had a lovely weekend. Our weather was spectacular for a Rochester Easter, but it’s turned cold and rainy again today. Ah, Spring in western New York!
Liberate Your Art Blog Hop
I’m a day late getting this post up, but we were on the road home from Chicago yesterday. This is the third year I’ve participated in Kats’ fabulous postcard swap, and every year I enjoy it more. When I got home I discovered the last of the postcards I received this year, and they are the lovliest ones yet.
The first card to arrive was this beauty from Barbara Hurst in Arizona. You really should take the time to visit her blog and see the wonderful photography there.
My next piece of happy mail came from Evelyn Spikes in Elgin, OR. Not only is the photograph lovely, but the quote is as well.
This is the second time, I’ve been lucky enough to receive a pice of art from Suzette in Texas. After a lovely quote by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Suzette closes with this lovely thought, “May the seeds of creativity find their way to your door.” Love it, and love this postcard.
I just love this rooster painted with acrylics on canvas by Meredith Gisness. I have a collection of chickens and hens I rotate through my kitchen so this fine fellow is going to find his way to the kitchen bulletin board.
Here when I arrived home was this beauty from Sheila. I’m not sure where Sheila hails from, but you can find more of her work here on her blog.
Last, by not least, was the postcard from our hostess (and my long-time blog friend), Kat. I’m so annoyed that the Portland Post Office stamped the front of the postcard rather than the back! Does anyone know how I might remove it without ruining the postcard?
Many thanks, Kat, for taking on this huge project another year! It inspires me every year, and encourages me to get my art out there. And thanks, too, to the wonderful artists whose work I received this year! All of them will be proudly displayed!
Spring? ZIZO
This is what spring looks like in Rochester right now.
But if you know where to go you can find the colors of spring.
Zoom Out
Zoom In
Zoom In a little closer
And for a bit of exotic color, one of the most gorgeous hibicus I’ve seen.
Zoom Out
Zoom In
Spring brought to you from the Lamberton Conservatory at Highland Park.
Zoom In, Zoom Out: Week 12
This weekend we made our annual trip with Karen and Mike to Niagara-on-the-Lake to purchase our tickets for the Shaw Festival in the fall. Yes, we could buy our tickets online, but about five years ago we decided to make a day trip to NOTL. We purchase our tickets, have lunch at the Irish Harp, and go to a couple wineries before heading back to Rochester. The last couple of years, we’ve had breakfast at one of our houses before leaving, and dinner in Rochester before we call it a day.
The week before our trip, I received an email from the Megalomaniac Winery inviting us to a wine tasting seminar. It sounded like a lot of fun, so we signed up. There were just three couples there, so it was a very intimate group, and we learned a lot about food pairings, how to get the most of the wine tasting experience, and how the different glasses can affect your tasting experience. The only drawback was how cold it was in the winery. This particular winery is just now constructing a building for wine tasting and events. Since it opened, the wine tastings have been held in the barrel room, dug inside a hillside. It’s chilly even in the summer, and downright cold in the winter. But it seemed like a good place for the ZIZO shots of the week.
Usually I take my ZIZO shots with my Tamron 18-270mm lens, but this time I zoomed in with my feet and my iPhone.
Check out the other ZIZO photos on Helena’s blog.
