For the Anal Retentive

Below are two photos that have been manipulated in Photoshop and Topaz Studio...two software packages for photography.  This photo was taken at Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania.  The photos are slightly different as one received one last change that I sometimes implement, except I have noticed that professional photographers do not usually do this. Do you have a preference between the two? I will tell you in the next post what was done if you do not figure it out or if you see no real difference.  There are pros and cons for each treatment, I guess.

A Very Very Quick Tour

I did not post this on Facebook because these things can be taken as bragging or "my life it greater than yours." I do not know my bloggers personally---at least most of them---so I can share without feeling I am bragging. I am just sharing my fun weekend. Along with the book store tour I got this below.

It is a gardening wonder.  The heavy canvas bag contained, two pairs of garden gloves, hand lotion, sunscreen, three heavy-duty garden tools. a pair of really good boots, a garden calendar, a blank journal to write about my garden and a bottle of nice white wine (which is already gone...).

We also visited the famous Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania established by the wealthy Pierre S. du Pont of chemistry fame.  "By the mid-1930s, Longwood had grown from the original 202 acres to 926 due to Pierre’s purchase of 25 contiguous properties over the years."  A well-funded trust was left behind when du Pont passed on to keep the gardens going much as they are today.

I will post just a few photos below (having taken over 200), for those of you who have not had the opportunity to visit this garden.  The photos just capture a hint of the variety and beauty of the gardens.

We had a picnic beforehand packed by my daughter.  It was in a large and well-shaded picnic area just outside the garden gates.

The wide open spaces gave my grandson a chance to show off his skills.  He landed upright on the opposite side without touching the table!

The above photo was missing my youngest grandson who was finishing a sports game and arrived later.

The conservatory was large and beautiful.

My peonies were almost done and because this was a climate range or two cooler, the peonies were wonderful.

Above was the Italian garden area.  So much more I could show you, but this will have to do.

Died and Gone to Heaven

The above title is pretty much what I posted on Facebook the other day with one of the photos below to enhance. This past weekend my family took me on a two-day adventure for a belated birthday. We went to a major garden, a nice restaurant, an overnight at a small hotel, a state park and then finished with a book barn! The grands were so good about not being bored because these were not the types of activities they find fun or interesting...except for being out of doors! Photos on the family may be to follow in another post.

Above is the Baldwin Book Barn in Chester County in Pennsylvania. This independent book store was founded in 1946 by the Baldwin family.  It is located in a five-story barn built in 1822 which continues to have all the charm of that history.  

Part of the barn was home to the Baldwins for years.

The store contains thousands and thousands of books: used, really old, first editions, new books, those signed by the author, etc.  It is a paradise for some of us and was truly a step back in time when I entered the front door!

There are narrow hallways and tuckaway rooms, tiny wooden stairways that take you up to mysterious corners and more rooms covering the four stories of the barn with plenty of chairs everywhere to sit, catch your breath, and read!

Two elderly folks greeted us with exceptional warmth and charm.  It was as if you were visiting your grandparents!  

Books are EVERYWHERE including some grouped in grocery bags on the main floor.  Those in grocery bags have been priced but not yet shelved and rest in corners here and there.  Some prices were only 4 or 5 dollars with others much more.

There are expensive pricey first editions that you can actually hold in your hand and smell the leather covers and peruse.  There were very old books in another area with inscriptions on their flyleaf telling the history of the gifting of the book on long ago Christmases.  My son found one inscribed in 1809!

There are children's books for the grands to look at although it is not a place for toddlers.  We stayed only about 20 minutes due to time constraints, but I got four books and hubby got 2 and we tried not to spend too many dollars.

The book barn is located in a lovely rural area in the Brandywine district among the open lawn and woods.

Do You Have a Healthy Personality?

There was a cartoon going the rounds on FB showing a women talking on the phone responding to cancellation of some social or volunteer event. She was sad, on the phone, that it had to be canceled and the minute she hung up she was doing the happy dance and joyful that she had no plans for that weekend. I can relate.

This prior week we have had an endless parade of workers ( washing the deck and house, painting the front of the house, cutting back tree branches in the woods that are moving into the yard, working with our garden helper that I wrote about previously who is piecing his life together and who now may have a full-time job and move on...).

I am the person, as I have written many times before, that might not leave the house for days or even weeks unless I ran out of food. Thankfully I am married to a social butterfly who goes crazy if he has not got every other day scheduled for some event or project or meet-up.  Thus, I get thrown into some of his adventures whether I like it or not. It is good for me, I know, and I must fight my nature to be a hermit.

I also have been blessed with family activities that are wonderfully draining.  This past weekend, the Sunday was spent with my daughter and her family celebrating Mother's Day with hanging out and then dinner out. 

Midweek was our gardener meeting preceded by a lecture on how to propagate native seeds and followed by scheduling with others on upcoming activities and booths.   Hubby has managed to schedule two activities on the same Saturday, so guess who has to fill in for him?

At the end of this week I am assisting with two high school classes on a presentation on the "Living Reef Action Campaign" which means more oyster talks and me working a computer and helping hubby think on his feet.

This coming weekend is another full two days with my beautiful children and grandchildren at Longwood Gardens and a tour of a mushroom farm, and a picnic with some cooperating weather, and whatever else outside Philadelphia as a belated celebration of my birthday!  (All I asked for was a spring picnic,  but they went a bit overboard.)

Only one oyster class next week, and I am hoping to avoid it.  

I retreat and revive with my photographs and photo-painting, taking an online class or two, and reading three four books at one time:  " The  Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish which is  thus far intriguing; Cowboys are My Weakness by Pam Houston which is raw and ready and which I purchased because I found her non-fiction Deep Creek Finding Hope in the High Country so beautifully sad and compelling allowing me to virtually visit my beloved Colorado; and now just starting to read Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards.  In the last case, I am reading the actual book which is beautifully put together and formatted.  I guess it is a 30-year-old classic, but glad I finally found it.

Actually, in my schizophrenic way, I  also am also at times listening to "Innocents Abroad" by Samuel Clemens (Twain) through LibrVox (free public domain audio books) and finding that he was never held back by needing to be politically correct.  

Maybe I am NOT an introvert...maybe I just have a very short attention span with a motor that is always idling and that is why I need to retreat from others!

Still Life

One of my favorites in the flower family, and I have many favorites, is the peony. My peonies open their huge fancy blooms in May and struggle to remain upright in the spring rains, even with my careful fence supports, and thus I frequently cut their heavy, richly scented heads and put them in a vase before they fall into wet clumps on the ground. They are old world beautiful and certainly lend themselves to bouquets and art.  Some can live for hundreds of years and the petals are edible!  For centuries peonies have been used in still life paintings. I am not there yet with photography...but I keep trying.

The original

Too rich in color for my taste.