Donkeys!

I've mentioned that the area around here is rural. There are lots of fields with agricultural things growing, like canola, watermelons, or hay; and lots of animals like cows, sheep, horses, and donkeys. I've even taken photos of a buffalo herd, and several emus.

The donkeys are soooo cute when they are born and so little. I've been dying to get a picture of them for over a year now but have missed it every time. The owner rotates his animals, and sometimes the cows are in the front pasture, and sometimes the donkeys. Sometimes there are no animals in that pasture. Another problem is that it's on a straight-away in a 55mph zone and there is no shoulder to stop. Thirdly, it's on a curve. Stopping or slowing in that spot is dangerous. Last, when the donkeys HAVE been out, I haven't remembered to prepare my camera in time!

Well this week I saw the donkeys and the babies. I drove home later that day with camera prepared and there were no animals grazing at all. Drat, they're in the back pasture! Same with the next morning. The third day there was too much traffic behind me. The fourth day it was too dark and rainy. Today though, was clear, sunny, and coming home is a slightly better angle to shoot because it's less of a curve. There was one car behind me so I slowed down and he soon passed. No other cars were in sight on either direction and the grass along the side where there is NO asphalt shoulder had been mowed so I could see where it was level to pull over a bit. I'd already opened my car window and turned the camera on.

These photos aren't optimal of course, because I was in a traffic zone pointing the camera out a half downed window with no time to set up the shot, but they came out OK anyway.

I don't know why I felt so compelled to get a picture of the donkeys. Maybe it's because they were one animal in my immediate area I didn't have a picture of yet. Or maybe the babies are just so cute. I don't know but here they are for whatever reason!

This is the field I pass by that occasionally has the donkeys in it.

Here is a brown donkey lookin' fine. I'm still in the same spot but used my Nikon's excellent zoom

Here's a mama and her two babies. She's giving me the hairy eyeball...

I cropped these even closer.

But I'm still this far away. Nikon Coolpix with 30X zoom rocks!

The Nikon sets up the photo fast, too. I didn't have to idle by the side of the road long. No vehicular crashes happened in the taking of these photos. ;)

So I finally got photos of the donkeys. Now it's on to birds again!

Visual journal: Bird in mailbox

There's a bird in the mailbox. She's sitting on some eggs. Not wanting to stress her out too much, I left her alone all week.

Then surprise! This:

My new potting table

I'd said a few weeks ago in another post that it's almost time to plant. Spring is here and sometimes in north GA we can plant then or in early April but it's best, says the wise green thumbs, to wait until the second week of April. And indeed, we do have a threat of frost tonight and tomorrow.

I changed my patio configuration again. I never was satisfied with the pots being on the outside of the table. They do get in the way of foot traffic I'd hoped they would make a nice defined border between the walkway and the sitting area, but it just looked weird.

My catalyst for changing it again was that a dear friend gave me a potting table! I put the watering can in it, which I love because I never had a spot to put it before and I always thought it looked funny just sitting next to the door, orphaned. Here is how my area looks now:

I moved the red pot and the pot with the blue bulb in it back to the house next to the one with spider plant & ivy. This week the temperatures were perfect, upper 60s and low 70s but on the patio in the sun it felt wonderfully warm. I spent some happy hours out there reading and having lunch, and watching the birds.

I bought some impatiens seeds to plant in some of the pots and also by the dogwood tree. The Dollar Store was out of bird seed but I'll get some next time. Monday when I go back to school I'll swing by the plant place in Danielsville and get a few already grown ones and some flowers too.

I really love this time of year. The next time (aside from Saturdays) I'll have time to sit out there will be when school ends in May. I am starting to really like my little outdoor nook.

Warm, crusty bread

There's an artisan baker in town. Her Facebook page features lovely photographs of her wares. She is on the more savory side, breads, croissants, pretzels, turnovers, rather than cakes and cupcakes. She does do pies. But the breads are the thing that keeps me coming back to her page. She is influenced by German style, and her wares are just wonderful to see. As one customer said of her photos of the breads, "staring at your creations makes the Internet worthwhile."

But I've never eaten any. I've only stared.

This is because she packs up and sells it all at the Athens Farmer's Markets. Her bakery is baking-only, no on site retail. I don't drive into Athens. It's a bit far to go for bread. This is disappointing especially since her bakery is a half mile from my house, and there is nowhere else in the county to get crusty bread.

A couple of years ago she announced that she was moving into an old pizza place to open a storefront/retail location a block away from her present location. I was so excited. However, they are doing all the work themselves and since she is still baking for the twice-weekly market in Athens, the work in rehabilitating the old pizza place into a bakery has gone slow. That's OK. I'm patient.

Well on Friday she announced that she was doing a test bake on Italian bread. For $2 a loaf people could come to the in-progress bakery and pick up a warm loaf. The sale would go on until she sold out. This happened in the mid-afternoon. I was just getting home from school and hadn't seen the announcement yet.

However soon after I arrived home, so soon in fact I had not even changed out of my school clothes, my friend arrived with two warm loaves for me. She had seen the announcement and launched into the car to grab some.

Of course I sliced some right away and I was pleased to find what I though I'd find, a perfect balance of lightness of the bread to crust, low amount of salt and delicious crunch. It is one of the best loaves I've ever eaten.

A friend who brings you bread, thoughtful and kind...is there anything more wonderful than a friend handing you a warm loaf of bread? I do not think so.

Visual Journal: Squirrel

I like taking photos of children and sports because the action happens fast and you never know which way a player or a kid will go. Setting up the shot, anticipating, and capturing something that occurs and is over is a flash is a challenge.

But nothing like trying to get a good shot of a squirrel. This is a challenge on steroids, at warp speed. And forget when he doubles back...!

I'm satisfied with what I got. I'll try again sometime, when my head stops spinning from trying to anticipate which way he'll go next.

Sky photography

In the book I'm reading, Creative Photography, the author suggested making a visual journal by tearing out clips from magazines of photos I wish I'd taken, and as time goes on to look for themes or parse reasons why I like a particular photo. I liked that idea but I'm not going to do it. I'd rather make my own journal and fill it with my own photos, lol.

The author also suggested to take 100 photos of the same thing in different lights and from different angles. I liked this idea too. This trains the eye to see differences even among familiar things, and to stretch one's self by trying different angles on old and familiar items.

One of my earliest favorite photos I took 38 years ago in Maine, during the fall season amid a vivid and colorful section of trees lining the quadrangle. I looked UP. I pointed my camera to the upper yonder and framed a vivid yellow cluster of leaves against an azure sky with the sun behind them. It was great.

I don't do that a lot so this week I started looking straight up again. I'd been admiring the clear blue sky such as we get here in Georgia in the spring. The pollen haze was washed away and the thunderstorm cleared the weeks of the air away and left behind a startlingly blue expanse. So I pointed the camera straight up and these photos were the result.

Shooting old things from new angles

I'm reading The Creative Photographer. There are several good suggestions I've read in the "Inspired Vision" section designed to spark creativity by helping the photographer to see usual things in a new way. One of the suggestions is to look for the alphabet in nature and to look for numbers. I am going to do this.

A second suggestion is to take 100 photos of the same thing over time. The suggestion was to take it over different days, under different lights, from above, below, etc. The task is to train the eye to see the same things in new ways. The author said photos taken of the item over time can become a kind of visual journal.

A third suggestion that I liked picks up on the notion of a visual journal. It is to actually keep a visual journal. The recommendation is to cut out pictures of things from magazines or books of photos I wish I'd taken. Over time a theme may emerge. For example, I might notice I gravitate to cutting out lots of pictures of flowers, or things that are red, or lots of pictures of hands in different positions. etc.

The only problem with #3 is that while I'm good at photography I'm terrible at making anything three-dimensional. There's a massive disconnect between my brain and my hands.

Anyway, here are my letters I've been able to find so far.

Clockwise from top left, L, S, V, Z, U, O

It's a good book, basic enough to understand, but challenging with practical ideas. It's nice to have a vacation like this week's Spring Break where there are enough days to shed the stress which allows mind to relax and try new things.

PH Leonard porcelain hand painted dish, another second hand store find

I wrote in December that I love funky second hand stores because you never know what you will find. At a place down the road from me, I'd found a vintage 1800s book with marbled covers in Swedish and it turned out to be a book of plays by Sweden's most notable playwright. The second hand store isn't a fancy place where one would expect to find such things. But there it was amid the used clothes and wrenches and dented furniture, this little gem.

Yesterday I went back to the store. I hadn't really planned on it. But I was at the Dollar Store and I became so frustrated that I left without acquiring all the things I had on my list. The Dollar Store in my town is one of the fleet's smaller stores, and when they receive the truckload of merchandise in which to stock the shelves, it's impossible to navigate the aisles. And the workers take a long time to unpack it, like days. Aisles were literally blocked by their towering carts of boxes. I gave up and left.

However when one needs kitty litter, one needs kitty litter. You can't skip it. So I went back to the second hand store in hopes there would be some on sale. Looking for that all-important box of clay crumbles, I came across a dish. It was pretty, with what looked to be hand-painted roses, and I guessed it might be porcelain. It was strange to see this delicate dish amid the heaver dishes like stoneware jumbled there on the shelves. Yet there it was. I picked it up to look for a mark and sure enough, a potter's mark was on the back. It was:

A porcelain looking dish with a potter's mark, and only $3? Okey dokey, you had me at roses.

When I got home I started looking up the name of the importer on the mark. It turns out that the importer was PH Leonard, and he imported Limoge china from France and Porcelain from Bohemia. From various descriptions of his business I found on vintage sales sites,

P.H. Leonard, Vienna, Austria. Leonard was a New York importer well known for importing high quality Bohemian, Austrian and French porcelain during the last quarter of the 19th century. It appears that the P.H. Leonard firm went bankrupt sometime around 1898-1900.

This is from a description of a plate that looked like mine except for the mark, though in addition to the mark I'd posted above, there was a red A in script on the back

Circa 1891, Very fine, detailed hand painted and gilded plates with an exceptional reticulated (pierced) border which is both gold gilded and enameled with tiny rich blue designs. The flowers are pink roses on an off white background that has hints of pale blue, lavender and green. Marked Vienna Austria and signed with the initials A.I.D. All four plates are in very fine original condition. 5 3/4" in diameter.

All 4 plates on the above site were selling for $100 so one plate would likely be $25, which is consistent with the sites on ebay and etsy and antiques places I saw for sale. So we're not talking retirement money here, but simply the charm of the hunt and a pretty, vintage item to add to my collection.

This screenshot from Google Books is from a book titled New York's Leading Businesses, 1885. It describes PH Leonard's business as one of the leading businesses of the era.

It's nice to have a pretty little dish. It's nicer to come home and research it and discover another piece of Americana. I don't need a huge home or a fancy car, a few fine touches here and there will do. And the charm of the discovery makes it all the more pleasing. It was a nice way to end the week.

Almost time to plant!

Today is the official opening of the local Farmer's Market. It has been open for a few weeks but today is the big opening. It's been warm here lately and it got me in mind to do some container gardening again.

I used to do a lot of container pots on my deck when I was in Maine. I actually spent a lot of time and money arranging my outdoor habitation, which is funny, because it is so cold for so much of the year. At my apartment on the second floor there was a deck off the living room. The landlords lived underneath me and used the patio under the deck like a gazebo for shade. I liked the sun so I made use of the outdoor space. I bought plants in their pots at a good garden store. But all the furniture came from the dump. We had a good dump and you were allowed to pick. The table, the folding trellis, the wicker chair, wicker table, barrel, and the plant holders all were dump-picked. The plants were expensive enough! I bought them all full grown and the pots too.

Then I moved to Georgia and my apartment was again on the second floor. The deck was not as large as the deck in Maine but it was solid and new and I decorated it with plants.

And even the lobby and the very steep stairs coming up-

After about a year, I moved to the apartment I've been in now for nearly 9 years. There is no deck but there is a patio. I am on the first floor. However, I lost interest. I think it's because there were so many pretty bushes and flowers all around.

Pathetic, right?

After a few years of just not doing much with potted plants, I am getting the urge again. I made a big change outside. A big change. I moved the table. That's right, you heard me. I moved it from between the ell to just in front of my door. In so doing, it hides the pots which had been lined up along the front wall, so I moved them out along the curve of the walkway. It nicely defines the space.

My plan is to get soil and seeds weekend after next when the threat of frost is all gone, and plant. We'll see how it goes. It might be too awkward to have the plants there or it might work out. I know I like the table and chair in that spot because it gets more sun. It's kind of hard to dress up concrete but I'll do my best!

Cooking and resting

I did some cooking today since I was too sick and tired to prepare the Bountiful Basket goodies on Saturday or Sunday. And though I went to school Monday I barely made it home, I was so sick by the end of the day. I'm home today, Tuesday, but I have more energy today than I did then. At least for the moment.

In cooking today, didn't use all of the eggplant we received in the Basket even though I made four trays of baked eggplant. Bountiful Baskets really IS bountiful. I got 2 eggplants and my friend gave me her two. The tomatoes were also from Bountiful Baskets. I didn't use all my spinach depicted in the photo. And I did not photograph the roasted broccoli I made today as well.

This is stale bread, patted with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and Italian seasonings, and baked. I'll put the eggplant on it for bruschetta later.

This is spinach, quick sauteed with oil and salt, and will remain in a container until I decide how to eat it. It can be eaten as a side dish just like this, or put in a pita pocket with black olives and feta and toasted, or thrown in spaghetti with some parmesan. I kept back some fresh spinach for a salad. I love spinach salad.

This is Brussels sprouts roasted till crispy. I quartered them since they were large, if they are smaller I usually just halve them. I put them in a Ziploc with olive oil and salt and pepper and tossed. Then spread in one layer in a good baking dish  and roast till golden.

Eggplant rounds with tomato slices on top, salted and sprinkled with Italian seasonings. I roasted them till soft, and then broiled it at the end. Of course I had to test one.

The weather has warmed up nicely, it was 70 degrees today, and sunny. I didn't go out except to do laundry in the detached garage, but my walk to and from the washing machine was nice, lol. There is a ton of birds now, they make a racket when they return in the spring. They're chirping and fighting and darting and swooping and generally having a grand time. So are the cats, running from window to window to glare at them when they perch on the inside of the window awnings.

Soon it will be too hot to cook root vegetables and I'll be making light fruit salads and sun tea. And the cycle of seasons continues.