In memory of Tux

The news is not good. One of my feline nephews, Tuxedo, was fatally hit by a car last night. We're all very sad about this. Tux, as he was known, was a wonderful cat and he will be sorely missed. It's so hard to lose a beloved pet. He belongs to my sister-in-law and her hubby in Indiana and the next time we visit, there will be someone missing.

What is it?

No, this isn't some type of contest. I honestly don't know what this is. Do you? It's marked "Kentucky Giant" on the back, if that helps. I'm a city girl and this rusty old piece of farm equipment is totally foreign to me.

It's on display outside a local market in a small town in southern Indiana, near my sister-in-law's home. Over the years we've often driven by this store, without stopping, but last year we finally pulled into the parking lot and wandered around, buying some yummy apple butter. Which makes me wonder if this is some type of apple press. Do you think I'm close?

I'm posting the picture both to try to find out the equipment's purpose and as my contribution to the Thursday Challenge theme of "wheels, things that are circular". So, any guesses?

Old fashioned? Yes and no.

The theme at Photo Friday this week is "old-fashioned", but the term old-fashioned is so subjective. For example, the music of the 1970s and 1980s is now considered old by so many, yet the 1970s will forever remain "my decade" and its music will always be number-one for me. It's not old-fashioned at all -- to me. To those who weren't even born until the 1980s, I completely understand the retro flavour that 70's and 80's music has for them. It's still appealing, but it's old-fashioned. In the 1970s, that's how I felt about music from the 1950s.

As I searched for an image to fit this theme, I remembered the above photo. It looks old, but it isn't at all. Back in August 2005, I was in Lancaster PA. Wandering around, I turned the corner and saw what you see in the photo. Well, in colour, that is. At the time I was delighted to have discovered this beautiful old building; I am now saddened to discover via Google that the old Watt & Shand department store in Lancaster in the photo is being turned into a convention centre. Blah to that!

Anyway. The old-fashioned mood of the photo is, I believe, enhanced by my digital manipulations. The look I was after was one that would make you think you were seeing a much older photo -- so, I went with black-and-white. I was (and am) very happy with the results.

I was on a road-trip that August with a girlfriend and we spent a day and night in the Lancaster County area of Pennsylvania. What a beautiful part of the U.S.A. -- I would love to go back and spend more time there. Only I'm now a little leery that recent "progress" may have stripped away some of the area's charm. Hmmmmmmm.

5-minute art

Wow, it's Thursday and I'm already posting my response to today's Inspire Me Thursday challenge! Yay me!

I think the reason my participation is so swift is that the topic is so intriguing: Create Against the Clock. The idea is that you get out your art supplies and give yourself 10 minutes or so to create something. Next, use the same supplies and give yourself about an hour to create. Then, compare the results. The time is flexible; the site states, be true to yourself and just pick a shorter time followed by a longer time.

I chose to go digital rather than hands-on and worked with a photograph in Photoshop. I used a photo I took just this morning while out-and-about purchasing art supplies -- some needed, some, well, let's just call them impulse purchases. I went with a photo I had just taken on purpose, so I wouldn't be influenced by any plans floating around in my brain for existing photos in my stash. And I'm glad I didn't know about this challenge before the captain and I went out, or it likely would have influenced my photography. Instead, I was just typical-me, hauling my little portable camera out of my purse whenever something caught my fancy. I do this all the time.

Here's the original unaltered photograph:

I then proceeded to alter it following several steps that are tried-and-true for me. Warning! Geek alert! Techno-mumblejumble ahead. You've been warned.

I played with the brightness and contrast levels, the colour saturation, the sharpness, then duplicated the layer and messed about with blending modes, then flattened the layers and further messed about with both posterization levels and a filter I use a lot, poster edges. I also added a black border. I didn't take notes on the exact order of all this messin' about, I just went with the flow. Here's the result:


This took me 5 minutes, about right for me. Now for the fun stuff. I opened up the original photo once more, only this time I cropped out a square. I like the look of a squared-off image and also, it lets me crop out bits I don't want, such as the excess sidewalk and the sign hanging above the store. And then I started off as before -- contrast, saturation, etc. -- only I really boosted the colours, letting the image go wild. I then totally lost myself in experimentation. I solarized, I duplicated layers then altered them then flattened them again, I used the high pass filter, I played with the burn tool. I added grain. Heaven knows what I didn't do. I altered the hue again and again and again. I was aiming for something totally different from the original. So, mission accomplished! After about 30 minutes of playing around with the photo, here's what I created:


This was an interesting experiment to see how far I could go before I went too far. I actually did go beyond what I liked; at one point, I backed up several steps and proceeded down a different artistic path with this photo.

Great challenge, one that really hooked me in!

The Lady & Sons

I think I have a bug. Or something. You know that feeling you get when you're not sick but you feel on the verge? I'm tired, I ache, I feel disconnected. I'm not really sleeping. My emotions aren't under control. Nothing seems right. Blech! Am I coming down with something? Is it a megadose of PMS? Hell, maybe it's menopause showing itself. I dunno. Whatever it is, I'm not impressed.

Anyway, on to the reason for today's posting. Cathy (of Noble Pig fame), this one's for you. You mentioned yesterday about Paula Deen and her restaurant in Savannah, so as a wee birthday present for you, I thought I'd post some pictures.

The first time I was in Savannah my girlfriend and I were determined to eat at Paula Deen's "The Lady & Sons" restaurant and since we were only in Savannah for one day, we had to take what was offered, which was a very late seating at the Sunday Brunch buffet. It was fantastic; we both marvelled at my girlfriend's (then) 9-yr-old daughter who was up for seconds before we were halfway through our first plate. She made her mom buy a couple of cookbooks before we left so the food could be recreated at their home. In February of last year, the captain and I enjoyed the dinner buffet, while earlier this year, in January, we ordered lunch from the regular menu. Alas, I (amazingly) have no pictures of the excellent food, but I took many other shots so I do have a couple of exterior shots as well as an interior shot of the restaurant's main floor to post here.

I am a big fan of Paula Deen. I count her among the women I admire most in this world. She overcame her fears and all the obstacles in her way by turning to what she knew best -- cooking good homestyle food for her family -- and used that, which she admits was her only skill at that time, to support herself and her two young sons. She started oh-so-small, creating lunches for local businesses, and turned that into an impressive food empire. She's warm and funny and charming and talented ... she's exactly who you'd want as a friend or neighbour or relative. Or all three!

Polar opposites

I'm so, so behind ... in everything. I know that the Inspire Me Thursday challenge announcement always falls on, well, Thursdays, yet here I am, not contributing until Monday. Sigh. Lately, days seem to lead into nights and then the day is gone and I look back and realize I have not accomplished near what I wanted to, each and every day.

Here is my contribution for the current Inspire Me Thursday theme of "opposites". It was taken in Savannah, Georgia earlier this year and falls into the "right place, right time" category of photographs. We were leaving Savannah that day, heading down to Orlando for a few nights, and I was standing on the sidewalk near our hotel, waiting for the captain to bring the car around so we could go. I looked up and there I spied the weathervane. Luckily, I just about always have a camera handy.

The captain and I are currently contemplating a return trip to Savannah this fall. We are heading down to Florida anyway and it would be easy to make a stop. It would be my fourth visit there and his third, but none of the visits have been autumn ones. My first trip there was with a girlfriend on a summer roadtrip. It was a scorching August and I honestly thought I was going to melt. Choosing a non-airconditioned tour bus (we didn't know until it was too late to change) didn't help matters. Now, last February and this January showed me an opposite side of the city and I learned how pleasant the weather can be in Savannah. And I bet autumn would be gorgeous!

Purple in my viewfinder

Purple is one of my absolute favourite colours. I have several photos of purple flowers, purple objects, etc. So when I read that the Tuesday Challenge had the theme of purple, I had a dilemma .... which photo to choose?

I went with this door; I think it's a good choice. I spied it on Yonge Street in downtown Toronto as we were walking back to my son's new apartment after a great Thai dinner the evening after they moved in earlier this month. How could it not catch anyone's eye? The colours, the grunge ... it's a natural for those who like to capture "life in the city". I take lots of pictures but one of my delights is taking photographs in and around any city I'm in. I wonder how many "urban photographers" here in Toronto have a photo of this door in their collection?

When I was 14, my entire bedroom was painted this colour. I loved it. I don't think it would be so restful now, though!

Vanilla or chocolate or strawberry or ... ?

Ice Cream, the sign

Ice Cream, the real thing

The theme this week over at Moody Monday is ice cream. A bit perplexing. I see ice cream more as a mood-inducer (craving) or mood-creator (pleasure, brain freeze) than a mood itself. But, it makes no nevermind to me. Ice cream is the topic, so ice cream I will do.

But how to present my submission? There is the typical photograph, the expected one, then there is the unexpected. Too much thought for a Tuesday morning. It's my blog, I'll do what I want! So I have gone both ways.

The first shot is outside of a junk store in east-end Toronto. I took it on this day, but at a very different style of store than the antique store where I spied the jester. It's actually the sidewalk outside of this store. I have a thing for signs and photograph them all the time. If you've seen my Flickr account, you've been witness to this sign addiction thing I have going on.

The second shot, the more typical one, is some homemade strawberry ice cream I made a couple of years ago using farm-fresh strawberries. The kind that are red through and through, with no white centres. The kind with that heady strawberry smell that makes you want to eat the whole box. I took one bite of this homemade pink-and-red elixir and exclaimed, "I didn't know strawberry ice cream could taste this good!" It was heaven in a bowl.

I like ice cream, really I do, but I am fickle about it. It's such a simple treat yet complicated in its own way. Too cold, it's tasteless -- worse, it makes your gums ache and gives you that brain-freeze headache. Too warm, it tastes so much better -- but the runny, drippy consistency is a turnoff. Too many big, hard chunks of anything -- say nuts, or cookie pieces -- and I'm afraid I'm going to chip a tooth. Despite all that, we always have ice cream in the freezer, usually two different kinds. I am partial to anything mocha or coffee, and anything with cherries in it is a good thing. And chocolate-mint is wonderful.

What about you? Do you keep ice cream in your freezer? When we were in Florida in February, we tried Key Lime Pie ice cream, sold at Publix. My gosh, that was wonderful! I was so thankful we had freezer space. When we're back at the condo this fall, I want to try the Red Velvet Cake ice cream I also saw at Publix. I bet it's yummy.

Thunder and lightning and books

See that picture? That's not how Toronto looks today. Oh no. The skies have opened up and the rain is torrential. There is lightning. There is deep rolling thunder. I am baking white chocolate banana bread. Who bakes in August? Trust me, it's that kind of day.

The photo was taken last weekend, off the balcony of my son's new apartment. Not only does it have a dynamite downtown view, but the view of the lake is killer as well. Last Saturday we had a bit of rain, today we have a major storm. I feel badly for all those who I know had parties or wedding receptions planned.

It has been a different week than normal. Terra (our dog) is mopey; she wonders where her "brother" is, I know. As for the captain and I, we are doing well. We are actually both quite stoked to have full access to our basement again, and have begun the cleaning purge I have wanted to do now for quite some time. We've thrown a lot of stuff away over the past few days, plus I have already put together a full box of magazines and seven (!) heavy boxes of books to take to the Goodwill. And we haven't even finished going through all the bookcases downstairs, let alone start in on the bookcase on the back porch, the two in the front hall and the others. Yes, there are more.

I love books. Every kind. Trashy paperback novels, classic literature, reference tomes, best-sellers, cookbooks. Oh, the cookbooks. Thousands. Really. Books are precious to me and for years and years, I would not part with a single one. I was also aghast at those who altered books; I thought it was a sacrilege. But now I happily alter books myself, recognizing that I am saving those books from a likely landfill demise. And I finally came to terms with the fact that in this small bungalow I cannot possibly keep a huge library. I sought advice from my sister-in-law (Hi Heather!) who, along with her novellist hubby, Mike, are avid readers and collectors of books. They too live in a bungalow, although way larger than my home. And they too have no problem with bookcases gracing many walls. But no matter how large the home, there are limits. I thought her advice was sound: if we're gathering up a series (like Sue Grafton's alphabet mysteries, for example), we keep 'em; if they're by a favourite author, say Stephen King or Jane Austen, we keep 'em; if we need 'em for reference, we keep 'em; if we know we'll read them again, they're keepers -- everything else goes once it's been read.

And so I've slowly been applying that philosophy to my own book collection. I get more books from the library now; I can read them then just return them. And it's strangely cathartic to see boxes of books leaving the house, books that I did enjoy but know I'll never read or use again. Let someone else get some pleasure from them. Even cookbooks and gardening books have been labelled goners. Do you keep a lot of books? Novels, art books, cookbooks like me? I will always have a large book collection, but it slowly is becoming much more manageable. And with empty bookshelf space, I can buy more books!

The nest is empty

Balcony view of downtown Toronto

It's been a busy, hectic, exciting time here at the Locken household over this past long weekend. After 25 years of being able to tick off the yes box on surveys asking if we have children living at home, it'll be the no box for us from now on. The captain and I are now officially empty nesters. I mentioned earlier in July that our son was moving in with his girlfriend -- and this weekend the big move occurred. I have been humming the theme song to The Jeffersons for days now: .....we're movin' on up, to a deluxe apartment in the sky..... sorry, now you'll probably be humming it too. I took the above photo off their balcony before the big moving hubbub started. Truth be told, I took dozens and dozens of photos. They have a spectacular view and when night fell, it was even more amazing. The downtown lights are beautiful.

The move happened without incident. I don't think our son and his friends who had volunteered to help with the heavy stuff appreciated that the captain and I made everyone start very early Saturday morning, but when it was only the lunch hour on Saturday and all the boxes and furniture had made their way into the spiffy downtown apartment, I think they understood the advantage of getting an early start.

It's been an exhausting few days for us. On Friday they got their keys and we moved the boxes containing kitchen stuff into the apartment, and while I helped Joanna unpack those boxes and get the dishes put away, another load was brought from our house down to the apartment. More unpacking, and then an early night because of the imminent move. Saturday we had rain -- the curse of any move -- but it didn't start until after we had moved everything in. Yay! On Sunday, our son moved all his dj equipment and record albums and then we took them out for a Thai dinner, to a restaurant they recommended on Yonge Street, just south of Bloor. They are walking distance to Yonge Street, arguably the most important downtown street in Toronto. It's a 24/7 beehive of activity smack in the middle of the big smoke. And yesterday it was a trip to Ikea to pick up a missing dresser-top and then a shopping expedition through Ikea, and the grocery store as well.

I believe I am supposed to be sad now that the nest is empty, but I'm not. I'm just so happy for the two of them. It's so exciting to be starting off like this. The future is wide open and there's the potential for so much to happen. Very heady times.

But I had forgotten what a chore it is to move. It's not just the packing and then subsequent unpacking. It's all the details that have to be made like change-of-address notifications, waiting for the cable guy, stocking up the fridge, picking up all the little things you discover you need, arranging the furniture then rearranging it. When was the last time you moved? Did it go well? When the captain and I moved into this home in 1992, I swore I'd never move again. It's just so much work!