Just nuts...

Remnants of Christmas

Delicious, nutritious treat

Broken craggy shells 

Nod of approval  

Beans, beans, the magical fruit...

15-bean soup mix

Overnight-soaked, wrinkly-skinned 

Prelude to dinner

The finished tan-gray soup can never do justice to these beautiful, colorful beans, so appreciating them before cooking seems a worthy thing to do.

Adding ham, onions, garlic, and chopped carrots (pretty much according to my post here), Ham & Beans Soup was enjoyed this week, and extra was shared with friends.

I don't know why I only seem to make this yummy soup once, at most twice a year, but this week was a perfect time for it.   The last of it was enjoyed on this snowy, wet February day.  

Nature doing its thing...

Giving my back a break from weeding the strawberry patch I pulled up a chair and contemplated the nearby woodpile.

Nature's decomposers make interesting designs.

Sunlight and shadow play...

 

I was sitting in the chair pictured above and just happened to turn my head when I noticed this terrific striated pattern of light and dark bands produced by the partially opened blinds as the sun had lowered to the exact position to create this fun shadow play on the wall and lamp.  I couldn't couldn't find my camera fast enough!

Seeing in the picture that the bands bend around the corner on the wall is bonus fun. 

Challenge on (again)...

It's time for a new challenge for myself.

First off, my knitting socks is on hold for the moment.  I was (and still am) excited about sock knitting, but in the end I have decided I need to start them over and make smaller socks - socks that will (hopefully) fit me.  The thing is, I need a little time before I rip out (again) what I have done and start a new pair.  Partly that's because putting a little distance between my knitting and (I think 3rd) frogging will help me not feel so discouraged about starting over again.  And partly because my left hand needs a break.  It's been hurting for a week now, and I've decided when I pick the knitting needles up again, I need to pace myself better.  And maybe try to relax my tension...

So...  my next challenge? I'm considering it a collab between my Everyday Aesthetics challenge and a Photo of Daily Life challenge.  Actually, my Everyday Aesthetics challenge was supposed to be a Daily Photo challenge, but I don't think I even posted half of the days of August.  I'm also broadening my subject matter to include even the (seemingly) mundane things of life.  It will be interesting to see if they look so mundane in a photo.

So I'm trying this again.  Simply put, I am challenging myself to post a photo (or maybe a few photos, like today) of one subject in my world each day of February.  If you've been around here for any length of time you may have caught on that I try to treat these challenges as fun learning experiences.  In other words, life sometimes happens and if I miss a day (or a week) here and there I don't spend much time feeling bad about it. 

Following are the things I hope to gain from the experience::

To take greater notice of the details of my surroundings 

To recognize that every day contains things worthy of noticing, and worthy of remembering that I noticed.  Photos capture the memory.

To recognize that even ordinary things are notable, and worth remembering if they are important enough to have become part of the fabric of everyday life.

To sometimes capture in photos patterns, designs, colors... really anything interesting in my world that often goes unnoticed. 

To grow in gratefulness.  I didn't start out the Everyday Aesthetics challenge last August expecting this to be a result, but very quickly I realized that I developed a thankful heart over the lovely, sweet, sometimes just interesting everyday things in my world.  Especially with things in nature, it made me think how our Creator probably delights in all the marvelous things He has made and, and I think it surely pleases Him when we delight in them, too.

I'll let you know if before the month is over I come up with some other good outcomes of doing this.  Activities like this have a way of surprising me, I've learned.

So...  you've already seen today's picture above.  

Was it obvious what it was?

It's something that has had a place in the scenery of my life for so long I stopped noticing it.  

Today I pulled it off the shelf and started using it again...

It appears to need a bit of a sort, though.  I see scissors, watercolor pencils, water brushes, pens, pencils, a highlighter and even a tiny crochet hook in there.  A big sort isn't necessary, but I think I should relocate the crochet hook at least, so I'll know where to find it when I need it next.  

Late summer glory...

 
Credit for this photo of a dewy dragonfly belongs to my dear friend, Lynne - whose old gate captivated me when we visited in early August.  Lynne sent this picture to me (several weeks ago now) with a note that said I had "reminded her to look for everyday beauty".  A wonderful compliment!

Thank you, Lynne!  I'm sorry it took me so long to post it.  Though I know you know I've been a bit distracted in recent weeks.

Oh...  And just for fun...  turns out flowers in at least one Walmart are intentional.

After a rainstorm...

About the time when the daylilies were fading this summer, I realized sunflowers were growing in front of them from seeds dropped by our feathered friends feeding at the birdfeeders.  I decided to let them grow and enjoy the show.  

While we temporarily removed the bird feeders for a few months since the birds really weren't needing the seed, it was a fun surprise to watch nature unfold outside our bird-watching window while the birds were finding their food elsewhere.

Finding joy in little things, I have enjoyed watching a different view of the cycle of nature this past year.

I sure like low maintenance...

I've had a lot on my plate over the last several weeks and am looking ahead to more of the same into the next month, so anything low-maintenance and pretty gets special mention.  

For a plant that went completely neglected all spring and summer, this clematis certainly didn't seem to hold a grudge.

Late in the spring it treated us to a beautiful flush of purple flowers.

Then it seems like I remember looking at it about mid summer and noticed the blooms had all died off.

Then just last week I noticed new blooms and all these wonderful seed heads.

While I love when something so pretty is low maintenance, at the moment I look forward to paying this plant a little more attention next summer.  

We'll see if I actually do...

An unexpected simple pleasure...

Restrooms and Walmarts (especially restrooms in Walmarts) aren't natural blog fodder for me, but this moment was a perfect example of capturing "everyday aesthetics" where it could have easily gone relatively unnoticed.  

Walking into the restroom at a local Walmart recently, I didn't expect to be greeted with sweet smells and pretty, fresh flowers.

  

In fact, I'm sure I would have forgotten all about it had I not told myself as I was leaving to turn around and snap a picture.

As I went to get a cart, I stopped and told the greeter how surprising and nice the flowers in the restroom were, and she smiled like the whole thing was her idea, though she said she'd relay the message to management.  Whosever idea it was deserves to know it was a lovely thing.

It was all so unexpected, it honestly had me smiling for the duration of my shopping trip.

~~~~~

Edited to add...  I dropped into this Walmart again recently, and decided to visit the restroom for the sole purpose of finding out if the flowers above were intentional or just a happy, maybe even accidental bit of serendipity.

Turns out it's intentional:

Yay, Walmart!

Hmmm ...

Normally I'd have instantly thrown a piece of rotten fruit away, but these days I find myself stopping to study a thing.  Not sure a rotting tomato is actually aesthetically pleasing, but if you stop to really look at it, it is kind of fascinating.

For a moment, I thought maybe I was just becoming a little too weird with this whole looking-at-stuff-with-a-different-eye thing.  

Am I employing  an artist's eye?  

I went looking for an answer...

You tell me:   https://fineartamerica.com/art/rotten+fruit

Finally turning...

Mid-August. After a week of more moderate temperatures than we've had all summer, the tomatoes are finally ripening.  So excited!

Garden games...

 Picking green beans and cucumbers is an almost daily game of Hide and Seek.  

The above picture doesn't show any of the plant's stem, but the stems that support the main part of the plant look very much like the green bean itself - with something that looks like the dark "spine" in the middle of the green bean.   It's kind of fascinating how similar the two parts of the plant look, but it makes it really challenging to find the mature beans sometimes.  I've been fooled a number of times reaching for a green bean, only to find myself grabbing hold of a stem.

I circle around and search through each bean and cucumber plant two or three times before feeling reasonably confident I've found all that are the right size for picking, and a couple days later I almost always find a giant cucumber I missed.  When this happens, they are always so large (like 7 inches or more), I wonder how on earth I must have missed it several times.  It starts to feel like the plant is playing pranks on me.

While I try to harvest the pickling cucumbers before they get over 5 inches long, it's important, I've learned, to never let a cucumber grow so large it turns yellow.  At that point, the plant will likely stop producing fruit and think it's time to die.  So evidently, as long as I keep picking while the fruits are young, the plants will keep producing.  But if I let just one go too long, and get too old, it's Game Over! 

I have to say when I decided to plant cucumbers, this was not a game I anticipated.  

I also have to say... the Bread and Butter Pickles I canned earlier this week are worth it all.  Mmmmm.  I was so happy with them, I gave some to friends who came over for supper last night who'd never tasted Bread and Butter Pickles.  I hope they like them as much as I now do!  

First blush...

 I think I'll be processing my Roma's soon!

Summer kitchen...

 

Peaches ripening on the counter

Next year's onions...

Captivating grace...

sweetness, charm and age

through weathered transformation - 

captivating grace

Pictures taken at Mike & Lynne's house

A clean start...

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins 

and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”    1 John 1 : 19

Tuesday's Harvest ...

Art in my everyday...

Inspired by the artists at Feather Garden, Salty Pumpkin Studio, and Field and Fen, I am doing something totally impromptu and somewhat spontaneous, and have decided to challenge myself to look around, see the "art" in my everyday spaces (and maybe the not-everyday-spaces), and try to capture it in a photo.  The point is not to capture actual art, but to see the everyday things around me through an artist's eye, so to speak.  As best I can, anyway.  I'm not sure I have an artist's eye.  But I think this is about developing it, so we'll see if that happens. 

Actually, in thinking about this more, I'm adding this paragraph to say, I think what I'm really after is to recognize everyday aesthetics that often go unnoticed, most definitely undocumented.  Regularly documenting everyday aesthetics isn't what's ultimately important, but recognizing them is.  And this practice of documenting them will surely raise my awareness, and even cause me to look for them when I might otherwise move through my space and time too much otherwise occupied to notice or stop and appreciate them.  While I think it will become apparent, I'm also going to mention that seeing "beauty" isn't what this is about.  It's really about seeing things that interest the eye.  That spark an emotion even, for example... of delight or even sadness, or confusion...  We'll see what presents itself.

I have the idea that I may try to do this every day for the month of August or maybe just when it strikes my fancy.  Maybe I'll peter out before the month is over, or maybe this will last beyond this month.  As I begin, I am giving myself no guidelines for this challenge - only to try to capture in a picture something of interest - though I'm allowing for the interest to be in the style of the photograph at times, perhaps even more than in the item photographed.  We'll see what happens.

Beyond this first post, I will try to keep these posts short.  Even wordless at times - hoping the picture speaks for itself. 

To keep track of these pictures, I've created a tab just under the header at the top of my blog.  If I decide to remove the tab, I may make a link in the sidebar.  Clicking on the tab or link will bring all the posts together in one spot.  

 

If you visit me, frequently or occasionally, I hope you'll leave a comment about what you see in these pictures.  

For example, in the second picture I'm kind of enthralled with the brown staining, and what looks like a worn edge on the lid.  In person, I barely notice it, but in the photo (which is easily twice the size of the actual box) this lid edge adds character to this little box that sits on our computer desk.  This box has sat on the computer desk here and in our old house for possibly most of two decades.  At times it has held paper clips, at the moment it holds nothing.  It's granted space on the desktop totally on its own merit.  I don't recall where it came from (probably found at a thrift store), and it's become so much a part of the scenery I hardly ever notice it.  Maybe that's what this challenge is about, too - noticing things that have undeservedly become unremarkable.

Ok, ok...  I think that's enough explaining.  Can you tell I'm figuring this out as I go?

I hope you'll check back and see where this takes me!