The Leeward Islands...

I finally finished editing my photos from our sailing vacation down to about 500 pics to share...I brought my new DSLR as well as my old P&S  and pretty much alternated using them...If I thought there was a chance of getting wet I brought the older camera.  I did spend a lot of time practicing with the new camera...and even read the manual.

I am in love with the Caribbean...the islands, the sea, the weather... This is the third time Mr O and I traveled with a group of friends to charter a sailboat  for a week of cruising the islands...but the first time we visited St Martin, St Barts, St Kitts, and Nevis...I find it interesting how similar yet how different each of the islands is.

We picked up the provisioned catamaran on the French side of  St Martin but arrived too late to see much more than the road from the airport to Oyster Pond and the restaurants at the dock...

The next morning we left early

and sailed to St Barts...

where we moored at one of my favorite spots ...Anse du Grand Colombier...a rather secluded bay with a sandy beach...

... took our first dip and grilled steaks on the boat.

The next day we swam to the beach, hiked up the rocky, cactus filled hills...

 

...and swam in this great, warm, very salty water...

...back to our boat...

...and that was all before lunch.

Return From Vacation...

I've been home from vacation for a week and I finally feel nearly caught up with unpacking, washing laundry, paying bills, grocery shopping, cleaning the house, and editing pictures...Our Caribbean interlude was very restorative...Four couples chartered a 43 foot catamaran in St Maarten and sailed to St Barts, St Kitts, and Nevis...Every day was sunny and in the 80's...The food was delicious whether we cooked on board or went to a restaurant...The water was warm and clear...We swam every day...What more could I ask for in the middle of winter?

Caribbean water is just a different color and consistency than waters in New England...

Chartered boats seem to have silly names...This was at least better than the name of the last catamaran we chartered...Cat Sass...try saying that over the radio three times...

We sailed under the French flag...

I'm not a sailor but Mr O and my friends are...

I took lots of photographs...

and relaxed...

A Winter Interlude...

When you open a fortune cookie and get a fortune like this you really need to start packing...I will not have access to a computer for the next 10 days but I will be bringing two cameras, my handy-dandy iphone, a very fat novel, a month's worth of  New Yorker magazines, snorkel gear, sunscreen, floating tubes, Mr O, and 6 other friends so I shouldn't miss it...Will be back with lots of photos...

First Try...

One reason that I haven't been posting much recently is because I have been spending so much time with new toys equipment...Not only have I been experimenting with my new iPhone but since December I have received Photoshop Elements 8 and a new camera.  I don't have any basic technical knowledge so it is a very long, slow learning curve...Slow enough that many of these cold, windy days have found me in my nice warm library experimenting at the computer rather than, say, cleaning the house...

One thing I wanted to try was to enhance a photo with a texture and this is my first attempt...

The original already had an amazing sky...

  ...I cropped the picture and layered  on two free textures, FallinApart by SkeletalMess and WornLove  from CoffeeShop...It may not look it but it took me hours to do this!  I'm thinking I may prefer the original but it was fun! 

Kitchen Help...

What do you do on a cold, snowy day?

You find some helping hands...

...and mix up a batch of muffins...

It warms up the kitchen...

...and it warms up the tummy...

A New Toy...

Mr O and I just bought  iPhones and you would think we were two kids the day after Christmas...I have been playing with camera functions of course...These photos were taken with the ShakeItPhoto app which processes your photos to look like an old time Polaroid print...it even sounds like a Polaroid camera as it "develops the film"...and yes you can shake your phone to speed the developing...

Oh I've been having fun!

A Few Simple Things...

Planning on participating with Christina of Soul Aperture in her celebration of simple things, I noted the simple things that I was grateful for from the time I woke this morning ...

• the cool side of the pillow
• seeing blue sky through the skylight
• a new warm green puffy down bathrobe
• old Ugg slippers
• the sound of a new toilet flushing so well:)
• listening to the news from a steamy shower
• Strong Colombian coffee
• eggs over easy with avocado on a toasted English muffin
• being at goal at a Weight Watchers meeting
• a cheerful checkout person at the grocery store
• my silver Subaru
• getting a clean bill of health at my annual physical
• having a good cry
• getting an H1N1 flu shot
• beautiful cut flowers in a white McCoy vase
• my new iphone in its pink and purple case
• Leonard Cohen on the car CD player
• browsing in a bookstore
• Better Homes and Garden magazine
• the many different shades of gray in January
• red wine
• baked potato chips
• broccoli rabe
• President Obama
• soft warm lap blankets
• a sleeping cat sharing a chair

A long list and this doesn't even include the people in my life...I am very fortunate indeed...

Christina and her family are planning on donating $1 to Doctors Without Borders for every blog that participates...

A Little Color...

I have been trying to photograph color this week...and I've been having a hard time finding any...Everything is drab and gray...So I decided to make something colorful...

...Roasted Beet and Orange and Avocado Salad...

...There really isn't any recipe...I just wrapped three beets in foil and roasted them in the oven until tender...about an hour at 400 degrees...then mixed sliced beets, navel orange segments, and avocado slices with salad greens....The beets and the oranges are seasonal right now...and maybe the avocado is too...

  The dressing was made with 1/4 cup of  orange juice, 2 Tbsps of olive oil, 1 Tbsp of red wine vinegar, salt, and pepper combined and shaken in an old mustard jar...

Just eating these beautiful colors made me feel good...

Ice Abstractions...

We have been having some rain and warmish weather...I would rather have the snow...

Just Because...

...Sometimes you just need a little pink...

"The Sixth of January"...

 

The Sixth of January

The cat sits on the back of the sofa looking
out the window through the softly falling snow
at the last bit of gray light.

I can't say the sun is going down.
We haven't seen the sun for two months.
Who cares?

I am sitting in the blue chair listening to this stillness.
The only sound: the occasional gurgle of tea
coming out of the pot and into the cup.

How can this be?
Such calm, such peace, such solitude
in this world of woe.

"The Sixth of January," by David Budbill, from Moment to Moment: Poems of a Mountain Recluse (Copper Canyon Press).

 

I love it when I find a poem that I wish I had written ...one that describes exactly what I would like to say...of course my chair isn't blue but gold...and the sun is shining thru the window...but still...

I found this and many other of my favorite poems at The Writer's Almanac...What I am not sure of is if I need permission to put a found poem here...

Mother's Cold Remedy...

When I was a child my mother made cough syrup for me with honey, lemon juice, and a little whiskey...when I grew older tea was added...Strong hot tea with a shot of whiskey, a squeeze of lemon, and a good spoonful of honey not only relieves  coughs and congestion but it also helps one sleep like a baby...

A New Year's Day Walk Around the Pond...

...and the  first time I felt like taking photos in a long time...Join me...

...the sky looks as grey as the land...

Kaja joins us but hates the camera...

The trail goes over several bridges...

And crosses a dam...

The brook is incredibly loud ...

The beech tree leaves remain golden on the branches...

I find hearts...

Halfway around...

Looking back towards the dam...

Your life is in your own hands...

The north side of the tree...

and back where I started...

My favorite walk doesn't take very long...but it does restore me...

My word for 2010 is Restore...