:: photography practice & watermelon ::

Aunt Velma and I had a lazy morning . . . we got most of our running around done yesterday so we just took our time with breakfast today. After we cleaned up the kitchen, we drove over to Spring Street Market for a few things that she couldn't find at Wal-Mart. They had a great deal on Coke products, so I got four Sprite Zero 12 packs {my current addiction} and a free 2-liter grape & orange drink for the boys to drink when they are at our house. Those little guys are always hungry and thirsty! Vela needed some fabric for a new housecoat, so we went to Hancock's. She found some pretty aqua fleece but they only had two yards of it. She got some fleece for a vest and some gabardine for slacks instead.

We weren't hungry for lunch when we returned at eleven, so Vela brought in a pretty little watermelon that John Hollis grew in his garden. He has been bringing her lots of vegetables from his garden all summer this year too. We cut the melon and pulled out a salt shaker and had a nice snack before I left to go back home.

I got home earlier than usual, so I ate a bite of lunch and took my camera outside for some practice shots using the focus knowledge that Katrina has outlined for us in lesson No. 1 of Through the Lens.

{ trees on the way to the pond }

{ hedge apples by the pond }

{ oreo walks with me when I walk outside }

{ johnson grass }

I think that I have a much better understanding of the various focus methods, but I am having trouble understanding the concept of the "Back Button". I really do need some more practice on that one! I believe that I can see a sharper focus when I do use the back button. I will need to work on the continuous focus part of lesson one when I have one of the boys here to be a moving target!

{ fallen chesnuts from our two Chestnut trees }

Chestnuts in the America were an important food and timber source in the Eastern hardwood forests. Around 1904 American Chestnut trees were almost completely destroyed by a blight introduced into America from the Orient. Within 40 years, around the Great Depression, billions of chestnut trees were lost from Maine to Georgia and west to the Mississippi River. This was a devastating loss not only to people, but to wildlife. Chestnuts provided beauty to the country side, food, lumber for furniture to fence posts and tannin used in the tanning industry.

E. came in from the farm late and I had already eaten. . He ate some leftovers and then watched the Titans play the Packers while I called several people to help with food for a funeral on Saturday for our church Martha Ministries group. I always have people willing to make something good. This time we will do brunch food to take to the funeral home at ten.