Focus On Life 52 Weeks~ Week 9~ Knock Knock

A door opened and I went through it. ~Temple Grandin

Sally's prompt for us this week-

"Let's open some doors to see what awaits us on the other side.

Is it a door that holds opportunity?

A door that holds a story?

Is it a door you have been hesitating to open?

Is a gate to a new life?

A door to a new adventure?

Is it a door that holds a memory?

Is it the perfect door for a simple picture?

You have arrived at the door for a reason, open it up and step in!"

I knew it was only a dream

and yet I found myself wanting,

no,  needing 

to step over the threshhold

walk through the archway

see what awaited on the other side

Now I find myself thinking

 Was it really a dream?

Or have I been awake the whole time?

The vision is etched in my memory

haunting

lingering.

Last Sunday, as I was on my way to Baltimore to the ACC show,

I passed what looks like an old cemetary with one wall still standing of a chapel perhaps?

As soon as I saw that doorway, I knew it was the one.

It was raining still at the time so I stopped on my way back home and grabbed a few shots which I then played with in post processing.

Step inside The Studio Sublime to see what everyone else captured this week



Focus On Life 52 Photos ~ Week 8 ~ Monochromatic

 Monochromatic  ~  consisting of one color

Sally's prompt for us this week
Monochromatic photos tell a story, evoke emotion and uncovers the soul with the simple contrast of one color. Monochromatic photos enable the viewer to see a deeper meaning behind what may be concealed by multiple colors.

This week look deeper through the lens to the story your photo captures and then process it to one color! Or be daring and shoot in B&W (monochrome).

 Faded photos.

Edges bent and even torn.

 Lying in a pile of memories

 tucked away in some long forgotten musty cardboard box.

Old friends.

Family gatherings.

 Momentous occasions.

Snippets of a life captured on film

 to be revisited time and again over the years.

 Heartwarming thoughts of times together.

  People and places once visited.

Stories told.

Dreams and secrets shared.

And food.

Hugs and laughter exchanged.

 Old times that take on a dreamlike quality

Living in our memory and our hearts

Forever revived with a simple photograph.



original photo before processing for monochromatic



This past week I had the opportunity to visit with my dear friend Carol and her hubby as they were in the process of cleaning out their other home to be sold.

We enjoyed a wonderful lunch together followed by conversation and laughter back at her home by the fireplace all nice and toasty.

 

Before leaving, I spotted this amazing old school desk that Carol had used to create on and would not be making the trip to their townhouse.

The next day Carol contacted me to come and get the desk, knowing it was going to a good home where it would be loved and appreciated.

 

I wonder how many papers were corrected on this desk,

lessons planned, books and reports piled,

 how many gifts to teacher placed there in the morning,

a shiny apple perhaps, a flower from someones garden?

 

Then all the artwork and jewelry that Carol created sitting at this same desk.

Letters written, books and papers piled.

 

Now handed down to me to carry on the tradition.

Thank you sweet friend.

Hugs.

 

Be sure to visit The Studio Sublime for more monochromatic memories.

Focus On Life 52 Photos - Week 7 ~ The Beauty of Flowers

 The Earth laughs in flowers. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sally's prompt for us this week was~

"A single flower with it's beauty has the ability to lift our spirits and bring a sense of happiness to our souls. The sheer sight of flowers can evoke feelings of excitement, positivity and enhance our well being.

This week take a moment to bring a little happiness to your soul and enhance your well being.

Take a moment to enjoy the beauty of flowers."

 I took these shots right before we left Florida to come home. They are of the purple passion flower vine that we planted along the fence behind our house about 10 months ago.

The vine has spanned the width of our property in that time  and you can tell by the tightness of the tendrils, it is a serious climber!

The blooms remind me of some underwater sea creature, as if it could just swim right away into that deep blue sky there.

I want you to know that these are not post processed in any way other than applying a frame to them and this first one is slightly cropped. The colors are that vivid.

 The outermost petals remind me a little of an upside down water lily.

Seeing as how we are having a very cold rain right now which is supposed to turn to sleet and snow as the day and night wear on, the sight of these flowers and that beautiful blue sky really do brighten my day today!

Go enjoy a walk through the virtual garden at The Studio Sublime and see what everyone has picked this week!

Focus On Life 52 Photos - Week 6 ~ Feel The Love

Well, believe it or not it is already week 6 of Sally Russick's challenge to Focus on Life 52 weeks in photos and for this week Sally told us-

"Since love is in the air in February,

this week keep your heart open, breath in the air and feel the love, then capture it in a photo.

Feel the love that the universe is trying to show us everyday!"

 Ray and I left our place in Florida Tuesday morning and traveled straight through to get to these hugs and smiles impatiently awaiting us! Our daughter invited us to stop over to their house for dinner on our way home knowing we would be exhausted from the 13 1/2 hour trip , and she was right.

But as soon as we arrived at the door, we could hear our names being called " NANNY, POP-POP" and we were greeted with the best running and jumping hugs and kisses to revive us!

Thankfully, I had my little point and shoot in my purse and grabbed these shots.

This is just the best! It made leaving the 80* temps and sunshine to come home to the 30*'s and dreary gray a lot more bearable!

When we got to our house, as soon as we opened the porch door we were greeted again with lots of love!

Our cat Lunabelle is 11 1/2 yrs old so she stayed home in the care of our son while we were away and she has barely left our side since getting home.

In this shot she was sitting on the arm of my husband's chair but she wouldn't let my hand leave her, as I rubbed her neck she leaned further and further following my hand.

I got to feel the love a lot this week, in the pictures above but also in the goodbye hugs from my loving parents when we left Florida and then with our son and family and friends as we celebrated his 24th birthday with margaritas, mexican food and lots of chatter and laughter at a local restaurant and then back at his new place. 

I would like to end this post with a wish for the safety and well being of all of those in the path of this winter storm Nemo. We were fortunate to just receive several inches of rain and lots of wind and cold temps but I know those to the north of us have received much worse.

I hope you are all warm and safe and feeling the love!

Head on over and maybe even decide to join in the challenge, the year is young, at The Studio Sublime and feel the love!

Focus On Life 52 Photos - Week 5 ~ Capture A Heart

First of all, I would like to thank everyone for all of their heartfelt comments over the first 4 weeks of these prompts. I am diligently working my way through all of the posts that I have missed and commenting on each one as I think that is one of the best parts of being in a hop like this, getting to  know everyone on a deeper level, taking the time to really connect ( remember my word for the year?) I find there is so much more to be gained by doing so than simply fullfilling my prompt for the week.

I have also begun to respond to comments left here on this blog in the comment section as there are quite a few that come through as noreply comment @ blogger so you can read my responses right here instead of individual emails.

Now on to week 5, can it really be 5 weeks already???

 Sally's prompt for week 5 in her own words-

"Have you ever taken a moment to notice all the hearts that come into your life everyday? From candy hearts, patterns on clothes, a paper heart you make yourself or heart shaped spirals made from the ornate rod iron fencing that you may or may not have ever noticed on your walk around the neighborhood, hearts are hidding everywhere. This week pay attention to your surroundings, think outside the box and capture a heart! "

It is strawberry season in Florida where we are still visiting and something I love to do is make strawberry jam when they are at their peak of freshness.

Part of my word for the year to reconnect is to reconnect with ALL  things I love and canning is one of them and something I had gotten away from save for a few batches of jam here or there each year.

As I was hulling the strawberries for a batch this week, I pulled back the green leaves and was getting ready to cut when the sight of this heart stopped me in my tracks!

 So this is my found heart for this week.

You can click here to go see how everyone else captured a heart this week!

A lot of people who have never made homemade jam shy away thinking it is a lot of work but it is really very simple and very gratifying.

I personally use Sure Jell and Certo in my recipes and before the holidays discovered that if you go to www.kraftrecipes.com

and type sure jell or certo in the search box, no less than 179 recipes pop up.

I have since made the Banana Nut Bread Jam,    Banana Butter,  Holiday Fruit and Nut Jam,

Chocolate Raspberry Spread,   Wine Jelly,   Strawberry Pineapple,    Pineapple Jam, & Cherry Almond  all of which have gotten rave reviews.

 It doesn't take a lot of fancy equipment and supplies to make jam.

Start with firm fresh fruit when possible. For strawberries, wash and hull and drain in a colander. 

I use a blender but depending how fine you like the fruit in your jam, you can even just crush the fruit by hand. I like mine smooth with tiny bits of fruit, not large pieces.

Measure fruit and sugar, for this recipe it takes 5 cups of pureed fruit and 7 cups of sugar. I also made the lower sugar version which takes 6 cups of fruit and 4 cups of sugar.

 Dump the fruit in the stock pot, add a tablespoon of butter to reduce foaming, dump one box of sure jell in, stir and put on medium heat, stirring constantly until it starts to boil which only takes a couple of minutes.

 When it hits a boil, dump all the sugar in and stir rapidly to prevent scorching and continue to stir until it reaches a full rolling boil again. Stir for one full minute and then remove from heat.

Now what I haven't shown you here is that I have washed my jelly jars and placed them in a pan in the oven on 200* to stay hot until i am ready to fill them.  I also have a small pot of water on the stove  which when it came to a boil I turned the burner off and put the jar lids and bands in to sit until ready to use. I also have my pressure canner pot ( just because it is the largest one I have here, but you can even use another stock pot) filled with water on a simmer until ready on the back burner.

And since it is a rather quick process at this point, i don't have a photo of the funnel and filling the jars, but you just take your jars out of the oven and using the funnel, one by one fill the jars with the hot jam to within an 1/8" of the top, place a flat lid and a band on each jar, hand tighten and place in the water bath in your large pot.  Make sure the water is covering the tops of the jars by an inch or 2.

 Bring water to a boil and boil for 10 minutes, ( no lid) then remove jars and let cool on the counter.

As they cool you will hear the satisfying "POP" of the lids as they vacuum seal down.

The process is pretty much the same for each jam recipe, any variances will be in the ingredients.

It may seem complicated but the whole process only takes about a 1/2 hour start to finish ( once the fruit is hulled) I actually prefer to make several batches, even different ones once I have everything out and going. While the batch is in the water bath I clean up and gather the ingredients for the next batch and start over.

It is a great activity to do with kids as it goes quickly and they have something very tangible to enjoy at the end and feel a great sense of accomplishment.

 Shown L-R, strawberry pineapple,  regular strawberry and low sugar strawberry. You can tell the low sugar version is much more fruit dense and less sugar.

 This however is the full sugar version :) on a piece of sourdough toast

But the sweetest thing of all was being able to spend the time with my Mom in the kitchen, working together we made 6 batches in 4 hours.

Love you Mom.



Focus On Life 52 Photos - Week 4 ~ Create Art

The Prompt Sally gave us for week 4 of focus on life 52 photos was "create art"

in Sally's own words-

This week let's CREATE ART! There is no wrong way to be creative! Immerse your self in what you already love to make or take this prompt as the little push to try something completely new! Then show us! 

I decided to go with something completely new. Thanks for the push Sally!



Last Saturday I headed out for St.Pete to check another thing off my bucket list.

Anyone who knows me is well aware of the love affair I have with glass, especially stained glass.

I have in my studio most of the tools required to create stained glass and had fully intended to muddle through on my own to learn the craft, something I have wanted to learn for a VERY long time now, but I am so much better with a little show and tell, so I signed up for a beginner's series of classes at

Grand Central Stained Glass and Graphics.

 Pictured here L-R are the owners, Bradley and Eloyne Erickson,

along with Christi and Dawn, all of whom are glass and jewelry artists and instructors in the studio.  Bradley also operates the fine art graphics end of the business in the adjoining studio space. ( another artist, Ragon is missing from the photo but was  a great help getting me settled in and picking out my glass  in the morning)

My hat is off to all of you for creating such a welcoming atmosphere so conducive to learning and for having the patience to share your wealth of knowledge and skills to make my experience in the class a success.

The studio itself is huge and filled with the most amazing natural light, large worktables at the perfect working height for glass, fantastic music streaming from Pandora and all the supplies and beautiful glass neatly organized around the room, not to mention all the finished works of art hanging in the front windows for inspiration.



 The classes are set up in convenient 2 hour sessions with an hour break in between and so I opted to take all 3 sessions offered on Saturday to save travel time and get as much done as I could since I was short on time.

Each session brought with it a new group of participants at all different stages of working, some beginners like me in each session and others coming in for studio time to work on individual projects of varying degrees, both in stained and fused glass.

One of my tablemates was an ambitious young man working on only his second project of which he chose to recreate his family's crest in glass as a gift for his Father.

I shared with him one of my favorite sayings

 "Anything worth doing is worth overdoing"

 I on the other hand was very grateful once I got started to be working on a suncatcher of manageable size and design for a beginner.  Step by step, each of the instructors guided me and taught me the skills I would need to go on from here and I feel very confident in being able to take what I learned and tackle a more ambitious project myself now too.

Clockwise from top left- all the pieces of glass, cut and fit to the pattern layout, copper taped, initial tacking and soldering to stabilize the piece on both sides and then the final soldering on each side and framed in zinc.

 Bradley was kind enough to send me a copy of the picture he took of me  (which I altered) with my completed piece which he had posted on their facebook page here.

 I couldn't possibly go to St Pete and not stop in and see my dear friend Barbara, her studio and shop, Painting With Fire,  is right across the street from Grand Central Stained Glass and is actually how I originally found it. I was visiting Barbara and Jim last year this time when they were busy with all the renovations and getting ready to open her studio.

As you can tell,I snuck in during my break and surprised her as she was luring some more interested students to the dark side! I had really hoped to visit with her longer but her schedule was pretty full so I'll just have to take another trip out there, go ahead, twist my arm!

The street where all of this is located is Central Avenue and it is an historic district full of wonderful studios and shops and eateries and I would love to wander along when I have more time and see more of the area.





I did manage to squeeze in a delicious lunch at Nitally's Thai Mex Cuisine, right down the street from the studio, some Pad Thai with shrimp and iced tea which arrived in a quart canning jar.  I can't even remember a time when I went to a restaurant alone so that is another new thing for me but it was nice. The restaurant was filled with interesting things to look at and was decorated very bright and cheerfully. I would enjoy coming back here as well, maybe with some friends next time.

Now hop on over to the Studio Sublime and see what everyone else created this week!

Focus on Life 52 Photos - Week 3 ~ Take Time

Week 3 of this journey of focusing on our life, one week at a time, one photo at a time and our prompt was "take time".

Sally said " take time for you, without feeling guilty, time to recharge"

That just happened to be what I was doing this past week.
My husband and I were on a long awaited vacation in the Keys and as you can tell by this photo, I was recharging and not feeling one iota of guilt about it!
The temps were in the mid 80's, sunshine, crystal aqua blue waters. Perfection!

I enjoyed walking around during the day taking lots of photos of the colorful houses and buildings in Key West, seeing the historic sites, all the wonderful artwork and riding the trolley.
Then at night I enjoyed the colorful sights again, all the cool bars, hot music, cold drinks and walking down Duval street, drink in hand not feeling guilty again because I was walking and my children are all grown and on their own!
It felt wonderful to just be a couple in love,
 not parents, grandparents, business owners or any of the other responsible hats we wear.

Why is it these times for ourselves are so few and far between?
No matter how many times we resolve to hold onto these times we so often find ourselves right back in our everyday ruts, caught up in work and responsibility and all the "shoulds" in life.
You know I live right by a beautiful beach and never made it there once this past summer!

Thank you Sally for reminding us of the importance of focusing on time for ourselves.
Head on over to the Studio Sublime to see how everyone else took time this week.