Saying Good Bye to an Old Friend

Late this past Sunday afternoon, a tragic freak accident occurred taking the life of one of my grade school, high school and neighborhood friends, Ken Reeves. To be honest I just don't know how to turn off my tears of sadness and disbelief, but I am sure my sadness is no where near the grief and pain of loss being felt by both Ken's family and wife Raychel, of whom Ken just married in October of last year. My sincere and heartfelt condolences go out to them and I pray that they find the strength they will need to get through this most difficult time. 

Ken worked at AccuWeather for the past 29 years as a meteorologist and recently served as Vice President and General Manager of AccuWeather, Inc. Television Network. Here is the tribute compiled by Ken's coworkers to remember him and express their feelings about the loss of wonderful colleague and treasured friend.

If you were to put a face to the phrase "Great Guy" that face would have to be Ken's.

Rest in peace my friend...rest in peace.

Third grade class...Ken is second boy from the left of the back row and Henry is the second boy in from the right of the back row. I am the girl in the green dress.

Ken and myself at our 20th class reunion in 1999.



Shrimp and Asparagus Risotto

I have had this recipe for quite a number of years, and to be honest, it is one of my absolute favorites. It's a nice springy dish which is actually rather easy to execute...just remember to choose small pencil thin asparagus. 

To round out this meal I like to pair the risotto with a glass of chardonnay and a Gorgonzola salad.

What you will need...

3T butter

1 large onion, chopped

5 1/2 c. of chicken broth

2 c. Arborio rice

1 lb frozen shrimp, peeled and deveined

1/2 lb. asparagus cut into 1 inch pieces

 1/2 c. white wine or champagne**

3 grinds of fresh black pepper

What you will need to do...

In a large skillet, saute the onion in the butter until the onion becomes translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Add the rice to the skillet and coat with the butter and onions. In the meantime, heat broth in a separate pot. Add a ladle of broth to the rice and stir until it is absorbed then repeat.  With the third ladle of broth also add the asparagus and shrimp...continue cooking and adding the broth. When the rice is just about done add the wine/champagne and black pepper. Cook until rice is slightly al dente and coated with enough broth so that the grains will stick together on a fork. Serve immediately and enjoy. Makes 6 servings.

**You can purchase pony bottles of champagne, they come is packs of 4. This way you don't have to uncork a regular size bottle for the small amount used in the recipe.

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Photography Tip Thursday # 7 ~ Alternative Landscapes

Welcome to another Photography Tip Thursday!!! Oh and by the way happy Friday!!! (I may have to rethink the title of this series and go with Photography Tip Friday!!)

In this week's class we discussed another photography art form, that of Alternative Landscape photography. In this form the photographer creates a seamlessly artificial scene by manipulating photographic materials either by cutting and pasting photos together or by manipulating images during the processing of a photograph. This process is referred to as photomontage.

Look at the two photos below...the first is a photograph of a realistic landscape.

via Wikipedia

In this second photo the photographer has added in other photographs in such a way that the landscape appears completely real.

via Wikipedia

With the advent of digital photography, this photography f.orm is created not in the processing of images but in post photographic image-editing software like Photoshop. Today this technique is referred to by professionals as "compositing".

Here is another example of Alternative Landscape photography. In this photograph the photographer depicts what an iceberg may look like under water if it were possible to view it from a cross-section perspective. I think this is pretty cool. 

via Wikipedia

Taking 2 or more images and melding them together is the basic idea of Alternative Landscape photography.

  +  =

via Wikipedia

My assignment for this photographic form is to shoot 20 images and then using a minimum of three of those images, I have to create my own photomontage. I have 3 weeks to complete this assignment. Right now I am still working on my Straight Photography project so I have a lot of picture taking to do in the coming weeks!

Next week I will share with you my 5 Straight Photography photographs which I will submit for my assignment. And just to update you...I got my mid-term test back and I got a 100% on it!!!  I was very happy with my grade because the test was not exactly easy.

Have a great week!!!

Spring ~ Easter Mantel

This year's Easter mantel is sporting the colors black, white and yellow. Using fun items like the wood frame I painted yellow and lots of polka dots, I was able to create a whimsical French country spring display.

I found these adorable polka dot flowers at Michael's craft store. The flowers on the burlap garland have clips on the back so it was really easy to attach them to the burlap and to the wood frame I used to create a wreath. Even my clay pot bunny has white polka dots! For the tutorial on how to make the clay pot bunny just click here.

I then looked around the house for a few other black and white items and added them in to round out my display.

Voila...all done!!

Have a great day!!

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