It's The Dirt | It is all about how we live here at Vicktory Farm & Gardens: Intensely, simply, creatively, lovingly for God, with others.

Downsizing

Posted on December 30, 2010 by Lanny

Dirt and I, well and Bet too, are taking a little downsizing adventure. Rather forced but the complete extent will be elective. After all if we were really hurting from the pay cut there are avenues for increasing the income. But things are not dire and we have instead decided to decrease our expenses. There are a few frivolities here and there we can do without and there is some out and out right waste, like a contract cell phone in Dirt’s hand.

So off with their heads, first went the cell phones, well not completely, I do like the security, we don’t live in the wild west any more. Well actually we do and I wanna be able to call for the calvary.

Then went the TV hook up. We somehow grew too fancy, not with movie channels but yeah with a few pay-per views each month, two lines on two sets, DVR’s … We had to cut the mortal head off that hydra before it turn 3D. I say you either go up or you go drastically down, no one stays in the same spot, even anti changers.

Wow, just those two things were a big sum. Feeling good, savin’ lots.

But you know me, Clever Reader, as soon as we racked up some saved money with cuts to our current ongoing bills I began to fantasize about a camera. Until of course EBet asks if the money we had just saved by cutting off a few entitlements was as great as the cut in income.

“Uh, ya, never mind about the camera.”

Not necessarily because of the camera desires, we’ve decided to go way beyond what the cut in income is and see exactly how much money we can not spend. And just like a restrictive food diet, I get all excited, ready to prove I can do it and even more, then all of the bravado is quickly followed by hauntings of the food I am restricted from.

But many things are catching my eye lately, no I don’t mean to spend money on, my eyes and ears are being caught on things that have to do with Dirt’s and my adventure. Articles about hoarding, movies about ridiculous spending. Feeling the need to decrease the things we already own as well and not hauling new stuff in. Shows, documentaries about those who have so much less and yet, I see beyond to so much more. And a friend saying the same thing just the other day.

Then I happened upon this passage today, a selected reading for the sixth day of Christmas:

I am writing to you, my own children,
whose sins have already been forgiven through his name;
I am writing to you, fathers,
who have come to know the one
who has existed since the beginning;
I am writing to you, young men,
who have already overcome the Evil One;
I have written to you, children,
because you already know the Father;
I have written to you, fathers,
because you have come to know the one
who has existed since the beginning;
I have written to you, young men,
because you are strong and God’s word has made its home in you,
and you have overcome the Evil One.
You must not love this passing world
or anything that is in the world.
The love of the Father cannot be
in any man who loves the world,
because nothing the world has to offer
– the sensual body,
the lustful eye,
pride in possessions –
could ever come from the Father
but only from the world;
and the world, with all it craves for,
is coming to an end;
but anyone who does the will of God
remains for ever. 1 John 2:12-17

I will pour out water on the thirsty soil, streams on the dry ground, I will pour out my spirit on your descendants, and they shall grow like poplars by running streams, alleluia. The water that I shall give will turn into a spring, welling up to eternal life,

So I say, “I don’t love the world.” But boy howdy did the bit:

because nothing the world has to offer
– the sensual body,
the lustful eye,
pride in possessions –
could ever come from the Father
but only from the world;

hit me square in the gut, two fisted. My body craves it, hungers for some new thing, a trinket, a bauble, a tasty treat, a soft silky fashion. The eye spies it, can’t leave it alone, back to gazing on it as soon as I try to turn away. Obsess, covet, obsess, all for a good cause of course. Then once possessed, pride swells, in the modest, humblest of ways of course. Of course.

Uck! Yuck!

This time, I’m not going to pray that I hope that I can step out of the way so that God can do His work in me.

Bring on the bulldozer God, I don’t care to come this way again. Don’t let me step aside and out of the way, hang back, be on the fringe, not get the full brunt. Give me both barrels.

I’m done thinking I live simply, graciously and generously. Rub my snub nose in it God. I’m tired, I don’t want to play at learning this any longer.

No longer do I care to be betwixt and between God and the world, pretending to be with one and not of the other.

Categories: Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Betwixt and Between

Posted on December 29, 2010 by Lanny

This week’s Header Challenge theme was selected by Stewart, aka IMac. He said it was because we were betwixt and between Christmas and New Year.

This was going to be a hard one for me, I get the in between the holidays thing, but really, our Christmas here at the Farm doesn’t end till January fifth and Twelfth Night festivities. Well, the fun and feasting of Christmastide really spills over to Epiphany and depending who you follow for your count, twelfth night can be either the fifth of sixth. So really the “in between” holiday wise is New Year’s Day itself.

Anyway, I wasn’t thinking of the holidays when I realized the real betwixt and between that Dirt and I are both feeling. Though I do believe it has been the holidays that have magnified our betwixt and between-ness. It was Christmas Eve when I finally spoke to Dirt what I was feeling and to my surprise he had been feeling the same.

We, Dirt and I, find ourselves in a transition, a betwixt and between. We no longer have children to raise. That time for us that lasted nearly thirty years has ended. Not that we are not still parents, but the workings of that role is changing.

Three of our girls have gone to live under the protection of their husbands. And growing families of their own.

Even though Elisabet is still at home and unmarried, she no longer needs rearing. She needs what we all need, wise counsel, helpful guidance, Godly protection and she will always find that here until she too is called to be a wife. But I find that I no longer have just a cute kid at home, I have a business partner, a companion, a sounding board and a cute kid.

The center photo in this week’s header was an accident, a purely candid shot of my youngest grandson, Aksel, chasing his Auntie Bet on our Christmas Day walk. But it rather sums up how Dirt and I were feeling as Christmas came upon us. The three of us searching for what is important to keep in our Christmas together and what was fun for a time, to help youngsters understand the fullness of the season.

To be sure, when a man comes for Bet’s hand in marriage, things will change once again, but I do believe we are well ensconced in that time between rearing our children and watching the fruit of that season come to blossom and continue in new children in new ways.

There are many betwixt and betweens. Even the sunset that I chose for the background of the collage is a betwixt and between, day is fading but not yet night. Betwixtes can be a definite time of their own, and celebrated for all the brightness, fullness and color they bring that is special to the time that happens to lie between two others.

Go see what the others, Dave, Fishing_Guy, Mac, and Gail’s Man, have done with Imac’s theme choice of “Betwixt and Between”.

Categories: Blogging, Building A Future, Daughters, Grandsons, Heritage, Seasons | 7 Comments

The Day of Holy Innocents – Yesterday

Posted on December 29, 2010 by Lanny

Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying,
In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not. Matthew 2:16-18

That day Evil tried to keep salvation from mankind, to keep all men bound, gagged and in misery. But Evil failed.

And ever since the Messiah, Christ Jesus, died and rose again for the reconciliation of all things to God, Evil has wagged a war of destruction of individual souls. At times in gross sweeping manners as in this account of history where humanity stands horrified at the evil and destruction.

Then there is the more oft times when evil looks so delightful and right that humanity has curled up in its lap and slung an arm about its neck for assurance. We lean upon our understanding, our man-made wisdom, choose what we deem best, encouraged by the whispering in our ears of independence, success, pride and pleasure. Clucking our tongues at some of the eventual obvious fall-out as we remain oblivious to the true beginning of the horror.

I’ve heard of late like I’ve often heard, a cry for access to education for those in this world whom we deem by our standards to be oppressed. My grandfather’s lack of education was not what caused his neighbor to disdain him. It is not a lack of education that causes a woman to be taken advantage of and not cared for. It is not a lack of education that causes mayhem and serial killing. Ted Bundy was well educated, many a call girl have splendid degrees.

If we school the children of the world so that they too roll their eyes at their parents, we’ve done a great thing right? Because after all when God said, “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.” He really meant to add, ” but only if you’re under the age of ten, and your parents pass a well-deserving of honor parent test given by the local school and church authorities. Otherwise it is far better to shun your parents, consider them stupid and embrace the schools and society as the fountain of your authority” Disney made sure that we have heard what God really meant. Down in Hollywood they know that a ten year old and the family dog are far smarter than any silly ol’ parent, especially if that parent happens to work for a living.

I’m just sure that is what God meant to say, well at least if I am to judge what is said daily by the supposed do-gooders out there who would rather see (have seen) my daughters out and about in mini-skirts slutting it up at the local school than at home with me learning to work hard. Oh they don’t say it out loud about my children actually, they just say it about the backward children and parents in other lands or other cultures. Blanket statements. Overreaching generalizations based on an incident that they most likely don’t have the whole story on. And certainly they wouldn’t send them off to school for the purpose of losing their purity and honesty, that would just be an unfortunate side effect of gaining the riches from the gods called intellectualism, independence and experience.

Day of Holy Innocence is commemorated in particular ways in this country by the few that are aware of the feast day. And while I certainly would never ask them to stop in their cause, I would also ask that we, as a horrified-at-modern-day-evils church culture, look honestly at some of the back story to the horror and attend to what parts of it God supplies us with the wherewithall to combat evil at those points. And to understand that not everyone fights evil from the same vantage point.

This is what we have heard from Jesus Christ,
and the message that we are announcing to you:
God is light; there is no darkness in him at all.
If we say that we are in union with God
while we are living in darkness,
we are lying because we are not living the truth.
But if we live our lives in the light,
as he is in the light,
we are in union with one another,
and the blood of Jesus, his Son,
purifies us from all sin.

1 John 1:5-2:2

Categories: Uncategorized | 1 Comment

O Come, O Come Emmanuel

Posted on December 23, 2010 by Lanny

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon,Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— of whom the world was not worthy— wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

And we, those who have available to us and have lived in abundant reconciled life, wish to whine often about how hard it is to stay faith-filled?

What surely the cry, “O come, O come Emanuel” must have meant to those who waited for him, truly waited for him. What that cry must have meant to their very depths of their being.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Singing the carol of the Advent season:

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.

O come, Thou Wisdom from on high,
Who orderest all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
And teach us in her ways to go.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory over the grave.

O come, Thou Day-spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.

O come, O come, great Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height
In ancient times once gave the law
In cloud and majesty and awe.

O come, Thou Root of Jesse’s tree,
An ensign of Thy people be;
Before Thee rulers silent fall;
All peoples on Thy mercy call.

O come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease,
And be Thyself our King of Peace.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

For when we sing the carol, we sing not for ourselves for we have the King, we dwell with Emanuel, our life is abundant. We sing instead to remember, remember when those who did not yet have a life reconciled lived for the promise to come. Then we sing only for ourselves that we ought to remember the admonition from Hebrews 12:1 to live rightly, to live as those reconciled ought, remembering those who lived so with only the promise. For we have the fulfillment of the Promise.

And we sing for those who have yet to come to Him who has come. For those who don’t yet understand the vacuum in their soul and their true need.

The passages used today come from Hebrews 11 and 12.

And now a word from our sponsor…..

Like, nay, love, the gift you are given! It is a gift! You didn’t pay for it, it was freely given to you. The giver thought of you, purchased, made, or withdrew from the bank, your gift as they thought of you. Thought of you! And they did so during this particular season because He first loved us and gave Himself to us. What would you think, truly think of the person who stood in the ethereal return line and dared to say as they approached the counter, “uh, yeah, I don’t really like this Gift. I’d like to get mySelf something better.”

If it doesn’t fit, the only reason to not keep and cherish a gift meant for you, if it truly doesn’t fit, find someone who has bigger needs than you, and wrap one of their needs that you provide inside this gift that someone gave freely to you that accidentally does not fit you. And then say nothing to the original giver, save that you loved the gift and put it to great use! But mostly… Get over yourself and your shallow needs, to be cool, swank, hip, classic, color-coordinated, up-to-date. Stay out of the return lines! Seriously!

Categories: Advent, Christmas, God the Father Son and Holy Spirit, Heaven, Holidays | 2 Comments

The Light

Posted on December 21, 2010 by Lanny

The Light is Christ Jesus, whom God sent. And for most of us who believe in Him, this is the season we celebrate God’s greatest gift to all mankind, His Son, the Light, having come into this world as man.

All of us here at Vicktory Farm & Gardens pray that you have an incredible celebration of His incarnation.

Whether you celebrate in quietness or feast for days, spread good cheer, His cheer, the hope and peace that can only be found in the Son of God.

Dave chose “the light” as our subject this week and for me it was an easy pick, for there would be no light, no joy, no hope, no life, in my life were it not for the salvation He brings to my poor and naked soul. If you don’t yet know the one True Joy and Hope and Light, we pray that your heart prepare Him room. Imagine all you care to, but there isn’t just sky above us.

Please take a moment this week to go see what the other fellas, Dave, Fishing_Guy, Mac, and Gail’s Man have chosen for this week’s theme. I shan’t get too wordy tonight and I am posting early because the winds are howling out my window and electricity is never a sure thing.

And have a very Joyful Christmas.

Categories: Advent, Christmas, God the Father Son and Holy Spirit | 4 Comments

Anticipation

Posted on December 15, 2010 by Lanny

Ever since I chose the theme for the Header Challenge this week my brain has been singing this song.

‘Cept that it changes it up to the lyrics that my childhood and young adult brain could handle, no matter how many times I was corrected or realized that it didn’t go. Because I wanted to sing, ” Anticipation, anticipation, is making me wait, is keeping me waiaiaiting.”

I did realize that it would be odd, even for music in the seventies, to repeat waiting in this instance like I wanted.

But I thought it was odder yet that anticipation could make you late. I thought it would make you early. But now I get it.

However, on to my header photo and the photos I had to choose between.

Anticipation of the new garden season is heightened when even before the winter soltice the garlic emerges from the ground lookin’ a lot like a little Christmas elf (with no arms, so I guess he’s a veggie-tale elf).

The empty beds awaiting late winter plantings are an anticipation of another sort, and I did contemplate using this photo for my ideal anticipation. Same coin, different side.

Hopefully the water recedes in the next month so that I’m not out in my chest waders planting peas on Lincolns birthday. But the stake, the naked preprepped soil, it all makes me fairly excited with anticipation for the new garden year and living out the plans and New Year resolutions that were made back in September and October.

A lot of beds awaiting, a lot of anticipating. Yet another view of the biggest item of anticipation in my heart this year. Yes, there are seed packets with flowers destined for other gardens at Victory Farm & Gardens that could indeed serve to be the poster child of anticipation in any given year.

But this year? This year the big anticipation here on the Farm is the beginning of the complete Market Garden. The goal being, feed the Farm family for a year and ten other families as well. Lots of anticipatin’, lots of waitin’ and hopefully the dreamin’ and schemin’ won’t make me late for any of it this year.

I will don my gay apparel of chest waders soon to put a little mulch of some sort on the beds that I plan on planting in February. I like to leave the soil exposed for a little shot of winter.

If I mulch too soon right after fall bed preparations I find I have a larger pest population, bugs, slugs and weeds, than if I leave them exposed for a bit and then cover. But cover I will, the pounding rains have already compacted the surface quite a bit and depending on the mulch used not only can I avoid further compaction but most of the rain will roll off the top of the mulch and not continue to saturate the soil beneath it.

This shot was not a contender for the anticipation header. Though I am anticipatin’ the receding of all this water and soon. This anticipation does not bring with it quite the same heart-a-flutter feeling that the other shots do.

This shot ought to show folks who live is slightly more arid lands why we choose to use raised beds here at the farm. Save for the upper level in my back yard, right outside my dining room window, there is no place on the Farm that is exempt from this sort of standing water. Spots here and there perhaps but not one large expanse and even the back yard is only a fraction of the size of the Market Garden and far less sunlight hours in a day.

Well that’s it from here today, Clever Reader. Like all of us who claim the Christ as our Lord and Savior, I have a few things to get done before next week, even for our simple and meager yet joyous beyond compare, celebration of the birth of the incarnate God. What a wonderful thing that is, is it not? That He so loved us, as to reconcile us through the birth, death and resurrection of His only Son, Jesus Christ!

Ah Advent, the season of anticipation, yes? Go see what the fellas, Dave, Fishing_Guy, Mac, and Gail’s Man have done for my pick of the theme for this week’s header challenge, anticipation. I’ve already peeked at two and one in particular is quintessential anticipation. Have fun and tell them what you think.

Categories: Advent, Garden Methods | 8 Comments

Bet Was Thinkin’…

Posted on December 8, 2010 by Lanny

… that it would be nice if it snowed again, now that her ears are on the mend.

She was out in the backyard just sittin’ with the kitties and reminiscing about last year’s snow and frozen fun times. I caught her thoughts on camera.

Instead of snow we’ve had a bit of wind instead. Not nearly as bad as it sounded and looked at first, so now after lunch, instead of picking up wind blown branches and overturned thises and thats, I get to finish planting the rest of the spring flowering bulbs and cross an item off of my to-do list on the side board! Yippee.

Lots to report on but I’ll leave that for later today or tomorrow! For now take some time and go see what the others Dave, Fishing_Guy, Mac, and Gail’s Man have for Tom’s header challenge of “Let it snow!”

Here tell they all actually have snow to show. Instead of just a wishin’. Ooh that reminds me of a Bing Crosby song with Louie Armstrong, on a Christmas album, I’ll be puttin’ some music on while I eat lunch, it will give me something to hum when I go back out… where it is not snowing!

Categories: Uncategorized | 9 Comments

Green

Posted on December 3, 2010 by Lanny

I’m waiting on hearing about who won this week’s Header Challenge so that I can change the results in my side board. I think it is funny that I am actually waiting to update it. Usually it is a couple of weeks old. However, Tom has already given the assignment for next week and I gotta admit it makes me a bit sad.

The theme is, “Let it Snow!” Oh how I wish it was. Snowing. Colour and weather, they’re funny things in my book. What causes a person to like a particular color or weather and not like another?

My folks were both from rather desolate regions, mom more so than dad, well that’s how they put it anyway. But because of where they grew up, when they landed in western Washington, moss capital of the world, they were thrilled with the year-round-ness of green. Our yard was long on evergreens and short on deciduous save for fruit trees and fruiting bushes. If there was a choice between something that flowered but died back and a juniper, juniper won.

My dad loved azaleas and rhododendrons, the flowers were nice but the fact that it was evergreen? Fantastic! Broadleaf tree other than apple and pear in our yard? Madrone. We did have one deciduous flowering bush, a lilac. Set where in the yard? Far obscure corner of course.

I had no idea that the deciduous azaleas were so incredibly fragrant until I was an orphaned adult. My father disdained them. On what basis you might ask? “They lose their stinkin’ leaves Lanny, let’s get this Caroline azalea for you instead.” Well that and they mostly bloom in orange, not a fav color of my dad’s, he was a pink and purple fellow. Luckily he hated dandelion yellow as much as I did (but he liked plain daffs more than I, complete with spring Sunday drives to the Valley!).

Wait. It’s cuz he hated dandelions that I hate that particular colour of yellow. It was my job to eradicate them from the lawn, by hand, well hand and the nifty screwdriver, right after I scooped poo and stacked wood.

Mind you, I was the youngest in the family of six children, so any moving around was done before I was born. I only knew the one childhood home, one weather pattern, one garden lay out, until I left for college.

Rarely, and I really mean rarely, did snow ever stay on the ground for more than a week. The times we got more than a skiff of snow are permanently etched in my brain. I was so excited to be going to college east of the mountains where it snowed so much that some of the campus sidewalks are heated to keep them passable! What the heck! The first thing I packed were my skis and mittens.

That winter was the winter that broke the region’s ski resorts. Hardly a flake in the whole state that year. Two years before, our economics teacher in high school got us to rent a bus on Thanksgiving vacation to go skiing. The year I went to college you were lucky if you finally went skiing on Christmas vacation to any of the passes and only if you had a crappy spare pair of skis that could endure rock skiing. Things didn’t improve at the turn of the calendar either so mid-winter break as well as every weekend was a dismal disappointment for skiing and the whole college experience an all around failure, all because of western Washington type weather on the east side. Well that and a few F’s but I blame those on the weather as well.

Crest fallen I returned home, disappointed and discouraged from ever living in a place that would have snow on the ground week to week.

I wrote Green in the title box because I gotta say that even though it is favorite second to persimmon and ahead of aubergine, not needing me to call it anything but green, only just to use and embrace a wide spectrum of it, everywhere, about now, I’m sick of green. In January I will hate it, spit on it and call it names. It walls me in. Everywhere I look, every day, there is a wall of green capped by a deep grey colour that can only be fully appreciated at the beach while collecting clams.

Yes, in the fall the wall-of-green is smattered with bits of fire, merlot, brick, persimmon, copper, sulfur, and gold. And shortly in the spring there are pink and peachy tones showering down everywhere and it is lovely. And even in the dead green of winter, the wall has a few traces of chocolate and gravy brown branches and the baseboards of cinnamon toasty grasses feed my color hungry eyes. Yet, it is a challenge to escape the enveloping greenness of my home region.

Funny that green is used to soothe the mood of the mentally ill and criminally insane, for somewhere at the first of February I do believe that I’m sure I could become just those from looking up from my work only to find the permanent wall-of-green. And sky of cast iron.

Isn’t it odd, that I have room after room in my house that uses green as a foundation color? There isn’t a white or off-white wall in the place, not since Bethel passed in ’94. Fifteen years of marriage it took, ‘fore I could bust away from my mother’s admonitions to use off white on the walls, brown on the carpet and furniture and then go for a bit, just a bit mind you, of color in the throw pillows? She could make a person begin to despise brown as well (but that will never happen, chocolate, coffee and cinnamon toast make me too happy).

Shortly after her death I discovered you can have color on the walls. And the furniture and throw pillows. All sorts of color and more than two. Who cares if no one but the painter and tosser of pillows thinks it looks good. Dirt still came home at night and the children still grew up. Its nice only having two goals in life eh?

But I do think it is odd that I love snow so much but rarely do I choose white as a colour? Save for my appliances, always white – after all, the only other choice there is steel, hmmm what color is our sky most of the time, why would I purpose to use steel grey on anything! There isn’t enough vitamin D in the world to counter act steel grey!

And for some reason I do love my white sheers on my windows, and white twinkly lights strung all through the house. I love a white sink, even if it becomes pitted and discolored from the iron in the water. But only in the kitchen. One reason I’m not looking forward to the bathroom remodel is that I will have to put in white fixtures and say good bye to my… green ones!

See, I really do love green, really I do, all sorts of greens. I just wish the outdoor green was thickly covered with white right now.

Categories: Change, Redecorating, Things My Mother Said (or Did), Weather | 3 Comments

Wheels

Posted on December 1, 2010 by Lanny

There are many wheels on the farm. All the wheels work, but their work is different. Some take us safely to other places, some help us with errands in town. These, in the header this week, stay on the farm to work, hauling, pulling, distributing, and some just add the beauty of sweet days gone by.

See what the others have for our Header Challenge this week, Dave, Fishing_Guy, Mac, and Gail’s Man. As you can see, Imac has created a monster with his collage business of last week. You can also see by the green grass under the wheel barrow that we have returned to our typical state here, no snow, no ice, just wet, chilly and wet, and dark.

Not lots to say today, well… lots to say, not lots of time to write, instead lots more work to do before we rest and enjoy the Christmas tide. For now, work and Advent meditations.

Categories: Blogging | 7 Comments

How To

Posted on November 30, 2010 by Lanny

Last week a friend asked me to explain how I did the collage. I wrote a lovely e-mail explaining step by step. I didn’t know if my friend had the same type of Photoshop as mine or how much they used it so I told them each step as if they had just popped the program onto their computer. Well, I got up to get a cup of coffee and when I came back my screen was dark and a quick swipe on the mouse pad didn’t revive my blue lights.

I have cord issues, well not for right now, Dirt got out his soldering gun and fixed it, again. But, when it is frayed, if my battery is low and something moves my cord, like me getting up to get coffee and brushing the tablecloth, there goes my work I didn’t save.

So here I am, rewriting and fulfilling a verbalized request directly on the blog in case there were other un-verbalized requests.

Mind you, I am no expert, either in photography, digital or otherwise or in Photoshop. To top it all off I use terms like thingamajiggy with abandon, even it I do know its name. So we’ll see how this works out, me writing a how to.

But if you want to make a collage like this one that I used for my header challeng and you have Photoshop Elements 6 or something close enough for horseshoes, then lets get goin’ shall we?

I saw that I could make the modern wall-frame sort of collage in the “create” portion of PS e6, but because I was a collage queen in art class that wasn’t what I wanted (my first collage assignment in seventh grade was to make a collage using food items, one of the items I chose was sugar cubes, to really give the collage an even bigger sense of three dimensions and geometry. My art teacher said they would fall off. They didn’t, not that day in class, not the next day when she finally got around to grading them, not a month later when we got to take them home and I had to store mine in my locker and then haul it home on the bus. They didn’t fall off the whole time it hung in my room as a continual encouragement to experiment and try stuff most folks think won’t work. That is why I love collages.)

But because of a thing that Tia sort of showed me I knew I could accomplish something closer to what I was looking for. So from the Organizer I sent a couple of pictures to Editor by clicking on the ones I wanted to work with and clicking the Fix button top right corner and then clicking Full Edit on the sidebar. Note: if you have a lot of pictures to move to Editor you can move them all at once by clicking on them as you hold down ctrl, they will all stay highlighted and then when you click Fix-Full Edit, Editor will open and they will all be deposited there.

Once in Editor the pictures you selected will appear at the bottom in the Project Bin. Click on the one you want as your background making it appear on the main screen. Oh wait, first up at the top where it says File, Edit, Image… you will see a menu button that says Window. Click on it. Then make sure that in its drop down Layers is marked, if not click on it to mark it and open up the layers screen on the side bar to the right.

Okay, now double click on the picture you want as your background. Have fun with it as you get to know it. Crop it, adjust the lighting, color, etc. If you haven’t been over here in Edit mode before do some exploring, if your exploring and experimenting makes it look nutty, just hit the Undo button and start over or start from before it went all wonky.

Now for the pictures, you’re going to put on top of your background. Double click them, one at a time, fixing them up for the spot you think you want them to be in, crop, color, remove color, enhance the lighting, all that stuff that makes your good picture even better. You can get them all ready or work with one at a time. When you’re ready to put a picture on your background picture…

Double click your background picture in the project bin. That will bring it up on the main screen.

Now go back down to the project bin and click and drag a prepped image up into the background. Don’t freak out if it is way bigger than you wanted it or if it didn’t land just where you thought it would. See the dotted lines around it and the little squares in the corners and middle of the sides? Those are just like the ones you see when you crop or adjust an image. So now you can shrink it or grow it however you like, just remember, in order to keep the right proportions you have, grab a corner square and drag it out or push it in evenly. So now you know when prepping an image, you don’t crop for size, you crop for placement of the subject and removal of unnecessary stuff.

While you are still clicked on the image you just placed, you can also use that corner square to tilt your image, just move the cursor a little farther until the diagonal line turns into a little curve line and then whoopdy woo, have a go at turning it all over the place.

Speaking of place and moving, I hope you just figured out that you can adjust the placement of the image on the background. Just make sure you are in the hand mode or the pointer mode (see the vertical tool bar on the left side, both are at the top). In fact, I’ll say right now that when you are in Editor if you are trying to make some thing happen and it isn’t working like it ought to, most likely you are clicked on the wrong tool from the tool bar on the left. I pretty much find that I need to calm down and remember to click on the pointer tool, then my life goes much smoother.

So now you’re ready to put more pictures in and from now on we’ll call the main thing the collage.

First, look over to the right hand side and see your layers window. You should have two images there, one is the background and the other is the image you just put on the background.

If you click on the background layer in the layer window and then add another image like you did before (click on the next image you have prepped in the project bin and drag up to the collage) This new image will be underneath the first image you placed on the background if you happen to move the two so that they overlap. Try it.

You can make them switch dominance by changing their placing in the layers window, just click on one of the images, drag and drop it into the position you want. This becomes rather important when you have lots of images in your collage and are trying for that random tucked in or scrambled on the dining room table effect. You can easily figure out which one is which (the image is rather small over in the layers window) by clicking on the image in the main window, it will highlight that image in the layers window.

So now go ahead a load a bunch of images into the collage. Oh, if you miss and accidentally put an image on top of an image it replaces the one that was there, click undo and try placing again. Remember, once you drop and drag an image up to the collage you can resize and reposition it. You can do that at any ol’ time, just click on the image in the collage that you wish to resize or reposition. Just remember you need to be clicked on to the pointer or the hand over on the left side tool bar. (I’m often clicked on one of the other editing tools, like the crop tool and then I wonder why my clicking and moving is futile. (Oops I’m repeating myself, oh well I do that mistake a lot so maybe it bares repeating.))

Keep clicking and adding, don’t forget you can always delete, and you can use one image more than once.

When you like what you see and your sure you are all done. Flatten the Image! Here’s how. With your finished collage in the main window, go back up at the top of your screen, where it says File, Edit, Image, Enhance…. ya, click on Layer, at the bottom of the drop down is the word flatten image. Click on that. Now you’re flat and the computer size of a regular picture. If you skip this step your collage most likely will not load onto things like blogs and take up a lot of space, or at least that is what I’m told. I do know about the “will not load” thing personally however.

Well I think I’ve told you everything I learned the day I sat myself down to fulfill an assignment. I’m going to continue to explore, I hope you do to. And if you ever see a picture that you want to know how I got there, feel free to ask, I have no secrets. But if I forget to tell you, Clever Reader please, bug me, I was born with that forgetting disease, and I forget how to spell it. And speaking of spelling, I have a spelling bone to pick with whomever will listen, but I’ll wait for another time.

Categories: Blogging, Photo Class With Tia, Technology | 5 Comments

1 John 1:5-2:2

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