A New New Year's Day Tradition

New Year's Day is often a laid back day for us.  I used today to play with photography stuff (start my  365 Project), and Sally took the time to cook.  Homemade bread was the recipe of the day.  Honey Oatmeal Bread to be exact.  As Sally was letting the dough rise, I was poking around this blog.  Lo and behold I found that we did somewhat the same thing last New Year's Day.  http://thrujohnslens.blogspot.com/2014/01/homemade.html

Here are a few pics I snapped off the bread making process.

Let the dough rise in  the bowl

Rise again in the baking pans

Ah, it's done - straight from the oven

Ah, but we must let it cool

Day One -- January 1st, 2015

"And, they're off!"  No, not the horses, but those of us doing a 365 Project.

My Goals

• Take at least one picture every day
• Improve my photographoc abilities
• Try new photographic ideas

I hope to take a picture every day.  I don't know yet whether I'll post each day, but I'll do so when time permits.  The taking of the picture is only the first step.   Getting the image from  the camera to the computer, post-editing it if necessary, and blogging about it, all take time.  Some images will come from my iPhone, some from my camera.  Some days I'll take multiple shots and simply will  not be able to choose just one, so you  might see multiple pictures on a particular day.  

I hope you'll follow along.  I would welcome your comments, including your critiques.  If you do want to follow along there is a simple "subscribe" process on the right of this post.  If you have a preferred blog reader just use the RSS feed.  If you prefer to get an email when I post, subscribe with the email subscription  box.  You can also "join" the site with Google Friend Connect.  It's always nice to see followers, so I hope you will consider it.

Okay, enough with the administrative mumbo-jumbo.  I promise not to bother you with this type of stuff again.   

Una and the Cat

Una showing some love for our cat.  Thought I'd use the natural light to help capture the image.  Still a work in progress to get sharp indoor shots.  Something to work on.  

Day one is in the books.  [thumbs up]

Day (minus) One

As I walked to work this morning I liked the look of the old home, the shutters, the Benefit St sign, and of course the fire alarm box. 

Day (minus) Two

A very welcome but unexpected gift arrived this evening. Still warm. We have the best neighbors who would bring a beautiful Bolo Rei. 

Day (minus) Three

I thought I'd get into the habit of ensuring I got a photo each day, so this morning while driving to drop off Una at her Audubon camp I thought the morning light looking out over Buzzard's Bay toward the Elizabeth Islands looked like a good opportunity.  A quick stop and I snapped this shot with my iPhone.

365 Project

I've tried this before and didn't complete it, but I thought I'd give it another try.  I was inspired by a blog I follow, Click it Up a Notch, where the author pointed out that in some years she didn't complete her project. But, and this is what's important, regardless of whether she completed the project, she learned things, captured things, with every photo she took.

I, too, hope to improve my photography by constantly pushing to take pictures.  I hope you'll enjoy if you choose to follow along.  Encouragement is welcome.

Here's wishing you a Happy New Year.

Latke Party

Sally, Una and I were the fortunate invitees to our friend Amy's annual Latke Party.  What fun.  The tradition is to make and cook, then of course, eat the Hanukkah favorite latke.

Growing up in San Francisco, and attending Catholic school 1-12, I know very little of Jewish traditions.  I was thrilled to learn about making latke, as well as the lighting of the menorah, and the celebration of Hanukkah.

Here are a few shots from the party.  I look forward to doing this again next year.

 

On the left is Chef Sally with our host Amy in the background overseeing her technique.  You can see the purple bowl of the uncooked latke in the middle left.  I swear that bowl never seemed to decrease in content.  Oh, and the right picture is yours truly demonstrating my one-handed flip.  :-)

 

On the left latke in the making.  On the right, the finished delicious product.  

We finally found the bottom of the bowl.  

 

After the cooking was done, it was time to learn the tradition and to light the Menorah.  

The treasured recipe handed down from Amy's mother.  One of those grease stains is surely from one of my early attempts at a one-handed flip.