Smoke, tears, a few curse words...

Mr. Incredible decided to make dinner last night... not because he really wanted to, but the decision to venture into the forbidden Land of Kitchen was born out of the refusal to eat pasta another night (my choice). So after surveying the available ingredients and a quick web search, Mr. Incredible entered the Land of Kitchen.

Whenever this happens (like every 3-4 months maybe) I realize how few cabinets and drawers Mr. I opens on a daily basis. He doesn't know where the measuring cups are, he's never seen the chili powder before, 'When did you move the olive oil?' 'Do we have a food processor?' 'Why doesn't this work?' Yep, Mr. I resides purely in the refrigerator, the plate and cup cabinet, the silverware drawer, and the pantry where the cereal is kept. I think we need to work on this...

Anyway, after much beating and banging, pops clanging, food processor whirling, Mr. I evacuated the Land of Kitchen with a paper towel over his nose and his eyes streaming. The Nora Nora started whining and jumping around. Then smoke began to fill the rest of the house.

As my eyes started burning, I threw open windows and even made a brave dash into the kitchen to turn on the vent over the stove. My eyes were on fire! And then my throat was on fire! Or bleeding! Or filled with fiery gravel or something! I ran out the back door where Mr. I and Nora were cowering.

Can anyone guess what Mr. Incredible was doing?

His nose was bright red by the way...

He was making chipotle peppers by roasting/burning jalapeno peppers in a frying pan. Somewhere between chopping them up and waving away the smoke, Mr. I managed to rub his nose and eyes with fiery pepper juice. Bad things happen when you touch spicy peppers and then touch your face. Just ask Mr. Incredible!

When the kitchen was finally aired out to sub-toxic levels, Mr. Incredible did return to his cooking and managed to bust out a pretty decent chicken sandwich (with jalapeno mayo and onion rings). My eyes and throat still stung a bit as I chowed down on his creation. Mr. Incredible proudly turned to me and declared,

" I may be a mess and completely out of control, but I make dang good eats!"

Amen.

Now guess who got to clean up the kitchen after all this??

Leapin' Lizards!

The fields are blooming in the back country of San Diego county.  My non-hunting hunting dog is in love with the tall grass and flowers (and whatever gopher is lurking beneath the soil)!

This looks like all fun and games- but leaping through the grass is serious business...

At least Nora likes to think it is!

The End (hehehe)!

-CtF

Learning New Things...

Austin has been experimenting with bending and shaping acrylic.

I've been experimenting with Photoshop Actions.

(in order from top to bottom: double color boost; color boost with feather; B&W; sepia with tinted color layer) (model: Mr. Incredible himself)

Studies in temperature

I've started shooting photos completely in RAW format.  RAW format is the unprocessed data that your camera stores, and it allows you to 'super edit' your images over and over again.  In this digital age, a RAW image is similar to an old film negative- unprocessed but able to be adjusted and tinkered with in the darkroom- or in this case- Photoshop.

There's a much more complicated description of RAW format- it is by no means a simple thing- but basically, shooting in RAW has allowed me to make minor or major adjustments to a shot in an easy way.  (If you have a digital SLR, you may be able to set you camera to shoot in RAW too!  Come join the fun!)

Here's the 'as shot' image... exactly as I exposed it through the camera:

Now, we can adjust the temperature of the photo... here's a cool- weather pineapple:

Maybe it grows somewhere here:

brrrrrrrrrrrrrr....

OK- how about a warmer look- the temperature is adjusted to bring out the reds and yellows:

This pineapple looks pretty happy in this warmer setting... like it could belong with these guys:

Here in Curacao...

With these people...

What happened to those people?  That tanned, smiling on a cruise ship in the Caribbean, happy couple?

Oh yeah...

Right... they got off the boat...

...and one started blogging about random things and the other vowed to never take a nice, smiling picture with his wife ever again...

...But he would still wear a Hawaiian print shirt with those shorts... out in public... without any second thought... despite any protests from me... or anyone else for that matter...

And that's why we call him Austin the Incredible!

-CtF

Rainy Day...

Today was a rare rainy day in socal... at least part of the day was rainy.  But it still counted in my book as rainy.  Even though we really only entertained a few moments of heavy sprinkles, Mr. Incredible and I enjoyed the great indoors.  Every once in awhile you just need to do nothing.  I realize this is hard for me.  

I'm used to packing the day with work, play, and every activity in between. At first I fought it- poking around the house, looking for things to clean, organize, or create.  I found myself spitefully scowling at Aust- who was happily glued to the TV, watching the second round of March Madness (listen to me- 'second round...' the only reason I know it was the second round- or that a second round exists- is due to the lesson in college basketball Mr. Incredible so dutifully taught me once I finally settled down today).

The chill in the air, the warm fleecy blanket draped on the back of my couch, and the sleepy snores escaping from Nora Nora finally got the best of me and I succumbed to Sunday afternoon nap.  It was great.

I realized that sometimes you just need a day without plans... or at least many plans.  I did go grocery shopping, made something for dinner, cleaned up around the house a little too but mostly did nothing in particular...

except this...

love, 

CtF

monsters in my house... and in my head

It all started with this little caped monster....

Soon I found this little green guy smiling at me.

Green Guy led to Blue Guy with sharp teeth...

Then their extended family and friends all dropped by...

The monsters took a hiatus while this wiener dog showed up as a gift for a friend's new baby.

But then some strange mix of monster/human made a come back... and was deemed too scary for friend's babies/kids/grandmas/etc...

Fortunately, like all good things eventually do, we made a change for the better and introduced this mustachioed snake...

Unfortunately, the twisted side of my brain seems to have the upper hand as this was the last monster found lurking in my house...

I do work for commissions- but they come with a 'creative license' disclaimer!

Spring has Sprung... and I like verbs

Our elm tree is...

...budding!

My purple daisies are....

...blooming!

The Australian Fern Tree is...

...unfurling!

The pomegranate tree is...

...blazing!

The ranunculus is...

...ranunculing? 

(OK- I know its not a real verb... but if you can, you should plant these- 

and start ranunculing yourself!)

And Nora Nora is...

...eating the trees in the backyard.  And we don't know why.

Happy Spring!

-CtF!

How many dogs am I holding up?

Sorry- just thought it was too cute!

ULTIMATE!

Our friend Dave invited Austin the Incredible to join him for a pickup game of Ultimate Frisbee.  Even though he is Incredible, Aust had never played Ultimate before (and yes, he did attend a state university for 4 + years... an obvious oversight in his education)!

I love watching The Incredible engage in athletic competition... as long as he's not playing against me!  

Here's Dave running down the field:

Here's some guy making a great catch:

Incredible's turn for a touchdown...

Caught it!

I could watch this guy-err- game- all day!

prize fight

I know... another puppy post- two in one day!  But who could resist?

This all stared with Brody taking a nap:

Nora spots him and starts to nibble:

Brody gets a paw up on her but she's quick to show him who's boss:

Nora fits Brody's head in her mouth- take that kid!

Nora clearly has the kid pinned:

But wait!  Brody sees an opening:

The scuffle is intense!

But ends in a truce!  

Till next time Sports Fans!