According to the Los Angeles Times, Peeps were born in 1953, first being created by hand in a process that took 27 hours to make one marshmallow. They had the process mechanized by 1954 and cut their Peep-making time to six minutes. This is all nice information but personally I think Peeps are disgusting tasteless excuses for real Easter candy. Everybody knows nothing says welcome back Jesus like a solid filled one pound chocolate Easter bunny. Don't be trying to fill in the blank spaces of my Easter basket with some cheap ass Peeps. With Peeps you find those who love them and on the other side those like me that can hardly look at them on the store shelves.

A high school friend of mine, in order to protect her from the Peep haters, we will call her "Linda Lauck Fain" celebrates some kind of a Peep day. Recently on Facebook she posted a picture of her work desk covered with Peeps and Peep paraphernalia. What is most disturbing to me is that in the picture, she is sitting at her desk and smiling. I did see some chocolate flavored Peeps but that has to be a waste of chocolate. I do love chocolate and anything covered in chocolate would be delicious except Peeps. Peeps should be outlawed. Parents think they are saving a little money filling their children's Easter baskets up with these nasty critters when in fact it is costing them more with a trip to the dentist. I know candy in general isn't good for the teeth but pure chocolate versus a sugary coated fake marsh mellow? Join me in my campaign to rid our candy world of these horrible mutants!

Bonsai Obsession

I have recently been obsessed with bonsais and small succulent gardens. It all started when I sprouted a grapefruit seed. Just like in elementary school when we sprouted beans and then planted them, I was just as excited to see the grapefruit sprout. As of today, I have about four grapefruit sprouts. I am hoping to end up with three healthy ones so that I can have a braided bonsai tree. After I thought about it for a while, I realized that maybe a grapefruit bonsai isn't such a good idea. Grapefruits have really big fruit. A horticulturist friend of mine said that a Calamondin orange tree makes for a good bonsai. I have been looking for one but no luck yet. I may have to order one. In the meantime, I have a small wax leaf tree that I made bonsai and a flowering Azalea that I pruned up and made into a bonsai.

One of my succulents bloomed this morning. All of the succulents that I bought had an information tab in them except for the one that bloomed so I have no idea what it is. I had originally planned to give this particular succulent garden that I made to my mom but decided to be selfish. (sorry Mom) I have makings to make her one. I got her started on African Violets several years ago when I bought her a couple for mothers day. Now she keeps them blooming all year round.

Fall is here

Fall is here with the cooler weather, the colorful change in the trees, and the nasty ragweed. Ragweed has always been a problem for me but this year is really bad. Still, fall is my favorite time of the year. On a cool Saturday morning, it is always fun to grab a cup of coffee and head to farmers market to buy mums, pumpkins, gourds and maybe a mini hay bale or two to set everything on. Even if I don't buy anything, because I have my camera, I am always sure to snap a couple of good shots of the scenery.

Like the many varieties of flowers and such at Farmers Market, the people there are as interesting. I use a larger lens so that I don't have to be in people's faces to take their picture. I would ask for their permission but generally if people know they are getting their picture taken, it looks like I had said, "say cheese." Look in the mirror and say, "cheese" and tell me if that is a natural look. This morning, I did meet and say hello this boy Jeremiah and his family. They were visiting Dallas from Arkansas. I have found that children are less likely to know that, "say cheese" look. I made it home with some good shots and couple of pie pumpkins. If you have ever had pumpkin pie or pumpkin soup with real pumpkin and not the can stuff, you will never go back. So in the future if you see me snapping pictures, I am only looking to get some nice pictures, and your chance of being in one has probably passed.

Farmers Market Dallas

I went to Farmers Market today for a couple of reasons. I heard that the peaches grown in this part of the country are one of the best crops since 2004. Everyone has had a meally peach and who doesn't love a delicious peach? Second, going to Farmers Market got me out of the house. If you know me well enough, you know that doesn't come easy for me. Third, I wanted to take a couple of pictures. Second to music, photography is my passion and fruit is very colorful! Being that it was a weekday at the Farmers Market, only two of the four sheds were open and busy with farmers and their goods. There was a small crowd of customers who were mostly families with children. I did get some people pictures but that is a different blog. This weekend, is the 4th of July weekend. Stay away from the Farmers Market. They jack up the prices for the tourists. I took my parents there years back on the 4th of July weekend and Gene my mothers husband couldn't get over that, "$12 watermelon!"

The blackberries today were sweet and visually flawless. I am not a big rasberry fan but they were pretty. The blueberries were as good as I have tasted. There is a blueberry cake recipe out there that someone, and you know who you are, is holding off on giving to me. I am waiting for the recipe, Mother. For now, nothing tastes better than a stack of blueberry pancakes. The trick to cooking them is to let the blueberries sizzle and pop open a little on the griddle before you pour on the batter. Real butter and real maple syrup are assumed.

Back in the day, canning was used to preserve foods for the winter. I recently got a hold of way too many apricots and I think that it is fair to say that it is much cheaper and less time consuming to let others and machines can our fruit. Canning is a wonderful thing to do with loved ones but I find it would be better to have a nice dinner and a couple of glasses of wine instead. After our day of exhausting canning, I have to assume that in the old days, it was a matter of survival for the woman to stay home and spend most of her summer days dealing with the job of canning. Screw the daddy plowing the fields. Canning is hard work!

Early Portraits

This is Brooke Whyrick, one of my models for my first portraits of the digital era. I asked Brooke and my other niece Layce to come over so I could use them as test models. I had bought a new Nikon and was ready to test it out. They showed up with a shopping bag full of hats and scarfs and other accessories. Like most of my successful photos, this was one of if not the first snap of the shutter. I found out quickly that Brooke needed no suggestions on poses. She is a natural. The knit hat she is wearing was originally an ugly purple that didn't even come close to matching the scarf and, Brooke had been bit by an insect on her left eye the day before. With a little Photoshop work, I got this photo. I sent it to my color lab and when I first looked at the print, it was a stunning picture of her. She has used it as her Facebook profile picture and of course it is in my hard portfolio collection. I can't help it but I am one to over analyze everything including my photography. We weren't using any type of reflectors or artificial light that day and if I could have just bounced a little light up into the brim of that hat...