Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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Thank You, Photos, a Camera & a Winner

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I’ve read every heartfelt comment on my last blog post. Several times. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. I say ‘us’ because I know many of you read all the comments, just as I do. This particular conversation has been wonderfully enlightening and I love it when that happens.

I posted a photo very much like this one on my photo blog, Through a Lens Daily, yesterday. On a very misty, foggy morning earlier this week, I saw little drops of water on all the wild roses. It was a great opportunity to see what I could capture with my camera.

My intention with that blog was to post a new photo each day. And I did that for several months. Then Old Man Winter came and with it lots of photos of snow. Eventually, I just couldn’t post one more gray, wintry photo. So I lost my daily rhythm. I happy to say it’s coming back.

I really love photography. My camera, a Canon PowerShot SX10 IS, is doing a very good job so far and I love her but she has her limitations. Buying a new DSLR with the option to change lenses is not in the cards at this point. I wonder if looking into a used Canon Rebel might be something I should think about? Maybe there is someone out there who has moved up to another camera level and would be willing to sell the older model. Any thoughts or recommendations as to where to look?

Now I feel guilty. About my current camera. Do you ever endow inanimate objects with human qualities? I do. So I need to tell my camera that I love her and I will always hang on to her, even if I have another camera some day. She could have a sister! Now wouldn’t that be fun?

A few more photos:

The hyacinth in full bloom. I wonder how it survived the torrential rains we had last night?

Another shot of my very quick and elusive friend, Mr. Cardinal. It was captured by taking an endless amount of photos from a great distance. This guy likes to move.

Finally, I used the Random Generator to pick the winner of a copy of The Kitchen Daughter.

Congratulations, number 29 – Sherry of Creatology! Sherry, send me an email with your address and I’ll forward it on to TLC Book Tours. They’ll send it to the publisher who will mail the book directly to you.

Have a great Sunday everyone. I’m going to work outside on this windy day. I have a lot to do and I leave for Wisconsin exactly two weeks from today.

Playing With Camera Settings

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Achy muscles today from the shoveling extravaganza on Monday. The snow is beautiful but I would prefer a gentle dusting of snow in the future. Just enough to be pretty, but not so much that I must take a day to recover after shoveling it. Please take note, Mother Nature.

I’m playing with the manual settings on my camera – tiptoeing into apertures, shutter speeds and ISO. Though I know the basics, more often than not I rely on the auto setting. If I want a camera upgrade, I figure I should expand my knowledge and capabilities as much as I can with this camera first.

This is the tiniest ornament I own – I’ve had it for years. I’d guess it’s about an inch high.

Playing a little with focus and depth of field.

I just like this one.

Experimenting with White Balance – one version,

And another.

I’ve challenged myself this next year to take more risks and keep learning new things. These are the books that Don gave me for Christmas:

I’m having fun. And I’m not shoveling.

The Day after Christmas

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Happy Boxing Day! I hope you all had a wondrous holiday. We made a special dinner on Christmas Eve and watched The Christmas Story. Love that movie. Christmas Day was lovely; we exchanged gifts in the morning after eating some of my Annual Christmas Coffee Cake. I only make it once a year. It is the best coffee cake I’ve ever had and I guard the recipe with my life. Later on in the afternoon we went over to Heidi’s for dinner. We always have a fun time with them and yesterday was no exception. Now that I’ve given Heidi and her daughters their presents, I’ll show you Obsession Scarves #3, 4 and 5.

I think they were a hit. They sure are a lot of fun to make. Heidi gave me the largest vintage pin cushion I’ve ever seen. I took a photo of it next to one Betty made. And Betty’s isn’t small.

The red fabric is sateen-like and the felt leaves are beautifully faded.

Among my presents from Don are 2 books on photography that I wanted. I’ll share more about them in another post. I have grown to love photography so much and I want to learn more about aperture and f-stops and ISO and all of those things that can be very intimidating. Hopefully, I will be more skilled by the time I save up for a new camera. By the way, I keep getting emails like this from B&H:

See the bottom row? The one I want is on the right. I tell you, B&H has somehow read my thoughts. They are taunting me once again.

I ran out to the store this morning to stock up on provisions. We are just about to be pounded with a major snow storm. In fact, as I write this, the snow has begun. It’s blowing sideways. The amount predicted keeps changing, but we are in for at least a foot or more. We’re hunkering down. Tomorrow looks to be a day of shoveling. And more shoveling. Wish us luck!

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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