To Spain We Go, 21 Days From Today.
Art by Jackson "Going to Spain"
Only 3 weeks from today we will be getting on a plane and heading to Spain to enjoy the sights, the sounds, and the tastes of a country that up until now the boys have only seen in a fantasy world. I don't know if they are expecting candy paved streets, trees producing toys year-round, or what. They are thrilled to go on our little 18 day journey to Spain.
There are some things I do know that they are looking for. What are they looking forward to? Well, grandma and grandpa and I know for sure that they are holding out for brave men in armor, these may be the most entertained children by medieval weaponry that the museum staff has ever seen! My dad is excited to bring them to see armor, I just hope he understands they are expecting to see armored soldiers from the point they get off of the airplane!
Lately we have resorted to doing flickr searches of "spain sword", "spear spain", "cannons", "soldiers armor", and "spain armor". Did you know that the horses even had the most exquisite armor?? Yes, well we will know the ins and outs of armor, castles, battles, and any type of fight while growing these two boys-and it is silly to me that some people really believe that boys would rather play with a doll. We have one doll, it is a potty training doll (which didn't work don't buy it!) do you know what they do with her? They push her arms straight up, bend one leg down and leave the other straight back to form a "T" shape, then they use her as a gun. Yep, they would most certainly rather play with dolls. HA!
Remember this chain? It is now down to 21 links.
The Kitchen God’s Wife
photo by John Foley
The Kitchen God's Wife
by Amy Tan
544 Pages
Fiction
Stellar Five Chicken Award Book
For over fifty years two women, Winnie and Helen have guarded some of the worst possible secrets. When Helen confronts Winnie telling her she just can't keep the secrets anymore, Winnie must come clean. Interestingly the person Winnie most wanted to shield from the truth was her daughter Pearl, but Pearl has secrets of her own to disclose as well. After years of holding in the truth Winne is forced to endure the painfulness of remembering so that for the first time mother and daughter can understand each other as a whole, not just the pretty parts. The true question is, are their bonds strong enough to endure the truth, after having been taught generation after generation to hide the truth and put up a fake front?
I had never read Amy Tan before, I have seen people love her and I can't believe I was so slow to jump on the wagon. I grabbed up this read because it was just sitting there staring at me in the library, and it was an audio book. I love listening to international fiction audio books because I enjoy the accents and voices. Plus, yes, I have always liked being read to just as much as reading a book myself. After reading (listening to) The Kitchen God's Wife, I have a new author to stalk, yes a new favourite. I have a couple of her other books sitting on my shelf calling me right now. She is one of my new favourite authors.
In The Kitchen God's Wife Amy brings up women's issues in old China, she dispels some myths, she tells an amazing story and that she told flawlessly. The book is pretty dark at places, and the characters suffer much at the hands of those who claim to love them. It is hard to read at times, but even though it is intense I could not stop reading it. This read rocked my boat and could not have been better-the only thing was that I had wished it would have gone on for a little longer after the secrets were out, but the book was already 544 pages...so that probably wasn't an option. Maybe The Kitchen God's Wife part 2? ha!
Here I go again, giving out my most precious award. However Amy Tan takes it by a landslide. The Stellar Five Chicken Book Award is well deserved, very well deserved.
Have you read other books by Amy Tan? Which gets your highest recommendation? Why do you enjoy Amy Tan?
Dreadlock Girl Photography Tips: How to Take the Best Black & White Photos
1.) B&W Shots Are Forever. There is so much to love about shooting in black and white. It makes the people stand out- you aren't distracted by the colours, so if the shot has a strong focal point your eyes will have no problem heading there. Black and white is more intimate, more whimsical, and much better at showing the on-looker the detailing in the shot. If you aren't convinced that black and white photography is for you, read on my friend.
2.) Learning from Black and White. Shooting in B&W gives you more of an opportunity to see what is really good (or not good) about your shot. The detailing either will stand out or not depending on the contrast you have set up in the shot, sure you can edit and change some things, but you will be able to see more of the raw detailing and therefore learn to take better shots. Therefore learning from mistakes, the best of teachers.
3.) Beat The Gray! May your blacks be black and your whites, white. This was a tip from my old photo teacher in high school when we were developing our own photos from film in the toner and other smelly chemicals. I still remember the tip though. When you are shooting, your light meter is set right when there is a range of "colours" from the darkest of blacks to the whitest of whites. Also, as always try to use the lowest ISO possible to reduce what is known as noise.
4.) The Biggies in Black and White. What matters in black and white shots? Learning to shoot for texture and contrast. That is what makes an excellent shot stand out in black and white photography. You will start to know the amount of contrast you are looking for. When you are a well trained black and white photographer you will see contrasts, textures, and be able to ignore the distractions of colour and tone. The best way to do this is to practice!!
5.) Never Shoot in Black and White! Yeah, strange I know...but there are several reasons to shoot in colour and edit the images on your computer in a photo editing program. The first is that then you'll have the image in colour if you ever need it that way, or happen to like it better. If you shoot in black and white you are limiting yourself and your options with that shot. The second reason is that when you tell your camera to shoot a digital image in black and white it shoots it in colour and then edits it into black and white inside the camera. Cameras don't have as good of image converters as your regular computer photo editing, so it will be a lower quality image that you start out with.
There are exceptions: if you are shooting in the RAW format than just go for it, your camera will load the colour data on to your computer when uploading so switching to colour will be an option. The second (and last) exception that I can see is if you are really wanting to see how it will look and you want to see it in black and white on your LCD screen, then switch over to shooting in black and white.
I always love answering questions for readers. I’d love ideas on future Dreadlock Girl Photography Tips sessions if you have them. Leave me a comment, I love hearing from you!
Previous Dreadlock Girl Photography Tips:
The Basics
Capture Real People, In Real Life Shots
Work That Thing! How to Get the Best Shots
Tips for Group Shots: How to Shoot a Group Session Like You Know What You’re Doing!
Photo Editing, Fixin’ Your Images
Taking the Best Black and White Photos: What to Look For
Dreadlock Girl Photography Tips: I am going to do several of these posts, I am not a professional photographer by a long shot, but I love taking pictures and seeing beautiful pictures so I want to share what I have learned with you.
The Boy Creates: Necklace
My little (not so little) Jackson loves making stuff. He makes draws pictures for Oliver when he is sick, or sad, or being grouchy. He is on a (not so loved by me) spiderman kick even though he has never seen spiderman, so he draws that all day. It ranges from pirates, to superheroes, to good 'ol wild, wild west.
This time my boy made something for me. Jackson found each component on his own, working away then he beamed to present his gift to me. I beamed too .It is so cool, and it makes my heart drool that he made it on his own, thinking of me. The sweetest thing is how he smiles and really notices when I wear it, and I do- to book club, church, wherever.
I love my necklace!
What things have your kids made that made you really feel the love? What things have they made that are hard to wear out in public? :)
Pretty Paper Book Club: Corvallis, Oregon.
Alyce, Susan and Jandi
Susan
I started a book club almost two years ago, it has changed and morphed, but just gotten better and better. It has made it through the season where all my friends wanted to come just to hang out, and now only my friends who actually want to read and live in the area come. It is a perfect size now (not that we would ever not welcome other peeps!!) Alyce, a fellow book blogger from At Home With Books is local and is a member of the group as well!
I love it, we go out to eat first and just hang out, then we go to coffee and dessert and talk more and then talk about the books. We all love books, and most of the time we all read the book, our only fault is that sometimes we have a hard time getting (and staying) on the subject of the book we actually read. After we talk and discuss the book and are full to the brim we have been known to go out to a movie (if we can get that figured out) or over to one of the members house to sit and relax in the hot tub.
Our book club I think is a little different than most in that we actually are friends outside of book club, and our relationships go deeper than books. I love my local book club...it is nice to meet once a month for girl time, an evening to just hang.
This month we are going to read Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, next month Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins!
Becky and babe :)
Alyce & Susan
Susan & Jandi
I was there too, but I never end up in the pictures, bummer.
These are the books we have read so far in our bookclub, with links to my book reivews:
Half a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (Not reviewed yet)
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (not yet reviewed)
Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
March by Geraldine Brooks
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Watership Down by Richard Adams
There are more books, but I'll stop there.
Is your book club as fun as ours????
Sunday Salon: One Thing I Love About my Library? Preloads!
I am currently reading Amy Tan's, The Kitchen God's Wife and it is excellent! I love getting the preloaded audio books from my library. Does every one's library have these? It is the size of a deck of cards and lighter and you just have to plug in your headphones and hit play. No need for an ipod or to put it onto your computer and then transport it into a different format to work on your MP3 player, it fab.This is what they look like:
It really is a great idea. So far I have listened to two of them, last week I listened to Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, before that John Green's Paper Towns and this week I loving The Kitchen God's Wife. For my little ones I checked out The Island of Blue Dolphins, and Charlie and the Chocolate factory two books I enjoyed as a kid. Our library gets them through Playaway, and the quality is good, you can even mess with the settings and speed up the reading if you want. They are marketing to the military, schools and libraries, places where more than one person would benefit from the usage of the pre-loads, I tell you....I can't get enough!
I have enjoyed the online download audiobooks that our library has, but these are even way more fun!
What about your library? Do they embrace new technology or is your library slower to accommodate the changing times? Tell me something you love about your local library, I'd love to hear it!
Drinking Coffee, Dreaming of Brooklyn.
I haven't even been to this store, but my sister and brother in-law live in Brooklyn New York and so family goes to visit them sometimes (not as often as we need to) so for different gift giving events we have gotten some of the benefits of their travels. We love these dishes, made by Fishs Eddy, designed by Jordan Awan, the set is called Brooklyn. Sketched after the ever-growing-in-popularity city, this design is so plain and pretty that when I drink from the stuff it makes me smile. Possibly too because it makes me think of my family over there when I use it, but still, I just had to share how cool these items are.
I love the lip, I love liped mugs, it makes my mouth happy when I am drinking some precous hot beverage, or just milk too. And the salt shakers are fab, at first the boys just could not keep their fingers off of them, they were sure that there was a castle in the drawing somewhere!
Other dish sets from Fishs Eddy that are excellent:
Nursery Set
Alice in Wonderland Dinnerware
Alphabet Mugs
Polka Dot Dinnerware
Do you have a favourite set of dishes or mugs? Do you find their value is more sentimental sometimes?
I was not paid, bought or asked to do this post, and I will receive no benefit in return other than sharing a good place and product with some friends. I hope you love it!
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I (adoringly) HEART—>
