Tag: basic life

A Photo a Week Challenge: Cracked

Most of the time, we don’t want things to crack. When it comes to artisan bread, the more cracked the crust, the better. My brother gave me the recipe for this delicious loaf, and it has become the most requested item from my kitchen. It’s pretty easy to make, you just need a dutch oven that will fit in your oven. I use a smaller enameled one I got at Sam’s Club, but my brother uses a standard camping one.

Here’s the recipe: The Best No-Knead Bread

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR MORE) OF SOMETHING THAT IS CRACKED.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

  1. Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
  3. Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
  4. Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: #GiveThanks

In the United States, today is Thanksgiving. Even though there is a lot of controversy about our history and what and who we should celebrate, I’m still grateful to live in a country that values freedom. While we may not be perfect at honoring that value, I do believe most of us try. Last Friday, the leader of my church asked everyone, worldwide, to flood social media with posts about gratitude using the hashtag #GiveThanks. It has been amazing to see the tone and feeling of my Facebook newsfeed shift from anger, fear, and division to hope, gratitude, and love for others. I hope that this continues not just through the holiday season, but becomes a permanent part of our lives and thoughts as we give thanks for what we have and who we have in our lives.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone, American or not. I hope that your days are filled with love, joy, and happiness.

(P.S. The second photo is to show off a little. I’m loving the flakiness of my pie crust turkey but please ignore the slightly too-dark edge. 🙂 )

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR MORE) THAT EXPRESSES GRATITUDE.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

  1. Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
  3. Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
  4. Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

Bushboy’s Last Photo of October challenge

Bushboy has challenged everyone to post the last photo on their SD card. I took this one of our Halloween pumpkins last night. We didn’t get a lot of Trick-or-Treaters, but the pumpkins looked great.

For more from this challenge, visit Bushboys World: Last Photo for October 2020.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Something Baked

Okay, okay. I know this pie isn’t baked yet, but it was soon after I took this photo. When summer starts turning toward fall and all of the fruit trees are bursting with ripe fruit, my heart turns to pies, especially apple pies and peach pies. This pie happens to be peach. I have been using my mom’s no fail pie crust recipe for many moons now, and it has failed on my only once (and it was my fault; old flour). Not this time. This time, the crust was the flakiest, melt-in-your-mouthiest I have ever made. I doubt I’ll ever be able to duplicate it. I sure love it when my kitchen smells like a bakery.

Here’s the finished product.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO OF SOMETHING BAKED.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

  1. Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ and “Photo a Week” tags.
  3. Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
  4. Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Nostalgic

I’ve mentioned before that my mom’s dad built a cabin in the Uinta Mountains in the 1950s. He was a postal worker by trade, so it’s a bit clumsy, but after nearly 70 years, it’s still standing. When we go up for a weekend, there are a few things that are “must haves”: s’mores roasted in the fireplace, sugar wafer cookies, and breakfast toast cooked on the old wrought-iron griddle. This is seriously the best toast ever. I’ve tried making it at home. It doesn’t taste the same. Not even close. Years and years of seasoning have gone into that iron, and there’s nothing else like it. Anyone up for a nice mountain adventure?

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO OF THINGS THAT SOMETHING THAT MAKES YOU NOSTALGIC.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

  1. Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ and “Photo a Week” tags.
  3. Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
  4. Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Footwear

I like wearing shoes, but I don’t like buying shoes and I don’t own a lot of them. When I find a style that I like and are comfortable, I will wear them until they wear out. Then, I’ll try to replace them with the exact same shoes. I love shoes for little kids. I think they are so cute, especially boots. Any style of boot for a little kid is just adorable. These boots belong to my great-niece. Her parents are building a new house, and these are the boots that she wears around the construction site.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO OF FOOTWEAR.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

  1. Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
  3. Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Opening

Last week, I asked you what changes you have made because of the pandemic. This week, our state went from orange alert to yellow, which means that all businesses can open again and restaurants can offer limited dine-in services (with all proper precautions). Our governor is also talking about some counties that have had little to no impact from the virus might be back to green (all clear and normal) by the end of the month. This is good news. The shutdown was initially only supposed to help hospitals prepare and be ready for an increase of patients. I’m not sure when it went to “we can’t open anything until we have a cure”. We don’t have a cure for the Spanish Flu from 1918-19. Why do we think we will find a cure for this virus? Sorry about the rant. I just worry about economies and isolated people who are at risk with no outside contact. There has to be a balance.

So, in honor of some small signs of hope that this will eventually end, this week’s topic is opening. I know I post a lot of pictures of our rose garden. I’m not going to apologize. I love them. This particular rose starts as a variegated bud but once it is fully opened is a beautiful red.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO OF THINGS IN AN OPENING STAGE.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

  1. Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
  3. Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Coronavirus Changes

When I work up this morning, I realized that I hadn’t posted a challenge on Thursday. Sorry for the delay. With all of the changes during the pandemic, my schedule has taken a huge hit. There are days when I can’t remember if it’s Monday or Friday. I live in Utah, and today (Saturday, May 16), the governor moved most of the state from an orange level to a yellow level. This means that all businesses can open, all restaurants can open their dining rooms (with distancing limitations), and we can have gatherings of 50 or fewer people. Even with this new “freedoms”, we are still urged to be wise. You see masks everywhere, and some stores require that employees and customers all wear them, like Costco. There are some stores that hand out disposable masks at the door and some that still limit the number of people that can be inside at one time.

One change that I’ve noticed for me is that I’m getting better at recognizing when someone is smiling even if they are wearing a mask. This is my mother. We did a social distance dinner with her on Mother’s Day (we ate outside on her patio and we all wore masks before and after the meal). For family members who came to visit but not for dinner, we set up a small table in the garage where she offered self-serve strawberry shortcake. My sister made her this very stylish mask. We are very aware of the risks and dangers for my mother (who will be 87 next month) and my mother-in-law (who will be 88 tomorrow). We are allowing them to manage their own risk, and they are both being smart while also being aware that as widows living in their homes alone, complete social isolation isn’t good for their mental health. I’m looking forward to the day when I can give both of them a big hug again.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO OF A CHANGE YOU’VE EXPERIENCED DURING THE CRISIS.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

  1. Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
  3. Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Fleeting

“The beauty of a moment is that it’s fleeting. By its very nature, it slips through our fingers, making it that much more precious.” Ted Mosby (How I Meet Your Mother)

The soil at our house is horrible. Each year, I think about getting a couple of bags of gardening soil and spreading it around the rose bed, but by the time that the ground is ready for new soil, the tulips are up. I know they would last longer if I replaced the soil, but I forget about it by the time they are gone. Maybe this year…

Anyway, I love flowers, but they are delicate and fleeting. Their beauty is here for a short time, but they bring so much joy. The current world situation has made me realize how many things we think as permanent are actually not that permanent. It has made me very thankful for the things that I know will last, but it has also made me stop to appreciate the moment because it might not last.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO OF THINGS YOU LOVE THAT ARE FLEETING.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

  1. Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
  3. Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Glass

Wow, this whole social distancing and self-isolation is starting to take a toll on my ability to remember simple things, like the fact that I host a weekly photo challenge. So sorry to everyone about my absence last week. I can’t promise that it won’t happen again, but I’ll try to do better going forward.

For this week, I’ve chosen the theme of glass. One thing I’ve done a bit more of is baking. This is one of the bowls I like to put my dough in to rise. It’s the perfect size for the recipe I use, and even though the outside of the bowl is ridged, the inside is beautifully smooth. I also love how the light plays with the ridges in the reflection on the table.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO THAT FEATURES GLASS OF ANY KIND.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

  1. Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
  3. Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.