lizziebelle

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After the winter that would not end, spring has finally come to New England. Right now is my absolute favorite time of year: lilacs, apple blossoms, tulips, dogwood, redbud. Pink tree season is the best.

Things are going well at work. I was hired on as permanent (yay!), so now I have benefits. To celebrate my first real paycheck, I got a "new" phone (it's a "pre-loved" iPhone), which I love love love. My old phone was, well, old. The new one is rose gold and very pretty. And it has a lot more room on it for more apps and pictures. It makes me happy.

My next big thing I need to replace is my mattress. The old one is quite ancient, and probably a big reason I haven't been sleeping very well for a while. I found a great price on a nice one at my local appliance store, so that's coming next week.

Then I need to start saving for a car. The Santa Fe is almost 15 (I've had her for 5 years), and really needs replacing. I'd like for that to happen before anything else goes wrong with her. I'm leaning towards a Kia Soul; a couple of my friends have them, and say nothing but good things about them. Plus, they're cute.

Now that spring is here, I'm making an effort to get out more and take more pictures. It feels good to stretch those muscles again.

I'll leave you today with the Great Horned Owl I spotted at Mount Auburn on Beltane. I was very pleased to get pictures of him!

Current Mood: content
Crossposts: https://lizziebelle.livejournal.com/897282.html

Even though Flickr doesn't seem to be doing a "Best of" group this year, I've been thinking about which photo I'd choose as my best of 2014. I don't know if this is my best, but it's my favorite. It's just a bowl of fruit, sitting on my kitchen table, with the sun coming through the blinds. I didn't set it up, I just noticed how nice it looked and took the picture with my iPhone. I've played with it in the Aviary app, entered it in a Getty Images "Best of Month" request (and it was accepted!), and just smiled every time I look at it. Simple, great light, nice lines.

Of course, then they asked for my "Best of year," and they'd already accepted that one, so I went with this one, which I also took with my iPhone, at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem:

I took a bunch of pictures of this staircase, looking for the best angle, and this one I took out of a little window at the top. They liked it, and it got accepted, too.

I don't really put a lot of planning or thought into my pictures. I see something that catches my eye, I take a picture of it. Sometimes I get something really good out of it. Most of the time I don't. I'm working at planning more, making photo ops rather than just stumbling on them, but nearly all my favorites are products of being in the right place at the right time, and noticing them. I guess that's my talent. ;)

I've decided to try another 365 photo project. It's been a while, and I'm ready to try something new. I wanted to do something different, and to make them all iPhone photos. What came to me is to do a selfie project, but I don't want to make the usual selfies; that's boring to me. So I will do 365 photos of me, but different and unusual points of view (all G-rated). Today's photo is of my ear and jaw, with an Aviary filter. It should be fun to come up with ideas, and hopefully I won't run out of them too soon. Any suggestions?

In other news, I had two more photos accepted by Getty Images. That makes nine all together. It's a nice feeling to have pros validate my photography like that.

I've tried a few photo apps on my iPhone, most of which I've abandoned after playing with them a few times. They just weren't different enough, or easy enough to figure out, to keep using.

Yesterday, my cousin

shortysugarplum posted on Facebook that the app Aviary was giving away all its effects packs for free this month, so I decided to give it a try. I actually like it quite a lot; the effects are easy to apply, they're pretty nifty (and different from others I've tried), and there's a really good variety of effects and other fun things like frames and stickers you can apply to your photos.

So of course I immediately started playing with it. One of the photos I played with was of the library in Bolton; I made four different versions using different effects layers. This one jumped out at me, though:

It's just begging to be on the cover of the novel I'm writing.

Another thing I've found the iPhone to be really handy for (besides taking fabulous pictures) is taking notes for writing. I've been using the Evernote app (which someone, I don't remember who, recommended to me way back when I got the iPad) to keep writing prompts. What I like about this app is that it syncs with the iPad and the MacBook, so I have those same notes on all three devices. Ye gods, I'm becoming a tech head.

Before this, I put things in little notebooks and promptly forgot about them. Now I have them all in one place, so to speak, and since I use it often I am reminded they are there, and I actually use them. Pretty neat. I do love this technology stuff.

I was thinking today, as I was walking around at lunchtime in the glorious autumn sunshine, about how much how I think of myself has changed in the last few years. If you'd asked me ten years ago what I was, I would have said "Witch" or "Wiccan" first, because that was pretty much the most important way I defined myself, and had been for a long time. Now, I'd probably say "writer" or "photographer" first, because those are the things that take up more of my consciousness now. I'm always thinking about writing, always looking for the next photo. It's how I express myself creatively.

I no longer define myself by the Craft, because it no longer defines my lifestyle. I am more of a kitchen witch than a Wiccan priestess, which suits me fine. It was the right thing at the right time; I learned so much and met so many wonderful people (who are still an important part of my life). These days, however, I'm much more likely to be out wandering the woods taking pictures or sitting at the computer writing than I am to be at a ritual. How I connect with the gods has little to do with ritual and a lot to do with how I live my life every day.

I guess I have become, in the immortal words of Joss Whedon, a Techno-Pagan.

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Location: the aerie

Untitled, originally uploaded by Lizzie~Belle.

We've really had enough rain now. Seriously. There are flood watches for parts of New England. I suppose this is better than being on fire, as some of the West is, but I'm feeling rather soggy, as I'm sure my garden is.

At least it makes for pretty pictures. I'm still seriously in love with my iPhone, and what it can do with photographs.

stars, originally uploaded by Lizzie~Belle.

It's been raining on & off for a couple of days, which we've really needed. It's been a dry spring. Suddenly, everything is green.

I love how the wet dandelion poufs look like fireworks. These were in my driveway.

My phone takes wonderful pictures! One of the reasons I wanted it. :)

omg yum, originally uploaded by Lizzie~Belle.

Musing on what to make for supper often occupies the last few minutes of the workday, and today I was looking at the grape tomatoes I had brought for a snack and failed to consume when it hit me that I had a bolting basil sitting on my kitchen table, and it's been ages since I've had a caprese salad. So I stopped at the store for some fresh mozzarella (and picked up a lovely focaccia as well) and made one. It was so delicious, I think I'll make it again tomorrow. And then I can toss that spindly basil (I have a fresh, young basil in my window box) and get one more thing off the kitchen table. Genius.

I love, love, love my iPhone. I thought it was true love with the iPad, but that was just a warm-up. This is truly the coolest thing I have ever owned. And I bought it myself, which makes it more special for me. I never thought I'd be in a position to be able to do that. It wasn't all that long ago that I had to choose between food and gas some weeks. Believe me, I count my blessings every single day. And I don't take anything for granted. I'm enjoying the heck out of things, and working hard to keep them. It's been a really long time since I've been consistently happy. I hope it stays this way!

Current Mood: grateful
Current Location: the aerie
Current Music: Patsy Cline

magnificent magnolia, originally uploaded by Lizzie~Belle.

I actually woke up before my alarm this morning, which was set for 4 a.m. It was a beautiful morning to sing in the May! No clouds, golden sunrise, and good friends to welcome the season. We adjourned to S&S for breakfast after the greeting line with the Harvard ballroom dancers (it was so surreal to walk down the center of the line and hear dozens of people saying "Happy May" over and over). Quote of the morning goes to crustyduck, who said "You know you're getting old when the thing you look forward to most is breakfast at S&S." It was good fun, though; the Morris dancers are always fun to watch, especially the kids. There were so many of them! My favorite was the hoop dance, which ended in a really great spiral dance. We all clapped good and long for the kids.

After breakfast, a few of us headed over to Mount Auburn cemetery, which is full of wonderful flowers and greenery. I saw some woodruff just beginning to bloom, and Mayapple with buds! Perfect for this May morning. I found B.F Skinner's grave, but failed to find Bernard Malamud's, despite having a map in my hands. I also found some lovely Hathor heads on a monument; there are a lot of great Egyptian-influenced carvings there.

I eventually had enough of the sun and headed home for some lunch, and a nap. It was a lovely Beltane.

The iPhone had a good trial run: I took some pictures, which I have yet to figure out how to post to Flickr. I managed to post one to Facebook, though. It's been fun finding interesting apps (suggestions still appreciated!) and figuring things out. There's an HDR feature on the camera! I'll have to play with that, and the panorama as well.

Since the iPad and MacBook have names, should I name the iPhone?

apple blossom time!, originally uploaded by Lizzie~Belle.

The wonderful spring weather is continuing, and I am loving it. This is my favorite time of year. I've been walking at lunch and after supper every day, watching the trees blossom and leaf out. It's such a relief after the long, hard winter we had.

In two days it will be Beltane, and I'm looking forward to the annual maypole-on-the-Charles in Harvard Square. How wonderful that I can just ask for the day off and get it, without any hassle! I hope it's not cloudy, so I can get some nice sunrise shots of the bridge.

My tax refund came (and quickly, too!), and I'm going to finally cave in and get an iPhone. I've wanted one since they came out, and Virgin has a decent monthly no-contract plan, which saves me over $1,000 even with the phone being more expensive to start. So yeah, I'm going to be one of those people snapping pix with my phone and posting them to Instagram and Facebook all the time. *g*

But seriously, I'm fascinated with iPhone-tography. I've seen some pretty amazing pix taken with them, and I have a little practice with apps from the iPad, so I should pick it up pretty quickly.

And then there's that cool TARDIS iPhone cover on Amazon, where I have a gift card just waiting to be spent...

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lizziebelle

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May 2019

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