Just a Day in The Life

Posted on November 14, 2012November 14, 2012 by Dusty Roads | 4 Comments

Not much to share. I missed my Monday post because I haven’t done anything newsworthy lately. Monday I had a busy day.

I started the day with a photo shoot for Christmas Cards at my friend Nancy’s house. We hung the stockings on the mantle and moved the love seat in front of it. Then we squeezed everyone, including the dog, into the love seat. It took more time to set up than take the pictures…kind of like cooking that Thanksgiving meal..hours of cooking for 30 minutes of eating! LOL. But I got to try out my new studio light set and it made all the difference in the world..no shadows..no motion blur from the puppy.

Then it was pack up and head to my next shoot. This one was a location shoot but at the last minute it canceled so I met the family for a consultation instead. Probably a good thing because it took longer to get to work than I expected and if we’d actually done that shoot I might have been late.

Finished the day off by working overtime 3pm – 8pm. So as you can see, not much to talk about and not much time to write even if I did have something to say.

I’m not going to give away the picture that the family chose for their cards but I will share one picture of Dawn. I love her eyes in this picture.

By the way, that’s not “dirt” on her face…it’s one of those temporary tattoos of a dog. 🙂

Photo of the week~Week 45

Posted on November 10, 2012November 10, 2012 by Dusty Roads

First Snow of the Season

Posted on November 9, 2012November 9, 2012 by Dusty Roads

OK I said a four letter word. Unless you are a skier or a snowboarder or one of those other winter sport enthusiasts, the weather the last couple of days was not to your liking.

The Nor’easter the swept through the region brought rain and high winds and yes, snow, to many areas already hard hit by Hurricane Sandy. New jersey, New York and parts of Connecticut had just barely got their power back when gale force winds plunged them back into the cold and dark.

Here in Taunton , Ma it wasn’t quite as bad. The wind gusts were stronger than for the hurricane but for the most part we only got rain…that is until Wednesday night. The 11 O’clock news had pictures of heavy snow and skidding cars in Worcester, MA..but here in Taunton it was rain.

But we couldn’t hold out. By yesterday morning we too had a touch of the white stuff….but only a touch.

The ground wasn’t even “blanketed” which is ok by me.

By the time I left for work it was gone…melted..just a hint of things to come.

No…the word of the day was not snow it was wind. Driving to work took both hands and I kid you not, the car felt like it was lifting right off the road. It was kind of surprising that my company had linemen working. Even they were sending messages that it was “too windy” to climb. (Meaning the utility poles) But we did the best we could and today the sun is shining and the weather folks are predicting a warming trend and calm weather.

I sure hope so. I think we all could use a break. Give those storm ravaged areas a chance to recover before Old Man Winter really gets started.

Prepping for Thanksgiving

Posted on November 7, 2012November 7, 2012 by Dusty Roads

My sister gave me a challenge last week. She said she wished I had a turkey for a Thanksgiving card.

Well I do have a turkey picture but I decided I wanted to be a bit more ambitious. I decided I wanted to have a picture of a Thanksgiving table all decked out with food and candles and wine glasses.

I have a table. That’s the easy part. I have wine glasses and nice china. So now I need the food. The biggest food item is, of course , the centerpiece of the meal, the turkey.

Now since I plan to eat the props I want to be sure the turkey comes out nice and golden brown and doesn’t just look good, but also tastes good. I usually cook a mean turkey..nice and brown and very moist…perfect…except the last 2 turkey’s I cooked didn’t cook evenly. I think my old oven is nearing the end of its days.

I wanted to get the best price I could so I went to Walmart and bought a frozen turkey. Usually I buy fresh but this isn’t really Thanksgiving Dinner..it’s just a “fake” one. 🙂 So frozen will do. I had a gift card too. Gift cards are like shopping with someone else’s money so I become more free with my $$$.

Next to the frozen turkeys was an electric Turkey roaster. If I hadn’t had the gift card I wouldn’t have even considered it but now I thought..could this solve my old oven problem?

Into the cart it went.

At home I unpacked it, wiped it down as instructed and marveled at how big this thing was.

Mr. Turkey was in the bottom of the refrigerator defrosting. 3 1/2 days later the turkey was thawed and it was time to try out this new gadget.

The turkey was a small one. 13.5 lbs. and the chart said to allow 15 minutes per pound. That works out to 3.87 hours so in goes the turkey and I settled down to wait. Smells good!

Too bad you can’t scratch and sniff.

Times up. I lifted the lid and there was a beautiful golden brown bird except it’s drumsticks were sagging away from the body and when I lifted the bird the wings fell off!

Boy this turkey is definitely cooked! As I transferred the main body to the serving platter the whole thing collapsed. If anything this turkey is overcooked. It certainly isn’t ready to be a centerpiece of a holiday table picture. But is it edible?

I whipped out a knife and sliced a tiny piece just to see…ohhhh soooo good. It was moist inspite of being over cooked…and tender. The bottom of the roaster was filled with drippings. Lots of gravy to be made there.

So looks like I will have to try again to get that centerpiece Turkey for the picture . I might not get to it in time for this year’s Thanksgiving. After all, how much turkey can one person and 2 cats eat? At least there’s always next year.

For now I’m enjoying my early Thanksgiving feast with a squashed but tasty turkey centerpiece.

You can order greeting cards at www.dustyroadsphotos.etsy.com and www.dustyroadsphotos.zenfolio.com.

There’s no season in Retail

Posted on November 6, 2012November 6, 2012 by Dusty Roads

A pet peeve of mine is that retailers don’t let one holiday finish before they start the next one. Before Halloween one of my local stores had 3 separate displays set in a row, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. When I commented on it the clerk replied “There are no seasons in retail.”

I’m beginning to understand what she meant. Thanks to my 2 web sites where I sell my greeting cards online and my little kiosk at Cape Cod Crafters in Pembroke, Ma, I am finding that it’s a lot different selling retail than making cards for a few friends. There needs to be a lead time so shoppers can find the cards, have time to buy them, address them and get them in the mail.

Last year I really dropped the ball. I had nothing ready by Christmas so it was a 2 week scramble to get cards made and distributed. This year I’m doing a little better but still cutting the time too short. At the moment I’m waiting for supplies and prints so I can put the cards together and get them advertised online and into the shop.

So here’s an update for anyone who might be interested in Holiday cards. I will custom design a Thanksgiving card if you email me. The cards are $3.95 each plus 6.25% tax for Mass residents and shipping. I don’t plan to have a line of Thanksgiving cards this year because it’s too close to the big day but I’ll work on it for 2013.

Christmas Cards or if you prefer Holiday cards will be online within 2 weeks as soon as the supplies get here. Keep your eye on www.dustyroadsphotos.etsy.com.

If you are looking for a really pretty card but want to keep your costs down you should check out my photography web site on http://www.dustyroadsphotos.zenfolio.com

I have a slightly different line of cards there. On http://dustyroadsphotos.zenfolio.com you’ll find 10 holiday photos ( More being added) to choose from. Once you chose your photo you select the card design you like. You’ll have the option to add a short message. You might be prompted to review the placement of your photo and chose if you want a plain paper or “metallic”.