Camera Crazy

I've had the strangest thing happen in the last week--an orchid I've had in full bloom for nearly three months had some new buds open. Mind you these buds just appeared, much to my surprise. The orchid, given to me by our neighbor Terri, seems to like the spot on the trunk in the sunroom. For most of the year I have blinds pulled full time because the sun is so intense, in spite of the heavy duty new windows. Because it has been consistently chilly, I've had one of them open to warm up the room--perhaps that has something to do with it?
Incidentally, she re-gifted the orchid, claiming that she would kill it, however, in my experience if you just leave an orchid be, aside from perhaps a weekly watering, they are impossible to kill. Of course, being a vendor next to an orchid vendor for seven years probably taught me a thing or two, like, ignore them! One I bought from Jim and Kathy is in bloom outside.
It's a pretty little thing that is not nearly as long lasting as the…

I've been a little pre-occupied of late, and you'll never guess why.

Well, maybe you will if you use your imagination. Home improvement projects! Surprise, surprise.

That said, I have managed to take a few photographs, including this one of Bruce at his desk. I used a setting on the camera called Night Vision, which is anyone's guess what it's intended us is. I know it didn't work worth a darn outside; the pictures I took of the starry night sky were rubbish!
I do love how he is reflected in both the window, and the artwork glass. There are lots of settings on the camera I never use, but I probably should. The engineers who dream these things up are way smarter than I am, so there must be some worthwhile use.

We've had a mixed bag in the weather department. One night the wind was blowing so hard it woke us up. Not to mention the rain coming in through the open window above our bed. That day dawned gray and gloomy, although using the "dawn" setting on …

The other day I did a Google search of my name, plus photography. Did it ever turn up some surprises, including, but not limited to, that one of my pieces may be purchased from WalMart, of all things.

Ebay--check.

Wayfair--check.

AllPosters--check. (multiple foreign versions too!)

Art.com--check.

Overstock.com--check.

Amazon--check.

Wonder how that happened? Wonder no more. In a word--SunDance.

Here's how it works...I send them images, maybe something like this:
Depending on whether they think they have a market for it, they either print it, market it, or shelve it for later use. They know their audience, many times choosing things I would probably never be able to sell myself. Or, maybe I'm wrong, maybe they are a better judge of what the public wants? The photo I linked to above, on the Wayfair website, is one I took on my way to Groveland while looking for black bamboo to plant in our yard. I never did get the bamboo, however, I did get the shot over Lake Minnehaha in Clermon…

Just yesterday, while talking to Nancy, she made a reference to "the blog." Not Camera Crazy, not your blog, but "the blog." I've found that she is not the only one who calls it that, which I find very amusing--as if it has taken on a life of it's own. Perhaps that is true? 
By the time this is published, the number of page views will most likely exceed 100,000 which is quite a milestone for me. Of course, it has taken nearly eight years to get there, but, really, who's counting? Well, Google is, that is who. For most of the years I've been writing, I was not aware of this feature, but now that I am, I can't get enough of it. Not so much the numbers, but what posts people click on years after the fact. I'll read the titles, under posts, in the above screen shot, and wonder to myself, "what was that post about?" Then, if I have time, I'll go back and see what, say, "A Dying Mall and Katy Perry too!" was all about. I h…

Saturday. A lovely day! What began as a chilly morning evolved into a warm one as the day wore on. Both Bruce and I started our outdoor chores wearing sweatshirts, however, by the time we finished, we were down to short sleeves and shorts. And I complain about our weather? Shame on me.

It is a well established fact that winter sunsets are the best. Why this is so, I don't know, but unless the day is gray and gloomy, most nights we get a very nice show. Looking down our street toward the lake.
Last week when we were sorting through Bruce's stamp collection we came across two newspaper clippings which are very entertaining...cascading male manes! When was the last you heard that phrase?


Here's another one: You can just barely see the date on the second one--1972, a year in which Mr. Peck still was sporting some pretty long locks. Because one of these is from, what I think is a Tampa newspaper, we are presuming that his Mom must have sent these from when they lived in Clearwa…

As you are well aware, I've been bemoaning the weather on a nearly daily basis. Getting sick of it are you? Especially nervy when I live in Florida!

Sorry friends, but I will undoubtedly keep it up. All week long it is has been gloomy. While eating breakfast in the sunroom, which, we've already established has been sorely lacking in sun, out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of...
by golly, the beginnings of a blue sky!!! The good news is that it kept getting better and better until, at this very moment, there is not a cloud anywhere to be found. Oh happy day!!

On another good news front, I spent my gift card at WS. It wasn't easy because I have nearly everything a home cook could want, but I managed to do it.
I've yet to try the fancy new rolling pin, but what I have used is the Le Creuset loaf pan. Because I was dying to do so, as in immediately, I went hunting for a recipe using the blueberries I had in the fridge. Well, did I ever find a good one, that I h…