Final Friday Fotos: December 2012

Well, here we are, December already, and time for the final edition of First Friday Fotos. We began in January, 2012 taking a monthly photo of the summer kitchen and garden to see the development through the year. Unfortunately the garden didn't get planted this year, so the changes weren't as dramatic as imagined they would be. C'est la vie. While we had snow at the end of November, the December photo found us with another dreary, dull day. 

To review where we've come from, here are the thumbnails for each quarter:

First Friday Fotos: Hurricane Sandy Edition

Well, here we are, November already. The summer and fall seemed to just fly by and before we know it, it will be 2013. This past week has been difficult for many as a result of Hurricane Sandy, and we wish them the best as they begin the recovery and rebuilding process. Graeme Park, which normally gets a lot of flooding and power outages during even the most basic of storms, came through just fine with only minimal loss of branches, no leaking thanks to our new roof, and power and communications networks intact. Our resident ferals hid out in the shelters and straw bales we provided for them and all* seem to be just fine (*there is one we haven't had a siting of, but she comes and goes and it is not unusual to not see her for weeks or months, so we're hopeful she's ok). Several of our volunteers have been by to make coffee and charge up phones, Kindles and laptops since they still don't have power back at home.

As you can see in this month's version of First Friday Fotos, it is still a bit gray and rainy here today, and I think we've lost a few more shingles off the summer kitchen roof and the little bump out in the back, which you can't see in the photo, but for the most part, all is well here at Graeme Park.

To review previous First Friday Fotos, see October, September, August, July, June, May, April, March, February, and January. See you on December 7 for the final edition. Will there be snow on the ground? I hope not, but stay tuned.

First Friday Fotos: Halloween Edition

Bet you thought I forgot about FFFs again this month didn't you? But no, I knew I'd be back at Graeme Park this evening on a secret mission (more to come on that shortly) so I decided to try a nighttime shot in this most appropriate month of October.

I didn't have a tripod on me so I had to use the flash, otherwise my results looked like this:

This is me waving the camera towards the lamp post because it was so dark the shutter wasn't closing and I thought I broke the camera.

For a review of the changes that have occured in the landscape over the year, check out September, August, July, June, May, April, March,February, and January's "fotos." 

#FirstFridayFail: August 2012

It was bound to happen sooner or later: the first Friday of the month (the day I take the same picture of the summer kitchen and garden to see how things evolve throughout the year) found me sans camera, so this month's photo is brought to you courtesy of my non-smart Samsung flip phone. While I have finally mastered getting the photos from the phone to the computer, I did forget (and in bright sunlight you can't see the screen well enough to tell) that to get a horizontal photo you need to turn the phone on its side (the opposite of photographing with a camera) so we started out with this:

Thanks to a little creative cropping and some photo editing on www.ipiccy.com, the result isn't half bad, all things considered. The photo was taken just before noon, on a hazy, overcast (and humid as heck) day. We have a pretty yellow weed in bloom, and some volunteers from Burpee Seeds were out last week with plans to get some fall crops in with seeds donated by their company, so hopefully things will start to look more lively out there soon.

Since August also marks another four month interval, let's look back on the previous photos we've taken. January - April things were looking like this:

And May - August we had this:

If you'd like to see the original posts with the photos in full size, you can view January, February, March, April, May, June, and July by clicking the links.

First Friday Fotos: July 2012

Can the Celtic Festival really be only two weeks and one day away? It seems school just let out and the summer is already nearly half over already, although I'm sure there are those who are anxious for the more temperate days of autumn. We continue our First Friday Foto series this month with another peek at the summer kitchen and garden. Unfortunately it seems as if our gardner has gone on strike this year, so all we have to keep an eye on are the leeks, which are in full flower right now.

For views of how things looked in June, May, April, March, February and January, click the links.

First Friday Fotos - June 2012

Can anyone believe it is June already? Our annual Celtic Festival on July 21 will soon be upon us and we're working diligently on finalizing the entertainment and some other new ideas that we we hope will make this year's festival the biggest and best yet. We'll have details on that soon, but before we get to that it is time for First Friday Fotos!

Our little kitchen garden is currently blanketed with weed killing tarps in order to get the beds ready for planting. The photo was taken about 1 pm today, in kind of weird, overcast light. It still look stormy out there but so far no rain. For review you can view the photos we took in May, April, March, February, and January.

First Friday Fotos - May 2012

Can you believe it is May already and we're gearing up for our WWII Weekend tomorrow and Sunday? But before we get to that, it's time again to see what's going on in our Kitchen Garden with this month's First Friday Foto. It's still a little early for planting, but you can see the leeks (I knew I'd eventually remember what those were) coming back from last year in the forground and there is a pretty purple flowering weed that grows near the corner of the kitchen that is in bloom right now.

If you haven't been following the series, you can see what the garden looked like in January, February, March and April, and below is a close-up of the weed taken a year or two ago. Does anyone know what it is?

First Friday Fotos

Photographing the same subject - for me that would be Graeme Park - over and over again can pose its challenges to come up with something "new" and "fresh" - and for the most part, in my case anyway, I think it is sometimes a matter of dumb luck that the lighting happens to be just perfect that day to turn the same ol' shot into something special. See the below examples were the stonework in the "winter" shot just seems to pop? "Summer" won me a prize in the PA Trails of History photo contest, but "spring" and (very late) "autum" are just kind of run of the mill.

I love to Google us and look on Flickr for other peoples' takes on things I see all the time and I find in my own shots I'm drawn to certain angles and views that I photograph often. I thought it would be fun to do a weekly or monthly shot of the same view to see how it changes with the seasons and the light. Then I thought 52 shots of the same thing might bore the pants off of everyone, so I'll be doing a monthly "foto", on the first Friday of every month, and posting it here. I'll be back on January 6, 2012 with the first installment but here are a few more examples of what I have in mind.