I’m back again with a bunch of totally disconnected bits and pieces that piqued my interest this week. I hope you have as much fun as I did!
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Today I’m going to talk about a book and about a family story. The book made a real impact on me, and it cleared the way for me to memorialize a family story without keeping the artifact. That’s what this book is all about.
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We’ve been really busy around here with holiday decorating, entertaining, and house guests. All that exciting activity meant that I didn’t have a whole lot of time for blogging, but I have a few photos to share as we go careening into 2015.
We enjoyed a traditional British Christmas pudding.
A few weeks ago I wandered around some stores looking for subjects to use for shots of multiples with depth of field. My new camera does this fabulously. Here’s one of them that I took at Pier 1.
I ran across the tutorial on Facebook and it’s really a good one. I’ve always loved the look of the glass flowers I see at markets and in other people’s gardens.
Click into photo for tutorial and image credit
The article from Flea Market Gardening makes it seem pretty easy to make garden ornaments out of old dishes. I’ve never done this since I never met a dish I didn’t want to put on my table, but this tutorial makes me hopeful. Enjoy!
When I’m traveling in my car, I usually choose light cozy books in which I’m unlikely to be shocked by overt sex and graphic language, since one can hear my speakers outside of my car if I’m at an intersection or in a parking lot. That was one of the reasons I chose The Merlot Murders by Ellen Crosby; it looked interesting but also safe. I was also intrigued by the idea of a book based in Virginia’s wine country, rather than California or France. My choice did not disappoint; it’s an easy murder mystery with enough intrigue and surprise built into the plot to keep me guessing. The book is the first of a series about Lucie Montgomery and her family’s winery, and I was encouraged enough by the first book to go on to the second. The Chardonnay Charade was just what I expected — another cozy murder mystery with a little romantic spice built into the story. Thank goodness my library has the books so I don’t have to keep buying them; I just put holds on the other four titles and will enjoy spinning through them over the next few weeks. Continue reading
For our last summer hurrah, many of you spend Labor Day weekend at the seashore. Here in the Midwest, we call it going to the lake house.
You might find a few shells on our inland shores, but for this tablescape, I used my son’s collection of shells that I found in the garage with some of his other treasures. He’s thirty-six years old; I think it’s time that I considered that collection mine to use! Continue reading
It’s that time of year — time for a little R&R and a focus on some personal goals.
One of my goals is to learn to use photo apps more effectively, and this photo demonstrates my first attempt at using my iPad to directly edit and watermark a photo.
I’ll be doing a few book reviews and probably posting some new photos, but I need a little break from tablescaping and researching vintage finds. Stay with me — I’ll be back!
Vintage pieces are everywhere and are the perfect backdrop for interesting blogging and photostyling.
This display was taken at Lucky Junk with my cell phone. Interesting blog photos are everywhere!
While I’m still learning about photography and photostyling, I’ve figured out a few pointers that might help people who are starting out in blogging. I’m not a professional photographer, but the difference between my old and new photos is noticeable. Continue reading
How does your basil grow this summer? Mine’s pretty much gone to seed and I’m not very good about watering it. Although I like to garden and I love the flowers and fresh produce, I don’t have much patience for the constant caretaking. I know, I’m a bad gardener.
Earlier this summer when it was raining every day, I took advantage of my basil bumper crop and whipped up a bunch of fresh basil pesto. Fast forward a month or so and it’s almost gone, but I had some kale that needed to be used. (Isn’t there always kale left over in the fridge?) I added more olive oil, four more cloves of garlic, some lime juice and the limpish kale and threw it all into the food processor. Voila! A new pesto was born. Continue reading
