We had one puddle left in the yard and of course, the boy found it!

 

 

 
  

My Husband stopped to take a photo of something he HAD to show me,
he said I must see it!
It was the most brilliant ,orange mushrooms growing in a tree.

He was right, I wanted to go see it and get some photos.

These edible mushrooms are called
Chicken of the Woods or Sulphur Shelf Mushrooms
(Laetiporus sulphureus, Laetiporus cincinnatus)

My husband,Dave and our friend Dale went to check out the mushrooms.

The mushrooms were so vivid I could not stop taking pics.

 

We make A LOT of Hot Dog Relish (see the process HERE)
for the hot dogs we serve at our Poinsettia Show 

One of the main ingredients in the relish is peppers,
we grow them for the relish.

This week my mom and I cleaned bushels of peppers

Here are a few interesting ones I found
A heart shaped core

A chorus

Grumpy

Mr and Mrs

 

And a baby pepper inside a pepper

That little pepper inside a bigger pepper is called an “internal proliferation.”
Its form can vary from irregular and contorted to a near-perfect but sterile fruit.

A pepper growing inside a pepper is a type of parthenocarpy,
which is the formation of fruits without fertilization or the formation of seeds.
No one is sure what causes them,
but temperature and nutrient levels have been ruled out.
 info source HERE

A mill race is the fast-moving stream of water that drives a mill wheel .
This is a mill race from an old Grist Mill
( a building in which grain is ground into flour)
that burned down years ago,
I can see this from my bedroom window.
It always has a beautiful reflection so I walk down there often
to catch  photos of it in different seasons

   

 

My Cannon Powershot A3300   
was in a pail that got wet when we were on the beach,
it is no longer working, I would see about getting it fixed but
I wasn't all that impressed with the photos.

Then, on Monday while I was out shooting photos with my Nikon D90
I got an Err message that wont go away no matter what I try
so I need to take that to get fixed.

I would still be using the first digital camera that I bought in 2005
a Sony Cybershot DC3-P93
I really liked that camera and the photo quality
but it only had 5.1 megapixels
and when I bought the Cannon A3300
I gave it to my nephew as his first camera.

So today I used my birthday money to order a
Canon PowerShot SX260 HS  
since I had all Cannon batteries and chargers etc.
The reviews on c/net were very good,
I hope I like this one for a quick pic.
I hope it gets here fast, it is fall and all I have for photos is my phone.

It's a Droid Incredible,has 8 Megapixels and takes great photos
but has crap zoom although I am sure there is an app I can get for that.
 

My favorite fall photo ever is this one of my nephew
Jack O' Lantern Smile

What camera do you use and what are the Pros/Cons about it?

I just bought a VitaMix Blender and it is amazing.
I do not like to eat in the morning
but I know I need something. For many years I drank a
Carnation Instant Breakfast Drink for breakfast,
I can't have a lot of sugar now so I had to change my breakfast drink.

photo credit:
http://pepnews.hubpages.com/hub/Green-Smoothie-Recipes

I have been making Green Smoothies
with greens ( Kale or spinach)
a banana, fresh pineapple, flax seed meal and
some Amazing Grass Energy Green SuperFood  powder and
 some water , you can add juice or soy milk etc.

I am looking for other ideas and recipes.
Here is a Pineapple Smoothie that looks good.

Here is a website I find informative and enjoy Green Lemonade

What is your breakfast of choice?

My husband grew up in a plain Mennonite home,
he went to a small Mennonite school
(HERE is sweet a post about his mom and going to that school)
 For high school he went to Lancaster Mennonite High School.
Last night the Class of 1972 had their 40th yr reunion,
they sang a few songs acapella, here is one of them.

When we were on Route 66, in the dessert and the hot Southwest sun
my hair got bleached to a red color.
When I got home I tried to color it back to my regular dark color.
Well ,certain parts of it turned copper, bright like a penny
but it is only really noticeable in the sun.

You can see my dark roots growing out again.

Here is out of direct sun

It is so odd and I look like a two tone Chevrolet in the sun.
I have no clue what to do...
The hair dresser tried to color it twice.

If you have a photo that you want edited ,
a blemish or old boyfriend removed,
or if you need a distraction edited from the background...

I took this portrait of my sister and
I removed the rail behind her and the white bag by her legs

She will kick my arse when she sees that I posted a pic of her.

Or if you have an old photo that is scratched or torn and needs to be repaired
like this one of me when I was a baby
 

Or if you want something fun done to a pic like a color splash,
I did this one for @Marica0701

Upload or post  the photo and send me the link.
I will do my best to fix/edit it for you.
I enjoy editing
and I want to do something for my friends here
to thank you for all the that love and kindness that you give me.
 

UPDATE:
I entered the first one, it looked better printed, and....
We have a winner!
Both this and the Black and White Altered Images took first place.
Thanks for all the encouragement!

Working on Photos for the Fair
the category is Altered Image/Color.
Here are the two choices...
 

What say you?

The waves were wild last week at the Jersey shore

it brought all the surfers out.
 

We got up early to look for shells and sea glass

  and to see the sunrise
 
the sky was incredible

I love fall color
and look forward to how she dresses the valley where I live

I wanted a new profile pic for Facebook,
the evening light was beautiful last night and I took advantage of it.

   
 
 
    This shot was the one that I liked best,

This edit is a little harsh

and this one is softer
 

and black and white

 
I picked the harsh edit.

I was teaching the twins how to take photos of people,
teaching them what to look for in the lens and how to hold the camera
(or phone in this case since the Cannon Powershot got wet!)
it took a while but they finally got the idea,
I let them tell me how to pose etc.
She had me stand under the boardwalk

Here a big wave came in and got me all wet, she caught the moment!

He had me sit on the sand and he took one of me,
I mentioned to be aware of the background, the post is an obstruction and
one of us should have moved to avoid it behind my head,
beside me would be fine.
I can get rid of it easy enough.

He also took this one of us together

I took a self portrait too

HERE are great tips for taking a portrait, it is worth the click!