Photo Blogging Challenge - Feb - Glasses

1. Here's a collection of clear glasses in my collection.

A tall champagne glass, then my every day water glass for the start of my 16oz of water each day, a crystal wine glass, a small crystal shot glass and a vintage cut glass drinking vessel.

I lit them from the front so I achieved a nice shadow.








2. An original Bodum Presso 10 Ounce Double Wall Glass with Silicone Grip. Of course the fact that the silicone was yellow was appealing to me.  

I filled with Chamomile tea which I like to have at the end of the day to wind down before bed.

3. NAVAN glass
This is a glass which was one of 2 in a gift set included in the purchase of NAVAN Liquor.

Navan is made from the blending of cognac and
vanilla beans from Madagascar.

It has not been produced since 2010.

I received a set of 2 when my Mom and Dad downsized a few years ago.  The bottle of liquor is gone.  He likely received as a gift somewhere along his career.

I love how the yellow is in the base and travels up the glass to the rim.  I placed some marbles to give a focal point.

4. Sunglasses with really reflective lens.

The brand is Dazed and Confused which I found to be an interesting name.

It is important to wear sunglasses all year long even in winter as the snow can be very bright and your eyes still protection.

5. These are my 3D glasses that I received for "free" when I went to see "Avatar" with a group of friends in December 2009.

It is such a great movie and the 3D effect was wonderful to see in a big theater.

Joining the February Photo Blogging Challenge hosted by P.J. at A L'il Hoo Haa.

Photo Blogging Challenge - Jan - Books

01 - Photography

I have always taken pictures.  I have gotten more into photography in the last couple of years.  Of course the internet is wonderful but I love books.  

I have picked up a few books on photography and purchased one book from a local photographer Daryl Benson.

I have a Flickr account where I join challenges to improve my range of photos.


 02 - Fiction

I discovered author Kate Morton in 2018.  She is an Australian writer who writes in my opinion epic stories.  The ones I have read span 50 - 100 years.  They are addictive and I do confess that each of these books was read in long reading sessions.  There is a lot to keep track of so short sessions may make it difficult to get back into the details of the story.  If I had to read them in shorter sessions I would document the characters and some of the salient details as I read to allow me to get back in the story faster.

I generally do not purchase books.  I lead a fellowship group and we have a monthly book swap so I have been able to access books without buying them.   These were too compelling for me not to own the books.  I bought the first two from thrift stores but I confess buying the last one retail.  
I was introduced through a fellow blogger who had written a review of the Forgotten Garden. The Lake House and The Clockmaker's Daughter followed.

03 - Scrapbooking

 
I did quite a bit of traditional scrapbooking about 10 years ago.  I had a couple of friends who were doing it.  We would get together had have full day sessions.  I enjoyed organizing and documenting my life on those pages.    


As a paper crafter I had all the stuff to move into the craft and as an avid photo taker I had lots of pictures to document my experiences.

I really want to get back into it now that I have more time. 

Many of my friends have turned to digital scrapbooking or just producing photo books.  There is a certain temptation do go down that road with all the paper I have it would make sense to turn it into something useful.

The industry has changed so much in the last few years. 


04 - Paper Crafting

I have been an avid card maker for decades.  I facilitated a card making group for the last 15 years but the craft is in great decline.  My group has been disbanded due to lack of interest.

I collected many magazines and books on paper crafting before the internet became what is is today.

I am reticent to get rid of them and so they sit on the shelf for now.

I am concentrating on making photo cards now that it is my focus.




05 - Software Development

These books are remnants from a previous life as a software developer.

They are large and heavy books on average. 

Now they serve as weights for paper crafting projects and do the job very well.





I am sharing in the Photo Blogging Challenge hosted by PJ at L'il HooHaa

Friday's Hunt 1.26

I'm joining Teresa at Eden Hills with her Friday's Hunt challenge this week.

Prompts are:
- Starts with Z
- Week's Favorite
- Today

Starts with Z:
I start with a photo I took of one of the zebras at the zoo.  He was eyeing me very carefully but he stayed still and I got a good shot.

Week's Favorite: 

This is a shot of the drapes on the windows at the wedding reception.  The color was a really nice blue which made me think of water.  The fabric was shiny which created wonderful highlights.  It will make a great background or texture picture on future projects.

Today:

Here's a shot of the wedding cake at the reception I attended. The bride's favorite color is purple.  I understand the gal who made the cake is just starting out.  The cake was delicious and she did a great job of decorating!

Macro Monday 2 - Beech Leaf

This is an American Beech tree leaf.  I took the picture when the leaf is back lit by the sun.  It helps to show the structure of the leaf.  It has saw tooth edges.

I'm submitting it to
Macro Monday2

Macro Photo Challenge - Pencil Crayons

I took this photo of pencil crayons against a coloring book page.  I chose sunflowers of course.  I placed the focus on the yellow pencil.  I'm happy with how it turned out.  With the craze of adult coloring books many people are trying to recapture the calm of focusing your attention.

Submitted to

Macro Monday 2

Flicker - Macro Mondays - "When I was a Child"  I spent hours putting crayon pencil to coloring book pages. Time with peace and quiet.

Friday's Hunt 1.5

I'm joining Friday's Hunt 1.5 where the prompts are start with the letter E, Favorite, Sky.

I chose Egg for the letter E.  Eggs are smooth, oval and perfect.  I nestled it in some brown rice in a small rectangular china dish. I imagine it's designed for condiments or sauces.  I used my sunflower hot spot as a background.  You can check out another egg photo I took a while ago.

Favorite: Grapefruit is one of my favorite fruit.  They are in season and reasonably priced these days.

I repeated the circular theme by surrounding the fruit with lavender loose leaf tea onto a white round ironstone plate.  The white plate was on a gold charger plate but I ended up cropping that.

I love this shot in late fall.  The sky is so animated with a storm rolling in.  The sun was setting and putting light on the far hills.  In the foreground, there are birds on the water as they prepare to migrate.  Unfortunately, power lines are pretty much unavoidable but are quite subtle in this shot.

Submitting to Friday's Hunt 1.5 hosted by Teresa at Eden Hills.

Friday's Hunt - V1.1

I'm joining Friday's Hunt hosted by Teresa at Eden Hills where we can post photos interpreting the prompts for the week.

The prompts for this week are:

• Starts with A
• This week's favorite
• Celebrate

Starts with A: I chose Alone
I found this horse alone in the paddock.  He's looking at me like "What are you up to?" The frost on the trees was really nice.

This week's favorite:
A wool hot spot which I received this week from my niece (a late Christmas gift).  Sunflowers are my favorite flower and now I will have one sitting on my table all year till my Christmas stuff comes out. I love it!!! The photo was taken on my red Christmas table cloth.

Celebrate:
I took a picture of the Christmas cards I received this year.  Actually, they are not all in the photo because I had more than I could fit on my card holder.  This is something to celebrate that many people wanted to share Christmas greetings. As a card maker that make my heart happy!!!

Mosaic Monday - Happy Feet

I went to the Calgary Zoo on the long weekend.  While I was there I check out the new exhibit of penguins.  I captured 3 species of penguins: Rock Hopper, Humbolt Penguin and King Penguin.  They have a great exhibit where you can see them swimming under water.  I had recently seen Happy Feet so these characters were familiar. It was great and the kids liked it. 

Submitting to Mosaic Monday hosted by Judith at Lavendar Cottage.

MM - The Zoo

I went to the Zoo this week.  The weather had cooled and it was just a terrific day!
They have made some improvements in overall appearance and quite a few of the habitats have been expanded and enriched.  There is more areas with interactive exhibits which makes it more fun.
Don't you just love those eyes on the ring tailed lemurs.  They were hopping and skipping around and checking themselves out in the mirror in their exhibit.  There is a new area called the Beaver Lodge where they have a large dam made of logs which children were climbing all over so it is more interactive with the visitors. In this area they have several ponds with moving water and that is where the trout are swimming.  The Arctic Shores is where the seals swim. They have Northern Fur seals and Harbour Seals.  A black swan is a new since my last visit.  It was sharing habitat with pelicans and ducks.  What do you think of a skunk at the Zoo?  I guess it's the safest place to see one. I was surprised at how soft they looked. 

Submitting to Mosaic Monday hosted by Judith at Lavender Cottage

Fireworks Bokeh

I took this photo from my balcony of the Canada Day Fireworks in the river valley.  It turned out bokeh in black and white so I just went with it.

Submitting to these challenges:
B&W Wednesday

Mushroom on a Table

I took this photo on the weekend when I was visiting my Mom & Dad. This mushroom was growing in between 2 of the boards of their picnic table.  Check out the nail on the left hand side of the photo. 

Submitting to the following:
B&W Wednesdays

I've included the colored one as well.  You can see the faded green paint in this picture.

Water Drops

I took this photo right after the gardener had watered the flower bed.  The flower had wonderful water drops on it's petals.  I like the way the background was dark and the flower light.  I just cropped this image a bit. 

Submitting to the following:
Macro Monday 2

I Heart Macro

Mosaic Monday - Ducklings

I went for a trip to the wetlands after a BBQ a week ago.  It was later in the day so the lighting was different.
There were ducklings swimming around with mama duck keeping a real close eye on me.  The Ruddy Duck was a new bird to me, so that was exciting.  I would have preferred to have the Red Wing Blackbird on a reed but I will take what I can get.  The Grebe looks like a juvenile so I'm not sure if he has parents around somewhere.

Joining Mosaic Monday host by Judith at Lavendar Cottage.

Water Drop

There aren't many water drops around here because things are so dry.  I walked by these hostas shortly after someone watered and the drops were still there. Once I converted the photo the water drop popped!  Looks like it's headed down the slope.  I cropped the photo to have the water drop be the focus.

Here's the colored one.

Submitting to:
B&W Wednesday.

Inside a Petunia

Petunias are not flowers I would normally photograph.  They are plentiful and come in a large number of colors.  This morning I decided to see what I could do if I got really close.  They have interesting inside bits.  I liked to color of this one and the focus was good.  There are a few dirt particles but that comes with the territory when outside.  I did crop the image to move the focal point off center.
Sharing this at
I Heart Macro 
Macro Monday 2 

Mosaic Monday - Walk Around the Lake

I took a walk around the lake last week and nature was bursting out of every corner.  Birds of all kinds and flowers were blooming.
The ring billed gull, female mallard duck, blue headed mallard duck. Pink apple blossoms and a well disguised sparrow. I loved this shot of the lake water just fading into white but check out the head of the Canada Goose in the bottom left hand corner. The red necked grebe with a fish in her mouth!!! White apple blossoms.  The sun setting on the mallard duck couple and the red winged black bird playing hard to photograph. 
It was a wonderful couple of hours in nature. Loved it!


Submitting this to Mosaic Monday at Lavender Cottage hosted by Judith.

Mosaic Monday - Sunflowers

I'm hoping these sunny flowers will inspire the weather to get warmer. We had a really nice day on Saturday and I spent it with my sisters and niece. It was a very good day.

Sunflowers are my favorite flower so I always have a good number of shots.  I love the variety of colors which come with these flowers. Yellow to deep oranges can be found. Bees love them as I see 2 of my shots include them gathering nectar.


I'm submitting this to Mosaic Monday at Lavendar Cottage hosted by Judith.

Mosaic Monday - Angels

I've put together a set of angels I have.  I found it interesting how they are all similar in color.

Top left: This is an angel pin I made with a wooden body and shrink plastic wings.
Top right: Ceramic and I find her skirt seems to mimic a heart upside down.

Center left: I like the movement in her skirt as well.

Bottom left: Is a votive holder from Party Lite.  It is about 8 inches tall and has matte and shiny surfaces. I've switched from lit candles to battery powered and for scent I bought a wax warmer which is safer.

Bottom right: The angel is from the Willow Tree collection named "Friendship is the greatest gift of all".

Photo Challenge - Day 11 to 15

This is the final week of Sally Russick's 15 day Ordinary Extraordinary Everyday Mini Photo Challenge.   I always enjoy being challenged and thank Sally for hosting this challenge.  Here are my pics.

Day 11 - Macro

This is a close up of the view finder on my now defunct Canon Powershot A430 from the front. I loved this camera.  It was my first digital camera and I used it for 6 years and my Mom for another 4, so it was long lived.

Day 12 - Temptation

Ice cream bars with chocolate, the only thing missing is nuts is one of my temptations.  This is a small one so it's less calories when I do indulge.  It was delicious.

Day 13 - Sweetness

This orange is my sweetness with my breakfast.  A bit of tea, an egg and an orange.  I really need the Vitamin C as I'm fighting a cold.

Day 14 - Love

This is a heart shaped bowl which is a set of 2 that I received from my Mom and Dad when I graduated from college.  It is special to me.  I love the way the glass creates this blue frame around the dried flowers inside.

Day 15 - Togetherness

I found these exquisite Cameo buttons during my clean up this week.  I find it amazing that they were designed to face each other and they are 2 different ladies.  I can imagine them as 2 sisters, a mother and daughter or special cousins.

Photo - Challenge - Day 6 to 10

I'm participating in Sally Russick's 15 day photo challenge.  The focus is our every day lives.

Day 6 - Minimal

This is a white egg in a black dish.  I wanted it to be a black and white photo.  I love the reflections of the egg on the sides of the dish.

Day 7 - Daily Chaos

This was my chaos today. I've been sorting through stuff and deciding what is hitting the garbage can and what is going to the second store. My place is feeling less cluttered.

Day 8 - Words

Here's a poem I wrote years ago.

Day 9 - Night Time Calm

This is a tool I use in the evening to calm down before I head for bed.  Of course, the suggestion of cup works for my favorite chamomile tea in the evening wind down.

Day 10 - Outside

This a puffed up black billed magpie sitting on a tree branch on a very cold day.