My Camera and I

• Aug. 11, 2009
I know I've been a bad blogger...

Note: All photos, posts and stories on this blog are my sole property and copyrighted to myself and My Camera and I unless otherwise noted. They may not be copied for any reason without written permission from me. If you would like to copy something, please ask me first.

Thanks!

I haven't been blogging very much lately....I guess because I've started a writing curriculum and have gotten rather absorbed in that. I have been doing the One Year Adventure Novel curriculum, and it is great!!!

But, I'm back :-D

Things have been so busy here lately! We've been through shingles (my mom), and extremely mild cases of chicken pox (the three little boys), a girls' weekend out (fun fun!!), I got stung by a wasp, Dad smashed his thumb against a metal post with the handle of a sledgehammer...and just our normal crazy life!! Thankfully we have had gorgeous weather up until Saturday. I don't think I've ever been through such a cool July/early August.

I'm really trying to balance out and use my time more wisely. I have a rather bad habit of going gung-ho into something and slacking off on everything else. So, I'm trying to change that.

Photography is still rating high on my list, and I have some fairly recent pictures to post-up next!

4Him,

~Hannah

(0Notes Already Written) (Write a Note!) (Permanent Link)

• Jul. 10, 2009
I love garage sales!

Posted in Daily Life

Thanks!

Okay, I must admit- I love garage sales!!

This weekend is the local Village Fair. The fair (taking up the whole of Main Street in the little town we live right outside of) lasts only one day, but for several days prior, many, many people have great (and a few not-so-great) garage sales all over town. We went yesterday and today!!

Now I am done (for now, anyways). I'm hot, starting to get a headache, and my feet hurt.

But...I got some cool stuff!!!

Lemme see...I got three shirts, a skirt and slippers. Yarn for crocheting, a canvas tote bag, a camera book (at the Library book sale!) and a cute apron. A bunch of photo mats (they have photos in them, but I'll take those out) to use for my art and photographs-$1 a piece!!! A neat, striped wooden plate and a wooden salad bowl with four small bowls and tongs to toss the salad (those articles are for my hope chest).

And best of all: two adorable vintage-esque boxes (I got the lady to come down on the price :-D) and...*drumroll*, a nice tripod and a BIG camera bag w/ removable dividers!!! I got both of those for 4 bucks-total!!! The camera bag is kinda dirty and old, and not pretty (yeah...honestly, it's not.), but for $1, I'll make the best out of it!! I've already worked on sweeping it out with the ShopVac and it's cleaning up. Now I'll have more money to put towards a zoom lens, and have something to keep it in :-D I don't think my current camera bag is large enough for a camera and two lenses.

Cool beans!! My cute boxes :-D

4Him,

~Hannah

(2Notes Already Written) (Write a Note!) (Permanent Link)

• Jun. 16, 2009
I’ve absolutely no idea where I’m going or where I’ll end up.

Posted in Daily Life

Thanks!

This afternoon it was overcast, great soft lighting for photography…although rather flat. So I grabbed my camera, slipped on some old Crocs and headed for the great outdoors.

I just wandered around our property, no objective (aside from getting some nice photos) or object of destination, hence the title of this post.

I love this one, I think this fluffy seed pod looks like a lacy firework.

Okay, so the flower is a little over-exposed, but I think it kind of looks like a watercolor.

English Plantain, it is a "weed" (with several herbal uses), but I think the seed head is cool :-)

I raided our strawberry patch J, and near a stand of pine trees in our gully area, I found some itty-bitty wild strawberries. They are so cute and petite. Great for snacking, they are too small for much else. Just imagine how many of them it would take to make a simple pie!

Look how tiny they are!

The soybeans are growing!

Mulberries are also everywhere. And I do mean everywhere.

On our land we probably have around twenty mulberry trees/saplings. I suggested that the boys pick and eat some when they played outside, and that one innocent comment has kept History Boy busy for over an hour J.

We had an eventful weekend; a neighborhood garage sale (which turned out to be a bummer-I didn’t make one red cent! There goes that zoom lens I’ve been dreaming about…), not many people stopped by and even fewer bought. Next year we should have a neighborhood/family swap and donate the rest to Goodwill, skipping all the hassle of a sale.

And the icing on the cake:

On Sunday Becky cut herself on our old tractor trailer-and it was rusty.

I had been riding and we were walking into the barn. She kept trying to shove ahead of me, and in her excitement, her near (left) hind leg got caught on the corner of the trailer.

At first I didn’t even notice it, and when I saw blood trickling down her leg I thought she had been bitten by a horsefly (horsefly bites can sometimes bleed a lot). But I saw two light patches on her leg, and looking closer saw that skin and hair had been torn off.

I didn’t freak out then, but I was worried: when and on what had she gotten cut?

Going back through the barn to go find some peroxide, I saw a tuft of hair stuck in the corner of the trailer and another one on the floor. Then I did get scared. I kept thinking that, if we didn’t do something soon she could get tetanus and possibly die.

Well…it’s not as bad as all that. At first I thought I was seeing muscle, but no, just several layers of skin were torn off. So, I doctored her up, and yesterday (Saturday) we bought a tetanus vaccine and gave it to her. We tried calling our vet, but she hasn’t called back, that’s why we did it ourselves. Thankfully she had shown me a few months ago the general area to administer vaccines.

Today the gashes are looking much better, and they hardly bubbled when I poured peroxide on them. Dad got some stuff kind of like a spray bandage or New Skin, and that’s good because I couldn’t keep a bandage (I tried that stretchy bandage that sticks to itself and then clear Duct tape, don’t you just love Duct tape?!) on that section of her leg, and I don’t want flies and other bugs to infect the cuts.

The main two are on her shin (she got another tiny one a little further down), about three and a half inches and to the front of her hock.

Already they are showing signs that soon they will be scabbed over, which is great.

She isn’t bothered by all this though! She is even holding still for me when I clean her leg J.

Wow…I get carried away writing, don’t I?

I sometimes feel like Anne in “Anne of Green Gables” when she said something to the effect of ‘“If only you knew how many things I wanted to say [in my case, write] but don’t…”’ J

4Him,

~Hannah

P.S. I wrote this yesterday...lol.

(2Notes Already Written) (Write a Note!) (Permanent Link)

• May. 28, 2009
History and strawberries...

Posted in Daily Life

Thanks!

The dust of centuries stained my fingers as I gently held pieces of history in my hands, feeling the ridges created hundreds of years ago by hunters or warriors. Some, I think, were fashioned by unskilled hands and forgotten, their shapes only partially completed.

Still, others are battered and broken. Did they lose their tips embedded in the game they had been sent after, or were they crushed while lying lost under layers of leaves or buried under the thick sod?

No one knows...and no one ever will.

Lol, story-telling mode!!! That was fun, were you intrigued?

I really have been handling history- a collection of arrowheads, stone ax heads, and even some little fossils.

We are getting ready for a garage sale, and I was pulling stuff out of my closet and found two boxes of such relics. They belong to my dad, who got them from his dad. I'm not sure if my grandpa found them himself or not, Dad doesn't know either.

Anyway, while taking a break from *trying* to decide what to sell (I'm doing pretty well, I already have 2 boxes of stuff to get rid of), I had a photo shoot with the arrowheads, lol. Please excuse the pun ;-).

Some turned out really bad, several are okay, and a few somewhat interesting :-). But, who cares? I was getting good experience messing with the manual and aperture modes on my camera, and having fun doing it.

All the arrowheads...the other stuff such as the ax heads and fossilized shell critters excluded, because of course, they aren't arrowheads.

I love using odd numbers in my photos, looks so much better, and my hand adds, I think, scale and interest. :-D

For some reason I really like this one...maybe I should try it in Black & White too.

I think fossils are SO cool!!! To be holding in my hand a few of the thousands or even millions things preserved by the Flood...just wow.

Here is the largest of the ax heads. I put my lens cap next to it for scale, but I should have turned the ax head, the angle that it's at makes it look smaller than it really is.

Breaking away from all that, I hope you aren't too sleepy from reading this :-).

I have been working on weeding our strawberry patch while the ground is soft, and have been very happy to find the first ripe strawberries!! There were some more...but some critter got to them before I did. I think that home-grown strawberries have a certain flavor to them that store bought ones can never achieve, and the thought of a whole bunch of them on an angel food cake smothered with whipped cream...makes me hungry!!!

Lol. I was getting laughed at for taking this picture :-)

Buddy, our handsome Golden Retriever, is finally starting to get the hang of "heel"!! He is also getting good at laying down, and his manners are improving greatly :-).

When we got him, the vet told us he was kind of ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyper-Activity Disorder), and I know why. We are slowly progressing off of the patio and into the yard in our walks, and when we get out in the yard his attention span just goes Down fast....just like that. At least he's not yanking quite as hard, about two weeks ago he'd pull so hard you could hear him gagging himself-and he still pulled!! Once we are "done" with his training, though, I know he'll be a lot of fun to take on long rambles all over our 13-some acres. I can't wait :-)

My cute dog :-)

It's so fun having a dog that loves to play, he loves to play his own version of fetch, he just doesn't always remember to bring the ball back, lol. And we'll also play a "game" with him where two of us will stand about four yards apart, then I'll say to Buddy "Go get -------!" and then whoever is at the other end of the patio will pet and praise him and say "Go get Hannah!" Buddy loves it because he gets played with, pet all over, and gets to run :-). He will dash off like mad, and then at the last fraction of a second slam on the brakes and just about run me over :-).

Whoa...I guess posting only twice a week will make for some very long posts...

I'd better stop :-)

4Him,
~Hannah

P.S.

I just changed my template, so I don't know if there are any quirks that need worked out. If something isn't working right (like letting you write a comment, or not linking properly), let me know so I can fix it :-)

Oh, and I just realized that there is a problem with the "Recent Posts" on my sidebar. I'll fix it ASAP!

(0Notes Already Written) (Write a Note!) (Permanent Link)

• May. 25, 2009
Work hard, play hard.

Posted in Daily Life

Thanks!

Well, it's been a long weekend!! Saturday I spent most of the day outside helping Dad and Pilot Guy build three boxes for the Square Foot Gardening thing...then we (the whole family...well, not Little Football Man-he was taking a nap!) spent the rest of the afternoon and part of the evening mixing up bags upon bags of vermiculite, compost and peat moss to fill the boxes with.

That required measuring things by bucketfuls, dumping it all on a huge tarp, than pulling the tarp over itself back and forth until everything was blended. It got to be pretty heavy work, what with pulling all that.

I was so physically tired...and I was filthy!!!

And then I walked up to my grandma's house (she lives a cornfield away :-) it's fun!) to photograph some pretty irises she thought would make good pictures. She was right, I got some very good ones!!!

Love it!!!

The boxes waiting for their plants...

We are in between churches at the moment, so Sunday we went out for a late breakfast to a local buffet (HB and Little Football Man are both on a special diet due to food allergies, but they can eat some stuff there). It ended up being a brunch because everyone ate a lot :-).

When the boys were taking their nap/rest time I went bareback riding!!! It was hot so I went saddle-less so Becky would't get so hot, and because I hadn't gone barebacking in a long time. If you ever go bareback riding on a good horse, canter, canter, canter!!! It is a hundred times easier than trotting (even if you are like me and can post bareback for short distances), and it is smooth and rocking. You don't even have to think about it, keeping your balance is extremely simplified.

Becky honestly really is a good girl, she has never tried to buck when I'm riding bareback because she knows I'm not as secure. But when I have a saddle on her, she will sometimes kick up her heels a bit :-). Also she is a little smoother in her turns and transitions. I am certainly blessed when it comes to my horse, no matter how ornery she can sometimes be!!

So ignore me when I complain about her acting up and not co-operating.lol.

Sunday afternoon found me again outside, this time raking dirt clods and shoveling ancient (well, at least six years old) compost from where the muck heap used to be stacked. Our neighbor has a Bob Cat and moved it (the much heap, not the Bob Cat, lol) away from the barn for us several months ago, so all that's left is rich composted dirt, perfect for supplementing our garden plot.

Farmer Boy, lol.

Several tractor-trailer loads later Pilot Guy and I were (thankfully!!) finished with that part...then Dad and I planted probably about 30 pepper plants and some herbs in the boxes...a water break, and then Pilot Guy, Dad and myself planted around 20-some tomatoes. Then we were finished!!!!!

So today Dad, Pilot Guy, HB and myself went to a friend's house for a get-together!!! Mom and the other two boys were going to go, but Mom didn't really feel good (some of us are still getting over the last symptoms of our colds), so she kept the two youngest with her and stayed home.

It was...raining.

Thankfully our friends have a big barn with a basketball net inside, so we and about thirty other people played knockout basketball, and by lunch time the rain had stopped.

In the afternoon we played volleyball, speed volleyball and dodgeball!!! I didn't do dogeball this time, I was too busy with volleyball :-)

It is so fun, all the families homeschool, and everyone plays together and has a fun time regardless of age. Even some of the dads were talked into volleyball, and I saw my dad in the dodgeball ring.

Three of my pen-pals/e-pals were there...I hadn't seen them in MONTHS!!!! So it was great to catch up and hang out :-) I had fun guys!!!!

I really played hard today, and loved every hot, sweaty, fun-filled, friend-filled, laugh-filled, missing-the-ball-on-my-part moment of it!!!! ;-D

I didn't bring my camera though...I know, it's a shock...but I didn't want it to get wet or get demolished by a stray volleyball.

Oh! I have decided to blog on Mondays and Thursdays only, at least for now. Life is so busy at the moment, and I am really trying to improve my photography skills, work on re-writing a very long story (it's more like book length) and keep up on school, dog training, riding, helping around the house and yard...yeah, life is kind of crammed some days!!!

Now my feet and legs are sore... combanation of bareback riding (I forgot to streach out first...), hard work and hard play...I kind of got a sunburn...I probably should go rehydrate...again.

4Him,

~Hannah

(3Notes Already Written) (Write a Note!) (Permanent Link)

• May. 19, 2009
Happy Birthday!

Posted in Daily Life

Thanks!

Happy Birthday to my dear, sweet, totally awesome Mom!!!!

I am waiting for your cake to cool :-), told you I was going to make one!

While I am waiting...

Thanks for all you do.

20 Reasons You Are Such A Great Mom:

1. You love us :-)

2. You are one of the most kind, thoughtful people I know

3. You love Jesus with all you have, and have held tight to Him through all the many twists and turns in our life...

4. Rarely does 10 minutes go by without me hearing you laugh :-)

5. When you first saw me in that hospital room as a newborn, you fell in love with me and made me yours, even though you didn't give birth to me.

6. You care enough about us to teach us about God, and His Son, Jesus Christ

7. And, you love us enough to homeschool us, even on those rough days when I wouldn't blame you if you gave up.

8. You are an amazing teacher. Whether you are helping me struggle through a new math concept, or are reading a history book outloud, you make everything understandable and interesting. You have a gift.

9. You have a beautiful smile

10. Your passion. The boys would not be where they are today if you hadn't been passionate about finding answers.

11.By example you have taught me to love books, 'Richer then I you can never be, for I had a mother who read to me'.

12. Even though you don't always share my interests (like horses), you are quick to encourage and always willing to help me find out more.

13. You are one of my best friends!! I wish every girl was as close to her mom as I am to you.

14. Your love of learning right along with us. We've had a lot of fun in school, haven't we?

15. Cooking!! You are such a great cook!!! I hope I'll be half as good :-)

16. Girls Day Out! What else can I say about that? It is so fun when we go out for the day (or weekend :-) ), whether it's antique shopping, book sales or our favorite little town you-know-where :-)

17. Those nights we get to talking...and don't stop until really late!! We cover a lot of subjects when we do that :-)

18. Doing "crafty" stuff together. Card-making to crochet lessons, great mother-daughter time :-)

19. Your gift of making home "homey"! Even though I'm not always thrilled when it includes moving the furniture, you do a great job at it :-)

20. Just because you are you!!!

I love you!!!

4Him,

~Hannah

P.S.

To everyone reading this other than Mom;

Now you know a little bit about a truly great lady!

Don't forget to do something really nice for your mom on her birthday ;-). It might take a while, or cost you something, but she will appreciate it a whole lot, and you'll be glad you did it :-).

(4Notes Already Written) (Write a Note!) (Permanent Link)

• May. 15, 2009
This is no fun.

Posted in Daily Life

Thanks!

I'm sick with a nasty cold, and it's no fun...

My nose can't decide if it wants to be all stuffed up or if it wants to run, and I can't decide which is more annoying.

I wish colds didn't include sinus problems...because it makes it hard to sleep!!

I've also been told that I sound like Horton from the movie "Horton Hears a Who" when I blow my nose, lol.

Sorry, guys...I can't help it!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, I'm still sick, and still don't feel good, but when Dad got home from work my day suddenly got brighter!

You know that story I posted on here a few weeks ago, the one about the boy named Levi following Jesus during His last days?

If you haven't read it yet, go to the category "Stories" and you will find it right off the bat.

Well, Dad (unbeknownst to me) sent it in to the Jerry B. Jenkins Christian Writers Guild (at ChristianWritersGuild.com )for critiquing, and the critique came in the mail today!!! We had talked about sending in one of my other stories a few months ago, but it's far from finished.

Anyway, I got a pretty favorable critique!! Whoever read it really liked how I used the different names of God (suggested I use more of them), liked a lot of my descriptions and dialogue.

There were a few minor things that need changing:

an awkward word usage, two spots where I had sentences verging on run-ons...I forgot to put Levi's thoughts in italics (I've done that before in other things but for some reason forgot...), and at one point I had an unclear antecedents (found out that that is when you use a pronoun, but you are unclear as to whom you are referring to). Also my formatting (indenting, etc.) needed some work.

Other than that...but, here is a direct quote from the critique sheet:

'Personalization:

By telling this story form Levi's perspective, you are able to convey very human feelings. And with Levi being a child, what he feels is very straightforward. He is not over thinking the situation-he just knows how he feels. In this way the readers can really related to Levi because they, too, have felt similar emotions upon hearing or reading about what Jesus went through.

Potential:

You have written a very good story. The character of Levi is believable, the biblical accounts are accurate, and you give readers a new perspective on what Jesus meant to His disciples. Clean up the formatting and few grammar problems and you should do well.'

I was also told that I have a natural storytelling ability :-). I liked that, lol.

Dad and Mom did too, we were all rather excited about reading the critique :-).

I like getting unbiased opinions, because I'm not always sure if people that I know are being nice in telling me something is good, or if it honestly is good.

Know what I mean?

Off to work on another story premise, this one for the NaNoWriMo (this will be my first year to do it, I just found out about it a few months ago)...but I'm going to have a hard time waiting until November to write this particular story, lol.

4Him,

~Hannah

(1Notes Already Written) (Write a Note!) (Permanent Link)

• Apr. 9, 2009
I don't really know what to write...

Posted in Daily Life

Let's see... I gotta go to bed soon...so I can't make this long.

I went for a nice, long ride, Western style tonight. It was sooo nice. Becky was in a good mood, and Dad rode too for a little while :-) So did Little Football Man and two of my cousins. Dad helped me adjust the stirrups (the hardware was difficult to seperate/stick back together), it is so much nicer to ride in a saddle that has the right length of stirrups!!

We had some problems with the dog yesterday...basicly, he and my grandma's dog got into a fight. There are several factors that could have instigated it, but it WILL NOT happen again.

It was just so odd, because other than that instance, he is honestly one of the sweetest dogs I've ever seen.

On the upside about Buddy, he is FINALLY getting the hang of "heel"!! I am working with him every day for aprox. ten minutes, enough time to train, but not so long that he gets tired of it!!

It is really funny, I break a dog treat up into a lot of little peices, and when he does what I tell him to do, he gets a little peice and a lot of praise. Now, for the funny part.

Instead of waiting for me to tell him what to do, he will sometimes just come and sit directly infront of me and look up at me as if to say "I sat, now where is my treat?". It is cute...he really is a bright dog. lol.

This Saturday, we will have had him for two weeks.

Well...I need to get off of here, but I have enough time to post a photo :-).

Corn fields are fun to photograph in all stages :-). It is fun to get distance perspective, and also light/shadow patterns.

Last fall a photographer friend and I were talking, and Mom started laughing.

We were talking about photographing corn fields and weird drying patterns in the mud :-), lol.

Photographers...

It reminds me of the scene in Miss Potter where Beatrix was telling Norman, Millie, and their mother about the time she was painting something ' "that looked quite beautiful in the sunlight, only to relize that I was painting the pink swill bucket." '

4Him,

~Hannah

Edit: She said ' "pigs' swill bucket." ', not ' "pink swill bucket" '

Thanks Mom for catching my error!!

(0Notes Already Written) (Write a Note!) (Permanent Link)

• Apr. 5, 2009
I Hear Thunder...

Posted in Daily Life

Well, not right this second...but it's been storming/raining off and on since lunch.

I know we need it, but I don't really want it to rain today--I want to ride!!! But it doesn't matter, because we have a birthday party to go to this evening, and I don't need to get all sweaty and covered in horse hair (Becky is STILL shedding her winter coat...). Maybe tomorrow. :-)

Anyway...I recently discovered this verse in Romans, and I really like it;

It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort but on

God's Mercy

Romans 9:16 (NIV)

Why isn't that one of the most popular memory verses?!?!?!?!

I want to ignore the grey skies...even though I got some cool wavy rain cloud photos (thanks to the observing eyes of Pilot Guy :-), ' "good on ya, mate!" '), so I'm grabbing some pictures from last summer...

ladybug on flower

Just as clarification-

I am not a spider fan. I appreciate what they do (eating flies), so long as they leave me alone and stay outside. But this one had neat markings. Anyone know what type it is?

I am getting better about snakes, though. I got to pet a really neat one at the Creation Museum several months ago, and yesterday I saw a little garder snake in our yard, and I touched it (multiple times)!! lol.

If you've never touched a snake before, you probably think they feel gross. But they don't. They feel kind of like a garden hose.

So long as I know they aren't poisinous, they don't bother me anymore.

Well...I'm entering the Homebound Missions t-shirt contest, and I need to e-mail in my entry...

4Him,

~Hannah

P.S.

Posting pictures of Buddy is high up on my to-do list!! They are coming soon!!!

(2Notes Already Written) (Write a Note!) (Permanent Link)

• Mar. 24, 2009
A Musical Afternoon

Posted in Daily Life

Sunday afternoon found us at my grandma's church. The community band had a concert to help the local food pantry.

Admission- one canned good per person.

Afterwords, supper was provided!!

The band sounded really good, great in fact. I really enjoyed it, and Little Football Man's eyes grew huge when the band kicked off at the begining (he's three), lol.

Pilot Guy (13), History Boy (8) and Race Car Dude (7) also liked it, along with Mom and Dad. All in all, we had a nice time :-).

My zoom wasn't large enough to get in as tight as I would have liked while the band was playing, but afterwards before they picked up the drums I got some really neat, sharp photos of the drums.

The band!!

Close-up of the program.

My favorite photos from the concert-the drums!!!

Well...gotta go :-),

4Him,

~Hannah

(2Notes Already Written) (Write a Note!) (Permanent Link)

• Mar. 20, 2009
Spring is on its Way!!

Posted in Daily Life

Spring is on its way!!

~~Several~~ Many reasons why I love spring:

No coats
More sunshine
Green grass
Leaves on trees
Flowers
More time to ride horseback
More things to photograph
Flip-flops
Being outdoors
Birds singing outside my window
Opening the windows
Friendly wind
Blue skies and fluffy clouds
More sunlight
Baby animals
The energy you feel rushing through you while facing into a strong breeze
Planting a garden
Mowing with the riding mower
Bare feet
Putting down the car windows
Thunderstorms and falling asleep to the sound of rain
Hanging my sheets on the clothesline!!
I could go on and on…J

Yesterday was a beautiful day. Slightly cool, but the sun was warm and there was almost always a breeze. So…I washed my sheets and hung them out to dry J.

If you have never line dried your sheets, put that on your “must do” list!! It is one of my favorite things about spring and summer. When they are dry and you bring them in, you can literally smell the sun and the grass, it’s the smell of summer. It is better than any scented dryer sheets; you can’t find it anywhere else (and it contains no chemicals or artificial fragrances, lol).

For some reason, the photos wouldn't separate, no matter how many spaces I put between them! Computers...they are great, but sometimes they drive me nuts!!

4Him,

~Hannah

P.S.

See spaces now? Dad helped me :-)

(1Notes Already Written) (Write a Note!) (Permanent Link)