176/365

Cold Coffee

When I was little and didn't drink coffee, my father would drink iced coffee in the summer.  I never tasted it~~I don't think he put any sweetener in his drink.

As I got older and started drinking coffee in college and after that as an adult, I tried this cold coffee from a shop that's very popular in eastern upstate NY.  I drink hot coffee sometimes, but my drink of choice is this iced coffee.  When I was back in upstate NY a few weeks ago, I treated myself to this drink because they don't make them here in Texas, sad to say.

I surely do miss those drinks!!!

150/365

Some Pretty Cups

I was in a discount store and saw these pretty cups on a shelf.  

I use one cup and one travel mug, so there's no point in purchasing any more, I just thought these

were pretty so I grabbed a photo of them with my phone.

53/365

Cups for Sale

I saw these cups in a supermarket area today and thought they were so, so, so pretty.  I might have bought some, but I have some mugs already, I never have company and I'm in the process of clearing my house out of anything I don't use regularly.  So, after showing them to my friends, I quickly put them back on the shelf.

 

6/365

Downtown Painting

Downtown Abilene has just finished refurbishing the streets and sidewalks of one of its main streets.

My favorite coffee shop has also recently remodeled a little inside.  One of the additions they've added is this beautiful painting of their shop and the street on which it lives. 

What a great addition to the decor of the shop.

195/365

Bringing the Coffee

There's one overhead bridge in Abilene.  I'm hardly ever downtown during business hours, but today I was.  There were a lot of people crossing the bridge so I took my time and just waited.  I got some good shots, but I like this one.  Bringing the Coffee.

001/365

HAPPY NEW YEAR

I remember reading the book "1984" in 1964 and thinking 

1) those things could never happen and

2) 1984 was a long way away

I was so, so wrong on both counts.

Little did I know that 2025 would be here in a blink of an eye.  

One photo down for my photo a day.  Only 364 more to go.  

198/366

Coffee Maker

I came into the world of drinking coffee pretty late.  I had a Very Occasional cup in college because it was the cheapest item at the grill and I had very little discretionary money in those days.

I was probably in my late 20s before I started drinking coffee with any regularity and even then I preferred iced coffee.

These days I drink it every day, usually iced, even in the winter.  I use flavored creamer which satisfies my craving for sweets.  

When I first moved to be near my daughter who was just starting her family, she gave me the Nana cup. Coffee seems to taste better in a cup I like.

215/365

A new Coffee Shop

I went to an estate sale on the other side of town this morning, and made a detour on the way home to a complex of various eateries thinking I might find some photo ops there.  I got some pics and there was a coffee shop there that I decided to try.  

I got this totally delicious blended coffee.  

My heart is grateful for:

exploration

72/365

Coffee and Creamer

A morning ritual and such fun.  I love the creamer!  My fave is Salted Caramel, but that's almost impossible to find anymore which doesn't make sense because it's one of the best flavors.

So anything with caramel is second best.

I fill my own pod with the coffee I like best so it's very cost effective.

Other morning routines:  I usually pack and get going to go to the Y.  Yesterday I stayed home and mowed the lawn...lots of "steps" with that job.

When I don't go to the Y first thing it's more than likely because I need to catch up on chores, ie paying bills, answering emails, sorting out the house, etc.  I'm a morning person, if I go out in the morning when I get back to the house I pretty much don't want to do anything and that's usually what gets done...nothing.

My heart is grateful for:

having choices of things to do instead of being bored because there's nothing to do

It's a New Year and I'm Late Already

1/365

My last post was on Dec 30. It's been 5 days.  My goal for the new year is to post twice a week on specific days~~the days for this month being Thursday and Saturday.

Well, here it is Tuesday, so not only has it been a long time, but I'm late and it's the wrong day.  Hmmmm, is any day really the "wrong" day?  I guess not, but if one makes a schedule and then breaks it immediately by stalling and not following the schedule, does that constitute "wrongness".

Volumes could be written about that, so let's just move on.

By my sloppy calculations we've only had between 12-18 hours of total sunlight since before Thanksgiving.  That's about 40 days....  That's a lot of dreary weather.  I'm taking Vit D and have considered upping the dose.  So the other day (Sunday to be exact) I looked out the window and saw even drearier, foggier, cloudier and depressing-er (I know that's not a word, but it fit well with the sentence) conditions than previously.  I sighed and went about the business of getting ready for church. Then the lightbulb went on and I realized I should get some photos of it.

With very little time left, I stepped outside my door and made a few images.  I'm glad I did, I got a few keepers, even if they're just for the record.

Then yesterday, while I was in the midst of about 4 chores I decided to make myself a bagel with cream cheese and then I got the urge to photograph food.  It's ridiculous, I'm really bad not very good at it, mostly because I don't cook anything exotic enough to make a good image, but there's just something in me that wants to pursue food photography.

So I decided to photograph the bagel.  I dropped all the other half-finished chores I was working on, set up the table, ironed the placemat, made a cup of coffee, grabbed the tripod, camera, reflectors, toasted the bagel and attempted to Work-The-Subject.

The bagel and coffee tasted better than the picture turned out.  I once read the book "Art & Fear" that stated many times over that an artist's good work is born out of the artist's bad work.  I often feel like I should be creating some R.E.A.L.L.Y. good work pretty soon considering how much bad work I've done in my photographic career, hahaha

I guess I should cut myself some slack though.  If I had taken this picture 15 years ago it would have been truly pathetic.  Anyway, I will persevere!~!

Thanksgiving Day Morning

32/365

It's Thanksgiving Day, 2014.  There's much to be thankful for, the primary thing being that there's a God in heaven Who has everything under control even though it seems like this country and this world is spinning wildly into oblivion.  God has His plans and they can't be thwarted.  All that is happening is by His permission and design...

A couple of days ago I made some French bread.  This morning I had an epiphany and decided to make French toast with the remaining French bread. So yummy.

After I took a few photos of the bread cooking, it occurred to me that I could take some photos of the meal itself.  So I quickly got things set up (too quickly I'm afraid because after I was done and looked at the photos, I realized what I could have done better--but hunger was motivating me to hurry) and made a few images.

I finally had the chance to eat, and it was as good as I had anticipated.

Coffee Break

12/365

I decided to bake some cookies this morning for two reasons: 1) I haven't done much baking lately and 2) I needed a subject for some still-life photos.  The other day I found a recipe for Shrewsbury Biscuits (English cookies) and they looked so yummy.

They're similar to shortbread cookies, but they don't have as much butter.  

So, so, so good.

After baking them and taking the photos I treated myself to a couple as a reward for my efforts. Don't let the second image fool you, I really only ate two...

I'm discovering that the tricky part of photographing food is trying not to eat it before taking the photos, especially when hungry.  So I guess I have to use the same strategy as when I go grocery shopping.  Eat first, then shop, or shoot.

Everything is a learning process.  So fun!~!

Today's Tattoo

Jackie and I were sitting outside Starbuck's this afternoon, enjoying our coffee, the weather and our conversation. While we were talking, I watched about 1/2 dozen guys pass by with awesome tattoos, but since I was "talking story" with Jackie, I didn't chase after them.

Eventually her phone rang and while she was taking care of the call, two young men walked by, and I noticed that one had an awesome tattoo on his arm that I just couldn't resist. So I trotted after them, shamelessly I might add, and asked permission to photograph the artwork. The guy I was talking to indicated that his friend also had a tattoo, so it was a two-for-one opportunity for me. I just happened to have my camera in the car, along with a notebook and pen--so I was able to get some background information to go along with the artwork.

This is the tattoo that first caught my attention--a Celtic cross.

The guys were very nice and very cooperative--I was even able to get a model release from them. They're military, need I say more?

Posted at 7 pm on Monday, March 9, 2009

And the TROPHY is...

A Mug!!!

You can use it as a display piece, to drink out of (coffee, tea, hot chocolate, juice, milk, etc), put a plant in, hold your pencils/pens, marbles (you know, so you don't "lose all your marbles"--okay, okay, I know that was bad), paper clips, media cards, batteries, loose change, and so on and so on. Now tell me, isn't that better than a dumb old Christmas tree topper that can go rolling around and crashing on the floor??? (No offense Steve, I actually thought your trophy was nifty). Now aren't all the rest of you "jealous"? I know I am, and I WANT THAT TROPHY BACK!!!! Only two more months to wait, sigh.

Okay, so it will be in the mail on Wed. or Thurs. at the latest.

Now on to today's post. I decided to take a ride up the leeward side of the island. The less touristy side, but also the less attractive. The beaches are beautiful, and the mountains are wonderful, but the towns leave something to be desired and most of the beaches contain large communities of homeless people living in "tent cities". Very interesting. I guess if one is homeless by necessity or by choice (as some of them are), Hawaii is the best place to be.



So after slogging through some bumper-to-bumper traffic due to road construction, I finally decided to pull off at one of the beaches. Take out the camera bag, lock the car, walk through the parking lot to the sand, wander around for a minute or two looking for just the right spot, get the camera out, switch lenses to my trusty 28-200, awesome, all-purpose lens, zip up the bag, oh wait, let's put on the polarizer since it's so bright, (are ya kind of getting where I'm going with this?), unzip the bag, get out the filter, put in on, zip up the bag, hold the camera to my eye and scan the vista to get just the right scene, press the shutter button, and NOTHING!!!! Argh.

Look at the camera, turn it off, turn it back on, press the shutter and same thing, nothing. Finally I realized that I'm getting an "error" message. Oh great. Here I am about an hour from home, in a place that I'm sure I'll not return to, and where, oh where, is my camera manual? Yep. You got it!!! Back at the house.

I took the battery out, wiped the contacts on my shorts (which, by the way, usually does the trick), took out the media card and replaced it, took the lens off and wiped those contacts too, turned the camera on and off several times--still "error". Okay, I tried the macro lens I had with me. It worked. Well, this is not a great lens to take scenics with, but better than nothing. So I took a few shots, unhappily, and decided to head back home. So reversing all that rigamarole, I headed home, only to be caught in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the way home, due to, you guessed it, construction on that side (which, by the way, didn't seem to be on that side before).

So all in all, it was a pretty unsatisfactory photo shoot, but considering the sun was shining, my car windows were down the entire time, and I had a view of the beach and the ocean almost all the way home, I guess the day itself wasn't a complete bust.


Posted at 9 pm on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2009