random reflections

Photowalk #18: Rock Throwing at Wind Point Lighthouse

One night when Caleb had karate lessons, Sarah asked Hannah if she'd like to go to the lighthouse to collect some rocks. She had her sweatshirt on in no time. It was a perfect opportunity for me to get another photo walk in, and we happily went along. Sarah and her family live just a mile or so from the lighthouse so it makes an easy outing. 

This is the view of the lighthouse from the parking lot.

Hannah was immediately off with her bucket to collect rocks, while I went off to see what I could find to photograph.

I'm always happy to find a collection of cairns.

Although we've visited the lighthouse a couple of times, we've never been there when it's open to visitors. I'm not sure what the museum includes, but an accompanying sign says the original, built in 1880, included two wooden structures. Those were replaced with the current brick building in 1990 when the two copper trumpets seen above were installed. The fog horn first sounded during a heavy snowstorm in 1901, and was taken out of service by the Coast Guard in 1965. The Fog Horn Building was restored to its present condition in 1995.

While I was exploring, Hannah was collection rocks.

Sarah found a nice collection of fossils and a piece of sea glass. 

Grandpa, Hannah, and Momma got into some serious rock throwing (skipping.)

Which Hannah clearly enjoyed!

I have two other photographs from this outing that I'm saving for the first link-up for the Summer Photography Scavenger Hunt. And finally, the view of the lighthouse from the beach.

 

Watercolor #2 for AAA Birthday Challenges

Although I have a ways to go to perfect this technique, I finally gave no-line watercoloring a try. I used Ink on 3 for the stamping, and I was pleased with the way it worked. I used my MISTI to stamp the images, and that was a good decision as both needed a double stamping in order to be seen well enough. The lines remained clear until I touched them with the watercolor brush. Several days transpired between stamping and watercoloring the leaves.

Once again I used the Altenew 36 pan watercolor set which has wonderful colors for flowers, mixing together a couple of pinks, and using two different greens for the leaves. The stamped images are from my recent favorite set, Simon Says "Delicate Flowers." I fussy cut the flowers after watercoloring, but ended up ordering the dies when I got a coupon code for Simon Says, and waited for them to arrive before die cutting the leaves. The circular mat was die cut with Papertrey Ink's "Shape Shifter Circle #1," using just the two outer dies.

The sentiment is from a new set from Waffle Flower, "Label Greetings." I couldn't resist the font or the narrow border around the sentiment. I embossed it in white on the same Raspberry Fizz cardstock as the card front.

The final embellishment were three small white pearls.

Entering this at AAA Birthday Challenge: Use Watercolors.

I'm also linking this up to the sister challenge AAA Cards for their 5th birthday celebration. This gets in just under the wire!

Five in Five: Sunken Garden & Photowalk #17

On Sunday afternoon, I served as a "House Host" for the local Landmark Society's House and Garden tour. The morning was rainy and dark, but by the middle of the afternoon it cleared up, and we were really busy. Over 200 people went through the small, but charming, house where I was working. Before my shift, I made sure to leave home early enough so I would have time to visit the sunken garden that was on the tour. The quite expansive home on the same property was not on the tour. This is very unusual, but when you see the photos, you'll know the garden was exceptional. The rest of the street is a very ordinary residential street in a northern suburb of Rochester. Most of the homes were built in the early 20th century,

According to the Landmark Tour guide, the garden had been covered with leaves and debris for many years until the late 1990's. As the current owners began to remove the accumulated debris and underbrush, the  "elaborate terraced gardens" were revealed that "had been largely lost to time." I was totally unprepared for the magnitude of this garden set on this quite unremarkable residential street.

I didn't have long to spend, and all the photos were taken with my iPhone. But it was the perfect opportunity to take photos to join in with Eileen's Five in Five monthly meme.

This is the first view you get as you approach the garden from street level.

A more intimate view of the stone bridge. (SPSH #9 Bridge and #10 Made of Stone) Note another stone staircase going up the opposite side of the garden. 

The south end of the garden.

A detail at the north end of the garden; the rest of this side of the garden is a wooded area.

I took several other photos, including one of some statuary, the wooded area at the north end of the garden, and some beautiful flowering bushes, including a lovely wisteria. I'm glad I didn't miss this stop on the tour.

 

 

AAA Birthday Challenge: Watercolor

The new challenge at AAA Birthday is up: Use Watercolors.

I still had an image from Simon Says "Mandy's Flowers" lying on my desk that I watercolored with Altenew's 36 pan watercolors when we were visiting Sarah. I used Reverse Confetti's "Pierced Round Top" dies to create a focal point for the image which is smaller than some.

I die cut two different sizes, first with Papertrey's Green Parakeet cardstock, and then a pretty patterned paper from Reverse Confetti's "Fun Times" paper pad. I used dimensional tape to add the flower pot, and then added it all to a white card base.

The sentiment from Simon Says "Best Ever' set was embossed in white on black cardstock and trimmed out. Another pretty CAS design, although a bit more colorful than many.

Photowalk #16: Lake Michigan Pathway

The weather was basically dismal when we were in Wisconsin---lots of rain and very cool temperatures. The high one day was 48°. On the one bright, sunny day with warmer temps, Tracy and I decided to take a walk along part of the Lake Michigan Pathway. We started just north of the Racine Zoo and walked to the marina downtown. It ended up being a little over three miles. Aside from the very brisk wind, it was a perfect day for a walk.

Another entry for the SPSH: #7-A Curving Path

There were lots of red-winged blackbirds along the path. This was one of the better shots. I had my small mirrorless camera with me with doesn't have much of a zoom lens.

And there were hundreds of sea gulls on the beach.

More seagulls, but a better look at the beautiful blue colors of the lake.

A view of the marina. You can see that the leaves still haven't appeared on the trees, despite the fact that it was the middle of May.

Another photo for my shadow collection.

You can see the Wind Point Lighthouse in the distance. Sarah and Adam live just a mile or so from the lighthouse, and I have another series of photos from there coming soon.

We're hoping to walk more of this pathway in our future trips to Racine.

Time Out: Home Sweet Home

The current challenge at Time Out is inspiration from a photograph:

I was inspired by the bright flowers and created a CAS card with two pretty flowers from Altenew's "Adore" stamp set.

I started with a white card base, and added the Papertrey Ink "Bold Borders: Wave"  in white as a frame. After coloring the flowers with Copic markers, I fussy cut them and added them to the card after stamping a sentiment from Right at Home's " Grateful Heart" in black. 

I added some white dots with a Signo broad pen to the center of the orange flower. This went off to a friend almost as soon as it was made!