Bowl of Rice

And below the set-up shot for "Bowl of Rice".

Normally I would try to get rid of the light spill from the flash shooting into the umbrella, but in this case it actually helped with the light I was trying to achieve by reflecting some light from slightly behind the subject.

Nikon D90, Nikkor 50mm f1.8D, f4.5, 1/200s, Nikon sb700 flash shot through a white umbrella with the wide angle flash diffuser out, hand held.

Habitat, the Day After the Build - It Hurts So Good!

Is that possible?   The past few weeks have been insanely busy full of some great activities and events.  One of the fun things I've been working on is a Habitat house.  Have you ever worked on one?   

I believe this is the seventh house I've worked on and I would be telling a tall tale if I said I loved it.  I love the outcome but some weeks it's really hard to get motivated, depending on the tasks that need to be done.  Have you ever installed insulation?  

This week was week number 5 and we worked on trimming and caulking.  This is one of the weeks I would call a fun week.  On Habitat days we work from 7:30 - 4:00 (I have to get there a bit early to make sure we have coffee).   Yesterday was a great day but this morning I was so sore!   I really need to exercise more.  Thinking about exercising more made me think of my high school PE teacher Mrs. Lunsford and the crazy record we used to have to exercise to each day in preparation for the President's Physical Fitness exam.  Do you remember it?  

Brushing Away The Cobwebs

Back home after a fortnight's holiday to find a cobweb festooned greenhouse, cuttings that have got on with their business silently sending out roots, the first piles of discarded leaves and gleaming red berries which have appeared out of nowhere. The allotment remains undiscovered terrain until tomorrow and goodness knows what has been going on there whilst my back has been turned. New seed catalogues have landed on the doormat along with some gardening magazines. There seems to be a myriad of jobs to catch up on but for once the weather looks as if it is going to oblige with predictions of the warmest spell of early autumn weather for some twenty five years! What an unexpected surprise.  So this week feeling reinvigorated after breathing in both sea and country air I am going to :

• sort out the cold frame and make sure that all pots are labeled before the onset of winter. No more guessing games next spring. 
• make sure that I sort out and send off my spring bulb orders. This year I am going to be restrained and not bite off more than I can chew.
• get my order off for some garlic cloves.
• start making some inroad into eating some of the potatoes which I harvested from the allotment before we went away. 
• make a list of what will need sheltering in the greenhouse 'ere the winter storms begin.'
• start making inroads into clearing one of the raised beds at the allotment which has had permanent planting in up to now.
• check to see whether there are any seeds that can be saved.
• gently brush away those cobwebs as they can prevent overwintering butterfly chrysalis from emerging in the spring.

Think that's enough for one week. What are your plans for early autumn?

Another call for help…good folks…

‘Cause you guys are the bestest! Ok…I have a funky kitchen…ok I admit to having even a weird kitchen. It is scattered with the color red.

Toaster…clock…Hood vent. SCREEEEECH. Yep hood vent.

Tired of red... time for a change. To what though?

It is a metal (think industrial aluminum) hood over an island. It was white (ish) when we bought the house...omg.

Then I painted it fire engine red. Why? I dunno. maybe to go with my red toaster.

so today…I tried to bring it back to it’s industrial roots tried is the operative word…with a silver/aluminum/zinc...ish...kinda look

and It doesn’t quite hit the mark. she humbly admits.

What do you think??? Maybe darker….But will it look hokey with the little cross hatches?

Back to white…Or even try and add a wood veneer over and paint white…kinda like Joan’s stunning kitchen recently featured in Renovation Magazine…homina homina…

What is a girl to do who doesn't want to spend any clams

HELP….PLEASE…..I’ll give you a dollar if you help.

I will.

Assortment of E6 slide film for sale

PLEASE NOTE - ALL SOLD OUT!
I recently sold off my beloved film cameras (except for the Olympus Trip 35) and so I am letting my film stock go as well. If you are in South Africa and interested in 35 rolls of expired but frozen for years film then drop me a note at thephotophile@gmail.com and we can make arrangements for delivery. There is Provia, Velvia 50, Kodak EPR 64, etc. The works for only R300!

The usual set-up shot follows:

'The Garden Of England'

'9kr

I have been spending a few days in the fair county of Kent (often known as
'The Garden of England' because of its abundance of orchards and hops), hence my recent silence both here and commenting on other blogs. Just happened to stray over the border into East Sussex to visit Great Dixter, which after many years of wanting to visit more than lived up to all expectations! A sneak preview above and more to follow when normal service is resumed shortly.

Kids bath in Kitchen and Bath Magazine…

In the newstands I found mine waiting in line in Publix grocery store Is the newest edition

of Better Homes and Gardens Kitchen and Bath magazine

One of the features is our kids bathroom.

However…now it is decidedly a HIS bathroom…as the lone girl (willing to no longer share with three brothers) claimed a powder room as hers

Call me crazy, but I always wanted to put a urinal in a kids bath…3 boys…c’mon. Keeping it real.

Huge thank you to Becky the stylist and writer extraordinaire …and to Meredith Magazines for giving two of our bathrooms a little place in print!

Out to look for urinals…seriously.