Getting To Know You

Getting to know all about you....Getting to like you.....

Ok I'll stop singing now.

Here's what I know about myself- I may have creative ADD meaning I may go from project to project or medium to medium but i NEVER do more than one thing at a time.  If I have a project or deadline looming overhead, I'm almost paralyzed to do anything else until that thing is done and off my shoulders.  It is the main reason I had stopped taking custom orders years ago, I would find myself procrastinating to get an order done and wouldn't be able to do anything else until it got done. See the dilemma?

It's my own personal order out of chaos.

My mind goes like this-

Get the taxes done then I can-

Get the fatbook pages done then I can-

Work on the trades and when they're finished i can-

Ok you get the idea.

Well, I have been trying in the background to learn my camera and lens and all the nuances of both.

I had signed up for a class which i never did one thing for, sooo I decided right now with everything off my plate at the moment to finish the books I was reading and spend some time getting to know my camera better.

Our weeping cherry tree is in full bloom and I was very happy to see today that it survived the awful weather we had for the past few days without getting beat to pieces.  With the sun shining and the blue skies, it made for the perfect subject to work with.

I knew I was a better photographer and the camera was more capable (or the camera was better and the photographer more capable) than what the evidence of pictures was showing me.  I feel the fault was with relying solely on Auto.

I know the best way to learn something is just to do it. Play with the settings and dials and buttons until it gets really familiar and then try to strike a balance between the aperture, the ISO and shutter speed until you get the results you are looking for. Refer to the manual. Again. And again.

Really look at something. Really see.  Then frame it up in the camera.

Change direction,  perspective,  capture the light in different ways.

I have decided that choosing the ISO and shooting in aperture priority mode is what works best for me to give me the feeling I used to have shooting 35mm.

These pictures are as shot, no post processing with photoshop, that is another whole subject. 

I think if you get the fundamentals down of good photography, then photoshop is a wonderful tool to use for creative embellishment, but one thing at a time, remember?

Before and After

Or, what a difference a day makes.

Yesterday the sun was shining and everything was feeling like Spring.

The camellias are in full bloom

The daffodils and jonquils are smiling brightly

The cat will stay out for more than a five minute run

And then today Winter reared it's ugly head once more. All told we probably got a little over a solid inch which in my book is an inch too much!

I should be making jewelry to restock at the restaurant gift shop as i am down to just a meager 3 pairs of earrings and  1 necklace, I should be finishing up the last of the aprons in our round robin to ship off this week or even making the trades for Art and Soul. 

 But my muse seems to be in a domestic mood as of late. 

This past week my grandaughter spent some time with us and we made a batch of strawberry jam out of the strawberries I brought back with us from Florida. I wish i had a picture but since it was just her and i I didn't want to chance leaving her by the pot unattended so i could snap a picture. Ever had hot sugary jam pop and splatter and burn you? Not good.

So yesterday while I was feeling all domestic I decided to use the rest of the flat of strawberries and make more jam. I was able to make an additional 2 batches for a total of 23 jars.

Then I got an idea to make some fresh bread to go along with the fresh jam. I have always just made the dough in my kitchenaid mixer with the dough hook and then baked it in the oven with my baking stone. Last winter I even took an artisan bread making class at the local community college.

But recently i looked into and purchased a bread machine for when I didn't have time to babysit a loaf from start to finish. I had read that they use these in the test kitchens at King Arthur Flour so decided it was worth a try.

The first loaf  is just a loaf of white bread, the standard recipe that came with the machine and it was done in 2 hours and 20 minutes using the fast rise yeast. This was a medium crust.  Very convenient.

Made great toast for the jam. 

Then I decided to make a fresh pizza. I can't take credit for this crust, this was purchased at the bakery but there is a recipe for a pizza dough that came with the bread machine that i will give a try. We topped it with pizza sauce, mozzarella, provolone and parmesan cheeses, pepperoni, peppers and onions.

As we speak I have a pot of red beans soaking getting ready to be made into red beans and rice, a recipe from my dear friend Carol from Louisiana so i know it's going to be good! I hope i do her recipe justice!

 I say come Monday I'll need to find my way back to my diet! Or the next before and after pictures will be of me, before and after all this domestic bliss!

**Update- the red beans and rice are Deeelish! And... while they were cooking i finished the apron and got it ready to ship out tomorrow! Yippee!