share the shot #5-orange

 another week has zipped by and i found this share the shot assignment to be a real challenge.  i am not a fan of the color orange and finding it in my house and garden was tough.  the only plant that blooms orange in my garden is an iris and it has not done so yet.  as i wondered what i could possibly find to take pictures of, i decided to just go and bake a cake; in my world, almost anything can be solved by baking a cake to share or eat by yourself as you ponder...

 clementines

 clementine zest

 my not so smart cell phone-hey it makes calls and sends texts, that's all i need

 wait for it

 we went hiking and found these-any idea what the are?  tell me cause i'm stumped...

 mushrooms-unknown species of polyspores

my little girl on my favorite reading chair-twice the orange!

many thanks to amy of she wears many hats for the wonderful challenge!

share the shot#5-red

 i am really having fun with the share the shot challenges.  taking the time to look for things that might make a nice subject and then actually getting the shot-it is a real opportunity to learn something about staging a shot and getting the effect you are hoping for in the photo.  many of my shots come from the garden and red is a tough one.  obviously, there are red flowers but i do not have any in my garden.  i do however have red in the vegetable garden.

rhubarb chard-it has overwintered nicely and i love the red/green contrast.

 shot in late afternoon and back lit by the setting sun, this leaf positively glows!

 i love red leaf lettuce

 my assistant, the captain, he follows me around and i think he actually began to pose for me.  he would get up on the chair and look at me almost as if saying-"i'm ready for my close up..." having a red nose doesn't hurt-it goes with the theme.

what i was really after-a shot of the wood grain with the fading red paint on the chair

and it wouldn't be spring without red tulips-from the lawn and garden show, i don't have any red ones, just pink this year.

thanks to amy for a great challenge!  be sure to check all of the entries for the red challenge by clicking here.

share the shot#4-green

 for this weeks assignment-green, and kermit was right, it ain't easy being green...i decided to go out in the yard to see what i could find, i found out that i need to be spending some time weeding in the garden.

 late winter is a tough time to find flowers blooming-usually.  with the warm winter we have had, lots of flowers are up.  but there is one that only blooms in winter-hellebores and many of them are green.

 cabbage is so pretty that it could be a flower

 moss is an amazing plant-now if i could only get rid of the weeds growing in it my patio would be perfect!

 my jade spends the winters indoors and it isn't too happy about that, with this mild weather, i can put it back outside for some sun.

my favorite part of gardening-the captain helping me out.  such pretty green eyes on an beautiful grey cat

be sure to check out the other entries and a big round of applause to amy of she wears many hats for a true challenge.  stay tuned for the next assignment-red!

share the shot #3-purple

 how quickly the weeks are going-i get photos posted and then it is time to think about some more for the next share the shot challenge. purple is a tough color to photograph.  it tends to turn blue.  the year my daughter wore a purple gown to the prom, we had a hard time getting a photograph of her with the gown remaining purple.  mostly, she appeared to be wearing a deep blue.

for this week's challenge, i headed out to the garden with my canon.  spring is a time that is filled with purple.  many flowers blooming now are purple and if you head to the vegetable garden, you will find purple lurking there too.

 these smiling faces greet you as you enter our driveway.  they are so many different shades of purple, lavender and white and all on the same plant!

 this purple sage as overwintered beautifully and is ready for another turkey roast

 tiny little sedums reaching for the sky

 heuchera popping up from under the leaves

 we call it red cabbage but it sure looks like purple to me

henbit-the bane of gardeners.  it is everywhere at this time of year.  i love the tiny little trumpet blooms.  and before you go cursing it for invading your garden, consider this; henbit is considered a wild flower and in the early spring, it is a valuable nectar plant for honeybees.  we leave the plants in our lawn for the bees but they get the heave ho from the garden beds.

thanks amy for a great challenge.  check out all of the participants here.  consider joining in on the fun and post some of your own photos!

i'm the captain, i run this ship

i'm the captain, no really, that's my name-the captain.  my humans gave me this name because they let me run the ship.  well, they don't really let me but i don't give them many choices.  i've worked hard to get them trained just right and they do just about anything i want them to do.  especially if it means i get to eat something-they always give me tasty treats.

today, i noticed that my lady human was busy with her lap heater-she kept tapping the little button thingys. then came out the picture making thingy.  off to the garden she went.  i always go to the garden with my humans.  someone needs to keep an eye on them and the birds and the squirrels.  i like to sneak up on my lady human; when she is walking across the grass, i like to run as fast as i can straight towards her and when i get close enough, i smack her on the back of the legs.  it usually causes her to laugh but i am sure i saw her leg bendy thing almost go out from under her-soon, lady human, soon and then all the pretty birds will be mine!!!

when the lady wasn't looking, i took some fabulous photos of my beautiful self but this stupid yeller daffy dill kept getting in the way

 for pete's sake, they are everywhere!!!

 maybe if i smack them around a bit, show them who is boss-the real captain of the ship, they will leave

 maybe not...

 this is getting a little annoying

but they are almost as pretty as i am...

share the shot; week 2-yellow

for this weeks assignment, amy gave us the color yellow.  in my line of work, that is an easy subject.  the hard part, getting a good photo in a busy kitchen with fluorescent lighting.  i might also add that on this particular day, the idea to bring my camera never crossed my mind either.  that left me with my cell phone, specifically, my not so smart phone...

 i separate a lot of eggs every day

 cornstarch boxes on a shelf-lined up like little yellow soldiers

 bananas are always present-can't make banana pudding without them!

 buttermilk comes in yellow jugs with yellow caps.  the cap and it's reflection on my work table.


after work, i made the rounds in my neighborhood thrift stores-again with just my cell phone

 yellow was a popular shoe color at some point.  i can't help thinking that anyone wearing these would look like they had big bananas on their feet.

 have you ever noticed that some stores separate the clothes by color?

 the yellow shoe trend did not get by the men either...or, clowns from when the circus was in town made a donation

the only photo i took without using my cell phone.  for this one, i used the canon

zested lemons get squeezed for the juice to make a batch of lemon bars.  you can read about them and see the recipe here.  if you are inspired, make a batch and take a lovely yellow photo!  to see the photos that were submitted, visit amy's website, she wears many hats.

thanks again amy for making the day go by quicker at work and a fun filled afternoon of thrift store giggles

share the shot-week 1, blue

 this poor blog page-if it actually had feelings, i'd really be deep in it!  while it may seem as if i have been gone for good, actually i haven't been far away.  most of my entries go over on my baking page, easier than pie.  but some things just don't seem to fit there so i put them here.

recently, i found a photography challenge called share the shot.  it is a challenge open to anyone of any skill level and does not require any kind of experience or talent-just the ability to take a picture.  and the great thing about this-no fancy camera is needed.  i have decided to take amy(hostess with the mostest-she blogs at she wears many hats) up on her challenge and i pulled out my camera, a canon rebel t1i.

the whole point of the challenge was for amy to get back to taking pictures that she "wanted" to take rather than those she "had" to take.  i totally get it.  for me, this will be an opportunity to learn how to use all of the functions of my camera as well as a chance to get better at taking photos.  so the first assignment-blue.  that's right, blue.  what that means is just take a photo that is focused on something blue.  all i had to do was look around, i saw lots of blue stuff without ever leaving the confines of my own home and garden.

a tile that serves as a trivet on my dining room table

a bowling ball that lays below my fig tree

 some cookbooks on my shelf-so many different shades of blue and turquoise

 russell wright sugar and creamer on a shelf in my dining room

 my favorite pie dish

and my old fuzzy slippers-doing your assignment in your slippers and sweats-that's what i'm talking about!

check out all of the participants on amy's blog, she wears many hats.  thanks for a fun afternoon amy!  can't wait for the next assignment-it's theme is yellow and for fun, i used my cell phone as well as my camera.