Cowboy cookies...

I am baking cowboy cookies right now--it seems late to do this, as I have had a long day. I was at work at 6:30 this morning and it is 9PM now. Yes, you read this right--at work! I am a consultant, if you can believe it, and a grant writer, temporary, for the local university. It is a part-time gig, for sure, but a significant "job" for me, in terms of money and especially in terms of skill development and connections. It offers an unbelievable deadline and lots of work, but at this point, I will take it.

But let's talk cowboy cookies. The supreme cookie of all times, in the crunchy crispy, the way God intended, category. And, my favorite cookie since I was about five. It is one of those food items that have taste AND memory embedded into my DNA. I wish I could make this a scratch and sniff blog--my house smells better than any candle, better than any perfume smells. Well, let me think about the perfume....it's close on that one. I think they are perfect, but I do believe that cookies should be crisp and crunchy, not soggy and incorrectly (under) cooked. I remember a long-term argument over this very point--and I was always right! Soft cookies are simply wrong.

More than that are the memories that come with this. The smell transports me to various parts of my life. Coming home from school when I was in grade school and smelling these as I walked into my house. With a high school friend, eating a dozen or so cookies after wrestling practice. And the last memory of baking and eating a few with a friend. As an adult, I bet I can remember everytime I ever made or helped make them and remember each situation.

The last time I made these cookies was more significant than I realized. It was a wonderful night, with lots of fun and laughter. I never knew how important those 15 or so minutes while the cookies were baking really could be and were. It's weird where the cookie smell intoxication can take you.

The recipe for cowboy cookies, from my sister Janet. And from memories....

Cowboy Cookies: (from Home, Home on the Range)

In a large bowl, combine:
1 c. white sugar
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. shortening (plain; must be shortening, not oleo or butter)
Cream together until fluffy
Then, beat 2 eggs
Plus 1 t. vanilla
into mixture until smooth

Measure in another bowl:
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. baking powder
2 c. sifted flour
Blend all dry ingredients well, then:

Pour in with sugar/egg mixture and mix well. (you will need to stir by hand at this point, as it is a bit thick)

Add:
1 pkg chocolate chips (Nestle's Semi--Sweet Morsels still seem (and taste) the best!)
2 c. Quick Oats (I still use Quaker for flavor and texture--trial and error over the years!)

You can add chopped nuts or raisins if desired.

Drop by teaspoons on ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes.

Mount Baker

OK, I haven't been a huge fan of most of their wines--funny (and great, to my mind) that their best wine, in the view of my sophisticated palate, is the one cleverly called "Red Table Wine." It is the house red at several local eateries, and it is pretty good. The rest is a stretch, only a step or two above the famous blueberry wine of the Chippewa Valley. Well, a lot better than that, but still not worth it when you can buy a much better and much cheaper bottle of Australian, Chilean, or lately, Spanish wine. Or, a box! (-:

Still, who knew that a vineyard could shelter such color, apart from the reds and whites?

More fall, just because

fall and dogs

Fall leaves, etc

Today was a hard day, for some reason. I was working, applying for jobs and grading tests, and by 5PM I was more than a little stir crazy. Light was fading, but the sky had broken and the sun was out for the first time. By the time I made it out, I had but moments of light left. I drove to Memorial Park a small park within a 20 minute walk, but I didn't have that much light left.

These are not amazing and probably not worth saving or anything like that. But these reminded me of what I did for a living for so long. On a slow news day, or on the way to a ball game or another assignment, I would always be looking for an enterprise or feature (0r, if you were an evil editor, a "filler") photo. I have taken countless photos of fall color like these few shots. It was fun to revisit that part of my life, and remember all this. And, to remember that I wasn't all that bad at this.

Dinner sign

I was driving around and taking some fall photos and was on my way home when I saw this sign. I was planning to go home and nibble on some roots and shrubs, maybe some leaves. You know, some healthy stuff. But this sign was so verry tempting, and the food was verry good, but I did not have it deliverried.

16 minutes ago...

Different night, another amazing sky.

Note to self...look up omnipotent. And insignificant.

Friends, flowers, and fall...

I have a friend who keeps me photographically honest and humbled and by doing so, he challenges me to be better. This blog has been filled with flower photos, but a recent e-mail from him shows me that I (will always) have room to grow. The purple flower is his, and it is great.

But still I try. I once had a friend who loved flowers, especially daisies, and photos of them once decorated the office and their home. Perhaps they still do, I don't know. My goal for a long time was to make a wall somewhere with a flower or two. Even though that goal has changed, when I see daisies, I sometimes think of how I might take a new or different picture--even when I know that I have a different or perhaps indifferent audience. The last of fall daisies, along with a few new pitchers still gave me something to work with today. These are, like me I suppose, a work in progress.

This afternoon I walked outside and saw a maple that was deep red in the late afternoon sun. Against a deep, almost black stormy sky. With a rainbow. I looked, and said, wow, I bet that would make a good picture. And then I thought, wow, it would have been great to have a camera... I rushed home after missing all that but salvaged a bit of and then ended my day with this sunset, a sunset only possible after an early autumn storm.

Google ads...

I have been thinking some about putting ads on my site--you know, those ads that go on the side of the page and somewhat relate to the topic that you are blogging about. On Blogspot there is a tab that is enticingly labeled "Revenue" or something like that, and it is tempting. Let's see--I think that they pay a fraction of a cent for each hit, and a few fractions more if there is a click from the site. I could be bringing in three or four cents a week, I bet. Hey, that "ads" up, you know.

But something that I saw yesterday made me think that I can live without that source of my fortune. I am teaching, and one of the topics that we covered yesterday was the Great Awakening, that social movement of the 1740s that changed many people's mind about Calvinistic predestination and convinced some that they better toe the line. Or else. The classic sermon is by Jonathan Edwards titled "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." In it, he exhorts the listener/reader to remember that man is but a miserable spider hanging by a thread from God's hands, and only by his grace do we not get flung into the fires of hell where we would burn and suffer and stuff like that. Like a booger, I suppose. He goes on for 24 single spaced pages on the same theme. Effective stuff, I suppose, if you like or fear that vengeful angry Old Testament God. The sermon is required reading for backsliders and historians, (yes, there is a difference) I guess, and you can find it easily with a simple Google search.

I did that because I like to read parts of the sermon to my class. Makes them wonder a bit about my beliefs and background when I read the scary parts. Its pretty effective, and is much easier than actually trying to explain what was going on. So I searched and found it on a site--I was contentedly reading about how miserable man was etc etc, when I happened to check out the ads on the page that were posted there by our friends at Google. Remember, they are supposed to relate in some way to the content on the page, and there were three of them and maybe there were sequential in some weird way The first ad was for E.D. Don't know what it is? Google it. I can't imagine the ads on that page. The second ad was for hands-free faucets. And the third was offering a chance to become a minister by studying on the internet.

I just sat and giggled trying to think how these three ads were tied to one of the most famous sermons of all time. You should too.

Altered reality, continued

I have thought a bit more about all that Photoshop can do, and found the following site that would be funnier if the abuses weren't so scary. Or so common.

http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/

It causes the viewer to make some assumptions:

• Every photo of person in a magazine has been seriously photoshopped
• Many photos are composites
• Women are made to fit an ideal (who's ideal is unknown) by such radical "retouching" that it is called "bone saw" level photoshopping. And it is increasingly happening to men as well. Hey, they (not me) probably need it more!
• The people who do this, the examples noted the blog excepted, are amazing. We are so far beyond putting someone else's head on someone's body.
• That said, there are some real hacks out there trying to do this.
• It does make you wonder what is creeping into the pages of newspapers. If all the ads in the inserts are photoshopped, isn't it tempting to make that news/sports/feature photo just a bit more perfect?
• And lastly, some of these disasters are really funny. Think about them for a minute and see what is wrong with them

On thinking of and about photography...

I am aware of the many changes that photojournalism and editorial photography has endured and is experiencing. Some of these changes have been allowed by technology, others forced by the economy.

As many of us are aware, some of the technological ones are both good and bad. While I long for Kodachrome reds and even the colors of EPR or EPP, I have, like many, embraced the immediacy and the increasing quality of the digital world. I also know of the seductiveness of Photoshop and the increasing demands for its use. And its increasing ease of use. The photos that you see on my blog are only barely touched--I adjust the exposure, sharpen it a bit and then post them. However, Photoshop in all its variations allows so much more. New nose or eyes? Tired of that pesky wrinkle/mole/errant eyebrow? No problem. And I personally know photographers who have both enhanced their career and in one case ended their career with the aid of Photoshop.

What I find interesting is the quality of writing about photography right now. I recently met someone who approaches the whole field with an impressive point of view. Check out is his blog at http://aricmayer.blogspot.com Equally impressive is his portfolio, found at www.aricmayerstudios.com. In different ways, he points out at the fallacies or really the flaws of the current business plans of editorial outlets. More interesting is his take on the dangers of excessive "photoshoping" from the perspective or someone who has seen these excesses first hand.

Equally interesting are the writings of collegiate friend of mine from UW-Eau Claire. Chris Boese does several thing, I think, besides providing an excellent running commentary journalism as a whole on Facebook. For a mile-high view of industry, including photojournalism, I think that she does a great job. She has numerous venues, but here is one to start: http://www.serendipit-e.com/blog

All in all, these are topics worth writing about.

On (my) photography

I have reviewed the last few months of blog postings, especially the photographs. I am not totally displeased with many of them, but I am aware that there has been no work that has indicated a break thru to a new level of seeing. The pictures are, well, pleasant. Probably well exposed, reasonably well composed and well, adequate. And they are, well, similar. I bet that they are better than average when looking at most photo blogs.

Hmmm... Pleasant? Adequate? Similar? Better than average?

These aren't exactly the descriptive terms that a photographer lives for. I am not exactly in a fugue state, or at a low point, but I am not exactly at the high point of my photographic, artistic bio-rhythm. I think that I am simply working through the process of photography right now. Looking, seeing, capturing, and, with the blog, presenting. Some would say that my anti-social nature or tendencies are showing, too, as there are virtually no people in my pictures, and if they are, they totally anonymous--no cutlines here.

So why keep doing this? Well, while the photos are only pleasant and adequate, I don't think that they are offensive or hard to look at. I hope that some do enjoy them, and that some will enjoy them in the future. In the mean time, I will keep working on it. A few goals. I will try and self-assign a project or two that might go beyond "pleasant." I need to and will try to go back to my roots as a photojournalist. Heaven forbid that I will end up at a high school football game or be shooting the pet of the week, but at least I will try and take some pictures of non-anonymous people. And most importantly, I will work on establishing a web page that will (finally) organize and better present my photos. Lastly, remember that I do take requests!

Stay tuned...

Notes on the photos above

• Fall flowers, probably some form of a dahlia
• Early morning light turns the water metalic

Fall, continued

It was a perfect fall day, one that began with people having to scrape their windows before they could enjoy the (very) crisp morning. It was a farmer's market day, and the colors just jumped. It's really not all that hard to be a photographer. Really. Auto-focus. Auto-exposure. And a beautiful day.

Fall, part one...

The last of the flowers from my flower pots. I grew flowers from seeds, an insignificant task I suppose but one that was meaningful to me. And one of the things that I will miss as fall descends.

And the last of a rather dramatic sunset descends as well...