On Family, Learning, and Play

Today, in some Canadian provinces, is Family Day. It's a fairly new statutory holiday, and is most welcome in the long stretch between New Years and Spring Break. Coming as it did this year after a week of snow days and professional development days, students and teachers have had a very long break. Tomorrow it's back to normal. 

My parents came over this weekend. We enjoyed visiting, relaxing, reading, eating, and a couple of games of Scrabble. We went for a long drive and a short walk in Sooke before going out for lunch at Mom's Cafe, a diner that has been serving good food since 1964. They left on the ferry this morning. 

On Saturday our eldest daughter and our son came over with their families for a casual supper. I invited the grandchildren to bring along their marshmallow shooters, given at Christmas, saying I would provide the ammunition. It was wild and fun with grownups and children alike chasing each other around the house. Now I'm finding marshmallows all over - as in the plant above. It makes me smile every time I see one. Fortunately, marshmallows just dry up; they don't go soggy or messy. 

I like taking photos, but I don't know too much about exposure and the technical side of photography. I'd like to learn more. One thing I'd like to learn is how to take a photo against the light. After reading a few things on the Internet, I picked up my Valentine roses, dried off the stems, plopped them on an open book in front of the window and started playing. I was going for a semi-silhouette effect (new term for me) and I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out.
 

I've flirted with knitting over the years, but we're not in a committed relationship. After opening up a drawer upstairs and seeing all the yarn I've collected, I decided it's time to use it up. Crochet or knitting - that is the question. I discovered an easy dishcloth pattern that included a couple of new things for me and decided that would be a good start. I pulled it all out and started over a couple of times as it was all too tight. So, I've learned to increase stitches; I already knew how to knit and purl. Small steps, and I don't aspire to being a great knitter. The rhythm of push, around, twist, and through is a lovely one. Relaxing. Portable. It's good to have a portable handicraft, I think.

I know that many of you knit for I greatly admire your creations on your blogs. How did you learn? On your own, from a friend or family member, or in a class?

Linking to Mosaic Monday, hosted by Angie of Letting Go of the Bay Leaf.  

Away We Go!

Cheese fondue and a movie at home were our efforts at making the evening a special one. And it was. We've gone to parties in the past, and enjoyed them immensely, but this year, staying home was most attractive. We stayed up to see the New Year in, then headed off to dreamland.

This morning, after breakfast with our Vancouver-based kids who stayed with us for the past few nights, we puttered around the house. A mid-afternoon walk to Tod Inlet resulted in the photos in this post. 

By 2:30 the sun slanted low and filtered through the trees.

Although the turning of the year is an artificial construct, purely for humankind's benefit, it signals the passing of time, and I find it useful for both looking back and looking ahead.

My sweet husband gave me a macro lens for Christmas. I'm having fun (and a bit of frustration) learning how to use it. The photo above captures much of what I love about January: quiet, soft colors, a bit of moodiness.

Tod Inlet used to be used by the Butchart family (of Butchart Gardens) as the loading area for shipping the cement from the quarry and factory. These pilings are remnants of a once-busy small port.

This week has been clear and cold enough that ice formed on the water. Only the birds are light enough to stand on it. 

Another macro shot. The focused area is quite small and I'm looking forward to a lot of practice with this new lens. 

A creek flows into the inlet and runs along the trail from the road. Ferns grow on the forest floor and moss drips from the trees. These mossy branches remind me of a long-legged bug of some sort. 

The house is quiet now with our visitors gone. I took down the tree and Christmas decorations so that I'm ready for school to begin again on Monday. Has it really been two weeks already?

Neil Gaiman has written some wonderful New Year's wishes. Here's one of my favorites, that I send to each one of you in hope for 2016.

"May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness.I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art - write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself."  

Back to Everyday Life

Real life isn't always filled with pretty sights. Here's a photo of my basement freezer/pantry room. I've dilly dallied and avoided cleaning out the freezer, something I like to do BEFORE the current crop of berries and produce begins. Delaying just made the job a wee bit more difficult as I had to deal with the packages of this year's blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and rhubarb.

I took everything out, filled the coolers, filled boxes and covered them with quilts to keep them cold while the ice in the freezer thawed. While sitting here at my computer earlier, I heard a rather loud commotion and realized the ice had fallen to the bottom of the freezer. Time to get the towels, the soapy water and bend down, waaaay down. It seemed deeper this year.
 

Everything's back with the fresher things at the bottom and the others at the top where they'll get used up first. 
 

Three bags of cranberries didn't make it back into the freezer. They've been converted into cranberry sauce, something we enjoy all year round. 
 

Wild sweet peas made a little table decoration on the boat over the weekend. I picked another bouquet and it's sitting on my dining room table.

Something not so nice happened last week on the boat. I set my camera on a little shelf, under a window. In the morning there was a lot of dew on the outside of the boat and a little leak in the window seal - just a little one - but it dripped on my trusty Nikon. I fear the camera is now toast. We let it dry out and it will turn on but nothing else works. On the advice of a camera salesman, I'll be taking it into a camera store tomorrow. It might be that the cost of repair will not be worth it. We'll see. I've been using my IPhone camera instead. It's just not the same. I miss my camera.

On Daydreaming

 Neil Gaiman gave a lecture on "Why our Future Depends on Libraries, Reading and Daydreaming" which was edited and published in the Guardian. I loved it. Books and daydreaming have always played a big part in my life.

I'm also practicing with photo editing using textures. These are my first efforts. I'm not too pleased with the way they look when the photos are enlarged, so I'll go back to the drawing board. Little is more, I think.
 

Back to the subject of books. I usually have a couple of them on the go. Novels I tend to devour quickly because I get caught up in the story line. Non-fiction I take more slowly. I want to remember, to think about what I've read. Non-fiction is usually less addictive than stories, although not always. 

In his lecture, Gaiman asked his listeners to look around them. I did and didn't see anything unusual - a few dishes to wash, a window with grandbaby fingerprints, a pile of tea towels to put away. Then he said that everything around us was something someone imagined. I've been mulling that over. Walls, windows, heat, tables, chairs, dishes - everything was imagined before it was made. What a powerful tool the mind can be. For me, this thought puts value on daydreaming and taking time to think, activities that are highly undervalued in our produce now, publish now world.

Years ago, I remember going into my husband's office in Quito. He was the administrator of a very busy hospital. Meetings, phone calls, emails occupied his time. Yet there he was, sitting in his chair, staring out the window. I asked him what was wrong. "Nothing," he said. "I'm thinking." 

Wouldn't it be great if we all took a few minutes each day to really think? We might do some things differently if we really thought about the implications of our actions and words, both short term and long term. Wouldn't it be great if our leaders, be they civic, political, religious, or employers, did the same?

I'd love to know what you think. Do you daydream or imagine? 

I Learned Something New Today

I learn so much from other bloggers. Like creating a color palette on photos. Jen of Muddy Boot Dreams created some beautiful palettes from her photos and gave a link to a tutorial on how to do it in PicMonkey. In the above example, I created the color swatches on top of the photo. They are not as visible as in the image below, where I created a strip underneath the photo.

I've been thinking of enlarging this photo for our bedroom, but wondered if the colors would go with what I already have there. I thought there might be too much green. But I see that it will go perfectly. 

My mind is whirling with possibilities. Do you use PicMonkey? This was my first visit there - I've stuck with Picasa and Photoscape thus far. Another tool to add to my editing file. Have you learned anything interesting from the blogging community recently? 

A Personal Photo Challenge

Each month, Donna from Cottage Days and Journeys posts a personal photo challenge. Since one of my goals for 2013 has been to improve my photography skills, I've joined in. 

For this first photo, I crouched down and took a photo of my herb garden. It's odd how the black water pipe crossing the path is so much more visible in a photo. In real life, I hardly notice it. 
 

This photo was taken looking down at the chive blossoms. There were so many bees - a very good sign for gardeners - but they move quickly and getting a clear shot was difficult.
 

For this last shot, I got below the level of the blossom to shoot it with some blue sky background.

All shots were taken with my Nikon Coolpix P7100, basically a point and shoot digital. I used the Scene mode, with the first two photos on Landscape and the last one on Closeup. Post shooting processing was a simple matter of deepening the shadows and adding a touch of highlight.

I'm looking forward to seeing more composition variations at Donna's A Personal Photochallenge site.

Learning Something New

I don't have Photoshop or any fancy-schmancy photo editing program. I rely on the basics of Picasa (downloaded) and Photoshop. But I've admired many bloggers who use "textures" to modify their photos. Today, Jen from Muddy Boot Dreams posted a tutorial on how to add texture to a photo in Picasa. I was so excited that I dashed off to create such an image before even commenting on her blog. 
 
I lightened the above image using the fill light feature on Picasa.
 

This is the second photo I used.
 

And there it is, my first photo with texture. I'm not entirely happy with it, but have some ideas as to how to proceed. I want to take a bunch of photos of just textures to add to my photos. 

Have you learned anything new recently, via the blogging world or otherwise? I'd love to know.

Now, click on over to Jen's blog and try it out yourself!

Simplicity

I've been eyeing this clump of hyacinths on a nearby street for a few days. After returning from the grocery store, I lugged the food into the house, put away the perishables, left the rest on the counter, grabbed my camera and walked a block or so to take some photos. It was all about seizing the moment.

Sweet hyacinth scent wafted upwards as I crouched down to take the photo. I did have to walk a few steps into the driveway to get the shot. I've seen others around here do it to examine a particular bush or tree more closely. It felt a bit awkward for me, yet I know that I wouldn't mind if someone walked up my driveway for a photo. 

Donna's prompt was all about simplicity. Flowers emerging from the earth - simple, yet so intricate. The photo was taken with my Nikon Coolpix, edited very slightly - deepening shadows, adding highlights.

What the Bunnies Said and Indulging in a bit of Narcissism

Bunny A:  What's she doing?

Bunny B:  Smiling and talking to herself. Taking photos, like she always does. What's that she said? "How silly is this?" 

Bunny A:  Taking pictures, that's what she's doing. She just took some of us. You know she's going to put them on her blog, don't you?

Bunny B:  I know. Do you think she'll be brave enough to put the pictures she's taking of herself on the blog?

Bunny A:  I doubt it.  

Take that, Bunnies.

My hair looked virtually the same this morning as it did last night and when someone suggested that I document the ultra-straight look, I did. ( I had my hair cut yesterday and the stylist always straightens and flattens it to the extreme.) There are a few bits and pieces in the back that are starting to curl, but otherwise, it's the severe look. Is there anything so ridiculous as taking one's own photo? Those editing features in Picasa are wonderful for minimizing wrinkles and such. 

The Many Colours of White

I read recently that there are more shades of white available than of any other colour. Just looking around my house, I can well believe that. 

My husband's paternal grandmother crocheted this tablecloth, also seen in the above photo. She loved needlework and created many beautiful things, of which I have several. I wrote a tiny bit of Dora's story here. I don't know how old this tablecloth is, but I'm guessing between 40 and 60 years old. For the past 20 years or so, it has adorned a table in my mother-in-law's home. I'm honoured that last summer she gave it to me. Although slightly yellowed with age, the intricate and even stitches have undeniable beauty.

One of this year's goals is to improve my photography skills by reading and applying the information in my camera manual. On each photo I've added specifications - the speed, f-stop and ISO. I can see differences in the above photos, but they are minute. So which one is the better photo? My camera is not a full DSLR so my options for control are limited. However, from this experiment, I can see that I have a LOT more to learn about photography.

Mary, from the Little Red House, is encouraging people to link up with her theme of the colour white today. Her camera prompt was a good excuse for me to play with some of my whites and to get to know my camera better. It will be fun to see what others come up with.

From the Back of My Mind

I gave up making New Year's resolutions years ago. If something needs to be changed in my life, and I realize it, I'll begin resolving the issue at the moment. Goals and resolutions grow out of real life, not a date on the calender. That said, it's hard to avoid thinking about change and growth when talk shows, newscasters, magazines and online reading focuses on the topic. It's not a bad thing. 

some of my stash

We've moved twice in the past 3 years. There's nothing like having to pack up all your fabric, scrapbooking supplies, knitting yarn, and paints to make you realize how much stuff you really have. That "you" I'm talking about is really "me." For the past year, I've been resolving to use up what I have. The progress is slow and sporadic, but sure. 

Lately, I've been thinking, not just of using stuff up, but making the most of what I have. Those photography books, for example. I've looked at them, I've tried out a few things on my camera, but I've not delved into really using it to its fullest capability. I want to. I will. Especially now that I've written it for the world (my readers) to see.  

 a section of my bookshelf



A few years ago, before beginning my B.A. in French, I did a little free-lance writing. I had some success, articles in newspapers, cooking magazines, Today's Christian Woman, Romantic Homes, and others, but it's a tough slog. And rather isolating. I love teaching and will continue to do so, but the writing urge is tickling again. Since my birthday in October, I've been writing a short (500 word) essay each night. There are book ideas brewing in my brain. Possibilities. I don't know where the writing will take me, but I'm going to enjoy the ride.


So there. I guess I do have some resolutions for this new year. 

Susan Branch wrote a post entitled "The Care and Feeding of Dreams." It's lovely. My French degree is something I dreamed about for a long time until finally just decided to do it.  Don't we all have dreams? For ourselves? For others? Dreams can be small, like beginning a small garden plot, or large, like writing a book or traveling the world. They are also highly flexible: perhaps a garden will begin with a few containers of herbs, or a grand tour of Europe with books and movies. Sometimes dreams have to be surrendered, but new ones will come to take their place. To dream, to envision the future, is a human trait. Don't suppress your dreams, adjust them, make them work.

Well. This post went on a ramble. But that's the way it is with writing.