Friend or Foe



Gray Squirrel

 This is my favorite Gray Squirrel photo.  Some people love them some people not so much.  A lot of people have stories about the evasion of Gray Squirrels on the bird feeders.  I have heard many stories about the infamous Gray Squirrel.  Some people want to destroy them, but most don't.  They very smart and for me fun to watch.  Unfortunately I have no Oak Trees on my property or near by so I rarely see them.  Instead I see and hear the nasty Brown Squirrel who has a mean temper and will chase you away.  Example I was out photographing the field near my house and notice these 2 Brown Squirrels chasing each other.  I position my self to photograph the one who climbed into the tree and within seconds I heard rustling in the grass in front of me and about 10 feet away was the other Brown Squirrel ready to chase me away and away I went, but not without a few photos.  Now on the flip side of that story is the Gray Squirrel who nicely posed for me on a picnic table at a campsite in Florida.  Now who is the more photographic squirrel?



Brown Squirrel



At Attention Soldier

This one of my favorite bug photos.  While I was out photographing my Azaleas in the Spring I came across this Soldier Beetle.  So I started photographing him and then I realized he might be dead, so I tapped lightly on the flower petals and "At Attention" he came.  In my opinion there is nothing good about photographing a dead beetle in a beautiful Azalea.  So I was very thankful he came around.  I guess it was too early in the morning and he hadn't warmed up yet.  I absolutely love this photo.  The colors are rich and bright and the Soldier Beetle looks great too!



At Attention
Soldier Beetle



It's March!!!!!

The sun is out, I hear the constant dripping of melting snow coming off the roof and the temperatures may get into the lower 40's.  Yeah Spring is on the way and my day is getting better and better all the time!  A couple of photos that remind me of Spring and what I can look forward to.



Fledgling Sparrow

I have a pair of Sparrows who have been nesting in my barberry shrubs for the past several years and this photo is one of their fledglings.  There has been a group of Sparrows hanging around the bird feeder all winter and I wonder if it's the whole family.

Siberian Iris

These are some Siberian Irises that I grow in my garden I also have them in purple.  Looking forward to seeing them in the spring.

I almost feel like singing , but I don't want to spoil the mood.

The past few days I have been going through my photos and inventory getting ready for shows which will be here before I know it!  I have an aweful bad habit of waiting until the last minute.  But I always get the job done and ready to go!

This weekend if I get my paper in time I am going to be having me a hand coloring party.  I like the textured black and white hand colored, but I think I am going to hand color them without the textures to see how I like it.

Well the Cookie business will be kicking off as soon as May 1st.  Yicks!  Still waiting to hear from the Brewer Farmers Market.  Hopefully soon.

I am getting so anxious and excited about getting this season under way!

What a Week

Where to start....Monday the computer was down for over 3 hours while the PC was getting cleaned up.  Then Tuesday was a rough start because of the computer and just getting out of bed on the wrong side.  Tuesday afternoon I signed up on Fine Art America to sell more photography and see if I get more sales through them than my own website.  Signing up was easy and once I figured everything out,  then I started the process of customizing a website and uploading photographs.  So come Wednesday evening all the photographs I was uploading were done.  It was just a matter of tweaking the site now, which I decided I would do Thursday morning.  And as of now I am somewhat pleased.  Not 100% yet, I'll do more tweaking later.  I have already received many comments on my work from Fine Art America viewers.


I have made changes to my Facebook fan page which now has a "Welcome" page which is from my website and a "Shop" page is from my Fine Art America site which now makes it possible to shop on Facebook.  I am really hoping this works out. 
 
I have made changes to my blog too.  I have added a couple of tabs.  One is for "The BlackHorse Cookie Company" which has the cookie menu and pricing and I also created a tab for "2011 Events" which I am updating alot lately.  In fact I will be adding 2 more shows as soon as I finish here.  Check out both tabs and let me know your thoughts.
 
I have done alittle snow shoeing after I have been taught by my neighbor's son Bobby who also helps with the my dogs after school and will be helping me out at the Rockland Farmers Market this summer.  He is a good kid, but need a little guidance and I hope I can give that to him.

Speaking of the Rockland Farmers Market, the meeting went well.  I have been elected Secretary.  Which I think I will do okay with, I will have a voice recorder with me being that I am terrible at taking notes and asking me to remember anything...well that won't happen.  I seem to be limited on what I will store in this brain of mine.  Looks like I need to master my fruit pies, there were no new members that applied that make pies.  So I will conquer the fruit pie!

I have applied at another Farmers Market in Brewer it is closer to home and I can do up to 5 market days with them, but I will only be doing 3 if they allow me, and when I'm doing an Art Show I will miss some days too.  Hopefully I'll know in the next few weeks if I am in.

So this afternoon I will finish tweaking my Fine Art America website and doing some social media stuff.  Tomorrow during the snow storm YUCK!!!!!! The weatherman is saying 6-12 inches of the white stuff.  When will it end!  Is it Spring yet!  Anyway I will start hand coloring again getting some ready for shows.  The photos I am hand coloring will remind me of Spring.  Spring....gentle breezes, the sweet sound of the songbirds, the budding trees, flowers blooming and the sweet fragrance of lilacs in the garden.  Oh that reminds me I need to plan out my garden.  Can't wait for Spring and the digging in the dirt and getting dirty!  Yeah!


Double Bloom Lilac




Some Minor Changes to My Blog

German Chocolate Sandwich Cookie

I have decided to incorporate my Cookie Business blog with my Photography Business blog.  Since the reason I started the Cookie Business to help support the Photography Business so I thought it appropriate to converge them together as one blog. 

With that said.  Let me tell you about my day thus far.  I have a meeting Thursday with the Rockland Farmers Market.  This is a regular meeting to get things ready for market which starts May 19th.  At a previous meeting I had mentioned that I was going to bake pies for market this year since the vendor who would normally sell them won't be there this year, and I figured since I can make a killer Apple Pie with a flaky buttery crust, I thought I could also add Blueberry and Strawberry Rhubarb Pies.  So I told the group I would bring in samples to the meeting.  Okay I am so not a fruit pie maker.  Just Apple Pie.  So I got my crust ready and it's in the refrigerator.  Now for the filling.  I added all the necessary ingredients sugar, cornstarch (thickener) lemon juice.  Now in the past when I have made Blueberry pies they were always too runny, this time it was thick, but the flavor was off.  I think maybe it might have been because the blueberries were in the freezer too long.   So I think I'm on the right track and with more practice perhaps I could come up with a great Blueberry pie.  But for now no go.  The crust was great though! 

So on to the next experiment.  Peanut Butter Granola Bars.  I did everything as planned, crunchy peanut butter, brown sugar, honey, almonds and of course dark chocolate chips.  The bars have great flavor, but are not forming the bars like they are suppose to.  Maybe more cooking time next time.  At this point I am thinking that this isn't my day to be in the kitchen. 

So I am down to my final recipe that was a backup in case the other 2 didn't work out.  Whoopie Pies!  I absolutely love these!  This recipe is from my Gram and I cherish this recipe and the memories that go with it dearly.  At one point making the filling in the past it always seemed thin, but I followed the recipe to the letter.  I mentioned to Mom what was going on and she asked if I was whipping it until stiff.  That isn't on the recipe, but when I did it, it worked.  So what happened today?  I'm telling you it's not my day in the kitchen.  Anyway I may not have let my milk and flour thicken enough or I got carried away with the Marshmallow Fluff.  The cookies are great!  So tomorrow after groceries I will make the filling again. 

You know there are just some days that I shouldn't be in the kitchen and today is one of them.  I have also realized that maybe I should stick with just cookies.  I have a good assortment of them and they were enjoyed my many last year.  Kind of the saying "Don't fix it if it isn't broke", "Stick to what you know".  I know cookies and I am sticking to it.  So there!

After dinner I plan to do some hand coloring.  Waiting for some ink to arrive so I can do more printing in preparation of shows.



So Chow for Now!