While browsing in an antiques emporium recently, I felt like fall was really upon us. The lighting in the displays made everything glow with a kind of autumn patina. . . .
Hope you’re all having a good week so far. . . .
{carole}
Antique Autumn
Posted in photography
Tagged antique silverware, basket of gourds, candles, candlesticks, corn, gold pumpkin, hand sculpture, lamp, quilt, vintage fan
13 Comments
Bundles of Cookies
There’s a cookie store in Bethesda, Maryland, called “bundles of cookies,” and they have the most amazing hand-decorated cookies. You can get them decorated for just about any theme or holiday with just two days’ notice. I haven’t tasted them, but they look delicious.
The person working the counter graciously allowed me to photograph one of the displays. As you can see, the themes are summertime and back-to-school. I’m uploading a large version of this so you can check out the fantastic details.
Happy Labor Day to everyone in the U.S., and happy Monday to everyone else. 🙂
{carole}
Some salad love
I am going to miss eating salads. I wish I liked them in cold weather, but I just don’t. So I’m filling up on stuff like this until the temps starts to fall….
Cucumbers and onions go so well with tomatoes and dill, don’t you think?
How about red and green lettuce with dried cranberries and walnuts?
Maybe add some green onions and crumbled Gorgonzola….
The other night I tossed together some strawberries, mangoes, coconut, pecans and golden raisins. A slight coating of orange blossom honey made it a light and refreshing fruit salad. Or dessert, if you’re watching calories.
Great weekend, everyone! Monday is a holiday in the U.S. (Labor Day) but I’ll post a photo.
{carole}
Posted in cooking, photography
Tagged cucumber salad, dried cranberries, fruit salad, Gorgonzola cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, walnuts
11 Comments
Crossing to the Dark Side
Yes, I’ve done it. I’ve gone to the Dark Side. Bought one of those Kindle things. Now I feel strangely guilty, like I’ve betrayed my precious books. I love books. I love their deckled edges, their beautiful dust jackets and the way they feel in my hands. Somehow an electronic device doesn’t quite deliver. It’s like the difference between watching a movie on the big screen and watching it on an iPhone. Same content, different experience.
How can this
compare to this?
I’ll admit I’m a sucker for beautiful cover art. It really draws me in. But if the first sentence or paragraph is poorly written, I’ll put the book back. No wonder agents tell potential novelists to make that first sentence sing.
Back to the Kindle. Yes, the convenience is wonderful. Instead of lugging one or more books on the plane, I can take this slim device that weighs less than a hardcover. I can put THIRTY-FIVE HUNDRED books on it if I wish. Think about that for a minute. Three thousand, five hundred. Do you really want your entire library on something that can get broken or stolen? Then where are you? I already break into a sweat when I can’t find my iPhone.
Yet another wonderful feature is how fast you can get the book you want. One click over at amazon.com and the book is on your Kindle in seconds. I can’t drive to the library that fast.
Did you know there’s a site called gutenberg.org where you can upload the classics to your Kindle for free? I already have a few on mine. Maybe if I’m stuck on a plane for several hours I’ll finally read Moby Dick. Or not. I’ve read just about all the classics, but keep avoiding that one.
I do like the little built-in light that came with the cover I purchased. It runs off the Kindle’s battery and lights up the page nicely without disturbing a slumbering spouse. 🙂
An interesting feature for me is the indicator at the bottom of the screen that tells you what percentage of the book you’ve read. Since there are no page numbers, you pretty much have to look at it to know if you’re close to the end. For some reason, I’ve found myself reading more to get the percentage number to go up faster. I’ve never felt competitive while reading before. What is up with that?
Maybe after a few months I’ll be hooked on the Kindle and won’t want to hold a book in my hands again. But for now, I still heart the real thing….
{carole}
After the Hurricane
Well, we were lucky. Hurricane Irene was downgraded to a tropical storm, and the only damage we experienced was a lot of leaves on the deck. No uprooted trees, flooding or power outages. The lights flickered twice, but came back on. We were prepared–bought canned food we could heat up on the gas burners and made sure the flashlights were working.
For me, this photo kind of embodies how we fared in the hurricane. A Japanese anemone that survived, but got a few petals pinned back by the wind and rain. Something easy to fix.
See you on Wednesday!
{carole}
Fading Summer
Signs of fall are starting to appear. The dogwood leaves are changing color, and there’s a difference in the air as the days grow shorter….
Remnants of a lacecap hydrangea
I’m not sure if my fuchsia plant will ever forgive me for putting it on the deck during the hottest July ever….
It’s almost as if this little ballerina is waving goodbye to summer. As for me, I’m ready for cooler nights, apple cider and sweaters. How about you?
Great weekend, everyone…I’m hoping Hurricane Irene is not as bad as forecasters are predicting.
{carole}
Earthquake in the D.C. area?
Seriously? If we hadn’t had one last year, I would have never believed it. I’m just glad I lived in Southern Cal for ten years, so I at least knew to stand under a doorway.
Was minding my own business, when I heard a really loud thud, like a huge pile of concrete had been dropped from high above. Then another one. I looked at my stepdaughter and said, “What the…? I think we’re having an earthquake!” Lots of shaking and rattling and photos falling off the shelves. I ran for the nearest doorway and stood under it; my stepdaughter got under the desk, then came over to the doorway. I remember thinking, “This is a long-lasting one.” They said on the news it was only 26 seconds, but it felt longer.
My first earthquake was so much worse. I was staying with my sister in the L.A. area in 1992 and it was my last day there. I was sound asleep and dreaming I was on a ship in a stormy sea. I woke up a little and thought I was still dreaming because the bed was actually rolling, just like the ship. Then I was fully awake and realized the whole room was rolling. But the sound of waves splashing against the ship was real. Turns out, water was splashing out of the swmimming pool and hitting the French doors in my room. This pool was not close to the house either.
My sister called down from their room and asked if I was OK. I said, “Yes…is this what I think it is?” I later joked that they were trying to give me the full California experience on my last day there. My biggest concern was getting back home that day. When I asked my sister and brother-in-law if the airport would be closed, they laughed. Earthquakes are so commonplace out there, nothing stops, unless it’s a really big one like the San Francisco quake in 1989. The one I experienced, the Landers quake, was a 7.3. The D.C. temblor was a 5.9.
Fortunately, there was very little damage in the D.C. area, and no serious injuries. The National Cathedral has a few cracks and a couple of finials tumbled to the ground. According to one expert, the D.C. quake was less serious because “our rocks are older, colder and harder.” Good thing, because buildings on the East Coast have not been retrofitted for earthquakes.
Someone with a sense of humor posted this photo of the “devastation in the D.C. area”:
Photo by jmckinley via Posterous.com
On another front, some good news: another one of my photos was selected to appear on a travel website called schmap.com. It’s one I shot with my iPhone while at the Bazaar del Mundo in Old Town San Diego….
Stay safe, everyone….
{carole}
Posted in photography, writing
Tagged Bazaar del Mundo, D.C. earthquake, lawn chairs, Old Town San Diego
16 Comments
Unexpected Whimsy
Ever find yourself standing in line waiting for your food, when suddenly you look at nearby tables and see something like this?
I didn’t think so. For a minute, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. This was a burger joint, where you expect formica tabletops or worse. I thought it was fake mosaic at first, but it was the real thing. Since the place was mostly empty, I was able to shoot five more tables in addition to the Twinkies above….
Levis jeans
Woodstock
This one took me a minute to figure out. It’s the logo for MTV.
The Rolling Stones
NestlĂ©’s Quik
I do love finding touches of whimsy in unexpected places. Glad I had the iPhone with me.
Hope your weekend was memorable….
{carole}
Posted in photography
Tagged Levis, mosaic tables, MTV, Nestles Quik, Rolling Stones, Twinkies, Woodstock
22 Comments
Lemons ‘n’ blueberries
Once in a while, I’ll set up a still life and photograph it. But mostly I shoot what I find while doing something else, like walking the dog, or eating in a restaurant (a good reason to have a camera with you).
My husband and I were eating at a local diner last month, and I asked for extra lemon for my water. They brought it in this:
I really liked the juxtaposition of the yellow with the black-and-white checkerboard, and the light was hitting the lemon slices just right. This was shot with my iPhone.
Then one morning, I put some blueberries in a bowl for breakfast, grabbed a linen dishtowel to wipe the bowl and thought it might look nice as a backdrop. Light was streaming in from the kitchen windows, creating tiny bokeh on the berries….
I added a bit of texture just for fun.
This quote kind of sums it for me….
“In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary.” ~Aaron Rose
Great weekend, everyone!
{carole}
Posted in photography
Tagged black-and-white checkered bowl, blueberries, bokeh, iPhone, Italian dishtowel, lemon slices, texture
6 Comments
Three Shades of Crape Myrtle
I had never seen Crape Myrtle before I moved to the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. Now I love it, but only in the Southeast. It grows in California, but looks out of place there. Not sure why. Probably the same reason palm trees look silly in the D.C. area. Plants need to suit their surroundings, don’t you think?
Anyway, here are three different shades:
Pink, my personal favorite. Deliberately overexposed for a high-key look.
Purple. This one is starting to fade, but you can still see the lovely color.
And white, which is starting to grow on me. Not literally, of course. It also comes in red, but I haven’t seen one in the area.
Crape myrtle, or Lagerstroemia, is part of the Loosestrife family, and was originally spelled “Crepe myrtle,” because of the crepe-like blooms. According to Wikipedia, it was “named after the Swedish merchant Magnus von Lagerström, who supplied Carolus Linnaeus with plants he collected.” Linnaeus being the famous Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist.
Hope your week’s going well so far….
{carole}
Pearls & Prose 