Outside: autumn leaves

Well, autumn is upon us, so that means it's time to wander around outside with the camera...

 reflections

 oak leaves in autumn

oak mix

propeller

Outside: Autumn begins

The first day of fall was officially 22 September. So, the leaves have started to turn in the last week or so. And that means it's time to charge up the camera batteries and put on my shoes and go wander around and enjoy the season. So, here we go:

So, the leaves have started to turn and fall, and the light is more atmospheric, and the insects are getting in their last little bits of activity before it's time to hibernate.

  I also found myself standing in a Target in the last week or so, and picked up cds by The Avett Brothers, fun, Awolnation, and Green Day. It's nice to put on some new music every now and then.

 Apparently I've moved into the 21st century, or I've been dragged there kicking and screaming — so you can check me out on facebook.

Anyway, go outside and enjoy the view : )

Autumn Leaves: more of my favorite maple

Please excuse my brevity and / or lack of posts this week. It is, as perhaps everyone knows, Thanksgiving week here in the States. I have to go procure a frozen turkey, get those last odds & ends for various family dinners that I haven't yet gotten, and then tomorrow I have to make a bunch of food... and then turn around and do it again on Friday. On top of that, by Thursday morning I will have worked 8 days in a row...

I would like to see a nap in my future.

Anyway, these are some more shots of my favorite maple...

Yeah, I took like 60 shots of this tree — hey, it was a cool looking tree.

Anyway, I hope you all have lovely Thanksgivings. Hopefully, there are no food catastrophes or mishaps.

If you enjoy cynicism or sarcasm: read on... otherwise, I am about to be snarky (it's working 8 days in a row with no days off coming up on a series of dinners that is making me neurotic)

This Thanksgiving my inner-cynic is hoping that some of the people on my Dad's side of the family + extended family will have sharpened up on their culinary skills. It's not that I'm a food snob, but if you're going to bring something to what is essentially a potluck, then it should be edible without hassle. When a steak knife with teeth is required to cut your "home-made" apple pie, this is a learning moment. You should feel a little embarrassed looking at the mess in the pie plate. You cannot add extra water to pie crust (whether it's regular or dutch) it just turns into cement.

I'm serious, this has actually happened multiple years in a row: apple pie that cannot be cut with an ordinary knife. And I sit there at the table and wonder how hard it could possibly be to make apple pie. And I say this as someone who has made a number of pies in my day (in fact, I have made apple pies). Because if we can't crack the crust of your pie with a regular knife, how the hell is a fork supposed to tackle this problem once its on my plate? Just ponder this with me for a moment (and laugh). I mean, there is no shame in walking into the grocery store and walking out either with a frozen pie shell or Betty Crocker pie crust mix in a box, and then following the directions. Hell, apple pie filling in a can - have at it.

I'm cynical, but honestly, I don't understand how I'm supposed to appreciate the "hand-made" effort that went into a food item that in the end is inedible, especially when it's apple pie of all things...

And then there's Grandma's new found recipe for "chocolate pie." I wish Grandma would lose the recipe for chocolate pie, or that someone would have the heart to tell her that it's terrible and that in her 70+ years on this planet she has made some excellent food items, but this is not one of them. You know, I like those frozen triangular patties of fish (the ones that come in the blue box) — but I also know they're 'horrible,' and I only buy about 4 boxes of them a year.

You might be thinking — chocolate pie — that sounds fabulous. Sure, it does. I mean, there's like chocolate cream pie, Boston cream pie, chocolate mousse pie, chocolate pudding pie, chocolate cheesecake... but this chocolate pie is none of these things. It's like if you could suck all the fun, taste, and chewy-deliciousness out of a brownie - and then throw that in a pie shell. It barely tastes like chocolate, it isn't chewy, it crumbles apart, and like the aforementioned apple pie - it's a mess to cut.

Every time we have an event and this "chocolate pie" thing appears, I want to run screaming in the other direction.

Don't get me wrong, I have made some terrible food blunders in my day... there was that time when I tried some recipe involving cake mix without making it as cake mix — it was terrible. It has not since re-appeared in my kitchen... So, yes, figuratively, my fingers are crossed that cement-crust apple pie and chocolate pie will not be appearing on Thanksgiving day.

Don't get me wrong, I am being snarky, but man, do I hope Thanksgiving goes off without the same weirdly annoying dessert blunders this year... and in the even that it doesn't, in spite of the fact that I'm working 8 days in a row - I am bringing a pie. All things left to chance, 1 out of 3 desserts will be sliced without turning into a mess and have an edible crust. How do I know this? Because my pie filling comes from a can, and because graham crackers + butter is pretty hard to screw up. When all is said and done, the thing that matters most about a food item is that it tastes good and you enjoyed eating it, without guilt, shame, hassle, or having to use inappropriate utensils to apportion it.

Yes, I am confident in my ability to follow the directions on the can.
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Anyway, on Friday is when I put on Thanksgiving. The menu is as follows:
• turkey
• bread stuffing (bread cubed, craisins, diced apple, onion, celery, sage, parsley, chicken broth)
• pink jello salad (strawberry jello, sour cream, whipped cream, pineapple + coconut)
• cranberry sauce salad (whole cranberry sauce, raspberry jello, diced apple, walnuts)
• Betty Crocker cheesy scalloped potatoes
• Betty Crocker cranberry-orangebread + cream cheese
• Pumpkin pie / cheese cake hybrid (garnished with walnuts) for dessert

Anyway, we'll be eating Turkey for the next week...
Enjoy your Thanksgiving — I hope your food is good and edible, and hassle free.

Autumn Leaves: colorful still

I think these are some shots from Saline. I took a lot of photos, so it's iffy sometimes if I remember where they were.

It's been a busy week so far (yes, I know, it's Tuesday). I spent 2 of the last 3 days coming home from work to then spend my awake time filling orders, printing things, packing them, and finally driving off to the post office just to come home and head for bed. So, my scenery has pretty much been the printer, the other printer, the other printer (is 3 printers really that excessive?), the paper cutter, and my beloved imac.

I just needed a little change of scenery.
That and last night I literally had a dream about getting in bed and trying to fall asleep. I'm sure dreaming about going to sleep is my unconscious mind trying to tell me something...
Who needs sleep?

I'm a glutton though, so if you're looking for something colorful & whimsical, then stop by:

sarahkdesigns | sarahknight | sunshinesight

Sidewalk tourism: my favorite maple

Of all the trees I photographed this fall — this was my favorite maple. It's somewhere in Saline, MI. Of course, I don't live in Saline, and I'm one of those people who is terrible with street names, so, I know where it is, and yet I have no idea where it is...

Anyhow, I was mesmerized by this tree. Standing under it and photographing it was a sublime experience, even if it did happen to be really really cold that day.

I would like to thank Hilary at The Smitten Image : )
for being featured on her blog post: Three Photos and the Posts of the Week
http://thesmittenimage.blogspot.com/2010/11/three-photos-and-posts-of-week.html

Thanks!

Please excuse me if it takes me a day to make rounds with comments. I've been working on a time consuming project this week, complete with a number of "5 hours of sleep" days. I am exhausted. Fortunately, it should be done today (I hope). So, take a nap for me : )

Sidewalk tourism: ginkgo leaves

These are some images of the ginkgo tree I am so very fond of. I wish we had one, they're just such beautiful and interesting trees.

This tree is leafless now, much like most of the rest of the trees in the area. We've had a lot of cold spells lately and some strong winds. It was funny, because I snapped the first shot, and when I was on my way back to my car about an hour later — most of the leaves had fallen to the ground.

I've been planted in front of the computer lately working on projects. It's getting on Christmas shopping season, so I've been working on calendars and Christmas cards. I have calendars up in my Artfire shop: SunshineSight and in both my etsy shops: sarahknight & sarahkdesigns. I encourage you to check them out. I had a fun time picking out the graphics.

I'm happy to be done with my latest batch of projects and to just get to veg in front of the tv. I hope your fall is a relaxing one.

Autumn Leaves: carpet of leaves

I've been super busy with projects this week... I look forward to being able to just sit down and relax, preferably in front of some episodes of CSI:NY or Fringe or Bones.

Anyway, autumn is omnipresent, and we've had our first frost recently. This first shot with the carpet of ginkgo leaves — they were actually covered with frost when I took the picture.

It's always interesting when the leaves appear to represent all the colors of the rainbow.

Sidewalk compositions are just artful sometimes : )

Hopefully you're enjoying your autumn & keeping warm.

Sidewalk tourism: heirloom pumpkins

I rarely plan whether or not I'm going to go out and take pictures. Usually, it just happens. So, the following pictures came from an instance of serendipity. I had a package to ship, and just decided to park the car and go wander around and take pictures. There's actually a ginkgo tree in town, which is like the only ginkgo tree in town, so I like to wander past it. I suppose, technically, I am stalking this tree — waiting for the leaves to turn from green to yellow... it's getting there. Don't worry, once it's leafless I promise to stop wandering past it with my camera until next fall...

Anyway, when I was done with the ginkgo I decided to walk down a side street I usually avoid given that someone owns a really lonely / angry barky dog. It's awkward to stand there on the sidewalk and photograph trees while someone's dog is howling murder at you from behind a fence or a screen door...

So, anyway, there was a yard with some flowers, and I had just gotten done taking some shots of one of their pine trees, and I kept wandering down the sidewalk, and all of a sudden there appeared a pile of heirloom pumpkins, squashes, and gourds. Now, I don't mean like 1 or 2 or 10 pumpkins, I mean upwards of 25. Yeah, I didn't count them, but my lands, there was a pile of pumpkins of all types and colors. It was magnificent.

I took at least 70 photos. Yes, it was that damned cool.

"pure pumpkin" on Artfire

"sublime autumn" on Artfire


"autumn joy" on Artfire

I invite you to stop by my Artfire shop: SunshineSight to check out some of the rest of the shots from my awestruck moment with someone's decorative pile of heirloom pumpkins.

Have a Happy Halloween!

Autumn Leaves: water droplets

It has been like Indian Summer here lately. And apparently with Indian Summer comes the trappings of summer, warm weather, sunshine... and wind. Yes, there was a tornado warning here yesterday. Oh, Indian Summer.

Anyway, in my travels of sidewalk tourism I have photographed many leaves, and trees, and tree bark (and even the occasional squirrel). And every once in a while (since I am a sidewalk tourist in the morning) I see dew on fallen leaves. There's something about water droplets that is just intriguing.

On a completely unrelated note - my collection "autumnal mood" made the front page of Artfire on Tuesday - whoo-hoo! You can check it out here.

Autumn Leaves: sweet gum

I spent most of the morning wandering around photographing leaves and other autumnal things that are out & about.

These are some shots from the sweet gum, veining is always interesting to look at.

Enjoy your fall!

Autumn Leaves

Yes, more autumn leaves. This time ones that have fallen...

I have this song stuck in my head presently: "Home" by Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros

And I've been enjoying the new Donal Logue series on FX called "Terriers"
Yeah, I have a bit of a school girl crush on Donal Logue.

more Autumn Leaves

This is another installment of autumn leaves. This time with some maples that have turned to that bright red and orange hue...

I hope you enjoy autumn!