~Etcetera~

November 21, 2017November 21, 2017 | Allison

Guys, I have SO many extra photos. And that happens pretty much all the time. So I decided to make a new little series: these “Etcetera” posts will have random photography as well as recent life, thoughts… etc. XD (kind of like monthly wrap-ups, but different). I hope you enjoy reading them!

Now, where to begin? I have SO much to cover. Aha, Maggie is a good subject to start with.

Maggie

I was trying to take a picture of Maggie’s eye but she kept MOVING. XD I did get this one good one, though:

I also got some other, less close-up shots of her. I just love all of Maggie’s expressions, hee hee. It looks like she’s saying, “Aww, you shouldn’t have,” don’t you think?

Such a pretty pup. ♥

It looks like she’s praying. 😛

Dad just finished combining (harvesting corn) for the year. WOOHOO! Now maybe we can jump in the grain bins…

Mini Sister’s Photoshoot

Speaking of fields, Megan and I (and Maggie) did a little mini photoshoot in the soybean field while it was golden green and brown. Isn’t the lighting AMAZING?

If you guys like my photography/lifestyle posts, you should totally check out Emmaline Figura’s blogs, Lucillian Photography and Crystal Ice Studio! Her photography is AMAZING – she deserves so many more followers!

I love this picture, but it sure took a while to clone out the soybean that so rudely butted in front of Megan’s chin. XD Humph, I shouldn’t have said that. Now you’re all probably inspecting Megan’s chin…

Megan got a few pictures of me but most of them didn’t turn out or I had a weird expression, heh heh. This is probably the best one. Still have a weird expression. XD

Guess what? My younger brother and I were driving to piano lessons today, and when we got there we found that one of my car’s tires was completely flat. O.o But guess what again? My brother changed it himself, while I was having my lesson! I really want to learn stuff like that – I’m much better at art than mechanics. XD

Sunset Bokeh

The sunset did capture well on my camera, but it did make for some neat silhouettes and bokeh!

Singing hymns is one of my favorite things at our church. The congregation sings beautifully, and it’s glorious when we do an a capella verse. ♥ I like singing for things like that, but not enough to take voice lessons or anything. I usually just hum and whistle at home. 🙂

Do you guys have any special plans for Thanksgiving? We’re having three different celebrations because we have a rather large extended family. 😉 Are you traveling? We aren’t – most of our family lives quite close by. But if you are, here’s a tip: salty snacks like chips really take carsickness away. Well, I mean they help if you eat them. They won’t do much good just sitting there by your seat.

Flowers

Dad and the kids always pick out a hanging flower basket for Mom for Mother’s Day, and it lasted all the way into late fall this year! Isn’t it pretty?

Ugh, I have to write a 15-30 page research paper for school. *Long sigh* At least we’re taking this week off for Thanksgiving!

We also have a rose bush (well more like a rose vine) by our door, and it’s a weird mix of knockout-type roses and “real” roses, as we like to call them. There are usually only a few “real” roses a year and this was one of them. ♥

To find the rose you must first get past the thorns. To find the rainbow you must first walk through the storm. Bad things make the good more beautiful. And always remember, my dear, there is beauty even in brokenness.

GUYS. LOOK AT THIS PHOTO! I just pressed the button and the moth behind just happened to fly in at the right moment. I LOVE IT WHEN THAT HAPPENS.

Pretty butterflies + pretty zinnias – my photobombing car = a mildly pretty picture.

The Big Apple

We have one very old apple tree that usually produces nothing but food for worms. XD However, this year it actually grew real apples and they were DELICIOUS! I don’t know what kind they were, but they were stupendous. And I found this one extremely large apple – see? (The one on the right is a more normal-size one.)

It weighed 15 OUNCES. ALMOST A POUND.

Golden Garden

These might be some of my favorite pictures ever! I just love the golden lighting so, so much, especially with the golden tones of the flowers. ♥

Sometimes I feel wise and knowledgeable, and then I wonder if that simply means I still have so much to learn. I guess that happens when you’re a teenager, huh? 😛

(Side note: I rather dislike the word “teenager” for some reason. Don’t exactly know why.)

And would you look at all that bokeh? AHHHHH.

This picture seems relaxing, like you can feel the sun and hear the breeze through the willow branches. 🙂 I can sort of remember planting this willow tree, even though it’s quite a good sized tree now – it’s a curly willow so it grew SUPER fast.

This isn’t really a garden, but it’s golden. Even dust is beautiful when the sun shines through it.

I think cameras can make anything beautiful. In fact, here’s a challenge: find three things you think are ugly and try to take a beautiful picture of them.

Etcetera

We also have two black and two English walnut trees in our yard. I strongly dislike the bitter taste of black walnuts, but English walnuts taste great! (They’re the kind you get in stores.) We don’t usually shell these though, because it’s a lot of work for not much result. Have you tried black walnuts?

This is rather random, but I wanted to take a picture of a begonia blossom from my grandmother’s hanging flower pot because I noticed the beautiful, intricate curlicues in the center of the blossoms. I love the little things like this. 🙂

I got a picture of my youngest brother pressure-washing one of the wagons. 🙂 His birthday was today, actually! The frame was supposed to be transparent but it’s showing up black here…? I hope it works once I publish the post, but I’m doubtful.

I like the way shadows look on this barn. 🙂

And now we have come to the end of this post. Wow, Allison, what a moving conclusion. *clap, clap*

ANYWAY, I hope you enjoyed reading this gathering of orphaned thoughts and photos. 😛 I know it was an enormous post, but I’m only half-sorry because phew, I now have a large chunk of my random photos squared away. XD I don’t think Etcetera posts will usually be this long, though, if I do them in the future. Which category/picture/random thingy was your favorite? Do you think Etcetera posts would make a good series or are they too random and scattered (because I would kind of agree with you on that XD)?

Have a wonderful day, dears, and thanks so much for reading. ♥

***Allison***

Labor Day Adventures

September 8, 2017September 8, 2017 | Allison

This Labor Day we did something a different than an ordinary picnic or cook-out. Since Dad and the boys were out harvesting corn, Mom suggested that we girls pack a lunch and just go out and walk around the farm. So we did! It was quite fun.

We packed some sandwiches, mint tea, chips, and a couple other things which I can’t remember (XD), and took along backpacks filled with books and cameras.

This is my cucumber sandwich. Say hello. I didn’t want to waste the bread crusts after I cut out the sandwich, so I flattened them with a rolling pin, spread some cream cheese on, and rolled them up into roses. 😛

First we headed past a place we call “The Sycamores” because… there are a lot of huge sycamore trees by the creek.

I found some lovely periwinkle morning glories along the path. Aren’t they charming?

We finally settled on a pretty, peaceful corner of the pasture filled with smartweed – a dainty little pink flower. We spread out a blanket, hung the hammock, and relaxed.

DSC_2055 (1280x853) — This looks kind of weird…

DSC_2049 (1280x853) — I love this one. ♥

I did a really fun, cute photoshoot with my little sister here, but this post would be insanely long if I included all those photos ~~oh wait it already is~~, so I’ll save it for later. Anyway, this was a great spot for taking pictures of little things. My favorite! 😀

DSC_2073 (1280x853) — In interesting twisty stick.

DSC_2076 (1280x853) — I love the bokeh in these pictures!

DSC_2077 (1280x853) — Have you ever tasted sourgrass, or wood sorrel? That’s what this is. It tastes, well, sour.

DSC_2247 (1280x853) — I found a beautifully shiny, polished nut.

The scenery was more scrubby here than the rest of our farm, but still pretty.

Trees are nice.

After we ate lunch and read for a while, we decided to move to a different spot. We crossed the barbwire fence (no easy feat in this pasture), walked over the field, up the hill, down a lane, and up another hill to a beautiful hidden spot behind a pasture. We’d never been there before, which is something rare since we’ve walked pretty much everywhere on our farm, and it was delightful to explore it.

Unfortunately I didn’t get many pictures with my camera because it ran out of battery, but Megan lent me hers.

HA HA cows are such funny creatures. XD

DSCN3264 (1280x960) — I think this picture is so neat but I don’t know why – it’s rather cluttered.

I had the idea to play mancala while we were there. (Have you ever played that? It’s really fun!) I dug out some holes in the dirt with a stick and used corn kernels for the marbles. It actually worked!

It’s really hard to see on camera, but Carmen and I built a great fort around this perfect square of trees. There were huge logs scattered everywhere (one pile was in a huge sinkhole O.o ). They made great walls but were exhausting to carry. We didn’t finish the fort, but we did make a good start.

Mom and Carmen and I also built this little campfire area in a pretty shaded nook. We stacked stones for a firepit, hauled in some rocks and stumps for chairs, and made benches from logs and rocks. 🙂 It was fun.

Mom also found this really odd-looking spider. O.o (She’s for you, Clara. 😉 )

In the evening our whole family came up and had a picnic with us, and a bonfire too.

So that’s what we did for Labor Day! It was great fun, even though the mosquitoes practically devoured me. I got over 40 mosquito bites (yes, I counted XD). O.o Anyway, the memories will last for much longer than the bites will, so it’s all good.

I hope you enjoyed this loooong post, my dears! Which was your favorite picture? Which was your least favorite? What did you do for Labor Day?

***Allison***

Amelia Island Part 2

August 30, 2017August 30, 2017 | Allison

Hello hello! I’m back with part two of my pictures from our vacation with friends. 😀 (See part one here.) I love these photos, and I hope you do too!

Let’s start with the crabbing photos. We went out to a marsh to catch blue crabs with some crab traps, chicken pieces for bait, and some coolers. It was SO much fun and we ended up catching quite a few crabs – around 8! They didn’t amount to much once we cooked them, but the few crumbs we had tasted good. XD

We drove around everywhere in golf carts, which allowed you to take in all the beautiful scenery. ♥ Isn’t it gorgeous?

DSC_1339 (1280x853) — A tree where we parked the golf cart. I love all the Spanish moss! It looks so mysterious.

Besides crabs, we also caught some various other water creatures like fish and shrimp. (But we didn’t keep them.)

We caught two of these fish, I believe, and the second made a weird grunting/clicking sound. O.o It was so odd and funny!

Doesn’t this look like a tropical angelfish or something? We were all amazed to catch it.

Shrimp look hilarious with their long antennae. XD

And of course, the crabs. Look how blue they are underneath – so pretty!

DSC_1314 (1280x853) — We put the crabs on ice to calm them down. 😉 Some of the little guys were quite feisty!

Now for more beach pictures. 🙂

DSC_1368 (1280x853) — THIS IS SO PRETTY AND GOLDEN!

DSC_1379 (1280x853) — Whoa, I LOVE this photo! Isn’t abstract design of the sand neat?

DSC_1380 (1280x853) — What do you know. I only took one shell photo this time.

Shore birds…

DSC_1352 (853x1280) — I really like this one!

DSC_1353 (1280x853) — Heh heh, he looks a bit ruffled at being on camera.

DSC_1357 (1280x853) — I couldn’t decide whether to delete this picture or not… it’s kind of neat, but sort of not. 😛

I absolutely LOVE these pictures of my little sister Carmen! (I seem to be saying “I love this picture” to almost every picture, huh? XD)

The sunset over the beach was gorgeous! Unfortunately I didn’t get any pictures of it at the peak, but I did get these.

Lastly, I took a bunch of pictures on the way home, especially of the enormously, voluminously puffy clouds (wow that was fun to say).

beach 1 (1280x515) — Such a pretty drive!

DSC_1490 (1280x853) — The birds look like specks of pepper.

And that’s about it! I hope you enjoyed the huge conglomeration of photos, dears. 🙂 Do you have a favorite(s) or is it too overwhelming to pick?

Also, HAPPY (late) BIRTHDAY to my sister Megan! If you haven’t already done so, hop on over to her blog and send her a belated birthday note. 🙂 (By the way, she also posted the pictures that I took of her on the sister’s photoshoot here.)

***Allison***

Pictures, Etc.

July 27, 2017 | Allison

Ugh, I really need better names for these posts. XD Suggestions?

Annnyway, since you guys seem to enjoy random photography posts I enjoy posting them, I figured – let’s do more! 😀

****************

It had just rained and there was an interesting orangish tint to everything outside, different than the golden hour usually looks because it was so cloudy.

Ahh, beautiful rain drops.

Maggie waded into the field, looking noble. XD

HA HA look at her expression.

Okay, this picture might be a bit startling… You have been warned. 😛 He looks pretty angry, doesn’t he (or she)? This snapping turtle appeared in our lane one day and Maggie nearly went crazy. Snapping turtles are weird, ugly creatures. Blech.

Ahem. Let’s move on to cuter pictures… LIKE BABY BUNNIES EEEEE! This is the photoshoot I did to get pictures for selling them. *Sniff* Anyone want to buy a baby bunny? 😉

AHHH THEY’RE SO CUTE I CAN’T STAND IT.

Here’s Mulberry…

And Ginger…

And Herbert Naninger. 🙂 SO. CUTE. (Also if you’re wondering why Basil isn’t on here, it’s because we’re keeping her! So I didn’t need pictures for the listing.)

ISN’T THIS THE CUTEST?!

Okay, after all that cuteness you might need an antidote so you don’t get too overwhelmed. Ready for another slightly creepy picture? Here we go.

XD Praying mantises are so weird. I got this interesting picture of one cleaning itself when we were studying them in Nature Study.

While we’re on the subject of bugs, Megan found three black swallowtail caterpillars outside and we took them inside to watch. We both got some neat pictures of the first one that hatched! 😀 Aren’t butterflies delightful creatures?

And that’s it for today, dears! What was your favorite picture or category? Thanks for reading and have a lovely day. ♥

***Allison***

Sisters Photoshoot #2

May 11, 2017May 11, 2017 | Allison

A little while ago Megan and I decided to do another sister’s photoshoot! (See the first one here. Oh yeah, she’s gotten contacts since then!) I don’t take pictures of people very often, so I thought it would give me good practice, and not to mention Sisters Photoshoots are really fun. 😀 They are certainly not the best portraits ever, but I had fun experimenting and I thought I’d show you guys the results. 🙂

Megan wanted me to get some pictures of her in a tree with the golden sun shining through the leaves, so I did… but they didn’t turn out quite as golden as it seemed like it should. XD

This is a random photo I took of Megan for a co-op thing. :

I really like this picture! I took it when we were on a nature walk when I also got a lot more pictures, so I’ll hopefully post those soon. Dandelions are so fun!

Ha ha, I *think* I caught Megan when she wasn’t looking. 😉

She was certainly looking here! ~~No, I just scared her and she jumped. XD~~ I love taking jumping pictures! Apparently Megan does too. XD

After that, Megan took some pictures of me. I was inspired by Loren’s gorgeous post to make a crimson clover flower crown. 😀 Heh heh, it was a bit too sunny so I’m squinting a bit and my smile looks kind of pained, but otherwise I like these pictures. XD XD XD I’ll keep trying… 😛

After that I took some pictures of myself with the timer on my camera, since I don’t have a remote. I kept running back and forth until I wore a path in the triticale field (and got my capris rather green). XD

I did get one that I liked enough to be my profile picture, as you might have noticed.

There we are! I hope you enjoyed these photos. 🙂 Do you like taking pictures of people?

***Allison***

P. S. Well, I am officially 17. I feel old. XD And I had a wonderful birthday, thanks so much for asking! 😀 Would you guys like to see a “haul” post? (Ugh, I really don’t like that name for some reason, so I shall change the title if I do it. 😛 ) This feels like an awkward ending now so… um, thanks for reading. XD

Beautiful Things {Part 1}

April 7, 2017 | Allison

Oh my goodness, spring is such a beautiful, wonderful thing. ♥ I have taken SO many pictures lately, like I always do in spring and fall; too many to fit in one post, even though you guys said you didn’t mind long posts. It would be a VERY long post. XD Heh heh.

Anyway, today I’m going to post some landscape photos of our farm. I hope you enjoy!

Sometimes we take a little walk/run up this hill before school to get some exercise. 🙂 It’s a beautiful spot!

Our house and surroundings. 🙂 Several of the trees are green(ish) by now.

I love how fluffy and soft alfalfa looks.

Triticale doesn’t look the same, but it’s still really pretty!

AHH I LOVE THESE PICTURES SO MUCH! I DIDN’T EDIT THEM! *Ahem* It’s just the lighting was absolutely perfect, and the scenery, and… ahh. It’s easy to take these views for granted when I see them every day, but sometimes it’s impossible to ignore their beauty. I’m so glad God gave me all this to enjoy! ♥

DSC_1487 (1280x853) — I kind of like the effect of the sun through dust. 🙂

Can you see why I love spring so much? AHH IT’S SO GORGEOUS! Do you love spring too? Do you have a favorite of these photos?

Thank you so much for reading, my friends!

***Allison***

Golden Days

November 1, 2016 | Allison

The other day I went out to take some photos at “the golden hour” as we photographers call it. Heh heh. Maggie came along to protect me from sunburn or vicious groundhogs or something… or perhaps she was just bored. XD

We have a grand old maple in our front yard that’s usually the first to turn colors.

Even though the year is going down in flames, you could say, there were still some bright, spring-like greens around.

Maggie trotted faithfully along beside me and guarded me while I sat and took pictures. ♥ She was on the lookout for those vicious groundhogs, I suppose. XD

The sun turned my hair really a bright red. It’s a little bit reddish-goldish like this in real life, but not this bright! (Yes, I know, rather random pictures. But it was fun!)

2016-10-12-allisonfallcalvesbuildings-106-1280x960 — Please excuse the photobombers (Maggie and my toes).

It’s kind of awkward when you’re trying to photograph your hair (for some reason) so you hold a strand in front of your face and then your dog comes over to make sure you’re not paralyzed or something since you haven’t gotten up for the past 30 seconds or so… *Sigh* XD

You can see the gorgeous sky peeking through the grass in this one. That was probably one of the prettiest skies I’ve seen not counting sunsets!

I love this picture because 1.) look at the bokeh and 2.) look at the cute wittle spiderweb garland hung on the grass! The spiders must have been having a welcome party for autumn.

And lastly but not leastly, I shall leave you with an extremely hilarious picture of Maggie trying to chase down an itch. XD XD XD

BWAHAHAHAHA! Sooo funny!

So there you go. Photos from the golden hour on a golden day in the golden season. Gold is nice, don’t you think?

***Allison***

P. S. Sometimes I don’t like fall because it’s too beautiful. 😛 But seriously, do you ever have that feeling when something’s so beautiful you can’t stand it so you whip out your camera in a frantic attempt to save some of the beauty and capture it forever and that helps a little bit but it’s still just too much? Or is that just me…