Unhappy with Flickr?

Those of you who are Flickr members are aware by now of the draconian changes made to this photo-sharing site.  This post isn't meant to be a rant against Flickr; there is plenty of that on Flickr's own site.  Suffice it to say that I find the new Flickr a visual disaster, and achingly, achingly slow to load.

But there are other choices in photo sharing sites, and the one I looked in to is called Ipernity.  They offer a free account or a paid account, similar to what Flickr members were used to.  I created a free account, customized a home page and loaded a few pictures, just to give it a test run.  To see what it looks like:

My Ipernity home page

I like it.  It is clean and simple with a user interface very similar to the old Flickr, and with a respect for our photos: treating them as worthy of individual attention, instead of cramming them en mass in our face.  From an aesthetic standpoint, I prefer to view against white instead of black...of course, this might also have something to do with failing eyesight :-)

Choice is good.  I think I am going to choose Ipernity over Flickr for future photo sharing.  I hope some of you will come and play in this new playground.

My girls will be looking forward to seeing you there!

UPDATE, June 1, 2013:  Have finished transferring over 3400 pictures from Flickr to Ipernity.  Over the next several weeks I will slowly delete the photos from Flickr (I hope!).  I will leave the tutorials with a single picture and a link to the new tutorial home on Ipernity.  

Beauty

...Beauty is its own excuse for being.  Ralph Waldo Emerson

May, 2013

The view from and around the porch.  On these lovely May days, a pleasant place to indulge in a cuppa coffee.  I hope your day brings you joy :-)

Fairy Gardens

Be it sluggish or spectacular, spring never fails to arrive.  When it finally does, create a fairy garden for your small dolls.  Not only is it just downright fun, but then you get to have a garden in miniature to admire...it is easy on the knees and requires no weeding!

The little garden above, Angela's garden, was planted in a 12" diameter basket with a plastic liner that I had left over from last year.  Make sure whatever you use to plant in has drainage holes in the bottom.  You want to find low  and slow growing plants; here I used Elfin thyme (what a delightful name!), Irish moss, speedwell (a creeping form of Veronica) and a polka-dot plant.  They were all available at my local nursery; look for the area that has ground covers. 

The twig bench, watering can, and shepherd's hook came from Winter Greenhouse (http://miniature-gardening.com/).  They also have a large selection of plants suitable for miniature gardening.

Plant yourself a sweet little garden; your dolls will love you for it :-)