Gardening }{ Texture Tuesdays

Partake as doth the bee

Abstemiously.

The Rose is an Estate -

In Sicily.

Emily Dickinson

Gardening was the theme for today's Texture Tuesday's challenge.

small flowers from one of our flower beds

• start with original and minor adjustments
• background copy desaturated -25%  on luminosity @70%
• gaussian blur on background copy
• Kim Klassen's "stained linen" on multiply @26%
• layer mask to erase the texture over the flower
• Kim Klassen's "warm sun" on soft light @80%

N. playing with one of the flowers we picked

• original with minor adjustments
• convert background copy to BW on lighten @30%
• Kim Klassen's "warm sun" on linear burn @26%
• Kim Klassen's "love" on luminosity @26%

These were my attempts at minimalist, simple photos involving our garden.

I'm not an orderly person. If you see my crafting areas, things are a bit... disorganized. Still, there's a side of me that likes everything in order, neat, absolutely logical. When I get around to organizing my closet, about once every month, it has to be done just so - sleeveless shirts, short sleeve shirts, long sleeve shirts, button down shirts, jackets and cardigans, sweaters, skirts, pants, cocktail dresses, business suits and dresses, and finally a few formal pieces I still have; and within each of these categories, they have to follow a progression of light colors to dark colors; and they all have to face the same way.

Back to gardening. Like me, my garden is messy and orderly all at once. Flowers follow a color based distribution, the spaces between them having been measured, trying to achieve a balance and order in quantity and shades. And yet, there are spots with overgrown grass, weeds that I never get around to pulling out. How do you reconcile all of this?

Lately, my organized side has been winning the battle. I've been in full "simplify" mode, getting rid of clutter, donating old clothes, shoes, toys, packing away things I don't need for a while but that I'll take when we move. 

This has been a long post for a photography based challenge. My apologies. Like my house, I'm trying to get words out, de-cluttering my thoughts. 

ps.: in case you are wondering what's with the quoted poems lately, I've been in the mood for poetry, revisiting a lot of my old favorites.

To Infinity and Beyond!

Actually, no, not really. My post today has nothing to do with Buzz Lightyear. I just like to say that in a deep voice and arms stretched out.

The last few days have been insanely busy, and today was... unbelievable. I didn't know you could fit all that into one day. So, I actually had choices for my title:

• Trouble in paradise: N. and papa fight over how to set up the garden. Well, actually N. had her heart set on making the garden one way that was practically impossible. She didn't take it very well when papa insisted on making his box for the vegetables.

• Tragedy in the oven: I baked some pink cookies, and they looked delicious... until they burned in the oven. 

• Tasty Treats: still, the above mentioned burned pink cookies turned out very tasty, especially since we added a bit of frosting and sprinkles. Sprinkles make everything better. 

Happy East everyone!