Extra 6 Lenses Photos

The photos that didn’t make the cut – for one reason or another.  But I like some just as well as the one I chose.  Tell me what you think, and which photo is your favorite.  This week’s theme is horizontal lines.

(1) This one made it on 6 Lenses

(2) With my shadow

(3) I love barbed wire

This one and the next one don’t really fit the category, but I like them. 🙂

 

(4) This one and the next one don’t have the perfect focus, but I like them none the less (wow, what a schooling on what I like!)

(5)

 

So, which one(s) do you like?

A Fun Breakfast and Today’s Walk

I have had a bit of inspiration for a yummy breakfast dish, and on Sunday I finally had all the pieces together, so I made it.  It consisted of a piece of warmed ham, sautéed spinach, and a poached egg, then drizzled drenched with some hollandaise sauce.  It was yummy!  I might have to make one tomorrow for breakfast.  We’ll see how much time I have…

Here is a link to the hollandaise sauce recipe I used.  I think I halved it.  This recipe is great, as it is made in a blender, and is so quick to throw together!  Just what we all need – hollandaise sauce at the touch of a few buttons!

Now for the photos! (Yes, I *actually* remembered to take a picture of my food before I ate it all!  I could have a serious gallery of empty plate photos if I took one each time I didn’t remember to take a picture before my food was gone.)

LOTS of hollandaise sauce!

 

The lovely colors

 

I took some photos on my walks today.  I took my two youngest siblings on a walk first (on this walk I took my camera with my macro lens.)  Then I went up to the pasture-behind-the-pond by myself, bringing normal lens.  I also brought my hymnal and psalter.  Yesterday I discovered that the pasture-behind-the-pond is an ideal spot to sing.  It is so open and peaceful, it is a joy to lift up one’s voice there.  You can hear it echo just a little, and you are secluded enough that you can sing at the top of your lungs and not be worried about anyone being too near.

I am hoping to start taking walks every day.  I will try not to post too many photos of my walks here, but if it snows, you know there will have to be lots of photos!  (I LOVE snow.)

So first, the photos of my walk with Meiling and Noah.

My favorite trees are the out-of-focus blob in the background 🙂

Who knew weeds could be so much fun?

 

 

 

An old grave – I am not sure, as the stone is very worn, but I think it said 1836.

 

Now the photos I took on my walk.

A girl needs her chocolate, right?

The pasture-behind-the-pond

My hymnbook

 

 

Heading home

 

 

In my science book I was reading about astronomy, namely, the Milky Way galaxy.  Now every time I read “Milky Way,” you know what I though of?  Milky way candy bars, of course!  (Why do I seem to have this special ability to wrap food into anything?!?)  So, since my success with the Twix bars, I decided it would be fun to try to make Milky Way candy bars!  I am hoping to make them tomorrow.  Be sure to come back tomorrow evening – if I do make them, I will be sure to post pictures!  Oh, and they will be grain-free, made with coconut sugar, and all that good stuff.  🙂  It should be SO FUN!  (I am really excited, if you can’t tell!  :))

Looking forward to some Milky Way bars,

Allison

P.S.  Thank you for reading.  🙂

Today–11/26/12

I know that I haven’t posted about Thanksgiving yet, but I’m not going to post about that today.  I may or may not post about that in the future – we’ll just see.  I don’t want to make any promises that I won’t end up keeping.  🙂

Today was just a normal day of school, of life.

I made an imitation Chipotle dinner tonight.  I really wasn’t planning on making the whole thing a Chipotle imitation, but it sort of took on a life of its own, and I ended up making rice, beans, and salsa, in addition to the meat.  It turned out wonderfully (if I do say so myself).  Mom ended up running to the store this evening, so she picked up some Monterey Jack cheese.  They use a blend of Jack and White Cheddar at Chipotle.  I am a HUGE fan of their cheese, just to mention one thing.  I have gotten the same thing every time I have gone to Chipotle – a Steak Burrito Bowl with brown rice (now that they offer that, I used to get white), black beans, mild salsa, and cheese.  LOTS of cheese.  I think one time I had an actual burrito.  But I much prefer the burrito bowl.  Let’s just get it out there now – I LOVE CHIPOTLE!

O.K., now that we have that covered, I can tell you what I made for dinner.  I found this recipe for Carnitas* when I was looking for slow-cooker recipes for this month’s meal plan.  I was really happy with how it turned out.  The only change I made was to use significantly less cinnamon, but I will probably up it a little next time.  Although I have only tasted the Carnita meat when my family members have extra, and I am not completely stuffed (I have never ordered it myself, as I have a thing about Chipotle’s steak), I thought it tasted a lot like Chipotle’s, and the beans and rice did, too.  I just looked online for imitation recipes, and found quite a few.  Everyone enjoyed it.  The cheese was well liked by all (see above).

No pictures.  I ate it too fast, before I remembered that I should snap a photo to share.  🙂

 

I have been reading an herb book lately (not that unusual), and in it the author discussed how great a walk is for you during the middle of the day, to take a break from desk work.  I went for a walk today, and it was lovely.  Today was a bit chilly.  It was also gray, but I rather enjoyed both of these things.  I like the cold, gray days.  They always have a certain quiet beauty about them.  I can’t explain it.  There is just a quiet serenity in the days when they are cold and gray.  They are not so shout-out-loud beautiful as the Spring days, with the colorful flowers popping their heads up everywhere.  They are not so gorgeously beautiful as the Summer days, with the intense greens of the grass and trees, and the blues of the sky.  Nor are they so gloriously beautiful as the Autumn days, with the trees dressed in their best outfits for the last party of the season, as it were.  No, the cold, gray, quiet days of early fall and winter have a majestic, serene, quiet, calming, half-gentle, half-harsh beauty about them.  I love gray days.

So I brought my camera on my walk with me.  As I had my macro lens on the camera, and didn’t really feel like changing it, I thought it would be a good exercise to try to focus on little things, and to see how many textures and small things I could catch on my walk, instead of looking for the big things, the big picture.  I wanted to zoom in, as it were, on the little beauties that were hiding on the path, things that would usually get overlooked.

Here are a few of my shots.

 

 

LOVE the moss

And the grass

 

Old barbed wire is so…country…

…and just plain wonderful!

 

 

 

 

Moss on a tree – not sure if I like this shot…

…or this shot better.  What do you think?  One or two?

Old rusty farm equipment

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for reading today’s ramblings!

Love to you,
Allison

 

*Note:  I have not explored this website, so I do not endorse everything on it.  I just like this recipe.  🙂

Sunset, Blue Sky, Bare Trees, Beautiful

I know that I just posted a few hours ago, but I can’t help it.  I need to post again.

About an hour ago I looked out the window, and noticed that the sky looked lovely – deep blue with the white clouds streaked against it.  So I decided to go sit out on the deck and take a few photos.

I went and sat there and started snapping away.

Then I saw a part of the sky that I really wanted to take a picture of.  But I needed to get up to take it.  Once I was off the deck, I went for a walk.

And I was richly rewarded.

The wind was (and is) quite busy.  It was mostly warm, but suddenly I would feel a bit of cold in it, making me thankful that I had worn a jacket.

And it reminded me that, although it was 80 degrees out today, winter is still coming.  It is not far off.

I watched the sky slowly change from bright to dark, and the clouds drifting across it.

The sunset wasn’t a beautiful, colorful, amazing sunset.  It was just a quiet going-away of the sun.  The sky stayed mostly blue, with some yellows and golds near the sun, and just the faintest tinges of pink here and there.

I decided that I needed to visit one of my favorite places – the clearing (if that’s what you would call it) behind the pond.  It is so open and beautiful.  The thick grass is framed on all sides by the trees.  This time of year you can see through them all the way past the pond to the road, but in the spring and summer it is more difficult.

It feels very secluded back there, even though it isn’t.

I took Meiling and Noah with me to the clearing-behind-the-pond.  Meiling told us a bit of a story on the way.  It went something like this.

“Once there was a man named Mr. Mashmallow.  He liked dogs.  So he bought a dog.  It was a hound dog.”

(I immediately started singing “Hound Dog.” Once I finished, she continued.)

“They also had a green buffalo in their yard.”

“A green buffalo?” I asked, “In their yard?”

“Yes,” she responded.

I think that is far as she got.

On the way back home, while we were passing two conifer trees growing closely together, she said, “I am going to check if there is a bear.”  She used her flashlight to check if there was.

She then calmly informed me, “You have a baboon in your jacket.”

At this time my jacket was tied around my waist.  Not sure exactly what was meant by this.  I don’t think she was referring to me.  No, she doesn’t do that yet.

She then informed me that she was trying to “freak me out.”

She makes me laugh.

And not long after that, we were home.

On the deck – the sky through the tree

Relaxin’

This caption goes for the next few pictures: I LOVE the bare tree limbs against the lovely sky!

LOVE the clouds

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An airplane flew by 🙂

I LOVE THE CLOUDS!!!!

Leaving the deck

 

Somebody’s excited about her bone!

 

These trees are my favorite.  They look so beautiful all the time – in spring, summer, winter, and fall, in fresh green, bright sun, soft rain, and snow

The sky in front of our home was particularly striking

SO beautiful

So BEAUTIFUL

 

Lines

 

 

 

My feet, or lack thereof

 

 

 

Were does it lead?

A lovely wooded walk (I went this way, in case you were wondering)

 

Walkin’

This make me smile

On the way to the clearing-behind-the-pond with Meiling and Noah

 

 

 

Following the path

 

Meiling thought she saw a bunny, so she went to look

It turned out to be only waving grass

 

 

 

Heading back home

 

The warm home-light beckons

Autumn Self-Portraits

Thursday was a beautiful day – in the morning the sun was out, but in the afternoon the clouds rolled in.  There was a brisk breeze and it was just a bit nippy.  The weather plainly said “Autumn.”

It was the perfect day for some self-portraits.  I headed out with my camera and got a few shots.  I only spent about 45 minutes out there, which, although it sounds like a lot, isn’t that long.  My first self-portrait shoot took about, oh, an hour, maybe a bit less.  My second self-portrait shoot took probably 2+ hours.  Which was very, very fun.

Anyways, there are not all that many different shots, so this post won’t be too terribly long (although I don’t need to tell you that, since you will find that out in a few seconds).

So, without further ado, here they are.

(Breaking news alert:  I just went and selected all my photos, and there will be more than I originally thought.  Many more.  Just thought you would like a heads up.)

 

This spot is right in the front yard, and I could see it from the window.  It called my name all day, “Come.  You need to take some self-portraits right here.”  So I listened.

Throwing leaves.  Yay!

 

 

 

1…2…3…

…Throw!

 

I love this fence!  You may remember it from this picture.  This lovely tree has a few branches that bend over the fence.  This was another spot that was calling my name.

 

 

Bare feet!

At the edge of our property, standing on the road, looking up – the lovely orange and red of the maple and oak trees, respectively.

See the leaves flying?  The wind was blowing quite briskly.

I really like how these turned out.  I underexposed them some by accident, but I am quite happy with the resulting effect.

 

 

I found this tree out in the woods behind our property.  Just a perfect place!

 

 

I thought that it would be fun to jump.  I ended up only proving to myself that I can’t jump gracefully.  This is the only one that turned out.  All the others look extremely ridiculous.

Just to prove the last point, here is an example of how the rest of my jumping shots turned out.  *Sigh*  Rather pathetic, and ridiculous.  But they made me giggle.  🙂

Today – 10/1/12

Happy October, everyone!

I told that to my sister this morning, and she promptly asked me what October was.  🙂

*Urgent News*  This is going to be a ramble-y post.  So it is a little disjointed.  Some of it will make more sense when you see the pictures.  I’m not sure about the rest of it.  😛  If you would rather, just scroll down to the pictures. 🙂  (I am in a bit of a smiley face mood today.  You’ll se what I mean in a minute.)

Today has been a quiet day.  I spent it giving my room a good cleaning since we have a good family friend coming to visit us tomorrow, and she will be staying in my room.  She will be here for ten days.

Once I was finished with my room, I spread out the cookbooks that are in my room, and continued with the menu planning.  I currently have 30 recipes/meals picked out for October.  I still need to pick out the recipes for the nights when Noah, Meiling, and I will be cooking ethnic foods.  And I need to chat with Mom about what we are going to bring to church on the meal Sundays.  I just realized that 30 recipes is enough.  I kept thinking that I would need one more, not remembering that we already had tonight planned.  Well, it only took me till now to figure that out.

We have lots of cats right now.  Most of them are technically kittens, as they were born this Spring and Summer.  They are feeling the slight chill in the air, and have been cuddling in a large pile on the deck.  Very cute!

I have had a cold over the weekend, a most miserable cold that hasn’t wanted to go away.  I have been taking the home remedies that I usually take, but I didn’t start them until I had already had the cold for a day.  I thought that the cold was allergies at first.  But I figured out that it was a cold on Friday morning.  Now I have been taking Master Tonic and Elderberry Syrup hourly (except at nights and while at Church).  I took a break for a few hours today since I was getting a bit tired of the Master Tonic.

On Friday, while I was sick in bed, I finished “Health for Godly Generations” and started “How to be Your own ‘Doctor.’”  It was quite fun reading that while I was sick.  I read about a few things that I could use while I was sick.  I have been drinking peppermint/parsley tea to help with congestion.  I’m not sure if it is helping, or if I am just getting better, but I am definitely less congested than I was yesterday!

Another remedy that I read about (and tried!) said to take an onion, chop it up, put it in a bowl, and sleep with it as close to your pillow as you could.  I tried it, and it kept my nose so clear!  But I had this feeling that I was going to knock it off the bed during the night.  Well, on Saturday night I didn’t knock it off. But last night was a different story.

I woke up to a clang just before 4 this morning.  Sure enough, I had hit the bowl with my arm and sent onions flying across the floor.  Not only were there onions, but onion juice, too.  I just grabbed the onions, tossed them in my trash can, wiped up the juice, and used the Swiffer to mop up the area quickly.  I decided that I would just leave the Swiffer and put it back in the morning.  (Trust me, there is a point to me telling, and you reading, this!)

At 5:30 our outside dog, Shadow, started barking at something.  My window was open, and the sound came through quite clearly.  Lucy, my little dog who was sleeping right next to me, immediately sat up, put her paws on me,  and started barking.  I shushed her in a few seconds, but she kept staring at something across the room.  It was the Swiffer.  She did not like the Swiffer.  I finally got her to calm down, but the next few times Shadow barked, she would lift her head to watch the Swiffer.  I don’t think that she quite trusted it.  🙂

Oh, I am SO excited.  We are going to get some more herbs.  Actually, quite a few.  I can’t wait.  I am going to make all kinds of things with them.  Can’t wait!

Here are a few pictures I took today.  None of them are particularly good.  But they are Today.  🙂

Kitty pile – the one looking right at us is Toby.  We don’t know if it is a boy or a girl, but it has one orange toe.  Hence the name:  Toby.

Meiling swinging

 

Upis down!  (means upside down – some little one in our family said that, not sure who)

Ooooooh, I love this.  Like LOVE love this.  The last roses of summer (actually, there are probably more that a dozen on our knockout rose bushes)

Kitty

Asparagus for dinner – we were going to grill it, but the grill is out of gas.  So I pan fried them, with the leftover marinade from the zucchini (see below).  They were very good.  Quite different than what we are used to, but in a good way.

And it is not going to fall off the plate.  I just felt like tipping the camera that far.  So I did.  😛

The zucchini.  Again, we were going to grill these, but [see above].  I marinated these for a half hour in an Italian dressing I made.  Next time I will marinate them longer.  But they were pretty good.  Again, very different than what I am used to.

Another kitty pile

The view from our driveway

The trees on the other side of the pasture that lies across the road

I LOVE this fence.  It’s just so…country…semi-rustic…fence-like.  Like you couldn’t tell that last thing.

Love that sky!

Up the road

The mums have bloomed

I LOVE these leaves.  They are in my favorite part of the yard.  The trees are so close together that the leaves practically block out the sun.  It is absolutely beautiful.

The Creek

Next to our home runs a private road.  Part of it has gravel, but the majority of it is just a mix of rocks, dirt, and plants.  The trees grow over it, so most of the way is shaded.  The wildflowers are blooming next to it.  After about a ten or fifteen minute walk down this road, you reach the creek.

When you first reach the creek, you walk out under the open sky into full sun.  On the right the creek is shallow and shaded with tall trees arching over it, giving the water underneath a dappled look.  On the left there are lots of rocks, with the creek getting narrower and deeper, with trees hanging over it from the farther bank.

We walked down to the creek this past Sunday.  I took my camera (surprise, surprise).  We also brought our black lab Shadow, who loves to swim.  Noah and Meiling played fetch with her, and Dad threw the ball occasionally.  I took pictures of the whole thing.

Here are some of the photos.  I was quite unhappy as there were all these lovely wildflowers and I hadn’t brought my macro lens, since I was trying to reduce baggage. 🙂

 

The road to the creek

This looks fairytale-like to me

To the right

I love water, ripples…

…and sun sparkles!

 

Throwing the ball for the dog

Playing in the water

I found this plant interesting

Sloshin’ around

To the left

When you get wet, you have to shake all that water off.

Sometimes your lips look weird.

But it always feels good

Oh yeah

Noah

This is going to be a new tradition – a lens cap picture wherever I go

More dog shaking off pictures – sorry, they’re just so fun

That feels good.

Just lovin’ those yellow boots

Foot pictures…also very fun

 

Flowers without a macro lens

I like how this one turned out

Where we took a little stroll – an even older road

So what did you do for Resurrection Sunday?  We didn’t do a whole lot.  Since some of us have been sick, we stayed home from church so not to infect everyone.  Nothing to fancy – we went to the creek, read Bible, played badminton, and had dinner.  Do you have a Resurrection Sunday tradition?

Happy Friday!

~Allison

A Walk in the Woods

Across the road from our house is our neighbor’s pasture, and on the other side of the pasture are the woods.  The woods are very lovely – there is a little creek running through them, and not many people go back there, so it has an untouched feel.  We went back there for the first time two years or so ago, and we never made it back, until now.

Yesterday my brother and I went for a walk in those woods.  We had talked about going back for a walk/photography outing, and it took us 2 years to finally go.  He came to me a couple times yesterday to ask me about going, but I didn’t think that it would be able to happen yesterday.  It turned out well, and we were able to go out for 45 minutes.  It was very nice.  Everything is looking green again, and the flowers are blooming.  We are hoping to go back sometime soon when there are more leaves on the trees.

An old, mossy log

Isn’t the veining on this leaf so interesting?

The little creek – I am hoping that we can go back when it is a bit fuller

Some violets are starting to bloom!

There are all kinds of lovely places like this – wouldn’t it be fun to have a picnic under these trees?

“Look, Ma, no hands!” My fun-loving brother

Can you see the little trail?

There was a patch of these flowers.  Some were in the shade…

…and some were in the sun

Redbuds

Nutmeg found us about 15 minutes or so into our little jaunt, and he followed us until we left the pasture

My brother, who carried my other lens in the bag, and was so sweet about my constant dropping to my knees and saying,”O.K., I need the other lens.”

Another good place for a picnic

As we were leaving, I saw this rock jutting out over the creek.  I’ll have to spend more time the next time we go for a walk photographing it.

I love how the sun is shining on these things

Little flowers hiding in the grass

Running…

…and grazing

“Hi there!”