My Everything Corner

The blurriness of the vanilla bottle in my last post was driving me nuts.  So I set up the scene again, messed up again, set it up again and now I'm pleased.  I hope.  I'm leaving the problem photo up for comparison as well as a reminder to think everything through thoroughly while going through that much trouble for a photo! And just because, here is a picture of my lovely girl kitty Georgia.  I love the pose!  

I love a good chocolate chip cookie, and I love the batter even more.  On a day when I feel like treating myself, nothing but baking my family's favourite cookie will do.  We all share in a reasonable amount of the batter, and at least one fresh cookie.  As soon as they are cool, they are frozen, and that's how we enjoy the rest of the bag.  I'm not sure why they taste better frozen, but once they are more than a day old, that's how they taste their best.   Today I turned this common process into an opportunity to practice my photography.  Of course, I will also give you the recipe. 1/2 lb unsalted butter 3/4 cup white sugar 3/4 cup brown sugar 2 eggs 2 cups flour 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt a generous tsp of vanilla 1 cup of chocolate chips (more or less) Cream together softened butter and sugars and vanilla.  Add eggs, one at a time, mixing thoroughly between each one.  Add flour, soda, salt and mix until just blended.  

A little freshening up, a bunny here and there, my little birds placed front and center and besides the goodies, that pretty much sums up how I decorate for Easter.  Subtly.  I would like to add a bit here and there as I find the time to get crafty and make a few things.  But here it is for now -  I love the look of this carved bunny.  He fits in all year round, but has a place now where he'll get noticed. Those are all real eggs.  I'm sure that wee bird is wondering who produced that giant one.  Actually, it is a dwarf chicken egg.  The wee blue ones?  I'm not too sure, but I accidentally knocked down a little nest last year while mowing, and the mama never came back.  Temperamental little things.  This is a vintage creamer from the Bunnykins collection.  I look for more pieces to add, but I never find any.  This one was a gift to my children from their Great Aunt.  She asked me to put it out every year for them.  Aren't they a lovely little family?

Getting some practice in with black and white photography. Somebody please call up Mother Nature, And tell her I am anxiously awaiting Spring!

I would probably still be out and about right now, but here in Palm Springs, CA at 6pm, it is very windy and rainy.  I'm not complaining.  We're enjoying some much needed down time from several very full days.  Today we wandered the shops of El Paseo.  It was a fun and interesting experience. There was plenty of beautiful art to appreciate and of course plenty that made you scratch your head.    I had never been to a European antique shop before and was amazed at the collection there.  There were beautiful pieces from over Europe, some dating back to the mid 18th century.  It was entertaining to overhear two women discuss spending an obscene amount of money on a set of benches. By obscene, I mean each bench would be the average price of a new car. Although, not the type of cars we kept seeing in that part of town, but regular, everyday vehicles that we, as fairly average Canadians would drive.  I really wanted to ask these two gals, "So just out of curiosity, how many

After spending a lovely day with my family to celebrate my 40 th , we drove into the city in the evening to catch our flight to Palm Springs the next morning.   Towards the end of our short 2 hour drive, we were greeted by a lovely sunset.   This was just a quick snapshot off of my phone, but it didn’t do too terrible a job.   The next one is from aboard our flight of course.   I haven’t flown in years, so naturally I needed the pretty cloud shot.   For those of you that fly a lot, I’m sure this bores you to tears, but it’s a new scene for me, or as good as.   And really, what else are you going to do during a 3 hour flight?     What do you like to do to pass the time?   I’m not great at sitting.   I find it very uncomfortable.   I prefer to stand or lie down.   That aside, I broke up the flight with a bit of journaling, reading, taking and editing a few shots with my phone, and writing up this blip for my blog. Of course, I also had my travelling companion to chat

My handsome kitty Crush was feeling playful in front of the camera recently.  He looks more goofy than handsome here, but he really is a very masculine cat in all ways.  There is no mistaking this fellow for a female.  My daughter is obsessed with cats, and of our three, this guy is her favourite, simply because he is so calm and will pretty much let her do whatever she likes.  She loves to sit him on her lap like a baby and snuggle him.  I processed the photo in two ways. What do you think? Shared this with Saturday's Critters . Thank-you Eileen!

A quick post today to join in on Good Fences over at The Run "A" Round Ranch Report.  I can't tell you how beautiful this sky was in person. The photo is pretty and maybe saying this reflects my skills as a photographer, but it just doesn't cut it.  I have yet to see a photograph of a sunset that is able to make me feel the same way as when I am standing out there with God's palette wrapped all around me. This sky was amazing!

Both of my children are taking classes at the local art gallery.  My little guy's class is quite structured and they have produced some memorable pieces.  In the last class, they were asked to make puppies out of modeling clay.  So he made  an entire family, complete with a bowl of food, bones and toys. No puppy of his is going to be lonely or bored.   Quite a while back, the class made monsters.  He did the banana man on his own time.  I'm not sure if those wee bananas are his friends or prisoners.  My favorite is the little marshmallow dude.  The little red monster down in the bottom left corner is smaller than your average pea.  I thought I had better get a photo before he ends up a snack for the vacuum. Seeing as how there are 5 photos in each of these groupings, I thought it fitting to share this post with Amy's " Five on Friday ".