Ms Em

For those of you keeping track of Ms Em

Winter Snaps

I've finally done it. I've got a digital SLR and am learing to take pictures all over again. I thought it was appropriate as I was taking all these snaps that I should "snap" the hardy snap dragons. They were planted last Spring and made it through the summer of hell, literally. Here they are still bravely blooming during the cold and damp winter. Me too guys. I'm still snapping.

The Empty Nest

I can always find something that is interesting to photograph at Mom and Dad's. This is a photograph of a now abandoned martin nest in a martin house. The houses are lowered each year after the brood has been raised. They'll remain at eye level until February when they are raised again to welcome the returning birds. What determines which pieces make it into the nest? Size, color, texture? Why that particular feather or that bit of string. I love nests.

Gardening in Fall

Fall is my favorite time of year around here. Cool nights and warm days. This is the one time of year my "yarden" gets closest to my English garden dream.

He was ensorcelled by an evil...

The flames had a mesmerizing effect. If I had seen the lurker at the time I took the photograph, I might not have left when I did. Is he an old flame? Is he trying to manifest? Who could have captured such a man and kept him for so many years bound by flame? Perhaps a story waiting to be written by you.

Scooby Doooooo!

I'll admit it. I'm a child of the 70's. I took my 1973 Scooby Doo lunch box to school every day and Scooby Doo influenced my taste in Halloween spooky ever since. Give me a good mystery, scary villans, smart heroes the Mystery Machine and a dog who triumphs in the end. "I'dve gotten away with it too if not for those pesky kids". Reality scary is just too real to be fun. Keep your slashers, your real life bad guys. I'll take my horror animated, thank you very much.

Not your average field trip

Foutains Abbey, Yorkshire. Kids get to spend day living like the monks of Fountains Abbey before the disolution of the Abbey. I can remember field trips when I was young. We went to the zoo and for a quarter you could get a "moldarama" of a zoo animal. I remember it dropping out of the machine piping hot and you had to hold it upside down so the molten plastic didn't drip onto your fingers. Or maybe the ButterKrust bakery and you could watch the loaves of bread roll by. I wonder what differences this makes in us as adults. Growing up surrounded by hundreds of years of history or in the young America. Where do we find common ground when we look at the world through two different lenses of childhood?

My Niche

I've started a new venture. TatterTales on etsy. Still looking for my niche on the site. Niche according to Webster is ( a place, employment, status, or activity for which a person or thing is best fitted ). I suspect a tiny cottage in Wordsworth's garden at Rydal Mount might fit the bill also. If I go missing you can find me at Niche Cottage, just pottering around.

Be Free

Do you remember what it felt like to not care what someone else thought of you? Can you remember a time when it didn't matter if you were popular or if people wanted to know what you thought? Get back there. Explore your world with joy. Live for yourself for a bit. Enjoy your life and your passion. Relax and remember why you used to love what you do. You can get it back.

A Tatter's Tale

Tatting is fast becoming a lost art. I decided several years ago that this was something I needed to learn and proceeded to go about teaching myself to tat. Thanks to advice from Mom and lots of practice I finally did. It was the hardest thing I'd ever tried and the first time I got the thread to flip I know I cheered out loud. So today, I planned to take up my tatting again. Its been months since I made anything. The things I'd done without thought after learning the first time had to be dredged from my memory. Dredged, pummeled, harassed, drawn kicking and screaming into the tips of my fingers. But. finally, its back. The rhythm has returned and the thread fairly sings through the shuttle and bobbin. Just saying shuttle and bobbin makes me smile. I'm back baby!

The Original Web Cast

This is what I missed most when I'm back home. These little nooks and crannies full of other worlds and treasures. Spiderwebs for shade, moss for your area rug. Life just seems to burst from everywhere.

Is there room?

This is one of two baby kittens growing up in the country at my Mom and Dad's. She is really sweet and incredible soft and fuzzy. I think she just might fit in my house. I'll let you know what happens.

Black Cat Mood

Some photographs don't need an explanation.

Summon the Magic

I've dreamt of visiting Scotland forever. Several years ago I decided to stop dreaming and start making it a reality. This photograph of an old stone bridge over the river Tay encapsulates all that I hoped to experience on the trip and so much more. It felt like coming home to me. A comfort and ease of being. An awakening of the magic that each of us carry. All things are possible in this ancient and wonderful land.

Sure wish I new a computer gooboo

Things to remember:

• This is for enjoyment


• The photographs are the important thing


• Don't freak out when you can't figure out how to add a link


• The page can be as quirky as you are

Photographs yet shared

I've got so many wonderful images that I haven't shared with everyone yet and I wanted to use this photo blog to do that. I hope you enjoy the photographs as much as I enjoyed taking them.

Photo Blog Adventure

The Scottish Highlands north of Ullapool. I could hear a hawk hunting as I stopped to absorb all the highlands had to offer.