Sunday, August 16, 2009

Three


Sometimes I miss having a garden. In Milwaukee I had raspberry bushes, tomato plants, herbs. Since moving back into an apartment I haven't had either the space or a sunny window for growing things.

But now... now I have a balcony. A nice south-facing balcony that gets full sun all day. It wreaks havoc on my cooling bills in the summer, but boy is it nice. In the wintertime those big windows flood my room with light and sun. That in combination with being on the third floor and my heating bills are probably the lowest they've even been!

An added bonus is that my apartment looks out over a small meadow toward a little line of trees. When I sit out there in the morning I enjoy my coffee while watching deer grazing in the meadow and listening to the birds sing. It's as close to living in the country that I've ever been. Troy is right over the hill, but from looking out my balcony you'd never know it.

So since I moved here I've grown a few kitchen herbs on the porch, but nothing else. This year I decided to try a tomato plant. I bought something called a patio tomato - a hybrid that grows small and is bred for container growing. With our cool, rainy summer I've been anxiously awaiting fruit and despairing of having any. Well, as you can see I have fruit, even if they're still green.

So now I'm waiting anxiously for a fresh tomato salad!

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Two


Every weekend that it's nice I try to go out shooting. When I leave to do my errands I grab my camera bag. Sometimes I get lucky and find a field of sunflowers around a corner, sometimes I get shots before I even leave the house. That's what happened today. I was messing around with my 50 mm lens, trying to see how far I could push it using only natural light and I caught this nice, if slightly blurry shot of Pharaoh. Right after this he moved, so the moment was gone, but I liked his expression in this shot - almost like I'm trying his patience or something! :)

Even though I grabbed my gear when I left the house I didn't take anything while I was out. It was a hot day and I did something really stupid - I went to Walmart on a Saturday. With my low tolerance for crowds and crabby children it was all I could take for one day! So I wound up going right back home, even though I came across a few really nice scenes on the way. Tomorrow no shopping - and I promise my photo won't be a cat!

One


I take a lot of photos of my cats. In general they're pretty good sports about it - except when the flash is involved. Generally these are quickie shots with my little compact digital camera (like this one with my Kodak). When you live alone with 2 cats they become your most popular subjects - willing or not!

This one of Pharaoh shows his utter fascination with my printer. For some reason this cat is totally enthralled every time I turn the printer on. It's all I can do to keep him from reaching in and getting his paw caught in it. I don't know if it's the sound or the motion of the paper or what, but every time I sit here at the computer he's right there, peering into the printer... waiting... like a vulture.He reminds me of the old Peanuts cartoons where Snoopy would sit on the top of his doghouse pretending to be a vulture and STARE at Charlie Brown.

Ah Friday

I saw a movie tonight that inspired me to really write something here...

The movie Julie and Julia - the story about Julia Child and the woman who cooked her way through her book and blogged about it. It's a sweet, funny, touching movie and it showed me how something so simple as a blog can change your life.

My challenge is to take a photo every day, to post it here and write about it. I know that some days this is going to be hard, but this is going to be my challenge to myself - 365 photos, 365 days...

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Life...


It has a habit of intervening sometimes doesn't it? Work, customers, crafts, travel... so many things that fill our days (and often nights) that time for quiet reflection is at a premium. Even someone like me, who lives alone and has no family close by, can so easily become distracted. Short attention span? Perhaps - but I think it's more a set of priorities... when I have nothing to say I have nothing to write. And when I'm stressed I have no time to think of something clever or witty or pithy to say - so I remain silent.

Like tonight...

Sunday, July 12, 2009

On a Sunday evening

On a July evening that feels more like autumn that the height of summer I can't help but think of summer ending. Outside it's in the low 60's - inside the cats are curled and napping and it just feels like it should be time for apple picking and cider doughnuts.

I have no reflections today - maybe I'm too tired.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Has it already been a week?


Hard to believe - this one went by so fast! People my tender age probably say that a lot, but wow - tomorrow is Thursday again!

I'm not going to write much... swam 15 laps tonight and I'm really tired. Time for my milk and beddy-bye. I'll try to catch up tomorrow after my class....