November 22, 2012 Sweet Potato Cupcake This was a to die for cupcake from Hardcore Sweet Cupcakes out of Waterbury, CT. They call it a Soul Food cupcake - sweet potato pie style with candied sweet potatoes in the cake topped with crumble and marshmallows. I think it's a cream cheesy type frosting, too, but I'm not sure about that. It was deeeelicious! If you are in the Waterbury area, you must check them out. And check out this amazing menu, no matter where you are: http://hardcoresweetcupcakes.com/Menu.html Heaven.

November 22, 2012 Calf Pasture Beach Pier, Connecticut, Post Sandy

November 22, 2012 The Woodpile

9/20/12 Leo, a.k.a. Sharkie, who is staying with me for a few days.

9/20/12 Leo, a.k.a. Sharkie, looking like an inmate thinking of making a break for it!

September 27, 2012 My Birthday Bouquet A beautiful fall bouquet sent by a friend and a delicious dinner fixed by my daughter - and the company of my wonderful kids. What more could I ask for?

September 9, 2012 Black and Yellow Garden Spider The front view of our resident garden spider. She seems to like her hangout at the side of the house - plenty of insects.

September 8, 2012 Leo A shot of Leo that I took sometime around last February.

August 3, 2012 Black and Yellow Garden Spider She is about 3" long (I'm bad at estimating), and has been hanging out at the side of our house for a few weeks now. She is getting fatter and fatter since we have tons of insects from this warm summer.

August 26, 2012 Bacon Cheddar Cornbread In addition to the Broccoli Cheddar cornbread, I spent the morning making Bacon Cheddar Cornbread. This is the one I will take to our Homecoming. That is tribal-speak. Translation: the families in our tribe come together once every year at Labor Day weekend for kind of a multi-day, multi-family reunion. There are various activities on Saturday and church and Dinner on the Grounds on Sunday. Our Sappony Homecoming has been an annual event for I don't know how long. A hundred years, maybe a hundred and fifty? Two hundred years? Something like that. If you are interested, our tribal website is http://sappony.org/ Saturday is a time to participate in the activities from walkathon and kids' crafts and games to tribal history information and walks, lunch, tribal update meeting, voting and visiting with extended family. Our tribe boasts some of the best cooks in the region. And at Sunday's Homecoming's Dinner on the Grounds, there are tables after tables after tables loaded down with mouthwatering homemade specialities. I usually bring my chocolate chess pie, but I wanted to do cornbread this year. I was planning an extravaganza of both Broccoli Cheddar Cornbread, Bacon Cheddar Cornbread and then toying with the idea of making a Butterscotch Pumpkin Cake, but had to scale down my plans because of my arm injury. And one of my best beloved friends voted for the Bacon Cheddar Cornbread, so that will be this year's contribution to Dinner on the Grounds. And if you are interested in contributing to the Tribal Center preservation project that I referred to in this post http://www.kdstewart.net/Whats-New/Images-from-2012-dailies/21342710_3FH6pv#!i=2024740163&k=z5bJX8J, you can go to https://www.wepay.com/donations/tribal-center-preservation We welcome any and all!

August 26, 2012 Broccoli Cheddar Cornbread This is another in my family recipe project. We first tried this cornbread several years ago - the basic recipe was in a holiday cookbook - and we had it as a late morning tide-over at Thanksgiving. Turns out it was fabulous and my son loved it! So we have had it at all times of the year since then. It has a very nice little kick of spice to it, too.

August 25, 2012 Wheelie Ham Salad Another from my family recipe project! This is Wheelie Ham Salad, that I used to make quite a bit when my children were young. I think the attraction to kids is the 'wagon wheels' pasta. Also has zucchini, yellow squash (because I had one in the house), tomatoes and cucumber (because I had one in the house). And fresh basil (I have some growing in a pot on my deck), plain yogurt and ranch dressing makes up the dressing. Yum! If you are interested in the recipe, it is on my blog at http://karastewartaip.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-family-cookbook-project.html I only have time to post and comment pretty much on the weekends now, so thank you for bearing with me.

August 15, 2012 Caprese Salad Today is the last day of summer. :( Caprese salad always reminds me of summer - fabulous with homegrown basil and ripe garden tomatoes. Thanks for all your kind comments and support. Although I am glad to be starting a new job, the medical issues are complicating things. I had an adverse reaction to Hep B and tetanus vaccines (you have to be up to date on vaccines when you switch teaching districts). The reaction resulted in brachial neuritis - nerve damage to my right arm. I am past the severe pain part and now in the muscle weakness/lack of range of motion and shooting pains part. It is difficult to do daily things like shower, shampoo, brush teeth, eat, etc. I will be doing PT exercises and my goal is to be back to pretty much normal by Thanksgiving/Christmas. I need more time and more summer!

August 14, 2012 Sappony Tribal Center Continuing my photo diary of my year, this is our tribal center, where I took the turtle shot I posted a few days ago. We have just completed Phase I of a project with the VA DOT and had the driveway and parking lot paved and created a beautiful walking trail (where the turtle was). We are now running a campaign to raise funds to do some needed maintenance to the buildings -roof, logs and other exterior repairs. More info about the campaign is here: https://www.wepay.com/donations/tribal-center-preservation (and feel free to contribute if you would like!). And more information about our tribe is here: http://sappony.org/ School starts Thursday and I am also working through a medical situation that hit in the last few weeks, so I will be posting sporadically to add to my photo diary of my year, and commenting also sporadically. I thought this smaller, more relaxed community would be a good fit. Oh my goodness! And my gallery formatting is back! The best reason of all for switching over here. :)

August 13, 2012 Beach Kaleidescope 2 This is another image I made from one of Ed Spadoni's beach shots as part of Ed and Rey's 2 Guys Photo blog challenge - Photography or art? Now it's YOUR turn - on Ed's July 19 blog post at http://2guysphoto.wordpress.com/2012/07/19/photography-or-art-now-its-your-turn/ Ed followed up with The Results Are In, at http://2guysphoto.wordpress.com/2012/07/31/photography-or-art-the-results-are-in/ and you can see some of the variations on his shot. Ed says that if anyone would still like to participate (it's lots of fun!), you can still send him your versions of his photo and he will post another round of variations. Just go to 2 Guys Photo blog at the link above and you'll find the info for where to send it to him. UPDATE: I've just been informed that the critiquing is only to take place for those who say in their postings or jump start comments that they want it. I must have missed that part of the discussion. I am sorry if I have stepped on any toes by attempting to critique those who didn't indicate in their posts that it is ok. As for mine - it's always ok to give constructive criticism.

August 12, 2012 Dave at Work This is another one of my dearest friends that I was able to visit with on my recent trip back to West Chester (PA). We were getting ready for his and his brother's birthday party and stopped in to his work to pick up his cake (he's a chef). He was dressed for the party in his kilt (as was his brother and many others) since he plays in Brian Boru Pipes and Drums http://www.brianborupipesanddrums.org/index.htm . Band in junior high is actually how we met - he was a drummer back then too! At any rate, I took the opportunity of him being both in his kilt and at work to take this portrait of him. Since I haven't used my camera much at all in the last few months, the quality of the shot wasn't good, so I played with it. I ended up quite liking the bleach bypass filter on Color Efex for this image.

August 11, 2012 The Visitor This turtle came visiting yesterday on the walking trail at our Tribal Center. We studied each other for a bit and then he disappeared. UPDATE: EDITOR'S PICK, betterphoto.com, August 2012, Animals

August 10, 2012 Beach Kaleidescope 1 I made this from one of Ed Spadoni's beach shots as part of Ed and Rey's 2 Guys Photo blog challenge - Photography or art? Now it's YOUR turn - on Ed's July 19 blog post at http://2guysphoto.wordpress.com/2012/07/19/photography-or-art-now-its-your-turn/ Ed followed up with The Results Are In, at http://2guysphoto.wordpress.com/2012/07/31/photography-or-art-the-results-are-in/, in which some of us took him up on his challenge and went crazy (well, ok, I was the only one who did that, no surprise to those who know me) with his original photo. So this image today is something I created from his beach shot, or the colors of it. Ed says that if anyone would still like to participate (it's lots of fun!), you can still send him your versions of his photo and he will post another round of variations.

August 8, 2012 I got to see some of my very bestest buds this past weekend in West Chester (PA). We don't get to see each other nearly enough, but when we do, it's just like no time at all has passed. There's nothing like that kind of friendship. Kim and I had an amazing breakfast at Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant http://www.ironhillbrewery.com/westchester/ and mimosas to celebrate. West Chester has completely changed since I have lived there 30 years ago. It is filled with great restaurants and shops now and reminds me of Alexandria, Va in many ways. Also, as an aside, I'm going to go back to my standard being 4 stars - 5 saved for amazing. I think to give 5 stars to every image is a bit disingenuous and has always bothered me. Feel free to alter your stars on my images accordingly.

August 7, 2012 I took this last week at a really nice little coffee shop in Alexandria, VA. It's called St. Elmo's Coffee Pub - a great place to relax, visit, or get some work done.

July 30, 2012 Wafflewich This is another shot for my recipe book project - making a book of our favorite recipes for my kids to have. They are young adults now and I think it would be great if they had a book of our old standbys that we like. This is a wafflewich - a take on a Rachel Ray recipe. Smoked ham and baby Swiss cheese done like a grilled cheese sandwich in waffles, with honey mustard on one side and cranberry sauce on the other. Mega awesome!

July 29, 2012 Sunday breakfast! I've been working on a recipe project - compiling our favorite recipes in order to make a customized recipe book that will hopefully be Christmas gifts for my kids. Shhh! And so I need to take photos of as many of the recipes as I can as I/we make them over the next few months.