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Happy Monday!  I trust you all had a lovely Easter (if you celebrate) yesterday.  We had a perfect day.  I'm writing this post Sunday evening and I'm still stuffed from Easter Brunch.  We "hid" eggs filled with small toys for my granddaughter and it was fun watching her find them.  We hid them in plain sight because she is only 21 months old after all.  She caught on pretty quickly though.

It was my birthday yesterday too.  I woke up really early for some reason and got up to make myself a mug of tea.  Rick brought out beautifully wrapped gifts for me and I said I wanted to drink my tea first so I was more awake.  "Mmmkay" he says…  So I take my time and when I finally do get around to it I unwrapped the loveliest Burleigh tea cup!  I immediately poured my tea into it.  This is more than a mere teacup – it's over-sized so it holds just as much as my large mugs do.  But oh so much prettier.

I love the detail on the inside rim.  

He also gave me a beautiful bracelet with a lovely sentiment engraved on it.  He is a champion at giving presents.  He said it helps that I keep a perpetual wish list going with my Friday Favorites.   

We were very productive out in the back garden over the weekend.  I pulled weeds for the better part of the day on Saturday and they are, for the most part, under control now.  I also freshened up some of the pots with new flowers.  I have a few plants that didn't hold up to the colder weather so I pulled them out, replanted them in other (less decorative) pots and gave them a good cutting back.  We have an area behind the shed we call the plant infirmary.  They can recover and get their good looks back and then we'll introduce them back out into the garden.  

I brought the String of Pearls in the house.  I had it planted with the rest of my succulents but it was just too sunny of a spot for it.  I'm going to see how it does in my office.  I've seen a number of articles on growing them successfully indoors and I guess the trick is having a bright spot without direct sun.  

Final shot of the tea cup.  Can I also say how enamored I am of Chamomile – I've been picking up bunches at Trader Joe's for about $4 and I just love how cheerful and exuberant they are.  This batch is looking a little worse for the wear but I've had the bunch for well over a week.  It's also not poisonous to cats in case they get a notion to nibble on it. 

 

 

There she is -  Miss Buttinsky (aka Rosie).  She always has to insert herself into any photo shoot.  

I've been trying to up my photo game.  I bought a new camera a few months back.  Nothing too fancy but an upgrade from my broken Canon Powershot S3 IS and from my cell phone.  The new camera, a Canon EOS Rebel SL2, has the advantage of being able to swap out lenses.  Before I purchased it I researched lenses like crazy to find the one that I would get the most bang for my buck.  I thought (and purchased) a 50mm would be ideal for the type of pictures I take (mostly of things) and I wanted the blurry background you get with a 50mm but I found I had to get really far away from my subject to get it in frame.  

So I bought a 24mm pancake lens which I use probably 95% of the time.  I have my eye on a 35mm lens next.  I think it will be a happy medium between the two lenses I own.  

A scanned photo (which I artfully deckle edged) of my aunt and my mother on my parents' wedding day in August of 1947.  My mother wore an ice blue satin suit and her sister is in chocolate brown.  These details are hearsay since there is only black and white evidence of the event.  My mother is the most beautiful women I have ever known.  Click on the photo so you can see it full sized.

Anyway…back to photography and cameras.  In addition to upgrading my equipment I'm also trying to upgrade my skill level which is still at a very, very low level.  I finally took my camera out of auto mode and have been playing around in manual mode.  Immediately I can see an improvement in the quality of the pictures I'm taking.  I also started shooting in RAW.  This means I can get even better results in post processing.

I took the plunge and signed up for Adobe Lightroom CC.  It  includes Photoshop but I haven't poked around there just yet.  I used to use Photoshop Elements which is the simplified version of Photoshop because I couldn't see shelling out the money for Photoshop itself.  Then my friend who is a fabulous photographer told me I needed to look into Lightroom.  I tried a trial version and I was hooked.  So I signed up for the cloud version where I pay $10 a month for the software.  

I've been watching Youtube video after Youtube video to get tips and tricks and I've taken a couple of online courses.  

I'm hoping that you'll see an improvement in the quality of the images I share here.  I realize I'm just a fledgling when it comes to photography and the equipment I own but, on the bright side, I can only get better from here!

I really brought out my camera today because I wanted to share a picture of my new teacup.  I bought it at Home Goods for $7.  I certainly don't need another tea cup since I have 18 others that only get used as a prop or the rare tea party.  Hmm.  Maybe I should host a tea party.  Also – that houseplant?  I've had it since at least 1986.  It used to be so full and long but when we moved four years ago it broke off at the root.  I took a piece to try to root and after a few months it actually sprouted some so I could replant it and I've been nursing it ever since.  It has come such a long way.  It's due to graduate to a bigger pot but for now I'm enjoying it in my Valentine's urn.

I hope your Wednesday is going well!