Scavenger Hunt Sunday! October 2, 2010

Scavenger Hunt Sunday!
Here are my Nancy E. Photography Selection for the week. 
We had a great weekend of soccer games, spending time with Alex & Betty & Harrison in Clifton Park & then to celebrate my Grama's 90th birthday in Mechanicville.  It was great to see the entire family (all the generations were there and it was truly great to photograph some of the beautiful children that were there!




Golden
Grama turning ninety this weekend we had a BIG party and all her children, grandchildren (that is me & my cousins!), and great grandchildren (all but 6) and some cousins were able to make it to Mechanicville, NY to celebrate Gram in her golden years.  These are all "golden moments"!  This one was my favorite photo of the bunch!  Flanked by her 2 daughters.... my mom on the left and my Aunt Sandy on the right.  Amazing women I am truly proud of and love so very much!

Smell
The smell of fresh fallen leaves, the cool air, and the innate ability of a dog's nose to smell it all!  This photo is now my desktop --- one of my favorite "captures" of the year!

Fruit
From last week in the Cold Spring Apple Orchard.  

Simple 
Blonde hair, blue jeans, white shirts and jeans ... on the steps of the hall with the white background - simple & beautiful at the same time!  My niece Amanda with cousins Shannon & Meghan McBride - all great grandchildren of Grama and such beautiful young ladies all freshmen in college this year.

Here is one of Shannon with this same look that I really think is an amazing photo and had to share.... 

Sports
Schuyler playing soccer, learning and growing in skill level, watching him hustle and play the midfield is truly something that makes me so proud!  This photo was taken from atop the bleachers on the side of the field.  Check out the shadow of his body, but also with the other players shadow of his head in this shot -- pretty cool!

For more really great photos of some fantastic photographers -- go to Ashley's site by linking below---->

"Wonder Woman" Home Made Granola

The Chicago marathon is 10 days away and the date is 10/10/10.  I will be donning my WW costume and running alongside BatGirl to complete the 26.2 miles!  Just like all athletes, I have my favorite foods that give me "super" energy.  One of those foods is granola!  Bear Naked brand is my favorite, but I thought I would try to combine some ingredients and create my own!

Such fun!

Creating a granola recipe to enhance super powers! Guaranteed to creating jumping ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound, flying abilities to soar above the clouds and rescue others, and super speed for any marathon you would ever want to run!


OK- maybe not guaranteed, but mentally it sets you up for success! Try it you indeed will LOVE it! Today I made this wonderful granola and thought I should share its fabulous taste with my friends and followers! This has all my favorite ingredients and I tried with with a little milk or combine it with your favorite yogurt --- yummy!  

Great for kids too! 

Nancy’s Homemade “Wonder Woman” Granola


Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
Line two large baking sheets with parchment or aluminum foil.

Mix together in a large bowl

8 cups rolled oats
1/2 cups wheat germ
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup sliced almonds
1 cup toasted coconut
OPTIONAL: Walnuts and/or pecans

Stir in saucepan (medium heat) to combine.

1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup honey
1 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Pour over dry ingredients.

Spread the mixture out evenly on the backing sheets lined with parchment or aluminum foil.
Bake in the preheated 350 degree oven until crispy and toasted, about 40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.
Cool, and then stir in the raisins or cranberries.

Seal granola in an airtight container or self-sealing plastic bag. Store at room temperature for 1 week or in the freezer for 3 months.

(Please note in the photos it shows the raisins --- do NOT add the raisins until after you are done -- they survived my mistake, but it will be much better to have the raisins NOT crystalline and cooked.... )  Still yummy though. :)

"Roo" the Rooster- Macro Monday

At The O'Brien Farm last week I met up with a savory character.... "Roo" the Rooster!

Here is a note from Karin:

Well, heading out to barn to check the herd, horses, sheep, and chickens. We now have only 8 chickens. WE gave away all the roosters but one. His name is "Roo" and he thinks he is "the Man" now!!!  He has 7 hens all to himself!  Happy, happy , happy!!!!!!!  ANd it is much quietter, no, all night crowing!!!    I think he is too tired to crow after beiing "busy" with all his hens. LOL....


SO funny --- as when I went out there he surely was not happy that I was in "HIS territory" and came after me a couple times.  :)  Once I left him and his hens alone, he was fine with my visit.  


I got some beautiful shots of him in all his color and really wanted to highlight him for Macro Monday.  
Enjoy!

Scavenger Hunt Sunday! September 25

It is foliage here in New England and the colors of the leaves are starting to change, it is so beautiful every where you go!  Today we took a trip to the local Cold Spring Apple Orchard that is a base for the University of Massachusetts Horticultural Research Center.  The orchard sits on a hill and overlooks the valley.  Here are some shots for today's scavenger hunt.  Hope you like my selections! 

Miniature
All the apples were huge and in abundance.... I found this one smaller one and decided it was my miniature for the day! 

Water Droplet
(coming soon!)


Bedhead
Schuyler before shower, with the bed-head hair style! 

Colorful
My sweet husband Steve, surrounded in green & red, coming along for the family outing, picking the last apples to fill our bag.  Leaving the orchard amongst all the colors of the foliage in the scenery of these photos makes me smile.... how about you?

Eyes
The eyes of Schuyler are a joy to photograph time and time again.   Even closed gives joy to my heart.  :)

For more fun photos go to ---->  
Love the Scavenger Hunt Sunday!  :)

The O'Brien Farm

What a day to spend a little time at the O'Brien Farm!  They have new golden retriever puppies and I hoped to get some good shots of them before they grow up!


There are 12 puppies at the O'Brien Family and mom was asked to go outside (which she wasn't happy about) with Buddy - who is finally getting his cast off (poor golden retriever!) next week.  It was fun to have the puppies all to myself and move them around, as all they wanted to do was snuggle with eachother and sleep.  Only once did I get an open eye and it was tough to pile them on eachother, although it gave them a bit of "exercise".  :)

 I wandered out to the rest of the farmyard in the back and got to spend time with the rest of the "family" of horses, chickens, sheep, mini horses & the rooster... who really didn't like me nosing around his territory.  He deserves his own post, so I will get to him in a minute.  These pups are truly adorable!  And the signs on the pens in the barn for these truly loved family animals is just so sweet to share!

I am linking you up to the whole group of photos but selected my favorites for  "Give Me Your Best Shot!"  and "Photo Story Friday"- as this was just so much fun!

Hope you enjoy the photos - please leave a comment if you stop by!

  

Smirks, Moons, and Flowers & Fun! Photo Challenges of the week!

A few photos to share from the past week for some of our virtual photo challenges.....  SO much fun to capture life in photos -- ENJOY!

"Crazy Boys" -  for I Heart Faces theme of "Smirks"!  

The look on Jacob's face is the best!

"Flowers" for You Capture!  

Thinking a lot about the Pink Petal lately --- my purple hair should be in soon!  These flowers were from the hanging flower pot. 

For more flower photos, go to: 

 

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Lester the Kitty for "Wishful Thinking":

This week's Wishful Pictures theme is "cool cats."  I have these great photos of Samantha's Lester sitting on the couch.  What a cute little kitty!

"Moon"

This isn't a photo challenge, but Ashley noted that Harvest Moon is this week and it gives me the opportunity to share these pics I took at the soccer field the other day.  Love the moon!  I think we need to get a telescope!

Hope you enjoyed these photos - 

Please leave a note if you stopped by! :)

Scavenger Hunt: September 19, 2010 - "Wishes"

I love this photography challenge of having a list of things to photograph and being able to interpret in your own photographs and share with others.  I find it is a great way to share our world, our family and really has given life to my personal blog.   It truly helps the spirit and the healing of my own challenges and I appreciate how it has changed the way I look at things and in turn photograph them to share with others.  Enjoy my selections of the week!
1. Wish/DreamI love this photo of Oakley swimming toward these ducks on Coventry Lake in CT.  You can just feel his wish to catch up and play with them!  (From my archives)

2. CleanThis also could qualify as a wish, because I wish that this was clean --- stacking wood is cleaning up our yard and it was our weekend chore, so I thought I would share our handywork!  : )

3. CurrencyI wish that money would grow on trees and there would be no issues with balancing where it goes, how it is saved or spent.  OK - so I couldn't pin the dollar to a tree, but think it looks pretty in the green clover of our lawn.  :)

4. PairOakley (the dog) and LaKota (the horse) are quite the pair to watch in action each morning on the way to the bus. Lakota watches Oakley and he teases her a little to make her dance and run around the pen.  Very cute indeed.  :)Schuyler and I both wish and would love to have our own horse some day, but "borrow" the love from our neighbors!

 5. SquareLast wish for this post-- that we would all support our "Local Hero Farms" .  It is getting toward that time where the farm stands will be closing, so support them while you can!  The signs are normally rectangle, but that is a version of a square right?  I hope I don't get penalized! :)   

If you want to join in on the fun -- link up to Ashley each Sunday is a new list of fun things to find and photograph!  

In a Yellow House: Art -- 3rd grade Open House at Swift River!

This week's challenge at In a Yellow House is "Art"....  and this week was Open House at Swift River where we got to meet Schuyler's 3rd grade teacher and his classmate's and families.  I really love seeing all the children he talks about all the time and there was no "meet the teacher day" for third grade.  We got there late, and actually ended up having to wait in the hall, and Schuyler kept pulling on us hoping to escape because of a planned song performance later....  but we stayed and got to say hi to Mrs Opalenik and some of the other families that we have gotten to know and become friends with through the years.

They all grow so fast, it is fun to see them in action sharing their ART with their moms and dads.  Schuyler is a little embarrassed of me with the camera so I do my best to be discreet.  :)  I didn't get as much of the atmosphere as I wanted to, but here are some of the highlights. The song was enthusiastic & great fun for the kids (YMCA with different words) and Schuyler hid in the back crouching behind all the girls that surrounded him.

In the hall:  Schuyler's drawing of his book report "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" -- this is his current favorite book series.

Mrs Opalenik - 
3rd grade teacher extraordinaire (She has received high marks from all the local "critics" aka: Moms!)  I love the lighting in this photo as it shines down on her like an angel.  She does a great job with all her students and we are so fortunate that Schuyler has the opportunity to experience her teaching this year.  :)

Schuyler at his desk
They decorated a shirt brought in from home with a construction paper face & hands and we had to guess which desk was his.  

The class singing enthusiastically for the parents --- this was following a version of Jeopardy that answered all our questions on their schedule and how things are organized in class.  Very creative indeed.