A few weeks ago, I did my first Peeps I Know post. This is my own little initiative to bring extra attention to some of the very interesting people I have “met” online.
Blog Title: HouseholdDiva6
Blog Host: Ann Marie Detavernier
As with Jade, the subject of my first “Peeps” profile, it was Ann Marie’s photography that first caught my eye. Honestly, I can’t remember how long I’ve been reading her blog, but I’m pretty sure it’s been a couple of years. It was just a sleepy little blog when I started reading, but it has since evolved into this very cool, multi-faceted hub of information with over a thousand followers.
But wait, I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me tell you a bit about Ann Marie.
HouseholdDiva6 (aka Ann Marie)
I don’t know her age, but I’m guessing late-20s or early 30s. She’s got three kids (two boys and a girl) and is married to a soldier. It’s because she’s married to a soldier that she’s living in Germany. Her blog is all about being a military spouse, but that’s not its sole focus. Yes, she talks about being married to a soldier and enduring LONG deployments (she’s survived many), but she also talks about photography and cooking. She’s managed to build an online and in-the-flesh community/support group of other women in the same boat as she.
The coolest thing she did recently was start an Overseas Coupons and Coffee Program. As her web site explains, after she realized she needed to be wiser with her money (three kids, remember?), she “started reading and learning skills from frugal blogs all over the internet. Weekly meal planning (why it’s good for my marriage); cooking in bulk (with the intent to freeze); writing a grocery list; shopping in my pantry and freezer before going to the store; and , organizing my list according to the Commissary aisles.” It all worked so well, she wanted to share it with others. And she did! Follow this link to learn more: Overseas Coupons and Coffee Program.
She also shares recipes, too. That’s where Shannon got her soft pretzel recipe, the one she uses to make those delectable pretzel dogs. Well, I got it from Ann Marie’s blog and gave it to Shannon.
Her kids are super-cute. She’s got a great sense of humor.
She takes great pictures. Still.You really should visit her Flickr pages and have a gander at her images. Maybe I just really enjoy her site because I’ve been following for a while. It’s been fun seeing her kids grow and sharing other little glimpses of her life.
Even though I don’t share the military spouse thing, I REALLY enjoy her blog. She posts such a wide variety of stuff, but I read it all. Like a very neat post she did the other day on making Daddy Deployment Boxes. Today’s post featured a great shot of her Hubby making breakfast (though I’ve never seen anyone sit down to make pancakes!).
Anyway… if you’ve got some time to spare, hop on over to HouseholdDiva6. Leave a comment so she knows you visited, and be sure to tell her ToadMama sent you.
This week’s theme for You Capture is COLD. Fitting, eh? Especially considering we’re in the middle of what feels like a never-ending winter. I am not usually one to complain about the cold, but, jeez. Enough already!
My “cold” images are below for your viewing pleasure.
From a cold, dreary, not-quite-freezing morning in the mountains.BrrrEnough with the cold already!I am so tired of seeing this when I look out my back door.May the force be with you!
Do you see a Storm-trooper when you look at that snowy grill shot? Or is it just me? I actually captured that one about a week or so ago after having to go outside around midnight to drag my rodent-obsessed dog in so we could go to bed.
Snowy Night
Now that last picture really says cold! I didn’t actually shoot it specifically for this week’s entry. But after looking at it this morning, I was compelled to share it. I shot it through the glass of our back door. I found it quite intriguing to see the stove reflected pretty much dead-center. The stove was not beside me, but about eight feet away on my right. So how did it end up in the middle of the frame? Weird. The white streaks are snowflakes, by the way.
To see how everyone else captured COLD this week, pop over to Beth’s site and follow a few of the links.
One of my readers once said they enjoy my little quizzes or guessing games. So here’s one for you…
Any idea what this is?
Did you guess?
I’ll give you a hint. Look at this next picture.
Our concrete counter in 2007.
The kitchen counter at the WV place was the one thing we did that really didn’t work out very well. Hubby and I are NOT concrete finishers. We’ve never liked it, but we’ve lived with it.
Until now.
Our concrete counter in 2011.
Hubby spent last weekend in WV alone, using a jackhammer to dismantle the concrete counter. Then he removed the rest of the cabinets. (I’d helped him remove the wall cabinets the weekend before last.)
Here's what is left of the old kitchen.
He spent most of last week there, alone, so he could work on installing cabinets in the evenings. (A wife and three dogs would have totally been in the way.)
He actually got a heck of a lot done all by himself. But that’s my Hubby. He’s quite handy and way more motivated than anyone else I know.
The kitchen on Saturday morning.
Hubby loaded all of the boxes of unassembled cabinets and hardware onto the trailer by himself. He drove it to the WV place. Well, almost. He drove it to the community, but the roads were VERY icy. After a small incident where the truck and trailer jacknifed on the very first steep hill, blocking all traffic into and out of the community for a couple of hours, he had to park the trailer. He wasn’t injured. In fact, it was over the course of the next two days that he had to make multiple trips back to the trailer, transfer the cabinet stuff into the truck, drive to the house, unload the cabinet stuff, and then repeat a couple of times. There were appliances, too.
I tell you, he’s awesome.
My amazing Hubby.
While he continued doing the hard stuff like building a small wall, assembling and installing more cabinets, hooking the appliances up to the electricity, etc., I once again assumed my customary unskilled laborer role. I got to do drywall finishing and painting.
This is what the kitchen looks like now.
There’s quite a bit left to be done, but that’s not too shabby for one guy over a week’s time.
The weekend wasn’t ALL work and no play. The girls were there after all. And they had a visitor.
Their friend, Buddy, came a calling.
I was happy to see a couple of bluebirds.
A bluebird!
I took the girls for their walks as usual. This is one of the two bluebirds I saw. He was sitting on the power line above our driveway.
Meg waiting for me to walk up the hill.
It’ll probably take a few weekends to get the kitchen completely finished. But it will be SOOOOO nice to have a dishwasher, new cabinets, and nice cooktop.
Belle and K waiting in the truck as we prepare to leave.
All in all, it was a pretty productive weekend.
Can you believe how much work Hubby got done all by himself?
Our first visit to the WV place in 2011 has been a cold one. Thank goodness for reliable electricity and propane gas delivery. Not to mention the heating system, designed and implemented by Hubby, that really works. I don’t think it got out of the 20s yesterday.
Friday night into Saturday morning we got a couple inches of snow, too. Which is always a plus for me.
Other than that, it’s been a relatively uneventful weekend. The girls are happy as can be, of course. This is their favorite place in the whole world. That excitement is a little less than thrilling when they insist on dragging me out of bed at 6:00 AM. But that left me plenty of time to wake up, don sufficient outerwear, and get out to enjoy a pretty sunrise in the woods.
We’re not on top of a mountain or anything so we don’t get to see the classic sunrise/sunsets over the horizon, but I still enjoy seeing the colors paint the sky.
Pretty, isn’t it?
If you’re wondering where K was, she was back at the house. We’re starting to think she’s part cat. I have never seen a dog so obsessed with catching rodents.
That’s where K spent a good, solid four hours on Saturday. She never did catch anything, but it wasn’t for lack of trying.
These next two shots are from a bit later in the day.
Even with just an inch or two of snow, it’s still a pretty Winter scene. And yes, it was as cold as it looks.
Our little house in Winter. Not bad for a DIY house, is it? If you don’t know the story behind the building of the WV place, click on that link image in the left sidebar that says “The House We Built Ourselves.”
Hubby’s outside strapping the motorcycles into the trailer. We’re taking them back to Maryland. 🙂
The “assignment” this week was not to take pictures. It was to select our favorite 10 photos of 2010 to share. Taking new pictures would have been SO much easier. Really. As I said the other day, I took more than 10,300 pictures in 2010 with my digital SLR alone (big camera)!
But I did it. Finally. It took quite a bit of time and required a plan. First, I went through lots and lots of pictures and copied my favorites into a separate folder. That was the top 65. From there, I narrowed it down to the top 25. Finally, I was able to narrow it down further to my top 10.
Remember, the theme is my “favorites,” not “my best.” What makes a photo good anyway? Does it always have to be in focus? Nope. Does the light always have to be perfect? Nope. Does your subject have to be looking at the camera? Must his/her entire face be visible? Does your subject need to be centered? Nope, nope, and nope again.
This assignment has already consumed so much of my time that I am just going to shut up and post the darn things already. Okay? Here are my favorite pics of 2010, in no particular order. Don’t even ask me to rank them from one to ten. The mere thought of having to do that has given me the cold sweats…
Go ahead, knock. I triple-dog dare you.
This is definitely my favorite dog pic of the year. I like the reflection of the sunset, but I love the look in their eyes. They are scanning the horizon, anxiously awaiting my return. It doesn’t matter if I am gone for five minutes or five days, the girls are ALWAYS glad to see me when I return. As with many of my favorite images, this one was completely unplanned. I’d actually been outside taking pictures of the sunset. When I turned to go back inside, that is what I saw. I had to tweak the lighting a bit in PS Elements, mostly to get rid of the ever-present nose prints on the glass.
Are They Crazy or What?
This shot makes me smile. Every single time I look at it. I could’ve removed the red eye, but I think that adds to the craziness. These two play like this practically all day, every day. Yes, they really are playing and not trying to bite each other’s face off. You’ll have to use your imagination for the growls. It can be quite entertaining to watch. Sure it gets annoying at times, too, like when I am trying to participate in a teleconference. But I’m so glad all of our dogs are here.
I chose this picture not because it shows off our grandchild. If that were my goal, I’d post a picture of all of them. (In fact, I’m going to cheat here a bit and give you a LINK to my favorite picture that features the grand kids.) My goal here really is to show how “favorite pictures” don’t have to be favorites because of the subject, quality, composition, etc. My favorite images are usually the ones that evoke the strongest/best feelings, reflect a certain mood, capture a particular moment, etc.
A Great Day for Soup
This picture of Joey was shot during the late Spring. Actually, I think it was Memorial Day weekend. We had made all these grand plans to take the kids on a bike ride, but then Joey got sick. I volunteered to stay behind with him while everyone else went riding. He sat for the longest time making “regular soup” with water and rocks in these containers. All I could hear were the sounds of the birds and insects in the forest, Joey’s giggles, his running commentary, and the dogs playing.
Even the weather was perfect. It was one of those moments you just want to freeze in time because it feels really, really good to be alive. When you realize wouldn’t change one single thing about your life, no matter how difficult, because if you did you’d erase all the good, too. And moments like these are definitely good. The best, actually.
Loving Nature
I like this shot mostly for its symbolism. As the caption says, I love nature. I’d rather be outside doing stuff than inside, that’s for sure. I especially enjoy watching the seasons change. The Winter to Spring change is one of my favorite times of the year. I always look forward to the blooming of the Redbud trees. This heart-shaped leaf is on a Redbud tree at the end of our WV driveway. If you look closely, you can seem some pink in the background. I could have chosen a shot where the pretty, pink flowers are in focus. But I like that the emphasis is on the leaf here. The heart-shaped leaf to be exact. You’ll appreciate this picture so much more if you click on it to see the larger version.
Details
When you look closely at stuff, you really do see so much more. That’s the theme for this selection. It really is true, too.
This image is simply a fern frond. Not real exciting, right? But if you look closely (click on the image to see a bigger version), you’ll see the intricate patterns on each leaf. The depth of field in this picture (how much of the image is in focus) is what makes the image so powerful to me. It draws your attention right into the middle of the frame and makes you look at the individual leaves. And, as the photographer, that’s exactly what I wanted you to see.
Art Interrupted
This reflectofrog shot is the perfect example of how unplanned stuff sometimes makes an image. I was trying to get a shot of myself reflected in the frog’s globe. I did. But I also got a shot of K’s leg in the foreground with her whole body reflected between me and the frog. Because I can’t go anywhere/do anything without the dogs coming along to see exactly what it is I am doing. They’re nosy like that. I don’t know if that’s a dog-in-general thing or a Brittany thing. But these three dogs of mine are VERY curious about everything. And they are rarely far from us at all. Not that I am complaining. My dogs make me happy. But it really is like having little kids around trying to “help” you do stuff.
A Picture-Perfect Motorcycle Day
This shot represents a picture-perfect motorcycle riding day in the Greater Appalcahian Valley. Blue skies. Big, puffy white clouds. Smooth, empty road winding through the foothills and into the mountains… does it get any better? If you look really close, you’ll see Hubby in front of me. I was lagging behind a bit since I was riding one-handed at about 45 mph while shooting pictures with my point-and-shoot camera. None of that craziness in 2011. This year I get to use my new HELMET CAM! 🙂
Almost Heaven
This picture is a great example of why we chose to build a house in West Virginia. Mountains. Lots of mountains. They’re no Alps or even Rockies, but you know what? We have discovered plenty of great motorcycle roads. I’ll begin sharing that info pretty soon (stay tuned for new project announcement). For now, you’ll just have to look at this picture and the previous shot to enjoy the scenery we encounter on a regular basis near our WV place. This picture was actually taken from the Dolly Sods Wilderness Area.
The Kids
The kids together at Christmas. They’re not all here. Amy’s hubby is deployed. But this is the first time in a while that Shannon, Amy, and Eric have all been together with us at the same time. (That’s Eric’s girlfriend, Kelsey, on the right. She’s a real sweetie.) It was nice having them all here relaxing and enjoying each other’s company. I was enjoying it, that’s for sure.
Jaufenpass!
And finally, Hubby and me right after climbing the Jaufenpass on motorcycles during our tour in Europe. I’m with my favorite guy on the trip of a lifetime. What more could a girl ask for?
There’s no way for words to describe what it felt like to ride on the Jaufenpass. For me, this was my favorite part of the whole Europe trip. It was fun, Fun, FUN! The road was technical, but not so technical that I couldn’t race through it. I think I smiled broadly the entire way, feeling like I was riding in a video game. (Wanna know what it felt like to ride the Jaufenpass [pronounced hoff en pass]? Watch the first 60 seconds of this YouTube video [not mine]. Be sure to leave the sound on so you can hear the engine scream. It gets particularly interesting around the five-minute mark as the road climbs higher and higher. You get to see what it feels like to encounter a bus coming in the opposite direction and how I wasn’t exaggerrating when I said the road hung onto the side of the mountain.)
That trip was by far the most fun vacation ever. And we’ve had some pretty cool vacations. It wasn’t just the motorcycle part either. The tour was awesome in every regard, but the week after the tour we got to visit two different sets of friends in Switzerland and Belgium. Even if we hadn’t seen more really cool stuff, seeing our friends would’ve been enough to make me happy.
Anyway… that was my 10 favorite pictures of 2010. I can’t wait to see which ones other people chose. If you’d like to see, too, visit Beth’s You Capture page.
I actually managed to zip through a whole bunch of pictures over the past few days to pull together my year-in-review slide show.
I went through various folders and copied the pix I wanted to share into a separate folder. Then I added all of the pictures in that directory to a slide show. The duration for each slide was three seconds with a one-second transition between images. Any idea how long the initial show was? You’ll never guess so I’ll just tell you… 19 minutes.
Dang.
So I made each slide duration shorter and deleted a bunch of stuff. Now it’s just under seven minutes long.
Watch if you like. I did it mostly for myself. I know seven minutes is long. But remember, I shot over 10,300 images last year!
I hope your 2011 is going smoothly so far. I have the day off, which is awesome. Only because January 1 fell on a Saturday.
I’ll be heading down to Southern Maryland to visit with my girlfriend Carol today. It’s her birthday. We’ve been friends for more than 30 years. That’s a long time.
I’ll take my camera, of course, but won’t promise any great pictures. We’re just going to hang around the house, and she’s not a photographer-type. I’m not even sure if she owns a camera to tell you the truth.
Crazy, I know.
By the way, I did not get to test this video before I left. I decided to add audio at the last minute. So, I apologize in advance if it doesn’t work.
Blog Title: HouseholdDiva6
select our favorite 10 photos of 2010 to share. Taking new pictures would have been SO much easier. Really. As I said the other day, I took more than 10,300 pictures in 2010 with my digital SLR alone (big camera)!
