Broadening My Photographic Horizons

A couple of years ago, I met a lovely young couple at an arts & crafts show while back home.  They have their own successful photography business, ArtPhotoSoul, and they quite beautifully capture the personalities of their clients creating wonderful memories for them.

They were very instrumental in encouraging me to pursue my love of photography and told me about the fairly new form (back then) of HDR imaging.

I had no idea what 'HDR photography' was so I did a little research and found out that it stands for High-Dynamic Range imagery.

What does that mean?  In a nutshell, it basically means that you shoot a series of three images, one is over-exposed, one normal and one is under-exposed.  Once you have your three shots then you merge or combine the three images using special software therefore creating an image that gives you all the tonal ranges that the naked eye can see but that a camera is limited in creating in just one shot.

Which brings me to today.

I am currently living in land of many photo ops.

I don't know how long I'll be living in this area so I want to make the most of the photos that I shoot.  But,there are so few picture perfect days, so to speak, for getting the best shots and since the shot I'm taking may be a once-in-a lifetime-shot I want it to be memorable.

The sun is very harsh here and the mountains appear to be shrouded in a constant haze making it difficult to get  anything more than a silhouette of the mountains let alone any details of the mountain itself.

Anyhoo, I did some more research today and actually figured out how to set up the three consecutive shots with my camera so, of course, I had to try it to see if it worked!

I headed out back with my camera and tripod just before noon.  It was windy with very few clouds in the sky and the mountains were a bit hazy.

I took my three shots and came back in to merge them in a free trial software program I found online.  I had a lot of fun playing around with the settings and here are the results...

I'm really lovin' it!

The possibilities are endless.  You can process your final image anywhere from realistic to surreal, from black & white to grungy!

I'm totally hooked and can't wait to play around with HDR photography some more!

Till next time,

The Mundane

It took its time warming up today so even though it is 'supposed' to be Spring, I am sitting here, late morning, drinking Pumpkin coffee.  Yep, Pumpkin in the Spring.

The beginning of this morning's sunrise was spectacular!

A new day, a new beginning.

I've rearranged the living area of the 5th wheel.  Again.

I can now do some sewing even if CountryBoy is home.

I also relocated the broadband and router equipment.  Again.  Although, I am extremely frustrated with electronics at the moment.

I do know that I will never buy another PC again.  It will be a Mac or I will do without.  Just sayin'.

Eventually, I will have everything in a place that will be comfortable yet efficient.

When living in a small space, everything must have a purpose or function.  There is a lot of moving 'this' to get to 'that'.

Little by little I'm finding ways of arranging things and utilizing what storage space we have in an efficient yet comfy manner.

On another note, have you ever looked into a cat's eye?

 

 They're really cool!

This is Hunter's eye.

Precious has even cooler eyes but she's camera shy.

One day I'll get her!

That's all the mundane stuff going on around here.

How 'bout you?

Till next time,

'Home' Improvements & Maintenance

If you own your own home, then you know that there is always something that needs to be done around it;  whether it's general maintenance, repairs or even upgrades.  You also know that it never ends.

The same holds true for our current home, the 5th wheel.

It's fifteen years old and although the previous owners took excellent care of it there are still some things that need to be repaired or replaced simply because of its age and the nature of its use.

For example, while CountryBoy and I were enroute to Idaho this time last year, the outside refrigerator vent cover blew off leaving an ugly 'hole' in the side of our camper...

It was this way for a year enduring snow, rain and harsh sun.

We thought we were going to have to have a cover custom-made but after doing a little sleuthing (by measuring our neighbor's vent cover (don't worry, they're family! ) and looking in a parts book, I discovered that the covers are universal depending on the make of your fridge.

I called the nearest Camping World and they had them in stock, woot!

CountryBoy took the remaining frame off and took it with us to make sure it would fit.

SO much better!

Now we don't need to be as concerned about the wood rotting and our fridge will work better since its components aren't exposed the harsh weather and heat come summer.

We also had to replace the handle assist outside the door.

I had Miss LizzieBelle hooked to a lead that was secured to the handle.  All of a sudden, she got a wild-hair and started running back and forth.  I was encouraging her to play and run around when suddenly she took off running towards the desert.  Or so she thought!

The lead is pretty long so she was able to get up some speed.  At least until the lead ran out.  Then she was instantly stopped.  She turned to look at me with such surprise!  Don't worry, she wasn't hurt by the sudden stop, probably because the plastic piece at the bottom of the handle broke off.  I was amazed that her little twelve pound body created that much force.

This handle is a life-saver when you're trying to get in the door while fighting the door itself trying to close on you because of the strong winds pushing on it.  Before fixing it, if you grabbed onto the handle while fighting the door and the wind, the handle would move freely and now you're being flung around all while trying to stay standing upright on the stairs.  Such a sight!

Another necessity were tire covers to keep the tires from cracking and dry-rotting; a sure way to have a flat while traveling.

And then there's simple cosmetic fixes like the carpet on the steps...

Green, outdoor carpet that was thin, shabby and worn and really did not help much in keeping the rocks and dirt out.

I replaced it with tan carpet that matched the floor mat I recently bought and secured to the pallet at the base of our steps.

Much better both in appearance and functionality!  (Notice my concrete chickens?  Gotta have my chickens!)

I also repaired a broken slat on the pallet by screwing a metal bracket to the two pieces.

These were a few small fixes but they made a huge difference to the overall appearance of our camper and our little space.

Here's a midway through the improvements (tire covers and handle are already on)...

And here's the after...

Everything is like new again (until the next necessary repair!) and even matches (that just happened. , thankfully!  Although I did choose the tan carpet to match the tan floor mat on the pallet; does that count?! I just didn't realize that it would also match our chairs and outdoor carpet.  Oh, AND the chickens!)

I hope y'all have a wonderful weekend!

Till next time,

Dinner Out

One of our favorite restaurants is Joe's Crab Shack.

Luckily, there is one not too far from us in the town of Laughlin, or mini Las Vegas as I call it since the town is mostly a small strip of one casino after another.

In order to get to the restaurant, you must go in through the casino at the Golden Nugget.

I really like this tropical look that they've created.  Kinda looks like home!

Some plants are real while some are not but it's still lovely and quite peaceful when walking through there.

The casino is just beyond the end of the walkway where the orange glow is.

After walking through the casino and going down the escalator you will find Joe's.

Last Friday evening was a perfect evening for sitting outside on the deck at Joe's.

We were seated at a table by the water's edge!

To the right of the Colorado River is Nevada and on the left is Arizona.

So pretty and peaceful!

We enjoyed a delicious meal of Snow Crabs for me and Queen Crabs for CountryBoy in a glorious setting and thanking God for the many blessings He's bestowed on us!

Till next time,

Spring and Sprout

It's officially the first day of Spring but today's weather is windy, gray and wintry; not very Spring like at all.

Yesterday would've been a beautiful first day of Spring.

The sun was out with very little wind and it was in the low 70's.

But, despite today's weather, I had a nice surprise show up mid-morning that wasn't there earlier in the day when I fed the birds...

... my first tomato sprout, woohoo!

Ten days ago I planted about a dozen seeds from a Roma tomato in an empty kitty litter bucket in hopes that maybe half of them would sprout.  (I'm in trouble if they all sprout.... yikes, I'll need another bucket or two!)

I used a mixture of approximately half potting soil to half organic, decomposed cow manure.

Every day I checked the bucket and had to water it just about every other day.  It's very dry and windy here.

The top layer of dirt became hard and firm to the touch.  I wasn't sure the sprouts would be able to pop through.

This morning when I fed and watered the birds I checked the bucket to see if water was needed but it was still moist and still no sprouts.

A few hours later I heard a loud thud and figured that a bird had flown into the kitchen window.

I went out to make sure the bird was OK.  Since there wasn't a bird lying underneath the window I figured all was well.

As has been my habit for the past ten days, every time I walk by the bucket I glanced at it as I headed towards the window and noticed my first sprout on this first day of Spring!

I was so excited I pumped the air with my fist and said 'Yessssssss'!  Then ran into the 5th wheel to get my camera to document this momentous occasion.  OK, so maybe it's not momentous, but it IS exciting!

Now I will anxiously be waiting for a few more to hopefully pop up.

Although I may not be at home where my land and garden is I can certainly plant a garden in a few containers that can be taken with us if/when necessary.  I'm determined to grow a bit of our food and have some fresh produce.

Next to be planted will be some red pepper seeds (as soon as I can empty another kitty litter bucket!).

Happy 1st day of Spring, y'all!

Till next time,

Zucchini Pizza Boats {The Recipe}

I posted a photo of our dinner one night last week on Facebook and got a nice response from that image.  Several people even asked for the recipe.

Here's the photo I posted...

Zucchini Pizza Boats

And, yea, they were as good as they look!

CountryBoy and I love pizza (well, anything with red sauce actually!) but since going gluten-free we, sadly, haven't found a local pizza place that serves gluten-free pizza.  And, if you just happen to find a frozen one in the grocery store they tend to be quite pricey.

Around the same time we changed our diet I won this beautiful book, Paleo Indulgences, from a giveaway Patrice at Everyday Ruralty was hosting.

Perfect timing I'd say!  (I'm still planning on doing a post about our change of diet... some day!)

This book is chock full of recipes that will satisfy your cravings for breads, cookies, candy and even ice cream.  (An ice cream maker is on my wish list before summer hits!)  Who says being on a healthy diet has to be boring and tasteless?!

While this book primarily focuses on satisfying your cravings it also has several tasty main dishes, of which I've made several along with some of the sweets, and they've all been delicious!

So, without further ado, here's the recipe many of you have asked for...

Zucchini Pizza Boats

Makes 4 servings

Sauce

1/4 cup (60mL) olive oil

1 small onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup (40 g) chopped parsley

1 28-oz (831 mL) can tomato sauce

2 4-oz (113 g) cans tomato paste

1 28-oz (831 mL) can diced tomatoes

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp basil

Pinch rosemary

1 tsp sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Zucchini

4 large zucchini, washed, ends trimmed off, cut in half lengthwise

Toppings of choice (uncured pepperoni, salami, Italian sausage, ground beef, caramelized onions, black olives, sundried tomatoes, etc.)

1.  Preheat the oven to 400°F.

2.  Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat.  Add the onion and cook until soft, about 5 minutes.

3.  Add the garlic and parsley.  Stir.

4.  Add the remaining sauce ingredients, stirring well to combine.  Turn the heat down to low and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes.

5.  Meanwhile, clean and prep the zucchini.  With a spoon, hollow out the middle of each half, removing only enough flesh to make a shallow well.  Place the zucchini on a parchment-lined baking sheet, hollowed-out side up.

6.  Spoon some sauce into each zucchini.  Top with your favorite items.

7.  Bake about 20 minutes, or until toppings are cooked, sauce is bubbling, and zucchini are soft.

Note:  To make a true pizza sauce, puree with and immersion blender.  Store leftover sauce in small Mason jars in the freezer.

My notes:

*The sauce is the key to this delicious recipe.

*I use the leftover sauce as my base for spaghetti sauce adding more garlic, onion, mushrooms and peppers (if I have any) and either lean ground beef or bison.  Sometimes I don't even add the meat, it's that good!

*I don't puree my sauce.  I like the chunks of diced tomatoes in it.

*Add whatever you have on hand for the toppings.  The toppings on the above photo are onions, red  and yellow peppers, mushrooms and black olives topped with mozzarella cheese.

*I forgot to use parchment paper last time and it was still OK.

*Serve with a nice salad using many of the same ingredients as on the pizza boats.

That's it folks!  Easy peasy!  And, it satisfies our pizza cravings and is much healthier than crust, mmmm!

The author of Paleo Indulgence, Tammy Credicott, has another cookbook out, The Healthy Gluten-Free Life, that I don't have yet, and another is due out in September that I'm really interested in entitled 'Make Ahead Paleo' that can be pre-ordered at a discount.  Check them out if you're interested in some tasty, good-for-you recipes that you can actually live by.

Please note:  For copyright purposes, this post has been approved by the author of Paleo Indulgences and creator of the recipe, Tammy Credicott.

Till next time,

Bird Shots

Sitting on a stool inside the 5th wheel, I snapped these shots through the open screen door slider...

Flying seeds

House Finch all fluffed up

 Can any of my birding bloggy friends tell what the following bird is?

???

Goldfinch playing peek-a-boo

Eurasion Collared Dove

These are the pigs birds that frequent my feeder that I have to fill on a daily basis!

The goldfinches are a recent new visitor.  I hope they will stick around.  I also hope a few more various types of birds will stop by as the days get warmer and longer.

And, speaking of birds, they are letting me know that they are ready for their breakfast, lunch & dinner!

Till next time,

One At A Time Please... NOT

For those of you who know me, you know that I love projects!

Any project.

Indoors, outdoors, creative, DIY, construction.  Yep, any project.

I enjoy the whole process, from beginning to end.

The coming up with the project to physically working on the project to appreciating and enjoying the end results.

Currently, I have no outdoor projects (to which I'm adjusting (although I have been eyeballing the park's picnic table that is badly in need of some sanding and a paint job (good thing I don't have my sander here))) but I have plenty of indoor projects to keep me occupied (and out of trouble, ha!).

In fact, I probably have too many projects going on at the moment.

For starters, I have thoroughly been enjoying making scarves out of the Red Heart Sashay yarn (see Etsy shop on sidebar) and probably have WAY more skeins that I should but, hopefully, they won't stick around long once I've got them made.

I've recently found some new colors that they offer...

... gold, silver, teal, solid black, red and cream, variegated green & tan, blues. etc.

I've made a few of them already and they work up beautifully...

... these are ready to be photographed and listed in my Etsy shop.

I've also started my first quilt.

The top is finished, the batting and backing are in place and it's all basted together to begin the top stitching and quilting...

... I had to wait until I could get to town to get the right color thread before finishing it.  (CountryBoy tickled me one night at dinner when I was talking about the quilt.  He says, "you lost me at basting".  Bahahaha, I knew he was picturing me with the kitchen baster in hand and trying to figure out why and with what was I basting a quilt!!!)

Another project that recently came up is crocheting a baby afghan for a friend...

... can you guess what she's having, heehee?!

Seeing all these projects either half-finished or waiting to be started (and taking up precious space in the 5th wheel) can sometimes be overwhelming and I say to myself, "Self, you should only do one at a time".  Then reality sets in I say, "Yea, right.  Like that will ever happen"!  I simply enjoy the variety of projects that are going at the same time and figure I can do whichever one appeals to me at the time.

Makes perfect sense to me.

So, I will continue to have several projects going at the same time simply for the variety.  Thankfully, I tend to finish the projects that I do start.  I don't think I could stand to see so many unfinished projects lying around and maybe that's what keeps me motivated until it's done.

The difficult part of having so many projects going is deciding which one to work on first, ha!

That's the decision I'm facing as soon as I publish this post.

Hmmm, which one do YOU think I'll start on first today?

Till next time,

Overwhelmed

Yesterday and today I am overwhelmed by your sweet words of encouragement from yesterday's post about my transition phase.

And, by you urging me to continue blogging and sharing our stories, adventures and photos.

Thank you!

I had also sent a request to all my Facebook friends asking them to Like my Facebook page entitled the same 'From City Streets to Country Roads'.

What an overwhelming response to that as well.

I'm sitting here amazed and in complete and utter shock that so many responded to that request.  Wow!  I truly have great friends!

Overwhelming I tell ya', simply overwhelming.

~~~~~

When Miss LizzieBelle and I took our morning walk, I took my camera along to photograph some yellow flowers CountryBoy spotted on our walk the evening before.

The flowers weren't as open as the previous evening but they were still beautiful.

The landscape is SO different than what we're used to back home.

I took for granted all the trees, flowers, lakes, grass and the color that they all provided.

Here, the landscape is primarily hard dirt, rocks and mountains.  No grass, no trees and very few lakes which means there's not a big variety of color.

Don't get me wrong, it is beautiful here, too, but very different than what I'm used to.

So, any time I see some color, I get very excited!

Color!

And very tiny.

One of these little flowers aren't even as big as my pinky nail!

So tiny and yet surviving in the desert.

I took my camera again last night during our evening walk.  The sun was about to set and the light was perfect so CountryBoy took LizzieBelle while I knelt down on the desert ground and shot away.

I'm guessing you know what that means.... there will be more photos of tiny plants and flowers coming soon!

Pretty colors, woot!

Are you surrounded by color or do you have to seek it out?

Till next time,

Transitions

I've been finding it difficult to blog as of late.

In a blog fog?

Perhaps.

Or maybe it's more than that.

My original intent for my blog was to share stories about the events that take place in and around our small place in this world.  Chickens, gardens, birds, wildlife, DIY projects, photos of it all...

Now, I find myself in the middle of nowhere with only the things that fit in our 5th wheel or cargo trailer, two cats and a dog.  Oh, and the hubby, of course, when he's not at work!

I'm OK with that.

I have found that we really don't need all the 'things' of life that we think we need.

But it's the time of year when CountryBoy and I would be planning our vegetable garden, starting seeds in the greenhouse and preparing the ground.

I have no ground that is mine right now therefore there is no planning or preparing going on right now.

What I would normally be blogging about isn't taking place.

So, I find myself in a state of transition.  And, quite possibly, the blog as well.  Who knows.

I did plant some tomato seeds in a kitty litter bucket that can be taken with us if necessary.

We'll see how that goes.

Linking with

Rurality Blog Hop

Till next time,

Desert Beauties

While walking Miss LizzieBelle the other day, I ran across an area that was extremely dry and parched.  

Like a dried up pond or lake.

There were tiny plants growing out of the cracks in the sand.

Upon closer inspection I saw a bee flitting from tiny flower to tiny flower looking for a bit of sweet nectar.

Behind me was a small rock nestled against another small bunch of tiny plants.

To maybe give you a better perspective of size, the rock is a fairly small rock guesstimating a diameter of six to eight inches.

So dainty and delicate looking but must be very hardy to survive the dryness and winds of the desert.

And so many varieties in one tiny clump.

This proves to me, once again, that beauty can be found everywhere.  Sometimes it may not be obvious but it's there.  Look for it.  You'll find it.  And then marvel at the beauty you've just found and thank the Maker of such beauty for this bit you've just witnessed.  It will brighten your day!

Till next time,