The Adventures of SZSRocks

AQ Box of the Week and Letterboxing 101

2011-11-13T15:41:00.001-06:00

"What do you want to do today?" we ask every weekend. A list off all of the "should do's" (housework, yard work, laundry, grocery shopping, etc.) is rattled off. All it takes is for one of us to say, "Maybe we should go letterboxing," and off we go. What started out as a hobby, quickly became an obsession. Since most of our friends have no idea what letterboxing is all about, I decided to try and explain it here.

Image Carved by Steve Olson

What is letterboxing?

Letterboxing is an fun pastime that combines artistic ability with delightful "treasure-hunts" in beautiful, scenic places. Participants seek out hidden letterboxes by following clues and cracking codes. Wikipedia describes letterboxing as "an outdoor hobby that combines elements of orienteering, art and puzzle solving."

Our Signature Stamp

The reward of successfully locating the letterbox is a miniature work of art in the form of a rubber stamp, usually hand-carved by the person who planted the letterbox. Along with the rubber stamp, the letterbox will contain a logbook. Every letterboxer has a signature stamp and their own personal logbook. After finding the letterbox, the signature stamp is stamped into the letterbox's logbook to record the find and the letterbox's stamp is stamped into the letterboxer's logbook to record the discovery.

History of Letterboxing

Canmere Pool Letterbox

Letterboxing has been around for a long time. Back in 1854, a man named James Perrott placed the first "letterbox" at Canmere Pool near Dartmoor, England. Atlas Quest has a nice history of letterboxing. Jump ahead to April 1998. Smithsonian Magazine ran a short article about a peculiar English hobby called letterboxing. With that article, letterboxing was established in the United States and has been growing in popularity ever since.

How did we get started letterboxing?

Steve is a passionate rockhound and our family vacations for many years revolved around rocks. I enjoy rockhounding, too, but it is not my passion. Being out in nature and with rockhound friends is what I enjoy, but I can only take sitting in a gravel pit for a couple of days, then I get restless.

Our daughter, Signe, graduated from high school in 2006 and went off to college. The summer of 2007 was our first "empty-nester" summer and I was looking for activities that Steve and I would both enjoy doing together. Letterboxing popped up on my radar after finding the April 1998 Smithsonian Magazine article describing the hobby. Since I like to hike, I thought this would be an activity I would enjoy after a couple of days rockhounding. In the back of my mind, I was also thinking that letterboxing is similar to rockhounding, as they are both basically treasure hunts. Steve is also very artistic, so I thought the artistry of the stamps would interest him.

Our 1st Letterboxing Weekend

Although we joined Atlas Quest in October 2007, we did not find our first letterbox until September 2008. Our first letterboxing weekend took us to the north shore of Lake Superior in Minnesota and we found six traditional letterboxes and two hitchhikers. Not bad for our first time boxing and we were hooked! One of these first boxes, Hungry Jack Pine (AQ Box #46572), remains one of our all-time favorite boxes.

SZSRocks is our hastily chosen trailname. We pronounce it S-Z-S Rocks. The SZS part stands for our first names (Steve, Zoma, Signe) and the Rocks part denotes our first hobby of rockhounding. Signe now has her own letterboxing trailname (The Tree Hugger). As the summer of 2011 comes to a close, we have found over 500 traditional letterboxes and have planted 28 letterboxes.

Where do you find letterbox clues?

LbNA (Letterboxing North America)

Atlas Quest

Meeting Other Letterboxers

In October 2007, when we first joined Atlas Quest, I was exploring the site and discovered a local "event" (Something Wicked This Way Comes) was being held. I got excited and signed us up to attend, even though we had not actually done any letterboxing. We ended up getting cold feet and canceled out of attending the event. In hind sight, I wish we would have had the nerve to go to the event! We attended our first letterboxing event (A Skeleton's Picnic) in October 2008. It was held at a park in Bloomington, Minnesota, and believe it or not, it snowed that day. The weather did not discourage our fellow letterboxers and we had a great time. Since then we have attended 12 more events in Minnesota, Michigan and Illinois.

Goofing around at the MI Fall Gathering: Viva Grand Haven!

On October 1st of this year, we hosted our first event (MN Fall Gathering: Rock Around Elk River!). Planning and hosting the event was fun and exhausting! We planted 27 letterboxes for the event. I think everyone had a good time.

This morning, we received word that the letterbox series we planted, "Rocks and Minerals," has been chosen the "Box of the Week" for the week of November 13, 2011 on Atlas Quest. This was quite a surprise and an incredible honor. Thanks to everyone who has found this series!

If you choose to hunt for our Rocks and Minerals Series, here is a sneak peak at one of the stamps you will find.


Tanzanite on Diopside, Carved by Steve Olson

I hope this post has peaked your interest and that you will try letterboxing. We have discovered so many new and beautiful places that we never would have found, if it weren't for letterboxing. And, we have made many fabulous friends!

"Not all who wander are lost."

~J. R. R. Tolkien

Brought to You by the Letters G, L and W

2011-07-30T14:56:00.000-05:00

Sesame Street. Fond memories of my childhood, as well as raising Signe. Bert and Ernie, Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch, Big Bird...all make me smile, but Grover is my favorite. Earlier this summer, Steve, Quincy and I spent several days exploring the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Like Sesame Street, the trip seemed to be sponsored by certain letters.

The letter G:

Summer in Minnesota is road construction season. I-35 North to Duluth was under construction, so using our GPS, we veered off the beaten path and took the back roads in to Wisconsin. Pattison State Park signs appeared and, since I remembered that there were a couple of letterboxes in the park, we decided to stop. Great views were in abundance at Pattison,

Quincy, the mountain goat dog, making his mama nervous.

Hiking trail through the forest.

We searched for two of the three letterboxes in the park, but ended up finding only one. We think that the one we did not find may have been washed away by the flooded river. A nice hike brought us down to the bottom of the gorge.

After leaving Pattison, some garage sale signs beckoned to us. Really, we had no choice in the matter, the car has an internal program that requires it to seek out and stop at garage sales. Books and an old stove were "must haves" from the first sale.

Who doesn't need one of these?

A four-week-old goat named Caleb welcomed us to the next sale. Caleb was born prematurely during a severe thunderstorm and his mom freaked out. She disowned Caleb and the farm family had been using their kitchen as Caleb's nursery, bottle feeding him several times throughout the day and night. Caleb was actually for sale for $25. It was very hard to resist bringing a goat home with us! He is such a little cutie.

Caleb

Me and my new BFF

The letter L:

Letterboxing was what brought us to Michigan on this trip. Out of the 20 letterboxes in, or near, the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park (PMWSP), we searched for and found 18, several of which we were the first to find. PMWSP has a Park Ranger who is a letterboxer (Sunny) and she has been integral in getting the park to be letterbox friendly. She recognized our trail name (SZSRocks) and was excited to meet us. Letterboxers, like rockhounds, are a friendly breed.

Steve in search of "A Pair at Pattison" box #2.

I can't tell you where this letterbox is, but the view looking the other way is incredible!

PMWSP hugs the south shore of Lake Superior near Ontonagon, Michigan. The park has miles of hiking trails and awesome views around every turn. A patch of pink Lady's Slipper orchids (Cypripedioideae), which are Minnesota's state flower, was a nice surprise close to one of our letterbox finds.

Pink Lady's Slipper

Lupines, one of my favorite flowers, were out in abundance.

Lupines

Lake of the Clouds is one of the most popular spots at PMWSP. Although we have visited this site before, it never ceases to impress.

Lake of the Clouds

Quincy at Lake of the Clouds

Nature added some whimsy to our exploration of the park. Lichen was smiling and moss was showing us some love!

Sundays always come too soon and it was sad to have to head for home. Wanting to prolong our mini-vacation as long as possible, we chose a route home through central Wisconsin. This road-less-traveled brought us through Mercer, the Loon capital of the world!

Mercer, Wisconsin: Loon Capital of the World

That's one big loon!

The letter W:

Waterfalls, wild flowers and wildlife were abundant throughout our trip.

Big Manitou Falls at Pattison State Park in Wisconsin. Notice the rainbow!

Nawadaha Falls on the Presque Isle River in PMWSP, Michigan

Little Carp River Falls in PMWSP, Michigan

Butterfly on wild flowers at Pattison State Park

Not all wildlife is appreciated. Is it just me, or are woodticks a lot more hungry this year?

Just thinking about woodticks gives me the creepy crawlies!

The letters G, L and W do a fine job of describing our trip, but a few other letters are worthy of mention, too.

The letter F:

Friends are always a welcome addition to road trips and we had the good fortune of meeting several new ones. Park Ranger Sunny was mentioned above. She was very helpful and fun to talk with.

At Pattison State Park, we were hiking to the first letterbox and a large group of people passed us. I noticed that the young boy being pulled in a wagon had some markers and a rubber stamp. My letterboxing "radar" activated, but I did not say anything. When we found the letterbox, we discovered that several people had logged in that day, some of whom seemed to be kids. I told Steve about the "suspicious" group and we decided to track them down. We found them in the picnic area and asked if they had just "stamped in." As it was, a family from Georgia was visiting with relatives in Wisconsin. This was their very first letterbox outing! We exchanged signature stamps and chatted a while. I think they are hooked!

New letterboxer friends from Georgia and Wisconsin

Many of the hiking trails we followed took us through the forest.

In the forest, there were ferns and fungus.

Even copious amounts of flies were not able to spoil our fun as we letterboxed from dawn to dusk.

There is no better way to end a fun-filled day than a fire on the beach. The UP is our favorite vacation destination and campfires by Lake Superior are the best.


Probably shouldn't have titled the camera on this shot.

The letter P:

Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park was the hub of our activity. Words cannot adequately express how wonderful this gem of a park is. We will return.

Steve and Quincy at the park entrance.


Park Bench

The Presque Isle River meanders through PMWSP and the river's waterfall is another popular site to visit.

Shopping did make it on to our agenda. If you blink, you can miss Silver City, Michigan. Luckily both eyes were open when we passed through the center of town and we discovered a local Folk Art gift shop. Quincy enjoyed playing with the owner's dog and even got to spend some time with us in the store. We purchased a beautiful piece of pottery created by a local artist and I found some fabulous earrings that needed to come home with me.

Earlier on our trip, we had stopped at a few garage sales. It is a good thing that Steve has excellent "spacial engineering" abilities. After un-packing the Subaru and re-packing with our garage sale finds, Quincy's space got a little more cramped. He didn't seem to mind. He is just happy to be going with.

How much more can we squeeze in there?


Quincy curled up in the top of the stove.

The letter S:

Strolling along the sandy shore of Lake Superior at sunset, we found a couple of pieces of sea glass. That's a lot of S's in one sentence! We also had a sumptuous breakfast at Syl's in Ontonagon several mornings.

Quincy loves playing ball on the beach!

The sunset reminded me of one of my favorite Scripture verses:

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6 NIV

Finally, I will sign off with a splat!

Memorial Day

2011-05-25T10:40:00.000-05:00

Memorial Day weekend will find us in Montana...(queue: "Meet Me in Montana" duet by Marie Osmond and Dan Seals)

The sleepy town of Glendive will be invaded by Minnesotans in search of dinosaur bones, agates, ammonites and petrified wood.

SlideMyPic is a free HTML5 slideshow generator that I came across this morning and wanted to try. To create the SlideMyPic slideshow, I imported pictures from our 2007 Memorial Day trip to Glendive from our Flickr photostream. Here is a glimpse of why we love Glendive.

Rock Rustler's News - April 2011

2011-04-27T09:20:00.000-05:00

I came across a cool website that converts PDF files to interactive flipping books that you can embed in blogs, on websites, or use on whiteboards. FlipSnack is very easy to use. I uploaded a PDF file and the site converted it into flip book format. I then was able to choose from a few options and colors for displaying my book. After successful conversion, the website gave me the embed code and a direct URL link for my flip book. You need to register on the site, but it is free to use. There is a "premium" membership available. I used the "free" option.

To try FlipSnack, I uploaded the April 2011 edition of the Minnesota Mineral Club's newsletter, Rock Rustler's News. I am the editor of this publication. I like the results.

Friend's Ships

2011-04-20T15:10:00.002-05:00

April is poetry month. Some of my friends have taken up the challenge, hosted by NaPoWriMo, to write a poem a day for the entire month. I admire poets and wish I possessed the talent to write any form of poetry...not just bad haiku. Recently, I had the pleasure of attending a poetry reading at the Banfill-Locke Center for the Arts in Fridley. Mary, Kathleen and I went to the poetry reading to hear Lynn recap her adventures in dating. Her travails are quite humorous. Lynn is one of my gifted friends and is posting daily poetry on her blog, On and Off the Page. She is seriously talented with words, and her hand-made journals are awesome.

Medora, North Dakota hosts an annual cowboy poetry gathering. This got me thinking...if cowboys can have their own poetry week, why can't rockhounds? So, by the power vested in me (which, sadly, isn't very much), I hereby proclaim the week of April 17th Rockhound Poetry Week. Our friend, Vern, is my favorite rockhound poet.

Our Rockhound Gang near Kemmerer, Wyoming

Vern's way with words never ceases to amaze me. Out of a jumble of words, he creates incredible poetry.

Words of Friend's Ships by Vern

In honor of Vern, and the newly christened Rockhound Poetry Week, here is his latest poem.

Friend's Ships

I know we're not your family but it feels that's the case.

I only need to close my eyes and I can see your face.

Years have slid away from us, you're in my thoughts each day.

And rarely does a night go by when your name don't I pray.

I always try to join with you, whenever I'm in town.

I fear my words have hurt you or my actions let you down.

Life has gotten hard these days and time is drawing lines.

But hope the storms all pass you by and in your life God shines.

If something sad has rent the tie that's bound us in its love.

I pray you can forgive trespass as sure as God's above.

But if my selfish doubting heart has caused a turn away.

Or else there's really nothing wrong but living day to day.

Well then this note may seem obscure or else may cause a rift.

I only mean to keep you close, friend-ships are known to drift.

4/19/11

Vern

Swenson Heritage Farm

2011-04-10T23:44:00.002-05:00

Chevy Valve Cover

The Sandhill Photography Club went on our monthly photo field trip today (April 10th) to the Swenson Heritage Farm in Otsego, Minnesota. The skies were overcast and the buildings were dark. In other words, two challenging situations for photography.

Before Steve and I left for the outing, I did some quick research on the Swenson farm. The farm has three barns, built in 1944, and one very large chicken coop. The barns have been designated "heritage sites." An early owner farmed the land with twenty-six horses and no tractors. The Swenson's purchased the farm in 1968 from two former owners of the Minnesota Vikings. John Swenson, the son of the property owners (both deceased), was very gracious in allowing us to photograph the entire property, inside and out. If anyone is interested, the property, which includes 10 acres of land, is for sale for $314,000. We all agreed that the hayloft in one of the barns would make an awesome studio.

Here are my best shots, in no particular order:

One Photo Three Ways

In the collage above, the first photo is the original. In the middle shot, the original photo was cropped and changed to black and white. The last photo is the black and white image with the barn tinted red. I love playing around with Picnik!

Old Bottle in Barn

Boxelder Bug

Andrea's son was excited to show me the boxelder bugs and ants that he found. According to him, "Icky bugs!" followed by ~stomp and squish~ I think he and I will be great friends.

Model A Wheel

Root Cellar Door

The Root Cellar Door photo would probably have been my favorite for the day if the door wasn't a little blurry. It was pretty dark in the root cellar.

Steve in the Root Cellar

Chalkboard in Entry of Home

I wonder who wrote on the chalkboard with permanent marker.

Shed Door Windows

Door Latch

More Door Latches - Another of my favorites.

Fireplace Plaque

Fireplace Mantel - Original House Beam

Steve and Some Ghosts

I was afraid I would get some ghostly images!

The Whole Gang

Hose

Stairway

Door Knob and Key

Heart Door Knob

Left-Over Leaf

Box of Stuff

Book in the Barn!

Barn Swallow Nest

Bucket

Porch Post

Chicken Coop

I got a little carried away with window pictures. I just like them.

As any good American Picker would do, Steve came home with a blueprint cabinet and Jay scored a Pink Lightning banana seat bike and a couple of bar chairs. Spending Sunday afternoon with Steve and other good friends...what can I say...life is good!

Spring

2011-03-31T16:03:00.000-05:00

Week of March 14-20, 2011 Theme: Spring

"The first day of spring is one thing,
and the first spring day is another.

The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month."

~Henry Van Dyke

Minnesotans are a hopeful people. The calendar may say it is Spring, but March is typically our snowiest month. In other words, Spring has not sprung for us, but we have hope that it will come. I did, however, see my first robin, appropriately on the first official day of Spring. I actually beat both Steve and Signe in the annual "1st-to-see-a-robin" competition, but took second to my sister, Lola. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera with me to take a picture of said robin. The first robin sighting is one of my favorite "Spring" moments.

Spring has many definitions. This time of year, the season is front and center. But, what about springing into the air (jumping), springing into action, water springing out of Old Faithful, businesses springing up in a newly renovated area of a city, plants springing out of a seed (growing), a church spire springs into the sky (extends upward), an idea sprang to life, a nail sprang loose from the board, the first light of dawn springs into the darkness, to spring a leak, springing the news of your engagement to parents, to jump or leap, having a spring in your step, mechanical part (car spring, bike seat spring, bed spring...is a Slinky a spring?), water coming out of the earth (natural spring, mineral spring, hot spring, geyser), Biblical springs of living water, to spring for lunch (pay for). There seems to be a myriad of photographic possibilities, now to just find the time to take the photos!

With the weather not cooperating (10 inches of new snow), Steve and I visited Green Valley Garden Center to take photos of flowers for the Spring Photo Theme Project. Their orchids were absolutely incredible. Since I am not known for my green thumb (my mom kept all of those genes for herself), I am not sure orchids are considered Spring flowers, but they are lovely.

"And Spring arose on the garden fair,

Like the spirit of Love felt everywhere;

And each flower and herb on Earth's dark breast

rose from the dreams of its wintry rest."

~Percy Bysshe Shelley

Green Valley had pretty Ranunculus flowers, too.

Most of the photos I took of the Ranunculus were focused straight down and centered. I like the purple and white flower shot because it is taken from the side and a little off-center.

This photo is one of my favorites, I just wish I had taken the picture so that the flowers would run diagonally through the photo, rather than just straight across.

Taking a picture of the plant ID tag would have been helpful. I'm not sure what the next flower is. The photo is so-so. There is a lot of "noise" in the background, which distracts from the flower. It was hard to get a clean shot in the green house environment. I think the macro of this flower is interesting.

Who can resist succulent plants in frog, turtle or bunny pots? I like the "herd" view in the first photo and the close up on the second.

"Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!""

~Robin Williams

Birds are a sign of Spring and Green Valley had a cute assortment of our fine feathered friends.

Signe, Quincy and I took advantage of a beautiful Winter day, prior to the official start of Spring and the ensuing snowstorm. On our walk, I found several Spring"y" photo ops. In more open spaces, the grass was trying to peek through.

"It was one of those March days
when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold:

when it is summer in the light,
and winter in the shade."

~Charles Dickens

I had fun trying to capture reflection in puddles in our cul-de-sac, as well as on my car hood.

"In the Spring I have counted one hundred and thirty-six

different kinds of weather inside of four and twenty hours."

~Mark Twain

Some signs of Spring can be bothersome. Snow + dirt = Snirt

Potholes seem to be having a prolific year. You know it is going to be a bad season when there's an app for that.

"Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush."

~Doug Larson

The only way I could get a Spring "landscape," was to do a little Picniking.

All of this Spring research and walking can make a girl thirsty. Along with my first robin sighting, McDonald's shamrock shakes are another of my Springtime favorites.

Green, minty, frozen mouthfuls of bliss!

At work (Elk River High School Media Center), we're trying to catch a little Spring spirit.

I had thought about making a book Christmas tree, but did not do it. I think the book tree with Spring origami flowers and birds works, too.

For lots of folks, a sign of Spring is college basketball's March Madness. Working with the English teachers, the Media Center is hosting the first-ever ERHS Battle of the Books. Hopefully this will be a new Spring tradition. Week 1 has been completed and we had 565 ballots turned in. Go books!

Week 1

Week 2

Seasonal allergies are another unwelcome sign of Spring.

Repeat after me...white balance, white balance, white balance. I also need to work on compensating for different lighting situations.

I chose the picture at the top of this post as my submission for the Spring weekly theme. It is my favorite shot from our garden center trip. I like the depth of field and how the petals on the pink flower look crisp and delicate. I also like the curve that the flowers make that leads the viewer's eye through the photo.

Signe had fun shooting her Spring Photo Theme Project entry. She set up a tri-pod and set the timer on her camera. Her inner child "sprang" to the surface and she had a blast jumping in "Spring" puddles. She is so creative...not that I'm biased or anything.

Outtakes:

Hopeful duo:

Green Valley Garden Center shopping list, or better yet...Dear Signe, Mother's Day is coming...hint, hint...

Related Links:

Spring Comes to St. Paul (YouTube video)

Sunday Morning's Spring Poem

Green Valley Garden Center

Picnik

Bible Gateway (John 4:14)

Minnesota Potholes (article and video)

Next Theme: Planning

Underneath

2011-03-18T16:48:00.000-05:00

Week of March 7-13, 2011 Theme: Underneath

"Faith is a bird that feels dawn breaking

and sings while it is still dark."

~ Rabindranath Tagore

In an attempt to catch up on my Photo Theme Project posts, this entry is going to be short and sweet...well, short, at least. I like that this week's theme, "underneath," challenges the photographer to explore taking shots of typical subjects from a vantage point that may be overlooked. At least this is how I am interpreting the theme. As I thought about subjects to photograph, it occurred to me that there is a difference between underneath and beneath. It is subtle, but there is a difference.

Some underneath subjects should probably stay hidden:

Underneath my desk.

I took this picture with my iPhone, under fluorescent lighting. I'm thinking it needs to be tweaked just a bit.

Adding the "Neon" effect in Picnik makes the drab photo a bit more interesting.

Nature provides some unique underneath photo opportunities:

"A book of verses underneath the bough,

a jug of wine, a loaf of bread, and thou."

~ Edward Fitzgerald

I think I would get along just fine with Mr. Fitzgerald. For this evergreen bough photo, I reached into the branches as far as I could with the camera facing upward and clicked.

I found a tree with some really neat looking fungus at its base and decided to try and get a photo from underneath the fungus. It didn't work.

Spring flowers are patiently waiting somewhere underneath the snow.

I like how this dragonfly wing creates a heart. Isn't that sweet?

Architecture and signage can also be fun shots taken from underneath:

I like the contrast of the bright blue sky with the neutral building. I also like the horizontal roof lines and how the curve of the light fixture is mirrored in the curve of the doorway. The shadow that is cast on the metal adds a little interest.

The vivid colors in my stop sign photos display nicely. I like how the green street sign is reflected on the stop sign above. For some reason, I like the angle of the second photo better than the first.

It was a little harder to get just the green street signs without the stop sign. I tried to crop out the stop sign at the bottom of this photo, but I didn't like it as much as the original.

The day I took the architecture and street sign photos was a beautiful almost-Spring day. Signe and Quincy joined me for walk, while I snapped some pictures.

Basketball is heating up with NCAA March Madness. I cannot say that I am a fan, but I enjoy an occasional game of P-I-G.

Several years ago, we traveled to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. While there, we toured Independence hall and saw the Liberty Bell. Steve was able to get an underneath picture of the bell.

I chose the birdhouse photograph at the top of this post as my entry for this week's Photo Theme Project. I like the underneath feel of the picture and that it is a new perspective of our birdhouse, which I pass ever day. I also like the color of the sky and the tree entering the photo on the right. I think the tree gives the photo perspective. I chose the Tagore quote to accompany the photograph because it suggests the faith/feeling that lies within (or underneath the skin of) the bird. And, I just like the quote.

Related Links:

3 Workouts to Improve Your Photography

Next Theme: Spring (In Minnesota, this may be a bit premature, but...YEAH!, nonetheless.)

Vegetables

2011-03-13T11:24:00.000-05:00

Week of February 28-March 6, 2011 Theme: Vegetables

"Let my words, like vegetables, be tender and sweet,

for tomorrow I may have to eat them."

~ Author Unknown

Yet another week with little to no time to focus on photography. As I continue on this quest, it appears that the term "weekly" Photo Theme Project may need to be interpreted as more of a guideline than a hard and fast rule. Hopefully no one will vote to excommunicate me from the project.

What is a vegetable? I know, I know...beans, asparagus, brussel sprouts, etc. How are vegetables different than fruit? According to Dictionary.com:

"A fruit is actually the sweet, ripened ovary or ovaries of a seed-bearing plant. A vegetable, in contrast, is an herbaceous plant cultivated for an edible part (seeds, roots, stems, leaves, bulbs, tubers, or non-sweet fruits). So, to be really nitpicky, a fruit could be a vegetable, but a vegetable could not be a fruit."

The site also presents an interesting list of fruits that are often thought to be vegetables:

tomatoes
cucumbers
squashes and zucchini
avocados
green, red and yellow peppers
peapods
pumpkins

Now, please forget about this list. I took my photos of "vegetables" for this week before I did the research. Thank you.

For our health, we have all been told to eat lots of fruits and vegetables...anywhere from 5-9 servings per day. The USDA food pyramid clearly illustrates this recommendation. Sadly, I must confess that this is a daily struggle for me.

My dear little one

Please listen to your mother

Eat your vegetables

~ Zoma

I like how my food pyramid photo is an actual visualization of a food pyramid. I am not liking the shiny black background. Placing the vegetables on a plate might have worked better, but the plate might have been distracting.

O, fresh vegetables

I know you're good for my health

I wish I craved thee.

~ Zoma

I had high hopes for my vegetable abacus photo. Steve was less than enthusiastic about this one. I like the concept and how it illustrates counting your daily servings of vegetables. I would have liked the photo better if I would have spent more time choosing a background.

Haiku's, like vegetable servings, have a numeric formula. 1st line - 5 syllables, 2nd line - 7 syllables, 3rd line - 5 syllables. As winter drags on, I am waxing poetic, thus my vegetable haiku's. If so moved, you could try your hand at vegetable haiku and share yours as a comment to this post. I would love to read more bad haiku, and good ones, too!

Another vegetable-related admonishment is that eating carrots will improve your eyesight. In fact, this is not true. It is thought that this tale may have started during World War II, when British intelligence spread a rumor that their pilots had remarkable night vision because they ate lots of carrots. They didn't want the Germans to know they were using radar. Those tricky Brits! Carrots, and many other vegetables high in vitamin A, do help maintain healthy eyesight, but eating more than the recommended daily allowance won't improve your vision. It may, however, give you a lovely orange glow.

My dog likes carrots

he thinks they are a real treat

please don't tell the cat

~ Zoma

Rabbits eat the tops

we must dig in to the ground

good - top to bottom

~ Zoma

Now on to the photographs of esculent vegetables. Can you tell I've been practicing word-of-the-day along with poetry and photography?

Did you know that snow peas are grown in Minnesota? No, really, they are...

After struggling with white balance (refer to next photo), I like the play on words that is captured with this photo. And, the snow actually looks white! Hooray!

More blue snow...sigh...will I ever remember to check my white balance?

Quincy got tired of the snow peas shoot...It is all about him, don't 'cha know?

Beans, beans

the wonderful fruit

the more you eat

the more you toot

the better you feel

so eat more beans at every meal!

How would you make the bean picture more appealing? In my defense, it tastes terrific.

What is a Honeymoon Salad?

Lettuce alone, with no dressing.

For my salad pictures, I wanted to have a contrast between the counter and the wall. Unfortunately, our kitchen counters curve up the wall for a bit. The only space I could find where the wall met up flush with the counter was in the bathroom (don't worry, I thoroughly washed the veggies after the photo shoot). I don't think the brown wall color does anything to enhance the vegetables and the counter top was a bit too shiny. I like how the vegetables and wall/counter top line run diagonally through the picture. Also, the lighting in the bathroom was not the best. I am posting two pictures to show how I was experimenting taking photos of the same subject at different angles.

With these shots, I was experimenting with different dip colors (Ranch dressing and roasted red pepper hummus) and also with aperture. I wanted the fork and veggie with dip to be in focus and the bowl of vegetables a little blurry.

I like the angle and location (lower third) on the first "fork dip" photo. I wonder if a white or wood background would have been better. I love the veggie/dip reflection on the fork in the second photo and I also like the shadow.

Round, red tomato

knife slices the smooth, thin skin

juicy goodness spills

~ Zoma

"Life is like an onion. You peel it off one layer at a time;

and sometimes you weep."

~Carl Sandburg

Did you ever wonder why Russian and other orthodox churches have "onion" domes? In ancient times, the onion was a symbol of eternity because of the concentric circles it contains. This is the reason for the onion shaped domes.

This happiness is:

many colored vegetables

and some melted cheese

~ Zoma

I had fun arranging, experimenting with different angles and cropping some of the photos of this bowl of veggies. It was interesting to try and pick a favorite shot to enter into the weekly challenge. All in all I took close to 100 photos of vegetables this week.

Why did the tomato date the mushroom?

Because he was a fungi

I like the black and white contrast of the mushroom shot and also the composition (rule of thirds again).

"To my favorite honeydew, do you carrot all for me?

My heart beets for you, with your turnip nose and radish face.

You are a peach. If we cantaloupe, lettuce marry.

Weed make a swell pear."

~ Author Unknown

Steve took the steaming asparagus shot on Valentine's Day. I like how he captured the steam and the aperture setting that showcases the asparagus.

To be honest, I really do not have a good reason why I chose the photo at the top of this post as my entry into this week's Photo Theme Project. I do like the composition, but I think I was tired of looking at vegetables and just picked one.

Vegetable Humor: ('cause I just can't get enough)

A man walks into the psychiatrist's office with a cucumber up his nose, a carrot in his left ear, and a banana in his right ear. He says, "What's the matter with me?"
The psychiatrist says, "You're not eating properly."

Why do potatoes make good detectives?
Because they keep their eyes peeled.

What do you get if you divide the circumference of a pumpkin by its diameter?

Pumpkin pi

Happy Pi Day on March 14th!

What vegetable did Noah not take on the ark?
Leeks

What do you call a stolen yam?

A hot potato

Why is it not wise to tell secrets in a cornfield?
There are too many ears

Have you heard of the garlic diet?

You don't lose much weight, but from a distance your friends think you look thinner.

And, in closing, next time I get bored eating or photographing vegetables, I might try to play one...and you thought my haiku was bad!

That's all I got for this week.
Potato, patahto - tomato, tomahto - let's call the whole thing off...

Next Theme: Underneath

Related Links:

FDA Food Pyramid

Spirit

2011-03-01T19:06:00.000-06:00

Week of February 21-27, 2011 Theme: Spirit

"But the fruit of the Spirit is

love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,

goodness, faithfulness, gentleness

and self-control."

~Galatians 5:22-23

Spirit...another cerebral Photo Theme Project topic. I was hoping for something concrete...sidewalk, flower, dog. Although I am still enjoying this endeavor, I am finding that time limitations are hindering what I want to achieve each week. I probably just need to adjust the expectations I have for myself. As with previous themes, there are many interpretations of spirit.

In Native American culture, the Medicine Wheel represents spirituality. It symbolizes the individual journey each Native American must take to find his or her own path. On the Medicine Wheel, the color for North is blue which represents sadness and defeat. Winter (go-la) is a season of survival and waiting. The Cherokee word for North means "cold" (u-yv-tlv).

Signe made this sculpture in high school and it reminded me of a Native American spirit woman. I started off photographing the sculpture on a blue leather chair. I thought there would be a nice contrast between the blue leather and the softer looking sculpture. It did not work. The contrast was too stark and not the look I wanted to achieve. By wrapping the sculpture in the soft folds of a light gray scarf, the photo takes on a more serene look. I also experimented with taking pictures of the woman at various angles and this was my favorite.

Sadness, survival and cold are descriptive words for Winter and North on the Medicine Wheel. How appropriate for February in Minnesota. Though, not all is gloomy. Our Christmas cactus is showing some Spring spirit.

Ryan, our moonshining friend, concocts the infamous "Rhino Juice." As the label indicates, it is best to enjoy this libation in moderation. I am partial to Root Beer Rhino Juice, but the Blackberry Rhino Juice, shown in the photo, is gosh-darn tasty, too. For the photo, I used a white background screen to focus attention on the subject. Shooting the Juice jar and glass proved to be a little boring, so the grapes were added.

Imbibing great quantities of alcoholic spirits may cause one to see other kinds of spirits. Steve and I have played around with light painting/writing before and this topic seemed to lend itself to trying it again. To do this, we set up my camera on a tripod in our cul-de-sac. Steve helped with the camera settings...self-timer (5 seconds), shutter speed (8 seconds), aperture (f10), white balance (shadow). The longer shutter speed allowed enough time to write, and the higher f-stop setting limited the amount of light so that the shot didn't get washed out. Basically, we were trying to get a long exposure without getting too much light. I used a red laser pointer to "write" on the snowbank across from our house. Quincy had a blast chasing the laser beam. I am a little surprised that he doesn't show up in the photos.

I was going to spell s-p-i-r-i-t. However, dotting i's and crossing t's can be tricky. And, in sticking with the theme, ghostly spirits say "Boo!"

Steve used a flashlight to get the floating head/ghostly image in these photographs. Our photo shoot was cut short due to frozen fingers. It was much warmer last summer when we first attempted this technique. Please forgive the apparent misspelling of Duluth. It's good to keep in mind the length of the word when setting up the shot.

Who says penmanship is a dying skill?

Feeling confident with my cursive, I thought I would branch out into stick people. Who knew I could draw an anatomically correct stick man? My skills never cease to amaze me...

Our neighbor, Mary, came home during the photo shoot, so she tried her hand at light writing, too.

Speaking of Mary, she throws an Academy Awards party every year. This year I wanted to get in to the "spirit" of the event. A couple of months ago, I ran across a recipe for Golden Globe cupcakes, which called for popcorn flour. This intrigued me. Planning ahead for party day, I went online and bought some Amish Country popcorn flour. On Saturday, I started making the cupcakes.

My hopes were high.

My intentions were good.

I tried really hard.

An inkling of things to come crept in when, after three hours, the cupcake dough did not rise. Not wanting to give up, I did some quick internet research and consulted with Steve. We decided to preheat the oven to 200*F. The muffin pans were placed into the toasty environment. A cloth was laid gently over the placid dough. In hindsight, soothing music (or maybe some rock-n-roll) may have been helpful. An hour passed and the dough seemed to have increased slightly...or was it a mirage? I proceeded to make the "gooey" stuff that was to be placed on top of the dough before baking.

Again, my hopes were high.

My intentions were good.

I tried really hard.

Exactly 20 minutes later...

In the "spirit" of "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade," my epic fail Golden Globe cupcakes resulted in a trip to Yum! in St. Louis Park. Yum, indeed!

Mary's Academy Awards party was filled with awesome friends, great food and, not counting Mary, my voting ballot came out on top. I'm still waiting for the promised Facebook recognition of this incredible fete.

Community spirit can be shown in various ways, but I daresay, nothing brings out community spirit quite like free food.

Not everyone wants community spirit shown in his yard, but I'm not naming names...

He who shall not be named, bowling for squirrels. FYI: Squirrels are fast little buggers. You try to get a picture of fleeing rodents.

I chose the fruit photo at the top of this post as my "spirit" entry for this week's Photo Theme Project. The picture is a metaphor for the "fruits of the Spirit," as relayed in Galatians 5:22-23. I am timid about sharing my faith sometimes, but the Holy Spirit is what I first thought of when the theme for this week was announced. My faith is real, strong and shapes who I am, and who I want to be. The fruit of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. For the photo, fruit was placed in a basket, rather than a bowl. I wanted the more earthy, rustic feel of a basket versus a ceramic bowl. I played around with different lighting and perspective. This shot was chosen because the alignment of the basket is skewed and I think it makes the photo more interesting.

Next theme: Vegetables

Outtakes:

To capture school spirit, it would have been an obvious choice to take a current-day photo at Elk River High School. This week, our girls hockey team made an appearance in the State tournament. But that would have been predictable. Here's a blast-to-the-past, school spirit circa 1979-80. Recognize anyone?

"We've got the spirit, yes we do!

We've got the spirit.

How 'bout you?"

Related links:

31 Days to Better Photography
Golden Globe Cupcakes (You've been warned!)
Elks Ousted by Duluth East
Yum!

Romance

2011-02-22T22:22:00.000-06:00

Week of February 14-20, 2011 Theme: Romance

"My heart to you is given:

Oh, do give yours to me;

We'll lock them up together,

And throw away the key."

~Frederick Saunders

You would think that after 25 years of marriage, I would know how to define romance. When I think of romance, I am transported back to when Steve and I first met, when we were dating, and the early years of our marriage. Sometime after that, our lives became full of kids, school events, jobs, and more and more stuff. I'm not saying that our relationship is no longer romantic, just that it has changed. We are loving, comfortable, adventurous, growing, learning, secure...but, romantic? Not sure.

I chose the picture at the top of this post as my entry for this week's Photo Theme Project because it is one of the most romantic things Steve has done for me. One morning last winter, he got up early, scraped the snow and ice off my van and started it for me so it would be nice and warm. This is not new. He does this for me frequently. The romantic part was, that after I left for work, he wrote messages to me in the snow. I found the snowy words when I came home for lunch. How sweet is that! It made me feel special and loved.

But, this week I need to think more about romance.

Order your copy today!

I work in a library so, naturally, I think romance novels. I'm thinking a Fabio-esque shot might be in order. I'll have to find our fan for the blowing hair effect. Now to get Steve to pose for a "cover" shot. Ummmmm...not going to happen.

It would be hard to get a current-day photo of the Romantic era. How could I depict Romance languages in a photograph. Hmmmm...my mind is thinking pretty hard right now.

Maybe I could capture images of a romantic spirit, sentiment, emotion, or desire. Some probably equate romance with sex, but I'm not that kind of photographer.

Daydreams can be romantic. Do little girls still dream about their knight-in-shining-armor? Not too many knights roaming the streets of Elk River, so that might be hard to capture. Kissing a frog, who turns in to a prince, is romantic. Our garden tree frogs and toads are basking on a beach somewhere in the Caribbean right about now...at least in their dreams. Another no-go, but I'll keep trying.

Pappajohn Sculpture Garden

When I think about romantic words, poetry comes to mind. Taking a picture of a poetry book or a hand-written poem or love note, with the right depth-of-field could convey romance. Maybe a picture of sheet music? In Des Moines, Iowa, words (or at least letters) are in the air. I took this last summer and like the composition of the shot, but am not feeling a romantic vibe from it.

I could post pictures of Brian and Dayna's wedding. They are so in love. Everything about the wedding was romantic...the couple, the setting (Lutsen Ski Resort), the location (Summit Chalet overlooking Lake Superior), the transportation (gondola). This has possibilities. But, the photos were taken in October, not this week.

Sorry...I got carried away with the wedding photos. It was just such a fun day!

Flirting can be romantic. I'm not sure I remember how to flirt.

I've heard of "romancing the stone," but have no idea what that means. We certainly have plenty of stones I could photograph.

Traditions can be romantic. I love courting benches, joggling boards and love padlocks.

I took this photo on the Via Dell'Amore in Cinque Terra, Italy in October of 2009. The quote and frame were added using Picnik. This "lover's lane" hugs the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and connects the towns of Manarola and Riomaggiore. Lovers write their initials on a padlock, lock them on the fence, and throw the key into the sea. That's pretty romantic!

Hearts can signify romance, as can flowers, perfume, jewelry, diamonds, dancing, elegant dining, and candlelight.

Part of ERHS Book Display

Hyacinth

Hyacinths are my favorite flowers. Steve surprised me earlier this month by delivering a pink hyacinth (pictured above) and McDonald's oatmeal to me at work. He knows how to win this girls' heart!

Here were my free-flowing photograph ideas for this week's Romance theme...in no particular order:

tree with heart around initials (S+Z), satin/silk fabric (lingerie...my winter jammies and socks probably won't do), aphrodisiacs (oysters, ginseng, champagne, chocolate, asparagus, strawberries), heart bokeh effect, thoughtfulness, weekend getaways, bed & breakfasts, surprises, red, one rose, wine glass, fireplace, doing stuff together, Sunset Bay, location (beach...frozen Lake Orono, probably not), sunsets/sunrises, rose and pearls, heart stickers on the dog and/or cat (good luck with that one), inside jokes, Harlequin romances, holding hands in front of the fireplace, making a heart shape with hands, love letters (do emails, IMs, Skype qualify?), holding hands while walking, kissing, playfulness, spending time together, Cialis bathtubs, frequenters at Daddy O's, date nights, weddings...

Here's a bonus quote for this week: "The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray." I may have had lots of ideas, but time was rather short this week.

A road trip to the Quad Cities (Iowa and Illinois) got the week off to a fun start. Our 25th wedding anniversary was on Valentine's Day (that's pretty romantic), and we went down "south" to celebrate. Did I take any pictures that work into the Romance theme? I think I got a few covered: weekend getaways, doing stuff together, location, sunset, playfulness, spending time together and, something I hadn't thought of earlier...heart-shaped pepperoni pizza!

Doing Stuff Together and Playfulness (Letterboxing)

Weekend Getaway and Spending Time Together (Carving Workshop)

Location (Hennepin Canal revisted)

Doing Stuff/Spending Time Together (Photography)


That's Amore!

Iowa Sunset (photo by Steve)

On Valentine's Day, our daughter, Signe, treated us to a romantic meal. Another couple of photo ideas can be checked off the list, but these were taken by Steve. I was too busy eating...

And, last but not least, our romantic week was topped off by a surprise party for our anniversary. We are truly blessed!

Cooking Lessons

Signe, Dayna, Brian, Zoma and Steve

Now and Then: 25 Years!

Next Theme: Spirit

Related Links:
A Perfect Match (medically romantic)
Joggling Boards

The Cutting Edge - Day 3

2011-02-20T22:31:00.000-06:00

Sundays always seem to come too soon. We packed up and got an early start on our way back home. First stop of the day...Le Claire, Iowa. For those of you who watch American Pickers on the History Channel, this is their home base. We stopped in this fabulous river town to find the American Pickers letterbox and add a couple of our hand-carved stamps to it.

We had to take some pictures at Antique Archaeology. Sadly, they are not open on Sundays, so we didn't get to meet Mike, Frank or Danielle.

The mighty Mississippi is in the background.

Get out your X-acto knife. Here's a stamp just waiting to be carved!

No, Mary. This is not our backyard! I think the Pickers might enjoy digging through our garage!

Le Claire has a neat Main Street with lots of eclectic shops. The river always offers great photo ops.

Le Claire has recently come in to the spotlight due to the American Pickers, but it has another claim to fame. "Buffalo Bill" Cody grew up here.

Scout Park, which was established in 1836 and offers great views of the Mississippi River, is a couple of block up a steep hill from where Buffalo Bill lived until he was 7 years old.

Continuing on our journey home, we wound our way through more picturesque country and river towns. We enjoy taking the road less traveled. It was a beautiful day and we were thrilled when we saw the temperature rise to 53 degrees!

Eagles were enjoying the beautiful day, too.

A short way after we passed fresh road-kill, we came across fish along the side of the road. Surf-n-Turf must have been the special of the day at the Eagle Cafe.

A scary bridge brought us back into Illinois. The bridge was narrow, you drive on a grated surface, and the side planks do not look like they would prevent anything from taking a swim. Steve would tell you that most bridges scare me, but this one was a little more frightful than most, but not as much as others we have traversed.

We stopped in Galena, Illinois for a late lunch. Surprisingly, we had never been to Galena. We will be going back, as we did not have much time to explore the town.

We had lunch at Vinny Vanucchi's. We will have to go back since the Love Dungeon was already taken by other diners. Bummer!

As the day came to a close, Iowa treated us to a spectacular sunset.

After a fun weekend, we arrive safely home around 10:30 pm

The Cutting Edge - Day 2

2011-02-20T20:26:00.000-06:00

Letterboxing is one of our favorite hobbies, along with rockhounding and photography. When we tell people that we letterbox, usually no one knows what we are talking about. According to Letterboxing.org, "letterboxing is an intriguing mix of treasure hunting, art, navigation, and exploring interesting, scenic, and sometimes remote places." Letterboxing started in Dartmoor, Devon, England in 1854. It started to gain popularity in the United States following a Smithsonian magazine article in April 1998.

Since 1994, the year we joined the Minnesota Mineral Club, most of our family vacations have revolved around rocks. I enjoy our rockhounding adventures, love the people we travel with, and enjoy the places we get to explore. But, rockhounding is Steve's passion. I first heard about letterboxing on MPR and thought it would be something I could do after a couple of days sitting in a rock quarry or mine site. After coming up with our trailname (SZSRocks) and carving our signature stamp, we found our first letterbox near Grand Marais, Minnesota on September 20, 2008. Since then, we have found over 400 letterboxes. Steve and I are both hooked!

We decided to attend The Cutting Edge event in Moline, Illinois to learn how to carve our own stamps so that we can start planting letterboxes for others to find. Our letterboxing friend, Hartx6, is an amazing stamp carver and we were thrilled with the opportunity to learn from the best!

After showing us how to transfer an image on to the "pink stuff," the first image we carved was a circle or ring.

After the circle, we carved a rectangle and then tried our hand at a faceted triangle. This was my very first carving experience and I could see my lines getting steadier as I practiced. Hartx6 was very patient and an excellent teacher.

When we felt more confident in our carving, we ventured on to images that we had brought along to carve.

We have talked about planting a series of letterboxes about minerals for a while. Steve took the opportunity to start carving stamps for that series. This is an image of Benitoite on Neptunite. The image is taken from a painting by Wendell Wilson. Steve's an overachiever...

I decided to carve a Ford sign stamp. Hartx6 recently planted a letterbox honoring the American Pickers (History Channel TV show). Along with his original stamp for the letterbox, he is asking the boxers who find the box to carve an image of something that the Pickers would pick and leave the stamp in the letterbox. This means that the letterbox will accumulate more and more stamps. Please note that when you stamp my image, the letters will be the correct way!

Butterqup (of Butterqup and Bear) is also thinking about doing a letterbox series of Foursquare badges.

You're never too young to start carving. It helps if your dad is a master carver!

Just like rockhounding, we have met some awesome people who letterbox.

ggghiker and HowDgirls

NamVet and Trail Rider

Butterqup and frequent.adventurer

Hartx6 and his assistant

When the Cutting Edge event wrapped up, we headed back to the Hennepin Canal to find a bonus box that Hartx6 had replanted, since the original had went for a swim when we attempted to get it this summer. Hartx6, Pitties and Shorty have planted the awesome Wizard of Oz letterbox series (52+ boxes) along the Hennepin Canal in Illinois. Steve and I found a couple of this series' boxes in June when we attended the Great Lakes Gathering 2010. We came back with our bikes to find the rest of the series over the fourth of July weekend and actually were the first to complete the series!

Over the canal and through the woods to the Burning Broom we go!

The Hennepin Canal connects the Mississippi River with the Illinois River. It opened in 1907 and reduced the shipping distance from Chicago to Rock Island by 419 miles. Unfortunately, due to other technological advancements, the Hennepin Canal became obsolete before it opened. It is registered on the National Register of Historic Places and is maintained as a state park. A trail along the 75 mile canal allows people to hike, bike, ride horses, snowmobile, and letterbox! Fishing is also popular along the canal. We had a great time exploring the Hennepin Canal this summer and were excited to go back and see it in the winter. A BIG bonus of our winter visit...NO BUGS!

We found the Burning Broom...

Getting ready to stamp our logbook.

As you can see from our logbook, Hartx6, Pitties and Shorty are AMAZING carvers! We can't thank them enough for our wonderful adventure in Oz!

Ready to go back into hiding.

Self-portrait. Just playing around while Steve went to re-hide the Burning Broom.

When we got back to our hotel room, Steve decided to carve a stamp to leave in the American Pickers box, too. I may need to run an carving intervention. I'll let you know.

For the American Pickers box, Steve decided to carve a Belt Buckle Bullet stamp. On one of the episodes, Mike and Frank (the pickers) found a Civil War military belt buckle that had a bullet stuck in it. That was one lucky soldier...hopefully!

For our anniversary, we went to Shorty's Pizza and ordered a heart-shaped pepperoni pizza. Pretty romantic! Oh, and there may be a letterbox to be found close by!

If you're still interested, my next post will be the final day of our cutting edge adventure.

The Cutting Edge - Day 1

2011-02-20T17:53:00.000-06:00

For our 25th wedding anniversary, Steve and I decided to celebrate in the romantic hot-spot, the Quad Cities (Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa, Rock Island and Moline, Illinois). Our letterboxing friend, Hartx6, was hosting a stamp-carving workshop. He is one of the best stamp-carvers we have met, so we couldn't pass up the opportunity to learn from the best! And, the Quad Cities are south of Minnesota, so we were hoping for a respite from the cold.

On Friday, after attending the funeral of our dear rock-hound friend, Loretta Heininger, we left for our weekend adventure. Since we got an earlier start than originally planned, we decided to follow the Mississippi River all the way down to the Quad Cities. Just a little north of LaCrosse, Wisconsin, we came upon some ice flows coming out of the limestone bluffs. They were too impressive to not stop and photograph.

By the way, I'm loving my new Outback. We'll see if we still love it after it's first rock-hound adventure! We pulled over on the shoulder of Highway 61 to take some pictures of the ice.

This is pretty impressive, considering that the water is coming from the rock...not a stream. If you look closely, you will notice some blue ice. I just published an article entitled "On the Rocks: the Science of Ice" by Heath Shive in the February 2011 edition of the "Rock Rustler's News" (newsletter of the Minnesota Mineral Club). In his article, Heath explains blue ice:

"Pure ice is blue, for the same reason the
sky and oceans are blue. Water absorbs more light
from the red spectrum and reflects more blue.
However, snow looks white because trapped air
reflect back all light. If an ice cube doesn’t look
blue, it’s because large quantities are required to
make the effect obvious…and beautiful."

The pictures do not adequately portray how beautiful these ice flows are. It was a nice coincidence that I had just published the article on different colors of ice, so we knew why some of the ice was blue.

When we got to LaCrosse, Wisconsin, Steve couldn't resist taking a picture of the world's largest six-pack at the City Brewery.

We continued on our southward journey through some picturesque country and quaint small towns.

As we passed through Dickeyville, Wisconsin, we found a grotto. Even though it was already dark outside, we stopped to check it out.

The "Holy Ghost Grotto" was carved by Father Mathias Wernerus from 1925 to 1931. The grotto wraps around the Holy Ghost Catholic Church and is unique, as far as grottoes are concerned, because it combines religious and patriotic themes. It is a folk-art treasure!

Father Wernerus used rocks, minerals, shells, petrified wood, fossils, costume jewelry, glass, porcelain and pottery...pretty much anything he could get his hands on. We wondered how he acquired what looked to be large boulders of lava rock. Steve decided that the priest must have been a rock-hound!

The moon was bright and cast an eerie glow over the grotto.

It was just a little creepy exploring this site at night, but that makes for part of the adventure. Notice the worshiper almost drowning in the snow.

We arrived at our hotel in Moline, Illinois around 10:00pm. Mapquest estimated our day's journey to be 6 hours. Our meandering route took about 9-1/2 hours. I bet our route was way more scenic!

Part 2 of our Cutting Edge adventure will be highlighted in my next post.

Body Parts

2011-02-14T20:21:00.001-06:00

Week of February 7-13, 2011 Theme: Body Parts

"The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things,

but their inward significance." ~Aristotle

NCIS, Law & Order and CSI are my choices for television viewing, along with Big Bang Theory, but that doesn't really fit this week's Photo Theme Project topic. James Patterson, Steve Berry, Steve Hamilton, William Kent Krueger are a few favorite authors. What do all of these shows and books have in common? Body parts!

Before I started taking photos of real body parts, I wanted to think about other types of body parts. Of course, I had to work in some books.

"Part" of J.K. Rowling's "Body" of work. I probably should have straightened out the shelf a little. I like how the books go diagonally through the photo.

How about this body part...

With this photograph, I was trying to demonstrate that things are not always as the appear. This image was cropped and rotated from this one.

Did I fool anyone?

Working at Elk River High School gave me several opportunities to photography body parts.

I like the composition of this photo and that the student is multi-tasking. If you look at his eye, you will see that he is looking at a computer screen while talking on his cell phone. Just to be clear, students are not to use cell phones during the school day. This was taken after dismissal.

This student was reading an Economics textbook in the library. No, he is not sleeping! I was hoping to capture the intensity of his study.

"Part" of the student "body's" "body" "parts." It's a two-fer themed photo!

Everybody sing now...the foot bone connected to the leg bone...the leg bone connected to the knee bone...

Who knew there are so many songs about body parts! I feel another sing-a-long coming on...head and shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes... You can thank me later when you are still humming these little ditties at 3am!

I would have loved this shot if I would have got the focus right. It really did look great on my camera's little screen. Bummer!

DISCLAIMER: For the squeamish, faint of heart, and queasy...close your eyes and quickly scroll down to the bottom of the post. You've been WARNED!

When it comes to body parts, my friend Carolyn is an expert. She teaches Anatomy and Physiology at ERHS. She invited me to take pictures of her class dissecting a "body part." How cool is that! I bet no one else will submit this body part for our photo theme project! This also gave me a little practice taking photographs under fluorescent lighting.

This is your last chance to close your eyes and scroll to the bottom of this post...YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Carolyn was downright giddy when I told her about this week's theme. She exclaimed, "I have a whole bucket-full of cow's eyes!" She's the one who posed the eyes for me. You didn't think I would touch them, did you?

The dissection begins. The students are going to find the cow eye lens.

That gelatinous goo...that's collagen. I asked if they would put it in a syringe and inject into certain "body parts" of mine, but that can only be done in an honors class. Drats!

That's the cow eye lens. It was rather round. I expected a bit more of a contact lens shape. Again, I had focusing issues with this photo.

Reminds me of oysters...kind of.

Are you nauseous yet?

I have heard that looking through a camera lens allows you to remove yourself from a situation. After photographing this dissection, I would have to agree. The thought of dissecting, or even touching, a cow's eye gives me the willies. Looking through my camera's eye, I didn't feel queasy at all. I'm not saying that this would be true in every situation, but it did work for me during this one.

A special "thanks" goes to Ms. Mitzuk's 2nd hour Anatomy class for allowing me to photograph their dissection adventure. It was fascinating!

One of the students brought in his grandfather's artificial eye. These eyes were hand-painted.

Carolyn's classroom is brimming with body parts...

Innards

And, just in time for Valentine's Day...a heart!

I chose the photograph at the top of this post as my entry into this week's "Body Parts" theme. I like the comparison of the bone structure to my hand. It was a little tricky to get the hands lined up, background checked and then take the picture. I like the end result.

Next theme: Romance

Related links:
Dem Bones Song
Head, Shoulder, Knees, Toes Song
Anatomical Sleeping Bag
Cow's Eye Dissection - DIY
Google Body - You may need to download a compatible browser, but it's worth it. Very cool!

Sleep

2011-02-07T19:12:00.001-06:00

Week of January 31 - February 6, 2011 Theme: Sleep

"The amount of sleep required by the average person is
five minutes more."

~Wilson Mizener

This week's Photo Theme Project topic posed a challenge. Since last week's theme was "tired," I wasn't too excited about coming up with more "resting" ideas and photographs. However, as in life, you don't get to choose what you want all the time, so I went in to the week determined to do my best and learn something.

At the beginning of the week, the Digital Photography School published a post entitled 6 Ways to Enhance Your Creativity. I think these six thoughts could be considered for anything you are passionate about.

1) Never Stop Thinking About Photos. Participating in the Photo Theme Project has helped me on this one. It is so much fun to think about the weekly topic and then explore ways to capture images that portray my ideas.

2) Embrace Your Mistakes and Chance. At this point in my photography journey, I'm not sure if I should embrace any of my many mistakes, but I get the point!

3) Find Inspiration. I subscribe to several photography, photographer and artist blogs and love to browse through Flickr. It is easy to find inspiration through the work of people you admire. Actually, I don't have a problem coming up with ideas, it's the getting the idea into a photograph the way I have imagined, that is the problem.

4) Break the Rules. I probably fall into this by accident because I am still learning about F-stop, aperture, composition, etc. I do try to look at a potential shot from various view points.

5) Have No Fear. I have to constantly work on this one. My self-talk about my photography, and this blog, usually sounds like this:

You aren't talented enough or creative enough to take good photos or write engaging words.
You will never be able to grasp aperture, shutter speed, white balance, etc. (not smart enough)
Other people won't like your photographs and will think your blog is dumb.
People will criticize your work...you can't handle that.
You should just give up and let Steve take the good pictures.

I will continue to battle my critical self-talk because I truly want to improve my photography and my writing.

6) Extract Yourself. Again, the Photo Theme Project has been an invaluable tool that has coaxed me out of my comfort zone. I have immensely enjoyed each week's theme...with the possible exception of this week.

Now for this week's "sleepy" adventure. I didn't have as much time this week to work on the Photo Theme Project. That fact, along with my lackadaisical attitude about the subject, means that I don't have too much to show for the week.

I chose the photo at the top of this post as my submission for this week's "sleep" theme. The title for this photograph is "Sleepy Rockhound." It was taken in February of 2009 on our trip to Tucson, Arizona. On the way home, we stopped to look for fluorite at a mine in New Mexico. The hike to the mine resulted in this doggie nap. I like how the old mine timbers frame Quincy. For the "sleep" theme, I could have cropped the image to focus more on Quincy's closed eyes, but I like that the timbers give a sense of location.

For some reason, when I pondered sleep, I kept coming up with dream ideas, which is unusual, since I don't dream very often. Well, at least not when I'm sleeping...

Our flower garden is asleep, somewhere under all that snow. I'm sure the tulip and daffodil bulbs are dreaming of Spring!

I have dreams about the future and try to remember to "Encourage Your Hopes Not Your Fears." Good words to live by. In this photo, I think there was too much natural light from several windows. The rocks washed out and there is glare on the tag.

Do you dream in black and white or in color? Are your dreams in words or images? Are your dream images clear or distorted? In the next photos, I tried to convey some of these questions.

I had fun playing around with the distortion tools in FotoFlexer, trying to get a "dreamy" quality to my photos. The candy I bought for the "Macro" week has come in handy several times now!

Psychedelic Dreaming

This is a close-up of my favorite part of the psychedelic candy dreaming photo. Groovy man!

Do these images reflect different types of dreams? I wasn't sure, so I didn't pick one for my weekly entry. I like the concept, I'm just not sure that I pulled it off.

Quincy dreams about tennis balls, and frisbees, and squirrels, and deer, and Molly, and the post man... I like how the orange of the ball is reflected on the (blue ~sigh~) snow. Will our snow ever look white?

Signe's fish Matisse sleeps upside down. Really, he is not dead. He sleeps both on the bottom of the tank and at the top, but always upside down. Steve took this photo and it is his submission for this week's "Sleep" theme.

Tommy has bursts of energy and loves playing in bags. Signe captured some cute shots of him having fun. Here he is winding down and getting ready for a nap. This photo is Signe's submission for the week.

Sometimes dreams can be bad. If Signe is having a bad dream, chances are spiders are involved.

Last week Tired, this week Sleep. I'm going to end here...I need a nap!

Next Theme: Body Parts

Related Links:

Digital Photography School

Flickr

FotoFlexer

Tired

2011-01-30T19:53:00.002-06:00

Week of January 24-30, 2011 Theme: Tired

COFFEE.SYS Not Found: User startup disabled.

~Author Unknown

I am tired of contemplating tired. Last Sunday, when this week’s Photo Theme Project topic was revealed, I must confess my temptation to just take a computer pic of myself and call it done! However, I kind of want you to keep reading my blog and thought the picture might be too much for you to bare. So, I started contemplating tired.

What makes me tired?

Working out. I wasn’t sure I wanted to post a photo of sweat and I was a little shy about asking anyone at my fitness club if I could take their picture, just as they finished working out. I really don’t want to be thought of as some kind of weirdo!

Minnesota Work Out

Short winter days. When I go to work and it’s dark and come home in the dark, I feel like hibernating. Since I usually don’t have any extra time in my morning routine, and I need help with low-light photography, I thought it best not to post a pretty-much black photograph. Although, that could demonstrate REM sleep...

Cold Minnesota winters. The older I get, the more I understand “snow birds.” I truly love all of Minnesota’s seasons, but a tropical vacation would be nice!

It was hard not to get glare from the fluorescent lighting.

It's fun to dream...

My sentiments, exactly!

A nice little rhyme!

I'm not sure if I like the street reflection or not.

A full calendar/schedule. I’m sure you can relate to this. When I look at my weekly calendar and it is packed full of events and obligations, even if they are all activities I enjoy and want to do, I feel tired before the week begins.

What am I tired of?

Immature people, unfairness, liars, mean people, jerks, people who think they are better than others, rude drivers, polluters, politicians, people who don’t recycle, people who litter or don’t clean up after themselves, dry skin, eating right, weight gain... This week’s theme is not Soapbox, so I shall refrain.

From my Warhol phase.

What are other ways to define tired?

Resting

Next time you visit Des Moines, Iowa, you must visit the sculpture garden. My sisters (Kay and Lola), my aunt (Mildred) and I enjoyed our visit to the sculpture garden last summer. There are photo ops galore! I like that my aunt's back is to the camera. I wish I would have moved the view over to the left just a little to get all of the seating and perhaps shown a little more grass in the top of the picture.

He needs a nap!

Tired to the Bone

Doesn't everyone decorate with dinosaur bones?

Dead Tired

I like that this is an unusual photo. I would normally take pictures of beautiful blooms, but I liked the star shape that remained after these were done blooming. I also tried (not very successfully) to compose the photo so that the viewer's eye had a path to follow from bloom to bloom.

I took this photo on one of the Sandhill Photography Club's field trips. We visited several cemeteries for a "Veteran's Day" theme. I like the photo, but think it would be more interesting if the grave stone was off to one side...maybe half off the picture. I do like the depth-of-field (blurry background).

Dog Tired

Not Tired

"Quincy, lay down!" Sorry, I tried!

Still Not Tired

Cat Nap

As opposed to Cat Nip which would be a whole other theme. My what a difference one vowel makes!

This may be a cat nip induced nap. I'll never tell!

Not Tired vs. Cat Nap

Pooped

This is Quincy on the deer path (or should I say highway) in our backyard. He was helping me find "poop"ed specimens. I like the tree shadows in this shot. I wish I would have cropped out our shed.

No explanation needed. I wanted to get an "action" shot of Quincy "poop"ing, but like the "dog tired" thing, he wasn't cooperating. I need to remember to check my white balance. We don't have blue snow. Yellow, perhaps...but, nope, no blue snow!

What are images that reflect tired?

Steve’s truck was just re"tired." He was at work on Friday, so I took this picture of my Outback's tire. I like the composition of this shot. That big goober of snow behind my car tire is a big pet-peeve of mine.

Bedtime Stories

I am happy that I didn't get the flourescent light glare on this shot.

I tried the Panography-ish effect to simulate jumping on the bed. It's fun to play around with different effects.

Catchin’ some Zzzzz’s I had the day off on Friday and had lots of fun searching for signs with z’s on them. I started out in Elk River, which doesn’t have a shortage of pi”zz”a places. I didn’t want to use only pizza z’s, and then I had an “ah-ha” moment. “Z”immerman is the next town north of here. Jackpot! Z’s were in abundance up there! I created the collage of z's in Picnik.

Going to Zimmerman also gave me an excuse to visit a new book shop, The Reading Frenzy. (Bonus! there’s another z!) I now have a new favorite bookshop! The owner had fun helping me come up with “tired” theme photo ops. The bedtime story pictures were her idea. It’s been quite a while since I read bedtime stories to Signe. I miss those days.

Sit. Stay. Read.

Their dog minds a whole lot better than mine!

Children's Reading Area

LOVE the paw prints!

Two More Z's!

My “research" would not have been complete without a trip to the Dairy Queen for the z’s in Bli”zz”ard!

I like how the spoon leads your eye down to the yummy, frozen spoonful of joy.

I chose the image at the top of this post as my submission for this week’s “Tired” theme. I used Picnik to enhance the photo and add the quote. This week I learned that you can convey a story through images, that Jack Russell Terrier’s will not nap or poop on command, that exploring new ideas is fun, and I had fun editing, enhancing and playing around with Picnik.

Leftover coffee pics and a quote:

The photo is a little too light, but the coffee was good!

I caught the drip!

"Coffee leads men to trifle away their time, scald their chops, and spend their money, all for a little base, black, thick, nasty, bitter, stinking nauseous puddle water." ~The Women's Petition Against Coffee, 1674

Steve started experimenting with bubble photography this week and I didn't get "tired" assisting him. Here are some cool shots he took. I'm looking forward to see his progress. This is pretty cool!

Ice Bubbles: Can you see the ice crystals forming on the bubble?

Rainbow Bubbles: In the first two shots, the bubbles are on the candy I used last week for the macro theme. In the last two, the rainbow is just from the bubble stuff!

Next Theme: Sleep

Related Links:

Morris Pottery (horse mug)

I actually bought this mug at the Kanabec County Photo Club’s workshop held earlier this month at the Kanabec County History Center in Mora, Minnesota. The potter had several pieces for sale in the History Center’s gift shop.

The Reading Frenzy

Des Moines Sculpture Garden

Picnik

Macro

2011-01-26T17:47:00.001-06:00

Week of January 17-23, 2011 Theme: Macro

“He who wonders discovers that this in itself is wonder.”
~M. C. Escher

On Monday (Martin Luther King Day), Steve and I took a road trip to Wabasha, Minnesota to photograph the eagles. Since this week’s photo project theme is “macro,” I was hoping to find an eagle feather and then take an incredible close-up photo of it. Not only did I not find a stray feather, we found only a handful of eagles on this gray, chilly day.

We did happen on to some deer that helped make the trip worthwhile. The deer were gathered around a hay feeder in a field. We pulled over to snap some photos. Sensing our presence, the deer took off running. What was interesting, is they formed a line when running and the two largest deer took the first and last positions in the line. When one of the smaller/younger deer couldn’t keep up, the line leader turned and noticed that the rest were falling behind and she stopped to let them catch up. They all stopped for a moment to let the little guy catch his breath before heading on. It was quite incredible to witness.

Another perk of our Wabasha adventure is that I had Steve captive/confined in the car for 2-1/2 hours (each way) so we could “talk.” I took the opportunity to ask about “macro” photography. This is Steve’s forte. He takes incredible floral macros. I just wasn’t sure the definition of “macro.” In my mind, macro = big and micro = small. Why does this photography thing have to be so confusing? I wondered about the following scenarios.

Is it a macro if:

all of the flower is showing in the picture with a little background

all of the flower is showing in the picture with no background

just a portion of the flower is showing in the picture (i.e., the stamen)

Are macros usually living things? (i.e., plants, insects)

How about a door. Is it a macro if you take a picture of a door, since it is part of a larger building? How about a picture of the door knocker? Again, it is a smaller portion of both the door and the building. Is it a macro or just a picture of a door knocker? How about if the picture includes part of the door knocker and part of the door (not the whole of either)?

Then there are larger objects like a bridge. From a distance, I could zoom in to the beam joint of a bridge. Would that be a macro?

Steve loves when I ask him questions. No, really! He loves it, I tell you...well, at least he tolerates it. He graciously tried to explain macro photography to me, the gist of which is, that it is a really close up photo of an object or part of an object. But, he did confess that he didn’t actually know the “established” definition of macro photography.

Although I trusted Steve’s description, I looked up the definition of macro. Can you tell I work in a library? Information...it’s what I do!

I also asked Jay, our awesome Photo Club leader, to post a definition on the Photo Theme Project page. This is how he defined macro photography:

“For our purposes it will mean zooming in on something to show the details, textures, and patterns that we might not otherwise see in our subject.”

Okay, now that I know that macros are not pictures of Paul Bunyan or the Jolly Green Giant (thanks, Michelle, for those examples), here are some of my attempts at macro photography. If you’re lucky, I’ll post some of Steve’s macros at the end of this post. I asked him to be my guest blogger this week, but he declined.

The photo of the candy at the top of this post is the image I submitted for this week’s macro theme. I love the vivid colors and the swirls in the candy. It also gave me an excuse to do a little “research” at our local candy store, Sweet P’s Ice Cream and Candies. Yum!

More "research"...'nuf said!

I tried to come up with subjects that the other photo theme project participants would not choose. Here are some images from Elk River High School, where I work.

Do you know how hard it is to keep a motion-sensored facet running with one hand while lining up, focusing and snapping the picture with the other. Just call me TALENTED! Please ignore my shoulder in the photo. Thank you.

Please remember these shots next week for the “tired” theme. You may want to gaze at them if you are having trouble falling asleep.

Besides photography, another passion of ours (or at least Steve’s), is rockhounding. Our house is full of macro-ready specimens.

Agate

Quartz

Turquoise

I wanted to try to get some shadowing in my macro, thus the bracelet photo. I need to work on this.

I like the colors in the fabric and costume jewelry, but wish I would have zoomed in closer to both.

Finally, I tried to get some good shots of both a match flame and smoke. The smoke proved to be like the floating heart Cheerios last week. Smoke is hard to focus on and capture before evaporation.

To recap, macro photographs, “each create a microcosm in which the very compactness of the picture gives it power and emotional impact much more dramatic than could have been achieved in a more explicit work.” (Sorry, I can’t remember the website I got this definition from..my bad!)

As promised, here's a short video of some of Steve's macros. Click on the arrow to begin.

Next Theme: Tired

Related Links:
How to Take Macro Pictures by National Geographic

National Eagle Center in Wabasha, Minnesota

Minnesota Mineral Club

Sweet P's Ice Cream and Candies (find them on Facebook)

Breakfast

2011-01-16T23:58:00.001-06:00

Week of January 10-16, 2011 Theme: Breakfast

"Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." ~Lewis Carroll

Breakfast is my favorite meal; at any time of the day. It was fun to think of creative ways to photograph some of my favorite breakfast foods. Steve and I spent hours in the kitchen experimenting with different foods and camera settings and equipment. I learned a little more about depth of field. Me: "I want the coffee cup clear and the background fuzzy." Steve: "A good way to remember the aperature setting is, the more of the photo you want in focus, set to a higher number; the less in focus set to a lower number."

Although the hot cocoa photograph above was my submission for this week, I had a hard time picking just one. I used Steve's white and black backdrops for a couple of my photos. It was a little tricky to get the lighting right...too much shadow, too much glare, should I use the flash or turn it off. For me, this photo was a close second.

I like the contrast of the orange on the black backdrop and I like the composition of the photo.

When I first started to think about this week's theme, this is the photograph that I imagined. Every morning, I enjoy my caffeine fix. My intent was to give the observer the feel of enjoying the first sip of the day. I still like the idea of this photo, but I would like it better if the background wasn't so blurry. Let me try get this right...I needed to have a higher aperature setting.

I like the colorful surprise in these photos.

I like the viewpoint of this shot. Manicure is needed.

I wish the spoon bowl would look shinier with less milk scum.

More coffee shots:

I like the diagonal through the photo, but it is a little too dark.

Signe bought me this mug in Florence, Italy. I love the pattern, and feel a little European whenever I use it. This picture is okay, but the candleholder in the background is a little confusing.

Speaking of mugs, whenever we travel, I buy a mug for a souvenir. When I use a mug, it brings back vacation memories. Coffee is definitely a breakfast staple for me!

For this photo, I opened my cupboard and snapped the shot. I didn't like the glare on some of the mugs. (Top, L-R) Jim Loso original, Colorado, Austria, Concordia-Moorhead (Signe's college), Glacier National Park. (Bottom, L-R) Harry Potter; Longaberger Village in Dredsen, Ohio; Florence, Italy, Rowe Sanctuary near Kearney, Nebraska; and Cafe du Monde in New Orleans, Louisiana). Fun times!

Using hearts was a way I could express my love of breakfast. Did you notice the tiny pink heart marshmallows on my hot cocoa picture? Here are some more hearts:

By the time I finally got the lighting, settings and angle right, the apple had started to brown. This was taken on Steve's white backdrop. I took about twenty pictures of this apple in various settings.

On my first try, there was too much egg white and it spread out over the toast. Next, the egg white kind of boiled over the yolk. For this attempt, we fried the egg in the cookie cutter and fit the toast over the cooked egg. This was the best heart shape of the three attempts. I wish the egg yolk would have been more prominent.

Have you ever tried getting Cheerios into formation? It's a lot like trying to herd cats.

The only thing I don't like about this photo are the shadows. Steve and I will have to keep trying to perfect this shot. I want to hang it up in my kitchen!

My sister, Lola, and I spent the day together on Saturday. Before heading into the Cities, I steeped some tea in my new tea mug. Signe gave me this mug for Christmas. It's from Teavana and I love it. This is how Minnesotans make "iced" tea! (set on top of my car)

More breakfast pics:

Peanut butter...it's what's for breakfast, and lunch, and dinner...at least that's what Quincy would like!

After peanut butter, it's nap time. Don't you just want to tickle those toes!

Tommy thinks milk is lip smackin' good! (Signe's photo)

We've had up to 20 deer in our yard this Winter. They prefer corn for breakfast. (Steve's photo)

This is Matisse. He is ALWAYS ready for food. (Steve's photo)

A pair of owls live in our neighborhood. I think this one was scoping out his breakfast possibilities. Quincy and Tommy were safely inside. (Signe's photo)

Next theme: Macro

Related Links:

10 Fantastic Facts About Eggs

Loso Pottery

Mad Hectic Oatmeal (my favorite)

Teavana

Cold

2011-01-10T18:01:00.000-06:00

“One kind word can warm three winter months.” ~Japanese Proverb

I have entertained the idea of doing a 365 Photo-A-Day project for several years, but have never started because I thought it would be overwhelming for me. I do, however, want to keep experimenting and learning about photography and improving my skills. This year, Steve and I have signed up for our photo club’s photo theme project. For this challenge, there will be a topic for each week of 2011. We will be taking photos of the theme during the week and posting our favorite to the Photo Theme Project Facebook page. This photo theme project is open to anyone, so if you are interested, please join us! I plan on recapping my experience and thought process each week here.

Week of January 3-9, 2011 Theme: Cold

I immediately thought of a wintery landscape. However, I wanted to “think outside my box,” and kept pondering “cold” throughout the week. I could take a picture of the freezer section of my grocery store. Or, how about a picture of a bottle of Nyquil with Kleenex strewn around. My daughter would be a cute subject all bundled up and rosy cheeked after a trek outdoors. As my mind wandered and my belly churned, a trip to the Dairy Queen to snap a couple of shots of my favorite frozen treat sounded like a great “research” idea. A shoulder shot of a certain someone would demonstrate a very frustrating situation. I could play around with the color “blue,” since it holds a cold connotation for me. Steve and I discussed trying to capture smoke from a chimney and breath from a person. He tried both of these and it is a little harder than you would think. We also thought about trying an experiment by boiling water and then throwing it outside to see what kind of effect it would produce, but we ran out of time and energy.

We settled on going for a hike near Elk River’s Lake Orono dam on Sunday afternoon. Steve is the “photographer,” and I am the “newbie.” I have my own digital SLR camera (Nikon D90), but it was really cold on Sunday and I didn’t want to freeze while trying to figure out the settings I wanted for aperture, shutter speed and ISO; all of which still feel like math equations to me, and I hate math! I also didn’t want to slow Steve down by having him constantly help me. Thus, I used my “point-n-shoot” Kodak camera, and I think my thumb still got frost-bite!

As you will see, I have much to learn about photography, but I am trying and hopefully this photo theme project will keep me practicing!

The first thing I noticed were the awesome ice crystals on the pond behind the Elk River, below the dam. I love the texture and the pattern. I didn't use this photo because the color of the water is too dark and I'm not sure that I like the composition, even though I tried to use the "rule of thirds."

The ice crystals on the bank of the river were awesome, too. I like the lacy, frosty shore and the ripples in the open water. I didn't use this photo because I'm not sure I like the weed.

At the top of the dam, the ice was creating a frilly crust. I liked the transition between the ice and the falling water. Notice the fuzzy part of the photo on the left? In my defense, I really needed my mitten! Thus, I did not use this picture.

Can you imagine how strong a beaver's teeth are? I couldn't figure out a connection between this gnawed on tree and cold, so I didn't use this photo, but I thought it was pretty neat.

It was hard to capture the pond reflection with the entire tree in the background because the path between the pond and the river is not very wide. This is the best shot I got. I almost used this one.

As I started back to the warmth of the car, this milkweed caught my eye. It looked cold and lonely. I like how the milkweed drops into the photo. It is very hard, with my "point-n-shoot" camera, to have the snow show up white instead of blue. Thus, I did not use this photograph.

Since I didn't really like any of the photos I took on our hike, I chose to submit the photo at the top of this post of a kayaker on Lake Superior near Duluth. I took the photo in January 2010 with my Nikon D90. It was my first time using my new camera. I like the color in the sky and the juxtaposition of the icy rocks with the kayaker enjoying the day.

Next theme: Breakfast

Related Links:

Sandhill Photography Club Website

Sandhill Photography Club Facebook Page

Photo Theme Project Facebook Page

History of the Elk River Dam

30 Ways to Picnik a Photo

2010-11-03T18:43:00.003-05:00

30 Ways to Picnik a Photo on PhotoPeach

How To: Photo Mouse-Over Trick

2010-11-03T13:25:00.002-05:00

Doing this cool mouse-over trick is not hard and it is a fun way to draw attention to a post.

Here’s how you do it.

1. You need two separate images. In my case, I used two copies of the exact same image (the cystal ball with sorcerer). I saved one image and then, using Picnik, I layered the image by dragging a photo of Scott’s head (the Media Specialist) into the crystal ball and saved the edited image.

This is Image #1: (FRONT image)

This is Image #2: (BACK image)

2. The next thing you need to do is upload the images to some source so that they both have their own URL. I upload my images to Flickr, so I was able to easily grab the specific URL for each photo. Make sure you make these photos “public.”

The URL for Image 1 (this is the “FRONT” image, or the image I want to be visible when the mouse is not rolling over the photo) is: http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1340/5142943008_35c2633334.jpg

The URL for Image 2 (this is the “BACK” image, or the image I only want to show when the mouse is rolled over the photo) is: http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1374/5142339597_26b3eca1a6.jpg

3. The code you need to place in your blog post looks like this:

img onmouseover="this.src=’INSERT BACK PHOTO URL’" onmouseout="this.src=’INSERT FRONT PHOTO URL’" src="INSERT BACK PHOTO URL"/

NOTE: Copy and paste this exact code (when pasting this code, put an < in front of it and an > in back of it), and keep in mind that the URL for the first two is contained within single quotation marks. So on the end of the first two URL’s, there will actually be three quotation marks—the single one, then a set of double ones. I’m sorry if I’m confusing you here. Just copy and paste exactly, then replace with your URL in the exact spot, and you’ll be okay. If you get an html error when posting to your website, try to delete the single quotes and reentering them.

Hopefully, if you follow these instructions, you will achieve this particular photo effect (roll mouse over the photo to see it in action)…

While it looks like the image of Scott’s head is magically appearing on my photo, what’s really happening is that the identical photo with Scott’s head in the crystal ball is replacing the original.

The possibilities are endless to how you can use this trick. I have also done this trick on the Elk River High School Media Center blog to announce a cover reveal for a new book release.

I hope you will try this. It is really fun and not too difficult!

A Look Back in Time

2010-03-10T08:34:00.000-06:00

This is a neat glimpse of what Minnesota was like in 1942.

Thanks goes to Linda, a very cool librarian, over at NCLC's 23 Things on a Stick for discovering this piece of nostalgia!

Pop the Popcorn! Here comes Oscar!

2010-03-02T11:07:00.002-06:00

The 82nd Academy Awards are this Sunday night (March 7, 2010). Check out some of the nominees that started out as books.

Check out any of these books in the ERHS Media Center!

February is I Love To Read Month

2010-02-22T13:46:00.000-06:00

Here is what I've been up to this month...

Thanks goes to Trisha at Oh So Crafty for the heart garland inspiration! I think it works fabulously with I Love to Read month!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-24T20:46:00.000-06:00

How pumpkin pie is made...

Why do I love the UP?

2009-11-24T19:27:00.001-06:00

Next YouTube Star?

2009-10-07T08:15:00.002-05:00

How much do you want to make a bet that this kid is from Minnesota?

Too cute!

Polyvore Galore!

2009-06-12T15:11:00.004-05:00

Last night I was fortunate to meet some really cool women. We were involved in a focus group for ARC's Value Village and how they can best utilize social media. One of the women I met is the author of a great blog, Already Pretty.

This morning I checked out her blog and fell in love! Recently, she posted about Polyvore. This site allows you to create outfits and/or gain inspiration from others' creations. Of course, there are links to most of the fashions so you can purchase the outfits that you create. This weekend I will be traveling to Wisconsin to attend a bridal shower and have been stressing about what to wear. This site was fun to explore. Here is my first creation. Now I need to explore my closet...the quest for bridal shower attire continues.

Bridal Shower by SZSRocks featuring Miss Selfridge

Travel 2.0 - Thing 33

2009-06-08T20:32:00.005-05:00

I must confess that this "Thing" was the one I was most excited about. I love to travel and was anxious to learn about sites that I could find useful. Unfortunately, I didn't find any sites that "wowed" me.

As far as travel 2.0 sites, I already use Northwest Airlines' site to check flight status of departures and arrivals and have been using Orbitz for many years now.

Several of the travel blogs were interesting and I did subscribe to My Kugelhopf. This blog combines two of my loves...travel and food, so it seemed like a good fit for me.

I browsed all of the travel review sites. We do a lot of road-tripping, and go to hot travel destinations such as Glendive, Montana; Keokuk, Iowa and Delta, Utah. Our travels have taken us through, and to, incredible locations. Unfortunately none of the travel review sites tended to have any insight into these locations. I also think that the travel review sites are only as good as the number of people who contribute to them and the content that is provided. I did get some good information for our summer trip to the Pacific coast on TripAdvisor.

As far as travel journals go, I prefer the 1.0 kind, which is scrapbooking/ journaling. Since the original "23 Things," I now also use Flickr and my blog as a type of personal travel journal and have set up a field trip wiki for the Minnesota Mineral Club which has an area for journaling. I probably won't use any of the travel journal sites listed, however, I was intrigued by Mapness, which is now called MapVivo and may try it to journal our trip to the West coast, just to see how it works.

Two sites listed under travel mashups caught my eye. I used Cost2Drive on our trip to Glendive, Montana over Memorial Day weekend and was surprised at how close to being accurate it was. I have used Wayfaring before and revisited the site for this "Thing." I created the map featured at the top of this post for our trip to the West coast and plan on adding photos, videos and notes after the trip. It will then be easy to share with the friends we are traveling with.

As for usefulness of travel 2.0 sites in our library, we do have foreign language and social studies classes that have to research countries and then they create travel brochures, plan trip itineraries and make travel budgets. I can see that some of these sites could be useful for this type of project.

1937 Hindenburg Disaster Anniversary

2009-05-06T15:01:00.003-05:00

Today is the 72nd anniversary of the crash of the Hindenburg. I have always been fascinated by zeppelins...maybe because we share a first initial. Zeppelins were created by the German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin in the early 20th century, based on designs he had outlined as early as 1874.

According to Wikipedia: "The Hindenburg was a large German commercial passenger-carrying airship (commonly referred to as a zeppelin). It was the largest flying machine of any kind (by dimension) ever built. The airship flew from March 1936 until it crashed and was destroyed by fire fourteen months later on May 6, 1937, at the end of it's first North American transatlantic journey. Thirty-six people died in the accident, which occurred while landing at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey. The Hindenburg was named after the late Paul von Hindenburg (1847–1934), President of Germany (1925–1934)."

Below is a new sound composite, produced by C. E. Price, of news footage of the Hindenburg explosion and Herb Morrison's reporting of the event. Both video and audio are in the public domain, as well as this particular composite.

The entire film can be downloaded here: Hindenberg Explodes

Video courtesy of archive.org

Hunting Geodes Near Keokuk, Iowa

2009-05-04T18:33:00.009-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, we traveled with friends to Keokuk, Iowa to hunt for geodes. The sought-after geodes are hollow and are essentially rock cavities or vugs with internal quartz crystal formations. These can be water- or even oil-filled. It's amazing to crack open a geode and feel water that has been trapped for thousands of years. Some geodes are solid. These are called nodules and you probably want to leave those where you find them. When out collecting, you try to weigh the geodes with your hands and bring home the lightest ones. These are the most likely to be hollow and filled with quartz crystals.

As you can see by the video, we had a great time playing in the mud! Everyone came home with a car full of geodes and a geode-cracking party is in the works. We can't wait to go back this Summer!

You Go Girl!

2009-04-16T15:09:00.008-05:00

With over 11 million views on YouTube, Susan Boyle has become a very unlikely sensation. Her performance on Britain's Got Talent brought down the house and scored an amazing three "yes" votes from the judges. Here are some lessons to learn from this:

Don't judge a book by it's cover. It is obvious the audience and judges wrote her off before she even started to sing.
Susan had a dream and went for it.
Susan said her performance was a tribute to her mom, who she had cared for and is recently deceased, and what a tribute it was! Moms rule!
Middle-aged women rock!

Susan definitely has my vote...you go girl!

To keep the YouTube views rising, click on the link below. Watching this video for the first time gave me goosebumps. It is truly amazing!

Susan Boyle YouTube Video

The CBS Early Show has a great follow up interview with Ms. Boyle. Enjoy!

CBS Early Show Interview with Susan Boyle

Purple Cow

2009-04-16T14:26:00.006-05:00

The Purple Cow
By: Gelett Burgess (1866-1951)

I never saw a Purple Cow,
I never hope to see one;
But I can tell you, anyhow,
I'd rather see than be one.

The Purple Cow: Suite
By: Gelett Burgess (1866-1951)

Ah, Yes! I wrote the "Purple Cow" --
I'm sorry, now, I wrote it!
But I can tell you anyhow,
I'll kill you if you quote it!

Geo-Coder

2009-04-16T10:28:00.004-05:00

I discovered Tiny Geocoder today. This site allows you to type in an address and it instantly converts the address to the exact latitude and longitude coordinates. This site is free and does not require you to register (no login/password to remember). A map is included in the results. It also gives you a tiny url so you can Twitter your results.

I think this site will be useful for traveling. Later this month, I will be joining some friends at 318 Cafe in Excelsior, Minnesota. I typed in the address for this cafe and got the GPS coordinates. Now I can simply enter them into my GPS and be guided right to the restaurant. Cool!

Ashton Kutcher vs. CNN on Twitter

2009-04-15T07:48:00.005-05:00

Twitter has now become a competition. Ashton Kutcher has challenged CNN in a race to see who can get to 1 million followers first. Ashton's Twitter name is aplusk, CNN's is cnnbrk, if you want to follow either one. I follow both, so I guess my "follows" are a moot point!

P.S. According to Wikipedia, Ding-Dong Ditch involves knocking on the front door (or ringing the doorbell) of a victim, then running away before the door can be answered. The game has been played since the 19th century.

Happy Spring!

2009-04-08T08:46:00.003-05:00

I just found a fun web-site that has free games to embed into your blog or website. Novel Games has lots of different games and embed options to choose from. Here's a little Spring-time game for you to try. Enjoy!

Bubble Bug

The Old-Fashioned Way Still Works!

2009-04-03T16:16:00.004-05:00

This is my milk carton from lunch today. It was a neat reminder for me that we can find valuable information in lots of places.

The milk carton intrigued me, so I had to check out literacy.gov. This site is the Library of Congress' Lifelong Literacy site. There is lots of interesting stuff there. One of my favorite "finds" is in the Rare Book & Special Collections Reading Room. The LOC has digitized a collection of rare and classic children's literature. For each book, you have the option to use the Page Turner or view the entire book in PDF format. The library staff has scanned every page, including the covers and blank pages. The illustrations in some of these old books are fantastic! In honor of April being Poetry month, here is a picture of a page from A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson. The illustrations are by Charles Robinson and it was published by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York in 1895. This poem is entitled "Rain."

Read Meme

2009-04-02T14:39:00.017-05:00

Photo Credit: Life Magazine Archive via Google Images

I joined this Read Meme on the 23 Things on a Stick Ning. It was originally posted on Booklist Online. If you want to participate in this meme, just answer these and put them on your blog or take it to your next book discussion group (the original use for this meme).

1.Which book has been on your shelves the longest?
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

2.What is your current read, your last read, and the book you’ll read next?
Current: The Eight by Katherine Neville
Last: Ptolemy's Gate by Jonathan Stroud
Next: A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly

3.What book did everyone like and you hated?
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

4.Which book do you keep telling yourself you’ll read, but you probably won’t?
The rest of the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling. I've gotten through Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Book #4)

5.Which book are you saving for “retirement?”
Not sure. I'm not very good a saving books! Perhaps the rest of the Harry Potter series (refer to Question #4).

6.Last page: read it first or wait til the end?
I usually wait until the end, but if the book is dragging, I have been known to jump ahead just to be sure finishing it is worth my time. My husband and daughter think this is unforgivable. Sorry!

7. Acknowledgments: waste of ink and paper or interesting aside?
Waste of ink. We all know that the author is grateful for the support of his/her publisher, editor, secretary, etc. I do like "dedications." They are usually short and sweet.

8.Which book character would you switch places with?
Elizabeth Bennet. Mr. Darcy, enough said.

9.Do you have a book that reminds you of something specific in your life (a person, a place, a time)?
Bruce's Loose Tooth by Eileen Landay. It was one of my daughter's favorite bedtime stories and will always have a special place in my heart.

10.Name a book you acquired in some interesting way.
I can't think of anything very interesting other than Christmas and birthday gifts or great garage sale or Goodwill finds.

11.Have you ever given away a book for a special reason to a special person?
I have given the book I Love You as Much... by Laura Krauss Melmed, illustrated by Henri Sorensen to several expectant mothers at baby showers.

12.Which book has been with you to the most places?
My Bible

13.Any “required reading” you hated in high school that wasn’t so bad ten years later?
I didn't really hate any high school reading. I had a really great English teacher (Mrs. Swanson) who made the reading selections very interesting. She explained each book and we had great classroom discussions about what we were reading.

14.What is the strangest item you’ve ever found in a book?
An airline boarding pass found in a book that my daughter purchased for my husband At Sara's Table in Duluth, Minnesota.

15.Used or brand new?
I prefer brand new. It's like a Christmas gift any time of the year. However, I do cherish my collection of antique books.

16.Stephen King: Literary genius or opiate of the masses?
Opiate of the masses. I can't say I'm a fan of the genre.

17.Have you ever seen a movie you liked better than the book?
The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I'm not sure I liked these movies "better" than the book, but it's a close call.

18.Conversely, which book should NEVER have been introduced to celluloid?
Sahara by Clive Cussler. Bad, bad and even more bad! Even Matthew McConaughey couldn't save this one for me!

19.Who is the person whose book advice you’ll always take?
Denise

Check out these Read Meme participants blog responses:
Not Enough Coffee
Floating Lush
Librarian D.O.A.
J Wiles' 23 Things Times 2 Blog

Concordia-Moorhead Closed

2009-03-26T22:16:00.007-05:00

I'm relieved that my daughter, got home from Moorhead, Minnesota safely this evening. She attends Concordia College in Moorhead and has been sandbagging for a week (classes were cancelled). Water was shut off at the college earlier today, due to the Red River flooding. Later, the college closed completely and all students were told to leave tonight or tomorrow. They were told to pack for at least ten days. The college's website home page now is a Emergency Information Site.

This was the scene today in Moorhead, as she was leaving. To give you a glimpse of how fast the river is rising, look at the light pole in the pictures below.

Fargo-Moorhead Flood 2009 and Social Networks

2009-03-26T18:49:00.004-05:00

The article "Social Networks Helping the Flood Effort" makes me appreciative and proud to be learning "More Things."

Make a Smilebox slideshow

My daughter took these photos. I used Smilebox to create the slideshow.

The Adventures of SZSRocks

AQ Box of the Week and Letterboxing 101

Brought to You by the Letters G, L and W

Memorial Day

Rock Rustler's News - April 2011

Friend's Ships

Swenson Heritage Farm

Spring

Underneath

Vegetables

Spirit

Romance

The Cutting Edge - Day 3

The Cutting Edge - Day 2

The Cutting Edge - Day 1

Body Parts

Sleep

Tired

Macro

Breakfast

Cold

30 Ways to Picnik a Photo

How To: Photo Mouse-Over Trick

A Look Back in Time

Pop the Popcorn! Here comes Oscar!

February is I Love To Read Month

Happy Thanksgiving!

Why do I love the UP?

Next YouTube Star?

Polyvore Galore!

Travel 2.0 - Thing 33

Tag Cloud

1937 Hindenburg Disaster Anniversary

Hunting Geodes Near Keokuk, Iowa

You Go Girl!

Purple Cow

Geo-Coder

Ashton Kutcher vs. CNN on Twitter

Happy Spring!

The Old-Fashioned Way Still Works!

Read Meme

Concordia-Moorhead Closed

Fargo-Moorhead Flood 2009 and Social Networks