Physalis {Gluten-Free} Brownies

{ A Divine Marriage }

I know. Last week I said Dog Sled Race photos would be coming for this weeks challenge. Life just spiraled out of control (again) here and we had another unexpected trip to the Vet. This time it was my little girl Becky - my black & tan spitfire beauty. Becky has just started agility and loves it. She is known to be like a border collie but on steroids; fast and a bit reckless! She is going to be just fine, but needs to lie low for a few weeks to let her side muscles heal. That meant I was housebound and looking for ways to kill time. I decided to tackle one of the items on my {Photo Bucket List} and experiment more with "food photography". 

 
{ Physalis ~ Cape Gooseberry }

While shopping I saw this odd little fruit and stopped to do the "google" as I had not a clue what this creature was. Turns out it is called a physalis, part of the tomato family and a great partner with chocolate. Then I saw {THIS} an amazing cupcake photograph. I'm not a fan of spending time in the kitchen, but show me a great food photo and you have my attention!


{ Pure Bliss }

The "ladies" in our household are all on gluten-free diets. Gluten-free baked goods are rarely healthy and often are tasteless. My girls are amazing cooks and come up with unique recipes, however, I myself lean towards lazy baking. That means I will take a gluten-free boxed recipe and vamp it up. Today I used a bag of {Bob Mills Brownie Mix} and followed the directions. Then I added 2 Tbs more milk, 2 Tbs cocoa, 2 Tsp sugar and one extra egg, and followed the package directions for baking. It was pure bliss!


{ Chinese Lanterns }

This fruit is perfectly paired with chocolate. If your short on time, try {Physalis Dipped In Chocolate} - these two flavours were just meant to be married. Which is what I am doing with my left overs tonight!

Slaying Dragons

I swear I did pick up my camera last week but the better part of my free time was spent editing unfinished photos with new techniques I am learning. Problem is every time I learn something new, I have this urge to go back over all my old photos looking for ways to improve them or present them differently.

I love this saying and  texture called "KK_Cherished" from Kim Klassen. I think it gives a dreamy effect to my special little friend Kismet. 

Next week's photos might be exciting if only it were to snow here! On Saturday, I am off to a Dog Sled Race! Half of me is not so sure about the sport of dog sledding. I do admit though, the other half of me is a bit excited to have this opportunity. Right now we do not have enough snow and it is very cold, so hopefully things improve by the weekend.

~~~~~~~~~~

Participating in: Texture Tuesday

Seeing the Light

Natural light is hard to come by in our house. After so many missed opportunities last year, this year I am trying to lighten up my "A" personality and just learn to grab the camera when the sun chooses to make a rare appearance - yup lots of Vitamin D deficient people in our house. Got to love cold, dark Canadian winters.

One of my photography goals for 2013 is to learn to work with my lack of light since Canadian winters are long. I hope to find time to experiment with ambient light and fill flash, reflectors and off camera flash too.This post at "Click It Up a Notch" gives me hope I can learn to work better with my lighting situation. 

Becky always the poser. Cavaliers tend to relish those cold days if it means a good snuggle and a sunbath.



Cold days also mean less walks so the living room doubles up as an indoor space for fetch. Not the best of photos, but it really shows how my home can be a challenge to find light. I love how the sun here is beaming like a spotlight on Kodee as she steps into the light.
~~~~~~~~~~
Participating in:
Camera Critters, Click It Up A Notch 52 Weeks & Paint the Moon - Let's Do 52; Wk 2 - "Imperfection"

Started With A Bang!

“Darkness reigns at the foot of the lighthouse" ~ Japanese Proverb

I am just going to take the positive route here and say my poor start to 2013, was simply because all my bad luck felt like gushing out at once! Here's hoping the rest of 2013 is clear sailing! New Year's Eve was spent driving over an hour to my Vet for an antibiotic for Kodee. Ya... snow has it's advantages when a dog has a UTI developing. After that unexpected adventure, I was looking forward to my New Year's Day ritual. This is the day I hunker down to a good (few) cups of coffee, sport a comfy track suit and get down to the business of updating my virus protection program and archiving my photos from the previous year. Too bad my computer had other plans and in the midst of updating, my keyboard function just vanished. When you bang your head for a few hours, it comes time to accept a reformat is the best route. Odd thing is, I am really happy disaster struck! My computer is running so fast now and I was forced to take a good look at  all my photographs for 2012. It was really cleansing to keep hitting delete on some really bad photography! In the end my first week of January was kind of special. I got to relive some great moments of 2012!

Poor Port Dover photographs long forgotten now dusted off and processed!

This summer on the spur of the moment we planned a 2 day mini vacation to Port Dover. So spur of the moment, no one thought to check the weather. As we got on the highway the skies opened up - yup it rained for the whole 4 hours we drove there. On the bright side the sky and water beamed with the most glorious green-blue color when the storm passed.

Did you think my dogs always look neat and groomed as perfect little lap dog Princesses? Hardly! At the end of the day, Cavaliers are still very much Spaniels and these two don't mind one bit hunting down dead fish to roll in. We were lucky and came across a pet store so we could grab a bottle of shampoo. Which was a much needed necessity, because these two insist on sleeping on my bed.

It was such a beautiful area, loaded with antique shops and so much to explore, I think these photos have inspired me to head back to Port Dover this summer - minus the rain this time!

~~~~~~~~~~

I do not do well with the 365 Day or 52 Weeks type projects. Such an undisciplined soul I am. So instead I have created a  "Photo Bucket List". It's just a check list of all the different types of photography I'd like to work on but with no set deadline or order. I will be crossing off what is done and adding new challenges as I find them.

Star Burst Christmas Lights

Celebrating the one and only 12 (day), 12 (month) 12 (year)!
Over at "I Heart Faces" today was a tutorial on how to create a "Star Burst" effect with Christmas lights. Since I wanted to include a moving object in my version I had to make some adjustments.

First I set my camera up according to the instructions.

Settings: manual, 30 sec, ISO 100, F22, flash on Lens 50mm

This produces a great star burst effect. What happens though if your dog (or a person) decides to move during the 30 second exposure?! The result in a great star burst tree and a very blurry dog! Another little surprize, if your dog gets bored and decides to get up and leave before the 30 second exposure is up - well then this is what you get.

Kodee Ghost!

So to solve my problem, I took a photograph of just the tree using the above settings. Then I took a second photograph, focusing on Becky and changed my settings to ensure I would have a nice sharp image of her.

Settings: manual, 100 sec, ISO 100, F2.4, flash on Lens 50mm

To get my final photograph, I combined the star burst tree and the sharp focused photo of Becky together.



Did you know Kodee and Becky have their own blog? From December 1 - 24, I am creating my own"Dog Inspired Advent Calendar" and taking a photo a day of Kodee and Becky 

View my 2012 Advent Calendar Collection

* * * * * * * * *

Joining the fun at:

  

Oh My! Boudoir Furtography

 

Well obviously the girls were just thrilled to "volunteer" to pose while I practiced with my flash and umbrella. NOT.

Dad! Your supposed to be the SANE dog owner out of the two of you! What gives?!

Seriously Becky. I personally think I look charming and find the crown quite fitting.



I've made a promise to myself to not let this winter's cold weather and bleak skies get in the way of my photography. To help, I have come up with a personal challenge to keep me motivated. I've decided to seek out natural light in my house as well as devote some time to setting up a home studio.

Natural light can be a bit of a challenge in my house. I have 2 rooms with good natural light so on those bleak days, I am also going to get acquainted with my my flash, umbrella and reflector.

Kodee and Becky are at the top of my list of things I love to photograph but they will only tolerate a few quick shots with a flash before becoming agitated. To make it easier on them, I make use of stuffed toys till I am confident I have the right settings. Their contract demands high reward, quality treats as payment.

~~~~~~~~~~

Participating in: Camera Critters & Daily Dog Challenge Flickr Group #394 Formal Portrait

Seeking Rainbows

The Circus

Music & Lyrics Charlie Chaplin 1968

"SWING LITTLE GIRL"

Swing little girl

Swing high to the sky

And don’t ever look at the ground

If you’re looking for rainbows

 Look up to the sky

You’ll never find rainbows

If you’re looking down

Life may be dreary

But never the same

Some day it’s sunshine

Some day it’s rain

Swing little girl

Swing high to the sky

And don’t ever look to the ground

If you’re looking for rainbows

Look up to the sky

But never, no never, look down

©Copyright 1954 by Bourne Co. Copyright Renewed All Rights Reserved International Copyright Secured

A little different version where I also added a bokeh texture from Artful Life. 
Which do you like better - I'm not sure!

~~~~~~~~~~

Participating in "Kim Klassen's Textured Tuesday"

What's Cook'n Miss Kodee?

Halloween is a family favourite - so much so, my 20 something girls are still busy each year sewing costumes. As children they told me if they could pick just one holiday, Halloween would win hands down.

I can't say this is my favourite photograph of the month but it is the one I enjoyed most; planning the scene, hunting down the props and finding the perfect $5 baby costumes which fit the dogs perfectly.

Becky for some reason loves this tub and once put in it, will never get out. Kodee on the other hand is like a child wound up on too much candy moving all over the place. The scene goes like this "sit, NO, stay, WAIT... arghhhh" for quite some time! But once I see my edited photo a big ol' smile comes across my face so it's all worth it! 

Fact 20 About Me
[Part of the "30 Things About Me" Series]

I used to sew all my girls all their Halloween costumes. I've long since stowed away my sewing machine and must say I do not miss the costume making days! However, not wanting to disappoint the neighbourhood children I source out ready made props and gear now for the dogs. I can't resist their squeals in delight when the dogs trample down the hallway to greet them

~~~~~~~~~~ 
Participating in Click It Up A Notch Monthly Photo Contest and the Daily Dog Challenge "Trick or Treat"