Birthday Joys

I am happy about special moments on my special day. A bumble-bee enjoying the sweet juice of a pumpkin flower.

Flecki visiting in the morning.

Beautiful roses on my birthday table.

A paper bag with Lady Liberty.

A bit of Disney magic -- a potholder and an apron.

A touch of the American West -- a scarf with a lovely design.

Wonderful gifts from my friend Martina from Sweden -- thanks Martina!

A dream coming true -- a new camera!

Lunch at an Asian restaurant -- just delicious!

Of course, a piece of cake!

I hope your birthday was/will be just as happy!

I is for Interesting Photos and Effects

Recently, I walked over a highway bridge, intending to take a couple of photos of a beautiful poppy field next to the highway. Accidently, I took this photo of the bridge railing. I decided to keep it -- these happy accidents are often interesting to play with in Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop. Moreover, such happy accidents are often perfect for Jenny's Alphabe-Thursday.

I used the kaleidoscope function in Paint Shop Pro, loving the result.

In case you are interested in the settings I used, here they are.

I tried something else -- for me, it has a jungle feeling about it.

Once again the settings of this kaleidoscope effect.

I wanted to make something with this background. Loving Katy Perry's Roar, I added the tiger and the first line of the chorus.

H is for Hair Color

It's kind of funny when you realize that you share your natural hair color with a fictional character. In my case, that's Anna from Disney's Frozen.

I hope you enjoy my H choice for Jenny's Alphabe-Thursday.

Happy Independence Day

Getting ready for lunch on Inpendence Day.

These days I re-watch all seasons of Gilmore Girls, and Lorelai and Rory eat cheeseburgers so often that I just had to make cheeseburgers for 4th of July.

 

Flecki kept me company in the kitchen while I baked something special for the occasion.

A flag cake.

Yummy! German readers find the recipe at USA kulinarisch.

Yesterday I received a package from trnd, Europe biggest community for word of mouth marketing. It contained the Braun Multiquick 7 MQ 745 Aperitive hand processor. Similar hand blenders are available in the USA. Anyway, I was very excited about the perfect timing. Why? 

I could make these special red-white-blue smoothies!

Red = frozen raspberries and grape juice, white = vanilla ice-cream, crushed ice and some mineral water, blue = Powerade Mountain Blast, first frozen into ice cubes and then crushed.

Patriotic cake and smoothies -- I am probably one of very few people in Germany who celebrated Independence Day in such style. However, one must celebrate when one has the chance.

Happy 4th of July!

G is for Green

Do you also love the fresh green of new leaves? I really like green for Jenny's Alphabe-Thursday.

It's great to see how a new leaf unfolds.

Such vivid green.

Wood

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck...

 ... if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

Light & Shadow

I love the play of light and shadow in summer. One late afternoon in June, I noticed how beautifully my (plastic) crystal shone up when the sun fell through the window.

The real world and the shadow world side by side.