This site is an archive of ChiotsRun.com. For the latest information about Susy and her adventrures, visit the Cultivate Simple site.
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Trading Up

December 31st, 2008

Mr Chiots and I are videographers by trade (check out some of what we do at 2nd Mile Productions). We recently shot a promotional video for some photographer friends of ours (Linczak Photography). Instead of paying us they gave us one of their old cameras and a lens. So we traded up, literally. Now my little Sony Cybershot will be in semi-retirement. (here’s the final video)
sony-cybershot
I’m sure it will still be traveling around the gardens in my back pocket and in my purse whenever I’m out and about (especially at farmer’s markets), but I’ll be using the new camera for some of my photos (those photos yesterday of the pets were some of the first ones with the new camera, more to come later this week).

If any of you are looking for a great little point and shoot I would highly recommend the Sony Cybershot 7.2MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Zoomat $129.99 you can’t go wrong. As you can see by the images on my blog, it does a great job, especially with the macro lens. I LOVE it!
catmintgolden-delicious
butterflysedum-in-fall
mushroommonarch
pepperstulip-poplar
marigold-in-snowturkey
Now, on to the new camera (well new to us), it’s a Cannon 20D and we got a 50mm lens as well. I don’t know much about it yet, I’m sure in a few months I will. I can’t wait to see what my flowers look like through this lens (and perhaps a few others I may have by the time they’re up and blooming).
new-camera
cannon-20d
cannon-lens
So what kind of camera do you use for your photos? Have you ever bartered for something?

5 + 1 = 6

December 30th, 2008

Well, if you remember that little cat that showed up outside you’ll know what this post is about. He stuck around and no one claimed him (we put up posters all over town). So we took him to the vet, got him vaccinated and fixed, brought him home and coined him Dexter. dexterWe’ve been acclimating him to the other pets in the family for the past few weeks and all is well. They’re not best buddies yet, but the hissing has subsided. So now there are 6 members of the Chiot’s Run Family.

There’s the Chiots of course, the namesake of the garden.
lucy
Then there’s Samson, the orange cat I’ve always wanted. He’s a lovable cat always wanting to be held.
samson
There’s Sofie, she’s the dominate pet in the household. She rules the roost and all the other animals answer to her. She’s also the biggest cat in the household, though you can’t tell by the photo. She beats up on the other cats to make sure they know she’s boss.
soafie
Of course now there’s Dexter. He’s the talkative member of the household, always chirping and meowing. He’s a playful little guy, probably because he’s only a year old.
dexter-2
He’s been fun to have around. We have however hit our limit of pets, 4 is enough for us. Too bad if any more show up, they’ll be left to fend for themselves.

How many pets do you have running around the house?

Quote of the Day: Too Many Flowers?

December 29th, 2008

While reading an article about the history of lawns I came across this quote:

Let your lawn be your home’s velvet robe, and your flowers its not too promiscuous decoration.”
-Frank J. Scott (1870)

Perhaps this is where the HOA laws of today come from?
HM, I guess according to Frank, I have too many flowers, what a travesty!
front-flowerbed
anise-hyssop
pink-clematisclematisastilbeechinaceahardy-hibiscusliatrisfront-hillsidepink-rosesyarrowmini-hollyhocks
We’ve been trying to take back our lawn here at Chiot’s Run, so I’m we don’t consider our lawn, “the velvet robe” of our home. As for the amount of flowers we have, well, the photos above are just a few of what we have blooming here during the summer. What do you think? Can you have too many flowers?

Primroses in the Garden

December 27th, 2008

One of the first flowers I bought and planted in the gardens here at Chiot’s Run were primroses. That was 7 years ago this coming spring. Most of them stopped coming back after a few years, but I have one that has never failed me. It is the one of the first flowers to bloom each spring and it reblooms in the fall so it’s also one of the last flowers blooming in the gardens. I always love to see the little pink buds forming.
primrose-bud
In the spring they bloom with a flush of blooms, so many that you can’t even see the leaves of the plant.
primroses-in-spring
In the fall they bloom again and the blooms often hang on until after the first snowfall.
primrose-2
primrose-in-snow
Do you have primroses in your gardens? Or a plant that has never failed you?

Too Busy to Write Today

December 27th, 2008

We’re too busy here at Chiot’s Run to write today.
dog-relaxing

About

This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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