How much is that horsey in the window?

Over at Unique Exposure's Photo Challenge, the theme this week is Letters. This poses the same dilemma for me as the Signs challenge last month: too much choice. After spending much time looking at my images, old and new, I decided to use a photo I took while out for a walk earlier this month. Luckily, the image also works for Thursday Challenge, where the theme is currently Childhood.

In the storefront window of a props store -- it used to be a popular local bakery and in fact, the bakery sign is still up -- I spied numerous horses, including carousel horses and this toy. The entire display is quite charming. I just love these wooden letter blocks; I wish I had a set!

Feel Better

For two days now, I have been trying to figure out how I was going to tackle the Photo Theme for Thursday challenge: signs.

Okay, those of you who know me well, stop laughing. If you don't yet know me well, my friends and family are amused because they all know that signs are my passion. If it has letters, I can almost never resist taking a photograph of it. As you might imagine, this leads to LOTS of images with words and letters in them.

For example, I briefly considered using my image gallery of signs -- signs, words, letters -- as my entry, but with almost 300 photographs in it to date, that would have been a bit much.

Inspiration finally came from an unexpected discovery near the front door of a local barber shop. I love the forceful red capital letters, the weathered rot, and of course the message. Who doesn't want to feel better?

One odd thing....I can't manage to get the photo montage to appear any larger here, so please click on it to see it full-blast. I'd like to claim it's Blogger's fault but I am surely just not doing something right here.

But is it silly?

The challenge over at Photo Theme for Thursday is silly; it sounds easy but I found it quite difficult. Sure, I have photographs of lots of funny signs, but that's staying in my comfort area and I wanted to get out of that zone. Looking through photographs on my hard drive, I came across the photos I took at the Port Perry fair last year. One of the suggested subjects for silly over at PTFT was clowns and as I looked at the images, I found several photos I took of a garbage can with a clown head. Perfect.

Except. Except that I don't find clowns silly, I find them creepy. Even macabre at times. They give me the willies -- they don't look friendly and funny, they look like serial killers in disguise. Really. So I worked on the photo, but I don't think I was able to make it amusing. But it is a clown and so I guess on some level, for someone, it's silly. Not to me though.

Lots of ghost signs

Inspire Me Thursday has an intriguing theme this week: ghost. While some will understandably think of the paranormal, not me ... I think of ghost signs. I love ghost signs -- the faded advertisements and signage of days gone by, spotted on the sides of old buildings. They are very hard to find here in Toronto, but when travelling in the U.S. I spot them frequently. Above are just some of the ones I found on our trip to Pittsburgh last year; the photos used above can all be found in my Pennsylvania set of images, where they are mostly in colour or sepia-toned. But for the above grouping, I went with a black-and-white theme. I really must do more non-colour work; it's so challenging.

I just realized the theme for Photo Theme for Thursday is buildings; how appropriate ... my montage, above, fits that theme too!

The old diner

When you travel, you find the oddest things. Coming home earlier this month, we pulled off the highway in London, KY, for the night. Right beside the Comfort Suites that we had chosen, I spied a gorgeous, classic diner. It was right beside the hotel and, at first, I thought it was open, but a closer look made me realize that it was definitely closed. I took many photos and then asked the hotel's desk clerk about it. He told me it had been there a long time and had housed many restaurants, the most recent an asian buffet that closed several months ago due to a kitchen fire. The clock at the front of the diner obviously stopped working long ago; I think it's a great entry for this week's Photo Theme for Thursday challenge: time.

Backyard beast

Two days ago I posted an entry for the weekly challenge, Photo Theme for Thursday. But I posted it on Wednesday, which was pretty bad timing. I'm a little more on the ball now...it's only Friday, just one day into this week's challenge, and my entry is posted. Yay for me.

The theme this week is "broken" and I think this ol' junker definitely qualifies. As the captain and I drove around on our last day in Florida, March 1st, I spied this blue beast in someone's rear yard as we drove past. Dear man, he turned our van around, waited for traffic to clear and then, because there really wasn't a shoulder on this back road, stopped almost completely on the street so I could get my photos. Luckily, there wasn't much traffic. I'm a fast shooter when needed, so I quickly took several photographs and then off we went. I don't know what type of car this is...so if anyone knows, please enlighten me.

Old stained glass

I am awfully late, but I have an entry for this week's Photo Theme for Thursday challenge. Yes, I know it's already Wednesday. Like I said, I'm late.

The theme is "Window or Door" and this resonates with me. I have a lot of architectural photographs that fit this theme and even have an entire set on my Flickr account entitled "doors & windows". But I've gone with something new. This photo was taken in Florida, on Merritt Island, at the historic St Luke's Episcopal Church and Cemetery.

Speaking of my Flickr account, please have a look at it if you haven't visited in a bit -- I have a lot of photos up from our Florida getaway I hope you see something you like!

All my hobbies

This started off as a dilemma. I checked out the Photo Theme for Thursday web site this morning and discovered the theme is "hobbies". Ack! I have so many hobbies that it's difficult to find a photo that represents all my various passions. I finally settled on the above photo, and here's why.

First off, it's a photo that I took inside my own home, of my own possessions, and then altered it in photoshop. So it captures my love of my own personal space (not a "hobby", I know, but something near and dear to my heart nonetheless) and it's an altered photograph, something I must include as a hobby (although, to be honest, I think passions is a better word for me than hobbies, as I tend to get spectacularly and deeply involved in all my interests!).

So, I can check off photography and photoshop. Next, books are incredibly important to me -- I've been reading them since I was four -- so check that off too. This photo is just one half of one shelf on the bookcase nearest my home's front door, one of many bookcases the captain and I have. And fill. The influx of books never ends and this year, I realized even a booklover must learn to say when. So, in an attempt to clear up bookshelf space, I have taken dozens of boxes of books to the local thrift stores over the past few months -- and this has barely made a dent. Sigh. As my brother-in-law Chris famously commented when he helped us move into this home, after toting in box after heavy box of books, "you read too much!"

And then there's cooking. What's the name of this blog, after all? Right! I am passionate about food....shopping for it, cooking it, eating it, and of course, reading about it. Another hobby represented by this one photograph.

And finally, there is even the fact that this photo was originally taken as part of my participation in the 5x5 challenge blog started up recently by Krysta of Evil Chef Mom fame. Which brings me full circle as artistic challenges are one of my newest hobbies!

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?

Artist in the window

Can you see her? My friend Nancy, that is. Hint: look under "...king." I took this photo when we had our Leslieville excursion last month and it's perfect for the Thursday Challenge of "photography."

Very exciting times around here -- we made the final payment on our upcoming cruise! So now I'm into full planning mode. Planning for a vacation is such fun, almost as much fun as the actual trip. Almost. But nothing's going to beat soft ocean breezes as we dance under the stars when we celebrate our 30th wedding annniversary. Well, I don't really think we'll be dancing under the stars, but doesn't it sound romantic?