Category Archives: Arts and Crafts

First Photography Class

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I took this photo a couple days ago after my first photography class of Fall 2025.

So how did it go?

I was introduced to the five other students in the group. The class was by zoom. Then after we gave a short bio of ourselves, the professor shared our first photo assignment. We each got a turn to talk about our photo.

I was blown away by the talent in our group! Like the professor told me, everyone is internally motivated to improve. “We are all on the same learning curve, just at different points along the way.” Some are way, way ahead. It’s exciting to see their work.

The main problem I had was the time. 7 to 9 p.m. I’m not sure if it’s me getting older, recovering from surgery, or getting up early, but I fizzle out around dinner time. That day was busy with an earlier zoom call meeting from 8:30 to 11 a.m. and all my other daytime duties.

I managed to stay awake. I enjoyed seeing other photographers’ work plus learned about the semester project.

Memory and Meaning.

That’s the theme. I’m been noodling on it since Thursday. The professor gave all sorts of examples of what we can do. He said to reflect on the questions, “Why did I take this photo?” and “Why did I keep it?”

We can use photos from the public domain, photos we’ve taken before, new photos, or photos we’ve restored….those are just a few of the examples he gave. I’m thinking of taking photos with sea glass. I have tons of it from the days hanging out at the beach with my kids from when they were infants to before they left for college. My sea glass gives me memories of my favorite days at the beach with them.

We used to rent a cottage a few blocks from a cove in Laguna that was home to a bootlegger during Prohibition. The story the locals tell is that one stormy night, his ship came in to the dock by his house, and the liquor all went overboard. That cove is an amazing place to find sea glass. My daughter had a special eye for it and would spend hours wading in the waves, diving down to pick up pieces of royal blue, lavender, yellow, white, green, brown and turquoise sea glass. Some of the colors are unusual because of how old the bottles were.

I found a lilac piece of sea glass for the first time in my life, while praying during my DIL’s cancer surgery. I thought it was a good omen.

Then in my Palm Springs home, I refinished our wood block kitchen counters. I practiced on a nightstand in the garage that belonged to my husband’s grandmother. I didn’t know turpentine would self combust. I smelled smoke and was shocked to see the rags I tossed on the nightstand were on fire. Thankfully, the house did not catch on fire, although there was soot going up one wall.

I used sea glass and shells to fix the nightstand:

Although it smelled like an ashtray for a few years, I thought this was a creative fix for the smoldering hole on the nightstand.

I have sea glass displayed throughout the house and I found a banker’s box full of it. My daughter used to decorate picture frames with it. We had a grand idea of beautifying a glass table with sea glass. We never quite figured out how we would do it. Then she grew up and moved away before we got around to it.

I’m thinking about different ways I can photograph sea glass. I have tons to set outside for morning light, use water, different settings, frame beach photos. The choices are endless.

What are your thoughts for sea glass being an element in my Memory and Meaning photography project?

Flora with a little fauna

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I was out on a walk yesterday morning when a neighbor walking her dog said, “There are so many beautiful blossoms, you need your camera for your class.”

I had run into her once while taking cacti blossom photos for the class, which by the way, the professor said weren’t creative but rather ordinary. I was thrilled they were in focus!

I continued with my walk and noticed several gorgeous blooms and blossoms. My neighbor was right. I beelined back home for my camera and got my Macro lens.

I took blogger friend Danny Watts’ advice. His blog is Fountain Pen Chronicles: Adventures in Analog. He told me to get down on the ground for photos to get a better Point of View and Depth of Field. I took my husband with me, to help me up (Also Danny’s suggestion). My husband’s phone was blowing up with clients and he had to head home. I was left alone. I got on the ground. I managed to get myself up, which wasn’t that comfortable on the sidewalk or gravel. But I did it.

This is the blossom featured above from a distance. It’s so beautiful but lasts only one or two days.

Here are more cacti in bloom:

And a Fairy Duster!

Here’s for the little bit of fauna to go with the flora:

A Curve Billed Thrasher on the Century Plant.

My latest and final photography assignment for the class is to tell a story using six to 10 photos. I’m not sure what to do, but he’s giving us an extra week to work on it. I’m taking photos of my creatures, hoping a story line reveals itself to me.

Any suggestions for my final photography project?

Which cacti blooms do you like and why?

Playing with Pictures

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I caught the morning light in this photo yesterday. It was taken in the shadows of our pergola. Although it’s a bit dark, I like the way the light made patterns on the Barrel and Moroccan Mound cacti.

I turned in my week nine photography assignment last Friday. Then I spent a lot of the weekend practicing and playing — using my macro lens I got for Christmas and my telephoto lens and tripod.

Red has been avoiding me lately, but he finally showed up and I managed to get some pictures of him in focus.

Without a homework assignment — which I’ll have later today — I was able to play and experiment. I tried different lighting, different settings, and waited patiently for Red to make an appearance.

While I shoot, especially out in the sun, I don’t know what I’ve got until I put the memory card into the card reader on my laptop. Then I use Adobe Bridge to look through photos and rate them. It has a zero through five stars labeling system. I put a star by ones I like for future reference. Adobe Bridge is a great tool to organize my few good photos from the hundreds that don’t turn out. I was excited with the photo of Red above! It got two stars.

Here’s another Red photo I thought turned out. Funny (not funny), the next time Red showed up, every photo I took of him was blurry. I think it’s because it was early in the morning and the low in the sky sun was shining right into my eyes. The final photo session of the weekend with Red, the photos were all dark. I had the shutter speed set too high and not enough light was getting into the camera.

Here are honeysuckle blooms I caught in the morning light.

This is called a Fairy Duster.

I know this is an aloe bloom. From what I learned online, the common name is Lace Aloe.

Here’s Mrs. Red with a House Finch buddy enjoying what is a called a Cardinal Block. I bought it at the hardware store and it came complete with a picture of a Red Cardinal on the wrapper. How could I refuse?

This is one of the photos I took of Red that was too dark. I was able crop and lighten it up a bit digitally. I understand the reasoning behind my photography instructor to learn how the camera works and how to make better images — without digital touchups. It’s helped me improve tremendously. I’m also thankful I could rescue a few shots of Red with the help of technology — while playing with pictures.

What were you playing with or enjoying that was fun or creative this weekend?

Week Nine of Photography

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This is a cactus in bloom that I spotted on my morning walk. I walked back home, grabbed my camera and beelined to the blooming cactus with my Macro lens. I’m using this for week nine’s photography assignment, which is called “Seeing the Light.”

This week we are going full manual mode. That means that we are adjusting the aperture, shutter speed and setting the ISO. Part of this week’s assignment was to choose a subject and bracket the photos. Yes, you and me both. I was stumped at “bracket.”

I learned it means to take a photo with settings I like. Then take a photo of the same subject with the f stop up one stop and then take a third photo with the f stop down one stop. Hence making “brackets” around the original photo. That way we’re supposed to get an exposure that we like.

Here’s an example:

This photo is taken at f 11, which is lets in more light than the first photo which was taken at f 16 — one stop higher. I prefer the first photo which is darker, because I like the way the flowers pop.

That’s half of my assignment. I’m also supposed to take a photo of another subject — inside with light coming in from a window — or in varied light like a tree backlit from the sun.

Last week, the photography professor told me I’d see dramatic improvement in my photos by investing in higher quality lenses. He said the kit lenses that came with my camera are poor quality. The Macro lens I used for the two photos above is higher quality. It was a Christmas present and this is the first time I’ve used it for an assignment. I can see the difference in these two photos already.

Here are a few other photos I took this week:

This may make it into my assignment this week. The day after I took the cactus flower photos, I was on my walk and spotted this yucca in bloom. Once again, I had to hightail it home, grab my camera and walk back. Maybe I should walk with my camera?

This scene fits the assignment criteria by having varied lighting. A tip the instructor offered was to include shadows. This was taken at f 11. The following photo is f 8, one stop lower and brighter.

Which do you like better? I like the composition better in the first yucca photo, but the light in the second one better.

Here are two photos I took for fun with my telephoto lens:

I’m learning how to use it. It’s a higher quality lens than the one that came with the camera. However, my hands are NOT very steady and I need to use a tripod or the photos come out blurry. I like the light in my Bird Buddy feeder and the sharp focus of the birds. The photo above I used a tripod. Photo below handheld. But in the second photo — featuring Mrs. Red — I was sitting inside the casita balancing my camera on the kitchen table.

Which photos do you like best and why?

Photos of the week

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This is a photo from our courtyard near the front door. The morning light made the cactus look like it was lit from inside.

I think my photography is improving thanks to an online photography class I’m taking through the local community college. I struggle with the concepts at the beginning of each week. Every Monday there is a new module online. I have to print it out, highlight and reread the material several times. I’m looking for clues for the weekly assignment which is due over the weekend. There’s also assigned reading from our textbook.

Instead of telling us what the assignment is, the professor says the instructions for photos can be found throughout the module.

This week’s topic is aperture, which are the “f stops.”

By putting the camera in Aperture priority, I can adjust the aperture (which is the hole in the lens) to let in more or less light. But the camera decides the shutter speed so the photo has the correct exposure. The module said to use this mode. Whew! I found one clue for my assignment. The instructions also said to use creativity with the depth of field. Plus I need to submit four photos.

What is depth of field?

Depth of field (DOF) is the distance between the nearest and farthest objects in a photo that appear acceptably sharp. It is influenced by factors such as aperture, distance to the subject, and focal length of the lens.

In the photo above, I focused on my Bird Buddy feeder and the house finch. The bird is staring into one camera while being photographed by me. The background is blurred because the depth of field is shallow. The lower the f stop, the larger the aperture opens, letting more light into the camera. (Nothing confusing about that, right?) It makes the depth of field more narrow.

I’m not sure if I’m supposed to submit the same photo using different aperture settings or not. I’ve decided since this is technically an art class, I’m going for four different subjects using different f stops. I’ve got three so far. I will once again remind myself, “I’m doing this to learn, not for grades!”

I knew my pink flamingos would make it into a photo assignment. I used an f stop of 4.5 which is a low stop, which means the aperture opening is big. The shutter speed adjusted to 1/4000 of a second, which is really fast. That fast shutter speed made for crisp and clear flamingos and barrel cacti. The low f stop kept the foreground and background fuzzy.

Now to find one more photo! I took a ton of photos of my buddy Red. He hung out with me while I was photographing in our yard. Unfortunately, I didn’t think his photos turned out well enough to use for this week’s assignment.

The other day, I spotted Red with a girlfriend or wife. But she was only here for one day. Maybe she’s in their nest?

My buddy Red. He’s a little out of focus. I don’t think it was because of f stops or shutter speeds. He’s a flighty little thing. I think it was movement blur.

What’s your opinion on a shallow depth of field with a blurry background and crisp focused subject? Or do you prefer photos where everything is in focus?

Have you used the different settings on a camera in manual mode? Aperture priority or shutter priority?

In tatters

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swim t-shirt quilt
The t-shirt quilt I made for my son one month before he went to college.

I don’t sew. But I saw a youtube video on how to make a t-shirt quilt. I thought it would be a fun thing to do with the dozens of t-shirts my kids got during their lifetime of swimming. The team had shirts. They’d get t-shirts at big meets. Swim t-shirts were breeding in our closets.

I mentioned it to my son and he thought it was an excellent idea! I promptly forgot about it. A month before he left home he reminded me I had better get started on the quilt.

The last time I visited the kids was in February. My son’s girlfriend had asked if I could fix the quilt. I said sure — without looking at it. I brought it home with me in a duffle bag.

Quilt in tatters.
The quilt is now in tatters.

Yikes. What can I do to save this?

I made a quilt for my daughter when she went off to college, too. Then there were still an abundance of Piranha Swim Team of Palm Springs t-shirts hanging out in drawers and closets that I made a third quilt. I made it for my daughter but she doesn’t have room for it, and didn’t particularly like it. She gave it back to me.

I’ve decided to give this one to my son — after I cover up a few of my daughter’s squares, with ones I salvaged from his tattered and torn quilt.

t-shirt quilt.
The third t-shirt quilt I made.

Do you have a supply of t-shirts that you don’t know what to do with? If so, click on this LINK to make a t-shirt quilt. If I can do it, you can too. Like I said, I didn’t know how to sew when I started the first one.

What sewing have you done in your life?

From playdates to playgroup, let the kids play

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I wrote the following post my first year of blogging. I’m reposting it today because my NaNoWriMo novel is based on it. My project is called “The Playgroup” and is loosely based on the moms with their young children. In our neighborhood, my kids were the only kids. That’s true for most of Palm Springs neighborhoods. We had to arrange playdates before the kids were school-age if they wanted to play with other kids. One mom started what she called the playgroup and it was an honor to be invited to her exclusive group.

Toddler boy playing with a hose.
My son playing with a hose in the backyard.

When I was a child, I played in and out of neighbors’ backyards, rode bikes from dawn to dusk — with no adults bothering me.

When I had kids, they didn’t have that freedom. One reason was the lack of kids living around us. Another reason was a child in a nearby town had been kidnapped from his front yard and his body found 10 days later. That terrified the moms in our area for years.

I went to Mommy and Me class with my son at the Palm Springs Pavilion. A teacher, Miss Stacey, taught us to sing songs together and play “Itsy Bitsy Spider” and “I’m a Little Teapot” with a dozen other moms and babies that apparently needed the coaching.  Each week, we took turns bringing snacks of grapes or string cheese. I look back at this as a training ground for the proverbial playdate.

images

Our playdates developed from the Mommy and Me group. We had a park day, which was fun and healthy. Moms sat together on quilts on the grass and talked for hours while our kids played on the now-banned steel playground equipment — a super tall, steep slide, a merry-go-round, and a stagecoach that they could climb into, on top of and jump off. Sometime during our kids’ early childhood, our city tore out the dated, dangerous equipment and put in a rubber ground and safe equipment. The kids never liked to play on the brightly-colored equipment and our park playdates vanished.

One day, I got a phone call from a friend. She homeschooled her daughter and was handpicking her friends for a weekly Friday playgroup. She hired a teacher to run playgroup, and each week included a lesson, a theme, craft and snack, followed by 10 minutes of supervised play on her backyard swing set. The moms were not welcome to hang out and socialize.

I felt honored my kids were in the select group. Months later, the mom who had playgroup took me to lunch and told me she had some “big news.” She was uninviting one of the boys. I hardly saw this is earth shattering, but perhaps there was more to this luncheon. Maybe it was a warning!

Years later, when my kids were in high school, they reconnected with friends from playgroup. They remembered it as if they were fellow Mouseketeers having survived a bizarre childhood experience.

When my daughter was in 7th and 8th grade, we homeschooled. Every Wednesday, I picked up her best friend from school, and brought her to my house to play until her mom got off work. This was another sort of playdate. We moms thought it was an ideal way to keep their friendship going. Since my daughter loved arts and crafts — homeschooling allowed her to try ceramics, mosaics, and quilting. I said that the two girls could do an art project each week.


But that didn’t happen. I was tired from supervising my daughter’s schooling by the time afternoon came and my daughter just wanted to hang out with her friend. So, I retired to my room and left them alone. After a few weeks, the friend didn’t want to come over anymore. She said she was promised an art activity and she was disappointed that they weren’t doing any.

Happy child at the beach.
My daughter during a camping trip at the beach.

That made me think about our kids and their overly structured lives. I love having quiet time. I hope my kids do, too. We need to unplug, unschedule, and let our kids regain their creativity and inner peace. They need us to leave them alone and let them be kids.

How was your childhood different from your children’s young lives? Did you have to arrange playdates so they could play or did they have friends who lived close by?