Category Archives: Lifestyle

Flower Stories: First Peonies

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Peonies are synonymous with Dad in my family. My dad became enamored with peonies and soon we had every variety he could find. We visited peony farms and he got them through mail order. You can imagine my happiness when our new house had mature peonies already planted — and we also brought some from our old house that have traveled from Dad’s garden through several houses with me in the Chicagoland area.

What’s not to like about peonies? They are dependable and gorgeous — the perfect companion to May’s beautiful days. We always used to expect our peonies to open just before Memorial Day, and took armloads of them to decorate the family graves at the cemeteries. This crazy early spring, while welcome, is wreaking havoc on the normal plant cycles in our area.

Remembering that I just got a new camera and have mostly used the automatic settings, I tried to take a photo of the peony in my cobalt blue vase against the outside door. This one’s not bad, but there were lots of others that were. 🙂 I’m loving the challenge of creating a new artistic expression in my life.

I’m also loving that my husband came home from the store with a bouquet of white roses and alstroemeria, our wedding flower. Insert double smiley face here. 🙂 🙂

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Saturday Linky Love

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I’m pretty excited that my niece, known out there in the blogging world as Vanderbilt Wife, is the new moderator of a Saturday link-up. I’m proud of her and of the success she has had as a writer, so I’ll be supporting her efforts on Saturdays.

If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, my goal is to connect you with some bloggers and writers that you might have missed, and will share stories that I think are worth reading.

  1. For the word-lovers and haters among you, this post from The New Yorker discusses words that should be eliminated from the English language. Of course it’s witty and beautifully written; it’s The New Yorker! There’s also a warm tribute to Adam Yauch from the Beastie Boys here that is quite touching.
  2. I ran into Tracy at iOS Affairs this week when she visited my blog. I was entranced by her concept, All Apple, All Apps, All the Time. There’s a lot to be learned from Tracy (and a lot of time you might waste playing with her recommendations!).
  3. Although I’ve been teaching English for fifteen years, I used to be a music teacher. I really enjoyed this look at student motivation and what we can learn from it in our classrooms.
  4. If you’re not up on your Australasia news, you might not know that there is a Marmite crisis going on. Apparently a factory that makes Marmite was damaged in an earthquake and it’s big news that for the moment, stores are on their last jars of Marmite. The blogger made it REAL with her photograph.
  5. I was really excited when I found that my friend Tricia has launched mini-meal planning at Once a Month Mom. With just two of us in our empty nest, the once a month bulk cooking isn’t really necessary, but I can make a recipe and freeze it in smaller units that we revisit twice in a month. Another thing I can try when I retire!
  6. Finally, whenever I have a chance, I encourage people to visit my friend Michelle. Her gentle way of looking at the world of reading  at The Great Read never ceases to inspire me.

As always, I welcome your feedback. Who do you think we should have read this week?

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Flower Stories: Daffodils and Pansies

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I started out with this photo — at first it seemed that the camera just couldn’t handle the contrast in the automatic setting and I lost definition in the daffodil trumpets.

Then I applied the HDR-ish setting and pulled out all the details in the petals and leaves, but I lost the intensity of the colors.

Now I’m not so sure that I don’t like the original photo better. What do you think?

Flower Stories: Bleeding Heart

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Dicentra (bleeding-heart; Greek dís “twice”, kéntron “spur”) has attractive mounded foliage with arching stems of delicate, heart-shaped flowers in spring. It’s a woodland perennial that is happiest in moist soil along with ferns and other shade-lovers.

When I took this photo at the nursery, I was so overwhelmed by the beauty of this branch of bleeding heart that I didn’t see the ugly yellow poles in the background. I started by using the vignette effect to draw attention away from the poles.

Then I tried to draw more attention to the pink flowers by using the sharpen effect along with the vignette effect.

Finally, I decided to try it in black and white with some sharpening. It gets rid of the pesky yellow poles. It also gets rid of my favorite hot pink… insert sad face here.

So what do you think? What advice do you have for a novice photographer? I welcome your critique, but please be nice. 🙂

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Flower Stories: Columbine

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The genus name for columbine (Aquilegia) is derived from the Latin word aquila, because of the columbine flower’s resemblance to an eagle’s claw. The common name, columbine, comes from the flower’s resemblance to a cluster of five doves; columba means dove in Latin. It is a woodland plant that prefers moist roots and some shade, but  is hardy even in poor soil and sun. The columbine thrives in northern climates in the United States.

I don’t see either a dove or an eagle’s claw, but I love to see the columbine in the spring. This photo was taken at a local nursery and enhanced with the Lomo-ish effect on Picasa.

Playing with Instagram

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I loved how the focus feature in Instagram allowed me to accentuate the fiery colors and interesting textures of this scarf while de-emphasizing the subject’s shoulders.

That being said about Instagram, I’m off with a borrowed Canon 75-300 to play with my new Rebel DSLR. The neighbors across the street are having a garage sale. I’ll bet there will be someone or something interesting to catch with a telephoto!