Macro Monday: Pretty Baby

I found this little doll in a drawer when we cleared out my mother's house. It looks quite old. It's only about 2 inches long, so making the clothing must have taken sharp eyes and nimble fingers. Her basket is in ruins, but the wavy edges make for an interesting frame, I think.

For more macros, check out the meme at Lisa's Chaos: Macro Monday.

*P.S. Hope nobody minds an early post. I expect to be tied up until next weekend. I'll be slow getting around to everyone, but I'll get there.

Macro Monday: Queen Anne's Ice

Hello there! This is my first entry in this meme. I don't know what took me so long - I love shooting macro, and I've been admiring all of your entries for some time now. Thought I'd jump in this time.

For more macro photography, zoom in to Lisa's Chaos: Macro Monday.

Nick Cave Is a God

I discovered Nick Cave's "Fantastical Soundsuits" while poking around at WonderHowTo.com.

Screw the Red Hat Society. When I am old, I'm steppin' out in one if THESE babies.

About Gatsby

For those who are following the saga of my poor sick cat, there's an update on my other blog, Havenwood: Feeding the Kitty.

Again, thanks for all your helpful and comforting comments on the subject.

Monochrome Weekly: Sweet Iced Tree

Can you find the crow?


See the world in black and white at The Monochrome Weekly.

Monochrome Weekly: Melting

Maybe winter won't last forever, after all.




For more entries, go to The Monochrome Weekly.

Round Robins: Candle Light

For more entries, check out the Round Robins Photo Challenge.

Monochrome Weekly: Patience Is a Virtue

For more black and white entries, go to The Monochrome Weekly.

Shadow Shots: Enter

A great old door, painted in shadows.


For more shadows, click the logo to visit Harriet's place:

Gatsby Update

Thanks, everyone, for your concern about my cat, Gatsby. He seems to be recovering nicely so far. He is still on meds for pain and an antibiotic, and we've switched to a different prescription food. He's getting his energy back, seeming more like his old self. We're not out of the woods yet, as it is common for them to re-block within two weeks after treatment. But we're hopeful that this episode is nearly over.

I've been doing some research on the condition, and it has helped me understand the paperwork from the vet. I'll post a link below rather than go into *the gory details*. Suffice it to say that saving him was an invasive and intense process. And expensive? Man. Yeah. It's enough to make me reconsider my opposition to the HAPPY bill.

What I don't get is why this happened. They're saying it is diet related. This cat was raised on all the age-appropriate formulations of IAMS foods, which is supposed to be a solid company. He first started having trouble last summer, which was eventually diagnosed as idiopathic cystitis, and the vet put him on a Prescription diet. He blocked anyway. Now he is on a different Prescription formula. We have never fed him table scraps or switched in and out of food brands. So what is it about the commercial cat food that isn't good for cats? And why, after all these years in business, haven't the companies fixed it?

When I picked up the special food at the vet's, I joked that it would be cheaper to feed him steaks. Then it dawned on me that his natural food actually is raw meat. So why don't we just feed cats meat? I'll be asking the vet on our followup visit. There had better be a good reason.


* As promised, here are the gory details: The Blocked Cat, at Marvistavet.com.

Monochrome Weekly/Shadow Shots: Cornered

I've hit a bit of a wall in my picture-taking lately. Nothing seems good enough anymore. I'm no photographer, but I still hate to put up anything here that isn't worth looking at for a few seconds, at least. It's why I'm sporadic contributor to memes. I'll skip it rather than post an image that doesn't work for me. And not much works for me these days.

However, I recently watched a documentary about famed photographer Sally Mann, What Remains. In it, she said photography always gets harder, because you feel like every image has to be better than all the ones before it. And that's it, exactly. And she said that what you have to do then is take another picture. Any picture.

So here's mine. It's my closet ceiling. Make of it what you will.



For more black and white entries, go to The Monochrome Weekly.

For more shadows, click the logo to visit Harriet's place:

Return of the Round Robins: Roots

Hey! We're back! I didn't realize it until I popped by Carly's place and found a party in progress. So, to kick off 2010 the Round Robins are exploring our roots. So to speak.

All the roots around here are currently under a foot of snow, so I dug some out of my archives.




This tree grows at Natural Stone Bridge and Caves in the Adirondacks, on a gigantic granite slab that stands nearly on its end. Massive roots go completely down the stone to the ground, while slender ones snake up to the summit to find a grip.

Unfortunately, they have nailed and posted signs everywhere, and the place is a maze of stairs and handrails, so getting an unimpeded shot of the whole affair is impossible. Still, I hope you can get at least a sense of it.

For more entries, check out the Round Robins Photo Challenge.