Category: Photography

Pets, Photography

Pandora

Shelly

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Pandora has slowly but steadily been going downhill the past couple of years. And then, the past few months, she really started to show her age. She was sleeping almost constantly, waking only to eat. She was wobbly when she walked. There were a few times lately when her back legs would give out on her. She was in good spirits, though, and didn’t seem to be in any pain. Her appetite was good, too, so I didn’t feel like it was right to have her put to sleep.

This weekend, she seemed especially bad, though, and I knew she’d be gone soon. And she was. She died tonight, curled up next to her food bowl, the little greedyguts.

Stupid me. I knew she’d be gone soon, but I stopped and picked up more canned cat food and a new bag of cat litter this morning. I didn’t even stop to think, until I was leaving the store, that she wasn’t likely to be around long enough to need either of them.

I’m going to take tomorrow off work, so that I can bury Pandora in my flower garden. I’m sure it’s against the rules, but she was a little kitty, so I don’t think anyone will mind.

Godspeed, Pandora.

My Garden, Photography

Wildflowers

Shelly

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Wild Columbine

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Wild Geranium

So the mystery flower turns out to be wild geranium. It only has one bloom at this point, but when the rest of the buds open, it’s going to be pretty impressive. There are probably 50 buds on that one little plant.

In other garden news, the four pepper plants I got from a coworker survived their separation and transplant to a larger container. I don’t have enough soil right now to put them in the Uberpot, so I moved them to an intermediary container. I don’t like having to move them twice, but they should be strong enough to handle it.

No sign yet of the tomatoes or peppers that I planted from seed, but it’s still really early. It’s been nice and wet, though, so hopefully they’re germinating their little heads off.

This is Mr. Columbine in all his glory. I counted 15 buds (some are hiding in this photo). I think that means he’s happy.

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My Garden, Photography

Garden Report (Illustrated!)

Shelly

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Wild Geranium

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Coral Bells

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Wild Columbine

What looked like bleeding hearts yesterday has today revealed itself to be wild columbine. Which means that the bleeding hearts didn’t make it through the winter. I’m sad about that, because I really like them, but I can plant more.

Those silly coral bells are deliriously happy where they are, though. The dumb things didn’t even have the sense to die off over the winter. Same with the wild geranium.

My Garden, Photography

Garden Report

Shelly

I finally got around to planting tomatoes and peppers. Just seeds, though, which makes me a little nervous. Hopefully, they’ll sprout.

I also bought four o’clock, zinnia, and columbine seeds. The columbine is a white variety, which isn’t very interesting on its own, but it was the only kind they had. Hopefully they’ll make a nice contrast to the wild columbine I already have.

I haven’t seen any sign of bud stalks on any of the irises or lilies yet, but they’re in deep shade, so it might take them longer than normal. Everyone looks pretty happy, which is encouraging. The coral bells, bleeding hearts, and somethingorother I got from Ms. Lea that I can’t recall the name of, all have buds, though. I should be able to identify the mystery flower after it blooms. (This little web tool has come in handy for identifying flowers in the past.)

Addendum: According to the Wildflower Identification guide, the mystery plant may be a Celandine Poppy or Wood Poppy. That would make sense, as it seems to be thriving in deep shade.

Pets, Photography

Saturday Dogblogging

Shelly

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It’s Saturday, which means it’s laundry day, which means that Miss Brown made herself comfortable on the just-changed sheets.

In other news, it’s Little 500 weekend, so I’m trying not to leave the house unless I absolutely have to. The only exception is that I’m cat sitting, but it’s northeast of town, so there shouldn’t be too much extra traffic.

I’ve been sitting for this client for a couple of years now. One of their cats has been in kidney failure nearly the whole time. She suddenly went downhill and was put to sleep last weekend. I didn’t think it would bother me much, but it did. Mostly, I think it was upsetting to see the remaining cat all by himself. He’s an awfully affectionate and gregarious boy, and the owners plan to get a second cat as soon as they feel up to it, so hopefully he won’t be alone for long. For now, though, he is full of pathetic sadcakes.

Photography

Ginger Cookies

Shelly

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These are chewy right out of the oven. After they cool, they harden around the edges, but they should retain a bit of chewiness in the center.

2 C flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger (The recipe called for 1 tsp, but the ginger smelled so good that I wanted to use more; I think it was a good choice.)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 C soft butter
1 C brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 C dark molasses (I used mild molasses, which suited me; use darker if that’s what you like.)
1 tsp vinegar

In the first bowl, combine first four ingredients (the recipe calls for sifting, but I just used a whisk to make sure any lumps were broken up). In the second bowl, cream butter until shiny. Add sugar and cream until thoroughly incorporated. Add egg and beat until fluffy. Add molasses, stir, then add vinegar and stir. Add half the dry mix to the wet mix, combine, then add the second half and stir until thoroughly incorporated. The batter should be fairly stiff.

Preheat oven to 374F. Grease cookie sheet with butter, then with buttery hands, roll dough into walnut-sized balls. Place on cookie sheet, about 2-3 inches apart (it will depend on how large you make them, but I fit 16 cookies on a 14 x 15 inch cookie sheet). Bake for 10-11 minutes, remove from oven and let set for about a minute, then move to a cooling rack or paper towels.

(Recipe adapted from Meta Given’s Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking, 1955, volume 1, p. 476-477.)

Photography

Finished

Shelly

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I finished flipping the living room around this morning. It feels twice as big now, with the bookshelves up off the floor.

Next weekend, I plan on (finally!) tackling the studio. It’s an unholy mess in there now, because I dumped a bunch of stuff from the living room in there.

And this afternoon, if I can find the motivation, I’m going to make ginger molasses cookies. I have no idea why, because I don’t like ginger or molasses, but I’ve been craving them for weeks—badly enough that I made a second trip to the grocery store to get molasses, after I’d forgotten it the first time.

Photography

Seventeen

Shelly

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Bluebells

Shelves, that is. And that’s all that’s going to fit on that wall, because I have to leave room for the TV to sit under the middle section of shelves. I managed to not only get all but one small bookcase of books to fit on that wall, but also all my CDs and DVDs, too. If any of those shelves fall, it’ll be a humongous mess!

I don’t think I’m going to get the TV moved today, though, because it means moving the modem and flipping the living room furniture around, which sounds like more work than I want to do. I think I’ll wait until tomorrow. Now, it’s time to make supper, have an adult beverage, and watch some television.

And now, random bluebells. (As for why there is a big chunk of concrete in the middle of the woods, I am mystified.)