Mother Goose has gone off her rocker. She’s become Halloween-ized. (Is that a word? It ought to be . . .) Take one writer, Judy Sierra, add one artist, Jack E. Davis, and what do you get? Monster Goose!

Monster Goose is a delightful storybook of familiar nursery rhymes with a Halloween twist. My favorite is Jack Sprat.

Jack Sprat
Ate some Fat
And drank some gasoline.
He lit his pipe
And in one swipe
Invented Lean Cuisine.

Don’t ya love just Jack’s eyeballs??

The poetry is clever but the illustrations are what really make this book.

However, I’m not sure I would read this book to toddlers. Or even grandchildren under the age of six. It might be a tad ‘too much’ for the wee ones. Or too gross. Or too mature that they wouldn’t understand the humor of the pictures or the poetry.

As you read it with your older grandchildren, spend plenty of time looking at the pictures. They’re almost better than the clever writing!

Enjoy!
Digi-Gram

On your mark. Get set. Grandmas, grab your cameras!

There something about seeing a darling little granddaughter in a cute princess costume or a Dracula enshrouded grandson that makes grandmothers grab their cameras and get digital! Who can resist taking a plethora of pictures of the ghouls and goblins in their costumes at a family Halloween party?

But, have you ever looked at your pictures after all of the goodies have been eaten, the decorations cleaned up, and everyone’s gone home only to find that very few of your pictures turned out? If that’s happened to you, you might want to follow some of these tips to ensure that you’ll come away with fabulous pictures.

1. Practice, practice, practice. If you’re using a digital camera and you’re not quite familiar with it, take some time before the grandkids come over to show off their costumes to become familiar with your camera. Especially the settings for using the indoor flash feature. There’s nothing more disappointing than taking inside pictures only to later find that they are grainy because of poor lighting. (Voice of experience here . . .)

2. Use the rule of thirds. Imagine that your view finder is divided into thirds horizontally and vertically making a tic-tack-toe grid. As you take pictures, put the more important elements of your picture where the lines intersect. This will add visual interest to what might be a rather ordinary picture.

3. Get a little bit closer. Instead of standing far back from your subjects, take several steps closer (or use the zoom feature) . Fill your view finder with your photo subject. You want to capture the twinkle in your granddaughter’s eye or the impish smile of your grandson — and not a landscape picture of the whole room. (Which do you care most about — the room or your grandchild?)

4. Pay attention to the background. Is the background busy? Cluttered? Detracting? You want the main focus to be your grandchildren and not what’s happening in the background. Nor do you want the background to detract from your grandchild. And, make sure the background isn’t creating a strange picture such as flowers sitting on your grandchild’s head (if you’re taking pictures outside).

5. Don’t say “smile.” When you say “One, two, three, smile’ your photo subjects have a forced, unnatural smile. Before you take the picture you might want to say something silly like “There’s a bird coming out of your nose!” Or tell a knock knock joke. Saying something that they aren’t expecting will put natural laughs on your subjects faces.

6. Change perspectives. Squat down to be eye-level with your grandchildren. Lie on the floor to shoot upward. (Just make sure you can get back up . . . ) Tower over your granddaughter and shoot down on her. Stand so you are facing her side and have her look over her shoulder. Doing this will make your pictures more interesting.

7. Take candid shots. Sometimes the best pictures are the ones where your grandchildren aren’t even aware that you’re taking their picture. Don’t have them stop and pose for you. Instead, just start snapping. You’ll end up with far more natural photos.

8. Take lots of pictures. The more the merrier. Taking pictures with a digital camera is SO much cheaper. You don’t have to pay for the film nor for the processing. Not every picture will be a keeper. But that’s okay. By having a large number of pictures to choose from there’s sure to be several that are precious.

These tips apply any time you take pictures — not just at Halloween time. Practicing these tips will improve your pictures and will become second nature to you.

Happy picture taking!
Digi-Gram

I was skimming a small cooking magazine the other day and came across a recipe for chocolate popcorn. What an intriguing combination! Some people claim that popcorn is a healthy snack. Would it still be considered healthy if it was smothered in chocolate?

Does it really matter if this snack is considered healthy or not?
Now, I haven’t tried the recipe so I cannot vouch for how good it tastes. But, I’m assuming anything covered with chocolate has to taste good. Here’s the recipe.

Chocolate Popcorn

2 quarts unsalted popped popcorn
1 cup miniature marshmallows
1/2 cup slated peanuts
6 plain milk chocolate candy bars

Place the popcorn on a greased large 10 x 13 inch cookie sheet. Sprinkle marshmallows and peanuts over the popcorn. Break the candy bars up into pieces and place on top.

Bake the popcorn at 300 degrees for 5 minutes. Take out of the oven and let it stand for 1 minute. Toss to coat the popcorn with the chocolate. (You can experiment with different types of candy bars — even those that are white chocolate, or with nuts or are crunchy. Variations could be very yummy.)

This made me think of a couple of other popcorn recipes that I have used that our family has enjoyed. (Our most favorite one is the candied popcorn.)

Candied Popcorn

1 1/3 cup sugar
1 cup margarine
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 cup unpopped popcorn
various candies, coconut, and nuts

Pop the popcorn. Put in a large bowl and set it aside.

Place remaining ingredients into a pot and bring to a boil on the stove. Boil for five minutes. Remove from heat. Add the candies, coconut and nuts. Pour over popcorn. Let cool before eating.

Marshmallow Popcorn

1 cup margarine
1 large bag of marshmallows
4-5 quarts popped popcorn
1 cup M&M candies
1 cup peanuts
1 cup candy corn

Melt margarine and marshmallows in a pot over the stove. Pour over popcorn. Stir in candies and nuts. Let cool before eating.

Peanut Butter Popcorn

1/4 cup margarine
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup sugar
6 quarts popped popcorn

Mix margarine, peanut butter, and sugar in a pot and melt over a stove. Pour over popcorn. Let cool before eating.
In the recipes that call for candies, if you use chocolate candies, let the melted mixture cool somewhat before stirring in the chocolate candy. This will keep the candy from melting (too much). Also, you can substitute you other favorite candies instead of using the ones called for in the recipe.

If your grandchildren are visiting you and they have the munchies, make one of these popcorn treats. Or, have invite your grandchildren over for a movie night and serve one of these recipes. (A good movie to watch with older grandchildren is The Great Debaters starring Denzel Washington. It’s based on a true story of a debate team from an all black school in Texas.)

Pardon me, now. I think I’ll go make some chocolate popcorn.

Enjoy!
The Digi-Gram

Many of the activities that I have shared on this site have been geared toward younger grandchildren. What about older grandchildren? Especially grandsons? you say. Well, here’s an idea of an activity that you could do with teen-aged grandchildren. One that will provide challenge, intrigue, and a fun time in the out-of-doors. It’s geocaching!

Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, that are hidden in various outdoor locations. Seekers log on to Geocaching.com (after creating a free membership), type in the zip code (for those in the U.S.) or the name of a country, and a list of caches come up. (For my zip code, there are 5,678!!)

Click on a cache that interests you and you will get its longitude and latitude. Write that down or send it to your GPS unit. Make sure you note the type of terrain. A rating of a 1 is ‘easy’ meaning it is an easy hike or drive. A 5 rating is the most difficult.

There will also be driving directions to help you get started so be sure to print those off. Now comes the fun! With the coordinates in one hand and your GPS in the other, jump into your vehicle. Start driving. Use your GPS unit to guide your search for the cache.

Once you’ve found the cache, sign the log. Some of the caches have little ‘prizes’ that you can take. If you take something, it is courtesy to leave something small in its place. You also might want to take a digital camera and take pictures of you at the site. Then, you can log back on to www.geocaching.com and share those photos and your experiences.

This could be a fun event for a group of your grandchildren to do together. You would only need one GPS for the group. Pack a picnic lunch, wear good hiking shoes, take plenty of water, and off you go.

What if your grandson doesn’t have a GPS? Christmas is coming up and that could be a fun gift to get for him. Or you could give it as a birthday present. Or, you could give one to grandpa (your husband) and then invite grandpa to join in your geocaching activities.

After you have gone on a geocaching adventure, try creating one! It would be fun to get the container and prizes, create the log book, and hide the cache. Before you do this, be sure to read the guidelines. The guidelines also explain different types of caches (multi caches, mystery or puzzle caches, letterbox or wherigo caches, etc.).

Fall is a great time of year to be out of doors — especially doing this type of activity!  Watch out, though.  This activity just might make your husband think he needs to buy a Jeep!

Enjoy!
Digi-Gram