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This year, I have found a couple of interesting things in the garden. What I thought was a blackened leaf turned out to be a petrified frog. What I could have mistaken for garbage was a bird skull. And then, there was Pullo’s baby teeth which kept falling out left and right in the house! I thought they were all quite beautiful and thought you might, too.

Here we begin with the teeth of our baby, Pullo. Pullo is our 7 month old kitty and is growing rapidly. I literally kept hearing his teeth hit our kitchen floor as they all decided to fall out in the span of a couple of weeks! It is rare to find so many from a kitten. They usually swallow them, poo them or just get lost in the carpet.

I found the first in our carpeted hallway, then two in the kitchen and another near the sofa. It was odd that I kept them, as I have never been a fan of loose teeth on humans or any other animal. In fact, my younger sister used to torture me and show me her extremely loose teeth to make me cringe! Thanks, Shara

All of the pics were shot underneath my seedling grow light. It gave a very daylight feel to the pics even in their raw state. I adjusted them, of course, to suit my wants. I really like how they came out!

My friend I-Li (owner and Master Chocolatier of Vice Chocolates) had given me a goodie bag of chocolate at the Blacksun Festival and I still had the paper bag on my shelf. I used the bag as a backdrop on a few of the pics so that I didn’t have to use material that I’d have to wash the death out of later.

Then comes the frog. His skin looks almost like wood or peeling bark from a tree. I almost stepped on him twice, which is why I decided to pick him up. I wouldn’t have been able to stand it if I had crunched those tiny little bones beneath my feet. “shivers down spine!!”

I shot the frog on white paper so his “frogginess” would be more prominent. I managed to use the “dodge & burn” tool in Aperture (V 2.1) which was quite lovely. I love tools that you can’t tell have been used!

Then comes my favourite shots of the day…the bird skull. I sat the skull on a blue/purple clipboard that I have. It is very shiny plastic. The luminosity of the plastic made for quite a beautiful floor for the skull. It’s slightly reflecting the skull and slightly water-like at the same time. It wasn’t my intention to make such a beautiful pic from a dead bird. I was merely seeing what it would look like. I was astounded by the results! Plus, just look at the intricate design of the bones and skull itself. All that complex work inside a bird skull. Amazing.

This is the full view.

This is the cropped view. I thought this view looked very much like an old mask design. I later found out from my friend Julia that a bird skull WAS one of the first mask designs made. Cool!

I could include more, but this is a nice summary of the shots of the day. I took these with my Fujifilm S1 Pro with my AF Nikon Micro Lens (60mm, 1:2.8 D) attached. No external flash was used. Just the light from the seedling bed. I shot them using an aperture ranging from 9.5 to 18. I like a smaller aperture. I always find it softens the light that enters the lens. But hey…that’s just me

I’m gonna head out now. So, in the meantime, if you feel you need to shoot something, use a camera!

Much Love,

cb

P.S. I’m still not at all happy with the layout of these pages. At some point it will represent my vision! Please be patient as I figure out how to make it look better.

In the past couple of weeks, I have been gearing up for many things. I’ve been working on getting things ready for the garden, working on my Cemetery film and preparing for my youngest sister’s baby shower (for which I’m making the cake). This is not including any Hungry Lucy work, so my brain is a bit of a fast track at the moment!

So, I went to the Spring Grove cemetery yesterday to try (yes TRY) to shoot some video and a bunch of pics. As you can see, it was a very sunny day and I got loads of “sun beams” in pics where I didn’t necessarily want them. While I got to shoot pictures, my camera batteries in my video camera died flat. BOTH of them! I got a few panning shots of trees and such, but not much else. As I got lost in the midst of Spring Grove (which is VERY easy to do!), War-N called me on my cell phone. I had a nice little chat and suddenly, mid-sentence, my phone died. Plus, I had to pee so bad!! Knowing this may have scared War-N, I eventually found a payphone (you know they still exist, yeah?) to tell him I was ok. And yes…I found a bathroom, too It’s now 50 cents to make a local call. Crazy!! Now you can’t even tell someone “Here’s a quarter. Call someone who cares!”. You’d have to say “Here’s 50 cents. I’m awfully sorry it costs so much, but call someone who cares!”.

Blah, blah, blah…I went to cemetery #2 near Sharonville. I don’t know the name of it off the top of my head, but it’s one I frequented when I worked in the area. An old friend introduced me to this cemetery, but you’ll find out more about that story in the future film!

Anyway, I used to go here and have lunch in my car and then walk amongst the stones. I wrote a lot of poetry in this cemetery. One in particular I remember being inspired for was a poem called “Perrinne”. I thought it was a very lovely last name that I had seen on a headstone. I’ve always remembered the first line “Perrinne, you soothe me, calm me down. When things have gotten too busy…” and I sometimes go back to that statement and can find calm in the stone of Perrinne. Anyway, they have some of the oldest stones I’ve seen in this cemetery. It’s a blend of old and new stones from plot to plot. You can’t even read some of them anymore. I find this so sad. Even graves aren’t permanent. But whacha gonna do? It’s stone. It does what it wants.

Now I am preparing my seedlings indoors in a flat, in the typical fashion, under a grow light. I hope no one suspects me of growing anything of an illegal nature! We do live across from two cops and they can see my seedlings here in the library from the street. If they insist, I shall show them my tomatoes and peppers!! I had thought about starting other seeds indoors, but the other things I’m growing are all best when directly sowed. These are things such as carrots, lettuces, peas, beans and a few flowers (cornflowers, sweet peas and the like). I must say I’m absolutely dying to get out back and garden like mad! But, I must have patience. That’s the one thing gardening has taught me. As much as I may want to, you just can NOT rush things in the garden. So, I shan’t.

In my “cake trials”, as I have been calling them, I am trying to make the ultimate shower cake. I started with a Martha Stewart recipe straight from her Baking Handbook. While it was “ok” I knew I could do better. So, I replaced the cake base of Martha’s with an elegant White cake recipe. The Lemon Curd layers stayed the same and I made a straight Vanilla Swiss Buttercream instead of my first Lemon Swiss Buttercream. Cake #2 (pictured) was a definite improvement over cake #1. BUT, I still think the buttercream could be much better. It still had too much butter, which made it a bit greasy, and it didn’t have the fluffy whiteness I was hoping for. So, I shall do one more icing trial and hope for the best. I must say. Swiss Buttercream isn’t that easy! I find it wonderfully challenging. I was, however, quite pleased with the white cake I made. It was so light, moist and full of flavour. I also learned that Lemon Curd wasn’t that difficult to make. Guess what I won’t be buying as much at Jungle Jim’s?? So, in a nutshell, the cake making is going very well. We ate that one up real nice!

Ahhh…that’s better. I can’t stand having all of this stuff stuck in a deadly loop in my brain! Best to get it out and talk about it. Meanwhile, at night I’m dreaming about dried-up seedlings, lop-sided cakes that I can’t ever finish icing and a swamp of a garden that spits out whatever I plant. The brain is a weird, marvelous, quirky thing. Mine has certainly had it’s share of activity lately! I love being so busy, but sometimes my brain won’t rest when I need it to. But, it’s worth the weirdness. I’m getting things done! Now, on to a recording session for Hungry Lucy tomorrow. I’m quite excited about that, too!! But first, a grocery shop is a MUST!

May you have a splendid weekend!

With Love,

Christa Belle

Today, January 31st, I feel very much calm and happy. I had breakfast with my War-N and that always makes for a good day!

As we sat and talked, I realized how unusual our relationship really was. I always hear people say how “marriage is hard” and I just don’t know why? I know we don’t have kids, so that is a different scenario. But, to have to “work so hard” to be with the one you love…well that just seems so strange! My Mother once told me that the more time I was married, the more time I would appreciate having to myself. Sorry, Momma. I don’t feel that way yet. I’ve been with War-N for 10 years now and I still feel the butterflies when he comes home. Whenever this “work” is supposed to come into play, please don’t tell me. I’ve avoided it thus far and we are both the better for it!

I think maybe people work too hard to make something work that shouldn’t. “They say” it’s all about sacrifice, compromise and all that jazz. Why? If you aren’t with someone who appreciates all of your quirks, methods and madness, why are you with them in the first place? And before you say something, no. This isn’t a ramble about how perfect my marriage is. I’m simply going through the thoughts in my head trying to figure out what a “normal” marriage is judged by. And I’m certainly not judging anyone else’s marriage. Just thinking out loud on my blog. That’s allowed, right?

I also feel like there’s a difference in “working things out” after an argument and “working to stay together”. All couples have arguments, no matter how big or small, and have to find a resolution. But, to have to constantly find a way to want to stay in the same house? That must be a terrible feeling. Well, I know. I used to feel that way long ago, before War-N. That brings me back to a comment War-N said this morning about how divorce can be a good thing. For example, in the 50’s and 60’s people just didn’t divorce. It was not done! It was looked at as a sign of giving up or abandoning your spouse and family. But, I have learned that it can also be a sign of giving up on yourself if you DON’T get a divorce. Complacency. How terrible!

I think this came about by watching the film “51 Birch Street”. A WONDERFUL film! It’s a documentary about Doug Block and his family. I’ll say no more than that, as it will ruin it for anyone else. I’ll simply say you MUST see his brilliant film and learn everything you can from it!! I certainly have. Not just as a viewer, but as a future film-maker.

So, I hope I am never “normal” (I haven’t been by any standard thus far!) and continue to live in a calm world with my non-normal husband. Life is what we make of it. If someone is always telling you to give in, compromise or not be yourself, where is the life in that? I’m very luck to have found War-N. It wasn’t an easy road at first, by ANY means.Obstacles everywhere. But, as our buddy Clete Francis said, “If we can get through this, we can get through anything!”. You said it, Clete!! I think that’s why we’re such a strong couple today. We learned what we were early on. We embraced it and never looked back!

I hope you, yes you, are happy and know who you are within yourself. That’s the key to finding true happiness!

Much Love to everyone!

Christa Belle

As some of you may know, I recently did a DVD project for my close family and friends. For the last three years, I have done an “end of the year” project documenting events of that year. Well, the one I did for 2006 never got given to anyone, so I decided to make a ultimate DVD set of the years 2006 & 2007. It is now finished and either in the recipient’s hands, or on it’s way to them.

To describe how I felt while editing all of this material would take a long time. I’ll just say I re-learned a few things that needed re-learning. All of the people in my life are so precious to me and sometimes a video is my only way to communicate that. Yes, I communicate my feelings through music, too. But, I feel pictures and video say things that songs cannot. That said, I also made a soundtrack for the “first flush” of recipients to enjoy. Since I wasn’t selling this DVD, I just wanted to make each person a “mixed cd” in Soundtrack style. I know, I’m rambling. But who cares??

So, the design for the cover was very important to me. We had used a technique with Thorn Apple (collaboration band I was involved in) years ago where we decided to print on vellum. The look is very beautiful and ethereal. I went back to that technique and feel it made the picture look like an old Polaroid transfer or something. I LOVED it!! However, some folks couldn’t read the text, as it was a bit faint on the vellum with all that black ink. So, I made a second version on crisp white paper. It’s much more legible, but I don’t like it nearly as much. I gave the first recipients the vellum variety and the people more concerned with the reading the crisp variety. I actually remembered to make myself a copy this time, too! So, I made a vellum version for me

The picture on the front of the DVD is my Grandparent’s old porch in Athens, KY. I was VERY fortunate to go and take pictures before the whole area was torn down. I still miss that porch, place and, most importantly, the people. I often go back to Athens to the cemetery, the old town streets and buildings and just re-connect with my childhood memories. I sit on the rock wall, staring up at the stars and know there was a lot of love here once.

There is also a school in Athens, which I believe will also be torn down, that I made a menu picture on the DVD. I had taken pictures there on a recent trip to Lexington and it was perfect for a Menu backdrop. One more lovely tie to the past. Great!!

I don’t know how this will come out, but I often feel like the family documentarian. I feel like I am preserving my own life as it happens and I can look back on it any time I want, or need, to feel my human connections. I called the DVD set “Laughing through the Tears” because that’s what everyone says they do when they watch my little films. “I laughed, and cried, and laughed some more” and so on. So, the title was born. Plus, it was a line in Steel Magnolias that I just loved. A scene in the back yard where Dolly Parton’s character says “Laughter through tears is my favourite emotion.” I have to agree 100%.

So, I will continue making memory archives and living life as if each day is my last. I’m not going to waste my time “saying” i’m going to do something. I’m going to actually DO it. My wild heart is finding it’s beat once again and isn’t afraid of what’s to come!

Much Love to everyone, everywhere!

Christa Belle

Before you think I spelled it wrong, I didn’t! I made invitations using the art of Edward Gorey, so nyah! I would show it, but I’m afraid I’d be committing some unspeakable copyright infringement. I don’t wanna disrespect the “Ed”, so I shan’t.

Anyhoo, most of the party went according to plan. I didn’t get my menu tags out in time, so there were no labels on the food. But, I think people could tell what most things were, so it was all good. It was a family affair with most of my family attending. The few that weren’t there were missed. Hope they had fun with their other plans Below is War-N as “Undead Priest” and Peter as “Dracula”. Later on, you will see the Devil Woman, too!

I set the mood with a bunch of candles, orange & purple string lights and a few special items, like this picture I was given while on tour with my band, Hungry Lucy. I met this guy, who was in a band also playing that night, and we started chatting about photography. He happened to have his portfolio with him and offered me an original work! I gladly accepted and had him sign it for me. I thought choosing a photo of him, by him, was highly suitable. It marked the occasion nicely. He, Feightner, was such a nice guy and so humble about accepting compliments on his work. It was all stunningly gory, and beautiful. I thought it fit in well with the party and offered a very special touch!

I set three tables with different things. One Vampire table, one Ceremonial table and one Skull table. Each of which are below in corresponding order. I liked the ceremonial table the best just because I LOVED the photos of it!! Plus, I discovered a great way to use napkin rings as votive holders! I had them beside me on the table, before it was dressed, and I thought “Ooooh…that would be nice!”. It was, and I was happy Also a great use of cheesecloth, don’t you think??

Then, there was the food. I made Rabbit Poo, Spider Legs (complete with cheese body), Pond Scum, Plasma Fizzures and everyone else brought many more gross-sounding, but delicious, food! I was so busy that I couldn’t take photos at the time. But, Mummy Carol (Devil Woman in the photos) managed to come through for me as she shot a lot of photos that evening. Thanks Mummy!!

The Rabbit Poo was the most labor-intensive thing I’ve made in a long time. Basically, it’s tiny hand-rolled truffles served in a bed of toasted coconut. You can see a cup of it in the above picture, next to the spider, in the silver muffin cups. I figured the best way to serve them was in a bundle, as I didn’t think tons of fingers on the truffles was a very sanitary thing. Eew!

I’m not including a lot of the pics of other people, as I don’t know if they’d want to be online for the world to see. But, everyone looked so great! My youngest sister, Shara, had the best, most original costume of the night (in MY opinion). She was a Deviled Egg! She had on white scrubs, red devil horns and a tail. She completed the look with a yellow yolk on her belly! Brilliant!! But, here’s me as a Murdered Faerie. War-N did my hair, as I couldn’t get it large enough!

Here’s Dracula and Devil Woman together. Other attendees included a different Faerie (My eldest sister, Angela. We were both Faeries and didn’t know it!), an Undead Swamp Creature, Murdered Al Capone, Tina Turner, Dark Angel, the Pig from Saw, Ghost, Death, a Hot Mummy and my Dad as himself! What a list of visitors, ay?

Then, we put our projector and fabric walls to good use for a background. We played the old movies Nosferatu, Dracula and Frankenstein. We put music to it (a LOT of Skinny Puppy) and it made for a great feel.

Overall, a great night! I, as the hostess, had a few things I wasn’t happy with. But, hey. Whatcha gonna do? Everyone had a great time, so that’s what matters!

Enjoy the pics, even though they are posted rather late, and I’ll talk to you again very soon!

Take care,

cb

Well, I just got a new toy! I am now the proud owner of an AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8 D lens. HOORAY! It works perfectly either on my film Nikon OR my Fujifilm S1 Pro. So, I can use it with film, or pixels

I have had the same 28-80mm lens for my camera(s) for many, many years (like more than 10!) and have always wanted a lens for close-up work and nature photography. I finally got my wish today, on Lucy’s dime! We’ll be using it for all sorts of new projects, some for the band, and some just for me.
With this shallow depth of field, I am going to have to learn how to shoot with it so I don’t have blurry pics all the time. It’s not an everyday shooter, but it’s great for getting up close and very personal with a subject! Minimum focus range is an amazing 8 3/4 inches! But, I must say, I got closer than that with good results. Now, I just need to get closer with a tripod to hold the steadiness! I tried focusing on the kitty boys, but they wouldn’t hold that still for me I chose this pic of the Sedum because it was colourful and soft. That’s what you get with a 2.8 lens, baby!! Sharp focus, soft background and amazing colour. YAY! Much work is in my path. Now I can get the right photos I need for my cookbook and finally get that off the ground! Funny what can hold you back. Now, I have absolutely no excuses to do my long awaited cookbook! Watch out, you mountainous plates of pasta. I’m a comin’ ta shoot ya!!

Large Lens Love,

cb

What a start to Fall, ay? Still in the upper 80’s here in the Ohio area and not much cool weather yet. The mornings are cool, so that’s a plus. Also, the days are getting shorter…YAY! I do love a nice dark morning to greet me after I take War-N to the bus. It gives me that “Winter” feeling and I can pretend, at least for half of the day. Also, I can go outside very early and enjoy the garden before it gets too hot. Just this morning I sat outside in my big blue chair, sipped my tea slowly and watched the birds fly from house to house avoiding loud sounds. I had my hand over my cup too, in case the birds decided to “drop” anything Hee hee!

So, I started my day with a lovely breakfast with War-N. Then, I took him to the bus and came home to enjoy my tea and time with the boys. Peanut has become much more of a lap cat lately, and Sebastian always was. So, it’s nice to have them fight over who will sit with me first! Lately, Peanut wins.

Peanut’s fur is growing back nicely. After his clean, close shave about 4 weeks ago, you can’t even tell in most photos that he’s been shaved. He’s still as regal as ever and loves being free of his dreadful dreads! He does have a bit of a resemblance to a poodle, though :/

Sebastian enjoys starting his day with the back door open, no matter the weather. He cries if you DON’T open the door! And why is it that Sebastian is so cute, and Peanut is so handsome? Size? Eyes? What is it?? Not that it matters. Just a wonderin’.

So, onto Garden News!! Aside from getting my fingers pricked by pulling the wrong weeds bare handed, I have been busy with normal maintenance (mowing, weeding, whacking and the like) and planting my Fall plant of choice, Mums. Crysanths to you lot in England! I usually go for the rusty varieties and the darker shades. I managed to get a lot of the deep colours, but I have offset them with the Bronze colours as well. It will be a big surprise as to what the Bronze ones look like though, as no buds were open as of yet. Yay…a garden surprise!

I love this particular plant. It’s a red variety mum, not blooming yet either, which name escapes me at the moment. I just love the way some of it hangs over the front of the pot. I think this one works very well in this pot. I can’t wait for opening day!

This one is an orange variety and looks great in an orange terra-cotta pot with the blue-grey rocks as a backdrop. You can see its colours already, so I just look forward to more of it.

I did a special project for Halloween, too. I got two plain old plastic black cauldrons at a craft store. I drilled 4 drainage holes in the bottom and voila! A cauldron planter for my Mums! I put them on the front porch so I can enjoy them when I sit in me rocker. The drill went through that plastic like butter, baby! Easy peasy. These varieties are Caesar Bronze (left) and Sunset Orange (right).

Then, I planted the smaller babies in the ground, mainly because I ran out of pots! I moved my Rosemary pots behind the newly planted Mums in hopes to make a cute little area for adding pumpkins and such to a bit later. I think it will work when it has more visual impact.

Speaking of Rosemary, the one in my front bed really found its roots this season! I can remember when it was a little twig of a plant that slightly resembled a small christmas tree. It, and its sister plant out back, are both flowering now. It’s so easy to not see their flowers. They are a light blue and they get lost in the sky behind them. You know what they say about Rosemary, don’t you? Where Rosemary grows, a wise, powerful woman is in charge Not really, but something like that.

Under this Rosemary is a special remembrance stone for Chloe that my sister Angie gave to me. I named her Chloe Jr., obviously, and I thought under Rosemary was an appropriate place. After all, “Rosemary is for Remembrance”.

Then, I have my growing rock collection, mostly given to me by my nephew, Jason, who is a master at collecting interesting rocks. This one looks like an old-fashioned telephone, complete with handset AND base!

He found these two rocks at the Hamilton Riverbank. I sat and watched clouds as he collected rock after rock. It’s so cool what he comes back with! He said these were for me & War-N. So, I put them under the “love seat bench” at the top of the garden.

I have some other random rocks he gave me that I just use here and there for great accents. This looks like a little river of rocks going under the pot. I love a little rock play in the garden, obviously!

And get this! These Willows were the tiny twiglets leftover from nearly three years of being in the wrong place. We had 10 originally, given to us by War-N’s parents, Peter & Carol, and we had to move them due to an error in property lines and fence problems. So, I moved them to the lowest point at the time and the didn’t like it there either and never really grew at all. Then, when we had the work done in the back yard, I moved the remaining living ones, 5 total, to the top bed with the most new, good soil in the bed. Since July, they are now nearly as tall as me and quite a bit wider than I am I’ll have a private Willow cove by next Summer! I certainly won’t be planting any additional Willows. 5 is quite enough for our space!

Then, on the subject of strawberries, they sure do like to play leapfrog! My eldest sister Angie, my Gardening Angel, gave me tons of plants a few months back. Some of them were strawberry plants from her own divisions. She gave me 11 and, after my count this morning, I have 37 contact points with the ground! Each “runner” (the little red vines) make little offshoots which, in turn, make another plant. These seem to be easy enough to control at this stage. You simply cut them off where you don’t want them to go. I want them to fill in the lower lip of the right hand side, so I’ll let them run for now. You can’t see all of them in this shot. But, trust me, there are plenty! One of the tiniest plants, with no offshoots, is even producing 2 berries in the dead end of summer! Wow. I can’t wait for the strawberry flowers in early summer next year!

Now, on to some red colour! When I planted this sturdy, blue-flowering plant, Plumbago (Leadwort to most folks), I had no idea of the glorious red colour it gets with age. After the flowers are spent, it starts to turn red…even in August. I just let it do its thing and see what happened. It surpassed the Dead Nettle beside it and went on to live a happy, healthy life as a red plant. Actually, I think my Dead Nettle died! I guess it lived up to its name, huh? Oh well. Lesson learned.

More red in the garden will follow, just a few feet north of the plumbago. Above the leadwort’s head is Russell, The Red Maple. This is the ‘October Glory’ variety and I’m starting to see signs of why. This tree will look like it’s on fire when all the leaves are in full fall colour! I’m REALLY looking forward to this show. Just the peep show is cool so far! This is also why I got this particular Maple to begin with.

Out in the front bed, I discovered a few other types of species. I saw in a few of my Rue plants a yellow, white and black caterpillar. I didn’t know what type of caterpillar it was, so I looked it up during one of our weekly trips to the bookstore. I swear to Goddess I opened the book, which was hundreds of pages, to the EXACT caterpillar that was in my garden! I looked further and found another possible match. But no. It was the first one I saw. Craziness. The match was a Black Swallowtail Butterfly. Well, it will be soon. The other candidate was the Monarch. But, the Monarch was absolute stripes with no spots and funny little antennae on its head. I don’t normally go for the crawling specimens. I saw one and I was ok. Then, I noticed quite a few on one plant. I instantly felt sick and ran inside!! Am I a girl or what? Now, it seems to only be this little guy. At least, I can’t SEE any others out there.

My “once Around” garden stroll began and ended with the eyes of Peanut and Sebastian. You can’t see Seb’s eyes fully, but if you look closely, you can see one of his eyes in the flower head of the Yarrow. Aw. My dear, sweet boys! They, of course, sat and watched out back as I took picture after picture. Peanut gets mad after a while and really wants me to either come in, or let him out! I won’t do the latter, so I go in

I can’t describe the feelings I get when I look at my now growing garden. To see it how it used to be, and how it is now, is such a huge transformation already. I feel so much more calm when I visit the back yard now. I used to feel ill and depressed every single time I looked out at our barren hill. No more of that, please! Even though it will all go to sleep, I know it will come back stronger, fuller, greener and more alive! Plus, I can watch the new shoots emerge from the ground. My oh my, I love every part of gardening!

This is a nearly full view of the back garden at its current state, Mum pots and all. I know you wanted to see it, Christopher, so here ya go

Okie, dokie. That’s about it for now. I have bulbs coming to me today which I shall plant when it finally cools down. 3 types of Muscari (Grape Hyacinth) and 2 types of Iris. Join me next time when I’ll be planting all of those beauties!

With a Cup of Tea,

Christa Belle

P.S. The alignment of this article is not fully representative of my vision. I couldn’t get my code to obey me, so I left it as it is now. Not horrid, but not great either Sorry.

This recipe is such a good one! It’s highly modifiable, easy and you can substitute anything you want, or need to, in a pinch. I make this on average of about once a month. Sometimes, if I’m in the mood, I put about 4 ounces of chopped dark chocolate in it and serve it heated with vanilla spiked whipped cream as a dessert! Can you say YUM?? I know you can

The scent of this wafting through my house on a cold day warms the cockles of my heart. Fresh from the oven, waiting only the amount of time it takes to grab the knife, I cut a fat slice and eat it slowly with a cup of strong, milky tea. I love eating it the day it’s baked when the top is crispy and lovely. Once you store it in an airtight container, it gets soft. But, it’s still delicious!

I don’t know about you, but when I eat banana bread, I like it to taste warm as well as feel warm. The cinnamon combined with nutmeg and cloves is enough to warm me all over, even on a cold day. Another secret to my bread is that I use Italian 00 flour, which is lighter than all purpose, but not as light as cake flour. It’s just right for making a loaf bread with some substance. I got the original basic recipe for this online, as I have done with quite a few, but I just had to change it and make it my own. It was quite boring before and lacked ANY of the spices and vanilla. That said, here is my bananariffic creation!

Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups Italian 00 Flour *
- 1 tsp. Baking Soda
- 1 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. Ground Cloves
- Dusting of freshly grated Nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp. Salt (I use kosher, always)
- 1 cup Granulated Sugar *
- 2 Eggs, beaten
- 1 tsp. Vanilla, slightly overflowed
- 1/4 cup Unsalted Butter, melted
- 3 medium to large very ripe Bananas, mashed

Method:
- Grease and flour a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan, or line with parchment for an easy-to-get-out-of-pan bread. Pre-heat oven to 350 F.
- In one bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, sugar and spices. Whisk it through to combine all ingredients. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a fork, mash the bananas until smooth. I just break them into the bowl with my hands to save using a knife. Add the eggs, melted and cooled butter, and the vanilla. Mix to incorporate. Then, add the dry ingredients slowly to the wet until just incorporated scraping the bowl down to make sure everything is properly mixed. Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake in pre-heated oven for 50 minutes to an hour, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Definitely check at 50 minutes! Serve warm from the pan with a steaming cup of tea. Now, where’s my robe and slippers?

**Cook’s Notes**
+ If you wanted to add any nuts, feel free. That’s another reason I started making my own. I don’t like it with the nuts.
+ If you can’t find 00 Flour, you can substitute with Cake Flour. Or, you could do a 50/50 mix of Cake Flour and All Purpose Flour or just all All Purpose Flour. It’s not a big deal, but the texture will be slightly different.
+ When I use Granulated Sugar, I use Organic brands that aren’t processed as much as regular brands. It is darker in colour, but the flavour is so much better. Nothing wrong with that!
+ Once in a great while, one of my bananas will be too far gone to use. If you’ve already started the bread and have no more bananas, you can substitute a half cup of yogurt, cream, soy milk or regular milk for the missing banana. I found vanilla fat free yogurt was an EXCELLENT substitute and made the bread even more moist! I may even make a new bread out of that discovery

I wouldn’t really call this a “recipe”, per se. Just an idea with some ingredients. I came up with this idea originally with strawberries and it was just as fabulous, if not more so! But, today I had bananas, so that’s what I used. The crumbly texture of the digestives against the creaminess of the hazelnut spread provides the perfect bed for the soft, supple bananas to settle into.

If you don’t have access to digestives (a wholemeal cookie type thing from the British Isles), you can easily use graham crackers. It won’t have the same melting texture, but it will still be good.

So, here’s what I used:

- 1 ripe banana, cut into slices
- 2 Tbsp. Nocciolata hazelnut spread +
- 3 Digestive biscuits, or more if you like

Pretty much spread the spread onto the biscuits, add the bananas and enjoy! I didn’t use the entire banana on these, so I just ate the rest. Good way to get some fruit into my daily allowance, yeah?

**Cook’s Notes**

+ I advise you have this treat with a hot cuppa tea. I chose Assam, with milk, and sat back and enjoyed every bite with my kitty on my lap! Take time to savor and really appreciate treats in life. Oh, and eat these over a plate. The digestives tend to break in random areas, so you could end up with a choco-banana schmere on your lap! Also, you WILL need a napkin!

+ Nocciolata is another brand of chocolate hazelnut spread. Most of you may be familiar with Nutella, but I think Nocciolata is MUCH better, less sweet and more natural. No hydrogenated anything in it! I found this gem in the natural section of my local market. You can always sub Nutella, especially if that’s what you’re used to.

Well, that’s rude! What did I cut? That would be Saturation. By this I mean the saturation of colour in the following photographs. If you know me at all, you know I am a true Black & White Photography person. I love to look at it, shoot it, develop it and manipulate it. I would be very sad without B&W pictures in my life.

When I shoot with my Fujifilm (essentially Nikon) Finepix S1 Pro, I always shoot in the colour mode. Why, you may ask? Well, because there’s more to a black and white print than just black and white. Lots of tone hides in the colour and it’s a shame to just strip it out all the way from the get go. So, I play, tweak, lift and separate! I thought it might be interesting to take you through a couple of photos and show you what I did to manipulate them to be what I wanted them to be. I am by NO means a professional at anything I talk about, but I feel it’s informative to show others how to get a cool effect. Plus, this one is so simple I claim nothing great in this accomplishment! I just really like the outcome and thought you may as well. So, that said, here we go!

This is the original colour picture unadjusted. As you can see the yellows and greens really compete for attention. I also thought they added a certain “fluffiness” to the lovely grain of the stone, therefore making it not truly representative of what my eyes could see. So, I cut it! As is it’s not a bad picture, but it’s not what I was going for. That’s one reason why I never delete a photo from my camera until I take it home and see what’s it’s truly like on screen, full size. Viewfinders just give you an idea. So, don’t delete until you know for sure At least, that’s my advice. Anyway, about the cutting of colour…

This is the result. Quite different, huh? I absolutely adore this photo and plan to go back and do a series in a more complete way. But I digress…the details. This was shot with a Nikon 28-80mm zoom lens at 28mm. The aperture was set at 6.0, ISO of 320 and I honestly forgot what shutter speed. Oops! I used no flash. Then, I began the manipulation in Aperture. For overall saturation, I cut it down to 48% with the contrast up by 7%, brightness down by 3% and the shadows lifted by about 75%. I wanted to keep some shadows intact, to keep the air of mystery, but didn’t want to go overboard and expose everything under her lovely hood. Yes, beneath the deformed-esque figure, it is a woman. For individual hues, I upped the leftover saturation of the green channel and it’s luminance just so you could “feel” the greenness and it didn’t appear flat. I took the remaining channels of blue and yellow and turned them down all the way. I didn’t touch the red and magenta channels, as they seemed unaffected when I moved them. I had to play a lot with the brightness and shadows to get them to this point. I feel it still needs a bit more darkness in the tree area, so I may play with that in Photoshop with masks and the like. But, I love the stage it is at right now. It’s slightly disturbing, warm yet cool and evokes a sense of October completely. Also, the main focus was on the tree. She’s slightly out of focus, which adds a little bit of depth, and movement, in my opinion.

Then, we move on to the Lion. There are two Lions, but this one was my favourite. I loved how one of his eyes was white and the other black with stain and mold. The Lions are the guards to what I named “The Lady”. You can see the Lady in the background, but she deserves a more complete shoot before I feature her here.

This is the original shot of the Lion, unadjusted. Again, those yellows just ruin what I saw with my eyes. Yellow, I cut you! Also, it has a haziness of blue-green that I just didn’t care for at all. I felt it ruined the integrity of the Lion and what he stood for. I wish I had him for my back garden!

Then, the cutting and moving around of sliders began. These were shot with the same camera and settings as the first picture. That was easy! So, I did an overall saturation cut to 48%, brightness down by 20% and contrast up by 6%. In this one I completely lifted all highlights and lifted the shadow by 62%. I left the green again, but only added more luminance and left the saturation where it was. There is a bit of blue peeking through the sky and I upped the luminance of that. I left the red and magenta alone again and totally cut the yellow. After all, he is not a cowardly Lion! Sleepy, maybe. Cowardly, never

As you can see, this one got a little “pixely” when I saved it as a jpg. But, this is just the nature of the beast. It looks so much better as a big, fat, huge tiff. It’s a 20 Mega Biter, in fact! Oh matron!

So, you may be wondering where I shot these lovely photos. If you are wondering, I shot them in a cemetery! Hee hee. No, but seriously. This day was spent at Spring Grove Cemetery here in the Cincinnati, OH area. Located in Northside, near the Tavern, this cemetery draws people in to her magnificently beautiful surroundings all seasons of the year. I have spent many a day here taking photos, reading, writing and just “being”. I love it when I see others that are there for the beauty of it. They set out picnics with their children, have family photos taken, feed the ducks, swans, geese and other birds and just admire the nature that surrounds the souls in the air. I have never considered cemeteries a bad place. My Mother always took us as children to feed the ducks in the Lexington Cemetery. We’d go and visit the graves of our family, tend to the flowers we had planted on their graves and spend the day outdoors together. I have always associated it with good memories. You can learn so much walking through a cemetery! If you never have, go give it a try. You’ll start to notice so many details you never saw before. Plus, all the stone figures are waiting to meet you!

Here are a few other shots I took. I’ll just put them up and let you admire them as they are. I could tell so many stories for each one!! But, I’ll spare you the grief

All my love to you on whatever journey you choose!

With a Cup of Tea,

Christa Belle