My sister told me about this great application for the Mac called VintageScene, a program that has preset filters that make your modern photos look aged and vintage. Of course, John commented that we have progressed so far from the early cameras and their print quality, only to create apps that make photos look old and worn. I think that goes to show that the early photographers were artists, while today any Tom Dick or Harry can take a snapshot with their phone. Here are a few of the aged photos I created.

Here a stand of cannon and an ammunition wagon.

Next, our friend John Smolley as Jefferson Davis, President of the CSA.

This is Logan B., who has grown up so very fast, and now he'd rather march with the Army than play in the parlour, sigh...

I created an album in the gallery called The Vintage Scene where there are a few more aged photos. I will continue to play with this because it's lots of fun!

As I mentioned a while back in the month, I will be sticking to one resolution per month this year, and January's resolution was to try new food. Specifically, I resolved to try something new each week. I would not say that I am not an adventurous eater, but I can't try things that just sound inherently dangerous or outright gross. So puffer fish and chocoate covered ants were just out. This was a bit of a cheat for me because I had voluntarily tried brussel sprouts within the first week of the month, before I put together my resolutions for the year, but I hope you will just forget that.

Each week I considered what my food adventure would be. I did not limit myself to just produce - although that is where my failings lie - but I did try a bit of this and a bit of that.

Week 1 - Brussel Sprouts - brush with a bit of olive oil and roast; I will try these again.

Week 2 - Cinnamon Chicken - ever since I saw a Little House on the Prarie episode where Laura switched out the cinnamon for cayenne pepper before Nellie Olson made cinnamon chicken for Almanzo Wilder, I have wanted to try this dish. I posted on Facebook for food ideas and my friend Brianna sent me the recipe. It was quite good! More savory than sweet because there is no sugar.

I served it with brown rice and green beans and it was a nice change to our regular fare of "chicken something" and veggies. It takes two tablespoons of cinnamon, so poor Almanzo having to politely eat chicken with two tablespoons of cayenne pepper on it!!

Week 3 - Pineapple Melon - I have seen these in the grocery store and wondered about them. Since it was something I doubted I would ever try unless under duress, I purchased one and Melody and I tried it a day or so later.

I sliced it, not knowing what the inside would be like, but somehow not expecting what I found:

This thing is seedy and around the seeds is a gelantanous goo. This wasn't looking good. I pried out a small piece and put it in my mouth...and immediately spat it out! This thing is horrid! I can only liken this fruit to the consistency of the inside of a tomato (and you all know how I feel about THAT) and bitter, sour, unpleasant. Yuck! Melody tasted a bit and enjoyed pulling the seeds out more than eating it. I threw the whole thing in the trash and shudder when I recall the taste.

Week 4 - Graham Cracker Cake - In an attempt to redeem my tasting tribulation of the previous week, I made a vintage recipe called graham cracker cake, except I didn't have graham crackers, so I crushed Nilla Wafers. This cake was very good though I think I might have not baked it long enough. It acted a bit like a sponge or angel cake at first, but soon fell while it was cooling. The recipe card didn't indicate how long to bake it, so next time I'll try it for longer. It's worth a second attemp and yes, we did eat it all even if it was a bit messed up.

With a bit of whipped cream, it redeemed the new foods resolution completely! I didn't mind trying the new foods and I will continue to try to work more foods into our dietary routine. I've got a turnip or two in my fridge right now and I'm actively looking for preparations, plus I'll be trying some new recipes for my sister site Gram's Recipe Box as the months progress. All in all, I'd call January's resolution of new foods a success!

November 9th is our wedding anniversary, and even though it has been eight years, I still get a little giddy when I hear John refer to me as his wife. Silly? Maybe. So what. :-) Here are a few of my favorite photos from that happy, happy day.

These three surely got into lots of trouble as kids!

Before celebs were doing a sand ceremony, we blended our sand. As our minister said, you can spend eternity separating these grains of sand and never get it right; family is like that too.

At 83 years old, Grandma danced the jitterbug with her great grandson David Jr.

My favorite picture of the day, taken on Jon Davis' digital camera and not by either of the two photographers we had on hand. Know one reason why I love love love this photo?

Yep, that's my folks on their wedding day 50+ years ago. :-) Nothing beats the happy-leaving-the-church-smiles, does it.

Click here to see a few more of my favorite photos from our wedding day.

Orange County has a great agricultural history that is shrinking year by year as farms are turned into housing tracts or shopping malls, but there are a few hold outs, and one is Tanaka Farm in Irvine. Believe it or not, Irvine was one of the largest agricultural centers in the county at one point. The land is fertile and early on, it was plentiful. Tanaka Farm is an organic farm right in the heart of Irvine, on University Drive near Michelson. They are a working farm that produces fruits and vegetables year-round. The Tanaka family is 3rd generation Japanese and are hands-on owners. They offer school education programs, tours, and lucky for us, a pumpkin patch!

While I have been to farms in the past, Melody had not and so I decided that picking out a pumpkin from the farm where it grew - rather than the grocery store or in some parking lot somewhere - we would go. Today! Let's go! Once we arrived at the farm, we could tell it was very popular, as there were numerous cars and even bus parking! The farm has a festival atmosphere, with a petting zoo, games for kids, face painting, a wagon ride, corn maze and of course, pumpkin patch. For a reasonable price, you can exhaust yourself. 

Melody wasn't a big fan of the petting zoo because the goats scared her. They were, as goats tend to be, hungry for the food we had. We did talk her into petting one, but that was it. She was much more interested in getting her face painted! We then caught the wagon ride back around the farm - including a quick stop at the pumpkin cannon - and went over to the pumpkin patch.

Click on the photo of Melody to get to the gallery where there are more photos from our day. We really enjoyed ourselves and I would definitely go back to Tanaka Farm, either off season or for the pumpkin patch again. We headed home with three pumpkins that we will carve for Halloween. It was a great day!

It was 2007, Melody was 2 months old. My iPod was broken and I needed wanted a new one. This was Melody's first visit to the Apple store, Mecca of Tech (Techa?). I knew before I left the house that I would take this picture and I hoped no one thought I was too much of a "fanboy" girl. I just thought it would be funny for John.

And now, Steve Jobs is gone. We can only hope that Apple doesn't go the way they did when he was ousted in the 80s. The products are reliable and elegant. Apple changed the way people communicate with the iPhone bringing together all the platforms and devices into one. I hope that one day, Melody will be able to plan her child's first visit to the Apple store or whatever its equivalent is in 20 years.