Another ornament made by me a long time ago. But I’m OK now. I know that I’m in a much better place and have an awful lot to be thankful for.
Everyone, have a very Merry Christmas, or whatever you may celebrate, and a joyous New Year. I’m taking next week off, but I’ll be back on Jan. 3. See you then!
I took this on a freezing-cold day last week right after a very wet snowfall. I can’t believe snow can cling to such glossy leaves. Don’t you just love holly?
M&m cookies for you! It’s the least I could do, after killin’ your holiday buzz with my tales of Christmas woe. 🙂
There are so many cookie shots on flickr, I thought I’d give it a try. When I viewed the images on my computer, I was surprised to see pink lights on the Christmas tree, since we don’t have any. I then looked at the tree and saw sunlight bouncing off the red umbrella on our deck outside. I’m kinda’ likin’ that mauvish color.
If you want the recipe for the cookies, click here. I followed suggestions from reviewers and used a cup of butter instead of shortening. And 1/2 tsp. of salt, not a full teaspoon. Apologies to my readers overseas–I don’t have time to convert to metric measurements.
Has anyone else noticed that you can alter the direction of the “snowflakes” falling on the screen by moving your mouse? Or is that just on my end?
Another shot of my “candy cane” tulips. It’s hard to believe they were almost red and white when I bought them. Each day they got more and more pale, and finally ended up looking like cotton candy.
The vase of tulips sat on our dining room table, so while we were eating lunch, I noticed some lovely light hitting the flowers and could hardly wait to photograph them. A year ago I might have let the moment pass. Now I seize it whenever I can. The next day, nearly all the petals had dropped.
Hope everyone’s holiday preparation are going well. All I have left is some gift-wrapping and then cooking. I’m planning to take next week off, as I need a break from the computer. I’ll still be taking pictures, but not blogging.
Here’s a closeup of one of the tulips. The focus is not perfect, but I like it:
I wanted to shoot something Christmasy, so decided to look through my old box of ornaments. I found these, a pair of mittens I embroidered years ago when my oldest son was two. One of the mittens has our old family name and the year I made them on the back.
Since the divorce four years ago, I haven’t known what to do with them. I put too much time and love into these to discard, but I can’t hang them on the tree either. Maybe my sons will want them when they’re married.
The books on surviving a divorce don’t tell you what to do with personal keepsakes like this. Such a small thing, like a paper cut. But we all know about paper cuts: the pain is disporportionately sharp and long-lasting.
I’m happily remarried now, and I’m content to watch my stepdaughters put up their family ornaments.
Maybe next year I won’t get a paper cut when I look through the box of Christmases past.
We had our first snow yesterday. Only and inch or so, but enough to cover the ground. I had to get groceries, and found some lovely tulips at Whole Foods. They were surprisingly cheap and looked like candy canes before they opened.
The background is snow on our azalea bushes. The “falling snow” is courtesy of WordPress. I’ll just use it occasionally, as it might look kind of strange on my other photos. Hmmm, wonder if it’s on all the other posts right now? No matter–it’s only available until Jan. 4.
I am really starting to enjoy indoor photography, much to my surprise. Good thing, because it’s been in the 20’s all week.
Great weekend, everyone!
I don’t know about you all, but I need a shot of orange to brighten these cold, colorless winter days. It’s also too cold to shoot anything outdoors, so I’m offering up an image from October when things were warmer.
This is the Spanish Ballroom at Glen Echo Park in Maryland. You can see more photos of the park here. I love this 1930’s Mediterranean-style Art Deco building. It was decorated for a party later that day, hence the Chinese lanterns. There’s just something so cheering about the color orange.
I love this handpainted Coca-Cola ornament. It’s not an expensive Christopher Radko, but nice just the same. We don’t have a tree up yet, so I affixed it to a garland on the mantel.
I shot this with my “good” camera first, but wasn’t thrilled, so tried the iPhone. The photo is grainy, but I like the effect. It kind of goes along with the vintage handpainted look, don’t you think?
I call this one “Ornament,” because the leaf is hanging from pine boughs and the bokeh looks a bit like Christmas lights.
Happy Monday, everyone. Good weekend?
This image of Christmas balls presented a bit of a challenge. The sunlight coming through the French doors was too strong, so I remembered a tip I once read about putting gauzy fabric over the window. I have a linen panel I need to sew for the powder room, so I grabbed that. Unfortunately, there was no way to keep it up, so I hunted for my favorite tool, duct tape.
No duct tape, so I tried packaging tape. Which is basically giant Scotch tape. Do you know how long that will keep a linen panel on a French door? About enough time to take two shots. So I shot a couple, retaped, shot again. Oh, my little Maltese decided to crawl into my lap while I was shooting too. He was not happy that I had to keep getting up.
There’s another challenge in shooting glass balls. They reflect really well. I saw myself in all the shiny ones, so had to rearrange them so I wasn’t reflected. You can still see me in one of them, but I’m not going to fret over it.
Hey, no one ever told me photography was easy. 🙂
Pearls & Prose 