Last week I received an email from Tamron with quite a nice rebate available on their highly rated 18-270 lens. I’ve been debating and debating about what lenses to take with me on our trip next week, and decided to investigate. The folks at my local camera shop (who are very reliable) rated this one highly, and so I splurged and bought it. I’m quite sure I’ll sell my older zoom lens when we return. It’s been a wonderful lens but it is a bit larger, quite a bit heavier, and does not include such a nice wide angle. My “friend” at the camera shop suggested I try it out and be sure it was working properly before I cut off the UPC code for the rebate. I didn’t have to ask Tracy twice if he’d be willing to go on a road trip to see what the lens could do. But I did treat him to breakfast out before we took off.

We headed toward the Finger Lakes. Tracy know all the odd roads to wander down so I got some nice shots before we got to Canandaigua Lake. The first stop was at the Erie Canal park in Pittsford. There’s a lovely pond as well as the canal.

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And a shot of the canal because it was so pretty.

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Tracy spotted the great light on these silos. I took several shots at different focal lengths, but this is my favorite.

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By chance we happened upon a place called Upland Blog. 

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I was pleased to discover that by zooming in with the lens I could get a very shallow depth of field as well.

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Another favorite shot from the trip is this one of the Canandice Methodist Church Bell Tower.

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Our destination was Canandaigua Lake. These shots were all taken from about the same spot.

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This lens has gotten a lot of testimonials about being a great all-around lens, especially for travel. I think it will do just fine. I’ll take my 50mm lens as well, as I never travel with just one lens in case something goes wrong. But now I won’t need to take my wide-angle as well. We’re packing light–just a carry-on suitcase and a tote/messager bag for each of us for a two week trip, so I’m glad to have one less thing to add to my bag! 

This week was Betsy’s birthday, and her main gift was a gift certificate. I used one of the Fancy Pants envelopes in the April Simon Says kit to create a card for her. This turned out to be one of my favorite cards created with the kit. 

Using the patterned papers from the kit, I die cut the flower with Papertrey Ink’s “Beautiful Blooms 1” and the leaves with “Tender Leaves” by Memory Box. I love the way the leaves are embossed at the same time they are die cut. The button from MME “Follow My Heart” wasn’t in the kit, but was just the perfect center for the flower and I threaded it with a thin black ribbon. The border was another of the patterned papers and a bit of black cardstock. The sentiment came from “Birthday Basics” by Papertrey Ink.

I’m linking this up to Simon Says “Anything Goes” and to CASual Friday’s Birthday Bash challenge. (That challenge couldn’t have come at a better time for me!)

The weeks are flying by, and I’m not feeling nearly as productive as I’d like despite the fact that I feel like I’m busy all day. As I type this, it’s snowing/sleeting outside and the wind is howling. We had several warm days last week and there are beginning to be some signs of spring, but then after a couple of days we’re back to winter again. Frankly, I’ve had enough; I want real, sustained spring! I’ve been admiring beautiful floral photography from other parts of the world, and want to get out and take some photos of spring myself.

But not quite yet for western New York. Here are the photos for 52/50 this week.

I took this out my studio window one night and was surprised at how well it turned out.

Aside from a few daffodils, all I could find in our yard this week (beside the Helleborus) were these few violets.

I had one of my old cameras out for another project and decided to play around a bit with angles and perspective. This was my favorite.

Although there’s not a lot of difference, I thought I see what it looked like in black and white. I’d be curious to know which you prefer.

I decided to choose this photo from yesterday’s road trip to Elderberry Pond to post on Kent Weakley’s P52.  Tracy and I needed to go to the outlet mall in Waterloo yesterday. I’d seen ads for Elderberry Pond in the Edible Fingerlakes magazine, and was curious to see what it was like. This shot is of the pond looking toward their Country Store which won’t open until June. Elderberry Pond specializes in local foods and produce. In the summer, much of the food comes from their farm, and you can purchase some here. I’m hoping to get back this summer to check it out.

It’s wasn’t a particularly beautiful day, but we had a lovely lunch. The food is first-rate, we had a charming waitress, and it’s a beautiful setting. We’ll definitely return, although it turned out to be a bit more of a trek than we expected

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We ate in the sunroom.

This is the main dining room. There’s also a patio that’s open in the summer.

We made two other stops on our trip. One to Normal Bread in Geneva. We’ve been there twice before and the bread is fabulous.

And to Sauder’s Amish Market in Seneca Falls. The meat, cheese, and home canned goods are wonderful here, and the prices are exceptional. I love their tiny pickled beets in a salad.

Last night we had dinner with friends, tonight there’s an engagement party for Tracy’s best friend’s son, and tomorrow the Walker clan will celebrate a belated Easter dinner since most of us were traveling on Easter Sunday. I’m looking forward to church tomorrow as well since the chancel choir is performing a Bluegrass Mass. I’m hoping to get lots of crafting done today since the number of birthdays and anniversaries in the next month is quite something. Hope your weekend is filled with good things.

Sian (From High in The Sky) hosts a Storytelling Sunday each month. This year she’s chose a theme-“Pick Your Precious” and it’s given me a chance to think about some of the things I have that mean a lot to me. I’m guessing my children don’t know much about them, so I’m hopeful it’s meaningful to them as well. 

I grew up in my Great-Aunt Edith’s house.  We moved in with her when I was in third grade and lived there until we moved to New York when I was a junior. (Aunt Edith moved with us. She was 93 and had lived in the same town all her life and the same house for over 60 years.)  She never married and lived with her sister, Aunt Lily, until
Lily passed away the year before we moved in with her.

When she and Lily inherited
their parents’ estates they decided to invest some of the money in some fine china. It was kept in a glass-fronted china cabinet, and she always promised me I would inherit it some day.

They had two sets of Haviland china. One of them was quite ornate, and when I
inherited the china, many of the serving pieces had been broken. The other, a delicate floral
pattern was still nearly complete. There are place settings for twelve with both tea cups and coffee cups. They seemed to
have purchased every size of platter, soup tureen, and serving dish that was available.
Tracy had to add a shelf to our dry sink (another precious item—also from my great-
aunts’ home) in order to be able to store all of it.

In addition to the china, there are quite a few single dishes and serving pieces that don’t match the other sets. This is one of my favorites.

I love these delicate dessert plates, too.

I don’t use it too often—it must be hand
washed, and our entertaining style is a bit more casual than this lovely china, but I
treasure it. I wish my kids would be interested in it some day, but I doubt it. They’re even
more casual than we are! 

The next couple of weeks are likely to be photos of Caleb. We arrived in Medford, OR just a bit behind schedule which was a miracle since both of our preceding flights were significantly delayed. We had to move to make both of our connections. We got here, but they took our carry-on bags in Philadelphia, and they didn’t arrive until the next day. We’re glad to be here. It’s spring–daffodils are out, fruit trees are flowering, and it’s in the 50’s. It was snowing when we left Rochester.

So here are five photos from our first day in Oregon. Caleb has a terrible cough and cold, but still manages to be pretty happy despite it. But he’s definitely not his usual outgoing self!

One of the only advantages of not feeling well is that Caleb is willing to sit still and just be. Hardly ever the case on a normal day.

Love those long eyelashes. Why is it that guys get them? Matt has beautiful, full eyelashes too.

And my pick for the 52/50 project, although both of two preceding ones were serious candidates.

I’m posting this on Ken Weakley’s P52/Sweet Shot post. You can find lots of great photos there every week.

One of my best friends just had a big birthday.

She’s also a card-maker, an artist, and generally crafty lady. She does not, however, like to drive and avoids all “big roads.” One of our favorite places to go is a stamp store in Buffalo. It has a great selection of product, and offers a wide selection of classes. I decided that giving her a trip to Buffalo, class and lunch at our favorite Greek restaurant there, would be a good gift.

She chose the Memory Box Surprise class, and we went on Saturday. The new Memory Box products were nearly all dies so the cards we made were heavy on die-cutting. As always we had a great time, learned a couple of new techniques, and had a lovely day together. After lunch, we made a quick stop at Penzy’s Spices which we do not have here in Rochester. All in all, a great gift (you have to love a gift that gives to you as well as the recipient.) 

The first card we made was all die cuts. The original card had clusters of flowers, but it was too busy for me, so I kept it a bit simpler.

The next card involved a lot of detail. The little bee (there were supposed to be two) was so difficult to glue together I decided one was enough. The second one was even smaller. If I’d had my sticker maker with me, it would have been much easier. To the original card design I added some yellow pearls and glittered the bee’s wings when I got home.

I really like this next card. It’s cute and was very easy to put together. I don’t think I’d use the window die enough to justify buying it, but it was fun to play with it.

The last card was the simplest. We “watercolored” the strip of paper using one of the sprays, but applied it with a brush. Then we sprayed the piece with “Pearl” giving it a shimmery look. Finally the stamping was done.

Not only did we have a good time, it’s nice to have a few cards in the box awaiting the right occasion.

Retro Sketch is one of my favorite challenge sites, so I thought I’d get a headstart on my valentines with this week’s sketch.

I received the February Simon Says Card Kit late last week, and was anxious to put some of the pretty papers included in it to use.

Everything except the cardstock (Staples) and the wood veneer heart (Studio Calico) came from the kit. The pretty, soft papers are from Glitz’s “Hello, Friend” collection. The hearts were cut with the Spellbinders Nested Hearts dies and the stamp is an OLD one, by Printworks, I think. I colored the heart with some Berry Sorbet ink from Papertrey, edged in Fresh Snow ink.

Christmas Blessings to all! I finally caught up with my Christmas Journal yesterday, and gave thought to posting some of it here today, but there are too many little details left to do before dinner here tomorrow. Matt arrived safely from Denver, there’s a bit of snow on the ground, and we are almost ready to celebrate! Have a wonderful holiday! As always, I’ll look forward to hearing about yours soon.

I’m really enjoying the Twelve Days of Christmas prompts in Cheryl Johnson’s class. I still have several assignments to complete. Waiting for some willing subjects to appear, and for the rain to subside. But here are ten:

Here’s the most recent one, although late for the prompt which was “Party, Party.” It doesn’t match the assignment exactly since Cheryl was looking for somewhat goofy group shots, but it seemed to fit the mood. We bought new bows for our outdoor wreaths, and Tracy held it up and said, “You ought to take this for your Photo-of-the-day.” Done!

These were taken for the “Reflection” prompt. I like the first one because I captured both of us in the photo.

My “festive self-portrait.”

Another self-portrait shot, that could have been used for today’s “Reflection” prompt.

Two of the shots for the White Balance exercise. The one on the right is truest to the actual color, but the one with the flash was a favorite of several people who commented on the forum. If I use a flash, I rarely use the pop-up but will use the external flash Tracy bought me a few years ago.

The tag was created for the “Spell It Out” prompt and I photographed it with the dies I used to create it.

And, finally, three photos from the “Festive Photo Walk” that I didn’t include in my Christmas Journal.

I’m enjoying this class, and hope to get out soon to take some photos of Christmas lights at night. I’d like it to stop raining, and hope it doesn’t get too cold. (Wishful thinking.)