Independance Day!

We had a lovely 4th of July! We went to my sister's house and had a picnic in the middle of her raised bed garden. We had steak and chicken and potato salad and grilled bell peppers and corn on the cob and lemonade! It was kind of your typical all-American kind of day.

As all American as.....

denim!
 

Appropriately to the holiday that we were celebrating, this was the "Creative Sunday's" word.

I, actually, thought to myself, "how American - the blue in the ol' red, white and blue." I thought of all of the lovely associations that I have with denim ~ blue jeans in high school, the denim skirts that I love, cowboys, little boys playing right outside my window in the dirt that will someday be my garden, tough, rugged, cowboys.... denim is as American as apple pie and sock hops and open roads traversing fields full of amber waves of grain under beautiful spacious skies. I mean - think of Levi Strauss jeans, for goodness sakes!!!

Then I looked it up. Denim is a type of tough twill cotton weave that was developed in the late 1600s in France. It's very name comes from the place that it originated -  Nîmes and was originally called serge de Nîmes ('de-nimes'.) Denim has only been in use in America since the late 1700s. (Even the first denim pants were made in Italy.) Oh well! "Leave it to the french," I always say fondly.......


All I can say, now, is just,

look....

See what I mean? This is a photo of an all American boy!!!

An all American boy, who, on the 4th of July, ate corn on the cob, potato salad, drank lemonade and ate berry pie with vanilla ice cream....

.....and, after all of that, went to see some all-American fireworks!

What's that you say? Fireworks were really invented by the Chinese?

Oh, my, what can I say, now.....?

It was very celebratory in a truly mixed American way!

Love,

Katy Noelle

The Sunday Creative at Madeleine Bea's: Life Set to Words

Mosaic Monday at the Little Red House 

Ferns and Gesnariads!

 

 Thank you everyone for your lovely well wishes on my birthday, last Thursday. I was, actually, really surprised and overwhelmed. Even still, I'm getting a bit misty eyed just thinking about it. Well, that's the truth! It's amazing how pleasant a kind word and gentle thought can mean to the one who receives it.

Could it be that, in our everyday lives, we take it for granted that the people who are always around us just somehow magically know how much we're glad that they exist and don't, often, give them the gift of really telling them (and, vice versa)?  It's possible that I say more kind things to my friends when they're online (I mean, the opportunity is there).

I know, I know - some of you have mentioned it in your blogs lately. It's just sinking in. I'm having my own [re]epiphany about this matter, now.

Now, I suspect that some of you just think that I am modest when I say that I'm struggling with a situation. Some of you live with me and know all about it. =] Some of you are new friends and are thinking something like, "uh, oh! Troubles......?!?"

Well, for those of you who have been following along quite regularly, you might just maybe recall me mentioning some troubles with my camera.

You know, Monty Python and the "Holy Grail"? (Some of you are shocked, I know, that I would even be interested in seeing such a movie. Let's just simply say that it was a dare.) You know the knight who, even though he's losing life and limb, every moment declares, "I'm not quite dead, yet!" He and my camera must be related.

Have any of you picked up on the fact that, I was complaining vociferously enough about my dear old dratted camera and, then, suddenly, was taking some pretty okay photos? Well, I'm sure you've all guessed where I'm going by now. Indeed, some of you already know because I couldn't help but 'spill the beans' to quite a few of you.

You guessed it.

I got a new camera for my birthday!

Just look at what it can do....

Isn't it lovely???

It's not just a point and shoot, this time! I got a Canon DSLR! a.k.a. a real camera!

I don't know if anyone can really define a 'photographer'. Honestly, the word has so many different connotations, it seems. There's everyone from Ansel Adams to the man who took the lovely photos for our wedding. For me, this camera is an outlet to record and share maybe a little bit of the loveliness that I see around me all of the time. I don't know. I'm not sure. Something seems to have taken a hold of me. Each photograph seems to be an opportunity to have a window into a little world. 

I am smitten!!!

  

You can, actually, pin point and share the moment that I got the camera. I spent about an hour checking it out and reading a little of the manual and, then, decided that I needed to go out and just figure out where the clicky - take a picture button was. (YES! of course, I'm joking! Well, I mean, I know that it's called a shutter button.) That day, I walked in my heavenly meadow and had the time of my life. The result was the post entitled 'Grass' and I was overwhelmed by your responses to my quiet walk!

All of the photos in the post today were the first time that I've ventured into the creative modes on my camera. I've finally had a chance to play with aperture and shutter speed for myself. All of this on a truly darkly cloudy day!

Then, on my birthday, my sister, Suzy, spent the evening giving me art and composition lessons. We spent several hours going through a beautiful blog of nature photography, 'In a Soft Light'. I got a good lesson in why Mary's photos are not only lovely but emotionally moving. Then, taking what I learned, I put together this mosaic of 'practice' shots. Thanks, again, sis for coaching me through this! My mind and vision feel extremely expanded.

Sooooooooo, of course, I am going to join in Mary's regular get together, 'Mosaic Monday' at the Little Red House!

(Watch out! I've caught a bit of mosaic fever, also!)

Well, what does one do when they want to 'click' away with their new camera? They get their ferns and gesnariads together! A 'gesnariad' is basically a plant that belongs to the 'African Violet' family. They are, actually, a South American herbaceous plant. I love them. I love ferns. You know, I didn't realize how many different kinds of ferns I have, until today. Until I started blogging and putting photos of gesnariads here, in the sunny spot - photos that I can zoom in on - I didn't realize just how beautiful they are. It makes me think of the maxim that my 5th grade art teacher drilled into our heads:

The more you look, the more you see!

Love,

Katy Noelle