Finishing the Wintertime Photography Scavenger Hunt

#14 afternoon tea

Springtime is here! And with it, the end of the Winter Photography Hunt, hosted by Eileen and Joy. I've made a pretty good go of it with this year's list (you can see my previous finds at this link):

1.   A robin redbreast - never found this one

2.   Tinsel

3.   Outside lighting

4.   A star

5.   A snowman

6.   A puddle

7.   Berries and/or nuts

8.   A wreath

9.   A tree that has lost all its leaves

10.  A windy day

11.  Your favourite pudding

12.  A fancy button

This is from one of favorite jackets.

13.  Street art

14.  Afternoon tea - above

15.  Candle light

16.  A chimney - I've been meaning to get down to the Harbor to take a picture of this construction site and finally made it:

I think it's so cool that the chimney has been left standing for this new/old house.

17.  A ladder

18.  An arrow

19.  A fountain

20.  Cutlery - I decide to photograph my silver that I got from my paternal grandmother.

21.  Your own handwriting (this one is compulsory and cannot be substituted)

Since I didn't find the robin, I decided to do one of the alternates: an animal statue. I photographed my Waterford swan that I've been using to sketch lately.

Thanks for hosting such a fun hunt! And I'll keep my eyes open for a robin redbreast.

Winter Photo Scavenger Hunt Linky: Candlelight

February is over, and Joy is hosting a link-up for the Winter Photography Scavenger Hunt. Prior to this week, I had found 15 of the 21 items. And then today, I found another one - #15 Candlelight! Birthday candles, to be exact. 

Because today was my birthday, and my wonderful husband and daughter made me a home made cake, loaded it up with candles and sang me "Happy Birthday!" I had a very nice day - worked out, did some art journaling and enjoyed dinner and cake.

And now I have found 16 of the 21 items. Five more to find by March 21. I guess I better get to it!

1.   A robin redbreast

2.   Tinsel

3.   Outside lighting

4.   A star

5.   A snowman

6.   A puddle

7.   Berries and/or nuts

8.   A wreath

9.   A tree that has lost all its leaves

10.  A windy day

11.  Your favourite pudding

12.  A fancy button

13.  Street art

14.  Afternoon tea

15.  Candle light

16.  A chimney

17.  A ladder

18.  An arrow

19.  A fountain

20.  Cutlery

21.  Your own handwriting (this one is compulsory and cannot be substituted)

Street Art (Winter Photography Scavenger Hunt)

One of the prompts in this year's Winter Photography Scavenger Hunt is "Street Art." Last weekend, I took some friends to San Francisco's Mission District to tour the murals. You may recall that I took a similar trip with Scrappy Jacky and her family. I thought I'd share a few images of the fantastic murals. I almost saved the four up top for Helena's "Snap!" meme, but I have a few other things lined up for that. 
Here's a few others that I really like:

One of the things that surprised me was how quickly the art changes in the murals. Some were the same as when I visited over the summer, but many were completely new.
Have you seen any interesting street art lately?

Going my way? (Wintertime Photography Scavenger Hunt)

Just a quick end-of-the month check in on the Wintertime Photography Scavenger Hunt. I loved the prompt for arrow and found this one in Southern California. For some reason, it makes me happy when I look at it! I'm two-thirds of the way done with the Hunt, and should be able to finish next month!

Winter Photo Scavenger Hunt x2

Just a quick check-in with two more photos for the Wintertime Photography Scavenger Hunt. . . #11 a favorite pudding (I love cheesecake!) and #19 a fountain (taken at a road side stop called Casa de Fruta). Both were captured on my recent road trip to Southern California.  I've only got 7/21 left to find, so I'm feeling pretty accomplished!
How are the rest of you doing?

Snap! Superfoods

Cashew Nuts

Goji Berries

Hemp Seeds

Chia Seeds

This year, Helena is hosting a photo meme called Snap!  It should be a "visually linked set of between 2 and 4 images."  For week #2, I am sharing four images of superfoods - natural foods that pack a huge nutritional boost. This year, I am making a lot of Superfood Smoothies (which are inspired by the book of the same name by Julie Morris). These are four of my  favorites, and I thought they would make a good set of photos for this week's Snap! They also qualify as #7 Berries and/or Nuts for the Wintertime Photography Scavenger Hunt!

I also created a four photo collage with the goji berries, cashews chia seeds and acai powder (clockwise from upper left), but visually I think I like the four individual photos better.

I also made a few collages with six images (these also include flax seed meal in the lower right hand corner). Two other superfoods I enjoy that are not included in any photos are cacoa powder and camu berries. It's been fun to play with different ways of photographing these superfoods. Thanks for the challenge Helena.

Anyone else including superfoods in your diet?

Winter Time Photography Scavenger Hunt Round-Up

#2 Tinsel

Joy at Daisy Row and Eileen at In My Playroom  host a wintertime photography scavenger hunt, and I've enjoyed playing along. Eileen is hosting the first monthly link-up (find it here). I'm about half-way through the list! Just sharing the final holiday-ish find today; figured I better grab a photo before all the holiday decorations were removed. I need to keep my eye out for a robin and figure out what a "pudding" is, as I'm sure it's not an American term - LOL! The rest should be doable. You can find most of my earlier posts at this link. Are you playing along? 

1.   A robin redbreast

2.   Tinsel

3.   Outside lighting

4.   A star

5.   A snowman

6.   A puddle

7.   Berries and/or nuts

8.   A wreath

9.   A tree that has lost all its leaves

10.  A windy day

11.  Your favourite pudding

12.  A fancy button

13.  Street art

14.  Afternoon tea

15.  Candle light

16.  A chimney

17.  A ladder

18.  An arrow

19.  A fountain

20.  Cutlery

21.  Your own handwriting (this one is compulsory and cannot be substituted)

Me on Monday: Weekend Before Christmas

Happy Monday Everybody! How was your weekend?
Mine was a getting a fresh haircut kind of weekend.

A walking the dogs on the bluffs on a windy day kind of weekend (satisfying #10 on the Wintertime Photography Scavenger Hunt).

A going to see the new Star Wars movies with my two boys kind of weekend (loved the movie and loved spending the time with my husband and son).

A grading an endless number of exams kind of weekend (the cats like to help).
And finally,

A baking cookies for the cookie exchange I attend every year kind of weekend AND
A celebrating kindof weekend because my plate of Italian Ricotta Cookies (ringed with brownie Christmas trees) won the vote for "prettiest cookie"!!! Long time blog readers know that every year I strive to win a prize at the cookie exchange (and rarely succeed).
So, all in all, it was a very nice weekend before Christmas around here.
How was your weekend?
You can check in with Sian over at From High in the Sky to see others who are waving hi on Monday.

Better luck next year! (A Christmas tail)

Weekend before last, we got our Christmas tree. We went for tall and thin this year (our ceiling is 12 feet tall, and it comes pretty close once we put the start on top). We strung the lights and brought out the ornament boxes. The first ornament on the tree?

Same as every year! The Santa Star I made in kindergarten. As an added bonus, it counts as item #4 A Star in the Wintertime Photography Scavenger Hunt. 

Speaking of which, why have one snowman for item #5 when you can have three?
Right now, I'd love to have a photograph of the fully decorated tree all lit up, but no . . .
Because these two

They look so innocent, don't they? But between the two of them, they managed to destroy all the lights on the bottom half of the tree (and a few ornaments to boot)! Well, they're both still technically babies. So, better luck next year!

Me on Monday: An Entertaining Weekend

#21 My Own Handwriting

(for the Wintertime Photography Scavenger Hunt)

How was your weekend? I spent some time addressing Christmas cards and doing some online shopping. But mainly I spent time enjoying a wide variety of entertainment.

On Friday, I spent time in front of the TV waiting for my boy to come home for the holidays and watching my husband's favorite Christmas movie:

(I think I've mentioned before that my favorite Christmas movie is Die Hard, but I wait to watch that until Christmas Day). 

Then on Saturday, we headed over to Berkeley where we shopped, wandered around campus and checked out the place where we met 35 years ago!

Davis House Coop, where we both lived our last couple of years of college, looks exactly the same as I remember. Afterward, we went to see a play:

It was amazing! The best play I have seen in a long time and really made me want to get back to attending theater more regularly. 

And finally, went to an old fashioned tavern Sunday afternoon to listen to music.

An entertaining weekend, indeed!

How was your weekend? Check in with Sian at From High in the Sky to see who else is waving hi this Monday morning.

Winter Photography Scavenger Hunt (hosted by Joy and Eileen)

#8 A Wreath

As most of you know, I host a summertime photography scavenger hunt. Well, two wonderful bloggers (Joy at Daisy Row and Eileen at In My Playroom)  were inspired by this and host a wintertime version.This is their second year, and I really enjoy participating. I went for a walk in the neighborhood the other day and made a credible start.
Here's this year's list:

1.   A robin redbreast

2.   Tinsel

3.   Outside lighting

4.   A star

5.   A snowman

6.   A puddle

7.   Berries and/or nuts

8.   A wreath

9.   A tree that has lost all its leaves

10.  A windy day

11.  Your favourite pudding

12.  A fancy button

13.  Street art

14.  Afternoon tea

15.  Candle light

16.  A chimney

17.  A ladder

18.  An arrow

19.  A fountain

20.  Cutlery

21.  Your own handwriting (this one is compulsory and cannot be substituted)
If you find any of the above hard to get you may substitute one or more from the subjects below, except No. 21 which is compulsory.

Alt A  A supermarket trolley or basket, filled with shopping

Alt B  An animal statue

Alt C  Metal railings

The hunt goes until March 21, so you have plenty of time to join the fun. Will you be joining along?

Me on Monday

Wintertime Photo Hunt Item #15: Bunting

What kind of a weekend was it?

 

 It was a first track meet of the season, with lots of fun races and team-bonding weekend.

 

Item #6 Winter Weather (really, this is what our winter has been like)

A BBQ with friends enjoying our "winter weather" weekend.

An Aria still recovering, volunteering at Guide dogs and end of my mid-semester break kind of weekend. 

Followed with back to work tomorrow.

How was your weekend? Check out Sian's blog From High in the Sky to see who else is waving hi on Monday.