LeeAnn {143/365}

posted by on May 23, 2010 · 12 Comments

It's the long weekend here in Canada. The first long weekend of 'summer'.

It's also my best friend's birthday.

Traditionally, she and I would spend every May long weekend together and celebrate. I can't remember the last time I made any type of plans for this weekend that didn't include her.

Lee & I - 1987ish

Lee & I - 1987ish

This is my second year without her.

She followed not too far behind my Mom, both of them hammered down by the hateful Big 'C'. The two people who knew me the best and the longest (her, over twenty years), both gone within two short years of each other.

*sigh*

Lee and I had a lot of plans. We were going to travel. We were going to dress in purple and wear big sloppy red hats and see the world. We were going to grow old and complain about brittle bones and improper bowel movements, 'those young people these days' and the overall mess of the world in general. She was going to be the crazy cat lady and I was going to be her oldest and dearest friend.

We always planned to go to New Orleans. That was one of our 'gotta do it' trips. After she passed, one of the things I took home with me from her place was these guys ...

143/365

They remind me of her.

Happy Birthday to my oldest, dearest friend.  Sister of my heart.  I hope that today, wherever you are, you're wearing a big, sloppy, stunningly gorgeous red hat and raising your glass to us all.

I miss you all ways, always.
xoxox

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You can find my 365 project on flickr or check out the flickr group for Shutter Sisters.
For all daily photos posted here - Click project365 in the Category list in the right sidebar.

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rockin' robin {130/365}

posted by on May 10, 2010 · 7 Comments

And his wife?

from day 130

These two have been hanging around for a few days.  They're nesting in my juniper, same place they nest every year.  And every year something happens to their babies. I found bones and feathers outside my window one Spring.  It wasn't pretty.

But speaking of pretty, check out my crab-apple tree blooming! yay!  I love that tree.  I wish it bloomed all summer.

umm ... where was I?  oh yeah ...

I haven't seen much of these two this year until now.  And then the other day there they were in my backyard.

And their baby was on my deck!

(no I don't have pictures and no, I don't want to discuss it *coughblurrycrapcough*)

Cutest little thing, kind of hopping/flying about.  Mama was feeding him (again, no pictures, don't want to talk about it).  They stayed for a bit and then left.

Later that day, I opened the back door to let Daisy out, not thinking of robins in the slightest.

Immediate flurry of wings, baby running then flying off the edge of the deck, mama and papa screeching to beat the band and circling and diving at DaisyPuppy who was totally oblivious and just wanted to play, me screaming at the dog, birds screaming at the dog and their baby, and DaisyPuppy running around in circles barking her fool head off.

Complete and utter chaos.

Daisy didn't get anywhere near the baby, but I haven't seen it around here since.  Last I saw, it hadn't cleared my fence and had kind of fluttered down the side of it but I've looked and there's no sign of it anywhere.

Mama and Papa are still hanging around.

130/365

And in my guilt I've forgiven them for flying at my head whilst trying to rescue the damn dog.

I hope your baby is okay guys.  Maybe you should give some serious thought to finding a new tree one of these years?

It's obviously not all that safe around here.

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You can find my 365 project on flickr or check out the flickr group for Shutter Sisters.
For all daily photos posted here - Click project365 in the Category list in the right sidebar.

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cookies {99/365}

posted by on April 9, 2010 · 9 Comments

Today's shot is courtesy of  PW's newest photo challenge.

The theme for the new Photography Assignment is…MACRO. I love macro photography, after dabbling in it for a short time a couple of years ago. I love how beautifully a macro lens opens up a whole world.

I LOVE messing around with macros.  If you browse around my flickr stream, you'll find tons of your typical florals and creepy crawlers (some good, some oh so horrid), the kind of stuff that just begs for a macro lens.  Fun!

But I wanted to try something different today, so I did this ...

99/365
100mm - f/4 - 1/60 - ISO 400

Cookies!

I've been asked before if I have a lightbox, and the answer is no.  I'd like one though, if you're giving them away.  I take shots like this on top of my stove.  Yes, my stove.  Today I fooled around with some fancy lighting (which would be the light in the hood vent with a paper towel cover) (have a fire extinguisher handy should you attempt) and some fancy flash equipment (a coffee filter over my pop-up flash) and this is the result.   Feel free to emulate my trashy ways.

PW's contest runs until ... ummmm, hell I don't know.  But she starts posting groups (photos that stand out in the stream) on Monday, so I guess you have the weekend at the very least, and you're allowed to post one photo to the flickr group per day.  I think I'll stick with this challenge and see what else I can catch.

There are some amazing submissions already.  Go browse the group.

And start snapping those macros :)

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You can find my 365 project on flickr or check out the flickr group for Shutter Sisters.
For all daily photos posted here - Click project365 in the Category list in the right sidebar.

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chocolate high {96/365}

posted by on April 6, 2010 · 3 Comments

Or is it a chocolate crash?

I dunno.

I DO know that I've probably gained 10 lbs since this time last week.

And my stash is dwindling ...

96/365

This photo of the day is supposed to be of daughter getting a shot to the arm. Literally. Her school records are wrong though and when we got to the doctor's office, it turns out she didn't need one.  So no photo-op (shot! ha! get it? *ahem*) there.  And no school suspension.  Idjits.

Nor did I manage to get a shot (or even think of it) of her thrilled face upon receiving that little tidbit of info.  She is very pleased.  heh.

Nor did I remember to put batteries into the little point and shoot that I oh so smartly brought along with me so as to not freak out my girl by pulling out the big guns.  Trying to be incognito doesn't work out so well without batteries.

So ...

I came home and snapped chocolate easter eggs.

Makes sense to me :)

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You can find my 365 project on flickr or check out the flickr group for Shutter Sisters.
For all daily photos posted here - Click project365 in the Category list in the right sidebar.

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BBQ chicken pizza {74/365}

posted by on March 15, 2010 · 7 Comments

Husband turned me onto this BBQ chicken pizza a few months back.  The first one was to die for.  Loved it.  Then we ordered again, and it was pretty saucy and ick, but still relatively good (even if you did sorta have to search for the actual CHICKEN, cheapskate pizza place).

And then he told me how much one pizza cost.

And I almost fainted.  heh.

So I thought to myself, I can make that ('course I did, I have issues) and tonight I gave it a shot.

Now, I don't know the first thing about pizza dough and I wasn't willing to jump in with both feet here, so I bought a bag of dough from the local grocery and figured I was fine.

OMG!!!  Somebody should've warned me how HARD this stuff is to work with!!!

No lie, it took me about a half hour to get that ball of dough onto the pan, resembling a bit of a pizza shape.  A strange pizza shape, but whatever.  I totally should've taken a shot of that.  Or a shot of myself wrestling with the damn thing.

I was sweating.  Honestly.  yeeesh.

Anyways ...

No recipe, but here's what I did.

continue ...

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