RIP Van Cliburn

Van Cliburn

Performing in Russia in 1958

Tea Anyone?

Some of my favorite authors

In The Kitchen

Getting ready to cook!

Had fun photographing all my collectables and arranging them in a somewhat life-like situation.

Above are old cookbooks of my Mother's and a new jadite cup and saucer.

Above is an old ricer and vintage salt and pepper shakers with a grease collector. Women would have that on their stove to pour in grease drippings to re-use again. During WII they saved the grease for the war effort

Vintage salt and pepper shakers

By the way, my whole collection is for sale for $300

 I still use this coffee pot if my power goes out...I have a gas stove so it works perfectly. Vintage table cloth is the back drop. The only new thing is the Argo corn starch.....I thought that it looked old  ;-)

I had so much fun shooting all my collectibles and I had the whole basement torn up with all my equipment, backdrops, two tripods, lighting and so on. Still have a lot of stuff that I could do but the weather will soon be warming up and there are birds and bunnies out there waiting to have their picture taken.
Photography class is going to the Detroit Institute of Arts on Friday. Always a great place to shoot pictures.

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JT Photography Class

Our photography class last year at  McCourtie Park. 

Had our first class tonight for this semester and a schedule was decided on....dates, times and meeting places. We start this Friday at the DIA. I always love going there. Have some great shoots planned like Historic Fort Wayne, Washtenaw County Barn Tour, Gilmore Care Museum and Toledo skyline. Looking forward to some fun camera time!

Oakwoods Metropark

American Tree Sparrow

 Ok, Febuary is almost over. Is it Spring yet?

                                                                   Bird feeding area

Looking for a Red Bellied

Winter Bird Walk

At Oakwoods Metropark.

Snow Pattern

Had a great walk this morning at Oakwoods Metropark. Saw many songbirds, water fowl and a hawk. We celebrated Rita's birthday and Ulanawa came. Had a nice group...some dedicated birders. More on the walk later. I thought that you would enjoy the snow pattern on the trees made by the snow blower....not mother nature!

Belle Isle

There was nothing for it but to make it all look as really old as it feels there at Belle Isle.

Flowers and Butterflies

 Four inches of snow dumped on us this morning. OK, I love snow but enough already. Yesterday, my son that lives is Kansas, texted me and they got 10 inches and everything is closed. Luckily, Mike can work from home. The boys are off school for two days...they knew this one was coming. Q!
Looking forward to the Winter Bird walk at Oakwoods tomorrow. Hope we are lucky and spot some early migratory birds. I plan on getting some pretty snow pictures and bird photos at the feeders. Have to rush home after that and get ready for Liam's basketball game.
Can't wait for my camera class to begin on Monday. I have questions piled up from the last few months.

In The Snow

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I saw the Chickadee today-

I was sitting in the living room after breakfast and the little fellow landed on my climbing rose next to my front porch. I had heard him several times but could never locate him. It was the usual cawing "chick-a-dee-dee-dee". The pretty whistle "hey sweetie" is usually heard in the spring and summer. This afternoon I put a plate of almonds and blueberries (slightly soft) on a plate next to the rose bush. I'll see if it attracts him. 
You may wonder why I am so excited over a little bird that is pretty common in the woods. Well, in my neighborhood it is always sparrows.......many, many sparrows. Occasionally we see a Downy Woodpecker at Don's suet feeder. So, I want to encourage these little ones to stick around.

It made my happy today.

Orchids

These are the beautiful orchids at the Belle Isle Conservatory......beautiful flowers, good light and some pretty good photos! There are also Cyclamen in full bloom and Kalanchoe almost ready to bloom. I came across some other exotic flowers that I was not able to identify. They put identifying signs on the trees but not the flowers
I wonder who takes care of the conservatory and the greenhouses. There sure is a lot of work that needs done. The cacti room was a mess...sad to see things so deteriorated.  A lot of trimming of trees , deadheading and just general maintenance is needed. At the conservatory entrance  there was a pretty metal flower cart but the flowers that were in it were mostly dead. Too bad the city of Detroit did not agree to have the State of Michigan run the island as a state park because it sure needs a influx of cash.
Still in all, it was nice to see flowers and color in the middle of February and I had an enjoyable few hours there.

Thalassa Cruso

This is a photo of some of my well used gardening books. I actually have a library of gardening books and garden reference books. These are two of my favorites.
Thalasso Cruso was a writer, journalist and TV personality in the late 1960s and 70s. She initially wrote "Making It Grow" which was a best seller. She had her own gardening show on PBS. I loved her shows because she made gardening so much fun. Her personality was so quirky that it made her a favorite on Johnny Carson's "The Tonight Show". She was always trying to revive the office plant but frequently said "Just bung it in the dust bin. It is beyond any help".
Thalasso Cruso is gone now, but like many, I remember her by her wonderful books. She was the Julia Childs of the gardening world.

Ready for Spring

Conservatory at Belle Isle

Kolache follow-up story

Since I blogged about Kolache, I have had two offers. 

My daughter's high school friend offered to make it for me if I gave him the recipe. He's a stay at home Dad.

My Aunt Mildred offered to send me a roll which they make for their church to sell. They get $10 a roll. She said that her and my cousin, Joan, use my Grandmother's recipe....yum! It is a big fund raiser with many women donating their Kolache. This is in Newton Falls, Ohio  44444.
 I don't want to give away my Aunt Mildred's age but she is the only sibling of either my Mom or Dads that is still with us. Keep making that Kolache Aunt Mil and you will live to be 100. 

It is so dreary this Valentine's day that the only color could be found in a glass house...the conservatory at Belle Isle. These are beautiful Cyclamen in my favorite color. When I walked out of the conservatory it was snowing. Plan to go back in March when the weather is better. Have many, many photos to edit.