The Zoo - A Witch's View

Last year Eli and I went to the NC Zoological Park.  We had a fantastic time.  Right now we have another trip scheduled for next month.  I wanted to share some of my photos from last trip.

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson
 
Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

My Current Works

Last time I shared some of my older work.  Now I want to share some of the newer items I've been working on.

Dragon's Eye Pendant
Photography & Jewelry by Sosanna

Pentacle Pendant
Photography & Jewelry by Sosanna

Northern Lights Pendant
Photography & Jewelry by Sosanna

Heart Pendant
Photography & Jewelry by Sosanna




I'm working on getting my form a bit stronger.  I use a lot of tutorials to help me with my basic wire skills.  You can check out places like YouTube or individual website for tutorials by folks like Nicole Hanna and CL Designs for awesome instruction on learning how to start in wire weaving.




Flowers - A Witch's View

One thing I really love taking pictures of is flowers.  I cannot wait for spring to roll around and have some fresh photos to share.

Here are a few from the past.

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

Thoughts on Scalia's Death

As I sat drinking my tea and working on my Facebook Page I saw a trending story on that said "Justice Scailia Dead"  - my mouth slightly open and paused for a moment as many of these stories turn out to be the famous internet death hoax.

I did a bit of searching and sure enough, Supreme Court Justice Scailia had died.  For a moment I was in shock and then I was happy.  I know it sounds horrible to some.  I thought long and hard if I should even bother to blog about this.  My grandmother's voice in my head telling me that "If I didn't have anything good to say ....."

Yes, there's probably nothing good to say from my point of view on this supreme court justice.  He was one of the strongest opponents on the bench on LGBT rights.  Instead of ranting about the many statements he made in his life attacking us, instead I'll just give a light of sites that you can go to to see why just for a moment, my heart lifted a bit knowing that he would no longer be able to add his hate filled opinions to the opinions our highest court in the land.








These are just a limited few posts related to the dissenting opinion while on the bench and some of the other comments he had made regarding women and the LGBT community.  While I understand that certain things are legal, I also understand that they are wrong.  Apparently Justice Scailia had issues making a distinction between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law.




“We’re all killers at heart,” he said. “Of course, I have never taken anybody’s life, but I have often read obituary notices with considerable satisfaction. It just happens that circumstances have favored me.” ~Clarence Darrow 1926~

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson


Tips for Tagging - A Blogger's Story

So over the last month I've been working to get my blog the way I want it to look.  I know that in order to keep your readership up you need to engage your audience.  There are several ways to do this.  The hottest idea right now is related posts.

Screenshot - Confessions of a Modern Witch


This is where your readers can see other stories that relate to the one they just read.  This is great for getting folks to see how much you blog about a particular subject.  What seems like a simple element to add to your blog; this one really gave me a fit. It made me decide to jot down a few tips on tagging that might help others deal with this better.

1. Tagging is important.
     Tags help you put your content in buckets.  While Twitter would have us believe that it is just a way to draw attention to a particular word, in blogging this is how your content is categorized.  It may be cute to have 500 tags, but it isn't really good for your blog.  Try to limit your tag use to very specific areas you intend to blog about.

2. Singular and Plural.
     Tag is not the same as Tags.  Remember that if you blog about jars it will create a separate tag when you want to talk about one jar.  Something small but just limited your (s) will more than likely cut your tag list down in size.

3. Spelling.   SPELLING
    For general purposes we know as bloggers (web writers) that spelling is important, however if you think someone is important enough to make it a tag; you should probably be extra careful in setting up your tags so that you don't come back three years later and find out that you have tagged five stories with samhian instead of samhain.

4. Hashtags
    Again I blame Twitter here for making us believe that all tags should be prefaced with the pound sign or hashtag.  While it is used in several social media applications, Blogger is not one of them.  I spent 12 hours yesterday recreating all of my hashtags since this blog started over 5 years ago to "fix" my hashtag mistake.

5. Hashtags are categories
    While this seems super simple one thing to keep in mind when creating hashtags is that these are intended for your audience to find your content.  These are like keywords but also more like a label. Think about an old school library card catalog.  Your blog is a card catalog and the tags are the index cards that a reader can use to find your posts (books).  While it might be a great idea to create tags for Christianity, Wicca and Islam it may also make sense to create a fourth tag for religion.  This will help your related posts relate more readily.


While these things will not solve all your issues, I have found through experience that creating and managing an effective tag cloud will help keep your content a bit more streamlined and allow your readers to find what you're trying to say a bit easier.

Hope it helps!

Happy Blogging







More Sunrises - A Witch's View

Sometimes I wake up and I cannot believe this is where I live.  While I loved San Diego so much I never got to see these types of sunrises.

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson
 
Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

My History - Working with Wire

As part of my year of mastery, I wanted to be sure to document some of my work with jewelry. My goal is to really take this year to hone my skill and start the path to becoming a jewelry master.  I want to start by sharing some of my older wire wrap pieces when I first began working with wire.


Photographer - Renee Sosanna Olson

Photographer - Renee Sosanna Olson

Photographer - Renee Sosanna Olson

Photographer - Renee Sosanna Olson

Just looking at these photos makes me realize just how much I have improved.  Next time I'll share some of my newer pieces.

Thanks for following!

Ice - A Witch's View with Sosanna - Nature Photography Challenge - Day 7

I have been challenged to post 7 days of nature images by Heather Brooks Ray. I also need to challenge someone else each day to post images, but no one volunteered.  If you want to post your images I'd love to see them. For now, you just get me.

I had really hoped to have some new snow pictures for this post.  Winter Storm Jonas decided we to only get rain instead.  So here are some photos I took of our winter last year.  I really love the way the ice forms on objects.  It is just amazing.

Ice Storm 2015
Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

Ice Storm 2015
Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

Ice Storm 2015
Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

Ice Storm 2015
Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

Ice Storm 2015
Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

Ice Storm 2015
Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

Ice Storm 2015
Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

Ice Storm 2015
Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

Nature Photography Challenge - Day 6

I have been challenged to post 7 days of nature images by Heather Brooks Ray. I also need to challenge someone else each day to post images, but no one volunteered.  If you want to post your images I'd love to see them. For now, you just get me.


This is one of my favorite nature/outdoor photos I've ever taken. We went to the NC Zoo and I managed to get this awesome shot of the lions.  I just love them.



North Carolina Zoo
Photographer - Renee Sosanna Olson


I ended up with some really nice flowers as well.



Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson 
Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson


Nature Photography Challenge - Day 5

I have been challenged to post 7 days of nature images by Heather Brooks Ray. I also need to challenge someone else each day to post images. I only had four volunteers for the challenge so today you just get me! 



I love the view of the eastern sky from my house in the mornings.  The sunrise is so amazing.


Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

Nature Photography Challenge - Day 4

I have been challenged to post 7 days of nature images by Heather Brooks Ray. I also need to challenge someone else each day to post images.  Today I'll challenge JuliaShould you take this challenge let's see one photo per day for the next 7 days and please challenge another person with each of your 7 posts. 


Today my photo is of my sunrise. I have the amazing trees that help filter the dawn.


Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

Nature Photography Challenge - Day 3

I have been challenged to post 7 days of nature images by Heather Brooks Ray. I also need to challenge someone else each day to post images.  Today I'll challenge TiffanieShould you take this challenge let's see one photo per day for the next 7 days and please challenge another person with each of your 7 posts. 


Framed between a sycamore and a black walnut this little bird posed perfectly for me.  I love how it turned out.


Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

Nature Photography Challenge - Day 2

I have been challenged to post 7 days of nature images by Heather Brooks Ray. I also need to challenge someone else each day to post images.  I challenge PaulaShould you take this challenge let's see one photo per day for the next 7 days and please challenge another person with each of your 7 posts. 

My photo for today.  I call it Spring Awakens.  This cute little green plant with a purple bud was coming up out of the fallen leaves of winter.  Just love.



Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson