more pics

Playing with Macro shots

May 23... Selective Color

Click the pictures to get a larger view!

May 22 (part 2)

More pictures with the new camera.  :)

May 22

It's been a little while since I updated my blog here.  Creative ideas were coming to me, but I wasn't acting on them.  Not that the inspiration was gone, no... just maybe the motivation was lacking.

Well, today I feel the motivation is back.  My husband bought me a new camera for my birthday and I am simply beside myself with joy!  It is a Nikon Coolpix P510.  Mine is like this only in black:

So out of the box, I tested it.  It came with a battery already charged so I could just put in a SD card and go.  Luckily, the local birds were in a friendly mood and one of our house sparrows decided to pose for me!!

I took that shot from about 15 feet away.  He's definitely a cutie!

So yeah, with the motivation back, you can expect more pictures from me!

Huntsville Cemetery, Huntsville PA 4/14/12

I have a fascination with cemeteries.  Not just any kind of cemetery though... I love the old ones, the ones without a lot of shiny new headstones.  I love the ones the look slightly worn and forgotten.

There is a small cemetery in Huntsville, PA.  It's possibly as large as a baseball field, but I think that would be pushing it a bit.  Anyway, when you drive in, the older part of the cemetery is to the right.  You can see the old-fashioned headstones, all thin and crooked.  There are more there, some broken, some toppled and starting to be overrun with grass.  All are definitely worth the look.

Violet Vinegar

My mom -Elderberry- and I decided to try our hand at Violet Vinegar. :)

1. Collect Violets

Collecting violets is a lot more fun when collecting with a friend. :)

 2.  Gather your items. 

Here I have the violets I collected & washed.  I am also using 

white wine vinegar and there is the glass jar.  I know there is

a no-no with vinegar and metal like the lid, but the vinegar won't come 

in contact with the metal in this project.

3.  Violets go in the jar :)

 Really, how gorgeous are they!!

I love the color!

4.  Fill jar with vinegar or at least until covering all the violets.

5.  Now this pretty concoction will go sit on my windowsill for two weeks.

I will post pictures as it progresses!!

:)

New items

All of these can be found on etsy

Cherish Necklace

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Found Key Pendant

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Love Key Necklace

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Open Pendant

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Washer Bracelet

Experiment: Cheesemaking!

My mom got instructions to make homemade mozzarella cheese.  She tested the recipe out, then I came over to make my own cheese.  Fun Stuff!

1 gallon of milk heating after citric acid and rennet were added.

Slowly waiting for curds to happen.

Curds and whey!

Separating the curds from they whey.

Big old lump of curds.

Stretching the cheese after salt's been added.

Still stretching.

Mozzarella balls cooling in ice water.

At the end, after the cheese balls were done cooling, I packed them up in zip-lock bags with a touch of olive oil and a few herbs (oregano, basil, garlic salt).

Final result?  YUMMY!