Photo Challenge Day 10: A Childhood Memory

When assigned a task that involves memories as a teenager or child, it's hard for me to think of something suitable.  I don't always remember things before I was about 20, and there are plenty of reasons for that.  There are, however, some things that were constant enough in childhood that memories of their presence (if not memories of specific instances) are clear.  And so when given the task of photographing a "childhood memory," there was one item that stood out to me.  I knew what I needed to photograph.

My blanket.

When I was born, my great-grandmother made this blanket for me.  As I got older, I realized that she made a number of similar blankets for her grandchildren and great-grandchildren until we either grew too numerous or she grew too tired.  My sister has a blanket, also made by Great-Grandma, but it is different: pinks and squares much smaller, not a long, perfect nap sized blanket of children around the world.

I love this blanket.  When I went away to college, this blanket came with me.  It, along with another blanket my mother gave me for college, have followed me everywhere.  They are old and tattered, but well-loved.  The people in this blanket are missing pieces of hats or jumpers, but the seams are still solid, a miracle after so many decades.

Perhaps this blanket is one of the reasons I quilt for new babies.  I want them to know that someone loved them -- or even the idea of them -- so much that the love was poured into something timeless, something they can keep forever.  And after all, everyone needs a nap blanket.

A busy day of recipes -- Buffalo Wing-style Hummus

Today was very busy, but part of that (ahem! all of it) was my fault.  I had plenty on the to-do list, but I also got sucked into Pinterest during my meal planning and ended up finding multiple recipes that I wanted to try today.  (Did I mention that I'm still working on learning the virtue of patience?)  Thankfully, all my hard work was rewarded when all four new recipes that I tried today actually turned out...even when I modified them a bit.  (Honey is always telling me I should think about trying recipes the way they are written first, but that just seems a tad boring.)  Even more impressive, two were vegan recipes and they actually weren't horrible.  (Side note: I have learned to make many special diet dishes for extended family and friends, but that doesn't mean that I always like it.  And I still have no idea how someone could be a vegan, but that's my own issue...and you'll probably see, eventually, that I have plenty of food issues.)  So, what were these recipes?

1. Green Monster Spinach Smoothie -- my new favorite way to eat spinach, courtesy of Iowa Girl Eats
2. Coconut vegan cookies -- a bit cakey (because they're vegan), but full of flavor and low in fat from FatFree Vegan Kitchen.
3. Skinny figgy bars -- I thought they tasted like fig newtons, Honey thought they tasted like a fig crisp, but we both liked the results, so it's another winner from FatFree Vegan Kitchen.

I also made a hummus dip, a modification of Badger Girl Learns to Cook's Buffalo Wing Hummus.  The picture I took of the results will also serve as my photo challenge picture for the day, because while it is not a picture of "someone I love," it is a picture of what I do to make my Honey happy, which is almost the same thing. (Right?)

You can find the original recipe at the link (above), but I'll post what I did here.  It was a big hit in this house and I'm sure I'll be making a lot of this to go with our afternoon celery stick snack.

Buffalo Wing-Style Hummus

• 1 can of garbanzo beans (chickpeas) -- do not drain!
• 2 Tbsp crunchy peanut butter
• 1/2 Tbsp minced garlic
• 1/4 c. lemon juice (I used Real Lemon)
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 2 Tbsp BBQ sauce (I used Sweet Baby Ray's original because it's the best -- trust me)
• 2 Tbsp buffalo wing sauce (with a vinegar base)
• 2 Tbsp Sirracha
• 1/2 tsp. celery seed powder 
• Salt, to taste (you could also just use celery salt instead of two separate ingredients)

Put all of the ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.

It is so good!  A bit tangy and spicy with a good texture and a perfect compliment to celery or carrot sticks.

This recipe made about a pint.

Photo Challenge Day 6-7-8: A little bit of this, a little bit of that.

I think that I have a love-hate relationship with this photo challenge.  I want to learn how to really use this fancy camera, but trying to prioritize the lessons and tasks is a bit difficult.  My problem is that I always bite off more than I can chew.  Always. I've been trying to work on this recently (as in, since the beginning of last year, when Honey pointed out I was in a vicious circle -- I planned to-do lists that were way too long and then would get upset with myself for not being able to finish everything on the list).  I've also been trying to add more tasks and scheduling to my day.  Don't ask me how these things are all supposed to work together because I don't know yet -- it's just been one week.  What I do know is that I haven't always made it to the day's photo lesson and challenge, which is why I am merging three days into one.

The photo lessons were about aperture (again), depth of field (i.e., what's in focus) and "the exposure triangle" (a bit too much math is involved in this for my little non-math-y brain), and the photo challenge for the three days was a picture of fruit, something from a low angle, and a bad habit.  So, how can I merge these concepts?

A bad habit...from a low angle

My top shelf of the food "pantry" (also known as the place in the laundry room where we store food above the wine) always contains these wonderful crackers.  Oh fishy crackers, how I love you!  Of course they are not really a good habit, especially when one is trying to lose a bit of weight.  Thankfully, Costco now carries fishy crackers with individual serving packets, so Honey and I can split one, I get my salty, cheesy goodness fix, and I don't feel too guilty.

A low angle, f/20 (high f-stop)

 All the leaves are visible and there is great detail -- so I've figured out that "more 'f' means more focus." Good to know.

A low angle, f/4

 Soon it will be spring and I will probably spend many evenings outside taking pictures of flowers, blurring the background so that no one can see the rest of the messy yard.

Fruit...from a low angle

Fruit...higher f-stop (more in focus)

Fruit, lower f-stop

This month I learned a new word, bokeh, which basically means that one thing is in focus and the rest of the picture is a bit blurry.  I like the results.  I have no idea how to pronounce the word.


I am not the only one having fun with the camera.  Honey recently discovered that he can take the tripod from his cheap telescope and use it with the camera, which allows him to take pictures at night.  This was a bit of last night's sunset.

An unofficial photography lesson

Today was a good day, a busy day, and a day in which I did not get to the next photography lesson.  In the grand scheme of things I suppose that doesn't matter. Perhaps.

Normally the first Friday of the month would be First Friday Family Dinner.  It's a tradition that I've held at my house for a while.  All the family and very close friends -- adopted family -- are invited over and I make enough food to feed an army.  It's a tradition that I enjoyed, since feeding people is a way that I demonstrate love, but something that's become more of a chore the more I realize how many @$$----s are in my family.  Around the holidays I decided I didn't want to support bringing so much needless crazy into my life (especially because, truth be told, I really resent it when people start to expect me to do certain things for them and then try to take advantage of that).  I canceled Family Dinner this month...and perhaps for the rest of the year.  My own mental health may need it.

My brother, Thin Man, has a friend visiting this week.  It's an old Marine Corps buddy.  Now that they are out of the Corps, they are both in college, moving toward whatever their next steps may be.  This buddy is actually a very distant relative (surprise!), and so, in a way, we are having First Friday Family Dinner, just with family I enjoy more than some of the crazies.  After having a really nice dinner, I am seriously considering revamping Family Dinner to just be people I enjoy.  (For example, we have some dear friends who have four children -- their family is lovely and we thoroughly enjoy having them over more than once a month. We can still have Family Dinner with them.)

Since Thin Man's friend (and relation) is here visiting for the weekend, I thought I would take a picture of the boys and their after dinner cigars & whiskey (or bourbon or scotch, depending on preference).  That is when I learned something new with the camera.

The guys were all outside, of course.  Not wanting to use my brain to think of the best camera setting, I put it on fully automatic, night portrait.  This is what I got.

Not good!

So I put the camera into TV mode (shutter priority) and set the shutter to 1/40, with flash.  Here's the result:

Still far from the greatest night portrait in the world (you don't have to tell me -- I know), but so much better!  So that confirms that manual modes are better and allow for more flexibility and creativity.  Now I just need to figure out how to use it properly.

Picasa (I may be a bit obsessed)

I love taking photographs.  I also love greeting cards.  Some of my favorite greeting cards involve quotes that speak to me in some way superimposed over a photograph.  I've always wanted to do something like that myself, but I never wanted to spend money on photo editing software.

Enter Picasa, a Google tool.  Wow, is it ever amazing!  Now I'm probably a bit late to the game -- maybe Picasa is sooooo 2010 -- but that's okay.  I'm having fun.  I downloaded the program from Google about a week ago and have learned two things:

1. It immediately organizes all photos/images on the computer into handy files.  Nice!
2. If you are easily distracted, like me, you will spend hours messing around to see what you can do to your photos.

I don't know much more about Picasa.  Like I said, I've only had it a short time.  But last night and tonight I was inspired to create a few card templates using some old photographs that Honey and I took on a few of our trips.  I may print these later in the week to see how they turn out and then see about making greeting cards, but for now it's just fun to play around and I wanted to share.

"God enters by a private door into every individual."

"When you look at me, when you think of me, I am in paradise."

"Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads."