Madame Alexander Doll - Scarlett

One of my favorite vintage Madame Alexander dolls is Scarlett. December 1939 was the debut of the new line of Madame Alexander composition Scarlett O’Hara dolls. These exquisite dolls were the first creations to portray the beauty and intrigue of our favorite Southern Belle.

Madame Alexander was inspired by Scarlett’s character from the moment that she read Margaret Mitchell’s book. After reading the book, Madame requested and received permission to make a Scarlett O’Hara doll. While there is some question as to exactly when the first dolls were made, there were official Scarlett O’Hara dolls by Madame Alexander advertised in the Atlanta newspapers on the day of the film’s premier in 1939.

Legend has it that when Madame Alexander heard that David O. Selznick was bringing Margaret Mitchell’s fabulous book, Gone With The Wind, to the screen; she, hoping to gain the market rights, made a Scarlett O’Hara doll and sent it to him. Long before the part was given to Vivien Leigh, Madame Alexander received a contract from MGM to do the dolls. It was uncanny how closely Madame Alexander’s conception of how Scarlett looked matched the actress that would eventually play her.

Madame Alexander chose to launch her Scarlett doll line with a mix of colors and fabrics reminiscent of the ante-bellum era. Hundreds of dresses and coat and dress combinations were created between 1939-1943. The composition Scarlett dolls were attired in dresses of various prints and trim detailing. Most Scarlett dolls wore either a straw hat or a fabric bonnet.

The popularity of the Scarlett doll led Madame Alexander to make even more dolls based on the movie. The Gone With The Wind Collection dates from the early days, when the movie was released, right up to the present day. You can now find a doll for nearly every character in the movie.

Composting and Organic Soil Improvement

Maybe you’ve never heard the term vermiculture, if so don’t feel bad, many experienced gardeners are unfamiliar with this organic practice. I think vermiculture is fascinating; simply put it’s the process of composting kitchen waste with earthworms. We’re not talking about common night crawlers, but special varieties of worms such as red worms, and red wigglers.

Okay, I’ll admit to owning an ant farm when I was a kid, but this is so much more practical. Vermiculture, or vermicomposting as its also known is more like beekeeping; yes I’ve given that a try too. But just imagine for a second, you feed the worms your leftover garbage and kitchen scraps. The worms then quickly eat all those leftovers, sparing you the hassles of taking out the garbage.

And here’s the best part, while the composting worms are disposing of your garbage, they’re also producing a terrific organic fertilizer and soil conditioner called earthworm castings. Well, okay… the term earthworm casting is just a nice name for earthworm excrement. I don’t know who thought up the name earthworm castings, but I guess it makes sense if you think it through.

You may have seen worm castings for sale at your local garden center and didn’t realize what you were dealing with, but now you know. Don’t worry, earthworm castings are clean, odorless, and sterile… trust me on this one. You don’t need gloves or a shovel to handle them, and they are wonderful for improving your soil quality and for promoting the growth and health of all your plants.

So you can purchase bags of earthworm castings to use around the garden or if you’re a little more adventurous you can set up an “earthworm farm” and produce your own. The farm is actually just a worm bin that can be set up indoors or outdoors depending on the climate.

Vermicomposting isn’t complicated, but the worms are living creatures, and have certain requirements. For example they don’t tolerate extremely hot living conditions, and they also won’t survive freezing. The worms are pretty healthy eaters, so while eggshells are fine, don’t try slipping any meat, fats, or greasy foods into their diet.

If this sounds a little like having a pet, well it is. Not terribly demanding, but they do require a little of your attention to make sure that things run smoothly. In exchange they’ll be hard at work performing their community service to save the environment and to help you grow a better garden.

Bird Watching for Beginners

The sport of bird watching has been around for years and, right behind gardening, is the second fastest growing hobby in America. It has been said that learning to bird is like getting a lifetime ticket to theater of nature. And indeed, with their beauty and elegance, birds are an awesome part of life. Birds flash past in every shade from emerald to vermillion, beautiful as showy flower blossoms. How could we not watch birds?

As with any sport or hobby, however, bird watching does require patience and practice to learn and will by all means have its moments of frustrations. But if you give it a good try and learn the basics, in no time you will be addicted!

What follows are some tips to help you along the way.

Binoculars are a birder's eyes on the world, and they can greatly affect the quality of a bird outing. Good binoculars make for good birding, while bad binoculars can lead to missed birds and severe headaches induced by blurred images, double vision, and eye strain. When choosing a binocular for birding, cheap is definitely not the way to go.

Make sure the power (or magnification) is at least 7-power. The power is the first number given in the numerical notation that describes binoculars. For example, a "7 X 35" pair of "glasses" will make objects appear as if they are seven times as close as they actually are. Seven-power binoculars are about the minimum needed to see birds well. Binoculars 10- power or stronger can be difficult for some birders to hold steady.

Make sure that the second number ("35" for a "7 X 35" pair of glasses) is at least five times as large as the power (e.g., "7 X 35," "8 X 40," etc.). This second number describes the diameter, in millimeters, of the large lens that faces the object of interest - the "objective" lens. The larger this lens is, the greater the amount of light the binoculars gather and thus the easier it will be to see characteristics in dim light or on a dull-colored bird.

Don't buy compact or pocket-sized binoculars (typically 8 x 21, or 10 x 21) as your primary pair for birding. The size and weight are attractive, but no matter how good the optics, compacts provide a lower quality image than mid- or full-size binoculars. Another drawback is that most compacts have a narrow field of view, which makes it very difficult to locate and follow birds.

A field guide is a little book that's packed with information about birds. It's the next best thing to an expert birder by your side. It describes and shows pictures of the birds, and it tells you which details of each bird to look for. A field guide can tell you what kinds of birds might be in your particular area and give some excellent tips on what to look for in your bird watching. If you don't have a field guide, you won't have a clue about what kinds of birds you will be seeing, so this is essential to have.

Most guides are roughly organized in "phylogenetic order." Phylogenetic order is the way scientists classify all living things (not just birds) based on their evolutionary history - which creatures, according to likenesses in their present-day appearance, most probably evolved from common ancestors.

The beautiful part about birding is that it can truly be done anywhere! You can go to your local park and find some great specimens. If you're traveling, you'll find a new appreciation of the songs of birds and what you can find. You can even watch birds in your own back yard!

Holiday Gifts for Backyard Bird Watchers

The holiday season is upon us, and we begin the sometimes maddening task of finding gifts for our friends and loved ones. Perhaps this article can be of assistance - at least if you have bird lovers on your gift list. Let us examine a few popular birding items, including wild bird feeders and birdhouses, and explore why they make great holiday gifts.

Bird Feeders

The cold weather can make finding food a difficult chore for birds, so almost any well-made bird feeder will be a welcome addition to your backyard, as far as the birds are concerned. Platform bird feeders, which feature a large seed tray, will attract many ground-feeding birds. A tube-style bird feeder brings in smaller songbirds. Suet feeders provide much needed protein for wild birds. If the bird watcher you are buying for lacks one of these types of feeders, they will appreciate the new variety of birds that it will bring.

Another good idea is to find out if your bird watcher has a favorite type of bird, and purchase a feeder that is more likely to attract that species. For example, there are bird feeders that hold a block of suet, or beef fat, and are paddle-shaped. These are specially designed woodpecker feeders. The paddle extension at the bottom of the feeder gives woodpeckers a support for their tail, which is how they keep their balance. If you could combine the thrill of bird watching with the warmth and comfort of one's own home, you would have a gift any fan of the birds would love. That must be why some clever person invented the window bird feeder. Some window feeders attach to glass by way of strong suction cups. Others are mountable in the window, providing a panoramic view of the feeding area.

Birdhouses

It does not make sense to give someone a birdhouse over the holidays, because birds nest in the spring, right? That is not necessarily true. For instance, purple martins begin arriving back in the southern parts of the U.S. as early as January! Some other migratory birds do the same. Even in places where birds are not due to nest until later, it is not a bad idea to have the birdhouse in place early, as long as the birdhouse landlord is diligent in excluding some of the non-native pest species, like house sparrows and starlings. It is impossible to predict the exact day when birds will be scouting a particular area for nesting possibilities. Having the birdhouse in place before they arrive will send a clear signal to the house-hunting birds.

Birding Paraphernalia

Of course, gift ideas for bird lovers are not limited to birdhouses and bird feeders. Many accessories or bird-related gifts will be greatly appreciated. Following are eight examples:

1) Heated birdbath - If your special bird watcher already has a birdbath, consider giving them a heater to add to it. Frozen water does birds no good. Some birdbath heaters are submersible, and some float harmlessly on the surface.

2) Binoculars - A good pair of binoculars is an essential tool for bird watchers. These days, it is possible to find a very good pair of birding binoculars for a low price. Backyard birders do not need a very high magnification, which is the factor that can drive the price higher.

3) Bird food - This one seems obvious. Birds do not frequent empty feeders. Make sure you know which type of food your bird lover prefers, whether it is a seed mixture, seeds and fruit, suet, or even insects and mealworms.

4) Bird guide book - There are books filled with tips for attracting various birds, or books that help with the identification of birds.

5) CD's and DVD's - Teaches bird watchers all manner of facts about birds, and allows them to see or hear their favorite flying critters anytime, without even leaving the house.

6) Sun hat - Even in winter, it is possible to get too much sun if one is out all day looking for birds. A good sun hat is a gift that will be cherished year-round.

7) Tickets to a birding event - Though a bit pricier, serious birders will love you for a gift like this. Many tours and events are scheduled throughout the year, giving bird watchers the opportunity to learn and share with like-minded individuals.

8) Birding kitsch and miscellany - This includes T-shirts, baseball caps, neckties, mousepads, coffee cups, ties, yard banners, framed pictures, and much more. Items like these, though you may not remember seeing any on your last trip to the mall, are very easy to find if you have an internet connection and the ability to type "bird related gifts" into a search box.

During the stressful holiday season, take solace in the fact that bird watchers are easy to shop for. Any gift that enhances their enjoyment of the birds or that celebrates their love of birds will surely put smiles on their faces. In fact, if you are not already hooked by the fascinating pastime of backyard birding, maybe you should buy yourself a bird feeder, too. There really is no better time to get started. Happy birding!

Depth of Field - A Major Player in Creative Control

When people talk about Depth of Field (also called DOF) you may wonder why you should care as long as your pictures are in focus. Well since DOF is generally referred to as the range of over all sharpness in a photograph; and most people are instinctively drawn to the sharpest part of the photo first, I would say, it is a major player in creative control.

Most articles on this subject immediately jump into talking about f-stops. These are numbers like f-1.4 or f-32 that represent how much light the aperture lets into the camera. I will explain more in a moment, but this is not where I want to start.

There are three basic things that affect Depth of Field and they are:

1) the lens aperture (f-stops)
2) the lens focal length (the size like: 35mm vs. 200mm)
3) the subject distance (how far it is from the camera)

Keep in mind that most digital cameras do not have f-stops as per say. In fact if you have a straight point and shoot camera with a set lens, it may feel like you have no control at all. Do not get discouraged. Although it does take more effort there are things you can do with any camera to enhance your DOF experience.

Both the point and shoot and even many of the more advance digital cameras are based on a false premise. They assume that all people want all their photos, all the way in focus, all the time. “Now wait a minute”, you say. “I want my pictures in focus . . . don’t I?”

When we say in focus, we are not talking about some 110 year old lady who can not hold the camera steady. Here’s a photo tip that many don’t realize; depending on where you focus in any given photo; so much in front of the subject and so much behind the subject will also be in focus. Generally, more will be in focus behind the subject than in front of it. So if you really want a photo sharp from edge to edge, focus 1/3rd of the way into the scene, not dead center.

There are several really good reasons for wanting to choose a narrow DOF verses a wide DOF. Remember Wide DOF means everything in focus all the time. For those who are not quote “into” photography then this mode will satisfy their needs 90% of the time. But for the rest of us; here are some examples of when you may NOT want to shoot that way.

A) Portraits: focus on the person and blur the background. This is helpful when there are distracting elements behind the subject.

B) At the zoo: focus on only one animal. The idea here is to obscure the fact that you actually took the picture in the zoo. You want to make your photo look like you took this animal in its own natural environment.

C) Flower shots: focus on one flower or better yet even just part of a flower and let the others around it become like a painted background for your photograph.

D) Sporting Events: focus in on the one who crossed the line first, jumped the highest, or ran the fastest. You can show the winner better by using creative DOF.

Back to the basic problem, how exactly do we control Depth of Field? Shooting an object that is 5 feet from the camera will have a much smaller DOF range than shooting that same object from 25 feet away. So, regardless of what type of camera you own, move in closer!!

If your camera has a zoom lens (say 35mm -200mm) the smaller the size, the wider depth of field. Most set lens are in the range of 28mm – 38mm, so there is less to adjust, less to think about, and unfortunately less control. However, here is another photo tip you may not be aware of; if you photograph someone using the 35mm end of the scale, more of the photo will seem in focus. The opposite is also true, if you take the same photo using the 200mm length of your zoom lens, much less of the photo will appear as sharp. This is selective DOF, and it has nothing to do with f-stops. Remember that you control which part is in focus.

Madame Alexander Doll - Scarlett

One of my favorite vintage Madame Alexander dolls is Scarlett. December 1939 was the debut of the new line of Madame Alexander composition Scarlett O’Hara dolls. These exquisite dolls were the first creations to portray the beauty and intrigue of our favorite Southern Belle.

Madame Alexander was inspired by Scarlett’s character from the moment that she read Margaret Mitchell’s book. After reading the book, Madame requested and received permission to make a Scarlett O’Hara doll. While there is some question as to exactly when the first dolls were made, there were official Scarlett O’Hara dolls by Madame Alexander advertised in the Atlanta newspapers on the day of the film’s premier in 1939.

Legend has it that when Madame Alexander heard that David O. Selznick was bringing Margaret Mitchell’s fabulous book, Gone With The Wind, to the screen; she, hoping to gain the market rights, made a Scarlett O’Hara doll and sent it to him. Long before the part was given to Vivien Leigh, Madame Alexander received a contract from MGM to do the dolls. It was uncanny how closely Madame Alexander’s conception of how Scarlett looked matched the actress that would eventually play her.

Madame Alexander chose to launch her Scarlett doll line with a mix of colors and fabrics reminiscent of the ante-bellum era. Hundreds of dresses and coat and dress combinations were created between 1939-1943. The composition Scarlett dolls were attired in dresses of various prints and trim detailing. Most Scarlett dolls wore either a straw hat or a fabric bonnet.

The popularity of the Scarlett doll led Madame Alexander to make even more dolls based on the movie. The Gone With The Wind Collection dates from the early days, when the movie was released, right up to the present day. You can now find a doll for nearly every character in the movie.

Bird Watching for Beginners

The sport of bird watching has been around for years and, right behind gardening, is the second fastest growing hobby in America. It has been said that learning to bird is like getting a lifetime ticket to theater of nature. And indeed, with their beauty and elegance, birds are an awesome part of life. Birds flash past in every shade from emerald to vermillion, beautiful as showy flower blossoms. How could we not watch birds?

As with any sport or hobby, however, bird watching does require patience and practice to learn and will by all means have its moments of frustrations. But if you give it a good try and learn the basics, in no time you will be addicted!

What follows are some tips to help you along the way.

Binoculars are a birder's eyes on the world, and they can greatly affect the quality of a bird outing. Good binoculars make for good birding, while bad binoculars can lead to missed birds and severe headaches induced by blurred images, double vision, and eye strain. When choosing a binocular for birding, cheap is definitely not the way to go.

Make sure the power (or magnification) is at least 7-power. The power is the first number given in the numerical notation that describes binoculars. For example, a "7 X 35" pair of "glasses" will make objects appear as if they are seven times as close as they actually are. Seven-power binoculars are about the minimum needed to see birds well. Binoculars 10- power or stronger can be difficult for some birders to hold steady.

Make sure that the second number ("35" for a "7 X 35" pair of glasses) is at least five times as large as the power (e.g., "7 X 35," "8 X 40," etc.). This second number describes the diameter, in millimeters, of the large lens that faces the object of interest - the "objective" lens. The larger this lens is, the greater the amount of light the binoculars gather and thus the easier it will be to see characteristics in dim light or on a dull-colored bird.

Don't buy compact or pocket-sized binoculars (typically 8 x 21, or 10 x 21) as your primary pair for birding. The size and weight are attractive, but no matter how good the optics, compacts provide a lower quality image than mid- or full-size binoculars. Another drawback is that most compacts have a narrow field of view, which makes it very difficult to locate and follow birds.

A field guide is a little book that's packed with information about birds. It's the next best thing to an expert birder by your side. It describes and shows pictures of the birds, and it tells you which details of each bird to look for. A field guide can tell you what kinds of birds might be in your particular area and give some excellent tips on what to look for in your bird watching. If you don't have a field guide, you won't have a clue about what kinds of birds you will be seeing, so this is essential to have.

Most guides are roughly organized in "phylogenetic order." Phylogenetic order is the way scientists classify all living things (not just birds) based on their evolutionary history - which creatures, according to likenesses in their present-day appearance, most probably evolved from common ancestors.

The beautiful part about birding is that it can truly be done anywhere! You can go to your local park and find some great specimens. If you're traveling, you'll find a new appreciation of the songs of birds and what you can find. You can even watch birds in your own back yard!