Things to Do In Denver

So I may have forgotten my 35 mm camera, but I did bring a little digital point and shoot for Christmas morning. We usually try to leave Boulder's bubble at least once to go to Denver when we visit. For some reason I was dead set on going to the Natural History Museum. My husband claimed he had never seen a T-Rex skeleton and they have one there. He wasn't impressed when he saw it and I may have talked it up a bit too much. To my credit I was substantially smaller the last time I went to the museum so it seemed really big to me!

The museum is now called the natural science center or something silly like that and they had all these newfangled interactive displays and such. My favorites are all the oldies (but goodies) like that rocks and gems and the life size dioramas. I love that the rocks and gems displays apparently have not been touched since I was a kid and it was always my favorite area so visited it whenever I went. Very nostalgic for me. Plus, there are not nearly as many people in those displays so my daughter could run all around and play without being in anyone's way.

Flip'n Friday: At the Farm

At the Farm from Chelsea Wayant on Vimeo.

While in Vermont almost a month ago we visited an amazing farm that boast brand new piglets. Sweet as can be. I know that it has taken me awhile to get this footage edited, but it has been very busy at my house. Plus, it takes a lot to make a video every week. Soon I think I will be make Flip'n Friday a monthly installment instead of weekly.

If you are ever in Vermont I recommend a visit to Shelburne Farms, particularly if you have children. My daughter was only about 15 months at the time and she enjoyed it, though the older kids seemed to be having even more fun than her.

For those of you that are new to this blog every Friday I post a video for the week. Normally, I shoot the pieces with a simple Flip Camera, but every now and then I will use my Canon or edit footage from one of my films into a trailer or whatnot. It just depends on the week. You can see all the Flip'n Friday here (or just check out this and this, two of my favorites).

Wordless Wednesday (Vermont Fog)

Scenes From Lake Champlain

I thought I would share some photos from my trip to Vermont. These are of Lake Champlain in Burlington around sunset. It's a very beautiful place. Though when I was there I kept thinking of what the town would look like blanketed in snow as it probably is for many months of the year. It's probably just as beautiful, but not as easy to maneuver.

Thoughts on Biscuit Making

We arrived back from Vermont somewhat late last night. It was a good trip and my daughter is very good at making friends. She was running around and going up to just about anyone hoping they would smile at her. Luckily, pretty much every at UFVA is easygoing and likes kids so she was a hit. I took two and a half rolls of film while in Vermont so hopefully I will have some good photos soon. 

Before we left for our trip my husband made biscuits for dinner (as pictured above). It made me think of a story my dad tells about his grandmother, my great-grandmother. I believe the story is of my great-grandmother who was raised on a farm outside of Paris, TX. She moved to Winfield, LA, which is where my grandmother was born. In her cupboard she had a drawer (one of those triangular metal ones that pulls out at an angle) where she stored her flour. When making biscuits she would take the ingredients to the drawer pour everything on top and knead the dough in the flour so that she would be able to use the exact amount of flour without measuring it out.

I have heard others tell similar stories of biscuits made in the flour bin. I wonder if this is a lost art of baking. Often I think of bakers having to measure everything perfectly, yet, clearly that is not always a case. In this day biscuits are probably not made from scratch as often as in the past and our skills have gotten weak. I would try it just for the experiment of it all, but unfortunately I store my flour in a jar and it would be hard to knead dough through the jar opening.

Going to Vermont

This morning we are preparing to leave for Vermont. Somehow we are ahead of schedule so I thought I would try to at least post some pictures.

These are from our recent visit to Wilmington. We are at the Battleship NC looking across the Cape Fear River at downtown. The last picture of the basketball court is where they shoot scenes from One Tree Hill (in case anyone is a fan). As I was taking pictures of the river there were various girls wandering around it taking pictures so I thought I'd get one too. 

Our plane leaves in about an hour and a half. I'll be touch when possible.

A Weekend of Organization

It still feels very much like summer here even though it is August. Lot's of rain and everything is green. Yet, it is hot, Hot, HOT! And I hear the rain has probably stopped for the time being so it will somehow be getting even hotter.

We have had a busy day with an impromptu visit to Ikea. For the past month or so I have been looking for shelves to put up in our living room to organize all of our piles that have been accumulating. When we struck out at Lowe's yesterday I was pretty frustrated. So this morning over breakfast my husband and I decided to head down to Charlotte so we can be down with the shelves. We were in and out of Ikea in forty-five minutes and got everything we needed without dealing with the stress of the crowds. Now, our living room has been transformed. It's amazing what some wall shelves can do! I will take pictures once I have organized them enough to be picture worthy.

On Tuesday we are going to Vermont for the annual UFVA conference. My film, Drowning Slowly, is playing on Wednesday. I will do my best to continue to post this week, but it may be slightly sporadic.

Ocean Magic

For each visit to the beach during our weekend excursion to Wilmington we went during magic hour. This is the time of day when the sun is either just about to rise or set. Of course it is not really an hour long, more like 15-30 minutes. It's magic because nothing casts shadows and there is a beautiful soft, cool light. The sun is level with the horizon and its rays are scattering off the ozone making this extraordinary light.

Just after/prior (depending on sunrise/set) to magic hour is golden hour when the sun is just hovering above the horizon and long warm, golden rays cast long soft shadows. It's really hard to drive west during golden hour because the sun is right at eye level, but it doesn't last long. There is nothing like having the time to enjoy the light, particularly as it dances across the ocean changing its color from moment to moment.

Playing Catch-up

We got back from Wilmington a little later than we expected yesterday and were utterly exhausted. I was fast asleep by 9:30 and that hasn't happened in a long time. I have three rolls of films to take to the lab today and should have some pictures up from our trip tomorrow. I hope you enjoy some of these lingering flower photos from the arboretum.

It's nice to visit Wilmington and it makes me miss living close to the beach. Even though we did not visit the beach as often as we should have when we lived there (barely a 15 min car ride); it's really the smell and the texture of the air that I miss. I don't think we can move back there because there is not a lot of work in the city, plus they are letting urban sprawl get out of control, but that was happening when we lived there. Nothing has really changed that much in the three years that we have been gone. Some restaurants have come and gone, Mayfaire Shopping Center has grown, UNCW's campus has grown extensively, but that is about it.

The Final Products

I know that I have been writing too much about my cupcakes, but they were really fun to make and took about a fair amount of my time. I still have a few more pictures on my next roll of film though these photos should at least give you an idea. There were three different types of cupcakes: Coconut Lime, Rosewater Pistachio, and Chocolate Almond with Ganache and Marzipan Flowers. Ironically, I didn't notice the kids at the barbecue eating the cupcakes as I thought they would (of course they could have just been sneaking bites of all the desserts); it seemed the adults were the most intrigued.

Tomorrow we are going to Wilmington for a little weekend vacation. I've checked the weather and it should be a little cooler there, thank goodness. Being so close to the coast I would also expect to pick up a little breeze every once and awhile. I will be sure to take as many pictures as possible to escape all these baking photos with which I have been bombarding this blog.

Photos from the Past: Wilmington, NC

I recently found the above photos that were taken in Wilmington, NC. I was thinking about them today because we are hoping to go visit soon. The great thing about living there was being so close to the downtown. We took beautiful walks all the time down to the river and among all the old historic houses. While I love visiting all the gardens here in Greensboro I wish I didn't have to drive to them.

It's funny that I don't have any pictures of the beach to post. When most people think of Wilmington they think of the beach (though technically there is no beach in Wilmington; the beaches are located in Carolina Beach, Kure, Wrightsville Beach, etc), whereas I think of downtown and the river. Don't worry I will be sure to get some beach pictures on my next visit.

Visiting Mayberry a.k.a. Mount Airy NC

Last week my husband had the day off and we went for a day trip to Mount Airy. For some reason we thought it was about 45 minutes away, but it ended up being more like an hour and 15 minutes. It was a very nice place, as we walked up to the main street we immediately started hearing this. Most of the stores and restaurants had Mayberry themes. Even though the town is saturated with the Andy Griffith Show it didn't feel commercialized; mom and pop shops playing up the most famous angle of the town.

By the time we got there we were all very hungry, but had a hard time finding food for a vegetarian like me. If I was vegan I think I would have starved. I ended up having a grilled cheese. It was so-so.  After eating we went to the Andy Griffith museum, which was a little bit of a disappointment because it was only one room. They did have one of Matlock's suits, which impressed my husband because he didn't realize Matlock wore seersucker. We had been wanting to visit Mt. Airy for a long time because we constantly meet or hear of people that are from there. Also my mom is country singer and Mt. Airy native Donna Fargo's editor and we wanted to see her museum display, unfortunately we went to the wrong place. Once we figured out where we needed to go it was too late and we were ready to go home. Even though it was a nice visit we probably won't go back. Unless, of course, they get a good vegetarian restaurant.