I took almost 200 shots today trying to get a few photos for this week's Photo Quest. In addition to the action shots, I took a few that I have had a lot more experience with. Here's the little one year old granddaughter that is in the last photo of the Photo Quest. She is a sweetie!
There was one dandelion in the yard and Hayden found it. He is the other half of the twins.
He did the cutest thing today. We had been on the south side of the garage where the dog food dish was, and he had picked up several pieces of dog food. We told him it was for the doggie and he put it down.
Later we were around on the north side of the garage petting the dog. He walked back around to the dog food dish, picked up a handful of dog food and brought it over to the dog. His mom and I were both impressed that he had made the connection and remembered where the dish was. Pretty good for a 16 month old, I think!
Here's what he looks like most of the time - just going as fast as he can!
Isn't it amazing that the grass is still so nice a green? I can't ever remember when we were still mowing grass at this time of the year.
Here's the twins three year old brother with his mom. This swing hangs in a big walnut tree. The baby swings are in a sycamore tree. It is huge. I want to take a picture of it, but I can't figure out how to put it in perspective.
This is one of my favorite shots from today. It was completely unplanned. The kids were interested in the bark of the walnut tree. They don't have any big trees in their yard.
I have another job interview tomorrow. I sent a resume in to a private school that is looking for a cook. I think it would be a dream job, even though it is over 50 miles away. I don't mind driving and I could always stay with some of the relatives who live in that area if the weather got bad. We will be moving in that direction if/when we sell the farm. I love it out here, but don't know if we will stay forever. It is really nice when the grandkids come out.
Three of my grandkids came out this morning and we went out to swing about noon. The lighting conditions were terrible. It was dark under the tree, but too bright out in the sun. I tried a variety of settings, etc. to get these action shots. Some worked better than others.
The shutter speed was too slow in this shot of Jacob.
Finally, on my 68th shot, I got one that is almost in focus, even though I did cut off Hayden's head! I think I was panning at this point, but I'm not sure.
Jacob like his grandpa to push him up to the leaves. I was dealing with the lighting and the movement. Not perfect on either, but not too bad.
After 102 frames, I finally got a pretty good one. Jacob was reaching for a leaf. I'm pretty sure I was panning.
This one had some real lighting and color issues, but the expression was so cute, I just had to include it.
All of these shots were taken with a Canon Powershot A540, mostly in the auto mode. I did switch around some, but I don't remember which ones I took with different settings. I need to learn how to use fill flash. I can turn the flash off, but I don't know how to turn it on. That would have solved a lot of my lighting issues. I was concentrating on action and didn't have time to read about fill flash. I knew how to set it with my old camera, but I haven't figured it out with this one.
We drove over to the other farm where the sunflowers are this morning. They aren't as impressive this year as they were last year, but I think a few of them are worth sharing.
The bees seem to like them a lot. You could hear them buzzing around. I only got a picture of this one.
I made another batch on jelly yesterday morning, then worked on paper work for hours! Since I lost everything I had on my old computer, I'm trying to restore my account in Money. My bank will only let me download the past three months. At least I have that much. Thank goodness I kept a printout from the end on June, so at least I have something to work with.
We went to a 50th wedding anniversary celebration in the afternoon. It was very nice. He used to do all of our bulldozer work, and she worked for me at school for several years.
I couldn't resist. I had to go take some more pictures! Here is one of the jars of jelly I made this afternoon. I don't understand what the floaty places are. Usually it is almost translucent. Maybe it just needs to set longer. I don't process it. I just label it and keep it in the freezer. It really is this pretty rosy red color.
We are finally picking all the tomotoes we can eat. We pick them a day or two before they are red ripe to make sure some critter doesn't beat us to them. They are really nice this year. All about the same size with no bad places. We had BLTs for supper tonight. Yum!
I know petunias aren't anything fancy, but there is something I like about their simple beauty.
I couldn't resist. I had to go take some more pictures! Here is one of the jars of jelly I made this afternoon. I don't understand what the floaty places are. Usually it is almost translucent. Maybe it just needs to set longer. I don't process it. I just label it and keep it in the freezer. It really is this pretty rosy red color.
We are finally picking all the tomotoes we can eat. We pick them a day or two before they are red ripe to make sure some critter doesn't beat us to them. They are really nice this year. All about the same size with no bad places. We had BLTs for supper tonight. Yum!
I know petunias aren't anything fancy, but there is something I like about their simple beauty.
I haven't done any quilting today, or taken any photos, either. We went to Mass this morning since it was a Holy Day, the Feast of the Assumption. Then we still had to eat breakfast when we got home. I had a package to get ready to mail. That always takes longer than you think it is going to. Then I went out and picked green beans. Found one zucchini. I pulled about half of the beets that are left. I think they stopped growning a month ago!
After lunch, hubby decides that he will get up into the attic to look for jars for jelly. He found quite a few, probably enough for me to go ahead and make jelly from all of the juice I got from the apples. I made another batch this afternoon.
I need to go water flowers. We didn't get a drop of rain last night. It is too dark already to take any pictures.
This is a picture of the homespun quilt I am making. I am using flannel for the backing and adding a layer of muslin in the middle to make the seams fuzzier without adding weight. I don't have any more flannel, and can't find any more either. May have to look on eBay.
I received a job offer from Wal-Mart today! Yeah!! It isn't the best job in the world, but I'm glad to have it. There aren't that many jobs out there for seniors, especially out here in the sticks. I don't think it hurt any thing that I took along this picture of a crab apple pie that I made from scratch the other day. The glossy print I made looked like something out of a food magazine.
Believe it or not, they hired me to be a cake decorator! I have never decorated a cake in my life. So before I came home, I bought a decorator bag and tips so I can practice a little bit before I start. I don't want to look completely stupid! Anyone have any good tips for success?
I was out in the garden picking green beans this morning when I thought I heard the phone ring. So I ran to the house and picked it up just as the answering machine picked up. It was already 11:00 and they had my interview scheduled for 12:00. She thought she had left a message for me yesterday. I changed clothes as quickly as I could and made it to the store with about 10 minutes to spare.
Maybe I can watch the Olympics tonight since I don't have to worry about any more resumes or cover letters. We are supposed to get some rain. Hope so. Otherwise, I am going to have to start watering.
I just realized that the photos I posted for the Photo Quest didn't get posted in the group, so I added them now. Hope it isn't too late!
Hubby is going to pick more crab apples today, so you know what I will be doing. Thought I'd better post some pics from last night while I have a minute.
All of these were taken with natural light about 6:30 last night. I had filtered sunlight coming through the trees in our windbreak.
I don't know the names of all the yellow daisy like flowers. They came back from some wildflower seed I planted last year.
I have lots of surprise lillies right now. There is a small insect at the end of one of the stamens. The light source was to the left of the flower.
I really like the way this surprise lilly looks like the light source is from the inside. The petals are so translucent that the light shines right through them.
I like the petunias I took with flash, but I like this one, too. I like the color and the simple, shaped edges.
I haven't been quilting much the past few days because I ran out of flannel to make my backing squares for the homespun quilt I'm working on. I bought all they had at the Wal-Mart store before I started the project thinking it would be enough. It might have been if it had been cut straight,but it was crooked as a dog's hind leg. So I went back. They had every solid color except off-white. I went to a different store last Thursday. Same story. No off-white. Does anyone have any off-white flannel that you purchased from Wal-Mart recently in your stash? I sent an email to my sister to see if she could find some at one of the stores she goes to. It has to be Wal-Mart, or the same brand that Wal-Mart sells. I bought some from Jo-Anns earlier, and it is a different color.
This knitted piece in the photo is an ongoing project that I work on while I'm waiting for the water to boil, etc. It is going to be a table runner when it grows up. It needs a couple more feet! It is knit from fabric strips that have been cut mostly from muslin and homespun scraps. The pattern is completely random.
I did find a source for check registers and deposit slips at checks.com. They also sell checks but I have enough of those to last me til I die. I only use about two a year! I can't imagine not having debit and credit cards, and online bill pay.
Our two youngest sons can out yesterday with two of their sons, a three year old and a two year old. They play pretty good together, but it is a full time job to keep tabs on them and keep them entertained. The big boys came out to help their dad split wood for this winter. They were getting along great until the log splitter broke. They got a nice pile cut and stacked, but there is still a big pile that needs to be split. We can burn gas or wood in our furnace,but we try to get by on just one tank of fuel each year, so that means that we go through several cords of wood.
After I got my Photo Quest shots posted last night, I sat down and watched the Olympics. NBC is doing a good job of coverage this year. I haven't watched any of the coverage during the day on MSNBC. I've always got something else going on. Tomorrow it's going to be more apples!
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