Monthly Archives: January 2017

Mystery Picture…

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What could this be ?  Fireworks?  Flowers?  Alien space flares? Fire?

None of the above.  It’s a shot I captured off my computer of the rain soaked webcam at the Mansion House hotel in Vineyard Haven on Martha’s Vineyard.

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Weekly Challenge: Graceful…

The prompt this week is to share something graceful and I can’t think of anything more graceful than our beautiful American flag blowing in a gentle breeze.

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https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/graceful/


Weekly Challenge: Ambience…

One definition of ambience is…noun 1.the atmosphere of a place.

I like the ambience created by this chandelier and three wall sconces.

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I simply like this picture, it seems serene.

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https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/ambience/


Real Life and Painting…

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Thomas Edison National Historical Park – West Orange, New Jersey

Photograph taken standing in the same spot that the painting was painted from.


Quiet

Our post-holiday hibernation has begun.

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On New Year’s Eve we went to a beautiful wedding – our dear friends Heather and Terry. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more beautiful wedding. I also cannot conceive of a better way to have ushered out the old year. Maddie and John were there with us, and afterward we waited for midnight and welcomed 2017 (and let’s be honest, told 2016 to go f*ck itself) with our friends the Stowells.

The next day I took down the tree and hauled it out to the flock to snack on.  It was a bit of a wet and muddy start to the year, and though I’m out making sure the shelters are dry for them, it’s just been too gross out to do much more with them lately. It’s likely too early to be able to check for any kind of udder development, and they’re not too keen on being chased around anyway.

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I am enjoying the winter light, though, and the cozy feeling inside.  This time of year all I want to do is bake bread, and in the interest of hygge and making winter enjoyable for everyone, I’ve been doing just that as much as I can.

We also decided to make Orzo a house dog. He simply could not be contained on our property, and hasn’t seemed to taken to the guarding life. He’s more of a chaser – which is great if you have tons of acreage and another dog or two to stay with the flock . We simply don’t have the land for that, and he never seemed happy out there. So, we cleaned him up and brought him in, and though I think he’d still rather be outside roaming, he has adjusted to being an indoor pet, and is for the most part very chill.

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He’s filled in right where Cini left off. He loves the cats and they love him. He and Pippa get along just fine. He’s also mostly adjusted to being walked on a leash.

Except.

Except that we got a few inches of snow this week. Just enough to be a light covering, melt slightly, and refreeze into ice. When I took him out the other night, as usual, I brought a heavy maglight  flashlight and let him do his business. On the way back in, I started up the stairs to the back deck, and he…didn’t. He pulled to my left, away from the deck, and I slipped on the icy steps, and fell into the shed and bannister. My ring finger got caught and smashed under the weight of me plus the maglight. And broke.

So that was fun! I’m in a splint for 4-6 weeks while it heals. Paul’s been on Orzo walk duty since, and Orzo’s made himself snuggly for me in the meantime.

And yes! I did mention snow!

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Not much, just a couple of inches. Still, enough to be lovely.

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As for Sabine, she doesn’t seem fazed at all that Orzo isn’t out there with her. She’s always slept among the sheep and stood guard, even when Orzo beckoned her to play.  She is a true guard dog, and bonded to her flock. And she loooooooves the snow! When it was falling she was rolling around in it and looking quite pleased. Given the choice between her shelter and the snow, she’ll take the snow, every time. Hopefully this won’t be the extent of our winter weather this year!


Tagged: Farm, Pets

What is Saving My Product Photos

Last week, I posted on the Tiny Dino Studios facebook page about playing with my foldio, and I got a bunch of questions about how I liked it. Before this past week, I’d only used the foldio a handful of times, and mostly with my phone. And after that, I’d never taken the time to edit the photos, but holy smokes you guys, the little light box thing is totally worth it!

Mocha Morning Soap

Here is one of the new product photos I took last week using the foldio. It’s not perfect, but it is light years ahead of the photo of the same product I took a few weeks before that on my desk using the window for light.

See the difference?

Box of Chocolates Special Edition Valentine’s Day Soap

Here’s another soap that just finished curing. It’s scented with chocolate and lavender, colored with cocoa and red oxide.

Good Vibes Soap with poppy seed swirl and calendula petals

This is brand new, and has a couple weeks left on the curing shelf. I call it Good Vibes because it’s a very earthy, fresh, relaxing essential oil blend of sandalwood, eucalyptus and patchouli. I also adore how the poppy seed swirl turned out.

I’m not the most composition-minded photographer out there–and I call myself photographer in the sense that I hit the shutter on my little canon power shot and a photo results–but I’m really glad I have my foldio. While there are some of my photos where I couldn’t edit around bad composition (see below), it’s not the foldio’s fault I barely pay attention to whether my shot is in focus. It’s designed to photograph small things. That’s why it’s only ten inches wide.

See how you can see the edge of my back drop and the sides of the light box? The soap is true though!

With a little conscious effort on my part, I can really improve my product photography with the help of my little light box. So, while this is what I have, I’m going to say that any light box will help.

I’m going to keep practicing my photography, focusing on getting more usable pics out of each photo session, and paying more attention to how I line things up. But editing photos this time around was so much less frustrating than usual. Hooray!

Weekly Challenge: Names…

The prompt: This week, share a photo that includes a name. When you stop and look around, you realize that we’re surrounded by names: street signs, name tags, vanity license plates, boat names, brand names, the spines of the books on your shelf… there are possibilities everywhere.

Look for something esoteric, or keep it close to home with a photo of a building that’s important to you or of your favorite person wearing a monogrammed sweater. Whatever you choose, make sure we can read the name!

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The ferry Martha’s Vineyard which travels back and forth from Martha’s Vineyard to Woods Hole, MA.  I love these ships as they’ve taken me all my life to my favorite place.

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https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/names/


32

On my 32nd birthday, I am three days into a huge life transition. Having given up my day job to stay home with my kids, I am excited and nervous and full of plans. But really, when am I not full of plans?

The first day I stayed home, I did all of the things. We cleaned for a couple of hours (I gave Felix a duster and he “helped.”) Then we did yoga–I give Felix his own mat and he joins me when he feels like it. I managed to squeeze a shower in there and we ran some errands followed by lunch and a trip to the Chick-Fil-A play place. Then it was home for a nap, miraculously both kids slept at once and I got some photos taken before it was time to push burgers and beer at the new job. And when the night was slow and I got off an hour early, I treated myself to a glass of wine and got some writing done at the bar and got home at my usual time. I was so proud of myself.

Then Rufus woke up constantly all night long, because he was hungry, because he was cold, and I got barely any sleep. Brock worked from home for an hour or so, letting me sleep in. Then I woke up, drank all of the coffee, and decided I was going to take it easier, because the whole not having two jobs meant I wasn’t supposed to have to work myself to exhaustion.

I’ve been puzzling over how I’m going to do everything I want to get done this year. I have a few very broad goals, but each of them come with pretty hefty to-do lists.

1. Be there for my kids and husband
2. Get back into shape after all of the pregnancies.
3. Get First Novel out for submissions, then write Second Novel and Third Novel (both started)
4. Make Tiny Dino SoapWorks successful.

All of these things have various working parts that could each be their own full-time job, and my current schedule is just too new for me to know how it will all work together. My first goal is to find a rhythm that allows me to do some housecleaning, hang out with my kids, write, make some bath and body stuff, work and do everything else–maybe not all in one day, but perhaps some sort of rotating schedule. Most importantly, I need to give myself more than a couple of days to figure it out.

While I find I am pretty much incapable of doing nothing, today and through the weekend, I plan to do my best. I’ll hit a couple of cleaning project, maybe strain and grate some beeswax. (I get my beeswax from a local apiary, and it’s about one step above raw. Not quite ready to go into finished product as is.) I’ll definitely write everyday, because I can’t not, but slowing down and resting up seems like a good way to start a year where I have some pretty big goals to hit.

Favorites Of 2016…

I haven’t done a year in review in a few years so there’s no time like the present to do one.  Please click on month and title to read post.

January – NYC Matinee Day (CLICK HERE) img_2037

February – Newark, NJ Banks (CLICK HERE) 5fb2020c619e78475a20e81e30185d16

April – Beloved Chappy (CLICK HERE)

2001 – 2016

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May – Newport, Rhode Island (CLICK HERE) pizap-com14834898860911
June – Newport cont’d (CLICK HERE)

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September – Remembering Sep 11th (CLICK HERE)
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October – Newark, NJ Museum (CLICK HERE) img_3203

December – Christmas 1966 (CLICK HERE) imageedit_4_4398996591

And there’s some of 2016 in review.  Onward now to 2017 and the 10th year for MV Obsession.

 

 


Grey Of January…

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