'Tis the season

One of our favorite Christmas traditions is our annual trip to Strawberry Hill, a Christmas tree farm just west of Lawrence.  We decided to make the trek out there late this afternoon to pick up a fresh wreath for the house.  Here the proprietress is creating a bow for me.  I tried to figure out how she did it, but couldn't.  I am hopeless at bows.  The wreath is on the wall right above my computer, and I will be enjoying its fragrance for the rest of December while blogging.

Nikon D90
Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6
45mm - ISO 200
1/30s - f/4.8

Sweet goodnight

Tomorrow my family will say goodbye to my beloved aunt.  My mother baked us these cookies from the first recipe Aunt Barbara shared with her.  They are sweet, in more ways than one.

Nikon D90

Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6

105mm - ISO 200

1/40s - f/5.6

Nikon SB900

1/16 power

105mm zoom

Bounced up

Tram City

Detroit is one of my favorite airports, partially because of the red tram that runs across the concourses.  (And partially because the shopping is good!)  Here is the view from the back of the train.

Nikon D90
Nikkor 50mm - f/1.8
50mm - ISO 200
1/25s - f/2.8

Not-so-scenic NYC

You probably wouldn't believe that I spent most of the day in NYC, based on today's photo.  We were unfortunately doing photo-unfriendly activities today, so my camera took a long snooze in a parking garage.  I spent most of the day feeling like I had forgotten my right hand somewhere.  Finally, after returning to the parking garage, and desperate to find some photo, any photo, we attempted to visit Liberty State Park.  Across the Hudson in New Jersey from the city, it supposedly has fantastic skyline views, but the park had already closed.  So we snuck in, evading security, and took one or two shots of a building or two between a bunch of boats.  As skylines go, not so much.  Oh well.  Here's hoping I will be back there soon!

Nikon D90
Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6
45mm - ISO 200
1/20s - f/4.8

Early signs of the season

It is that time of year - two days after Thanksgiving, and the Christmas carols are already ringing through the mall.  Another sign of an early Christmas is the annual blooming of the family Christmas cactus.  Jessica's cactus started as a cutting from my mother's plant, who started hers as a cutting from my Grandmother's.  So who knows how old it actually is!  It blooms every year, sometimes at Christmas, other times at Easter, and some years not at all.

Nikon D90

Nikkor 50mm f/1.5

50mm - ISO 200

1/125s - f/1.8

Crafty Cathy

Jessica and I spent an enjoyable afternoon painting today.  She is doing a fun series of four paintings of a tree in winter, spring, summer and fall.  The spring one is pictured below.  I like the dreamy, idyllic look that the 50mm brought to the scene.  Although in this case, real life was pretty idyllic too!

Nikon D90
Nikkor 50mm f/1.8
50mm - ISO 200
1/200-f/1.8

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a busy, delicious day, with lots of turkey, stuffing, and of course, dessert!  Here is a before-and-after of one of the desserts, and a bonus photo snapped by my husband of my sister Jessica and me as we rushed around putting the finishing touches on dinner.  A lot was going on, as you can tell by our motion blurs!

Nikon D90

Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6

Top:  26mm ISO 200 1/30s f/4

Middle:  105mm ISO 200 1/30s f/5.6

Left:  18mm ISO 200 1/30s f/3.5

Nikon SB900

1/8 power

Variable zoom

Bounced up