Heading for the Hills

We will be heading over to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park tomorrow! This natural treasure is now celebrating its 75th anniversary. It is one of the few National Parks that does not charge an entrance fee. It also holds the distinction of being the most visited.

We plan to spend a couple of days there, see if some of the wildflowers are blooming, take a few pictures, and breathe the mountain air. We’re taking our hiking sticks in case we want to stroll a little bit on some easy trails. It has been years and years since we have visited, though it is just 40 miles from our home. Yeah, I know – shame on us! But in our defense, we used to visit frequently in the 1980s when hubby taught a photography course in the Smoky Mountain Field School.

I will be doing a scheduled post for tomorrow morning. Please check my Twitter link this week to see if I have any interesting tidbits to tell on our adventures!

Economics 101

After reading yesterday's post, my dear friend, Joan of Joan's Journeys, reminded me of a great Saturday Night Live sketch. It is a hoot! I think all of our local, state, and federal politicians should go through remedial economics training before they commence work on the governmental budgets. And, this video should be part of the required curriculum! Enjoy, LOL!

Saturday Night Live - Don't Buy Stuff

Stimulating the Economy

I have officially done my part to stimulate the economy! I spent a chunk of change, and I did it unlike the imbeciles in Washington D.C. I saved my own money for the purchase before I spent it. Yep, balancing a budget is not rocket science. If you do it right, you don’t have to get a loan from the Chinese government that will have to be repaid by future generations. And, you don’t have to resort to printing an extra trillion dollars in your basement while using a diversionary tactic from the class warfare playbook. Yep, if you can’t afford it, you don’t spend it! Even though you really, really want to. You would think this simple concept would be covered in Economics 101. It makes you wonder what has been taught in the classrooms since I graduated several decades ago. Hmmm…

Oh my goodness gracious. Where am I? I seem to be standing on a soapbox! How did that happen? Excuse me for a momentary rant. These troubled times are adversely affecting my usual sweet decorum. The insane swindling and bamboozling going on by our elected officials lately is impossible for me to ignore, and I am close to a breaking point. Ah, there I go again, standing on that soapbox. Gee whiz!

Now, where was I? Oh yeah, I remember, LOL!

I bought a new camera - the Nikon D90! I ordered it from B&H Photo, our favorite photo and electronics supplier. I already love the HUGE display on the back. It is bigger than the one on my D70, and I can use it without the assistance of reading glasses. That’s a big plus for my mature eyes, ha-ha! Studying the 278-page user’s manual is on my “to do” list. But it has enough of the same buttons and knobs that I’ve already been using it. I am doing the happy dance and LOVING it! It has a nice feel and takes beautiful pictures. I also got the Nikkor 18-200mm zoom lens with vibration reduction. Hubby has had one for a couple of years now and it is a honey. I have been wildly jealous and finally got one for me too.

So I will be enjoying my photography hobby even more and sharing the results with you in the days ahead!

Spring Activities

No, no, I haven’t forgotten my blog. I have been twittering for everyone so that you know that I am still alive and kicking. We had a long stretch of fabulous weather, and now we are at the beginning of a rainy period. We have accomplished a lot of “tidying” kinds of landscaping activities, as part of our spring ritual. Since hubby has a bad hip and I have a bad knee, our slow progress can be a bit comical to watch and sad to experience, LOL. Thank goodness we are retired so that we can work and rest, then repeat as necessary until we decide that it is time to enjoy an adult beverage on the front porch.

The landscaping is looking pretty good at this point. The Bradford pear tree blooms were at their peak yesterday, the redbuds and maples are really showing their reddish colors, and the dogwood blooms are ever so slightly beginning to open. The dogwood trees are loaded with blooms this year, so the next two weeks will see their glory. Last year was spectacular, but I think this year is going to be better yet! The privet hedges are greening up quickly, and the front lawn and backyard will need trimming by this weekend. Hubby already mowed some of the side acreage a couple of days ago. This past week, he got the garden tractors all prepped for the three seasons ahead.

The two vegetable garden plots have already received their first tilling. Vegetables and flowers will get planted toward the end of April, when the danger of frost in this area has past. I’m looking forward to having my big pots of geraniums near the front and the kitchen porch entries. It is always so cheerful to have those flowers greet us and our visitors.

I have more newsy news, but will save that for later posts. Right now, I want to spend a little time catching up with my blogging friends!

Photo Challenge: The Eyes Have It

Time for a new Brenda Photo Challenge! The theme is The Eyes Have It, picked by the current challenge hostess, Brenda of What's UP down South. Thank you, Brenda, for choosing an interesting subject!

You would never win a staring contest with the fellow posing below. This is a totem pole in the Northwest section of the Memphis Zoo. (I think Brenda may recognize it!) The photo was taken at f/8 and 1/250 second.

It didn’t take much coaxing to get Cosmos, my sweet horse neighbor, to come over to the fence and model for me. To show the texture of her coat, I applied a poster edges filter to the digital image. The camera settings were f/8 and 1/1000 second.

I was lucky to catch Cosmos turning her head to look at me directly, and I quickly framed up this lovely image with her mane in the out-of-focus background. The photo was taken at f/9 and 1/1250 second.

I also decided to add a little goofiness and springtime cheer to the challenge by snapping a photo of one of my stitched ornaments. (Marty was going to arm wrestle me if I didn’t include it, LOL.) This ornament graces a doorway handle in our solarium. I created this little rabbit several years ago with wool felt and embellished it with silk ribbon embroidery and seed beads. The hare is popping out of a bed of flowers and the double-stacked button eyes add to its comical expression. The camera settings were f/5.6 and 1/25 second.

Twittering and Tweeting

Oh dear. All of this social networking and computer technology is getting the better of me. Perhaps I have temporarily gone a little bit whacked in the noggin, but I decided to give Twittering a go. A little bird picture link to my Twitter page is located over on my sidebar.

I am NOT going to share the mundane and truly boring parts of my life with everyone, minute by bloody minute. Do you really need to know when I am scrubbing the bathrooms, clipping my toenails, or standing in the line at the grocery store? Hmmm? I didn’t think so, LOL!

As my blogging friends have observed by now, I do not post daily on my blog. After 40 years of constrained servitude called “working for a living” and now that I have had a taste of retirement life, I am averse to tying myself down to a routine schedule for activities such as blogging. This is meant to be fun and fun it will remain!

So I intend to use Twitter to keep my blogging friends up to speed on a few cottage happenings and journey events, in between my postings. You may click on the blog link and see if I have some up-to-date news to share. I can also use Twitter to chat back and forth with friends who are also signed up with a Twitter account.

How about it, blogging buddies? Is anyone else doing Twitter?

Kentucky Trip - Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill

One of our favorite places to visit in middle Kentucky is the historical Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill. For our journey this past November, we had spectacular fall weather and encountered very few tourists. It felt like we had the whole place to ourselves!

Our first introduction to the legacy of the Shaker communities was a visit to Canterbury Shaker Village in the spring of 1986. While there, we were delighted to meet Eldress Bertha Lindsay (1897-1990). We enjoyed some tea and lemon verbena cookies while she told us about the different varieties of blooming lilac bushes outside her home. She even shared her cookie recipe with us, LOL. At the time, Eldress Bertha was preparing to publish her cookbook, Seasoned with Grace. She was a cheerful and delightful lady.

The Shaker Historical Trail provides information on the history of the Shaker communities and their locations. If you are a fan of the famous Shaker style of architecture, furniture, and household objects, you would greatly enjoy a jaunt to these historical sites.

Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill dates back to 1805. It is America’s largest restored Shaker community, with 34 historical buildings and 3000 acres of preserved farmland. About half of the buildings are open to visitors, and some provide accommodations to overnight guests. Fine dining is provided in the Trustee’s Office. Many informative events are held during the year, and riverboat rides are available during the warm seasons. Fine handmade crafts and reproduction furniture are also offered for sale.

Instead of doing several posts to share and describe my pictures, I decided to upload some photographs into Photobucket and put together a slide show for you. So please grab a nice beverage, sit back, and click on the link below to begin your armchair journey. Enjoy, my friends!

Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill Slide Show

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Shake It, Shake It!

I am working on some postings to share more pictures from our Kentucky trip last November. I am slower than molasses when it comes to doing my editing in Photoshop Elements, but the results are so worth it. Of course, if I didn’t take a ka-zillion photos, the whole process would speed up considerably, LOL.

Stay tuned for some travel photos from Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, one of our favorite places to visit in middle Kentucky! This historical site is chock full of classic architectural buildings and antique treasures. Everywhere you look, there is a picture waiting to be captured.

Catching Up

The days have been zipping by and I finally have a little time to play the game of catching up. I know some of my friends are probably wondering, “has she wandered off and forgotten to tell us?” The answer is no, I’m still here! Life tends to get in the way of blogging, LOL.

We have been busy with spreading mulch on the endless flower beds, for one thing. Sweet hubby has done about 98% of the spreading. My meager contribution still managed to render my arm and shoulder muscles into worthless and painful jello. We now have only a small portion of the pile left to distribute in one of the beds behind the house. Rain showers for the next few days will be giving us a temporary resting break.

The daffodils have been glorious this year. I am regularly picking the flowers for bouquets. I hope that the late season bloomers will continue on for one more beautiful week. The trees and plants are all beginning to wake up. Our Bradford pear trees are starting to bloom and the dogwood trees are not far behind. Spring is arriving in east Tennessee!

I got another cortisone shot in my knee earlier this week. So I will get some needed pain relief for the next few months. Thank goodness for medical science!

It is long past due for me to acknowledge some bloggy giveaway prizes that I won. My sincere apologies to the generous bloggers for not featuring your gifts earlier! These arrived in the throes of my temporary consulting job when my time was limited.

First, I received an assortment of creative supplies from Penniwig's: beads, floss, scented tarts, and needlepunch tool.

I also won a handcrafted beaded necklace and matching earrings from Angelina's Trinkets.

Thank you so much, ladies, for these sweet presents!

Photo Challenge: Flip That Photo

Time for a new Brenda Photo Challenge! The theme is Flip That Photo, picked by the current challenge hostess, Cindra of Knits & Pics & Favorite Things. Thank you, Cindra, for challenging us to stretch ourselves by changing our digital images with photo editing techniques!

Cindra and I provided some tutorial coaching on our blogs during the past two weeks. It will be exciting to see what the participants have learned and will be presenting. I had a grand time teaching myself how to do layers in Photoshop Elements and creating some transformed photo images. I hope my visitors enjoy my entries!

I have three examples to present, all using the same layering technique. In each case, I took one of my photographs and layered it with a decorative background, resulting in a merged and transformed image.

Example #1 – This is a scenic picture I took in November of the Kentucky State Capitol building in Frankfort, Kentucky. By itself, it is a lovely picture, taken on a bright and sunny day.

But government buildings can be rather stuffy in nature. And there were no pretty clouds in the sky that day, resulting in a static image. So what would happen if I merge this photo with a peach-colored scrapbook paper that has a distressed floral motif? Let’s find out!

With a hard light layer at 100% opacity, I got a jazzed up image with a bit of surreal flair. Pretty cool, huh?

Example #2 – This is a picture of an antique horse weathervane that I took a couple of years ago at the Shelburne Museum in Vermont. The weathervane display was in the Round Barn visitor center, and the lighting was so poor that I had to resort to using a flash. This image is straight out of the camera with no adjustments. I think it has a rather dismal photographic quality, and it was certainly worthy of deleting. But I liked the folk art shape and decided to keep the image in my digital library.

So is there a chance to redeem this particular image by layering it with a textured background? I chose a scrapbook paper image with good tonal qualities and floral imprints which provide some movement.

With a difference layer at 100% opacity, look how personality has emerged from this tricked out pony! The combined image turned out way cooler than I would have ever imagined.

Example #3 – I took this photograph of a barn cupola at the Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield, MA. The overcast, rainy sky did nothing to complement the grey structure. Except for the shape of the cupola, this picture is truly dull and boring. Yawn!

So how can I make this image interesting? If ever a picture needed texture and a little color, it is this one. Fortunately, I remembered a scan I did a while back of a favorite Bali fabric with brown spots. The rest, as they say, is history.

After applying a pinlight layer at 65%, I was blown away when I saw the merged image. It is raining spots on the rooftop cupola! This one makes me giggle because it turned out so incredibly funny!

So, I finally learned how to use layers in the past couple of weeks and carefully thought about how to combine images that can complement each other. And, I was able to transform my photos (two of them very sad, sad pictures) to make them more interesting, unique, and artistic. I loved this photo challenge!

Gardening Season Begins

I finally have enough daffodils blooming to be able to cut and fill a couple of vases for the house. These beautiful flowers make me smile each time I see them!

Some warm temperatures arrived today and so did our dump-truck order of mulch for the flowerbeds and trees. We already started attacking the pile and spreading mulch this afternoon. Our muscles are going to be sore tomorrow! Are there any takers to help, LOL?

Fun with Photo Editing Filters

If you are participating in the next Brenda Photo Challenge and don’t have a good grasp of photo editing programs, don’t panic! Cindra of Knits & Pics & Favorite Things recently mentioned a free online program called Picnik, and I did a little test drive of it. Let me tell you, it is EASY! Just upload your photo, click on different editing techniques, move a few slider bars, and you can modify your photos in a flash. When the editing is completed, you can then download the file back to your computer. They offer a premium service too if you want more bells and whistles.
Even the best photos can be improved with a little editing (e.g., color balance, contrast, spot touchups, sharpness, cropping). But after you finish those fine touches, you can have a little fun with special effect filters. Let me show you a few examples of how I quickly changed one of my photos using the Picnik program.

Original Photo (Grand Canyon Hopi House)

Using Create/Effects/Sepia

Using Create/Effects/Vignette

Using Create/Effects/Posterize

Using Create/Effects/Heat Map

Using Create/Sandbox/Circle Splash with Hardlight Setting

Go grab a couple of pictures and play with Picnik! And don’t forget to sign up for the Brenda Photo Challenge!

March - A Look Ahead

February is a memory. Soon the winter season will be a memory too. The early daffodils have already made their appearance, though the current cold snap is making them bow their heads toward the earth. The trees are already showing signs of waking from their slumber. Red tips are showing on the maples and the beautiful light green color is appearing on the weeping willows. All the signs are there, telling us that it is time to get the flowerbeds in order before the color show begins. I have ordered the dreaded load of mulch, and it will be delivered on Thursday this week. Our gardening boot camp will then begin and will continue for most of the month. Here we go again. We didn’t expect to still be at the homestead right now. But here we remain. It’s funny how life never turns out how you have it planned.

The temporary consulting job got wrapped up last month. I quickly readjusted back to a retirement schedule and am spending more time with my robe and slippers. I got my annual physical and mammogram done last week, so those necessary checkup items have been crossed off my “to do” list. My health is good and I made it through the winter without the flu and respiratory distress, unlike last year. Mission accomplished!

Now if I could just have some magic wand waved over my knee, I would be a much happier camper. There are days that I have to really dig deep to find a joyful spirit. Chronic pain is such a hideous monster. Another cortisone shot is scheduled for next week. I am beginning to have my doubts that I can make it through the year without knee replacement surgery. Which means someone needs to get it in a higher gear and buy the homestead pretty soon.

With the advent of some improved weather, I plan to get out and exercise my camera a bit more this month. I have been teaching myself some new tricks on Photoshop lately. So that has kept me focused on photography and expanding my ideas on subject matter and style. After spending decades with a film camera, digital photography is such grand fun. Stay tuned for some totally cool images that I will share in the Photo Challenge this coming Saturday!