Amanda's photography blog...

Go to: http://lovelikethisphotography.blogspot.com/ and take a look! You'll love what you see there. My girlie is amazing!

GRAPES!!!

Ever since Dick planted the vineyard in 2001 while he was having chemo treatments, we have anxiously awaited the ripening of our beautiful grapes. Some years have been sorely disappointing. There is a lot more to raising grapes than one would think! We've made our share of mistakes and paid dearly for them -- no grapes! -- or at least, very few.

This year promises to be a great grape year! Our first grapes arrived in the kitchen yesterday! They are a-m-a-z-i-n-g! God is such an amazing Creator!

The closer we get to fall (my FAVORITE season, hands down), the more the grapes will be ripening ...then it's time to make grapejuice, grape jelly, grape pies!!! YUM!

If you're wondering... (which I doubt) these pics were taken with my little "point 'n' shoot" for lack of enough light for the 85mm.

The grapes pictured here are seedless Vernessa's. YUM! The only ones that aren't sweet are the ones that aren't red at all. Even if there's just a tiny bit of red on them, they're yummy delicious!

Liza

My favorite cousin, Carolyn, has found a new hobby... she "adopts" porcelain dolls at thrift shoppes to give them new homes -- where they'll be loved and cherished. BUT... it has to be the PERFECT home! She's very picky about the new homes she finds for her babies.

A couple of weeks ago, I was visiting her when she shared her new hobby with me. What I didn't know was that she was actually looking for a new home for "someone." She showed me each baby one at a time. They were all very nice, but when she brought me this one, I fell in love... just the way that she has her head tilted to one side like she's listening won my heart. I began immediately to chat with her. "Oh, no! Were you upstairs all by yourself? I'm so sorry! It must be terribly lonely up there all alone!"

Carolyn immediately saw the bond between us and asked me if I'd like to adopt her. I was delighted! Long story short -- Liza now spends her days (and nights) on top of my dresser. She's a beauty! Just look at the way she tilts her little head. *sigh* She seldom ever moves. She's so easy to care for! However, her first night here, I heard a faint whimpering and when I checked, I found it was Liza. She said she missed her mama. I told her it wouldn't be long before her mama would visit her. She calmed right down.

This is Liza... in her new home. I'm so thankful for my little Liza!

Sebastian

We have some interesting neighbors (to state it mildly). The most interesting, however, is Sebastian. Well, actually, he thinks we're his neighbors... he tells his friends that he lives in the center of the village in a park-like setting. I'm convinced that he thinks this is his yard, not his neighbor's yard. He's SO cute. He talks to us like we're cats. I thought of putting "like he's human" but that just wouldn't be right. After all, HE is the important one here.

This is Sebastian -- hard to capture in a picture because he's SO active! He's just doing what comes naturally... WATCHING. He's the resident WATCHCAT of our property -- oh, wait! It's his property -- he'll be SURE you know that!

I wish I had pictures to add to THIS story, but alas, I was not blogging when this happened...

Earlier this year, probably late Spring when we were finishing up the final "redecorating project" of the year, Dick had draped drop cloths everywhere ... over the picnic tables, over chairs, etc., in the yard. Sebastian wandered over (his yard, remember) to the drapings and commented, "Oh look! My gardener has made me a new tent! How kind of him!" He poked his head into every little nook he could find amongst those drapings. I'm actually surprised he didn't find one of his little "girlie" friends and invite her over to visit his new "house."

Another time, he just paraded right up to me while weeding (I was doing the weeding -- that's one thing HE doesn't do... we're his gardeners, after all), rubbed his beautiful face on mine and proceeded to walk right into the garden of teensy weensy plants that I was weeding. I scolded him! He gave me a look that would kill and said, "MEOW!" and went on home.

He's such a character! I'm saddened to learn that he will be moving out at the end of August. He's been a good neighbor... one who doesn't cause any trouble... except, possibly, for the fact that he considers all the beautiful gardens in the yard his personal litter boxes. *sigh*

My newest "place"

This morning, I decided to try out the newest place in the "yard" for quiet time -- very quiet -- very nice. It's the side porch just recently completed by the resident master carpenter :) He's a pretty amazing, multi-talented, ambitious man... and I love him.

From my journal I read, "We are made for God and nothing else will truly satisfy us." (THE FATHER'S HEARTBEAT by Brennan Manning, p. 19)

This is the view off the south side of the porch -- 7:00 a.m. -- isn't God just SO good?


This is the view off the west side of the porch. My master gardener has, with the help of The Creator, made a little nest for me. :)

First tutorial homework

I did the lessons on aperture & ISO last night here. I'm just now posting those. It's been a busy day. I'm loving playing with the camera but had NO time today. I felt terribly guilty for leaving the house to deteriorate while playing with the camera so had to do some catching up. That done, I'm on my way to more studying.

Here are some pics I took last night (way too late for good light, I might add). I had to change the ISO to make up for for the lack of light. It worked out pretty well.

This pic was taken with an 85mm lens set at f/1.4. Sort of gives the innocent bystander the impression that we live in the tropics in the middle of a rain forest. :)

Same lens... f/22. Now this is a little more realistic... one might actually think I was living in suburbia (another lie). We're actually right smack dab in the center of a little village. .9 acres of beautifully landscaped lushness (a word my daughter might use), thanks to my ambitious husband.

Tomorrow... well, tomorrow, I'm not really sure what I'll do with tomorrow. Time will tell.

I was told by my most personal photography instructor that the reason the pics below are so dark is because I need to learn how to tell the camera to OVEREXPOSE. She's going to teach me that one and then you'll see a couple of "corrected" similar pics taken at a similar time of day/night. :)

first assignment -- from Amanda

These are the first pics I took -- playing with Amanda's 85 mm lens at f 2.8 -- just to see what I could do... prior to any knowledge of WHY, WHAT, HOW, etc.

Waddaya think? Let me know.

fun, fun, fun

For the past week or so, I've had a privilege not many get... that of using an awesome camera that doesn't belong to me! I am SO excited about the opportunity to learn more about taking pictures. Maybe I'll even learn to post some of them along with comments about what I've learned -- mostly for Amanda. She's a doll to teach me and send me to websites where I can learn so much. More another day -- for now -- back to learning. Love that learning!