Miscellaneous

Snowflake Photography

January 11, 2021 By Annette1 4 Comments

Living in Canada I see snow from December through end of March. Living in the snowbelt of Ontario means I have the joy of seeing a LOT of snow during those months. Snowflakes are great for combining to make forts, snowmen and snowballs. But today I thought we could learn how to do snowflake photography.

The Anatomy of a Snowflake

Have you ever heard of Snowflake Bentley? He spent his life learning about snowflakes. Bentley is the first person to discover that no two snowflakes are exactly alike. Pretty neat eh? AND part of what makes snowflake photography so much fun. No two pictures will be exactly the same!

Snowflake Photography primer

photo of white vehicle crossing a tunnel — Photo by Magda Ehlers on Pexels.com

First off, you need a day when snow is actually falling. If snow isn’t falling you won’t get individual flakes, nor will get crisp edges.

Then you need a contrasting background that you can sweep clean of anything unnecessary.

susan verhoog snowflake — Photo Susan VH

Use the right camera so you can zoom in to capture details.

Take lots and lots of pictures as fast as possible before the snowflake melts.

Play around a bit, see what you can make work. You might be surprised at what a different background can produce.

The colder it is outside, and the fresher the snow, the better your photos will be.

The settings you put on your camera will depend on the light that you find in your particular situation.

YouTube Snowflake Photography

These two fellows use different cameras and do macro photography!

Huh… did you know that you can get a magnifer for your cell phone and use it to take pictures of a snowflake? Amazing eh? This lady uses a light box and her cell phone.

Resources

My friend took a photography class to practice and learn her skills, so if you can find a class do that! Gives you people contact and some real-life mentors to help you fine-tune your art.

Some resources off Amazon (using affiliate link) that will help you (or inspire you) as you partake in your own snowflake photography.

All images of snowflakes (unless otherwise noted) have been taken by a friend named Susan. Wasn’t she gracious in allowing me to use them?

Want to know about snowflakes and winter based learning? SchoolhouseTeachers.com has a variety of winter-based ebooks and activities to engage your students. Currently on-sale!

Seven Things that Make Me Smile

June 29, 2020 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

OOH… this challenge is an EASY one. Things that make me smile.

God. His grace to me is unmeasured. Blows me away all the time. His total unmeasured grace, which I mostly receive graciously. There are times I don’t, when I fight and rail and want to go my own way. But his grace calls me back time and time and time again. It is good and it makes my heart smile.
My man! Seriously.. there are times he drives me completely insane (not in a good way) but if I took that out he wouldn’t be the man that I love and cherish would he?

3. My son. He’s become a smart-alecky teenager. He has a huge heart, and a willingness to serve. A growing weed with an innate kindness to him. By no means perfect, but a solidly good kid.

4. Bunnies! Anyone who knows me know how much bunnies make me smile. My most recent litter is pictured below. They have me a bit concerned due to some size issues with new mom problems. But so far so good! But watching babies grow…and then later seeing smiles of delight from new bunny owners.

Tonight I chatted with a gal who is new to breeding bunnies who is well-versed in genetics and a zookeeper to boot! We had a good talk about how to work the modifiers to get what she wants to get out of her buns. It’s good to talk bunnies you know?

Tea, books and weight loss

5. My cold tea diffuser. I use it all the time. Love it. Toss in dry tea leaves, or even tea bags and a couple hours later I have tea! The simplicity of making tea makes me smile. Good taste, lots of variety, and it’s pretty to look at as I drink it! 🙂 I thought I’d written a post about my cold tea diffuser, but apparently I only have one for my hot tea diffuser! (It makes me smile too!)

6. Books! What can I say, books are fun, interesting, and fill my mind with thoughts and images. Most recently I am listening to The Rose and the Thorn. I just picked up The German Heiress which intrigues as a different take on post-WW2 Germany.

7. This last one is a bit harder to share but hey! Sunday I went through my “clothes are too small to wear bin” and guess what!!!! 2/3’s of them fit me again! WOOT WOOT! I came down smiling “Guess what hun! I don’t have to go shopping! Clothes fit again!!!!” It’s been too long since they have fit so it’s good. Smiles, smiles, smiles. 🙂 It makes it so much easier to do everything when you carry less weight you know? The joints don’t hurt as much, it’s easier to bike and walk. Did you know I was able to bike up a hill tonight and NOT HAVE TO WALK UP! How wonderful is that?!?!?!! Makes me smile through and through.

How about you?

So tell me…. what makes YOU smile? Have you written anything? If so, drop a link below. If not… just share in the comments, it’s good to know the heart joys of other people.

What’s up Wednesday June 2018

June 27, 2018 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

What’s up Wednesday, I saw a gal do this last month and I thought it looked fun, ergo I’ll give it a whirl eh? You can find the link up here.

What We’re Eating this week:

Well.. since it’s hubby first week working 230 to midnight we’re trying to switch to having a hot meal at lunch instead of at the close of the day.

So far we’ve had “gah make something I’m hungry!… Hamburgers” on Monday. Tacos on Tuesday. Tonight my Sausage with veggies fry. Tomorrow.. I dunno, leftovers most likely, and Friday we’ll have soup I think. Or we’ll have soup tomorrow and leftovers Friday. Time will tell, it’s a week in progress.

What I’m reminiscing about:

Hmm… can’t say I’m doing that all. Though today I was talking with the ladies at the foodbank about how glad I am that Jim has a job again. A job where he can get out of the house and be busy again. How good it’s been for him.

What I’m Loving:

Doing devotions on John at the end of the day with my lad. It gives him the day to think about the passage he read. It’s good to talk and think about God’s word eh?

What we’ve been up to:

Still working on changing the house around. I’ve got most of the things moved out of Jim’s old office, just a few things to move yet. Part of it is getting hubby to lend a hand as moving stuff means that we need to change wiring and what not.

What I’m dreading:

Nothing. I think. 🙂

What I’m working on

Oh… I am moving things around in the gardens. Cleaning out the shed out back. Moving things around in the house. Supporting my hubby with his shift change. Book reviews.

What I’m excited about

Um… good question. I don’t know. I think I’m too busy to be excited about anything right now. THOUGH… I have two blue babies in my nestbox right now and I’m hopeful for girls this time. REALLY hopeful. 🙂

What I’m watching/reading:

Just learned about a new to me show called Army Wives that I’ve been watching. I’m reading a book called Auden Dare.

What I’m listening to

I’ve been listening to a book called DragonVein. I need to find more books to listen to, or good podcasts or something, but I don’t know where to look for those.

What I’m wearing

Clothes. Yes, I am wearing clothes. A no sleeve peach shirt and black capris. Nothing fancy, clothes generally aren’t too important to me. THOUGH I do have a new Sunday outfit that I like. To be honest my mom insisted I needed something new and so bought it for me. 🙂

What I’m doing this weekend:

Well, I think hubby is preaching somewhere, though perhaps not. I know that Sunday is Canada Day so WOOT WOOT we get to celebrate with the rest of town. We’ll probably attend services at Community Bible Church.

What I’m looking forward to next month

Oh.. FREE WATER! You see they are doing roadwork on our street and next week they’ll be hooking up our water to a common line meaning we have free water until the end of October. I’ll be able to water my garden all summer. Of course that will be less exciting if we have a cool wet summer and the added water won’t be needed….but for now WOOT WOOT!

What else is new

My son is enjoying his newest review product Coding for Teens, and um, he has a friend coming over tomorrow which will be lovely and I’ll be able to visit with his mom for a bit. My life is rather boring right now, and I’m okay with that. 🙂

A Deviation

January 18, 2018 By Annette1 2 Comments

Tomorrow, if I have time, I am hoping to do up a book study post. Not sure if I’ll have time or not, I’ll work to squeeze it in. Today was a tough afternoon after working at the foodbank. I’ve been a tad “sore”..pulled a muscle in my back or something and combined with the coughing and the prolapse I’ve been dealing with, life just had me napping instead of book studying. 🙂

Anyways, I just thought I’d give update. A deviation as you will from normally scheduled programs.

I’m hoping at some point to talk about how God uses health issues to challenge, mould, push, teach his children things… well kinda particularly ME things. 🙂

It’s a tough one though because there are things I’m not keen to talk about right? I’d rather talk books and devotionals and homeschooling and what not. I love talking THOSE things, but a sermon on Sunday sent my brain a spinning and it hasn’t shut off about it, so who knows eh? Who knows what the Lord has in plan for me and my spinning brain, cause right now I don’t know.

So…. stay tuned?

Tomorrow is another day.

Playbook Blog Tour… it’s on this week.

January 24, 2017 By Annette1 1 Comment

Did you know that Raincoast books and I are working together to promote a new book?

YEAH I KNOW.. first blog tour I’ve ever done and it’s on a great new book by Kwame Alexander.

Anyways, here is who is doing what on which day this week. As you might notice, my turn is coming up on Friday.

Anyways, I hope you’ll come back and see what I have to say about The Playbook.

2107 It’s here…what’s in store?

January 13, 2017 By Annette1 2 Comments

The Crew Round-Up this week is all about Goals for the year.

I have to admit, I don’t tend to make a lot of goals. I tend to take the year as it comes and make plans in my head about what I want, but you know how plans are? They build upon each other until you reach overload (at least that’s how it tends to work for me).

So I make longer term goals with small steps leading up.

This year goal planning is in flux because hubby is needing to find new work, we may end up moving by year end, my life might end up looking quite different. So most goals are dependent upon that.

1. My Rabbitry Goals: I think I’m going to sell off my polish and just focus on my hollands. I like my polish and think they are great little rabbits, but my current crop is proving hard to breed and my one doe has produced flighty youngsters that I’m not keen on. I only have a couple of does so fighting with them when I may have to drastically reduce my rabbitry…. doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Admittedly, it’s hard to reduce my rabbit herd and to think of letting my polish go… it’s HARD. At the same time I was raised to be practical (it’s a Dutch thing!). Do one must do what one must do and not look back.

2. Business Goals: I want to start creating more ebooks and hopefully start to sell them. Using Currclick or teachers pay teachers or something. Make some longer and shorter books, maybe sets that go together. Focusing on animals at first (as that’s a natural thing for me) and moving into geography or history or something. Go slowly and see how it goes eh? 🙂 Part of that goal is to increase blog readership which from what I’ve read means I need to build an email list and start sending out emails to folks about what I blog. I need to get over a mental hurdle about that and see if I can figure out creative ways to do a email list. BUT FIRST I have to get a email server that let’s me in to use it. It’s a mild source of vexation.

3.Personal Goals: To remember to be patient and trusting of God to be mindful of us over the next year as Jim locates new employment. Otherwise…what other personal goals? There are always the standard ones: lose weight, grow deeper in my faith, exercise more, and what not. They are just life issues more than goals though.

4. Spiritual Goals: To finish the book of Ezekiel for my devotional time and then to find a new book of the bible to go through. To sort through what church we’ll be attending over this coming year.

5. Homeschooling. To continue teaching my boy as long as I can. To enjoy the journey that we are on. Learning and growing together. Seeing new delights in the world that God has given.

See what some of the goals other members of the Homeschool Review Crew have. CLICK HERE.

http://schoolhousereviewcrew.com/goals-for-the-year-ahead-link-up/

HEY!!! Happy New Year. Reflections on 2016

January 1, 2017 By Annette1 8 Comments

Happy New Year dear readers…

Did you stay up late? Bring in the New Year or did you find yourself exhausted and head to bed early? Regardless of what you did… may this New Year be one of growth, enlightenment and the knowledge of God’s goodness in your life 🙂

At this time of year you tend to find a lot of “this is my word for the year” or “this is my verse for the year” posts. I find those posts fascinating reading. I really do, they give insight into the person behind the blog you know? When I find some that I particularly enjoy I will link them up here. 🙂

Some word posts: Life. Cultivate. Growth. Simplify. Restore. Crave.

So my top post of the year on this blog has been

My post on the poem “I think mice are rather nice!” This poem brings back so many smiles.

The series on my blog I’ve had the most fun with. You can find this series here and here. It is fun to find inspiration for doing art and then teaching classes using those books.

I looked for how people found me (through my old site it was through my missionary posts and hymns primarily). I find that information interesting as I don’t get a lot of comments on those posts, it is so good to know they are being used.

On my current site people find me through it was a little harder to determine. This site was dormant for a couple of years as I had consolidated much of what I did through my weebly site. BUT when I look at why people visit, the field trips, studies on Ezekiel and hymn studies are getting some attention. So I have hopes that what I post will prove of some use to people. 🙂 Time will tell eh?

So what is new for this year?
I am trying to decide what book I want to work through a chapter at a time on the blog.
Books that I am considering:

Which book would you be most interested in me going through? Perhaps we could even get a discussion going? Or not. 🙂

I am looking forward to a new year writing with the Homeschool Review Crew. Some interesting reviews are coming up and I hope that I am eligible for them. Looking also forward to seeing what Raincoast books sends my way.

Oh before I forget, I hope (since the lad and I are going to take up a studying the history of Canada course) I want to put up a series on books about Canada. Books the help us get to know her history, her people, her geography and what not. I hope to find a variety of arts and crafts that will help us in our journey. Hopefully once a week I can do up something interesting from our studies. Won’t that be fun? It’ll be a fair amount of behind the scenes work finding things to do.. but should be good.

Anyways, I’m linking this up at Kym’s blog this week. 🙂