Backwoods Babble

I recently discovered how cool the macro setting on my digital camera. I posted a few of them already. One of my favorite places to go locally is the duck pond. It may have another name, but no one uses it as often happens in small towns. You know, take a left at the old Seamart and then a right at where Dairy Queen used to be. The last few Saturdays, I have trucked on over there and found some lovely little gems in the grass. I don't really like ducks, though they are rather amusing when they waddle really fast toward food, but the feathers they leave behind are fabulous. The variations in color and light remind me of textiles. Can't you just see a dress with those colors? This lovely little piece of down gives me the impression of old Hollywood glamour with all the feathers and drama. This last one above is actually a piece of the sage bush in our front yard and gives me the sense of lush cotton. I love being able to see things in a new way and this has been amazing.

It's strange that I have become more of a morning person. That is not to say that I don't still enjoy a good long night out with friends, but I never used to see the value in being up before the sun was. I was the kid whose parents had to drag them out of bed in the morning for school or on the weekends when it was past noon. As I sit outside, in the cool (and yes it is cool, I am even all layered up) morning hours, I realize how silly I have been. These quiet moments , all full of possibilities, before the rest of the world is awake, are a hidden treasure! I spent some time working for a tour company in Alaska (I seem to be reminiscing quite a bit lately) and part of what I did one summer, was organize and supervise ship turning events. This is where all the passengers get off their cruise ship and head for home and all the new ones arrive. She was a fairly small ship - only about a 125 passengers or so. My responsibilities included obtaining the final counts for each...

I did something tonight that I haven't done in a very long time and I blame the Gin Blossoms. Last week, while wandering through Barnes and Noble lamenting the lack of musical knowledge of the sales people (I mean, really, they are supposed to be able to read my mind and know what song I'm talking about), I came across a Gin Blossoms Best of cd in a super discount pile. Since, the radio was annoying me, I bought it. It's been in my car since and it's making me wax nostalgic. It must have been sometime in high school that I first heard them, since those are all the memories I can't ditch. So tonight, I did what I used to do then, I went for a "Big Ed" run. For those of you who don't know, I will explain. Big Eds are these luscious ice cream sandwiches. Giant chocolate chip cookies with vanilla ice cream smashed in between. They are decadent. If you haven't had one yet, get one. It's worth any effort. But, a "Big Ed" run has no...

I have had some struggles here in what I consider a brown, barren wasteland. This last weekend I discovered the optical zoom on my digital camera. Macro settings have revolutionized what I am seeing and how I am seeing it. As I read somewhere, the beauty of the desert is all in the details. It is definitely much more interesting than I ever imagined. The shots are not perfect by any means, but it's a start. The picture above is the inside of a barrel cactus. It's much more interesting seeing the cactus close up. I may be getting a little crazy. Next thing you know, it's going to be an extravagant new lens for one of the other cameras in my collection, maybe the Canon Ae-1.... The one below is from a prickly pear cactus in the backyard. This is a new adventure and is really going to make the next couple of years until my escape tolerable. I can't wait!

I purchased my beautiful Kitchenaid stand mixer during one of those sales that don't really save you money, but seem like such a great deal at 2:00 a.m. This was the end of June and since then I have made one attempt at bread, that was tasty, but nothing since. Inspired by my old friend, Liberty and her fellow crafty folks, I decided to make my very own, homemade pasta. I settled on a simple egg noodle recipe included in the booklet that came with my pasta attachment and selected the macaroni maker. All in all other than the pot boiling over the first time because it was too small, they were very tasty! Nowhere near uniform or even really macaroni like in appearance, but tasty! I added a little tuna, egg and pickles and yummy macaroni, tuna salad was born. I may even take another at some bread this weekend since it is much more time consuming.