Help my tomatoes!

This heat is withering my tomato plant.  We haven't had a good rain in a few weeks and the temperatures are in the upper 90s / 100s.  I am giving it lots of water but it's just not enough.  Is it too late?  Should I harvest the green tomatoes and throw the plant away?  Or can I save it?  Help!!

Spending thyme with a new camera (heh heh)

Oh it feels so nice to take pictures with a camera again (and not my phone).

I love that I can set the image aspect ratio on this camera because I find myself taking better pictures with a 3:2 (as opposed to the usual 4:3 or the HD 16:9).  I can also take square pictures, another ratio that I like better than 4:3.  4:3 is just always missing a piece, or has too much, it's never the right size and I always want to crop it after the fact.  This photo above is completely unedited, this is what it looked like on the camera when I took the picture.

Our garden is going well, by the way!  (Image above is our thyme basking in the sun)  Despite the complete lack of rain and some pretty hot temperatures, things are growing.  My tomato plant is hurting for water even though I feel like I overwater it every day, so the bottom leaves are wilty a little, but we have some tomatoes growing!

I'm waiting for the day they are ripe, I will make some home-made mozzarella cheese, harvest some tomatoes and basil and have a completely home-grown salad.  If only we had a cow or a goat for me to raise, then I could have raised the milk to make the cheese, too (hahaha...).

I'm hoping for some great fruit and veg images from the farmer's market today, and also some delicious produce.

I missed having a camera :) :)  A big thank you to my husband's parents who are partially sponsoring this replacement camera!

New Camera :)

It arrived!  My new camera!!!  (This is my hair)

Conference Success!

I recently got back from the 2011 American Art Therapy Association conference and what a great and successful conference experience!  The picture is of my table at the craft fair that I shared with someone from my program (I'm on the left with my pottery).  It was a pretty successful craft fair for me, and I made enough money to pay for almost half of a replacement camera off of selling my pottery alone.

Selling my pottery was really motivating for me - I charged more than I thought I should, and people seemed to think these were reasonable prices.  It was great because I think I would otherwise very much under-charge for my pieces.  Four bowls broke - four great bowls - so that was money lost, but I brought home the shards to use in my garden, so at least it doesn't completely go to waste.  Also some people took shards for their own art work.

I also presented my thesis again.  I actually had a decent crowd even though I was scheduled during the lunch hour and across from the Town Hall meeting.  People asked really nice and supportive questions, no heckling (which can happen, even from a crowd full of therapists, it's surprising).  My thesis (and a handout summarizing my presentation) will be up on my website soon so that people can access it and cite me in their work.  In general it was great to get my feet wet in national presentations, and I've got two proposals in the works for next year.

(What am I thinking?? I'm also planning to take the ATR-BC exam at the conference next year?? Clearly I am insane.)

Happy Anniversary To Me

Today is my 1 year anniversary of volunteering for this organization in New York.  Monday, July 12, 2010 was my first day of work last year, and it doesn't feel that long ago!  Since then I have run countless groups, seen individual clients, taken on more hours, started an art studio in a residential facility, created workshops, helped organize events and exhibitions, presented at trainings, written curricula, and made so much art.

It just so happens that tonight I've put together an exhibition/opening event for the art studio I started.  It's a pretty good anniversary because I don't think anything illustrates the amount of work I've been doing more than an exhibition, right?

I was about to post the flyer for the exhibition when I realized the flyer has client artwork all over it and I had to delete it...  But the name of the exhibition is "A Peek in the Studio: a show of in-progress work by the artists who live in our residence."  There will be awards, art making, viewing artwork, and of course food.

I also hope this show will revitalize the studio.  We've been seeing dwindling attendance, so I hope that we will get more people to start coming once we show the studio is a fun, relaxing, creative place.

Time to go back to prepping!

(This picture is the awards I made for the participants - each one will have the number of visits to the studio they've made, and anyone who has come at least twice will get one!)