Day 25 - Finally!

Ok, so where I am in PA, we've gotten made 1 inch of snow. Total. And it's almost February!! So my Mom called me yesterday morning to tell me to look outside. There was nothing over us on the radar and we weren't supposed to get any snow but we did!!! Just a dusting, really, it didn't even fully cover the ground, but it was enough to dash around taking pictures.

My landlady had a blanket hanging out on the line and it looked really neat, all snowy. I thought the deep color really brought out the snow. Enjoy!

From Inside the lens

Blessings!

Day 24- At the carwash!

So since it was in the 40s yesterday, Mom and Daddy took their cars to get cleaned. I went with Mom and as we were sitting in the automatic wash it dawned on me to take a picture. Fortunately she had her little point-and-shoot digital with her (thanks, Mom!) This is looking out the passenger side window and the one wheel thing (it has a name, I'm sure) passed by. I really expected it to be blurry, but it came out great!!

From Inside the lens

Blessings!

Day 23 - Thomas Edison, take a bow

Another two photo post for a then/now effect (anyone else thinking of that scene from Spaceballs?)

A pair of oil lamps:

From Inside the lens

And Mr. Edison's famous invention:

From Inside the lens

Elec-tricity, E-lec-tri-city! (School House Rock reference, for those of you playing along at home *L*)

Blessings!

Day 22- Not quite washboard abs

This is a two photo post, to show what we used to use for washing clothes, and how we do it now :)

First: an old washboard and a copper tub

From Inside the lens

And now, my Mom's washer and dryer (hers look waaaaay better than mine!)

From Inside the lens

Gee... which to use for my next load of laundry! *LOL*

Blessings!

Day 21 - Pumping iron

My Mom has two antique irons and I thought it would be interesting to pair them with a modern day iron. And let me tell you... that little iron on the left? That's heavier than any of them! Glad we've progressed to something lighter, that's for sure!!

From Inside the lens

Blessings!

Day 20 - Progress

So the picture has to do with technology. My parents are now the proud owners of a Prius and it's a slick little thing!!

From Inside the lens

On the side of progress... today Barack Obama was sworn in as our 44th President. I was moved to tears several times during his swearing in and his speech. Really, I can't describe how I felt or what I experienced, because words fall painfully short. All I know is that it's a brand new day for the USofA. I look forward to the next 4 years with much anticipation... I think it will be quite a journey back from the place we are in now. In the words of Doctor Who: "Allonsy!"

Blessings!

Day 19 - Cooking with gas

Title pretty much sums it up :) Taken with my 18-55mm lens, no flash. I was very pleased with how this came out. I turned on one of the burners on my Mom's stove and managed to get a few good shots in. I am certain that I was born in the right century, as much as I love the Regency era and Colonial times. I like being able to buy my meat pre-dead and have the ability to cook by turning a dial on a stove!

From Inside the lens

On a side note, can I just say how excited I am about tomorrow's Inauguration? We're fairly close to D.C., but I still have to work and the sheer volume of people who will be there is a big enough deterrent to keep me in the area. Can't wait to watch it all on my DVR when I get home from work :)

Blessings!!

Day 18 - Picture in Picture

My theme this week is "technology", so I thought it appropriate to start with a picture of a picture! This is a pic (although you can't see it very well, it's an awesome shot) of the screen of my Dad's Nikon D50. It's of a red bloom off of my mom's hibiscus plant. Camera's have come a long, long way over the years!!

From Inside the lens

Blessings!

YAHOOOOOO!!!!!!

this has NOTHING to do with Photo365, and I will post my pic o' the day tomorrow.... but I just had to post:

THE STEELERS ARE GOING TO THE SUPERBOWL!!!!!

Day 17 - Frothy goodness

I made myself a peppermintini the other night, only instead of just the mixer and vodka, I added creme de cacao and used heavy whipping cream (I had just a little left in a small carton and I had to use it before it soured). Shook it up in my martini shaker and poured it out. Boy was it tasty! And nicely frothy, so I grabbed the camera and snapped the picture (of course I had to play with the white balance a few times before getting it just right).

From Inside the lens

And since it's the last day of the textures week, I thought I would throw in a few pictures from my trip to the Big Island of Hawai'i last year. These are both of lava from the Place of Refuge (in Hawai'i, known as Pu'uhonua o Honaunau). The first is the impression of a tree that was caught in that particular flow. The second is just a shot of the lava on which I was standing. I was amazed by its texture.

From Inside the lens

From Inside the lens

Blessings!

Day 16 - And there was light

This is the bottom of one of the lights in my kitchen. It used to be in a ship, although I don't know more about it than that (never got the whole story from my landlord). This is looking up at the light from underneath, which I have to say is a horrible angle at which to take a photo *LOL* Just hard to be steady!

From Inside the lens

Blessings!

Day 15 - Remembrance

This is a bit of a sampler that was stitched in 1933 by a lady who used to live in the apartment attached to my Grandmother's house. I forget when Doris passed away, but when my Gram passed away and we were cleaning out the house, we found this and I loved it. I don't remember much of Doris, but apparently she and I were buds when I was a little girl :) The sentiment on the sampler is lovely. Since you can only see a little bit in the picture, here is what it says: "Rememberance is the sweetest flower of all this world's perfuming. Memory guards it sun or shower, friendship keeps it blooming."

From Inside the lens

Blessings

Day 14 - Light one candle

Geez, you miss posting one day, you miss it for the next three!

This is the wick from my hurricane lamp (notice the fuzziness of the metal casing? Yeah... don't get to dust this lamp much *LOL*). I thought the texture was interesting, especially with the red coloring from the oil.

From Inside the lens

Blessings!

Day 13 - Thtuck, thtuck, thtuck!

Ahhhhh, gotta love that scene from A Christmas Story. Anyways, this is a close up shot of an icicle hanging down from the gutter on the house next door. Taken with 18-55mm lens, no flash; cropped in Photoshop Elements.

From Inside the lens

Blessings!

Day 12 - Fuzziness

ok, so I took this yesterday, but whatever :) This is one of the blossoms off of my mother's hibiscus tree. The sun was hitting it just so and I was trying to get the fuzziness of the stamen (pistols?). This was the best out of the ones that I took (with the 18-55mm lens, BTW), and I just cropped that portion of the image (which is HUGE... 3K pixels in one area) and then resized it. LOVE Photoshop :)

From Inside the lens

Blessings!

Oh and thanks to all of you loves for the delightful comments!! I appreciate the compliments and critiques, or just when you leave a little bit of yourself :)

Day 12: I-see textures

ok, tried for a play on words. This week I'm going to take pics of different textures, so this might be a really fun challenge! I figured since we had freezing rain yesterday (yuck) that I would try and incorporate that, since it is pretty on the holly tree :)

From Inside the lens

Blessings!

Day 10 - ME!

Decided to try and take a self-portrait and for fun, did it in black and white mode. Took a few times to get the angle right *L*

From Inside the lens

And because my Mom gave me grief about it this morning (LOVE YOU, MOM!), I had to take a picture of my Ben Roethlisberger ornament and my Jerome Bettis bobble head since I didn't put them in with my other Steelers stuff :) So here they are :

From Inside the lens

Blessings!

Day 9 - Angels we have heard

or seen, in this case :) I love the Willow Tree angels. I wasn't sure what to take a picture of tonight. I was trying to take a pic of some of my favorite movies, but it just wasn't coming out right. I happened to look over at my shelf and the lamp light was hitting the WT figures just right and I had what Smee would call an "apostrophe" (if you haven't seen the movie Hook, stop reading and go rent it. now. seriously. Dustin Hoffman is the best Capt. Hook. EVER.). So here's my inspiration for the day, as taken with my 18-55mm lens and no flash.

From Inside the lens

Oh and just in case y'all wonder, here are the figurines from left to right: Sisters, Angel of Learning, Angel of Summer, and Angel of the Kitchen. I just now realized that I also have the Angel of Affection (she's holding a kitty), but since that wasn't on the shelf when "lightning struck my brain" (another Hook reference. Have you rented it yet??), it didn't get included. Oh well :)

Blessings!

Day 8 - Foo'ball is my life

If you have never seen Bob Nelson's football bit, go to YouTube and do a search for him, but make sure you find the Rodney Dangerfield/Young Comedian's Special version. It. Is. HILARIOUS!!!

So, yeah. Big Steelers fan here. Big. I mean, I love football in general (not so much on the college level, though), but I bleed black and gold :)

From Inside the lens

Blessings!

Day 7 - Cooking something up

and in this case, it was a chocolate cake which I then made a ganache-ish topping with cream and Andes mints. I will be posting pics of that later, because it was just too gorgeous not to photograph. So in case you couldn't tell, I like to cook. Hate to clean it all up, but love to cook and bake, especially for my family and friends. So here is a pic of one of my cookbooks (antique and written in... LOVE it!) and the cake batter in the mixer. Said cake did NOT come from the book featured, but from a box and I'm totally ok with that ;) After that, I had to take a pic of the batter dripping from the beaters because, hello, it's chocolate!!! And soooooo yummy. Both pics taken with my 18-55mm lens, no flash.

From Inside the lens

From Inside the lens

Blessings!

Day 6 - As for me and my house...

we will serve the Lord. Day two in my series to introduce myself. Taken with the 18-55mm lens, no flash.

From Inside the lens

Blessings!

Day 5 - Getting to know me

So for this week I decided to take pics that would reveal a little bit about myself. Today I start with just a few of my favorite books. Left to right: the complete Harry Potter series, including the Tales of Beedle the Bard and the two "textbooks" Rowling published: Fantastical Beasts and Where to Find them, and Quidditch through the Ages. Top to bottom of the stack: Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen, Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes, an antique copy of the complete works of William Shakespeare, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Little Women by Louisa M. Alcott (this version belonged to my maternal Grandmother), the Lord of the Rings triology by J.R.R. Tolkien.

From Inside the lens

So really, that's just a few :) And I highly recommend them all!

Blessings!

Day 4 - Fly away

I confess, this wasn't actually taken today :) I was outside last night in case the sunset was a good shot, and I was playing with the 70-300mm lens when a few flocks of geese flew past. The only problem with that particular lens is that I have to focus manually. It's also a little heavier, so my shots aren't always steady. That being said, I was quite pleased with how this turned out :)

From Inside the lens

Reasons and ramblings

Well maybe not so many ramblings :) I figured I should post what this blog is about before I get too far in. Over at Splitcoast stampers, I found a forum thread about a Photo 365 Challenge. You take a photo a day, use different techniques, vary the subjects, that sort of thing. I'm really looking forward to this, especially since it means I get to play with my new camera :-)

Please be sure to check out the blogs of the other gals who are also playing along with the challenge.
If you're also taking part in the challenge, and you don't see your blog listed, leave the link in a comment and I will happily add you to my list :)

'Til tomorrow!

Day 3 - Close up

A close up of a tree trunk with leaves. I used my 55-200mm lens for this shot.

From First pics with the D60

Catching up - Day 2

Winter Birdbath - taken early on Christmas morning with my 55-200mm lens.

From First pics with the D60

Three days to make up for!

Ok, I swear I'm not far behind, but I might be cheating a little since I'm going to use photos that I took before the new year began :)

Here we go:

Day 1 : Reflections

Taken with my 18-55mm lens

From First pics with the D60