253- Yellow Dahlia

This spring I planted a bag of mixed dahlia bulbs. Only about a third of them even grew, but those that did... wow! Most of them are a reddish-pink but I have this one pale yellow that is growing in the backyard. It is just lovely but not as large as the others.



This is always one of my favorite times of year. All of the summer flowers are at their peak and thick in their borders. I wish there was a way to lengthen out this time just a little. But all too soon we will have a killing frost and all I will have is lots of dead vegetation that needs to be pruned, pulled out and recycled.

Ah, but that also means the leaves will start to turn and there will be that snap in the air! Yes, I do like the changing seasons... but for now I will enjoy summer's last hoorah!

252- Kill The Squeak!

I don't think I've ever met a dog with as much personality as Harley! He is definitely a B-O-Y dog, if you get my drift. I've said before that whereas Buddi was a fur-covered sack of love, Harley is a fur-covered sack of trouble! Well, not so much anymore... but it's still fun to say.

This dog loves his toys and he understands that they are HIS toys... his property. Whenever he gets a new toy his first objective is to seek and destroy the squeak! The funny thing about Bunny is that he has had it for several weeks, but because it was stuffed so tightly he couldn't really get to the squeak. Usually he has that squeak out and dead in a matter of minutes instead of weeks.

When I bought Bunny I chose it because it had so many appendages for chewing: four legs, two ears, a nose and a tail... what a cornucopia of chewing fun! Harley first chews through the fabric, spitting out pieces as he goes and then starts pulling out the stuffing... again with the spitting. Camille cracks up when she watches him at this. Tonight he hit to pay-dirt! The stuffing was fairly flying out of Bunny! Harley could actually make Bunny squeak... well, do I even need to say... it was only a matter of minutes before the squeak was dead? Harley is now taking a nap after all that exertion! Funny-boy-face-dog!


BRUSHES- Worn_HighRes003, Script_Brushes_by_LadyVictoire, RhonnaFarrer_2ps_SnapShotFrameKit, FONT- Angelic War, Felix Titling ACTION- DPMoms Perfect Workflow, TEXTURE- chaotic soul

251- Sweet Babies

A few days ago sweet Baby K made her debut on my blog. Today I was back for more photos of her and her darling cousin. They are only a few weeks apart. The *Mamas* wanted to have their images captured (sounds so old fashioned, doesn't it?) in their blessing dresses to use for an invite for the event later this month.

This is my favorite. I added some typography art along with the personal information that I won't show on my blog. All you get to see are the sweet babies...

250- Willow Sunset

Sometimes I can hardly believe that we have been in our home in Utah over four and a half years. My home feels like an old friend. I love my somewhat east facing bedroom window. I can see Maple Mountain in all of her various states of glory and on summer evenings the canyon breeze comes gently in. When I walk in to our bedroom the big chair just welcomes me and vies for an opportunity to be used for reading instead of my comfy bed!

Then there is my somewhat west facing *play room* window. This is where I spend most of my time. I love the view from my window. I can see the neighborhood, my front yard, the mountain range just north of us where all of our wildlife come from, AND my lovely globe willow tree.

I feel in love with this variety of tree almost 30 years ago. I love the way the branches reach upward and in a gentle breeze it looks like a ladies skirt swishing. This time of year the sun sets directly behind it. What a beautiful sight.

249- Raisins- Part Trois

I know you can hardly wait for each new day and the progress I am making with my raisins! Perhaps you would be as excited as I am if you ate them every single morning in your oatmeal! (Yes, that's me. I love my porridge every morning... with raisins, brown sugar and cooked in soy milk... sometimes apples thrown in for good measure!)

Several years ago I attempted raisins, but I was not too happy with the results. I think that I harvest the grapes too soon and the resultant raisins were rather tart! Yeah, what's up with that? I also read at the time that you should blanch the grapes to speed up the dehydrating time. What a hassle.

So here is the first batch of raisins... not blanched and not harvested too early... yummy.



It takes about 18-24 hours to dry a batch (apparently the blanching DID NOT speed the drying time). Batch number 2 is almost finished (I have two dehydrators and one is significantly faster than the other). I estimate I will have about 5 more batches. I'll come back and let you know the final count.

Since not all grapes are created equal some are drier than others. I've found that if I put them all into a container the moisture content evens out. The other thing I do is store the bulk of them in the freezer, filling up my canister as needed. Where that might not be technically necessary, I don't want to lose my raisins to mildew or any other ick after all the work that goes into making them.

248- Raisins- Part deux

OK... well, there was one of the shortest lived experiments in my life! I woke up this morning at dawn to find that it was sprinkling! Maybe that is why the idea of Utah Raisins has never caught on!! I guess you just have to have that wonderful Central Valley climate to make good sun-dried raisins.

So I brought the whole mess inside, tarp and all. I am now in the process of picking them all off the stems and putting them into the dehydrator! What a bunch of mindless work. I have Emma on my MP3 player to keep me company, so I am giving Harry a break this time... he is in the car.

247- Utah Raisins

You've all heard of the famous California Raisins? Yup, well, these are Utah raisins in the making.



I went out tonight and picked 2.5-five gallon buckets AND there are STILL grapes left! What an amazing crop this year. I've tried raisins before... you know the un-natural kind done in the food dehydrator. So this year, with my new wonderful deck, I'm going to try letting the sun do its work just like they do in CA!

Rebekah's family goes every year to the church's raisin farm and harvests the grapes. All they do is lay them on clean newsprint paper and leave them in the rows. I put all of mine on a blue tarp... I'll keep you posted on the results.

246- Sweet Baby K...

Several months ago a friend, who reads my blog, asked me if I would do a photo shoot of her baby when she was born. I told her I would be pleased to... and today was the day! Presenting sweet baby K...



I've taken thousands of photos of my own kids and grandkids, but I've never done an *official* photo shoot before. I knew that I needed to bank on the rule of numbers... take scads of photos and you are bound to end up with some good ones.



I uploaded 338 photos files from my 8 GB card. The first time I went through them I thought, "Ahhh, these are awful!!" I don't know what I was expecting... so I gave it two more reviews before I started pulling out the ones I thought might have some promise.



I opened them in Photoshop Elements 7 and did a little fiddling and color adjusting and found that I really hadn't done so badly after all. I spent the afternoon editing 58 *keepers*. I am so grateful for all the things I've learned over at the Spraground. I was amazed what just a little of this and a little of that can do to turn an ok photo into a POW- photo. The other thing that was invaluable to me today was the Perfect Workflow action by Erin... what a time-saver!



I also got photos of big brother and sister. What a precious family.





Andrea asked me on Facebook if this was a new career... ummm, NO... just an extension of my need to create!

(applies to all photos- BRUSHES- Worn_HighRes003, Script_Brushes_by_LadyVictoire, RhonnaFarrer_2ps_SnapShotFrameKit, FONT- Angelic War, Felix Titling ACTION- DPMoms Perfect Workflow)

245- Mr Mouw

Are you trying to figure out how to say that? It rhymes with mouse without the "s" sound. It is one of Simba's nicknames. When I call him I say "Mouw-mouw- mouw-mouw-mouw!" in a high pitched voice and sometimes will even throw in "Whisker LIC-kens". The funny thing about all the meowing is that you rarely hear Simba utter a meow.

When Simba was a baby-cat brand-new at our house in March 1995 we already had our Amber the wonder-dog. We wanted Amber to be kind to our new little addition so we put Simba into Amber's bed with her. That funny Mr Mouw snuggled right in and tried to nurse on Amber. Poor Amber was so confused by that, but it was the beginning of a fast friendship. Simba's mom was Siamese and his daddy was a big orange tabby so he has many of the vocal characteristic of the Siamese. He makes squeaks, silent meows and barks, yes, barks! I like to say he was raised by wolves!



When I was out taking photos of my grapes I happened to be in the serendipitous position to capture this shot of our Nims! What a grand old-man cat he is.


BRUSHES- Worn_HighRes003, Script_Brushes_by_LadyVictoire, RhonnaFarrer_2ps_SnapShotFrameKit, FONT- Angelic War, Felix Titling ACTION- (A2D)_Lomo V_2

244- Grapes

Early this spring I posted a photo of my bare grape vines. I likened them unto the Savior, who is the true vine, from whom we receive strength and nourishment.

This year I have been blessed with a bumper crop of grapes. So far there I've picked a strawberry flat full for the grandkids and neighbors have filled 7-8 five-gallon buckets!... and there are still gobs of grapes left.

I went out this morning and got the light coming in through the grape arbor... what a beautiful sight. As I've worked on this photo (and the new Sept frame) and done housework I've reflected on how easy it is to share the "fruit of my vines" but am I as quick to share the "Fruit of the True Vine"? I hope that I am.