Nurture Self 365

365 Self Portrait Challenge: Day Two Hundred Nine

August 9, 2012 in ma365, Photo Challenge, Photography, Self-Portrait | Tags: canned, cooking, fresh, jam, raspberries, season | Leave a comment

Old Fashioned Raspberry Jam Recipe: Food Network (click for recipe)

There just really is nothing like fresh-picked raspberries thrown in to the pot and cooked up in to yummy raspberry jam! These are pretty much the last of the berries to be picked this year – there may be a few stragglers for a little nibble here and there. But they are pretty much done for the season. I made up a nice double batch of jam to put away for the winter, and to share with a few family and friends. I have frozen some, for smoothies over the course of the next year till we are able to start the cycle all over again.

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365 Self Portrait Challenge: Day Two Hundred Eight

August 8, 2012 in ma365, Photo Challenge, Photography, Self-Portrait | Tags: Canada, friendship, honey, honey bear, moose, Photography | Leave a comment

“Pooh, promise you won’t forget about me, ever. Not even when I’m a hundred.” Pooh though for a little. “How old shall I be then?” “Ninety-nine.” Pooh nodded. “I promise,” he said. – Christopher Robin & Pooh Bear

I have to say that Honey Bear is really enjoying his new home here north of the border! Today, he and Canada Moose have become fast friends . . . they’re having some quiet time together on the front porch. Who knew a little honey bear from New Jersey could become so right at home here in beautiful British Columbia? We’re so pleased to add him to our family . . .

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365 Self Portrait Challenge: Day Two Hundred Seven

August 7, 2012 in ma365, Photo Challenge, Photography, Self-Portrait | Tags: Canada, friendship, honey, honey bear, Photography | Leave a comment

“A day without a friend is like a pot without a single drop of honey left inside.” Winnie the Pooh

Honey Bear is making new friends here north of the border . . . found this little 100% Canadian Honey Bear on the shelves at Save-On-Foods today. I really couldn’t leave them alone for long though, and finally had to separate them as things were just getting a little too sticky . . .

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365 Self Portrait Challenge: Day Two Hundred Six

August 6, 2012 in ma365, Photo Challenge, Photography, Self-Portrait | Tags: acceptance, critics, honey, honey bear, journey, photographer, Photography | Leave a comment

“Honey, I am the chief of my train. If critics want to hop on board, fantastic. There’s plenty of room. The KP train is fun.” Katy Perry

I’m not a huge fan of Katy Perry, but I do like this quote of hers. I think it’s a great attitude, one that we all could adopt. I was just talking this week with my sister about one of my biggest challenges in my quest to become a bonafide “photographer”. That challenge is the voice of critics . . . what they say and don’t say about my work. I’m on a mission here, and I’ve come a long way in a short time. I picked up my first camera when I was 16 years old in high school, and was smitten from that point. Life got in the way though, so now I am pursuing my passion. Photography. Two years ago I did not understand the relationship of aperture, ISO, and shutterspeed. I knew light was important, but I didn’t understand the how and why. I still have so much to learn . . . and I am so enjoying the journey. So there ya go . . . I’m going to adopt Katy Perry’s attitude and accept all critics with an open heart. It’s all just part of the process after all.

Today’s shot is Honey Bear’s first breakfast in Canada. Poached eggs and toast with honey. Very yummy honey! Not sure exactly what type of honey it is . . . but it’s very light and flavorful!

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365 Self Portrait Challenge: Day Two Hundred Five

August 5, 2012 in ma365, Photo Challenge, Photography, Self-Portrait | Tags: border, border crossing, honey, honey bear | Leave a comment

“If you want to succeed you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success.” John D. Rockefeller

One of my fellow 365’ers very generously mailed each one of us some of the honey he makes on his farm. I had him mail it to my Son’s address just south of Portland, Oregon. I had to document the momentous occasion of Honey Bear entering Canada. It was a sweet experience for all of us!

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365 Self Portrait Challenge: Day Two Hundred Four

August 4, 2012 in ma365, Photo Challenge, Photography, Self-Portrait | Tags: air conditioning, birthday, Granddaughter, heat wave, Ice Age, movies, Oregon | Leave a comment

“I see the mind of a five year old as a volcano with two vents: destructiveness and creativeness.” Sylvia Warner

We’re in Oregon today . . . just south of Portland. My goodness it is hot! 100+ degrees! Today is also my Granddaughter’s 5th birthday. They are waiting to finalize a deal on a new home, so did not plan a party for her. They had hoped to be moving in this weekend, but with Short Sales there are so many delays and crazy requirements . . . so they can’t move in just yet. Because it was such a hot day though, we decided to spend the day in the air conditioned Clackamus TownCenter Mall in Portland. We thought maybe we could cool off while watching the new Ice Age movie. Cute movie though a bit long for a 5 year old to sit patiently through. (The shadow on the right of the top picture is my knee).

Later in the evening, we had the opportunity to do a walk thru in the new house. It turns out that the current owners have moved just down the street from where my son is living now – and they are so happy to have my son buying their house. They are really nice people . . . so we got to get a good look at the place. My son and his family will be very happy there for a long time . . . The second picture here is of my Granddaughter – she was getting quite impatient with us standing around talking, and so laid down on the tile patio complaining how hot it was. I had to snap the picture! Poor little munchkin! We then went home and had birthday cake that she had picked out earlier in the day. Yum! Happy Birthday my little Princess!

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365 Self Portrait Challenge: Day Two Hundred Three

August 3, 2012 in ma365, Photo Challenge, Photography, Self-Portrait | Tags: California, Canada, Family, Grandkids, Maryland, Oregon, reflection, Travel | Leave a comment

“Our deeds still travel with us from afar, and what we have been makes us what we are.” George Eliot

I’ve spent a fair bit of time in my car driving over the last few weeks(Canada to Oregon to California, with lots of sightseeing in between). Today I was able to sit back and relax while my husband did the driving, as he had flown down to California to spend a bit of time with the grandkids, and drive home with me. I caught this reflection in the car’s mirror as we were driving along. I was feeling quite satisfied with the past 6 weeks of activities since my Grandson had flown out from Maryland to spend time with me. I am so incredibly blessed in my life, and am so happy to be able to create value in the lives of those around me. Today though, I was really enjoying having someone else take the wheel!

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365 Self Portrait Challenge: Day Two Hundred Two

August 2, 2012 in ma365, Photo Challenge, Photography, Self-Portrait | Tags: ashland, blue, crater lake, opportunity, Oregon, stunning, vista | Leave a comment

“Opportunity dances with those already on the dance floor.” H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

We woke up in our hotel in Ashland, OR this morning with disappointment in our hearts because we hadn’t been able to visit with my niece the night before due to the Salt Creek Fire on I5 in Northern California. Instead of dwelling on the disappointment though – we looked forward to our day ahead. The plan was to make it to just south of Portland where my son lives – which is about a 4-5 hour drive. My husband mentioned that he’d never been to Crater Lake and would love to take the side trip if it would work out. We have driven the I5 corridor from Canada to California for years and years . . . never stopping to enjoy all the beauty along the way. Turns out it was only a few hours detour to do . . . so off we went! I’d never been there either (not that I remember anyway) so was pretty excited to see this amazing natural landmark. My picture does not do it justice at all. Stunning is putting it mildly . . . and we arrived under perfect blue skies with just a slight breeze cooling off the mid 80’s temperatures. If we had not been detoured by the fire, we would not have taken the time to drive to Crater Lake and enjoy the views. An unexpected, very enjoyable, bonus in our trip . . .

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365 Self Portrait Challenge: Day Two Hundred One

August 1, 2012 in ma365, Photo Challenge, Photography, Self-Portrait | Tags: forest fire, Northern California, Oregon, Redding, San Francisco Bay Area, Shasta Lake | Leave a comment

“Life’s challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they’re supposed to help you discover who you are.” Bernice Johnson Reagon

Today it’s time to head north – home to Canada. I’ve been gone from home for three weeks now. Hubby flew down over the weekend, and is driving back with me. Tonight we were to spend the night in Northern California – just north of Shasta Lake – with my niece and her family. However, as we approached Shasta Lake, this is what we saw . . . a huge plume of smoke billowing above the trees. As it turns out . . . a vegetation fire had started in the median of the highway about two miles north. As we were stopped in traffic, fire trucks and police cars and fire-responders kept flying by. We even saw several PG&E trucks. At that point it was growing to about 350 acres on both sides of the highway. After two hours of sitting still in 100 degree F weather, traffic started moving – only for us to find out that we were being re-routed and not allowed through. We had to go back to Redding, east on 299, and then north on 89 to Shasta City. From there – we were not allowed south again on I5, we had to continue north. My niece lives about 20 minutes south of Shasta City. Therefore, we did not get to see her. We ended up finding a hotel in Ashland, OR – just across the Oregon border. We had left the Bay Area in the morning about 9:30am for what should have been a 4-5 hour drive. We arrived in Ashland about 10pm – over 12 hours later!

I was SO disappointed to not get to visit with my niece and her family. I could have let it completely ruin my day, my experience, the time my husband and I were spending together. Happily, I am married to an incredibly supportive and amazing man. We both realized that the whole situation was out of our control. After discussing the alternatives (just going back to Redding and spending the night, or finding a way around the fire), we decided that we’d explore the route around . . . not knowing how long it would take us or how bad the roads would be. Well, the roads were quite amazing . . . as good or better than I5 . . . and though there was alot of detoured traffic we moved along at a good pace. All in all, it took us about three hours to go around. And we did what we always do – talk about life and listen to good music and just enjoy each other’s company.

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This is shot with my iPad as the sun was setting and we were back headed north on I5, just south of Yreka. Gorgeous sunset with the full moon on the horizon . . .

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365 Self Portrait Challenge: Day Two Hundred

July 31, 2012 in ma365, Photo Challenge, Photography, Self-Portrait | Tags: camera, Granddaughter, mimic, Photography | Leave a comment

“We ape, we mimic, we mock, We act.” Sir Laurence Olivier

My Granddaughter see’s both her mother & myself with a camera . . . taking pics of her! I was working on my laptop, processing pics from the day when I looked over to see this vision . . . she had her Mommie’s camera with the strap around her neck, trying to take a picture of me! She kept saying “I see you!”

How precious is that?? I can’t believe that I’m at Day 200! Only 165 more days to go! This project has completely changed the way I approach photography. I see potential in the smallest things, always looking for the light and seeing potential that I would never have considered before. I know I still have a lot to learn . . . but that’s just part of the process, and what keeps me motivated and focused. I’m very excited to be participating in a meetup with members of my 365 group in November . . .

Meanwhile I’m so happy to be setting a fine example for the younger generation . . . and hope at least one of them picks up the photography bug!