..for my mother. I just found out today that she had a hypoglycemic spell a few days ago. She would not wake up no matter what my dad did, so he called 911 and they gave her a tube of glucose and some other stuff to revive her. She's been alright the past few days, but I can't help but to worry. She has a Dr. appointment Tuesday for more bloodwork. And all I can keep thinking is that if my dad had been out of town (as he usually is on weekends), she might have never woke up.
If you feel so inclined, include her in your prayer/meditation/well-wishes.
There's still more to come I'm sure, but I couldn't wait.
I like to give cookies and candy. Below is one of my "goodie trays" that I baked. For the past two weeks my kitchen has been a cookie-factory. Some cookies I roll into balls so I can chill them and bake later. Others I bake and then store in Rubbermaid containers in every nook and cranny of my kitchen until giving-day comes. Still others I bake and store and discover that Pooky has found them so I have to bake more. But it's what I love to do.
There's (from left to right) Hershey Kiss cookies, haystacks, peanut butter cookies, soda cracker toffee cookies, rocky road cookies, chocolate cihp cookies, Russian tea cookies, and white chocolate macadamia nut cookies.
For all you photo folks, the image is pretty much straight-off-the-camera. The trick was to compose the shot while avoiding the mess that is my kitchen.
No..not Chicago and Phoenix. This was local youth league b-ball and my friend's son Carlito was playing in his team's first game of the season. And I was there..along with Rosie and Posie and one crazy cheering section of friends and family.
I got there early enough to do a little white balancing, but I did not quite get the white as balanced as I hoped to. Gymnasium lighting is one heck of a challenge, and I did not want to use my onboard flash and chance disturbing the players' game with dazzling distractions from the bleachers. We sat in the back row, which also presented the problem of having to shoot around the steel supports that hold up the roof in the Aubrey Street Community Gym. I was torn between using my 55-250 zoom and my 50mm prime lens. On the one hand I wanted close-ups of the action..and on the other hand I wanted the action frozen perfectly without blurring. I compromised by changing out lenses in between periods.
Anyway, here are the three "creme of the crop" photos from tonights game.
Bulls on the offense here. These guys played an excellent team-game and seem to have been coached well on handling the ball and passing.
This guy has an awesome jump shot. The final score was the Bulls winning by 20 points, but the Suns played a hard game and did not give up.
Carlito, who plays defense and plays it well. He may not get the ball very often, but he sure keeps the other guys from getting anywhere with it.
His next game is Thursday. I will hopefully grab a better spot in front of the support beam next time and see what I can accomplish from court-level.
Oh...and did I mention I took Posie too. I made a Posie-movie of a segment of the game.
It's been almost a month since I last posted something. We went to Florida over Thanksgiving and so Val could run the Space Coast marathon. It was cool down in Florida, but we were able to take the boat out and have some fun. On the whole it was a really nice visit.
I'm having a really nice holiday season.
No..really. I am.
I already have my "shopping" finished. Well okay that's not entirely true. When so much of my gift-giving involves baked goodies, I'll probably have a few more trips to the store before Christmas, but that's okay. I can buy eggs, flour and milk without feeling as though I am contributing to the holiday spend-frenzy that I usually find so off-putting.
It snowed this morning here. It wasn't enough to amount to anything, and even if it had been, it was too warm on the ground to accumulate..but hey, in Georgia we take what we can get. It was pretty while it lasted.
I have a new Christmas tree. The old one was too big for how we've arranged the livingroom now, so I got a smaller one that goes on top of the entertainment center. It's got a new string of coloured lights, and the best of the best of the ornaments we've collected over the last 16 Christmases.
And there's wrapped presents under it. This is something we've not done in several years. I missed wrapping gifts so much.
Tomorrow I might begin the holiday baking. I have lots to get done and have collected requests from most of my friends for favourite cookies or sweets. I've not done a real holiday bake-a-thon in almost ten years.
So here I am sitting on the couch admiring my tree, enjoying the thermostat at 74*, contemplating a cup of hot cocoa with caramel syrup added, and being danm glad that I have shaken off the bah-humbugs at last.
OH..the picture...here 'tis!
So to sum it all up, I"m having myself a merry little one...a holly-jolly one...and possibly even a white one. Hope yours is the same.
It's been a while since I did any candids of anything, so I tried to grab shots of cats being cute.
Do you KNOW how hard that is? As soon as that lens-cap comes off, they clam up. And as soon as that battery goes dead, they start doing all kinds of neat things. The third act of Little Women was especially well-done, but unfortunately, it was for an audience of one and her slumbering camera.
This is one of my cats trying hard to be regal. ..the one time I wanted whimsical.
It was cloudy outside, so I decided to use the 50mm prime lens and hope to avoid needing the flash. I swear
those cats are so jumpy they scatter as soon as the pre-flash fires or whenever the lens' focus motor activates. I think I need a flash-suppressor and silencer for my camera.
This is Halloween Cat. A neighborhood kid gave him the name and it stuck like glue. He is one of somewhere between seven and nine alleycats that frequent our backyard for food and the occasional mouse-hunt. He is also featured in most of my photos because I am finding that autofocusing on a solid black cat is really hard to do. This cat may have just about the most unusual markings of any cat I've seen. That face is the next best thing to the old test-pattern that used to appear on school flim strips. AF LOVES this cat...as you can see.
Chrome is sleek and quick and I like using it, but its one drawback is its "homepage" option, which lists the eight most commonly visited sites. As a result of this running tally I'm reminded constantly how many times I go to Facebook or Huffingtonpost or The Miniatures Page. And no, clearing your history doesn't reset it. I suppose it'll keep me honest and on track.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup strong black coffee
- 1 cup Worcestershire sauce
- 1 cup catsup
- 1/2 cup cider vinegar
- 3 tbsp. chili powder
- 2 tsp. salt
- 2 cups chopped onion
- 1/4 minced chili peppers (jalapeno, Serrano, etc.)
- 6 cloves of garlic, minced
Pooky has had (and likely still has) the flu. He's been back to work for the past few days, but I'm not keeping my breath held for any government mandated sick-leave with pay..or even sick leave without pay. Maybe in my lifetime..?? Meanwhile, I have lots of work to catch up on here before the holidays and having guests again. The chateau has a real workshop look to it right now with all the various projects well-begun (half-done).
I am taking a serious look at the online publishing/consulting again now that it "seems" I may have some consistent free time on consistent days. I really would like to eventually have a second part-time occupation..but for the immediate right-now it is still yet another well-begun dream.
After having gone almost a fortnight without touching a camera, the dry-spell finally has ended. For fifteen years of service, the Bell sent me an awards catalogue and I chose a Canon Powershot A480 camera. Don't worry, my Rebel XSi "Rosie" is perfectly okay, but there are times and places where a girl needs a more discreet tool for the job, such as in restaurants, at shows, or in the sorts of turbulent crowds in which a compact camera is more sensible. It arrived Thursday and I must say I am quite impressed with what it can do. It has twice the pixels of my old P&S, ISO spanning from 80 to 1600 (my old one stopped at 350), near a dozen presets for various shooting situations, a P-mode that gives the user full control of every camera function except aperture and shutter priority (the one advantage my old P&S had), and a good high-quality movie recorder with sound (unlike the old P&S, which only made silent films). Also, this one uses the same SD card my Rebel does..which is good.
All the photos in this post were made with "Posy"...which is what I named Rosie's new little counterpart.
It's just past the peak of autumn colours here, but of all the trees in town, there are a few that just "pop" longer and brighter than any others. There's a cospe of trees beside the McDonalds on MLK street that are, for me, the local ambassadors of the season
I've mentioned the lady I work with and her family, who have all become good friends with Pooky and me. Her son Carlito, who is Pooky's newest gaming buddy, has been checking in on Pooky every day while Pooky had the flu Wednesday night the family dropped by for a visit and young Carlito brought me a single rose "just because". It still looks quite fresh this morning, though I need a prettier vase than the Paul Masson one I am using.
This morning, before I start my housework or yardwork or any of the other tasks that need to be done, I decided to make crepes-for-one. It's not that Pooky does not eat them, or that I only have fancy french breakfasts when he's not here, but I wanted to do a "dry run" to see if I could make a small batch using a standard stainless skillet rather than a fancy crepe pan or nonstick saute pan. The instructions I used come from Chef Todd Mohr, who has around 20 free Cooking Course videos on YouTube as well as a website and blog and his subscription-based Web Cooking Classes. Pooky and I are taking his classes now, though flu has cut deep into our time and desire to practice our cooking skills. Tomorrow, however, I am gonna show out and use the half-scale version of Mohr's crepe recipe that I used today. The secret to doing this with a regular non-nonstick pan is to lightly spray the pan with cooking spray AFTEr the skillet has become hot. DO NOT do this while the skillet is sitting on the stove, especially if you cook with gas). Ladle a single one-ounce spoonful of batter into the middle of the skillet and then tilt and swirl the skillet around so the batter can run and spread to the desired thinness and roundness. It's all in the wrist and practice makes perfect.
I stuffed a few with fresh strawberries (marked WAY down at Kroger this week) and whipped fresh creme. I did a few others "Suzette" (the lazy way) with sprinkled sugar and a dash of lemon juice right onto the fresh-cooked crepe. I am also proud to report that my premiere crepe was indeed not pour le chien.
. And that is how I started my day. Now to finish a few things up.
Until then, y'all keep youselves safe, well and happy. *hug*
It may be a while yet though. Pooky has had the flu for more than a week now. He's missed a lot of work as well as Halloween. I've been busy filling in at work for him (one of the FEW advantages to my so-called position) and have not had much time for the sort of exciting fast-paced living that you the esteemed reader have become accustomed to.
There WILL be pictures of autumn..and there WILL be new recipes, funny videos, Hugo quotes and ubiquitous orcs...soon. Just give my household a bit more time to recover.
Until then, I hope you all are safe and well and happy. *hugs*
