Tis' the Season

Merry Christmas!!

I know, a few days late, but you know what, not many people know that you're supposed to celebrate Christmas many days after the fact.

If you know me, you know that I love Christmas. A lot. I love the excuse to decorate, to bake, to entertain and to gather with family and friends. I love the traditions I have with both my family and friends. I love being in the kitchen and baking up a storm all day long with my Mom. Especially with the Christmas music playing and family coming and going. My memories of Christmas of today and in years past are the sights, smells and sounds that evoke that wonderful nostalgia. Every year we make Christmas cookies, a tradition I've known since long before I can remember. They are sugary, colorful and just plain good! It has evolved from me and my family making them, to me and my best friend Meghan and now to whoever can make the day of epic baking proportions.

Christmas Cookies

Another tradition is Snow Village. What started as one little church my grandmother bought me has now turned into a collection of over 30 houses which takes up over half my parents living room. My sister and I have it down to a science on how to put it all together and make this tiny little Christmas town. I love how my nephews and niece get close enough to imagine this little town coming to life before their very eyes, and I admit it, I do it too. :)

Super Suds

Fifty-Sixth Precint

Dinah's Drive-In

Snowy Hills Hospital

Every year it seems I take on a Homemade Christmas challenge. Whether it's crafting jewelry, knitting scarves, making books, or printing photographs for gifts, I'm always into the homemade gifts with a personal touch. Of course when it's crunch time I wonder why I put myself through the madness, but the end result is usually worth it. This season I made lovely little French Macarons, inspired by a cookbook I bought at Anthropologie, called Les Petites Macarons: Colorful French Confections to Make at Home by Kathryn Gordon and Anne E. McBride. I kept seeing this beautiful cookies on Pinterest and fell in love. Then I saw the cookbook and I was over. I was committed. The task turned out to be very challenging technically but I really enjoyed making these little delights. Below are a peppermint and chocolate ganache macaron and a pink-colored almond with vanilla buttercream macaron. I only had time to make these two batches (other batches didn't make the cut) but I hope to keep this new trade going for future events. 

All in all, it was a wonderful Christmas season and I look forward to what the new year may bring. I know this time last year I did not expect to be living on Cumberland Island!  

Au Revoir 2011, you've been a good year, and let's welcome 2012 with hope at all the possibilities the future may hold. :) 

Tybee Trash

Due to the unexpectedly warm December we're having on Cumberland, Emily (pictured 2nd from left) has had huge success while crabbing off the docks of Cumberland. Emily is a native Savannahian who grew up setting crab traps with her family on Tybee Island. It was a treat to experience this little slice of low-country culture a couple nights ago. That's one of the things I love about living in different places- getting to see and experience firsthand new things- the different, the exciting, and the unfamiliar. (Also, why I love photographing them.) In college, I took as many classes as I could in anthropology, the study of culture. I have always been fascinated by the traditions, roles, and rituals we create based on our environment, our heritage, and the people around us. Emily shared with us a tradition she grew up with. And not in a grandiose sense by any means, she's was just doing something she loves (and I, of course, was just in awe of it all). A crab boil is more than getting the meat out of a crab; it is a gathering of people around a table to pick the fruit of your ocean harvest. Similar to the crawfish boils of Louisiana or Mississippi, you throw everything on a table and start working for that food you worked so hard to catch. Emily called it "Tybee Trash." I also have to quote her on "This ain't Martha Stewart, y'all." Basically, throw everything on the table and start working for your food.

The Ocean Harvest

I remember on a legendary spring break trip to New Orleans several years ago, a group of best friends went to a crawfish boil on the Mississippi River, in a park called the Fly. To us, it was magical. The combination of perfect weather, friendly people, and learning how to eat a crawfish, guts and all, seemed completely authentic. As Emily was teaching me how to gently tear apart this little creature to pick out the meat, I had that same feeling of authenticity. I'd say it was somewhere between scooping out the intestines or picking off the "dead man's fingers," these spongy tentacle looking things that are really just the lungs. I'm laughing at myself writing this because it sounds so gross- sorry to the faint of heart. It felt almost primitive, working for that food you caught (well I didn't catch it, but I felt lucky to participate).  And then I remember my mom telling me how her grandmother used to have to ring the chicken's neck to kill it. Yikes! We used to have to work for our food, people! I guess once you work for it, it makes it taste so much better than anything you could buy from a store. Not that I'm saying I want to go out and butcher a pig or anything, but it's just a reminder how much dirty work is put into the food we eat before we get our hands on it. We are privileged in that sense. But, enough of philosophy. All in all, it was a good time had by a bunch of friends around a table. These are the times that remind me why life is good. :)

On Display

Chim Chimney

Dear Blog,

It has been way too long! I am terribly sorry for my negligence. Life gets in the way sometimes, although it's no excuse.

Love,
Lauren

Whew! Now that's over with I am ready to reveal a new series. They are eerie, otherworldly, full of mystery and intrigue. I shot these with an antique Kodak Brownie camera my dad gave me. I was pleasantly surprised to find out the camera still works and the negatives came out. The inside of the camera needs a good cleaning, but I'm happy with the end result for now. The pictures below are from the first roll I took and I look forward to shooting more. Hopefully some day I will be able to develop and the negatives myself and make prints in a darkroom (how I miss the having the access to a darkroom!)

The Chimney Remains

Here lies evidence of the once thriving plantation era on Cumberland Island. Throughout most of the 1800's, a planter named of Robert Stafford had a huge presence on the island. Stafford grew sea island cotton and other exports.  By 1850, Stafford was recorded to have 348 slaves, leaving him to be one of the largest slaveholders in the south.  All that remains are about 20 freestanding chimneys.  They are a nice surprise to discover, because since they stand on private land they are not publicized to the national park visitors. Luckily, they happen to be on the road we take to the beach. If you're interested in more of this history, this is a great site about archaeological investigations of the area.

Stafford Beach Road

This is the road I take to the beach. On either side of this road are open fields, where plantation crops use to grow.

'

Air Strip

This open field has had many uses. First to grow cotton, then a 9-hole golf course in the gilded age of the Carnegie's, and now it now serves as the private air strip for the island. JFK Jr., used to fly in and out of this field on his trips to Cumberland.

Gator Pond

Our beloved pond in front of Serendipity.

Paper the Walls

Plum Orchard is a mansion on Cumberland Island, built in 1898 as a wedding gift for George Lauder Carnegie and his wife Margaret Thaw. It is actually Georgia's largest historic home. And oddly enough, there are no plums grown on Cumberland Island. 

Anyway, in the 1960's the house was given to the national park service as a gift from the Carnegie family, along with several other tracts of land in it's transition into a national park and seashore. The park service owns and operates the mansion today. It is open to the public and a wonderful gem to explore on the island. 

I love old houses, specifically for all the details of design. Still preserved on the walls, are the beautiful, faded wallpapers from the turn of the century.

I love all the intricate details in these papers. They are so soft and delicate in design. 

Here is the handwritten signature of the man who installed the original wallpaper, almost 120 years ago. This was uncovered while doing renovation work a couple years ago. 

Did you know there are actually wallpaper historians out there? And a wallpaper history society? Well, sign me up!

Hungry Eyes

Bandit

Meet our resident raccoon here at Serendipity. He's a sociable little fellow if he thinks you have food. Here he is, caught in the act trying to sneak onto the porch for some leftovers. Silly Bandit, I have no food for you! 

Loony Luna

Luna Moth

The ever mysterious Luna Moth, pictured here on the porch ceiling of Serendipity. (Serendipity is the name of the house I live in here on Cumberland.)

FACT: Luna moths are one of the largest moths in existence, with a wingspan up to 4.5 inches.

FACT: Adult luna moths don't eat, in fact they don't even have a mouth. They only live for about a week, with the only purpose being to mate. 

FACT: This picture contains my two favorite colors, lime green and turquoise, together in beautiful harmony. :)

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actias_luna

http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/luna_moth.htm  

Night Moves

Full Moon and a Headlamp

Photo Recipe: You will need a tripod, a slow shutter speed, and an LED headlamp. Set your camera to a 30-second exposure (more or less, you will have to play around with the best time given your available light). After you click the shutter, run as fast as you can to get in front of the camera and move around with the light in your hand facing the camera. This is so easy for a really amazing result!

Here We Go...

Hey Y'all! I am SO super excited to start this blog. Why? Well, I am a photographer for one. I take lots of pictures and I need to start sharing them with the world. Secondly, I live in a pretty cool place that not too many people know about. Combine the two and you have lots of great pictures living on the hard drive of my computer, like sitting ducks. I take pride in my creative expression (my photography), so here I am, and here this is, as a way to showcase my work.

Welcome to Life Out of the Ordinary, a blog of photographs and stories about my life. As unordinary as my life may be, I love every minute of it. I have to give credit to my partner-in-crime, best friend, and boyfriend Greg who came up with the name for this new endeavor of mine. We're in this wonderful life together exploring God's green earth as much as we humanly can.

I've decided to only post one picture at a time so I can explain the meaning behind it. I hope to post several times a week, so keep checking back. I have a multitude of pictures I need to share and continue to take more every week.

Let's begin...shall we?

Rookery, Front Yard. 

I live on Cumberland Island, the largest, most southernmost island off the Georgia coast. It has a rich cultural history, which I will explain in upcoming posts, but for now just know that about 90% of the island is a national park. The only place of business on the island is a private inn (where I work) and the rest is a national seashore and wilderness area. That said, I live in a pretty remote environment, but I get to experience firsthand the wonderful intricacies of the natural world.  I call them "National Geographic Moments." They usually average once a day, and only sometimes am I lucky enough to have access to a camera. 

This is just one example of the aforementioned moment. This was taken from the front yard of the house I live in. Below this nestling of birds is a small pond where fish, frogs, insects and even alligators call home. Every night around sundown these white birds (I believe they are some species of an egret or heron) flock to this one tree, sit, and squawk for hours. If it weren't for the mosquitos, I could sit right there and watch them like I were watching a sitcom on TV. They are SO cool! I wish I had video of it, but the whole time they are bickering at one another, pushing each other of branches, picking at one another and being extremely vocal. Yes, they look calm and serene in the picture, but these birds have some serious drama y'all.

The cloudy effect is from my camera sitting in my lovely air-conditioned room and then transported into the sticky, hot, South Georgia air. My lens was fogged, but I love the effect. This is the my homemade Instagram people, because I don't got one of them fancy Iphones yet. 

Well, that's all for now folks. Tune in next time. :)