Mag, which means Great! Amazing! and Spectacular! all in one word!

I thought it fitting that the sign, for such a beautiful tree, be in black and white. A green street sign will not work. And, here I have illuminated the red, stop light, so you take time to stop and look at the Magnolias. Just for the record I only saw one magnolia on Magnolia Street in Roswell, Georgia. Where did all the Magnolias go?

I began taking photographs in Brookhaven at 5:55 PM and finished at 6:37 PM in Brookhaven. I moved to three locations, which were all a few minutes apart. Here are my takes.

Christmas in March

Do you drive around to look at Christmas lights? Well, load up your car with the family and head on out down this route and count how many gorgeous pink japanese magnolia trees you find. In fact, it's only 1.26 miles, so walk it, so you can really enjoy the view. The route starts at Or ve Shalom Synagogue on North Druid Hills and ends at the Brookhaven Marta Station. There aren't any magnolias past the Brookhaven United Methodist Church; the church was beautiful with Cherry Trees. Pictured below on the left is the Cross Keys Elementary School. On the right is my interactive route.

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Beginning Gardening

I used to believe gardening to be an all or nothing adventure. My big yard was always overwelming. No more. Over the last few years, I have managed to make one or two changes to my yard each year. These changes have been successful for the most part, so they motivate me to try something new each year.

Last year I purchased five different varieties of irises and 3/5 bloomed. I checked back with the supplier and it was a fact that they all wouldn't bloom the first year. At the same time we planted a nice long row of tulips and they are coming up this year again too. But one of the best changes I made was to move my hydranga. They were originally planted in too much shade, so I dug them up and moved them. At the same time I bought 5 more to make a long hedge. All of the hydranga have new growth this season.

This year's experiment was to purchase ranunculus bulbs.I bought them a little late, so I am refrigerating them. We'll see how it all works out. I will plant them behind the tulips and remove a few pine tree sprouts after a large tree is removed from my yard.

The year before I planted several butterfly bushes. I only needed one, but it has taken off nicely and attracts lots of butterflies each summer. I notice that several of my neighbors have also planted butterfly bushes... I will add photographs a little later.

Flowers in Bulloch Hall

When I was a child, my mother took me to lots of historic places, and I didn't see the point then. And, I thought they were all rather musty smelling. But perhaps this gentle prodding is why I like art museums so much now.

The Roswell Photographic Society recently had a field trip to Bulloch Hall in Roswell Georgia. And, I dragged along a friend who is a history buff just to see what was inside. (I was secretly planning on taking photographs outside.) But quickly learned that for our upcoming exhibit the photographs must be taken inside. The image to the right is Flowers in the Window. The image below is Lace Flower.

So I set about looking for something I liked. It did not take long as I am crazy about flowers. I found plenty of flower images to take within the historic home. There were flowered handkerchiefs, flowered curtains, flowers on clothing...  Here are my two favorites from the group. And, yes, they were both juried into the upcoming show, which opens April 1, 2010. Learn more by searching for Magmoment Photography on Facebook.

Northside Hospital Preemie Knitting Project

For my daughter's bat mitzvah we are knitting and crocheting beanies for the premature infants born at Northside Hospital. We toured the hospital and learned that about 1,800 preemies spend an average of 3-4 months at the hospital gaining weight, lung and kidney functions. Because the babies are so small, there aren't a lot of clothes available and cute hats are a necessity to keeping the babies warm.

Please join us and send a beanie to us:

The Bergers
P.O.Box 72906
Marietta, GA 30007

I worked up a simple knit beanie pattern (use size 6 needles) and a simple crochet pattern (use a size G hook) (because my sister prefers crocheting). This knitting pattern is perfect for a beginner. You knit many rows until you get the hang of it and then add purling. I eliminated the binding off at the end. You just pull your yarn through and tighten instead of binding off.
We also took these samples to the hospital to check the size. The hats should fit an orange for a preemie. Click the Knitting for Peace logo on the left side of my blog to learn more about other possible projects.

Footnote:  We visited the hospital and have turned in the beanies, but can drop off more, so if you find the urge to knit for a cause, please send us/me your beannies and we will take to Northside Hospital in Atlanta.

Eric Clapton Concert a Contrast

Saw Eric Clapton in Gwinnett on Tuesday, and he did not interact with the audience, and I don't think I saw him smile once. I don't own any of his CDs, but found his music applaudible. He had four pianos on stage with two piano players. I would love to listen to his music without the bass... but the bass is his personal trademark and skill and success, so that would be ironic.

My favorite songs were the acoustic guitar songs: "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out," "Running on Faith," and "I've Got a Rock 'N' Roll Heart." I also loved "Accuse Me" because it reminded me of eating at Shakey's Pizza Parlor in Rochester, Minnesota when I was young. There was lots of loud piano music on this song. Many were disappointed that Clapton skiped "Layla" in this concert. I did wonder after the concert if Bob Marley sang "Who Shot the Sherrif" first or Clapton. Turns out Bob Marley authored the song, but it is Clapton's only number one hit on his own. He took the song much further on the charts than Marley.

But the photography and screens really interested me during the show. There are photographs included in this review: http://blogs.pitch.com/wayward/2010/03/concert_review_eric_clapton.php.  Opening act, Roger Daltrey's video screens were projected in black and white with lots of fading, which was very cool. Clapton's screens mostly focused on photos of him. I was really interested in the 21 screens behind him that were interjected with color between them. The cameraman played video clips during two songs; one was "I've got a Rock and Roll Heart." They also showed his guitar in between the colors during the acoustic songs, but really didn't do much with these 21 screens besides add color to the background.
 
So, this show was quite a contrast between the last concert I attended, which was Taylor Swift. She totally utilized her five video screens (even changing her outfit), interacted with the audience and smiled one smile after another even during her sad breakup songs. Either Clapton has a lot of clothes that look alike, or he wore the exact same clothes in Kansas.

This review I include a link to says that it was okay because Clapton's guitar playing was flawless. According to Wikipedia,, "Clapton was ranked fourth in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the '100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.'" As I am not really into heavy bass, I was not that aware at the concert. But I did already add an album with his more mellow stuff on it to my amazon shopping cart . Which is the point of a show... to sell albums. So it worked on some level.

Etsy Treasury

Treasuries are fun to make and serve several purposes on Etsy. Treasuries are a great way to meet other sellers (through their treasuries and by adding new sellers to your own treasuries). I enjoy the challenge of pulling together 12 different artists' works and making the composition work. Treasuries last only 2-3 days.

Another reason to make a treasury is to promote a team on Etsy. There are many teams. I am a member of the POE (Photographers of Etsy) team, and this treasury is all POE photographers' works. This group is active especially in a forum on Etsy. Our team also has a monthly slide show on UTube.

Here I searched Etsy for purple poe art. I found most of these items by looking through pages of photos, but serached  "violet poe art" and "blue poe art" towards the end for a few more different items. I also added "not flower" because I had collected too many flowers. When creating a treasury it is important to have a variety of items, but they need something in common to keep them together. Keeping a color theme constant makes the treasury work best as a whole.