Tag : photography

40 posts

This Memorial day marks one year since I lost my mom. She was on my mind all day. Half way through my first cup of coffee I made the decision not to be sad but to reflect and remember the good things, The funny memories. The things that make me smile.

As I walked around the yard watering before it got too hot, I thought about her green thumb. She had flowers galore and a big garden. Houseplants too. I guess I’ve taking after her in that way. I love spending time tending to the garden. Making it beautiful and productive,

My newly sewn and strung garden bunting made me smile. Mom was no seamstress. In fact she hated sewing. She was so happy when I learned how to sew in school and gladly passed all of her supplies on to 13 yr old me.  I’ve never stopped sewing since!

After finishing the outdoor chores I headed inside to do a bit of art journaling. I was really feeling inspired by nature.

The background colors I laid down didn’t scream nature. They were the colors that spoke to me though. Sort of a hard edge along with nature.

Layers upon layers stacked. This fussy cut stamped birds nest was the perfect way to embrace nature. I used watercolor crayons to color the robin eggs then used diamond glaze over top to add dimension. The addition of the thread help sell the idea of the nest for me.

I added the skeleton leaf for balance.  As soon as I added the leaf, the words “live gently upon the earth” jumped out at me.  This page made me smile.

Linking up with Art Journal Journey for Flora and Fauna

Art Journal Journey
as well as T stands for Tuesday today.
Eight days of school left. Whoop, whoop!
What are you doing today?

 

Last week I left off with the conservatory portion of our day trip to recreate the missed field trip. Next to the conservatory is a zoo. Como Zoo.

As children, both Mr. G and I visited this zoo with our parents….rode the giant tortoise, looked at the gorillas behind the bars and saw Sparky the Seal perform. Things have changed for the better over the years. The habitats are continually being improved. Mini-me has even witnessed change in her years. When we got there we saw that both the seal and polar bear habitats were changed or changing. Good news for those critters.

The big cats are a favorite of mine…

Watching this big guy walk was like seeing a giant version of Marvin. He saunters when he walks.

The lions were thoroughly enjoying the sunshine.

And who could blame them when just off to the side was the remains of our snow.

It is Minnesota after all.

I have one more part of our adventure to share with you next week.

Since this is T stands for Tuesday I had to share my birthday present to myself. I picked it up at Caribou (the best coffee place in my opinion…no affiliation, just a very smitten customer) while getting my free birthday drink.

This weekend also brought prom for J. He went with a bunch of friends and had a wonderful time. I once again wish I could show you my favorite candid shot from pre-prom pictures. It captured his personality perfectly….but I respect their right to privacy even now that he is an adult.

School is winding down…yet so many things that need to be done.

What are you doing today?

Today for T stands for Tuesday I’m sharing the first installment of the adventure Mini-me and I headed went on to recreate the Digital Photography field trip she missed while on her French field trip. Poor communication between teachers I guess.

We followed in the foot steps of her class and went to the Como Park Zoo and Conservatory in our state capital city of St. Paul. 

The Conservatory is a beautiful structure with the iconic glass dome and several glass wings jutting out from the center.

I knew the structure was old but didn’t realize that it was over 100 years old until I noticed this sign.

While Mini-me was working her photography skills on the flora and fauna displayed, I was marveling at the architecture and unique features of the building.

Its amazing to me how glass and steel can be a work of art in itself.

In a separate wing of the conservatory was a Bonsai pavilion. These were my favorites.

Since this wing was dedicated to Japanese culture and tradition it was only fitting I share a bit of the traditional tea ceremony pieces on display here for T stands for Tuesday.

The pottery was simple yet beautiful.

More next time for T Tuesday…

What are you doing today?

The other day I noticed this old and I must admit nasty, now that it’s enlarged, outlet at work and had to laugh at the face staring back at me.

Now I am noticing faces in other strange places and objects. It just makes me smile.

Aside from the daily Instagram posts I plan to do a recap of the photos periodically here as well.Welcome to T stands for Tuesday! Won’t you join me for a cuppa and a brief chat…

Since time is still fleeting for me I’m going to try something new this month. A daily photo challenge. I know at this point I’m already behind but that’s ok…I’ll catch up. I figure I should have time to snap a quick photo with my phone and upload it to my Instagram.

Now to decide which one I want to play along with….  I’ve narrowed it down to 3 choices, sticking with current challenges.

Regardless of which challenge I chose, I plan to do a recap of the photos periodically here as well as the daily Instagram posts. It should be a fun challenge keeping up with things and thinking outside the box at times especially with limited time.

What are you doing today?

Mini-me and I took a little excursion to the MN Landscape Arboretum. We had several things in mind. Photography, exercise and scouting locations for senior pictures. As we walked the 3 mile drive we saw a few of the art installations for this year.

Amazing Spaces: tree houses is the overall theme. We did not see all of them nor did I get photos of each. Each was unique. Some better than others or perhaps more detailed and understandable in concept.

This is the one I fell in love with.  A human sized birdhouse as you can see by Mini-me peering through the glass.

I was amazed and thrilled by the level of detail that went into the interior.

As I stood on the step to take it all in, I saw that someone had set things up for tea. Oh how I wished that we could sit and have tea for real inside.

All-in-all it was a great morning spent with my girl. Incidentally we did go back with J to take senior pictures. They turned out great. There is a little part of me that really wants to share a couple of my favorites but I made the decision long ago to never show their faces or use real names for them as they are minors.

We still plan to take more senior pictures in a more urban setting as well…just to make the choice even more difficult. LOL

Today Mini-me and I might go to the zoo…or else that will be tomorrow. Today we’d be on the clock to get home in time for a meeting. I don’t like to rush fun outings especially when they are quite pricey like the MN Zoo!!

This is our last “free week” or I should say mostly free week so we are trying to get in some stay-cation activities before that school bell rings.

What are you doing today?

PAGE TOP

© 2007-2024 Halle's Hobbies All Rights Reserved -- Copyright notice by Blog Copyright