Play Ball!
Since my son was four years old he’s played baseball in the local youth league every spring. He’s now 13 and we finally have our first baseball practice of the season under our belts! I look forward to the kids’ sports every spring and fall – softball and baseball are at the top of my favorites list (soccer I merely tolerate). Since I have a better camera now, I took over 400 pictures of his team’s first practice. Here are just a select few of my favorites.
So handsome! (Even in mom’s hat since he left his in the church bathroom)
Ready for the pitch
Right in the zone!
It’s a hit!
Gotta love that grin
Did you say something?
That’s in the strike zone, buddy
Heads up!
I got it!
I said I got it!
Out!
I got this one, too!
Ok, I forgot my hat and you made me wear your pink and white one in front of all my friends. Happy now mom?
This is my new cover photo on fb – one of the balls landed close to me and I made a quick out-of-focus snap. I love it!
Love this pic
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Clouds
I purchased a polarizing lens because I wanted crisper shots of my surroundings…can you see a difference with the lens vs without the lens?
And can you tell me why the picture looks better on my camera screen than it does after I upload it to the computer?
Random spot
These were taken during the storm the other night – without the polarizing lens.
I love storm clouds
Zoomed in
Darker
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My flowers in the sun and rain
I’m still learning how to use my new camera and it’s zillion setting options. Let me know if any of these pictures sparks a thought for you.
I have got to remember to spread out my bulbs this fall.
Closer inspection.
One is still shy.
Gorgeous orange
Vivid red
Different focal points, 1 of 3
Different focal points, 2 0f 3
Different focal points, 3 of 3
I took these during the storm last night; I was intrigued by the way the lights from the house across the street reflected in the rain on the ground.
Just a quick shot taken
Reflections
I noticed in this one the reflected light created a silhoutte behind one of my flowers…
…so I zoomed in and also discovered rain drops on the yellow flower.
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Make Your Own Apple Chips
My kids and I love apple chips, but paying $5+ for a bag that contains the equivalent of one dried sliced apple is beyond ridiculous! (And after making my own dried apples I can assure you there is only one dried apple in that store-bought bag!) So when I came across this recipe I had to try it.
Apples and Cinnamon…Mmmm!
Ingredients:
2 Large apples, cored and sliced
honey or maple syrup
1 tsp cinnamon
Love my Pampered Chef Apple/Corer/Peeler/Slicer!
Preheat oven to 200 degrees F. (The instructions now state to cover a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spray lightly with olive oil; however, I used my Pampered Chef baking stones (which are seasoned well) so skipped this step.)
Place sliced apples in a single layer, lightly drizzle with honey or syrup, then sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake for 2 hours or until crispy.
Before baking…
This recipe makes the house smell amazing!
After baking
I dried granny smith apples as well – without the honey or cinnamon. They taste delicous, too!
Granny Smith’s make great baking apples, too.
So good!
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2 Ingredient Lemon Bars – Melt in Your Mouth!
Let’s start with the end result….
I had to put powdered sugar on top so it wouldn’t float away.
I saw this recipe on fb a while ago and wanted to try it right away, but when I went to the store they were all out of angel food cake! I bought two cans of the lemon pie filling and placed the recipe on hold until the store stocked up again. The following week, success! Continue reading →
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Geocaching and Good Food, Too
We took advantage of another gorgeous day today. After church we headed up to Broad Ripple to search for geocaches along the Monon Trail.
The Road More Travelled
There are tons of caches along the trail. We parked and headed up the trail to the first one. We came up to the location and searched for a while, but no luck. We headed further up the trail and couldn’t find the next one, either. I started doing a bit more research on my phone about the Monon Trail caches and discovered a lot of people consider them a bit harder than normal/for-beginner cachers. Undaunted we continued and came up to the next one. My daughter quickly located this one!
That’s not gum under there….
We signed the log, put it back where we found it and moved on to the next. No luck. Getting hungry we turned around and headed back towards the car, searching for the ones we missed as we passed their locations again. While searching for one with a clue of “Tree”, another family came upon us and asked if we had found it yet. Aha! Fellow cachers! We ran down what we had found and what we had missed and started searching for this one together. While searching a jogger on the trail stopped and asked, “Are you guys geocaching? There’s a park up this way that has several. Good luck!” How awesome! I love how geocaching starts conversations with random people that you would normally only pass with a nod of your head. We continued searching and after about 10 minutes one of his daughters found it. We all signed the log and went our separate ways. Continue reading →
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Mom, can we go geocaching?
T-Bone called me yesterday to ask if he could spend the night at my house. After I said yes, he then asked if we could go geocaching – I think this was the real draw to spending more time with me this week! 😉 Fine by me, the weather has finally turned to spring and any chance to get out in the sun and warm weather after the past six miserably cold and dreary months gets a definite yes from me!
I picked him up after work and we headed to a local city park that had three or four caches. It was such a gorgous evening! We hit the hiking trails towards our first cache. When we got close the app on my phone indicated it was just a bit off the trail. Seeing where a side trail or three had been made we started exploring the area to find our treasure.
Slippery slope – it’s a lot steeper than the picture shows.
No luck. Continue reading →
Between the Eyes 