More Green

I got to tag along on a really cool photo shoot today. Unfortunately, to protect the innocent, the subjects and location must remain secret! But, I can tell you that there were enchanting, fairy-tale vignettes to be found all over the place.



I got covered in burs from the weeds and maybe some poison ivy, but so did everybody else. Also? I learned a lot. I got to watch a pro work and that experience was really invaluable. There may be another similar opportunity for me coming up shortly and as soon as I can tell you more or show you something, I will. Just for now, it's all a rather nebulous concept.
I have always liked to keep an air of mystery about me.

Green

We are having such a green spring here in Florida! Normally, our live oak trees go from sort of brown and dark green to a little bit of bright green mixed with the dark green. But I think the freeze we had this year killed so much vegetation that we are having a real, honest-to-goodness spring as everything slowly comes back to life.

I kid you not, that is straight out of the camera, with no adjustments! There's so much bright green everywhere.
I took a walk today, hoping to feel like a photographer and be inspired - hoping to find something really striking to photograph. It didn't work out. But I did see this majestic heron at the lake. At least, he seemed to think he was majestic.

But then my brother called me and invited me to have lunch with him, so I left the heron to his lunch and I left in search of mine.

Something New

I'm adding something new here.
Watermarks.
I have really debated (some of you have patiently listened to me) about whether to watermark some of my images here on my blog. Lots of other people do it and I think it's a good idea to protect your work at least a little bit out here on the scary internets. People swipe your pictures and don't give you credit and claim that your children are their own (honestly - I did see that happen once, but thankfully, not to me!).
But, adding a watermark also says, "I think my photos are good enough that you might steal them." And I don't want to be that person. I don't want to look like I think I'm great or something.
So, I've gone back and forth a lot over this.
Some of you download my pictures and use them as desktop backgrounds - and I'm happy you like my pictures enough to do that. In fact, it makes me blush a little bit to think that you actually have my photos somewhere in your life. I hope a watermark won't interfere with your enjoyment.
I just don't want strangers using my work without permission.
Yes - watermarks can be cropped right off - it's not fool-proof. But I'm also not going to slap a huge, diagonal watermark across the middle of my pictures. I want them to look pretty for you.
I have been considering the option to sell a few prints, though, and why on earth would you pay me for something that you could swipe from my blog for free? So...
It all comes down to this:
Some of my pictures will have a watermark on them. It won't be the family snapshots and general what-I-did-today pictures, though. I'll just put it on the ones that I consider, well, something I might want to sell. Does that work? Do you think I'm getting the Big Head? I sure hope not.
In fact, I hope so much that you will still love me that I'm going to show you one of my favorite pictures ever right now.
It's called "You Have Such a Lovely Home," because that's exactly what I said out loud to the robin I that imagined lived in it.

This is that tree I saw in New Harmony on our vacation. There are even more pictures and I might get them up around here soon, but this is, by far, my favorite. This is not at all an official logo or something like that. It's sure to change. But it'll do for now.
I hope you like it. And I hope you'll forgive me for plastering my name on it.

Making

Some of you have asked for an update about the homemade laundry soap. I am happy to report that it has worked out very nicely! We have washed our way through the first batch at this point and our clothes are clean. Nobody has even said that we are stinky. So, I'd say that means it's a success.
This is one money-saving household product that I will continue to make and use! When I mix up the next batch this week, as I said before, I plan to use Lux soap flakes instead of grated laundry soap because I think it will make a more consistent mixture.
I have heard that you can make your own dryer sheets too (some examples here and here)...maybe I'll try that next! I don't usually use dryer sheets or fabric softener because Emma and I both have very sensitive skin, so maybe one of those vinegar/essential oils ones will be my first try. We'll see...
The up side of all of this frugal making is that it is also all a bit "greener." I am, by no means, an environmental activist, but it's nice to know that something I enjoy doing anyway reduces chemicals and waste in my own home.

Also on the "making" front, I have a batch of granola in the oven right now. It smells really yummy. I have only hesitated to make my own in the past because the cost of honey can be pretty prohibitive, but my neighbor keeps bees and I get raw honey for super-cheap now. Hope it tastes as good as it smells!

Yum

I took the kids today and met up with some friends at Parkesdale Farms in Plant City. If you live anywhere around here, you know why we went there.

Strawberry shortcake!

It's a little cheesy, but in a perfectly old-fashioned way. There's even a strawberry throne to pose on for pictures. What princess could resist?

Monday

Ah, Monday. It was a good day, but I was so busy telling you about the previous week that I didn't get to tell you about this event.
I met a little man named Caleb. He's my bestie's new baby boy, and he's a special one.

He is just about the size of a hefty loaf of bread and still so fresh that he stays all curled up, knees tucked and arms tight, no matter how you hold him.
Becky has been to hell and back in her life over the last couple of years, but now...now she is reveling in the kind of love and life that she deserves. And little Caleb is so special because he's The Evidence.
Physical evidence that restoration is possible.

Road Trip: Part 6 (The End)

On our way back home from our visit with Chris' family, we stopped in lovely Franklin, Tennessee to have lunch and hang out with some old friends - boys I have known for-stinking-ever and their wives and kiddos. The wives they found are so cool. So very cool, in fact, that they are now my best blog friends - Mary and Amy.

We met at a park and strolled down the streets toward lunch at their favorite pizza spot (where their daughter Amanda happened to be our fabulous server). The kids behaved so well - by now, there are lots of kids when we get together. Emma and Amy's daughter, Chloe, are kindreds in such an amazing way. They immediately click with each other and both of them chattered the whole day away.

I managed to get a picture of Travis and Amy,

but not one of Kris and Mary. I don't know how that happened, since Kris wanted to play with my camera for a minute (and burn with jealousy) and managed to snap the only picture of me on vacation that seems to exist.

Amy knew that I would fall in love with her hometown. She could not have been more right. There were blossoming trees lining every historic street and peeling-paint details that distracted me at every turn.






We stopped at a sweet little cupcake shop, which was perfect since Chloe and Emma want to open a bakery together one day.


I'm not sure if that was decided on a previous visit or this one, but the plans are magnificent if the level of excitement in their voices can be considered any indication.

Mary and Kris have three boys - no girls. I would like to state for the record that they were so well-behaved during this entire, decidedly-girly adventure. Such boys deserve to be rewarded and I must say it took little convincing to get the dads and boys headed back to the park. Fortunately, that sounded good to all the small girls too, so we three mamas had a little bit of grown-up time to enjoy. We wandered and shopped and talked and had an all-around good time. This little shop ended up being my absolute favorite.


It was just brimming with white paint and rough edges.



But there were so many shops with so many gorgeous displays. It was hard for me to focus.








As I sifted through my pictures, though, I found a trend. Apparently, there were chandeliers everywhere in Franklin and apparently, that is mostly what I decided to photograph. So, I present to you My Favorite Chandeliers in Franklin.




Mary scored a pretty blue glass treasure and we all went back to the park with smiles on our faces. But the smiles didn't last long for some of us. The goodbye hugs were so incredibly sad and the pictures so incredibly hilarious and heart-wrenching that I'm afraid I must subject you to all of them.





With that, I take leave of this silly road trip story. There will be more pictures, here and there (when I get to it), but there are other things to attend to and other stories to tell.