Macro Monday - Mushrooms!

I don't know if it was because it had rained so much during the preceding weeks, but there were mushrooms everywhere in the back yard.  Different types of mushrooms at that.  And it wasn't just limited to my yard, but in yards around the neighborhood and the nearby park areas too.

So what is one to do with these mushrooms?  Well I say, macro them!  Here is just one of several images I took.   Come back next week for more, but in the meantime, here's one of my favorites.

Macro Monday!

Caught this odd looking "hairy" caterpillar on my orchid the recently.  He's kinda cute though.
  I have no idea what it is, so if you do, please let me know!

Macro Monday - {Tampa Bay Photographer}

It's a new year and with that comes new year's resolutions!  I am not immune to the standard resolution of getting in shape and dieting.    I've always struggled to maintain my ideal body weight.  I've lost and gained the same 20-30 pounds more times than I care to count.  Exercise, or lack there of, is the biggest culprit, that and portion control.  Even too much of healthy food is, well, too much.

I'm on the back end of my 40's and my husband and I have talked about juicing for a while now.  Well, a couple Christmas gift cards later and a really, really great deal (timing is everything) on Amazon, we have our first real juicer!  We did a lot of research on which juicer is the "best" juicer and found that the "best" juicer really means the best juicer for YOU!    Some juicers are better for leafy veggies and some are better if you are only ever going to juice fruit.  The one thing that we did find is that the lower speed juicers are better because they don't heat up the juice, breaking down the nutrients/enzymes.  There's a wealth of information on line and if you decide to take the plunge, be sure and read up before making your purchase.  If $$ is a factor, it was for us and I suspect many, there are a few ways to save (some of these machines go for over $1,000!).  If you aren't afraid of used - there's craigslist and ebay.  If you want new - stalk Amazon.  The prices go up and down there faster than a kid on a pogo stick!  We had been pricing the Omega 8006 and were looking at the upper $280's and higher.  Just about as we were ready to pull the trigger at a local retailer (more on that in a second), we did a double check on Amazon and there it was for $209 with free shipping!   A couple of days later it was up to $286.    Don't be afraid to ask your local retailer either for a discount.   And don't forget that BB&B has great coupons that never expire - well they expire, but the store always honors them!

Okay!  On to our second juicing effort.  You'll see a lot of veggies and fruit, but mind you it was for my husband, daughter and me.  This little beauty does a good job of getting A LOT of the juice out.  The pulp that is ejected is surprisingly dry.     For this concoction, we used: carrots, cucumber, celery, red kale, parsley, beets, 2 apples and 2 oranges.  Oh and a knuckle of ginger (no pic of the ginger, sorry).  Delicious!

 Remember when the Pom Juice came in glass??  They are such a great size!  We were sad when they went to plastic.   I've also discovered that we have a lot of water spots from the dishwasher!  Yikes

Macro Monday - {Tampa Bay Photographer}

It's been fun decorating for Christmas this year.  The new house required us to rethink our where our decorations should go, which, while taking a little longer than usual, was a nice change of pace.  Another nice change of pace was that we got a real tree this year.  Don't get me wrong.  I'm still a fan of artificial trees, but catching that faint pine scent as I walk by is kind of nice.  We got a real tree because our oldest and most vocal about getting a real tree each year, is a senior in high school.  She will be living away from us next year as a college freshman, so we decided to indulge her this year!

Our tree decorations are all over the place and definitely do not fit a theme, unless you consider "Memories" a theme.  That's what our tree is - a collection of ornaments that represent something special each year.  When decorating, we are reminded of that time, some verrrryyy long ago.

This would be an extremely long post if I share even half of the really important ones to us, but I wanted to share a few of the ornaments and a very up close look at our real tree!

When our oldest was born, a good friend of ours gave her a box of these Santa paper ornaments.  He inscribed the lid of the box and explained that it would be something that she would see each year on the tree and when she went out on her own, she would have her first set of ornaments to place on her own tree.  I couldn't think of a more special gift!

When our second was born, it was July and ornaments were not readily found.  We decided to get them ourselves that first Christmas.  In order to differentiate the collection, she received Angel ornaments, which are just as beautiful and special.   I think it's going to be hard to not have them on the tree when the girls are grown and on their own.  

We have a beautiful collection of sterling cross and snowflake ornaments gifted to my husband from his parents growing up and then to us after we were married.  They look beautiful in the tree! 

Tree skirt!

My husband is a huge "Nightmare Before Christmas" fan.   :)

You know, I feel a little guilty that I am not representing more ornaments here.  There are so many that are really extra special to me and I am thinking of them all as I type this.  I guess I'll have to do this again next Christmas and share those then!   Merry Christmas!

Macro Monday! - {Tampa Bay Photographer}

Each year we attend theNative Rhythms Festival in Melbourne, Fl.  We usually stay at the same cottages on the beach nearby.  And each year I find new things on the beach to photograph!  It's a beautiful beach with little built up near it.  I'll show you more from there in an upcoming post, but for today, I am going to share the macros from our stay and well, one extra special photo.  My oldest, yet still my baby turned 18 today.  I just can' believe how quickly time flies.  My youngest's birthday also fell on a Monday this year and I did some detail shots of her - newborn photography style.  I didn't get to do that today with my oldest, but I will share those with you next week!

 There's a gorgeous picket fence out back of the cottage where we stay.

Beautiful red veining in the sea grapes.  I've never noticed it to be so red before!

Ever wondered what a sand spur looks like?  Well here you go!  Looks mean doesn't it??  Sure doesn't surprise me considering how much they hurt!  The first day I went "off road" and walked onto the grass to get a different angled shot of the fence WITHOUT shoes. Big mistake.  Came out of there with probably 15 sand spurs on my feet!  After that it seemed like no matter where I walked, I got one!  

This was a really cool find.  At first we thought it was a piece of concrete washed up on the shore, but upon closer inspection, it looks like crushed and compressed sea shells.  I've never seen anything like it.  

Something else I've never seen were these little green bean pod appearing, well...like bean pods sprouting all over the shores edge.

There were dozens and the next morning even further up the beach than the day before!

Right near the sea wall was this vine with some kind of pods.  

I love having my morning coffee on the beach!  If I ever win the lottery, I'm getting a beach house!

This is my 18 year old!  Happy Birthday!  xoxoxoxo

Macro Monday - {Tampa Bay Photographer}

Cicadas - Tim McGraw mentions them in his song "Southern Voice", they have also been an inspiration to Native American flute maker Coyote Oldman and many people mistake them to be locust, when in fact they are related to leafhoppers!  You can read more about these buggers here.

Eric fished one out of our pool, still alive, and set him on the patio furniture to dry.  I have to say I don't know that I would have been so accommodating!  I'm pretty sure he would have been flung into the yard with a screech.   With that said, I couldn't resist getting an up close look.  Thankfully he just sat there!

Macro Monday - {Tampa Bay Photographer}

Today's Macro Monday is an experiment...well technically, the post isn't an experiment, but ABOUT and experiment to get rid of the ants in the yard.   There are a number of ant mounds at the new house and we wanted to get rid of the with the least about of poisons possible.  My husband read about putting grits on the mound.  In theory the ants eat the grits, the grits swell and they blow up.  He tried it on a couple of mounds and feels like it worked.  I of course told him that I wanted to photograph the next attempt and document it's success!

I can't attest to the success, but below are photos from the effort.   The ants do love the grits and were running around taking them inside to the young ones and with luck the queen (if it indeed kills them).  I will report back next week to let you know what happens.  In the meantime, I thought I'd google information to back up the theory behind our plan of attack.  Unfortunately most all of the ones I found suggest that this is folklore and won't work.  Another insisted that it has to be instant grits or it won't work.  Unfortunately, we didn't put down instant grits, so that could be two strikes.

We did try one home made remedy that did work and that is honey and borax, but that's for another post!

While I was out shooting the ants, I wanted to take a stab at photographing the water fountain in the pool.  This is the tip top of the fountain.  Love the bubbles and how it looks solid.  Will definitely be playing around with this more, trying different settings. 

***UPDATE:  Unfortunately the grits didn't work!  :(