First Harvest

It's not quite the middle of July yet and I am already harvesting from my garden. I've been getting my own zucchinis for three weeks, but this morning I was able to pick the first tomatoes - Celebrity, Early Girl and my favorite, Juliet. All are sweet and juicy - such a difference to the poor growing season we had last year.

When I stepped outside this morning to gather the paper, I saw a bunch of lavender lying at my front door - my beautiful neighbor from across the street has left them there. She has dozens of lavender plants in front of her house, and every year she gives me an armful of them - that's the kind of sweet person she is.

I had some fun taking photos this morning before breakfast. A great way to start the day.

I wish all of you a wonderful week - and eat your veggies!

Dark Mood

This year I've signed up for Kim Klassen's Be Still 52 and of course, I'm already a few weeks behind. But no worries - I love how Kim always tells us to do this class on our own pace, that it is more important to quiet down the noise and get still than to hasten and get all the shots in we want. That's my style!

In one of the lessons she introduced a new preset for Lightroom called kk_darkmood. She had a short video how to tweak the photo while using this preset. I liked what I saw and tried it myself on a few of my images.

What can I say? I love it. I'm pretty sure this is going to be one of my favorite presets. When I work with textures, I have my go-to textures, and I guess this will be a go-to preset.

This is my Friday Find for this week - I know it will stay with me.

All the images are processed with kk_darkmood.

Blue Bird

You probably know that I love birds. Beside the real birds in my garden I also have little terracotta birds sitting in the birdbaths or on a stake among the flowers.

This little guy is not very new - I found it a few weeks ago in a crafts store. Immediately when I saw it I knew that I had to take it home. It has such a sweet face, I simply couldn't resist.

It usually sits on my dining table right next to the blue mason jar or a vase of flowers - it depends on my mood and what I have. Perhaps it will move outside in the summer, sit in one of the birdbaths waiting for the birds to stop by for a drink.

Just this week I realized again how much I like this little guy. And I took some photos of it just for the fun. The following photo I "grunged" up a little bit with Kim's preset "kk_grunged".

I'm sharing my little blue bird with Kim's Friday Finds. Would you love to see more Friday Finds, usually presented with some beautiful photography? Just hop over for a list!

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The newest handmade bird card in my Etsy store

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Sunday Gratitude

As I had thought, this week passed by way faster that the week before. I was almost surprised how fast the weekend was here, time to reflect on gratitude.

It was another week of gorgeous sunsets when the sky was almost on fire. The photo above shows the best of them. After that the fog slowly settled in again.

I love the fog. It cools the region and brings some moisture when we're lacking rain. It's not much, but it certainly is better than nothing. It also prevents nights from being too frosty around this time. We can have some severe frost here which can do a lot of damage to all the citrus trees in the area. I love foggy mornings when you can't see the sun but there's a hint of it rising beyond the mist. The fog has a different color, the entire mood is different.

One day this week a woman in my exercise class brought in some oranges from her garden. She had so many that she generously gave them away. I took a few home, and after I had taken a few photos of them I ate the first one. I can't tell you how sweet and juicy they were. It was pure delight!

It was my birthday last week - I'm just grateful that I have birthdays in my life and I hope for many more in good health. I have seen too many friends leaving this earth way too early - there can never be too many candles on a cake! I was overwhelmed by all the good wishes I received - I have such wonderful friends! Otherwise it was a beautiful quiet day that gave me a lot of opportunity to read without feeling guilty. In the evening, one of my good friends and her family invited us over for a birthday dinner including cake and ice cream. Such a lovely evening!!! I thoroughly enjoyed it. Her entire family is delightful, her youngest daughter was a Girl Scout in my troop, she is the same age as Kaefer. They also just got a new dog, and it was great meeting her. I am such a dog person (animal person, really)! This is their old dog, Afton, who died a year ago.

I discovered a new visitor at my feeders - a Western Tanager. These birds don't come to my place very often and I was so happy to see one. They usually migrate in the winter to the South. This only shows how unusual this winter is.

Yesterday it rained a little bit again - every drop counts! It is so beautiful to see the green hills around us! I can't get enough of it. The magnolias are flowering - I just have to look out my window to see my neighbor's huge tree covered in pink and white flowers. It is breath taking. Sometimes when I go outside the air has a special fresh smell that it only seems to carry in very early spring - it smells of new life and anticipation. There is a slight almost unnoticeable mild breeze that I can feel - it often happens in January and then disappears again for several weeks.  It makes me long for spring although I hope winter stays around a bit longer and brings much much more rain. We still need it (I sound like an old broken record with my repetitive wish for rain).

What are you grateful for this past week?

Sunday Gratitude

This Sunday sneaked up on me... I simply wasn't ready for it. But here it is.

My gratitude list is full again. I feel blessed.

- As usual, and every single day, I am so grateful for my family. We had a bit of a rough week, mainly because Kaefer has been buried beneath homework. Only two more weeks until winter break, and it seems that the teachers have doubled the amount of homework. I simply don't get it. Still, there are always moments when we laugh and have fun together.
- There was time to watch old episodes of Downton Abbey, Kaefer's favorite TV show. She always watches the old episodes in anticipation of the start of the new season (January 4th!!!).

- Knitting - along with the cooler season I take out my knitting needles again. I knitted many doll's hats, scarves and leg warmers in the past weeks and am currently working on a pair of boot cuffs for a certain young girl (no, she doesn't read my blog). I love projects that are done fast, but I also got some patterns for more challenging projects in our local yarn store. I'm also looking for a good knitting book that is easy to understand - if you have any suggestions please tell me in the comments!
- Nature always calms me. I finally went back to the lake and it was THE highlight of this past week. This place holds a certain magic for me that works over and over again. It doesn't matter if the sun is not shining and the ground is sogging - the lake is pure heaven.

- I am so grateful for my friend Jo. We hadn't seen each other in quite a while since we both were very busy. But this week we finally managed to get together twice. We discovered a new breakfast place in town, spent time in the yarn store drooling over skeins of alpaca and mohair and went to a holiday craft fair. With her I also discover our town with new eyes, like this statue of Charlie Brown and Snoopy. I had never realized before that Snoopy actually carries a rose in his paw!

- The smell of freshly baked bread was waving through our home this week as well. Beside all the whole grain bread that we love I tried a recipe for a Moroccan country bread - it was yummy and went so well with the shrimp in lemon butter. I guess I will post the recipe some time in the coming week, so if you're interested in it watch out for it.
- Still life photography. I had never thought that I would enjoy this special kind of photography so much. Usually I'm the nature, landscape, tree and fence photographer, but this quiet photography is so different and fulfilling at the same time. I enjoy setting up a photo shoot, take several shots and then process them in Lightroom. Kim Klassen's online class "Start to Finish" has been a big helper in this development.

- And like every Sunday - don't forget the birds. They are an endless source of joy for me. I saw this little California Towhee during my walk around the lake and I was happy that he stayed on this bench for quite some while.

Now it's your turn - what are you grateful for?

Pears and Apples

preset "kk_touchavintage"

A few weeks ago, Kim posted a still life using a pear and some autumn leaves. It was an interesting combination, and then I saw them popping up on several sites. There were so many inspiring images that I decided to do my own with all what I've learned in Start to Finish so far.

This photo is the only one in this series that is in "real color" - no textures, no preset. Just the way it was.

I have to admit that I'm not a big lover of pears. Most times I find them too hard. Where are the pears of my childhood that were soft and the sweet juices would run down your arm when you took a bite into the fruit?

So I went to the grocery store's produce department and bought ONE pear. For the sole purpose of taking pictures of it. Kaefer ate it afterwards.

After applying Kim's preset "hazydazy" I used her texture "kk_wednesday", rotated it by 180°, removed most of the texture from the pear and then did a level adjustment of the texture only

However, photographing the pear was fun. Setting up one or two still lives as well. I had discovered this plate (and a matching bowl) a few days before in a clearance sale, and I was happy that I could use it for this shoot.

preset "kk_gentle"

While I don't like pears that much, I do like apples. I had some in the house and I picked three of them - the reddest ones - for another shot on the plate.

preset "kk_hazydazy"

I am linking to Kim's Texture Tuesday - it's always wonderful to see what other people do with textures. It is so inspiring!

Still Life with Poppy Seed Pods

Using "hazyhazy" preset and "kk_teatime" texture in multiply at 65%

I am currently taking Kim Klassen's Start to Finish class - on the one hand I learn more about Lightroom which I am getting quite addicted to, and on the other hand this class is about still life. I hadn't done any still life photography before, not really, and I've found that I like it.

One of the assignments was to create and photograph a still life with a paper bag. Many thoughts wandered through my head - filling a paper bag with grapes or tomatoes or any kind of fruit. But that didn't cut it for me. One day I remembered all the poppy seed pods I saved from my garden - and with that I suddenly knew what I wanted to do.

The "moody" one; preset "gentle", texture "kk_wednesday" in soft light at 68%

To my surprise I thoroughly enjoyed creating this still life. I easily spent a couple of hours with setting up, changing and photographing it. I tried different moods by using not only white but also blue and black backgrounds. I also changed my angle, got close ups and some shots of the entire setting with the intention to crop it later. It was fun, and I felt very contend and excited after I was finished.

When I processed the photos in Lightroom, I used some of Kim's presets and transferred some of the photos to Photoshop to layer them with a texture and add some texts, both of which are not possible in LR. Seriously, I felt like a kid in a candy store with all these new possibilities.

The black one; texture "kk_monday" in soft light at 100%

There is a ton I still have to learn, but it is a lot of fun at the same time. I already see some progress in my work.

Here's a shot from above:

preset "touchofvintage"

I am linking up to Kim's Friday Finds - this has quickly become one of my favorites.

Lavender

This is the first time that I am joining in Kim Klassen's Friday Finds. I have often thought about it - so what's holding me back?

These pictures are from earlier this summer, but I just found them again. My neighbor from across the street has so much lavender in her garden that she doesn't know what to do with it all. I told her that I love lavender no matter in what state it is. So she brought me a huge bunch - so much that I could fill several vases and container with it. The entire house was filled with lavender scent - just beautiful. I took these pictures when I was "sorting" the lavender, and I liked how it looked when it was lying on the table. I put this beautiful light that a friend of mine made out of a wine bottle, a coaster he brought from Hawaii and a big tea light next to the lavender and it immediately got this special mood - peaceful, calm, beautiful. No question - I had to take several photos.

While arranging the lavender I lost many parts of the tiny flowers, so I scooped them up and put them in an old bowl where they still spread their irresistible fragrance.

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There are new mini journals available in my Etsy shop.

I have been busy making these.

Texture Tuesday on a Monday

It's been a while since I joined Kim Klassen at Texture Tuesday. I'm having a bit of a hard time keeping up with blogging at the moment - I really hope that will change very soon again!

Here's my contribution - another image from the National Heirloom Expo, "The Blue Jar".

The original photo really wasn't anything to rave about - too dark. But I liked the simplicity of it and that's why I chose it.

Here's the recipe:
- after a levels adjustment, I blended the image with Kim's texture "kk_appreciate" in linear burn at 50%; brushed away the texture from the blue jar
- copied it and blended in soft light at 100%; brushed away the texture form the jar
- added Kim's texture "chamomile", soft light at 75%
- after a hue/saturation adjustment I added a photo of mine and blended it in soft light at 60%, again brushing it away from the jar. The photo is a close up of the seeds in the head of a sunflower and you can see them mainly in the right half of the image.

To see more spectacular photos hop over to Kim's Texture Tuesday.