Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you! I hope this Eve treats you kindly (and safely). 2009 has been a fantastic year for me, and I'm definitely looking forward to whatever 2010 has in store!

And thank you very much for visiting SightSalad. It means a lot to me!

277/365 Holiday bokeh

"Bokeh" is one of those ambiguous terms that refers to one general photographic technique -- but no one can seem to agree on one absolute definition.

Some say it's simply the technique used in creating a very blurred background, usually featuring spots of light of some kind -- like the lights on the Christmas tree above.

Others say it's the more creative technique of turning those light spots into shapes.

What's the one, true definition? Who knows? I like the effect, whatever it means and whatever you want to call it.

Camera: Canon 40D with 60mm macro lens and 430EX Speedlite, 1/125s, f/2.8 at ISO 100

276/365 Chilly morning

It's starting to really look like winter around here.

For about a week, we've had a constant dusting of snow on the ground, and we got 3+ inches of snow on Sunday. It's nothing like the multiple feet of precipitation seen by our neighbors to the north and east, but I won't turn down a few healthy inches.

Even if the day is dreary and gray, a few good inches of snow make it a lot more pleasing to the eye.

Camera: Canon 40D with 24mm wide-angle lens, 1/125s, f/5.6 at ISO 100 at about 8:00 a.m.

275/365 Please, sir, I want some more

Buster -- who was sporting a festive Christmas scarf on Christmas Day -- would have loved to have cleaned the whole family's plates after dinner. But alas, he didn't get his wish. He got a couple tidbits of ham and a healthy bowl of dry dog food.

Yum, right?

He doesn't get a lot of food scraps. But that doesn't stop him from gazing longingly at the dishes in the dishwasher that still smell like dinner.

Camera: Canon 40D with 430EX Speedlite, 1/125s, f/4 at ISO 640

274/365 Disguised gifts

Our stockings were hung by the chimney with care, filled to the top with gifts of shapes that aren't easily mistaken.

CDs and DVDs are common stocking gifts in my family. Because they're small, they make good stocking stuffers -- but there's no mistaking that shape when you pull it out. When they make it under the tree as gifts there, we often go to more trouble to disguise the shape. I like retaining a little bit of the mystery for the recipients of the gift.

Chase did a great job of disguising one of my gifts this year. The outer package was round and about the size of a basketball. When I discarded the paper, he had wrapped the gift in layer after layer after layer of bubble wrap. We all laughed while it took me a couple minutes to actually get to the gift in the middle.

What was it? A nice rain gauge. He wins the prize for best disguise this year!

Camera: Canon 40D with 430EX Speedlite, 1/125s, f/3.5 at ISO 640

273/365 Hand-me-down silver

I received these silver candlesticks as a hand-me-down this past summer. I like using taper candles to create table centerpieces for special meals, so I was very excited to get these.

They hadn't been used in quite some time, so they need a little polishing. I wanted to try an easy, nontoxic DIY method first, so I found instructions online:

- Line a pan with aluminum foil -- or use an aluminum pan. (I used a plastic dish tub.)
- Fill the pan with steaming hot water
- Add a couple tablespoons each of salt and baking soda
- Drop in your silver items, and it's recommended that they be touching each other
- And voila, the tarnish is supposed to melt away before your eyes

Did it work?

Amazingly, yes! The dark tarnish disappeared within five minutes. They still need some more attention and polishing, but I was shocked -- and glad -- that the DIY method actually worked.

I love when that happens!

Camera: Canon 40D with 430EX Speedlite, 1/125s, f/4 at ISO 400

272/365 The perfect cup of tea

I love ending the day with a hot cup of tea. And ever since my trip to the Celestial Seasonings tea factory, I'm completely obsessed with their tea.

My current go-to evening tea is their Madagascar Vanilla Red. Rooibos tea is supposed to be incredibly good for you, and I like the added smoothness of vanilla. Add some honey and a little milk, and voila, it's a great cup of tea.

But pardon me for the advertisement. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Camera: Canon 40D with 60mm macro lens and 430EX Speedlite, 1/125s, f/2.8 at ISO 100

271/365 The road to the Creamery

I made a quick trek to the Trader's Point Creamery after work one day last week. Some friends of mine are enthusiastic believers in the organic food movement, so for part of their Christmas gift, I got them a selection of the Creamery's special cheeses.

The Creamery's cattle are 100% grass-fed, and all their foods are organic. They claim to be the only creamery in the country to provide 100% grass-fed whole milk in a bottle -- I'll take their word for it.

The Creamery is not far off my regular commute to and from work, so it was a quick stop for me. What I didn't expect was how narrow and secluded the road to the Creamery actually was. I'm completely used to roads like this, but the mental image in my mind of its location was a bit more well-traveled.

I plan to make it a point to return for their Farmer's Market and in-house restaurant at some point soon.

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD1000 at about 5:30 p.m.

270/365 Dusting of snow

Around this time of year, I start to get very excited about the prospect of snow. I get jealous hearing stories of 12 inches in other states -- or even in the northern portion of our own state.

I believe that winter isn't winter without snow. After January 2, I'm ready for 75 degrees and sunshine again -- but I feel like living in those mild conditions year round would just make the passage of time feel very slow. You don't get any seasonal signs that the year is progressing. And what is Christmas without the prospect of a blanket of white?

But alas, I live in central Indiana. So the vast majority of our snowfalls consist of a dusting or perhaps an inch of accumulation. And I'm not really interested in moving north.

So I guess I'm stuck, huh?

Camera: Canon 40D, 2 seconds, f/4 at ISO 100, lit by an incandescent porch light at about 9:00 p.m.

269/365 Crocheting a kissing ball

I love watching Mom knit and crochet. She's been knitting more often in recent years because it's a newly acquired talent, but some projects call for a return to the crochet hook.

This project? A crocheted kissing ball, which will have mistletoe tied to the bottom and hang at Christmastime.

She's also been busy with doilies and snowflakes, two other projects that often come out at this time of year. Years ago, she made a large batch of crocheted snowflake ornaments for the Christmas tree, and they continue to be one of my favorite ornaments to hang. I'm always partial to handmade items and those with sentimental value.

Camera: Canon 40D with 60mm macro lens and 430EX Speedlite, 1/125s, f/2.8 at ISO 640

268/365 Adopted white poinsettia

Personally, I'm partial to red poinsettias.

I won't turn down a white one (exhibit A, pictured here), but I definitely prefer the red variety.

I adopted this (very large) white one last week, and it's offered a little more Christmas cheer to my sparsely decorated house.

And of course, knowing me, there's no way I can bring a flowering plant into the house and not photograph it. To ignore it would be sacrilege.

Camera: Canon 40D with 60mm macro lens and 430EX Speedlite, 1/125s, f/2.8 at ISO 640

267/365 Winter colors

I never tire of beautiful sunsets.

It's a subject that is often noted as a cliche among photographers -- and yet, do you know anyone who doesn't appreciate a great, colorful sky? Very few.

Whole books and calendars are dedicated to the subject. Your computer may have even come with a pre-loaded sunset photo from which you can choose to set as your desktop background. These things wouldn't exist if there wasn't a genuine interest and demand for it.

So let's relax and give a collective, "Oooooh.... aaaaaahhhh," shall we?

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD1000 at about 5:30 p.m.

266/365 Good, old-fashioned toothbrush

Call me cheap, but I think a manually operated, old-fashioned toothbrush works just fine. And if it comes free from the dentist? Even better.

In the last few years, I've moved toward favoring a brand other than the one my dentist hands out for free, but I still can't bring myself to invest in an electric toothbrush.

I'll resist that technology for as long as I can.

Camera: Canon 40D with 60mm macro lens, 1/125s, f/2.8 at ISO 640

265/365 Growth in Indianapolis

I attended my second positive press conference of the year last week. This one, like the last one, announced the creation of jobs in Indiana, and both the governor of Indiana and the mayor of Indianapolis were on hand for the announcement. This time it was the announcement of jobs being added by the newly renamed BC Forward.

[Excuse that big Christmas tree, it was blocking my view.]

I find it interesting to see how things like this work behind the scenes. You see press conferences on the news all the time, but it's always different to be in the audience watching it in person. Unless you're directly affected by the news, it's honestly not that exciting.

A bunch of people gather around, out walks the Important People, they make their announcement, take some questions, and that's that. I'm sure it's much different when the news is controversial or negative. But both of these in my experience have been low-key and positive.

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD1000 with flash

264/365 Working out in style

I admit I'm a little jealous.

When I was a student at Butler, our fitness center consisted of one small room in the basement of the union. It held about six treadmills, eight ellipticals, a dozen weight machines, and a small aerobic class area.

Then what happened the year after I graduated?

The school opened a gorgeous two-story fitness center complete with an indoor track, two pools, multiple aerobic rooms, and a juice bar.

I hope those kids know how lucky they are.

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD1000 at about 6:15 p.m.