Tag Archives: Fall

Shoot Happy: Sandia Mountains in the Fall

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October is a month dedicated to all things nifty about the 50 mm lens, I’ve vowed to post most days this month and talk about a particular shot or a series of shots I’ve taken with my nifty fifty. You can read the series from the beginning here. Having said that, today’s picture was taken a couple years ago, and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t taken with a nifty fifty, but I loved the shot so much I had to share it.

sandiamountainsfall

This sort of embodies fall scenery in the mountainous desert. Those are the Sandia Mountains, contrasted against a group of Cottonwoods. I love the golden leaves against the purple mountains. I complain about living in the desert and not having lots of trees to marvel at in the fall, but this sight sort of makes up for it. So, long as I don’t dwell on the fact that winter time is just around the corner. I’m definitely not  a winter time girl. Give me spring and summer blooms any day over cold snowy days.

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Shoot Happy: Bokeh

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The month of October brings so many happy things, pumpkin lattes at Starbucks, fall sunsets ( there’s something about the warmer lighting that’s so magical), and if you live in New Mexico that first whiff of roasted green chili is a sure sign that fall has arrived. But over the past couple of years, October also means participating in a 31 days series hosted by the Nester, click on over to her site to see what all the other 1200 bloggers  also joining in on the joy (or misery) of blogging for 31 days straight about one topic are up to. (Whew, that was a run-on sentence!)

This year, I’ll be talking about shooting happy with the 50mm. Although, I’m starting to question my topic, it’s only the 3rd day into the series and I’m already struggling with blog topics, in fact I’m getting a little bored with it. I may have to resort to posting random shots without any caption, or maybe tweaking the topic a little. Wonder if that’s against the rules of this little bloggy project. I could always change my mind half way through and do 15.5 days of indecisiveness.

But for today, I’ll stick to my chosen topic, and blabber on about how nifty the fifty has proven to be. Today we’ll be talking about bokeh, pronounced BOH-KAY (like the bunch of flowers that hubby brings home when he’s trying to suck up after purchasing more 80’s video games) , meaning the part of a photo that has been purposely blurred to bring focus to a certain area of the shot. According to wiki: Bokeh is the blur,or the aesthetic quality of the blur,in out-of-focus areas of an image.

Here are a couple examples of bokeh I shot while enjoying that warm fall light shining into my living room.

earinfocus

Notice, how my models ear is in focus while the area around the ear is slightly blurred. And in the photo below, the other model has a very focused nose (better for sniffing out rawhides), but the background is blurred.

noseinfocus

I should also add, that the use of bokeh is perfect at blurring out a messy background (i.e. the mess that is my living room).

sortamessyroom

Fall at the River

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Happy Thanksgiving Eve!!  Those of you celebrating Thanksgiving are probably busy preparing for the major feast to occur tomorrow. So, I thought I’d give you a nice break from house cleaning, pie making, and in general feast prepping by sharing some shots I took a few weeks ago at the River. We call it the river around these parts, because there’s really only one major river running through the entire state, the Rio Grande. And around these parts we call the banks of the Rio Grande The Bosque.

Since I couldn’t make it up to the mountains to see the changing of the Aspens this year, I ventured out to the Bosque to see the changing of the Cottonwoods and various other trees I don’t know the name of.

The trails through this area are super sandy, and require appropriate footwear.

Of course I came fully prepared. ICKY! I’ve got 40 pairs of shoes, at least 10 of those being sneakers and in general comfy shoes that would prevent river dust/sand from getting between ones toes. Did I wear those shoes? Nope. I had to wear my shopping sandles because darn it, it’s still 70 degrees outside! I’ll have to keep a spare pair of sneaks in the trunk for impromptu river walks.

After muddling through the nastiness of sand between my toes, Bubba and I took the obligatory facebook shot. This was a day after a hair cut, so glad my bangs have grown out of their buster brown phase.

In years past we’ve brought our brat dogs, but every year they’d find a patch of these burrs. I don’t know how much time I’ve spent picking these nasty suckers out of fur. But they make a pretty picture when they aren’t causing a member of my doggie brat pack pain.

While I was enjoying nature and snapping pics, Bubba was also enjoying nature in his own way. I just know he’s gonna get arthritis in his thumbs some day.

And ya know, it’s not just fall at the river, it’s also fall around the office.  I snapped these one day while taking a little walking break.

That’s a view of the river from a balcony.

And in this tree lives a family of hawks, sounds romantic but it’s not so great when you see the remants of their pigeon dinner scattered throughout the parking lot. *SHIVERS*

This is the tree I park under everyday, it’s like magic in the fall.

And on that magical note, I’ll leaf you all to enjoy your eve of Thanksgiving!!

 

Tablesetting Tuseday

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With Thanksgiving coming upon us, it’s time to think about all the yummy things that come along with this holiday of thankfulness (ya know aside from the blessing of having so many things to be thankful for). And to me, yummy things include pretty table settings, it’s almost beyond me to have a beautiful meal without the table being pretty too. I shouldn’t say it’s beyond me, because I can have a beautiful meal on a plain table, I’m not one to turn down a good meal, which is pretty evident by my double chins. But if you ever eat a meal at my house, the table will be set, there will be nice dishes, and cloth napkins, I’ll even dust the table of dog fur. I can’t guarantee how good the food will be, if I’m the one doing the cooking, but you will have a nice table and good company. It’s an odd thing with me, maybe it’s too much Pinterest, but I really find joy in setting up a nice table. So, this past weekend, when I had sunlight and some extra time, I set up a mock dinner party for two.

Outside, in the backyard, because really, I was too lazy to clean off our actual dining table. Besides it’s way more fun to play dinner party outside, and I couldn’t resist the great weather. Come on, in the 60’s in mid November?? It’s a warm weather girls dream!

I set a pretty simple table, a few pumpkins and some apples. The table runner is actually a red flat sheet and a flower-y scarf I had laying around. I like the layered look in both my wardrobe and my table.

The pedestal the apples sit in came from Goodwill, it’s wooden. I don’t know what kind of wood, but since I’m on a big wooden bowl and tray kick lately I thought it would make a nice addition to my wooden hoard. Plus, it gives the table some height, there’s nothing more boring than a table with nothing to draw the eye to different levels. At least, IMO. Geez, I sound like such a table setting snob don’t I?

The plates, bowl and charger are all new-ish, nothing vintage about them. But that amber colored glass you see, is a thrifted item, actually he has 5 other brothers in the cupboard waiting for that next glass of sweet tea.

So, today, I’m thankful for warm sunny days that lend themselves to a lazy-fake-dinner-party good time. Deep huh?

31 Days: Do the Shuffle

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Today is the last day of 31 Days of Getting it Done. What did I get done the past 31 days? It certainly wasn’t 31 things, and I didn’t blog for 31 days straight. But I’m not going to be hard on myself, I got some small things done that have been bothering me in a big way. There are still a lot of things on my lengthy to-do list, and I’ll tackle them as time and energy levels permit, but for now I’m happy with what I’ve accomplished. And today, I wanted to show you one last small project I was able to tackle before the end of this titillating and life changing series. (HAR-HAR)

Yup, I’m gonna bore with my cupboard arrangements. The cupboard pictured above is really the only cupboard that can hold our plates, bowls, cups and glasses. It’s not the only cupboard in the kitchen, but seems be the one that is most convenient for these items. So, this time I wasn’t moving everything, just the plastic storage tubs and some additional plates that have spent time shuffling around the kitchen.

The top shelf originally held extra plastic storage tubs and a rice cooker, I decided the rice cooker could find a home elsewhere since it’s not used that often and was taking up valuable real estate. By moving out the rice cooker, I freed up enough space to keep all of my plastics on the top shelf. Which allowed me more space on that second shelf for the shuffled plates and some new additions to my vintage glass collection.

Those green glasses have really gotten a lot of use since I brought them home last weekend. At 1.99 for a set of six, I’d say we’ve gotten our money’s worth. Plus, they look cute next the amber colored glasses don’t ya think?

Here’s the final product of my little dish shuffle.

It does my little OCD heart good to see all glassware and plastic items separated and in their own little homes. It also makes it blatantly obvious the over-abundance of plates and glasses I own. But I can’t get rid of them, what if I invite 500 of my best friends and family over for a dinner party some day?

Oh yeah, and today is Halloween, so happy trick-or-treating to all!

Leaves Keep Fallin’

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Before fall turns into winter, how about a photo recap of my recent visit to the Rio Grande River?  Out here in the desert we don’t have many trees so we have to go to the nearest water source to see the fall changes. Most of these are Cottonwoods, that are sneezily delicious in the Spring, but bring lots of pretty golds in the fall. Almost makes that Spring runny nose worth it…

Happy Friday everyone!!!

Treasure of Being

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I am participating in a ” 31 Days of…” series for the month of October. You see a whole bunch of sweet blogger buddies have been getting together the past few years to do 31 posts in 31 days. The topic is always something they have a passion for. This year they have invited all of their readers to post 31 days of their passions. If you are interested in participating in the 31 Days of…series, or you’re just curious about what everyone else is writing about, please visit The Nester, Jen, Melissa, Sandy, Darcy, Emily, and Emily. I hope you enjoy my series on finding treasures both vintage and of the heart. Let’s hope I can overcome my inconsistent blogging habit and share those 31 posts within the next 31 days!

Here we are on day 10 of what should be day 21 of 31 days. Obviously, 31 Days of blogging is certainly not in this little blogger, in fact, I sort of feel like I’m counting down the days in confinment. So, this maybe the last 31 Days series you’ll see on this blog. But if I ever conquer my poor time management skills and suddenly become Miss Organizing McOrganizer you might see a come back!

However, this week, my poor time management skills and disorganization have reared their ugly heads. They have left me feeling uninspired, uninspired to take needed photos of my old junk and uninspired to write interesting and heart stopping content (HAR-HAR). Or maybe it’s the fall air and the changing of leaves going on outside that’s got me distracted. Either way,  I promise, next week you’ll find plenty of inspired posts with lots of pictures taken by moi. But in the mean time, I’ve found some really sweet vintage fall themes to share with you. Hope you enjoy these visual treasures as much as I have!

*via Pinterest

*via Pinterest

via Pinterest

Sometimes, a treasure isn’t something you posses, it’s something to be experienced. This weekend, I plan on experiencing treasures, that doesn’t mean I won’t be popping into Goodwill or my favorite thrift stores. But it does mean, that I’ll be stopping and enjoying the treasure of living the life that the sweet Lord has blessed me with.

What treasures will you be enjoying this weekend? The treasure of spending time with family? Of enjoying the wondrous works of God? Or the treasure of just being?

*I could not locate an original source, if you know where these photos originated please let me know so that I can give credit where credit is due!

A day at the park…

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Ah yes, a nice brisk fall day at the park.

With Annie dog, so obediently waiting for her next command…

O.K, maybe not so obediently, since she ran off seconds after the above picture was taken to run and sniff.

SNIFF, SNIFF…

What to her wondering nostrils do smell??!! But a nice pee spot ready to roll in!!! How unlady like of her…

Well, I’m off to find some leaves to roll around in…

Black Roses

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Everywhere you go you see the colors of fall, lots of brunt oranges, warm yellows, and firey reds. Which also means that Halloween is on it’s way! One of my favorite holidays by far, I’m really looking forward to getting the casa all decked out for the goulish holiday. Here are some great decorating projects I found courtesy of Country Living.

These pumpkins are darling aren’t they? They seem pretty simple to do too. Even someone like me who is all thumbs when it comes to crafts.

This little ghost is spooky, I’ve got enough mirrors around to make a whole family of scary ghosts.

What’s more spooky than black roses? A black wreath of course!

Well, I’m off to buy some spooky supplies to try these crafts out for myself!