We have lots of different types of trees in the yard. Their leaves are turning lovely shades of autumn color. This is the mimosa tree out back.
I spy…
…a juvenile yellow-bellied sapsucker. He suprised me while I was trying to take a picture of something else. I had to use google to help me identify him. Pretty cool, though!
Christmas in the heart.
“It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air.” —W.T. Ellis
Walking around with a camera.
I was pleased with this one, taken while walking around a nearby pond. Was able to focus through the brush to get a shot of this Great Egret.
Then back at home caught a lady cardinal on a feeder.
Friday frames.
I’m trying really hard to focus on work. After next Friday, I’m off for the rest of the year (!) But, when I get a chance, I pick up the new camera to take a few shots. I’ll share a few.
Possumhaw holly out back has donned its Christmas red and green.
A little wren flitting in the vines along the fence – I think it’s a Carolina Wren, from its coloring. One of the first shots taken with my telephoto lens.
And a picture of the bouquet of flowers from Thanksgiving, still hanging in there – vivid pink lilies and white hydrangeas.
Superglue #lifehack.
Every once in a while I stumble across a tip that someone shared that is amazingly simple yet solves a problem that has forever bugged me.
When I find one, I’ll share in the event you find it useful, too.
Here’s one that I appreciate every time I open my kitchen drawer to get out the superglue.
Problem: A tube of superglue, once opened, dries up before I can use it a second time.
I must have bought a hundred tubes of superglue over my lifetime. You know, the tiny tubes that come in packs of 2 or 3 (for this very reason!).
Then, one day, someone told me that the reason superglue dries up so quickly is that the way it works to create a bond is that it reacts with moisture in the air. So, essentially, as soon as you open it, it starts hardening inside the tube.
Hack: Save those packets of silicon that you may sometimes find in a bottle of aspirin, a new pair of shoes, etc. The next time you are done using a newly opened tube of superglue, store it in a ziploc baggie along with a packet or two of silicon. The packet will act as a desiccant and absorb the water in the air; preventing the superglue from hardening in the tube.
This hack has kept my current, open, tube of superglue usable for almost a year. I just pulled it out to mend a broken Christmas ornament.
A big-girl camera!
Monte has nurtured my love of photography over the years; starting with the gift of my first 35mm film SLR camera – a Nikon FM10. On it, I learned the basics: how to manually adjust aperture, shutter speed, film speed, focus, depth of field, flash… everything. It was the only camera we brought on our honeymoon, to capture all those once-in-a-lifetime moments – a bit risky since we wouldn’t be able to see how they turned out until we got home. I was thrilled to see that they all turned out to be beautifully captured images after getting the film developed.
Then he got me my first digital camera – a Nikon Coolpix 7600 point and shoot. It was his first experience w/ digital photography as well.
Once we started making regular sailing trips in the Caribbean, I bought a Canon PowerShot D10 for underwater photography. It turned out to be such a great camera that it has been my main, go-to camera on land or sea, and it sparked my desire to start this photoblog almost 6 years ago.
In the last year or two, pure laziness has led me to use my iPhone camera for many of the shots I post here, though I still drag the Canon along everywhere I go.
But my wish all along has been to get a “real” and quality digital camera – a big-girl camera – one that might allow me to take my photography to the next level.
Last week, since I had a whole week off of work, Monte took me camera shopping. He helped me pick out The One – an Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II. Along with two lenses, this is the latest (and best!) gift of photography equipment from him to indulge my hobby; for which I cannot thank him enough.
All of a sudden I feel like a real photographer!
The camera is amazing. I am taking the time to study the 170 page manual to learn about each of its features in the range of all-automatic to all-manual operational modes. I’m only taking practice shots for now, but with the rain and lack of sunny days lately, I haven’t yet taken it for a real spin outside.
I can’t wait to see what develops. 🙂
Accidental hiatus.
I have been side tracked a bit since my last post 3 1/2 weeks ago.
Summary of excuses:
- Work kept me busy the first part of November.
- I’m trying to get back to swimming which sucks up about 2 hours of my free time each day that I do it.
- We took our annual girls trip long weekend – this time to New Orleans. 🙂
- Thanksgiving holidays happened.
- Decking of the hall (and the boat!) has commenced.
- Monte got me an amazingly awesome new camera that I have been learning how to use every chance I get.
But, I’m back!
I may share a bit more on some of these moments in future posts. But for now, here’s a photo from New Orleans – St. Louis Cathedral and Jackson Square as the sun was heading for the horizon.
Say cheese!
I have a running list, mostly in my head, of things I want to try. Homemade mozzarella cheese has been on the list for quite some time. We go through enough of it, so I wanted to give it a shot and see how it turned out. So here we go…
The recipe I used is here. And it is a good one. My additional notes with pics below.
I ordered some citric acid powder and Fromase rennet tablets (vegetable-based) from my trusty Amazon account. 
1 1/2 tsp citric acid powder dissolved in 1 cup of cold water. I used bottled spring water, since chlorinated water is a no-no. Set aside.
1/4 tablet Fromase rennet dissolved in 1/4 cup bottled spring water. Set aside.
1 gallon whole milk. Homogenized but NOT Ultra High Pasteurized (UHP) – another no-no. I used HEB-brand whole milk, and I will again.
1 tsp kosher (not iodized) salt
Pour milk and diluted citric acid unit a 5-quart or larger stainless steel or ceramic NON-REACTIVE pot. Stir well. Aluminum or iron are bad… from a cheese-making perspective. I have a Le Crueset enamel-over-cast iron dutch oven that was a good size, and the enamel ensures it won’t interfere with the citric acid / milk reaction.
Raise heat, slowly, to 90 degrees Farenheit. Remove from heat. Add diluted rennet solution and stir, most lightly, for 30 seconds. Cover and don’t disturb for 5 minutes as the curd sets and starts to separate from the whey liquid. The consistency of curds you’re going for is soft tofu-ish. After 5 minutes, mine wasn’t very solidified, so I covered again and let sit for another 3 minutes.
Uncover and make 1″ x 1″ cuts from top to bottom. I used a stainless steel cake frosting spreader.
Return to low heat, stirring lightly, until temperature is 105 degrees farenheit. Remove from heat and continue stirring for another minute or two. The curds start separating from the liquid whey and will want to begin to clump together.
Separate curds from whey. I used a stainless steel colander on top of a large plastic bowl, and a stainless steel scoop. The picture below shows the remaining whey at the top, and the glass bowl of almost-mozzarella curds in a microwavable bowl at the bottom – ready for the next step.
Heat in microwave in small bursts, measuring temperature, and stirring in between bursts, until mixture reaches 135 degrees farenheit. My microwave is pretty strong, so I used 20 second intervals of heating, and then stirring, until it reached 135 degrees.
Strain off remaining whey. Begin kneading (like dough) and stretching, alternating, until mixture becomes cohesive and stringy.
I forgot to add the kosher salt until after the cheese got to the ball stage. So, this attempt yielded stringier portions than I had imagined. But it held together alright. Next time, I will use less salt than called for in the recipe (I’ll try 1/2 tsp next time). I formed my first batch into 3 loaf-ish shapes.
And then I put in a container with part whey liquid / part water and covered in the fridge.
First taste… caprese salad…. delicious!
I’m going to get another gallon of milk proto! I’m hooked.
Saturday.
I had a lovely morning.
This is a shot at anchor tonight. The rains in Central Texas have moved on. 
Garden guest.
I was walking back from the shop today when I saw a butterfly fluttering among the zinnias. She flitted around, while I stopped to watch, for a good 2 minutes, posing, in perfect light. Of course I didn’t have a camera with me. When I got back in the house I grabbed my phone and popped back out. She was still there, but wouldn’t let me get as close, and didn’t pose as perfectly this time — camera shy, i guess. I took some zoomed-in shots, not crisp, but pretty. I think this is an eastern black swallowtail. She does love the zinnies.
The hunter.
I have some photos from our weekend in Port A that I may sort out and post. Here’s a shot from one of the pre-dawn firmament beach photo sessions. The constellation Orion.
and a cheat sheet:
Patience wins out.
I packed the tripod for our trip to the coast. We went to the beach both mornings, while we were in Port Aransas, to once again try to capture a shot of Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus together.
Yesterday clouded up just before Mercury rose. This morning the clouds threatened again, but danced between the planets. I took this shot looking above the south jetty on the Port Aransas end of Mustang Island. The lowest in this shot is Mercury, just above the seeping pink glow of dawn. Above it is the pair of reddish, smaller Mars just below and to the left of larger Jupiter. And then above them, and the brightest, Venus. The other stars above and to the left of the ecliptic are stars in the constellation Leo.
The red and green lights on the horizon are some of the channel markers that guide the ships through the channel between the jetties.
Life’s a beach.
It’s a beautiful morning on the Gulf of Mexico.
Sheila365 