I thought I’d share our month of May in photos for something different today.
photography
The Week in Photos
Scenes from the last week (or two in this case)
Pennsylvania suddenly remembers it’s winter
It appears that Pennsylvania has been a little confused about what season it is for the last couple of weeks as warm temperatures tried to move into the area. But this past week Pennsylvania said to herself, “Oh, right. We are due for some snow because it is winter. Here you go.”
So after a week of warmer temps and rain, Winter dropped six inches of snow in a few hours and another two the following day. My children had started to like the idea of being able to go to the playground in warmer weather when the snow came. Luckily my youngest decided to make the most of it and ran out into the snow and then pretty quickly back in when she got snow in her shoe. She went in and out a few more times for a couple of days and even convinced her brother to go out in it a couple of times. Apparently, since becoming a teenager he no longer tolerates cold well. Or he is just lazy. I’m going to go with lazy, even though I’m not a fan of the cold either.
After I told my son I missed him being adventurous and getting excited to go play outside in any weather, he took off without a coat or boots and jumped off our porch into the snow.
Luckily, he didn’t break anything.
My daughter took her favorite (today anyhow) toy with her – a ragged dog I bought for way too much money for Christmas that I probably could have made for $10. The thing comes in a ball and the child is supposed to dunk it in water to unravel it. Now that Little Miss knows it can get wet and be dried fairly easily she takes it with her everywhere, from into the snow and rain, to her baths. Her brother buried it all the way under the snow at one point when she wasn’t looking but stuck a tree branch over it so he could find it later. She realized it was gone within a few moments of coming back in the house.
She pestered her brother and me all day about going out into the snow but each time we got there, she would run back inside less than ten minutes later.
“You made us come out here and now you are leaving?” I shouted at one point as she ran toward the front porch.
“Yeah, well, I have SNOW IN MY BOOT!” she yelled back.
She was so indignant about it; it cracked us up.
On one of the days, we had snow a friend of my son’s came over and they had some kind of wrestling match in our side yard. No idea what that was about, but I know that beating each other up is how boys relate.
Watching the kids play in the snow made me think about how this will be the last winter they play in the yard of this house since by next year we will be living 40 minutes away, closer to my husband’s job and my parents. The day before the snow hit we visited a local playground that is set to be demolished sometime this winter or spring so that a new one can be rebuilt in the fall. The playground is a wooden playground that was built more than 30 years ago and is a favorite of my children, as well as other children in the community. It will be sad to see it go, but it will be safer and easier for the borough to maintain it once it is replaced.
January in photos
I’ve been focused on writing more than photography recently, but I did take some photographs in January. I no longer take photographs professionally, so I consider my photographs family documentary since they focus mainly on my family life.
We didn’t have a lot of snow. We were running in and out of the house a lot for showings. And we did homeschool lessons. In other words, there really wasn’t a lot to photograph throughout the month of January.
Creatively Thinking: Stock photography for bloggers and everyone else
I’ve written about my journey into stock photography before.
It’s not a big moneymaker for me, or for most people in general, but I still submit images to two stock photography agencies. If I make a little money from them, great, if I don’t – hey, that’s okay too.
Some people don’t know that if they use a photo from the internet they should give credit to either the site or photographer. And downloading photos from a website and using it as your own is a real no-no, but again, that’s another thing some bloggers don’t really think much about.
The sites I contribute to offer one-time purchases versus subscriptions and they are not the only sites where bloggers can find a good collection of images to choose from for their blogs or other needs.
I thought I’d share some of the work I have available for sale on Alamy and Lightstock at this time and also let bloggers who follow my blog know I’ll be setting up a free gallery in the new year for bloggers to find stock images they might like to use for their own blog posts, because as we know, photographs can help to make a blog post more visually engaging and simply “punch it up” a little bit.
If you are ever in need of photography, you can find my work on Alamy HERE or on Lightstock HERE and I’ll announce at a later date when I have my own gallery up later in 2020.
So, how about you? Do you ever use stock photography for your blog posts or other projects? Or do you use your own photographs to punch up your blog post or other projects? Let me know in the comments.
2019 in photos
I thought I would look back at 2019 in photos and one thing I’ve realized is that I didn’t take as many photos in 2019 as I have in other years. This will confuse you when you see the list of photos below, but, trust me, I used to take a lot more. I guess I’m in a photography rut of sorts.
I stole the idea of the photos from my brother who, for once, (*wink*) had a good idea. Unlike my brother, I’m not going to add explanations because I have too many photos and I’m not as patient as my brother to do that.
January through April
May through August
August to December
Creatively Thinking: Like breathing again
When you haven’t created in over a month and then you do –
it’s like you were holding your breath and didn’t realize it.
And now you’re breathing again.
Currently . . . November
I saw this new theme at Erin at Still Life, with Cracker Crumb’s blog (hosted by Anne at In Residence) so I thought I would jump in this month for fun!
The idea is to post what your picking and preparing, trying, feeling, and following for the upcoming month. We’ll see how this goes!
Picking and preparing: I’m picking up butternut squash from my dad, or at least I was supposed to get more of it this week, so I can make some butternut squash soup for us, them and others. I made it last year and it was so good. I used the Pioneer Woman’s recipe but I made a lot of adjustments, to the point I pretty much only added the squash, a few potatoes, onion powder and a couple of cups of milk. I don’t need heavy whipping cream for everything like Ree does.
I think I also added carrots to mine. I cooked it all in the Instapot and then blended it with my immersion blender, put it in a pot on the stove and cooked it down some more. The only part that is a pain for me is softening the butternut squash enough that I can cut it up. I’m a wimp and can’t cut it while it is raw so I have to soften it in the Instapot and then scoop out the insides and cut it up and sometimes I overcook it in the Instapot and it becomes a mushy mess while I try to pull the skin off of it. Can you tell I am not a cook?
The most important tip for butternut squash soup is to pick up some mozerella and melt it all over the top of your bowl of soup. Sooo good!
Trying: I am trying to count calories and keep a food diary. I’ve never thought counting calories was the way to go to lose weight but I’ve watched my mom do this in the last year and she’s down 50-some pounds, maybe even close to 60 now. I have a feeling one of my biggest issues is that I don’t actually eat enough calories and I don’t have enough protein throughout the day. My mom has a certain amount of protein and carbs at each meal and fills up on vegetables as well. I know perimenopause and hypothyroidism are against me in the weight loss effort but about seven years ago I lost close to 40 pounds by dropping all wheat, dairy and sugar and adding natural progesterone to balance my hormones I’m doing all of that again and am hoping it helps not only with the weight but with a myraid of symptoms.
Feeling: Feeling is a difficult one. I’m feeling a mix of emotions these days. I’m lonely many days. I don’t have any close friends anymore. I’m feeling anxious because we need to find a house closer to my husband’s job and my parents and that has proved to be much easier said than done. But, in the midst of it all, I’m also feeling somewhat optimistic as I continue to work on my stories and simply have fun by posting them here on my blog, on Kindle, or wherever I want.
Following: Much less than I used to follow, if we are referring to social media. I’ve been taking longer breaks from all social media. I am following more authors on Instagram than I used to, but right now Instagram isn’t even on my phone. I find myself feeling super jittery after looking at Facebook or Instagram (don’t even ask about Twitter. I don’t have an account). I hate how I can be scrolling along looking at happy photos and bump into someone yelling about politics or the environment or any number of things. It’s just too much sometimes and my brain can’t keep up with it all.
Even the stuff that is good for me is overwhelming. “Read this Bible verse/devotional!” “Watch this sermon!” I can’t keep up with it all and I notice my heart starts racing and my breath quickens as I try to bounce from tab to tab. I’ve resorted to deleting it all from my phone and blocking Facebook throughout much of the day, only looking at it a couple of times to see updates from the few friends I have left on there.
So how about all of you? What are you all up to, or plan to be up to in November? Let me know in the comments!
All images by Lisa R. Howeler and available on Lightstock.com.
Autumn saves the best for last
I didn’t think the leaves were going to be very pretty in our area this autumn, and in some places they weren’t, but they waited to save the best for last in some cases, especially in our side and front yard where our two maples transformed from greenish-yellow to bright yellow and orange, fringed with red, in a matter of days.
I grabbed a few photos of the trees in our side yard and front yard before the rainy, colder weather sets in tomorrow and possibly blows the leaves off. And, of course, I grabbed photos of the kids playing in front of the trees before the leaves all fall off (whether in the rain or later) and we’re stuck with naked skeletons for the rest of the winter. Luckily, we have a tree that is a “late bloomer”, so to speak, which often doesn’t change colors until November and takes it’s time losing its leaves. That helps autumn to stay around a little longer for us.
My son also finished the shed he and my dad have been working on, another project they wanted to have completed before cold weather sets in.
We were late on decorating for Halloween this year, but the children managed to put up a few decorations this week before trick-or-treating, which was held a day early to avoid the heavy rain we’re expected to get.
