To Plant a Tree

At the beginning of this summer we were forced to have a 100 year old oak tree removed from our front yard because it had a disease that could have infected all of the other beautiful old oaks around our home. The tree stood by itself and shaded half our front yard. I used to gaze out my second floor studio window at the birds that visited that tree in the spring and summer. And in the wintertime, I'd catch myself studying the shadows the tree left on the ground after it shed all its leaves.

I miss that tree, terribly.

This spring we will plant a new tree in its place. We've not yet decided which kind of tree to plant, but I just found the most amazing tool to help us with our decision. Greg McPherson, who is the director of the Center for Urban Forest Research in Davis, California, has helped develop a downloadable tool that can calculate the benefit of whichever tree you want to plant - or a tree you already have. It's called the Tree Carbon Calculator and it requires just three bits of information about your tree to calculate the amount of carbon dioxide it will store or has stored. Cool, right?

Find out more about the Tree Carbon Calculator and download it here.

Inspired? Good. Go get yer shovel.

Vintage Photography Book Find

Lookie what I found!! Published in 1972, packed with beautiful photographs from that time AND a special section devoted to One-Step Photography. Specifically, my love: the Polaroid SX 70.

Below is a statement by a wonderful man, Edwin H. Land, that I just had to share. (Click on it to see it larger so you can read it, silly!)

And here are the diagrams from the book that illustrate exactly how this wonderful camera works. (Click on the diagram to view larger.)

Brilliant, huh?!

Vintage Snap Love

Aren't they sweet?

And look at that killer smile!

Went to the Cattle Barn Flea Market in Fort Worth this weekend and scored some random goodies. I fell in love with these two photos and had to take them home with me. I also found a completely filled diary from 1927. The daily entries are a tiny glimpse of the life of a college girl living the north east. There are mostly facts recorded: what she did that day, where she went and who she saw. A nice little glimpse into life in the 1920's.

Baby Shower Invitation

It's gonna be a BOY!!

This is a little image I created for my sister-in-law's baby shower invitation. I printed them on square Crane & Co. cards. AND I finally learned how to make rounded edges for my images using Photoshop! Click here to learn how, too!

I will be listing this as a Custom Baby Shower Invitation in my Etsy shop soon. Hmmm.... I suppose I should make one for girls, too?

High Speed Chase

You better not run in Indiana. They will chase you down. And in a 1965 Ford Galaxie, they'll catch you! You definately don't want THAT to happen.

Can you guess who the man is driving the speeding red 65 Galaxie?

These will be available in my Etsy shop soon. I just can't stop playing with these cars long enough to list the photos. ;)

Alabama Speed Trap

I just about fell over this weekend when my husband suggested we stop by the toy store to see what kind of cars they had and I FOUND the 1971 Alabama State Police Javeline!!! I couldn't wait to get outside and play with it!! One of these will be available in my Etsy shop, as soon as I figure out which one is "shop-worthy". Any suggestions????

I have a couple more new photos on my Flickr.

Here Come de Fuzz!

This is a 1971 AMC Javelin AMX diecast. LOVE the paint and the Corvette-like fender humps on this car. I'm still looking for a State Trooper diecast - from the sixties or seventies would be ideal. But I am getting closer. As fate would have it, the AMC Javelin was the first pony car ever to be used by any U.S. police force. The Alabama State Troopers per the pioneers on that front. They chased criminals in this beauty from 1971 to 1979. Take a look at the diecast of that sweet cop car:

(Dear Santa......)

The photo of the purple Javelin is available in my Etsy shop. Find out more about the AMC Javelin here. To see a picture of a REAL Alabama State Trooper posing next to his ride, click here. Isn't that little hat cute?

Here Come da Judge

Now here's a true muscle car: a 1970 Pontiac GTO Judge! Some say it's the first muscle car, but I disagree.

Did you know that GTO stands for "Gran Turismo Omologato" which was taken from the legendary Ferrari GTO (Ferrari wasn't very happy about that)? And did you know that the Judge was named after Sammy Davis Jr.'s "Here Comes the Judge" skit on Laugh In? No wonder I couldn't stop saying it when I was shooting this little hottie. Check it out!

More about the history of the Pontiac GTO here. This photo is also available in my Etsy shop.

Mom's Ice Cream

This is my mother, circa 1976, as she was photographed by one of the great loves in her life, Ivan White. He was a Navy pilot, artist and photographer and they were crazy about each other. After they married, we moved to Saudi Arabia for three years while he worked for Saudia Airlines.

Today would have been her 68th birthday. She passed away from a rare blood disease about 5 years ago. Since her death, for some crazy reason, I've felt closer to her than ever. Perhaps this is because I've been slowly going through her recipe box, attempting to remake some of the things she made for me and my brother and sister as we were growing up. I have some very happy memories that took place over a plate or bowl of my mother's wonderful cooking.

One of her best recipes is her Homemade Ice Cream recipe. She made this for us when we lived in Saudi Arabia (as noted on the back of the recipe card). We three kids had to hand crank that dang ice cream maker for what seemed like HOURS. We HAD hours to crank that thing because there wasn't any television on the compounds back then.

I love making this for my kiddo. He goes bananas for it, too! I can feel his grandmother around us when we dig into a big bowl of creamy yumminess. And today, I make it with an electric ice cream maker (yay). It isn't as tiring, but the wait just about kills my son!

In honor of my mother's birthday and what a fabulous cook she was, I'm sharing her recipe with you. Its really easy to make: if I can do it, anyone can do it.

If you want a little something in your vanilla ice cream, add it to the maker about half way through the mixing time. This time we added M&M's.

Enjoy!

Mom's Homemade Ice Cream (1 gallon)

1 quart milk

4 eggs

3-4 cups sugar

1 T. cornstarch

dash of salt

1 pint whipping cream

1 pint half & half

2 T. vanilla

In a large pan scald 1 qt. milk. Place in bowl 4 eggs, whip slightly. In another bowl combine 3 - 4 cups sugar, 1 T. cornstarch and salt. Add to egg mixture, slowly, stirring.

Pour scalded milk over egg mixture, slowly, stirring.

Put all back in pan and cook and stir until sticks to spoon. Let cool.

Add to cooled mixture 1 pint whipping cream, 1 pint half & half and 2 T. vanilla.

Follow the instructions for your ice cream maker and enjoy! :D

A Daily Walk

I've been mulling over a personal challenge for the past couple of days. Friday my husband took me to see Julie & Julia (or did I take him?). I enjoyed it SO MUCH. The two thoughts I walked away from the movie with were 1) I want Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking (as I'm sure everyone else in that theater did) and 2) like Julie, I need to give myself a personal challenge, because I tend to float around in my own head, lose direction very easily, put things off, make excuses and I need something right now. School is starting, the days will be getting shorter soon and my brain need something. Something that will push me somewhere.

So my idea is to go walking in my neighborhood (that's in suburbia, people) every day (side effect: lose some pounds) and shoot what I find. Every day. The point of the challenge is to keep my eyes open, keep shooting and to prove that, even in land locked suburbia, where all the houses are on a grid and seemingly nothing happens unless it's planned, beauty is abundant. I do know this to be true, but to find it every day would be challenging to me. Am I up to this challenge? Hmmmm....