Good Weather!

So the weather was good for

For studying photography 

[which is a great hobby with

no creative boundaries]

Thursday morning was filled with fog and rain as the afternoon wore on, the temperatures started to drop quickly.

They went from 40 to 30 in two hours with winds gusting to 50 mph. Thankfully, we are in a hollow here so we are getting the wind but not to the extent those on the ridge are getting. 

Oddly enough, my shovels, and skis blew down on the porch. A water bucket I had out there took off for parts unknown.

I assume I'll find it in a few days.

So I decided to work with High key photos before returning to experimenting with macro images.

I saw a photographer I follow on Flickr use a broken ornament as her subject for a macro shot. The shot was so beautiful and so well done, that I stopped and studied it. 

Instead of breaking anything, I picked some weeds when I did chores to practice macro while avoiding the cruel weather.

Wednesday while hiking I picked up 'Old Man's Beard' seeds. Okay they are actually a wild Clematis that grows in the forests not an old man's beard.

The shape has always fascinated me, so I put it in a plastic bag and brought it home to study.

Old Man's Beard aka
Clematis vitalba

Here is a piece of Yarrow I got from the garden next to the porch. I can't believe that the dried flowers held up with the snowfall and all the weather we've had.

I placed the dried yarrow on top of a wooden block on my laptop keyboard and brought up a fractal I'd made years ago as the back drop.

Behind the scenes, it looked like this.

I don't have an iPad, but I do know of folks who place their flowers on top of or use an iPad photo to make a backdrop for macro photography. Ingenious really as you can control the brightness behind the flower.

I don't have anything like that. It worked for this shot and was handy as an experiment. I've done this with toys and had great results.

The shot below is the remnants of the Flea Bane flower in the winter. I put crinkled up foil behind the plant and a red ribbon below it.

Meanwhile in the Christmas Village, Mini-Me and Charlie spot something going on. Looks like a couple of Boo Monsters grabbed a snow mobile and 'eye' spy the Grinch hiding behind a tree and the Vampire Lady from Halloween on the balcony.

Huh. The Christmas Village has so much to see and so much going on!

Fun fotos...

Just because...it is after Christmas and I have a bunch of fun fotos from the month of December.

Santa's Relief Driver????

My all time favorite
ornament!

...I collect horsey ornaments. This may be
the most photographed ornament I've ever had.
I've had it for over 30 years. 
It was a cheap plastic one I picked up in
some second hand store so 
many 
years ago!

A much newer addition to my collection...

My tiny Button jointed Teddy Bears I made

years ago. Still up to no good!

Even Dragons celebrate Christmas?

I can't help it.

I think Dragons are cool.
New addition to the dragons!
A Baby Lego Dragon!

And then there was Mini-me
and Charlie doing last 

minute errands in the Village...

Little Bear and his wooden friends gather on

Christmas Eve at the Chair.

[These are old toys gifted to me

over the years.]

My ever changing toy display next to

the Christmas Chair.
It is made up of Vintage Boxes 

and

an old nesting box for hens.

I really didn't want to take down my cheery fun 'display'. I've had so much fun with it this year. 

But eventually the party ends, right?

I took down the Christmas Chair, the North Pole, and the Christmas Village and traded out the Lego buildings for the Medieval Village. I wanted to take a break from Lego so...

...before the rains hit, I grabbed some of my of my action figures and headed out. 

Ailie and Rabbit came out to play. I added the snow in post.

Time for a change up...

Making fake snow?

 

I wanted some snow in my North Pole photos, so I read up on purchasing fake snow. It is plastic bits which I didn't think too highly of. It would be like glitter... all over the place and hard to clean up. I'd find bits of plastic snow for the rest of my life in this house.

So I clicked on a link that said DIY your own snow with 2 ingredients.

Shaving cream and Baking Soda!

Since I just purchased a box of Baking Soda I thought I'd try it. [Hah, and you thought I bought it for baking!]

I followed the directions and made some 'snow' that feels cool to the touch. 

It was a bit messy on the hands, but rinsed off easily and smelled good. When done with it, I brushed it back into a container and wiped up the residue. I rinsed off the Legos and we were good to go again.

Below is my first try at playing with the snow.

Not a snow photo. But I can tell that Santa is checking the list and they have upgraded their system to include computers!

Since I do get out for some fresh air each day, I take Mini-me and Mini-Charlie in my pocket. Mini-me had to change clothes so she'd be prepared for the cold weather.

Charlie and I often see wildlife while out on our adventures. These nice striped fellows are ones we leave alone!

With the temps changing from deep freeze to warm and back again, we are careful at the creek.

Thin ice!

In the evenings while hubby takes his after supper nap to digest and get ready to watch something on the stupid smart TV, I take time to play a bit. 

More fake snow. Batman doesn't look so happy at the Christmas Lodge. Is it the snow that fell on his shoulder and head?

He is looking down in the street below at the activity in the Town Square. 

And down on the street there seems to be some things going on. I mean, snowmen are harmless, right?

The fake snow [shaving cream and baking soda] looks pretty good!

We are going into a very cold spell on Thursday with wicked wind chills. 

Time to break out the face covering and goggles.

Rain and Wind and...other stuff.

Well, looks like some nasty weather is heading this way this afternoon. 

Looks like it will be time to batten things down. 

I made a snowman on Friday during the snowstorm. I haven't done one in such a long time I figured I'd forgotten how. 
I didn't.

And truthfully, it was one of the ugliest snowmen I've ever made. I took a breather from shoveling out a walkway to the shed to roll snow. This is what I got. He or she looks mad because I used mulch chips for the eyes and the nose...that kept falling out. 

Maybe it was mad because the birds kept landing on its arms or the mules would come up and stare at t and laugh.

I don't think I'm very good at building snow people. The next morning....

It appeared as if someone had murder-ized it. 

Upon closer investigation....

The culprit was revealed...I think!

With the temps hovering just above freezing, everything is melting and getting sloppy. I imagine with all the rain we are getting it will be muddy too. 

I finished this project and received the finished book from Blurb. It turned out really nice. 

I think with all this crazy wicked weather, I may just start on my next project which I think will be about the Trail Challenge I did this past year with Charlie. I have so much information and photos to sort through, it will be a challenge in itself.

I started on January 8th with two friends and two dogs. I finished in November on a dreary day. I mulled over the thought of doing the challenge again this year. Now that I know the trails, perhaps I can plan the hikes better.

The photo that inspires me to actually get this done is a photo taken by fellow blogger Aurora. 

This amazing shot she took of the two of us in October should be the cover, don't you think?

In so many ways this photo says it all. Such a tiny dog and her minion ... blazing trails together!

There is something so calming about walking or hiking through the forest.

However, most of this week will be dealing with the nasty weather heading across the US.