Ten Days of Little Celebrations - August 2014

Noticing something worth celebration each day is an easy thing for me to do. The habit of writing it down reminds me to be grateful for these and a myriad of other things in my life. This month has been full of ‘little celebrations;’ here are my top 10 for August 2014.

The weekly pickup at the CSA. Somehow the pickup every Wednesday afternoon become something to look forward to….a celebration of the food bounty near at hand.

Weight. I decided to take off about 8 pounds and am thrilled that my diet/exercise plan I used a year ago to take off a pound a week...still works. I am celebrating the loss of over 4 pounds so far!

Tomatoes of any varieties are abundant in the CSA shares now. I find myself drawn to the tomatoes that are a change of pace from the traditional red one. Somehow the large yellow or purplish heirloom tomatoes seem extra special….worthy of continued celebration.

Fruit beety. This was on my celebration list last month too. I had frozen a batch I couldn’t eat right away - and I enjoyed eating it this month!

 Watermelon. I discovered that watermelon, mint, and frozen cucumber smoothies are one of my favorite summer afternoon treats…and it is even better because it fits on my weight-loss diet.

Home again. Being away from home for two weeks in late July/early August caused me to appreciate returning….a homecoming celebration.

Photography class. I celebrated the online photography class from several perspectives: the learning experience, a new source of courses, and as an activity I shared with my husband.

Symmetry and tiles. The Symmetry class I am taking on Coursera has led to other activities and I am still getting more ideas!  I am enjoying the course plus the historical books about tiles I found on the Internet Archive plus I’m going to take a local class on tiling to enable some creative projects! I’m celebrating the serendipity of it all.

Centennial Lake. My husband walks around the lake on mornings when the weather is good. I went with him last weekend and celebrated the place: the natural beauty, the wide diversity of people enjoying the path and fishing….and the prospect of seeing the leaves turn over the next few months.

Robin. The robin that has become territorial about my deck may be misguided….but I appreciate the bird’s presence. She has become part of the place. 

Photography Classes

The free class on Summer Photography from Creative Live last week was good enough to draw me to another of their online classes this week on Photographing American’s National Parks. I discovered that I am more interested in composition than I am in technique or retouching. But there is a lot to learn about how to get the best shot you can in the moment and then using cropping to improve (or salvage) an image.

The recent picture of the Complaining Robin (last Thursday’s post) was taken just before the course and I used it as a practice for some of the ideas I learned from the course immediately afterward. 

This is the original. I was reasonably pleased with it: the bird's eye was in focus and I liked the way the colored feathers fanned out over the brown wing on the left side of the bird's image.

This is the first clip.

And this is the clip that I ended up using in the post.  I chose this one because I got rid of the fuzzy green blob on the right of the original, kept the triangular leaf in the foreground, and an unfocused green frame at the top of the image.

The class this week will include locations in Olympic and Mt. Rainier National Parks.  It is a three day course….lots of opportunity to learn about photography and the locations!

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 9, 2014

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

5 Important Tips for Keeping Your Eyes Healthy - The tips come from the National Institute for Senior Health but are good for all ages. Start early to keep your eyes health for life!

Behold These Incredible Works Of Architecture Made Out Of Living Trees - I am not patient enough for a project like this but I’m glad that some people are!

How to Freeze Garden Vegetables and Fruits - Timely article. I am sure there will be CSA or deck garden bounty that I’ll not be able to eat immediately.

Want To Improve Your National Park Photography? Catch This Webcast from the Parks - I plan to watch these live classes in late August. I haven’t been to either Olympic or Mount Rainier National Parks so I’ll enjoy the scenery along with some new photography techniques.

Turnips, Kohlrabi, Radishes, and Other Odd Vegetables: Are They Our Key to Survival? - Getting produce from the CSA this summer has sharpened by awareness of these vegetables. Surprisingly the one I knew the least about before the CSA (kohlrabi) is now my favorite - and it even comes in several colors!

More crop per drop: Reducing water footprint of cultivated herbs - Hopefully this type of research is going on in the US too since water is becoming an increasing issue in many parts of the country.

Society bloomed with gentler personalities, more feminine faces: Technology boom 50,000 years ago correlated with less testosterone - Was the change relatively sudden or did it happen over many 1000s of years….and is the trend continuing?

Massive volcanic outbursts on Jupiter's moon Io: More common than thought? - Even as we learn more about exoplanets…there is still a lot to learn about our own solar system.

Get Ready For Monarch Migration - We don’t see many monarchs in the area near our house although they were quite plentiful 15 years ago. I miss them. The milkweed around the field near us is gone too - a victim of the ‘Round Up Ready’ farming done there. I hope there are places in Maryland where the butterflies find a safe haven.

Atlantic warming turbocharges Pacific trade winds - Another example of how the earth’s climate is a system that involves the whole world rather than something that occurs locally.