Halloween treats for adults

I thought I would share some of the food treats from our Halloween festivities.  These photos are from my 7 year old Sony P&S and my iPhone.  I hurt my wrist the other day and the DSLR was a bit to heavy to use today, but I didn't want to miss sharing the fun.

StarryNews made this veggie skeleton, which had dip and broccoli for the head, apparently I jumped the gun with the photo here.  Really, I wanted to catch all the creative food before we ate it all!

Here the pizza cheese was dual color, like candy corn.  The mini-dogs were wrapped and called "monster toes", but I also thought they looked like little mummies.

My contribution this week was pumpkin pie pudding.  Not nearly as creative as the first few, but delicious.  I used gluten-free cake mix on top (to meet some dietary needs of our group) and I really liked the texture better than with the regular mix.  Also, I don't use the entire box, just enough to have an even covering over the pudding and then drizzle on the butter.  I recommend it!

And to top the evening off, Carmel-Apple Cider-Vanilla-and Brandy drinks!

These were served in double shot glasses which made them adorable.  A good time and great food was had by all.  Happy Halloween!

M.E.

A seasonal project

I have decided to take a picture at the same location one time each season, then

I will frame them together.  Here are summer and autumn, so far in my series.

Okay, so apparently I didn't stand in exactly the same place both times, but you can still see the comparison.  I will take several during the next two seasons and try to find the happy medium of these locations.  (or I'll just post-edit a little more to line them up!)

M.E.

Playing with Bokeh!

After storms and wind Tuesday, today was another fantastic day outside, so I went out to the park to play.  As I was finishing up, 3 more folks with cameras, tripods and the like were headed in.  See, we understand that some time in February we're going to pay dearly for this 70+ degrees and sun in October...we'd better enjoy it now!

Here's a self portrait of sorts.

Over at Katie Lloyd Photography blog, she was kind enough to provide some ideas about how to get some good bokeh and then use it with overlays.  Well, I'm still pretty new at this whole photography business, so I thought I'd start with intentionally looking for the light sources and get base shots.  I don't have a software program on my Mac that will do overlay yet, so I may have to resort to the PC netbook to complete the second portion of the tutorial.

Picture 1: what you see in nature
Picture 2: bokeh

I may use some of these as background for Christmas cards.  I will need another image to overlay or perhaps I can use some punchs or die cut designs to make a 3D overlay.

These are all SOOC, as I am trying to see what playing with the manual settings does to the photos.

I had so much fun playing with the light and nature this afternoon.  I have lived here more than 11 years and just found this adorable little park this summer.  I credit getting my camera for that - it's made me seek out new locations to test out color, light, and shutter speed.  Also, I am going to take the same photo in all four seasons.  I'll share that later in the week.

M.E.

Monday, Monday

After a few days off, I was not particularly looking forward to Monday.  I don't know too many folks that do.  This morning however, was a pleasant surprise.  I went out before sunrise and realized it was warm.  Not just "not cold" that you get in October in the midwest, it was warm and balmy.  The skies were cloudy, as we should have gotten some rain, but instead we just had a lovely day.

I've seen the forecast for tomorrow, so I know we will not be getting a repeat.  But for today and its surprisingly good Monday, I am grateful.

M.E.

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

Ashley, over at Ramblings and Photos, hosts Scavenger Hunt Sunday.  This is when you look for 5 items through the week and take photos to show your interpretation of the items.  In the past I have not been good at getting all 5 things, so this week I made sure to find all five.  Here are my versions:

1. The 5 senses: I went with a Reese peanut butter cup.  The chocolate smell, the taste and feel of the combo of chocolate and peanut butter, the pretty design and packaging for each one, and of course the sound of happiness when eating it!

 

2. Child/Children:  This is my friend NickyNat and her brand new LittleMan.  And I mean brand new, this photo was taken in the hospital.  Doesn't she look good for giving birth and no sleep for a couple days?!  How cute is this Little Man? I just wanna squish him!

3.  Dining: These two photos are from the meal StarryNews made us this week for football watching.  Here I mention my love for college football.  She picks a different theme each week and blesses us with delicious meals of all kinds.  Today was scrambled eggs in hashbrown baskets (with assorted toppings if you like) and this veggie combo. Fabulous!

 

4.  Night:  Here is the moon rising just as dusk was ending and night was beginning.

 

5.  Sky:  We had a week of blue sky and white fluffy clouds.  They are so fun to look at and sometimes hard to believe they are real.  I caught this one while looking for autumn colors.

 I hope you enjoyed my scavenger hunt!

M.E.

A little reminder

Last Sunday night I was working really late.  I walked out of the building and noticed the pink reminder on the glowing tower nearby.  Every October and for a week in May during the Komen Race for the Cure, this building lights up in hot pink.  Their little reminder that we are still searching for a cure for breast cancer. 

I'm sending out positive vibes to those folks looking for cures of all kinds.  Keep up the fight.

M.E.

Accenting the autumn colors

As I went along the river the other morning, the sun had come up just enough to shine on the beautiful colors of the trees on the west bank.  I also love that under the fog you can start to see the reflection in the water.

Here one man is enjoying a quiet morning on the river.  I think he was actually startled to see me along the riverbanks.  There are probably only die-hard runners and folks in the water normally at that time of the morning. 

Linking to You Capture Photo Challenge - Orange  

This may be the last good weekend for autumn color.  

I'll see if I can catch anything else along my travels!

M.E.

Nature's artwork

In case you were looking for God in your world, this is where I found him this morning.

I hope you have a wonderful and peaceful day.

Linking to Pastor's Girl's Ponderings, theme "On Cloud Nine."

Click to see more wonderful photos.

M.E.

Pumpkin patch memories

Growing up there was a small farm down the road that grew a little bit of everything, including pumpkins.  Year to year the types, sizes and quantity changed - which you would expect for a small family farm.  The man that lived there had this ridiculously old barn that stood standing, defying gravity for decades beyond when it should have fallen. 

The man and his brother ran the little farm (from what I can remember) and they loved when the children from the area would come and pick out their yearly favorite.  He barely charged any money for the piles of pumpkins we would load into the car.  I'm pretty sure that they didn't actually make any money off their produce sales over the summer and fall.  I think they just grew things year after year because that is the only life they knew and the people of the area loved to come buy their goods, regardless of the yield that year.

When I moved to the area I live now, I looked for a little farm like that for my pumpkins.  I don't have kids, but still wanted to support the idea.  I couldn't find any farms, but I did find that several churches have pumpkin patches on their front lawn about this time each year.  They too, vary in size with the yearly yield and the congregations' ability to staff a table all day long.  I found this "patch" the other day and it made my day.  It has been a very good year and they had a wonderful selection.

While I was there taking pictures, a cute little family came by and the three kids sorted through the masses, looking for exactly the right one.  They used the little Radio Flyer wagon the church provided to wheel their choices to the table and then to their car.  Before leaving, the mother took a few photos.  Now, since I know just how many family albums have tons of photos and no Mom to be seen (because she is always behind the camera), I offered to take some of her as well with their camera. She was thrilled!  It was a very sunny day, as you can tell by my shots, and she was beaming with her little ones.

This year's pumpkins are so beautiful.  I don't know what makes a good year or bad, but this selection of pumpkins were almost perfect - in all sizes.  There does not seem to be a shortage this year (like last), but if you do notice one, my friend Justin swears it's because his wife has stock piled it all in their pantry!

M.E.

Weekend Reflections

I love this photo, and it happened by chance.  You see one part of the wedding party on the left and the other in the reflection of the window.  Perfect.

For other lovely weekend reflections, visit James.

M.E.

Embracing Autumn

I'm doing my morning drive, in my semi-conscious state of just after sunrise, when I look over and see this.  Immediately I thought, I need to drive back this way at lunch and catch that scene.  Then remembering other perfect moments I've missed using that approach, I made a U-turn in the middle of rush hour (shhhh, don't tell!) and went back to snap a few photos.

Yep, in my black heels and dress pants I walked through the dewy grass and up to the fence line to catch the fields and farm.  I couldn't reach all the way down to the baby cows in the field.  After all, I was already pushing the flexibility of getting to my office on time!

I think this one is my favorite.  The hay rolls, the changing colors of the trees in the background, and the early morning sun.  There were really long shadows along the field made from the angle of the sun on the rolls.

Getting these shots first thing absolutely put me in a positive mindset for the rest of the day.  What a great way to start out.

These tree photos are in the later day sun.  Just as beautiful in their own way.

M.E.

One last stand

This is one lonely daisy that popped up in defiance of autumn.  These plants had two strong full blooms earlier in the growing season.  They have just been lovely green bushes through August and September.  Now that it's time for me to clean out the garden, this one flower is holding on for dear life!

I realized after I seeing it, that I was dragging a little when I thought about fall as well.  This summer had been such a good one (even with the hot dry months), that it seems hard to let go.  However, over the last couple of days, I have started getting into the autumn season.  More of those pictures in the next week or so!

For now, I will leave the flower garden alone and let this one bloom have its day!

M.E.

iPhone sunsets

The abnormally warm fall seems to be raising havoc with my allergies, so this will be a brief post.

It's a crazy busy time at work, so I don't get out as early as I would like.  This was my reward last week for getting stuck in early evening traffic.  I didn't have my Nikon, but couldn't resist taking a few shots with my iPhone camera - outdated as it may be at this point. :)

M.E.

Macro Monday - Beading

I have only owned a few formal gowns as an adult.  This is one of my favorites - silver silk with silver and clear beading.  It is a relatively simple design, but looks so beautiful on.

For more lovely macro photos, visit Lisa at Macro Monday.


M.E.

More Wedding Season

Now that the families have seen the photos, here are a few more shots of the fun had by all.

We had flower girls dancing!

 

Beautifully decorated and delicious cakes!

Both couples were actually in each others' wedding.  So I have lovely 

pictures of them in 2 kinds of formal wear.  Good planning! 

One of the weddings had perfect vanilla roses as part of the centerpieces.  I have yet to meet a rose I didn't want a macro photo of!  So here is yet another stunning bloom.

We had some father-daughter dancing.  Ohh...

And the occasional moment when things did not go as planned...here Music Man is trying to coax the ring on his finger!  I swear, every wedding has this moment, I think it's to make us laugh a little.

Photos with friends.

And coziness around the lodge fire.

Each wedding only had a small number of children present and they were

quite good.  However, one of the flower girls was quite ingenious, 

she "sold" her leftover flower petals to the guests and made $10!  Hilarious!!

Hope you enjoyed my memories and photos.

M.E.

Wedding Season

Autumn has become very trendy as a wedding season.  What's not to love?  It's not as hot, not as busy (for weddings), and comes with lovely color for outdoor events.

I was blessed enough to be invited to 2 exceptionally loving weddings in the past month.  I have loads of photos, so I will post a couple different days.

Today's themes are dresses and dancing!

This is StarryNews and her father in her made-to-order red gown.  Her sister helped with the design and the fabric was stunning.  Gold shoes under there too!

An evening shot of G and V in their dresses.  I am still working on manual settings for low light.  This is the only good shot I was able to get without using a tripod (which I didn't have with me).  I was very happy at how it turned out.  So lovely.

Both couples have been taking dancing lessons, so they have wonderful first dances.  Everyone was impressed and I'm pretty sure I have 40 pictures of that alone!  I'll just post a couple.

As you can see, both were outdoor/indoor venues.  Perfect!

One of my favorite parts of G and V's ceremony was the handfast.  What a wonderful historical piece to add to a modern wedding.  It was so touching.

More photos to come - once I share the rest with the newlyweds!

M.E.