a Touch of Whimsy

I seem to be in a photo challenge sort of mood at the moment. This weeks theme at I Heart Faces is "a touch of whimsy" and this is my take on it. A very foggy day in Devon, the steam train was a lot of fun but a shame that we could see absolutely nothing from the windows. This is yet another raincoat and welly boot photo of N from that trip. 

see all the other entries over at I Heart Faces

fix it friday

It's Friday again, well actually no, it's quite far in to Saturday but that's by the by. Friday means another "problem" picture to tinker with from the I heart faces forum, and I can't resist tinkering. If only my problem pictures were this nice!

SOOC

plain edit:

opened in ACR, lowered the exposure and tried to recover as much of the blown out whites as I could, boosted blacks, lowered the contrast and upped the vibrance and saturation a bit. 

Next I opened it in PSE5, cropped, duplicated the background layer, used the healing brush on a crumb or two, flattened and used Coffee Shop Blog's baby powder room - the red skin repair under the eyes, defined and brightened the eyes a little. Texas Chick's luminosity sharpening - just a hint, can't remember the exact opacity. A little vignette and that's it.

I then tried playing with this pinkish vintage version, but am not so sure. Coffee Shop actions again, vintage blush with colour mute at 53%, pink haze 18% and pink at 32%. I'm missing the blue eyes though. None the less, a lovely photo to get to play with.

season opening on the Rosskopf

Yay, the cable car's open again! It seems like an eternity since the ski season ended. It was a beautiful afternoon so L,N and I made use of our annual pass and headed up to the Sterzinger Hütte. The first walk I remember without grumbling, or asking to be carried. Long may it last!

collecting glitter stones

they bounced the bounce out of themselves

played house

sunbathed

 

and looked all sweet and lovely

It's been raining since then, but the weekend promises another trip.

then and now

This is yet another of those end of an era posts, I guess it's the time of year.

As you can tell by the pouring rain today is the first day of the school holidays, otherwise known as Lisi's last day as a Kindergartner. I could prattle on in my rather ineloquent way about how time's flown, and how big she's become, but I think these photos illustrate things rather better.

 September 2008, first week of Kindergarten

16th June 2011 last day of Kindergarten

These girls have become such good friends, it's sad they won't all be in the same class next year. 

Lisi's first concert

To mark the end of the music school year each group puts on a little performance. Lisi's group - the youngest in the school go under the snappy name of "musikalische früherziehung" or early musical education. They told the story of the Bremen town musicians, and very cute it was too. 

 the dirndls were out in force

 I love this little girl, she's one of those who even when dressed up to the nines manages to look like a ragamuffin

 Thommi taking things seriously

 How to get 40 enthusiastic kids to stop playing with what I am told are called boomers (sp??) and pay attention

 L&K booming

The bestest soft baked oatmeal cookies ever

I found this recipe whilst pregnant. I NEEDED Archway oatmeal cookies, but a trip to the States to buy some was pushing things a little. I ate so many I gave myself stomach cramps, and out of caution haven't made them since. Until yesterday...

oh my goodness, I'd forgotten how good they are!

1 cup (8fl oz) softened butter
1 cup white sugar
1 packed cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 cups quick cooking oats
1 cup raisins or nuts (or both!)

Cream together the butter and sugars. Beat in the eggs one at a time, stir in vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, salt & cinnamon and stir into the creamed stuff. Mix in the oats & raisins, cover and chill for at least an hour.

Pre heat oven to 190c / 375f. Grease cookie sheets, roll out dough into walnut sized pieces, place 5cm / 2 in apart on the sheet, flatten with a fork dipped in sugar. Bake 8-10 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.

You're welcome.