Fall Morning

Even I'm getting a little bored with the morning shots. Bet you never thought you'd hear that on this blog.

Still lovely, but maybe one too many orange sunrises. It seems it used to be a wonderful change of pace, now, most of our sunrises are orange.

Its not a good thing.

Affirmations

I'm working on, well, me. I'm sort of always doing this and sometimes, like maybe now, I'm having to work a little harder than at other more relaxing times. I'm always tweaking and tinkering and trying to figure out how to make me and my life, better, happier, more sustainable (pardon the eco-pun), more pleasant and peaceful. No, I've not joined an ashram (although, I would love to for a while - maybe some day...) I am fully aware that I live what could only be termed a charmed life. I have a wonderful husband and family and friends and a job and health and with all that, I sometimes have anxiety. For no good reason that I can come up with other than the fact that I've just been this way since I was five years old. Its just me.

Hence, always working on something. Something to remind myself how easy I have it. Blah blah blah.

In that vein, I've finally come to accept that I have some sort of (dare I call it...) artistic bent that I need to express. It comes out in my having owned a camera since I was in grade school. Remember those old Vivitars(?)

Maybe you're just not old enough to remember those, but, hey, they were great. Point, click, wait 4 months for your parents to remember to take the film to Bi-Mart to get developed then another 2 weeks for them to remember to pick up the prints, all that heart wrenching waiting just to see the photos you took of your stuffed animals. (Hmm, the internets reveal that Vivitar still exists.... just not in this 1979 version... anyway..) After that, I had a Kodak Disk camera.

I loved that silly thing. It was novel and different and had film in the same shape as ViewMasters.

The next camera I remember was my super fabulous, 35mm Olympus or Minolta...? Heavens I can't remember the maker. Oh well, I have (present tense) lenses and cases and filters and cleaning equipment and more equipment than I can think of. I love that camera. If only I wasn't addicted to the instant gratification of the digital age I would SO use it more often.

My next camera, which I am so excited about getting some day, will most likely be a Canon 40D. Oh, how I drool over it.

I've digressed, because I am so enamored with photography. So, back to my point, I love to cook and bake and photograph and I used to play the piano and always wanted to play the guitar and I've come to realize and accept that I need to express myself creatively to be fully "me".

What's on my plate right now. Rocks. Stones to be more specific. I've started (who knows how long it will last...) creating what I call Affirmation Stones. See below. This is my first painted stone.

The first affirmation that I had to write, was Joy. These silly little stones have actually brought me joy.

Hey, whatever works, right.

Why did I take that photo?

I take quite a number of photos. There are a lot of times when I'll be back from a trip or a walk or whatever and be looking through the photos I've taken and come across (more than) a few and wonder, "Why did I take that photo?" Most of them are either deleted or just take up memory on some memory card or my hard drive. They'll be copied over to the screen saver directory and I'll maybe see them flash by, most of the time, not paying much attention.

Sometimes, I don't even remember taking a photo. (Its those times I realize, that probably Mister took the photo...) Sometimes it happens, we share carting around cameras so we both end up taking photos on the same camera. Not always, but sometimes. Especially on trips, like Italy.

Sometimes.... sometimes... a photo will come on the screen during a screen saver moment and I'll think, Wow, I sort of like that picture. These three are some of those that initially I didn't particularly care for, but they've grown on me. The top and middle photos have grown on me. I actually rather like them a lot now.I also think that Mister may have taken them. For sure, he took that last one of the concrete fruit bowl.

Dharma

This is Dharma.

She's my mother-in-law's cat. Well, my mother-in-law (MIL) is Dharma's human. That would be a more accurate statement.

Dharma belonged to the neighbors several years ago. But Dharma hung out in my MIL's yard all. the. time. Not a big deal. MIL is allergic to cats, but, what are you gonna do. So, a few years ago, the neighbors moved away. Not a state away, but miles away. The next thing MIL knew, there was Dharma, in the back yard again. MIL called former neighbors, former neighbors came to pick up Dharma. This happened a few times. Then the former neighbors gave Dharma to some other friends because Dharma just didn't like the two new kittens the former neighbors had gotten. Those friends of the former neighbors had problems with Dharma too. They give Dharma back to former neighbors. Dharma hi-tails it (pun intended) back to MIL's yard. MIL, again, calls former neighbors who explain their dilemma at which point MIL agrees to keep Dharma.

I'm so glad MIL kept her. Dharma is a cranky, mouthy, squirmy beast who I have grown to adore, adore, adore.

She *loves* me too, I just know it.

End of Summer... Hello Fall!!

Spring/Printemps and Fall/Autumn are my favorite seasons. Life renewing and nurturing. Summer, I'll miss you, but I won't be unhappy until your return.

September Morning

I really do love the morning. Everything is fresh and new all over again. The possibilities are endless when each new day arrives. If we try hard enough, we can make each day something good.

Yes, its that time of year again when I'm awake and functioning enough to get out the camera and inundate you with sunrise photos.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I apparently do.

I'm also thinking I need to revisit some recipes and find some new recipes. I'm feeling a bit stale in the food preparation department. Is there any recipe tried and true or brand new that you love right now? Please share it with me.

Peppers

Anaheim

Thai Chilis

From our little garden plot. Its not even actually in our yard, for we have little or no sun, we have a shaded yard, lovely and serene yet oh how we wish for some sun spots. Anyway, we (i.e. Mister) created a plot next to mom-in-laws house. We share a small garden of peppers of many varieties and tomatillos (pictured below). Oh, and cukes which Mister has made into refrigerator pickles and tomatoes.

The tomatillo plant produced a zillion tomatillos, unfortunately, we were in Europe at the very beginning of their little lives and they didn't get watered. We think that's why they are nearly all the size of marbles. They are very pretty though, a bit like little chinese lanterns. Yes, the photos are blurry, I wasn't even going to post them then I wrote about them and felt I needed to. The wind was blowing and I didn't have the patience to go back when the wind wasn't blowing. Maybe tonight...

Let's just say its an artists rendition of a tomatillo.

Just Breathe

...ahhhh...

Cinnamon Rolls

It wasn't planned, it just happened, and I'm glad it did. A total spur of the moment, I've gotta do this right now kind of thing.

I pulled out a recipe I've had printed for months, Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls (note: bake at 375 - not 400). I've never had cinnamon rolls turn out before so I'm always printing recipes for them and never actually making them. I've had more batches flop than I can remember. But, these worked. I don't know if its the recipe or the cosmic stars being aligned in the right way, but these are tasty treats! I may never need another Cinabon. There, I said it. Quote me if you so desire.

The bread part is light light light. The maple frosting is sugary heavy. The only thing I would change next time would be to put MUCH less frosting on them, if even frosted at all. But, you can make that call yourself.

Before I rolled out the dough, I made fry bread with a wee bit of the dough. (did your mom ever make fry bread for you? - mine did) Fry bread is like the elephant ears you get at the carnival only super duper better. This dough made heavenly fry bread. I drizzled honey on it while it was hot from the skillet and - stand back - delicious.

I'm totally recommending this recipe and I plan to make the orange marmalade variation she has posted, oh, somewhere on her blog and also to create my own version(s).

I love learning stuff

I have fallen in love with the blossom photos I posted the other day. When I first posted it, I just needed a flower to post and remembered I'd had this in my stock pile. Well, then, after I posted it, I really took a look at it and (for me) its a photo that wants me to look at it. I have it as my desktop at the office and at home and now, I've made it my blog header photo, along with some of the other photos I took at the same time. The fun thing, (again, for me) is that I made it so you can link out on the photos in the header! How fun is that! Right now, they link out to their flickr counterparts. But, I could link out to something totally random and fun! Only I would get a kick out of this, and that's ok. Very fun. If you're me.

Timothy Lake

Labor Day weekend, we camped at Timothy Lake with friends. I'd never been to this campground. Even without running water or flush toilets, it was a beautiful place to be. I would have spectacular photos of the lake with Mt. Hood in the background and the kayaks and canoes and fishermen and children every where playing and biking and hide-n-seek - unfortunately, it rained and was grey all weekend. I tried to get a couple interesting photos anyway. This is us, during a short dry spell, hiking about 1/4 mile around the lake. That's all we had in us for the cold and wet. Normally I would scoff at my own words just now, but, when there's no hot shower to come back to, hiking in the rain, not so much fun. This is just a little side trail leading down to the lake. I liked how the grass clumps were long and floppy over the trail. It seemed very "Shire-ish" to me. I imagined Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee walking through here on their way to, oh, somewhere. And the obligatory canoe on the shore photo. I really do *adore* canoes on shores of lakes.

How did you spend your long weekend? I hope you had a long weekend...

Happy (Wedne... oops - got the wrong day there) Thursday.

Pearl Melon

This is a pearl melon from our CSA food box. The rind and the insides are the exact same color. Its similar to a cantaloupe, but more melow and perfumy - in a good way. I look forward to them each year. If you have the opportunity to taste one of these delights, you should.

Here's Harley watching me try to capture some melon beauty outside with natural light. He got bored with the process very quickly.

Ethereal Beauty

Its a bit of a lofty heading today, but its the first thing that came into my mind. These blossoms remind me of something from a fairy land, or something.

Please ignore me today. The long weekend apparently did me in.

Have a wonderful Labor Day Weekend

Raw

For D

photo by Amazon ... in case you could not tell

• Check out BitterSweet Blog today. A book published by Book Publishing Co.
• And The Raw Dessert blog;
• This blog, called Brownie Points;
• Have your Cake and Eat it Too;

So much information on that internet highway...