67/365 Hobby

 "Flour Power"

It is funny to me how I chose to respond to today's prompt of "hobby."  For whatever reason, I don't think of any of the things that I like to do as "hobbies."  They are just things that I do.  For that reason, I had to really think about what I was going to photograph today.

The first thing that came to mind was knitting.  Of all of the activities that I do in my spare time, this is the most likely candidate to be considered as a hobby.  The sad truth is that I have not been knitting much lately.  I have been spending my time doing other things.  Many projects are still on the needles unfinished.  Perhaps I did not want to take pictures of anything knitting related because I am feeling a little guilty about not yet having finished Weber's vest that was supposed to be a Christmas gift - in 2012, not 2013.

I love reading poetry; I could have photographed the many shelves of poetry books we have, but that didn't strike my fancy today either.

With a day at home, I was looking forward to cooking a nice dinner tonight.  We had no commitments this evening so there was time to prepare and, more importantly, enjoy a nice meal together.  I decided to make some simple sugar cookies for dessert.  I love to bake things for everyday eating - bread, pizza crust, crackers and cookies.  I'm not much on the fancy cakes and so on.  I thoroughly enjoyed baking these cookies this afternoon.  So, baking became the hobby of the day.  Maybe I am just growing into my name;-)

Last Friday, in response to the photo prompt "resting" I posted pictures of the tightly closed buds on our irises.  A week later, many of them are now wide awake.  The sea of purple flowers lining the front hedge is beautiful.  I couldn't help but include a few pictures of them here today as well.

I wish flower gardening was a hobby I could claim.  Unfortunately, the ability to maintain and nurture outside flowers eludes me.  I do OK with certain vegetables.

The irises are a sign that spring is fast approaching.

66/365 In the Morning

I forgot to post this last night.  I'm not sure why my routine fell apart.  It may have had something to do with the awesome chocolate chip scone I had as an evening snack.  Brooke makes them and freezes them for me so that I can dole the scones out to myself as treats in between her visits.

"A Slice of Our Mornings"

After twenty years of packing lunches for the girls, my lunch packing days are over.  Weber makes our lunches every morning.  He is quicker at getting dressed and ready to go than I am and, admittedly, is also better at multi-tasking. Packing a lunch seems like such a simple thing, but having it done for me each day is such a great gift.

The above picture literally is a slice of our morning life.  In the framer are all of the usual things found on the kitchen counter in the morning.  Obviously, there is no set-up here.  Sometimes pictures need to have all the "stuff" in them to give them context, to put them in perspective and to make them real.  So here you can see not only the carrots that are being sliced, but also some of the cups for our lunch boxes, the apple that is next to be cut, an edge of the container of Cheerios that will top our morning yogurt and in the background, the blurred back end and wagging tail of Adidas, who is always ready to help in the kitchen because gravity just might work in his favor and something delicious might fall to the floor.  One important morning element that is not visible in this picture is the obligatory cups of coffee!  I think they are hidden by the Tupperware holding the Cheerios.

I need to remember that the snapshots of life are important.  Everything can't be "art."

Another important part of my personal morning routine is keeping "morning pages."  This is a practice advocated by Julia Cameron in her book The Artist's Way.  I worked through this book a few years ago and since then have added the discipline of morning pages to my daily routine.  They have proven to be extremely beneficial in helping me to connect with my innermost thoughts and to articulate and track my creative self - both its possibilities, improbabilities and realities.  

Therefore, I feel like I also ought to include the following photo for the prompt entitled, "in the morning."

"Morning Pages"

65/365 Full Speed Ahead

"Making Butter"

One of the things that we treat ourselves to is homemade butter.  Unlike many foods made at home, it is not cheaper to make butter than to buy it, but it sure tastes better.  Making the butter is one of Weber's self delegated chores.  So tonight he made butter and I took pictures.  

The mixer has to be on "full speed ahead" for the process of cream becoming butter to work.  I took lots of pictures of the whisk actually moving, but I did not really like the images.  Two things bothered me about them.  First of all, because we made the butter at ten o'clock at night, there was no natural light in the kitchen.  That made the exposure difficult.  Secondly, though the process of making butter is amazing to watch, the pictures do not do it justice.  It kind of looked like we were whisking already scrambled eggs.  Therefore, today's picture was taken only seconds after the whisk had been moving full speed ahead.

On a related note, we had a tornado drill at school this afternoon.  As we were heading to our "safe spot" (I say that with a great deal of sarcasm.) I passed our division secretary and said, "I'll see you in Oz."  She said, "Do you think that you could bring some homemade butter to Oz?  I don't mind going as long as I have some of your butter."

We are not in Oz, but I do have butter to take to her tomorrow.

64/365 Lucky

"Elephants and Family"

I am always amazed at the things I learn about myself when I am considering the daily photo prompts.  Today I realized that I don't ever think about luck or being lucky.  I don't have any tokens or trinkets that I think bring me luck.  I am not particularly superstitious.  I am not a risk taker.  All this made me realize that I was at a loss as to what to photograph today.  It also made me seriously think about luck and what being lucky means.

I finally decided that I don't really believe in luck.  I believe in synchronicity, which may be perceived as luck but really isn't.  And, I believe in being blessed.  The good fortune that I enjoy in my life comes by way of blessings, not luck.  These thoughts are not formed well enough to be coherent right now.  They may appear in a later post.

All that said, I still needed a photo.

These two elephants sit on a shelf above my desk.  Elephants, like rainbows and four leaf clover, are symbols of luck or good fortune.  I believe there is some debate about how lucky they are depending on whether their trunk is up or down.  Elephants are also a symbol of family.  My two elephants happen to be note or picture holders.  With a picture of the girls on one and our family Christmas picture on the other, I am reminded of how blessed I really am.

63/365 Two

"My Two Favorite Colors"

There is not much explanation or elaboration needed here.  Anyone who knows me or has visited our home knows that blue and orange rock my world.

I have been working on another photo project around the theme of "two."  The assignment was to create a diptych.  Various ideas have been bouncing around in my head for the past three weeks.  I finally set out this past weekend to do something about making the ideas into a reality.  I took the pictures for three possible diptychs, but I think I knew all along which one would be "the one."

On a beautiful Saturday afternoon, Weber and I were walking through a nearby park.  The park was filled with wrought iron benches - all of which were empty.  In fact, there were virtually no other people around.  It was kind of strange feeling.  Where were all of the people?  Why weren't they outside enjoying the spectacular day?

I started wondering if people fear being out in public.  Do they feel too vulnerable?  We all know too well how quickly lives can change and can end in an instant because of the actions of one person.  It is from these thoughts that I created the following.

"The Power of One"

I recognize that this is a little creepy or spooky, as one person described it.  I guess it is supposed to be. It is meant to illustrate how a single action of one person can leave a school, a park, a heart lifeless.

62/365 Upside Down

"0937 Upside Down"

There are some things that the iPhone just doesn't do as well as the good old red display TI calculators from the 70's!

61/365 Whimsical

"Words By Which To Live And Learn"

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!