Yesterday we took advantage of the “warmer” day and did a much needed cleaning up of the front yard. Having trees is a wonderful thing but they do drop a lot of small branches. This is only one of the three wheelbarrowfuls of sticks that we collected. Instead of tossing them in the woods we put them in our kindling box for next year’s fire-starting stash. The way the weather has been going of late we may use some of them up this coming week!

The weather seems confused. It wants to be spring; I truly believe it does. Maybe it just doesn’t remember. Yesterday was in the high 40’s with mixed sun and clouds. A chilly breeze made it feel cooler than it actually was, but when the sun came out strong for a few minutes it felt nice and warm. Warm enough to shed our jackets while we worked.

The trees seem to think spring is imminent and have popped their buds. I hope they are not being too hasty as our temperatures are supposed to dip again this week, forcing us to wear scarves and gloves again.

After the yard work we came back inside and I made some Breakfast Bread, better known in our house as “Sylvie Bread.” (Sylvie Lallemand, a friend of ours, runs a cooking school in Provence. She made this bread for breakfast every day when we attended her school.)

A dense whole wheat bread sprinkled with sesame seeds, it’s best toasted under the broiler instead of a toaster and topped with butter and honey. (My breakfast this morning!)

Other happenings over the weekend included walks with the dogs and practicing Bella’s obedience lesson. And, it looks like I will have to start my Spanish lessons back up again since we will be returning to Mexico in early May. This time we will be visiting Rick’s parents who are staying in the old colonial town of San Miguel de Allende for a few months. Can’t wait! If you follow the link you’ll see why I am not leaving my camera at home! Olé!

I don’t know if you’ve noticed the subtle change in the nightly news or not. I know I have. Since the stock market had its first good days last week, things seem to be slowly on the upswing. Instead of being fed a nightly diet of doom and gloom stories, now suddenly happy stories full of hope are emerging. It’s a nice change to hear encouraging news. Were they feeding us only the doom and gloom diet to keep us all in a funk? I’m certain the good things were still happening, it was just that they chose not to report on them. Why?

Did they really want us all sitting around feeling sorry for ourselves, hoarding our money and not contributing to the economy making things even worse? I know sometimes our world news would end with an uplifting story but the rest was pretty hard to watch. After taking all that in I needed an antacid!

It’s amazing how powerful the news media really is. They choose what they want us to hear and see. They shape our perceived image of our country and its economy. I mean I know things are bad, but don’t they just make it worse? I have to wonder sometimes if it’s all just a self-fulfilling prophesy.

I don’t know about you but I like to think there is light at the end of the tunnel and soon we will emerge on the other end.

Livingston Manor Covered Bridge in Rockland, New York

Never fear, oh lovely heirloom iris! I will protect you from the naughty one!

Sigh. It turns out that Bella likes gardening just as much as she likes knitting. Becky, be warned, you might not want to read any further.

My heirloom iris from Becky that I planted back in October have been happily and cozily snoozing away under their blanket of autumn leaves and winter snow. Several weeks ago when the snow finally left I noticed that several of them seemed to be heaving out of the ground with their roots showing. I tucked more dirt around them and reseated a few of them and didn’t think too much of it. I asked Becky’s advice and she said it was pretty normal.

I was outside this afternoon raking leftover leaves and debris out of the flower bed and when I turned around I saw this. My gardening help had decided to pull up and relocate my precious iris!

While I was putting the camera back down before picking them up to plant them again, she grabbed iris #1 and started off with it. See the roots sticking out of her mouth?

[me] BELLA,  nooooooo, drop it!

[bella] uh oh. mom sounds mad. did I do something wrong?
[me] PUT THAT DOWN .... NOW!!!

[bella] geez, okay. like this?

[me] Good girl!

[bella] gee mom, i was just trying to help ...

Just in case you are wondering, no, I did not stage this. I didn’t have to. Bella was just being Bella and my camera goes everywhere with me. She has done this a couple of times and I haven’t caught her in the act. Each time she did it I was convinced after strict scoldings that it would be her last. I was wrong. She doesn’t chew them, just carries them around. I think because their flags are sticking up and they are not rooted yet they are easy targets. Problem is, my nice little map (see above heirloom iris link) of which iris was planted where is of no use anymore. I think I need a fence.

Did I mention she starts obedience class tonight? She’s a naughty girl.

Since getting my new camera (Canon Rebel XSi) I really haven’t been utilizing its features fully. I usually grab the camera, set it on one of its automatic modes and shoot. Easy peasy. And so totally cheating. I can set my camera to manual mode and get very creative. I just don’t. Problem is that I seem to have a mind block matching up f/stops and shutter speeds. Years ago I started out with what is now referred to as a “classic” camera, a film Minolta SRT 101. I took the best photos with that camera. It had the old fashioned kind of TTL (through the lens) match needle metering system, meaning you lined up the circle and the needle for correct exposure. No guesswork involved.

In an effort to better my photography skills and get out of auto mode, I decided to dig out and dust off my old Minolta and use it as a teaching tool. The camera is still in great shape for its vintage years. Imagine turning your camera on and off by turning it upside down:

Only one small problem. No battery. And when I say no battery, I mean no battery as in they don’t make them anymore. This camera took a mercury battery which in today’s world no longer exists. The only thing run by the battery in this camera is the light meter, which of course is the only thing I am going to use! I don’t plan on taking film photos with it—only to record the shutter and f/stop setting and apply that to my other camera.

Rick found a place online that was selling batteries that sort of replaces the old mercury battery and ordered one. The battery came over the weekend and I couldn’t wait to try it out. Bummer. The battery didn’t work! But was it the camera or the battery that failed? I had the idea to put the new battery in Rick’s old camera and see if it worked in his. (He has a similar camera to mine, just a later version: an SRT 102.) When I removed the battery housing from his camera, lo and behold, there was still a battery (mercury) in it! Even more exciting—it worked! When I switched out batteries and put the mercury battery in my camera it still didn’t work, but the new battery did work in his camera. Not sure why my camera is not working, but I was very disappointed to discover the problem was with my camera and not the battery. I think maybe it’s something do with the metal strip in the battery chamber not making contact. I think it needs to be gently bent down a bit but I’m afraid to try it in case I end up snapping it.

So, at least I have the use of Rick’s camera for my experiments in photography. I also have several manuals (which I hate reading!) that I am making my way through.

Now I just need some good subjects. The garden is certainly not one at this time of year. Oh my, what a mess!

But on closer inspection maybe there are a few things worth taking a photograph of.

And the daffodils certainly aren’t ready for their debut through the lens yet either.

How about some tulips that I purchased?

I hope to have more things soon to practice on. Should be fun!