March 10, 2020

Happy Purim, Y'all!

I've loved this Jewish holiday for years, 

ever since I did an in-depth study of the Old Testament book of Esther.

The Jews in Persia were under attack, and God delivered them

in a miraculous and intriguing way.

They celebrated that deliverance by sharing gifts of food with their neighbors,

and Jews continue to do that to this day.

One of the traditional foods Jews celebrate Purim with in modern times is hamantaschen,

a rolled and filled triangular cookie.

I've wanted to try making them for years but they've seemed so intimidating,

probably because there are so many articles online giving advice for making them.

I finally tried this year, and they turned out much better than I expected.

Not particularly pretty, but tasty.

I made half with a traditional poppyseed filling, and the other half with Nutella.

There's no butter in the dough, and I think that would be an improvement,

so I'll look for a different recipe next year.

And I'll get a rolling pin...a glass doesn't work quite as well.  :)

March 9, 2020

Today felt a little like spring and we all know where a young man's fancy turns this time of year.

Since there is no young lady on the horizon for Jed,

(that I know of anyway)

I was the happy recipient of this tiny greenery arrangement. :)

March 8, 2020

There is a flea market near Jed's weekly homeschool class

and I've enjoyed browsing in there before picking him up in the afternoon.

They have surprisingly good prices and a big variety of sellers and items.

The unusual shape of this mirror caught my eye...

I thought it was a magnifying glass and I could sure use one of those these days.  :)

I was a little horrified to find it was a magnifying mirror...

as if I want to magnify anything on my face to that extent!

However, it did occur to me that it might be helpful when applying makeup

because I can't do that with my reading glasses on

and I can't see close-up without my reading glasses on.

It's been way more helpful than I would ever have thought...

now I can't imagine how I've gotten along all these years of far-sightedness without it.  :)
Plus it was only a couple dollars more than a plastic mirror at Wal-Mart.
I love old stuff!

March 7, 2020

I drove to a little town called Bostic today.

I didn't realize it would be so hilly...that was a pleasant surprise.

I wish I had gotten a better picture of the mountains in the distance...

you can barely see a blue peak peeking up over the horizon here.

This shot was actually taken without me even looking at the phone I was using to take it...

I was holding it to my side and a little behind as I was passing this beautiful scene,

while I kept my eyes on the road.

I can't figure out what the reflection in the glass is from, 

but other than that, I'm really happy with this shot!

The moon was out mid-afternoon, which was also a pleasant surprise.

March 6, 2020

The spring colors in these towels make me so happy!

March 5, 2020

For years I've wanted an entry table to use for seasonal decorations

and I'm so happy to finally have one in this house!

I've enjoyed it for several holidays so far,

but I think Easter might be my favorite.

Another shot using the sunset filter...I actually like it a lot.  :)

March 4, 2020

Guess what we did today?!  

This was taken using the filter I've been using on the sunsets.

It's interesting how much it accentuates the paper towels.  :)

March 3, 2020

We made our resurrection garden today.

Every year before we've planted grass seed in it,

and every year it's looked pretty awful 

because it turns out it's hard to grow a thick, lush lawn

in such a small space.

 This year we used sheet moss for the grass and even Jed thinks it looks better.

It makes him a little sad not to be growing it, though,

so I included a little pond for him because he likes it.

I've never seen these plants before but I love them!

They look just like trees, 

much more so than any other plant we've used for trees before

in our resurrection garden.

I hope they survive so I can keep them after Easter.

March 2, 2020

We got a letter today from our Colorado letter carrier!
It made me laugh to see that even postal employees can lose their own mail.  :)

March 1, 2020

I spent a lovely Sunday afternoon playing house with this little lady.

She is a natural-born nurturer and it is so sweet to see.

February 29, 2020

I've been on a potato soup kick for a while now.

Today I finished the last of the third pot I've made since Christmas...

...not exactly helpful for a low-carb diet.

As much as it grieves me to think that spring is just around the corner,

(because that means summer is just around the corner, and summer basically slays me)

at least it will bring to an end the soup and hot bread and heavy stew and cream sauce season.

I'm actually looking forward to lighter fare.

(And I'm trying desperately to remind myself of good things about warmer weather.)  :)

I played around with the camera's settings a bit this afternoon.

The first picture uses the flash, this one doesn't.

It's strange how much detail the flash washes out.

See that little shrimp poking up on the left side towards the back?  :)

My mom's potato soup recipe is the best!

This shot was taken with the setting I've been using for the sunsets recently.

At first I thought the distortion might be because of how close I was to the subject,

but now I'm thinking those gorgeous colors I've been capturing might not be exactly right.

Rats! 

Happy Leap Year Day to you all!

February 28, 2020

I wasn't going to post any more sunset photos for a while - 

really! - 

but these blue clouds along the horizon tonight were so striking.

But to make up for it, here's a pic of the crescent moon tonight.

It was so tiny in the photo yesterday you could hardly see it.

February 27, 2020

Another beautiful sunset, 

this time with a bright crescent moon included.

click on image to enlarge - 

the moon is at the top of the tree line on the left

February 26, 2020

It was so foggy this morning!

February 25, 2020

My cousin sent me two of these tall hot cocoa mugs

and Jed and I are loving them!

February 24, 2020

Took a walk with my next door neighbor this evening.

I only had my phone camera with me,

which was a shame because the sky was such a pretty color.

February 23, 2020

I was able to contact the letterboxer who planted the boxes Rhonda and I looked for on January 19.
We had a lovely conversation -

letterboxers are such nice people!

- and she gave me a little bit of a hint.

I wasn't convinced it would help that much, but it worked!

For 2 out of the 6 boxes we looked for, at least.

It's been over 3 years since I found a letterbox.

It's been way more years than that since I had a letterboxing buddy.

I'm so glad Rhonda was willing to give this another try, 

even though we haven't had much success so far.

She didn't even bring her camera with her today,

so she could concentrate on the clues we were trying to decipher.

And we saw herons on the river!

Rhonda, if you see this, thanks for being such a good sport!  :)

February 22, 2020

There was a pretty sunset last night, and I went outside to take pictures.

Looking at the screen on the back of the camera,

I was once again frustrated that the beautiful colors were not showing up,

so I did something really brave....

(for me)

I played with the settings on my camera.

I've tried reading my owner's manual, several times - highlighter in hand, ready to tackle it.

I've never managed to get even halfway through it without feeling like crying,

because it's so complicated and I feel so hopeless in figuring it out.

I was born too early to feel comfortable figuring out how to operate an electronic device

by just playing with it.  :)

But I tried - I tried! - just this once to play, and it really paid off!

I got these two shots with beautiful color in them!

The problem was, I wasn't keeping track of how many pictures I was taking with each setting,

so I had no idea which setting produced these shots.

By the time I had realized this problem, it was too dark to try again last night.

So tonight I went out again at sunset,

a little earlier this time than last night, so there wasn't as much color yet,

but I was cooking and had to work around food on the stove and in the oven.

I took 2 pictures with each setting so I could match up each picture with the right setting.

When I was done, I looked through the pictures I took and when I came to this one,

it was one of the only two with any color in them.

I figured out which setting had produced it, switched the camera back to that setting,

and turned the camera sideways to take the same picture as last night.

And this is what I ended up with.

Argh!!!

I took four pictures sideways, and this is how they all turned out.

It did just occur to me that the angle in these pictures was lower,

as I was hoping to capture the reflection in the pond.

I can't imagine how that would cause such a huge difference, though.

Back to the drawing board.

February 21, 2020

It got down in the 20s after midnight last night, 

and there was some ice on our back deck as a result.

Not much to play in, but it's better than nothing.  :)

February 20, 2020

It snowed today!

I know it's pitiful to get excited about what can hardly even be called a dusting,

but it's the best we've got and I'm trying to be content.  :)