Hypobloggia

Only two posts in the last two months! It has been quite a time! To catch up, here are a few of the things that happened, with pictures :)

It all started on the 3rd of August, when my brother Colm, and my daughter Aisling showed up on our doorstep. Apparently, I was the only person on the planet who was unaware of the visit!
Here they are with Maggie:

Maggie, Laura, and Becky did a triathlon

We took our visitors to the Iowa State Fair. They got to line up to see the Butter Cow, eat incredibly unhealthy food, and admire some very expensive agricultural machinery.

We also went to the Adel Sweetcorn Festival. There wasn't much in the was of exciting machinery, but the food was better.

There was the Magic Sample Sunday at Prairieland Herbs.

There were two other visits of family from Ireland (these I did know about), completing what will go down in history as III11(The Irish Invasion of Iowa '11). My wonderful niece, Claire, called in on her way to Australia, and my parents came over too.

Some more random pics: The epitome of Iowa - corn and sky.

And pretty wildflowers.

Oh, and I did a fun photography workshop!

Ghosty Toby

And just to show that the Ansco doesn't shoot only corn cribs, here's a fun double exposure I made...

More from the Ansco

Some corn cribs that we saw on our drive on Saturday. These were taken on the Ansco, on T-Max 100. I did a little Photoshopping on some of these images - straightening, dust spotting and cropping. 

This is Donna's lovely corn crib.

Scanned!

Happy New Year! Today was quite eventful - major dental surgery, followed by the arrival of our new (reconditioned $129.00) Epson V500 scanner. Maggie and I had a lot of fun (helped by Vicodin, in my case :)  ), as we scanned our recently-developed negatives. Here are a few of mine that were taken with my Leica M6 with a Summicron 50mm f2 lens, on Kodak Tri-X:

My lovely daughter Aisling, whose visit here was one of the highest points of 2010. (Come back soon, Ais!)

Another high point of last year was our visit to Chicago. This snapshot, taken from the bus, was my first clear view of Willis Tower.

Union Station has many picturesque aspects - one could easily spend a whole day there, with a camera and dozens of rolls of film...

A class at Harmony Yoga Studio in Des Moines. I shot a lot of digital images of this session for the studio's new website, but popped off a few on Tri-X too.

This is a favourite subject of mine - Prairieland Herbs' beautiful cash register, a 1914 Empire by National. Unfortunately, we are having difficulty interfacing it with Quickbooks, or finding a barcode reader for it.

It's Beginning To Smell A Lot Like Christmas...

...with Prairieland Herbs' December Soap of the Month, Celebration, from Biscuit's Boutique in Des Moines. This beautiful handmade soap is scented with spruce, fir and frankincense, and is only available while stocks last.

I had great fun making this picture - there's an annotated setup shot on my Flickr page.

Donna's Garden

I got to play with the new Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 yesterday. It is a truly amazing lens! I see a lot of wide-angle photography in my future!

Say "Cheese!"

Lots of fun classes happen down at Prairieland Herbs, but probably the funnest of them all, and certainly one of the most popular, is the "Make Your Own Mozzarella Cheese" class, which is taught by Cathy Lafrenz of Miss Effie's Country Flowers and Garden Stuff. Nine students attended the class, and all were delighted with their experience, and looking forward to enjoying their own mozzarella!

Cathy introduces the basics of cheesemaking.

 Waiting for the alchemy to happen....

Maggie

We had a quick photoshoot down on the farm today, to show off Maggie's new hairdo, complete with purple highlights and dreads. The "do" was done by Laura Hess of Roxy Seven Studio in Waukee.

The natural light was really hard, so I experimented with blockers and reflectors. I'm quite happy with the result.

Pirates Ahoy!!

Great merriment was had today as it was all hands on deck for Sample Sunday! International Talk Like A Pirate Day was fun for all the crew and the lubbers who boarded us.

Aye, now there's a fine comely lassie!

American Gothic Pirate?

The Crew - Donna, Michelle,  Dawn, Lynn, Melodie, Laura, Becky, me, and Maggie

Treasure ahoy!!

Aye, maties, there be treasure a-goin' down on the prairie! To celebrate International Talk Like A Pirate Day, Prairieland Herbs, Picket Fence Creamery, Northern Prairie Chèvre, and Flowers by Donna Jean, will have a treasure hunt across their four businesses in Woodward this Sunday, 19th September. Visitors get a map at the first venue they visit, then have to find a hidden gold coin in each location. When the coins are turned in at the counter in each shop, the map is stamped for that location. At the last port of call, the maps are handed in, and are put into a draw for a "treasure chest" of goodies from all four businesses.

As well as the treasure hunt, there'll be food, music, massages, reiki, guest vendors, free samples, and loads of fun! Prairieland Herbs are also offering 12% off all goods in the shop! So, hoist the jolly roger and set sail for Woodward on Sunday!

Soap Shoot

Doing some product shots for Prairieland Herbs. Here is this month's Soap of the Month (a little late, but better than never!) - Refreshing Rosemary from Biscuit's Boutique. This has a bright, fresh scent that's just the thing to get you up and going now that the mornings are getting darker.

This shot was lit with a single LED flashlight clamped in a retort stand camera right...

...and this was a more conventional lighting setup, using three Nikon SB Strobes.

Sample Sunday

A few shots from Sample Sunday at Prairieland Herbs:

There was hula hooping,

a tie-dye station,

and lots of other interesting goodies!

Day 131

This is Walter, another of the "Shop Fosters".

Day 124

Working in the shop today, I think Violet got a bit mis-filed

Day 122

Sample Sunday at Prairieland Herbs makes for so many photo opportunities, including this shot of the delightful flower pot and plant jewellery made by Becky of Willow Avenue Pottery. It was a good, fun day in spite of the capricious weather.

Day 103

Saw my first tulips of the Spring today. I thought it would be nice to snap a quick pic for the Blog, but it was so windy that on occasion the flower was whisked right out of the frame! This is certainly not High Art, but that's iPhone photography for you!

Day 79

Another busy day at the shop...

Day 54

Donna's mini horses complain about the weather, but with their thick winter coats they don't really feel the cold :)

Day 49

Late evening in Woodward. The crescent moon in Donna's favourite dead tree.

Day 46

Another vat of yummy stuff, this time the start of the chicken noodle soup I'm making for the Prairieland Herbs Great Soup Swap, which is happening out at the farm on Saturday. I think I'll have a bit more than the six quarts I need for the swap :)