Round Robin Photo Challenge -- Food Preparation

Today is the start of another Round Robin Photo Challenge and the subject is Food Preparation. I was making a chocolate cake and had the ingredients out or in the mixer bowl to mix up and cook. It makes me hungry to cook another one! Maybe tomorrow, since it's the 4th of July.



















Here is the batter in the pan, all ready to bake. Yum!



















If you would like to see more of the Round Robin challenge, go to the Round Robin blog linked in the first sentence.

Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot -- Organic food

Today I got a little bit caught up on some of the Ellipsis Suddenly Carly for the week. The only way I know if something I buy in the store is organic is if it has a label to that effect. These bananas are a little on the ripe side and I will probably eat them with milk or cream and include strawberries that aren't.


















I will have to eat the bananas up pretty fast -- I try to get them in varying degrees of ripeness but I don't always manage to do that. These may be good for making my Protein Freeze although I'm not sure there's room for even one in my blender with my other ingredients. It sounds good, though! (The Protein Freeze is chocolate whey and it's delicious with peanut butter so why not bananas?) My dishes are getting scarce for such treats so it may be a couple of days before I can make it.

Go to the link above and you will find instructions for how to participate in this Photo Shoot. Have fun!

Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot #94 -- Faces

This week the Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot #94 is about faces. Here I have some kitty faces, although not very close up. Still, I like them a lot.



















I do believe they're all of Socksie. She has such a cute little face!

To join in the Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot, go to the link in the first sentence. You will get instructions there.

Ellipsis Monday Photo Shop -- Fire

I'm a little bit late for the Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot #93, so I am trying to catch up. I don't have a lot of fire around here so I created some. LOL!

I lit a candle and caught it as it burned brightly. This was after trying to photograph the propane coming up from the burners while I cooked eggs and seeing that nothing showed up.


















I then decided to use a paper towel to stick under the burner and get a picture of the burning towel. It started off hot and I had to throw it in the sink, having burned my little finger slightly, but I did get the picture of the fire burning in the sink. I was a little concerned about the embers floating around but I pushed them in the sink and ran water on them so all turned out all right.



















If you would like to see the newest batch of EMPS, go to the link provided above.
Have fun and have a great day!

Round Robin Photo Challenge -- Garden Portraits

For this Round Robin Photo Challenge, which comes along every two weeks, the theme is Garden Portraits. I seem to be in between blossoms out there but I did find some pretty azaleas. First, though, is the side garden, with rose bushes that don't seem at all ready to blossom (I think it's been too cold). There is another nice-sized bush along there, too.



















Here is the blossoming azalea. The ones I have are from my late husband, who planted them and cultivated them after receiving the seeds from the Royal Gardener in England many years ago. He was able to sell most of them to a neighboring nurseryman that he had worked for but kept a few for himself.



















The azaleas always bring back memories. To see more Garden Portraits, go to the link in the first sentence. This meme is always fun!

EMPS #91 -- Get set, ready, go

Carly at the blog Ellipsis has the theme of Ready, Set, Go this week. I have taken pictures of Socksie getting ready to jump up on the office window and then when she got up there. She likes to cling to the window sill and look out at birds and such.
















































That's also one of her ways of keeping me company when I'm up here typing. Funny kitty! LOL!

If you would like to play this Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot, just go to the link in the first sentence, to Carly's blog, and you will find directions there, as well as other blogs to look at.

Round Robin Photo Challenge -- Statues

This time the Round Robin Photo Challenge is about statues. I have a few small statues around my place, including the following. The first is of two kitties and the second is of one.



















To see more statues, go to the link in the first sentence and you will find quite a few links to blogs that contain statues.

Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot -- Nautical

This is for Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot #89, sponsored by Carly of the blog Ellipsis. The theme is obviously nautical, and I found a couple of pictures that I don't think I have used before. The first is of a friendly barking seal on the Newport, Oregon bayfront. The second is of rows of boats moored at Newport's Embarcadero moorage just before sundown one evening when I was staying up above.



Enjoy looking at the pictures at Carly's site and follow the instructions if you want to play this meme.

Round Robin Photo Challenge -- Land or Sea

This Round Robin Photo Challenge, we have the choice of featuring the land or the sea. As much as I love the sea, that was a pretty easy choice. Since I had just been on vacation in Astoria, Oregon, staying on the Columbia River, I had some fresh pictures of the water to share. The first one, however was taken at a different time and place, with the seagulls flying about while I watched.










One of the most enjoyable aspects of where I stayed was the trolley that went by, ringing its bell, much of the day (except Monday). I want to ride in it sometime, when I stay out there again. I'm sure there will be all sorts of views of the water from it.


















I like the views of the ships from my motel room. The Columbia River has a deep channel in Astoria and there is a huge bridge, the Astoria-Megler bridge, that they go underneath. The bridge isn't real close to the motel I was in but I believe you can see part of it in one of the following pictures.



















You can see the other bloggers' preferences, land or sea, if you go to the link in the first sentence and follow the individual links at the Round Robin blog.

EMPS #88 -- Upside Down

Today is the day for the Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot, sponsored by Carly of the blog Ellipsis. The theme this week is Upside Down and I have found a few upside down items in my house to photograph. The first are children's cups that I bought for my grandchildren in Long Beach, Washington, a few years ago. I found one personalized for each grandchild, which delighted me a lot.


















The next item is my cat food carrier and scoop, which I placed upside down on the table in my breakfast nook, but not before getting food for the kitties. LOL!


















You might want to go to Carly's blog to check out the Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoots. If you want to participate, I recommend it -- they're fun!

EMPS #87 -- Lamps

I like lamps. They put forth such a soft glow. Here are two of my favorite ones in my house, one in a corner and the other between my two recliners.


















To play this meme, go to the the Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot. It's lots of fun!

Round Robin Photo Challenge -- Anything in Threes

I am back from vacation and ready to play Round Robin again. This time the theme is Anything in Threes, so I went hunting for things in threes. My biggest challenge was to get my three cats all together at the same time.

I got three bananas at once in the following three pictures and a picture of my three grandsons before Emily was born.

Believe it or not, I got a picture of the three cats together, as follows. That is very unusual. I think I managed it by feeding them first. LOL!

Head for the link in the first sentence if you would like to see other things in threes.

EMPS #86 -- Stairs

Good morning to the folks who are visiting me or Carly's blog Ellipsis or both. The theme this week is stairs, and historical or famous stairs brings extra credit. Unfortunately, I don't have any of the latter -- just regular old stairs.

First I have a picture of Silver on my steps going upstairs. He was real good to cooperate and come down from farther up and look at me in a friendly way.



















The other steps are the ones going into my house at the various entries. This is the very back stairway, coming off the porch. It isn't used all that much.



















Here is the front entryway, which also isn't used very often. Mostly people who don't know me very well come to the front door.




















Here is the most used stairway, in addition to the stairs inside the house. It is how we generally get up on the porch and down from it.



















If you would like to see the stairs other bloggers have photographed, go to the link in the first sentence.

EMPS #84 -- In the Forefront

I like this theme of the Ellipsis Suddenly Carly meme, where we are to to show something very dramatic in the forefront while we are also making sure that there is an interesting background, too.

The first is a nice plant, which I think might be a forsythia, in front of the neighbor's trees.


















Following is a hedge in front of the trees far in back of the house. In this and the previous case, the foliage in the forefront belongs to me and the trees behind belong to one or another of the neighbors.


















The last is Silver, on the washer and in front of the spigots the water comes in through.


















If you have the chance to participate in this photo meme, I would love to see your pictures! Just go to the link in the first sentence to find Carly's blog.