Feeling Better.

The tree that is...after it recieved it's "tree-cut" yesterday. The electricians will be out tomorrow to fix the lines hanging down to our heads; and after that, maybe once I have more energy, I'll clean up the rest of the yard.


As for me, I'm off to bed as I didn't get much sleep after Harrison woke up at 3:30 am and started coughing. He didn't stop until he went to sleep this evening at 7:00 pm.

The Fruit From Our Tree

There were crazy-high winds yesterday while we were out and we arrived home to find our lemon tree resting its branches close to the earth.


It has been bearing a lot of fruit lately; like - take it to the Farmer's Market and sell it - amounts of fruit! Luckily the branches haven't snapped; but they lay draped over the fountain as if pleading that we remove the weight of the fruit from them. I complied as best I could.


When I look at the harvest of lemons sitting just inside our backdoor, I can't help but to think of "Bubba" from Forest Gump...


and everything you can make with lemons (not to mention the many uses around the house and for health!)

After all, you can bake them, boil them, slice them. There's Lemon Garlic Shrimp, Lemon Chicken, Lemon Herb Turkey,Lemon Garlic Bread, Lemon Garlic Salmon, Lemon Dill Salmon, Lemon Marinade, Lemon Coleslaw,Lemon Filled Brioche, Lemonade, Creamy Lemon Pie, Fresh Lemon Curd, Lemon Cheesecake, Lemon Poppyseed Scones, Lemon Bread, Lemon Cookies, Lemon Squares, Lemon Frosting, Lamb Shanks in Lemon Sauce, Lemon and Apple Marmalade, Lemon and Herb Butter, Lemon and Mustard Dressing, Lemon Bars, Lemon Cake, Sweet Lemon Bread, Lemon Cupcakes, Lemon Smoothie, Lemon Pudding Cake, Lemon Ice Cream, Lemon Sorbet, Lemon Meringue Pie, Lemon Mousse...


Well you get the idea.


And there's still more to be harvested!
Yes, if you live near by, feel free to call me and come take some lemons.
The tree man is coming tomorrow to care for the sad, low-leaning tree so get some lemons while you can!

A Post With No Name

I woke up Sunday with a sore throat.


Then it got worse so I practically bathed in fresh lemon juice squeezed into hot water.


Now it's morphed into an average cold.

My head is a balloon, my brain is all mushy, my sinuses are killing me.

I don't have time for this right now.
Oh well.


I do hope you had a happy St. Patty's day!
At least I got to eat one of these...


See you on the flip side.

Best Shot Monday - A beautiful bug

I love bugs.

Well, I like a lot of them - from a distance - for the most part.

I mentioned previously about my spent time in Latvia, such a beautiful, lush country; and after how living in a concrete jungle for so long even the life of the bugs intruiged me.

Even the bugs were beautiful when I slowed down.

I've been trying to slow down again. Take in the beauty of *now*. It's so hard to do. Saturday I spent a few hours at the botanical gardens {by myself} with my camera. Really, I'm not one to take pictures of flowers - no matter how beautiful; but when you're at a garden...well...

And then I found this guy.
 Let me tell you, it was abiding and patient enough to let me snap off several pictures, manually trying to get it in focus with only my 50mm lens and a macro filter. I had to get pretty close. My sweet little best shot.

Shortly after that I ran into this hungry little caterpillar. I actually held the camera up and hoped for the best.

Then I discovered his brother {or is it sister} By the way, this particular larvae will develop into a Monarch butterfly some day.
When I uploaded the file to LightRoom, I noticed the caterpillar's fan club hitching a ride on the back of the leaf. Are those aphids?

And if that's not enough, as I pulled my camera away, I noticed I was surrounded by a little band of Box Elder bugs gazing up at me. Okay, maybe they weren't quite gazing up at me, but they were out in full force. This one came around for a closer look, (after all, I'm pretty close to them)

So I moved in for a closer look.



Sometimes it's just good to get down and see the beauty in the world from a bugs point of view.

Maybe there are more beautiful beetles in the world - with armored coats of rainbow; but often, they have a looming presence of "creepyness". Not something that lures the faint-of heart into bug appreciation.  Ladybugs, on the other hand - they evoke a sense of beauty and perfection in the simplest, if not the smallest form. And their little round bodies are inviting to almost any toddler without much drama. I think Ladybugs are just beautiful.



Your beautiful best shot?

Photo Story Friday - The Whales Go By...

There are those days when you get a picture that isn't all that great, not even interesting really. Much like any other picture taken of the same thing from the same point of view.


But you know the story behind the picture.

That's what happened earlier this week when I got a second chance to ditch sand castles and grab the camera at lightening-speed.  Only it still wasn't lightening-speed enough. 

It all started when I got annoyed by the sound of boats, I turned to see them right off the shoreline - three of them hovering there; then I saw it, a gray whale spouted and tipped his nose up far out of the water! Wow! He was just past the break line, amazingly close to the shore.

I grabbed the camera from my bag and waited for a bit; but finally caved to the boy's nudging to continue playing in the sand.

Ten minutes later he surfaced again! I saw the spout of water and in one quick motion, I spun my child around, yelled at him to "LOOK OUT THERE!", pointing, all while trying to get camera in hand for the shot of the whale out of the water. (Let's not mention I had the 50mm fixed lens attached...)

Yup. Missed the shot. But for the skeptics out there, I blew up the picture.

See the nose going back down? That's the white speck in the first picture.

Bye- bye Whale!

We didn't see him agian after that, but it was enough to make our day (and night as we read The Whales Go By, by Fred Phleger - one of my favorite childhood books and now one of Harrison's.)


And now I am once again coveting that 70-200 2.8 lens. Oh yeah.


Photo Story is Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek
PhotoStory Friday
Go see them!

Crafty (?) Tuesday

Well, tomorrow is Purim - the Jewish celebration of the book of Esther at Harrison's school. (Esther helps save the Jewish people from the evil hand of Haman.)  Harrison has been learning songs and is excited about dressing up like "Uncle Mordichi".

Only he doesn't go to school on Tuesdays; but we are going in the morning before soccer so that he can march around in the Purim parade in his handmade mask and crown.



Yup.

Three sewing machines, two weeks and one sewing needle later - I finished this freakin' craft!

If there are sewing gods out there, they are rolling on the floor laughing at me. I don't know how one person [who took AH sewing class in Jr. High and sewed on only one sewing machine her entire life and doesn't even darn socks] can have so much trouble just trying to finish one little project.

All I have to say is, thank you everyone for the fine collection of machines I have on loan.


 I'll be opening my sewing machine exhibit in early April...


Anyone else wanna loan me a machine? Maybe in this case - the fourth time is the charm.


Or maybe I should just listen to those sewing machine gods telling me to get out of the sewing room.

Sometimes Life...

isn't all that interesting, nor is it all that fun.

Laundry, work, cleaning. It's still not all done. And two days in a row I almost didn't pick up my camera.


Here is yesterday's eleventh hour entry.


Then tonight I grabbed the camera in that "eleventh hour" again to document how this day went. Only I'm feeling punchy and processed the photo exactly the same as yesterday.


Funny thing is, it almost makes doing the laundry look relaxing and soulful. Or am I just fantasizing?




It wasn't relaxing.
And it definitely wasn't soulful.



And it's still sitting there waiting from me.

Tagged Again

 This is for Jen. (if you like scrap booking - check her out!)

Go to your photo folder. From the 6th Folder, display the 6th picture.... then go and tag 6 unwilling people to do the same. :) The post a note on their blog to let them know.

My 6th folder only had six pictures in it - wasn't that lucky - or not.
his is from our trip to the Bug Fair last year, I think it's about time to order some more caterpillars.




If you got this far, consider yourself tagged.



Phew!

Welcome to March! I'm looking forward to a really good (and productive) month! Just a quick update on the things going on around here - if you're interested.

First and foremost, I got through the first two months of my 365 project! Woot!

January

February
I'm still a 'fast or famine' shooter, mainly due in part to my schedule and my inability to get to bed at a decent hour, thus not being able to get up at a decent hour. Catch 22 I tell ya'; but I'm working on it. After all, this is the year of "change".
(and don't remind me if you happened to notice that I posted comments at 2am this morning. no. let's not go there.)

Unlike Tuesday, when I took one shot {of my cute little Moo cards}, today I grabbed both cameras for a bit and went outside to take some TtV pictures in my not-so-beautiful back yard - after spending 20 minutes photographing tiny things.


Harrison's tiny little bowling pins.



Now if I can only finish my sewing assignments my son has given me!
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