The Cat Who Stole My Sweater

She looks so comfy that I really don't mind... and I don't blame her for snoozing on top! I got this sweater as an import from Ireland over a year ago when the catalog was closing out styles. I had never seen an Irish sweater in that beautiful color of pink before! So I grabbed it.

Unfortunately, I'm allergic to wool. In this case, the sweater is a cardigan so technically I could use it... but I haven't lately. I brought it to work since I'm always cold there, and noticed that Ginger would want extra hugs on the days I was wearing it. One day I left it folded up on my extra chair--erm, her chair--and it's been hers ever since.

She does seem to enjoy it more than I do. She likes to knead it and then fall asleep.

And gosh she does look cuddly, doesn't she?

New horses

I just received my 6x9 horses back from the printer today. I'm really happy with how they came out. I just switched suppliers and so far, I'm very pleased.

I did something new with this photograph, and turned it into a digital collage. Every time I look at this horse, she reminds me of a unicorn that I envisioned from my childhood. I desaturated the background to bring the emphasis on her, and then added words.



Looking forward to debuting them at the Clinton show this Friday and Saturday.

Rained out!

The second day of the Old Saybrook fair-- a.k.a, the only day I could accompany Rob, Lauren and Sara--was rained out by torrential downpours, thunder and lightning.

It's too bad, since there were many talented crafters around that I didn't get a chance to check out! And there were a coupe of brave souls who attended and tried to hop between tents when the rain would pause (momentarily).

The vendors were released at the three-hour mark, after surviving the first band of heavy rains, with warnings that another belt would be soon approaching. (The weathermen really missed the mark with this forecast-- at 9 a.m., there was only a 30 percent chance of showers!)

Lucky for us, we have a brand new tent this year, accompanied by sidewalls (last year's tent didn't have sidewalls, and we had to make walls out of plastic tablecloths and masking tape when we got caught in a bad, bad, bad rainstorm in Clinton). So luckily... we had a sturdy tent working in our favor.

Stop raining!

A Dragonfly Dilemma

I'm undecided. The original photo is shown first.

The second, tweaked in Photoshop by desaturating the dragonfly but keeping the setting sunlight on his wings.


I feel like I am leaning towards the original. What do you think?

Hummingbirds-- A Work in Progress

Yesterday I stayed late after work to try and photograph the hummingbirds. We luckily have a pretty brazen little crew working three feeders at this building (maybe they know we are animal-friendly!), so it wasn't hard to get close. I opted for my macro lens, which I now regret since I think my mid-lens would have been slightly better. (I was thinking the macro would be great for bringing out the details in their feathers.)

Unfortunately, at 4:30 p.m., the feeder was already in the shade, with only the feeder in a ray of sunlight. I opted to go without the tripod, and stood as still as I could waiting for the hummingbirds to get used to me.

Luckily, it only took five minutes for that to happen, and they seemed as interested in me as I was in them. About three females and two males zoomed in and out. I concentrated on photos of them landing on the feeders, due to the lighting. (Since it was not as bright as I hoped, I needed to keep my shutter open longer. However, this downside means that the shutter speed couldn't be fast enough to stop-action their wings.)

As I clicked away, the birds took great interest in the sound my camera was making. Soon, one of the males got a great thrill of flying right past my right ear, almost daring me to move! Surprising myself, I didn't! (This is from the girl who will flail her arms and run away from the hum of bees--though I am getting better with bumblebees.)

While I'm not entirely 100 percent satisfied with what I captured, I am happy that my luck with hummingbird photos is improving. I think the ideal situation is to have the feeder in direct sunlight, in order for me to shoot quickly. And I really should break out that tripod, to take less pressure on NOT moving whatsoever.

I decided to desaturate these photos to a -32 value. I had best luck photographing the females.

Ah! The elusive hummingbird tongue!

A little stop action on the wings.

There's a heat wave a comin'

But this post has nothing to do with that!

The hummingbirds at work are getting braver. Today during my lunch break, I decided to crochet on the porch. A hummingbird feeder is located there. Those little boys and girls were just buzzing around and fighting each other for a spot on the feeder. They didn't seem to care I was there at all! I'm hoping I can use this newfound interspecies trust to try and photograph them again. Hummingbirds have always been a tough one for me because I'm very critical to how the photo turns out. I really want to stop the wings in motion- so far- this hasn't happened.

What was I crocheting? I've been hard at work on creating a crochet rabbit. I hope to post some photos soon!

Some new photos from the weekend...

Day 4 of Being Lonely

Being lonely makes me clean.

A lot.

My husband has been on the road since Friday night for business. He won't be home until Thursday. The first few days weren't so bad because I was distracted with school (but it was lonely going to bed alone at night.) Now that I'm entering my fourth night alone, the silence of the apartment is really obvious.

So ... I clean. Given the state of the apartment usually, you'll be able to tell that I'm never lonely! But tonight I avoided the obvious pitfalls of laundry and dishes and decided to tackle our "office" space, which is usually our disaster area and dumping ground. In the room, we have two desks that face into either corner. When you walk in the door, there is a large table from my grandfather's kitchen that I kept for posterity. This was pushed right up against Rob's desk. The only problem was its immense size in such a small space. It had to go, but I've been delaying the inevitable for some time (ohh... let's see... about three years!). This past weekend I toyed with the idea of running to IKEA and buying a new bookshelf to replace its spot, but the last time we tried to buy bookcases from there, they were just about 5 inches too long for my car... and wouldn't fit.

I decided to avoid that and kept thinking. Then it dawned on me. About a month ago on my way to the trash room, I discovered a baker's rack waiting to be put on the curb. There was nothing wrong with it- it was in excellent condition. Not wanting something useful to be thrown away, I dragged it out of the trash room and back down to my apartment... where it proceeded to sit in front of our coat closest for the last month.

Tonight, the two ideas connected.

So I spent the better part of the early evening hauling everything on the table out to the living room. I then disassembled the table, and dragged it out. I vacuumed, then brought in the baker's rack. I originally thought a good amount of craft items that are currently at home in the living room could be stored here, but after organizing, resorting, and bringing back in the items that were already from the office, there wasn't room for anything new. But the result is already dramatic. The room seems more open--even lighter--without the large table in the way. And things seem slightly more organized-- for the moment. (The table will be going to storage to stay until we get a house... hopefully someday soon.)

But I think besides getting a clean apartment, being lonely helps me remember why I married my husband. Too often we let life get in the way. Our day jobs monopolize our time, and I get on such a bent to still have rewarding experiences outside of work that I too often fill up my spare time with other activities. Which isn't a bad thing -- just I've filled my plate a little too much. (My eyes are bigger than my stomach, as my grandmother would say.)

If anything, I think time apart makes us appreciate each other more. I've been pretty stressed out and pulled in too many directions for the last seven months. And in return, Rob has been very stressed with his job, too. We kinda got in the routine of living, but not really enjoying or living in the sense that we should.

Now I feel that when Rob comes home, I'll listen more closely and smile a lot more.