Mellow Yellow.....

I am going to fill you up with the daffodils before they get pitched.  I bought these sweet things on Monday and they are already starting to turn crisp on the ends and they never fully opened.  What's with that??  Any suggestions for the proper care and feeding of daffodils to make them open up and show me their bright sunny faces??  Bright yellows are not one of my favorite things to photograph, but it makes me practice my exposure settings  And you know what they say.....practice makes perfect, but perfection is only in the eyes of the beholder and if you are like me, this beholder is far from perfection, and I am not just talkin' photography.

Linking with Deb's This or That Thursday...yikes, just found out that today is the last day for Deb's This or That Thursday.  She is going to focus more on her scrapbooking, but another weekly link-up has hit the proverbial dust.  So sorry.  Also linking to Thursday Favorite Things and Little Things on Thursday.   Danielle's Cool Clicks Thursdays

                                                         

Until next time....

Stuff

After raining, raining, raining for 2 days and 2 nights and the temps rising to almost 60 degrees, a cold snap came thru this afternoon and when I pulled into the garage the temp on the car gauge registered 31 degrees.  That is a 30 degree drop from yesterday, and instead of raining, it is now snowing...well sorta snowing, it's kinda sleet/snow.  But it's still white, so that makes me happy.  I grabbed my camera as soon as I got home to try and capture a little snow before it's gone again.  It just doesn't stick around too much lately.

As you can see they are more like little ice crystals than they are snowflakes...but it's white.

After Bible study today, (and btw we are doing another fabulous study, this one is entitled "The Girl's Still Got It" by Liz Curtis Higgs, about the story of Ruth) I went to a friend's home to put together greeting cards to sell for a Bake Sale at the church where I attend Bible study.  Three of the ladies are stampers (which I was at one time, but have kinda deserted since I began photography).  They brought fixin's for stamped cards and I brought fixin's for cards with my photography.  Enjoying each other's company and doing something to raise money for a worthy cause is a lovely way to spend an afternoon.

And because I like hands holding just about anything, I took a picture of the new mint M&M's for Valentine's Day.

Here is a pic for one of my cards...remember those roses I bought about 3 weeks ago...I am still getting mileage outta those.  I think I paid $5.99 for the bunch and they are still working for me.  They dried beautifully, hope they last and last and last...

So that's enough stuff for today....hope yours was a pleasant one.... Oh and I have caught up with Downton Abby, watched it last night...so sad.  I would say that Lord Grantham is in a heap of trouble, I think he is going to be in that "other" bedroom for quite awhile. ...just sayin'.

"I've learned that grandmothers are still girls at heart.  They like pats, hugs, and kisses."  ~ Age 85

Until next time....

It's Raining.....

It's raining

It's pouring

The old man is snoring....

Well, I don't know about the old man, but this old woman is about ready to lay her head down and see if she can snore...errr sleep.  It's that kind of a day, raining, some lightening, a little thunder, the kind of a day that crawling under the covers and catching a few afternoon zzzz's would hit the spot.  Or at least grabbing that book that I have almost completed and reading it until the eyes begin to droop.  

A trip to the hardware store this morning to pick up some much needed furnace filters, also meant a swing by the grocery to check what flowers were waiting for me.  Tuesday is usually flower delivery day, but I must have been too early because most of the flowers were looking a little past their prime, especially the tulips so I grabbed a bouquet of daffodils.  I find bright yellow a little difficult to photograph...I have to adjust the exposure level several times to get it right, and then it still doesn't seem exact.  

Today being Texture Tuesday over at Kim Klassen's lovely blog...her direction for this week was to use one of her newer textures "minus 43" which is indeed what I did on the image below.  I also added one layer of Lenabem-Ana's texture to give it that real canvas look.

So signing off now to go catch some of those zzz's I referred to earlier.

"Think what a better world it would be if we all, the whole world, had cookies and milk about three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down on our blankets for a nap. "
                                                                                                             ~ Barbara Jordan 


Until next time......

Monday's Barns

Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for all the kind and generous comments and love that you gave to me after my Friday post.  Milestone days are the worst.  Most days, eventho my sweetie is forever in my thoughts, I can manage quite well, but days like Friday are tough.  Thanks again for that extra hug that I definitely needed.

On my 20 mile ride on Friday, after my sweetie visit, I managed to capture quite a few barns, some in better shape than others, but all have their own charm.

It's difficult to see but this barn's established date is 1895

While this barn has 1948...the 1895 barn looks in much better shape than the 1948 barn....I guess they just don't make them like they used to...But I particularly like the blue chair sitting in the doorway.  I drove by this same barn last summer and the blue chair was sitting in that same spot.  Either it is bolted down (which I doubt) or it must be someone's favorite spot to sit or.....someone is just too lazy to pick it up and put it away.  I have a feeling it might be that last choice....I know, I have things that need putting away and I am too lazy to do it.  

And speaking of 'too lazy'....this morning as I was in the shower, I heard the phone rang.  Now 10-15 years ago I would turn off the shower, and run dripping wet with a towel barely wrapped around me, to answer the phone because 10-15 years ago I knew that when the phone rang it was almost always someone that I knew that wanted to talk to me and I wanted to talk to them (usually).  Now, more times than not, when the phone rings, it is an unknown caller, an 800 number or a business that I know is going to bug me to buy something or donate to some worthy cause.  I am getting to the point where I don't answer the phone at all, if it's important, or someone really wants to talk to me, they will leave a message.  And I certainly won't turn off the shower and run half-naked to try to answer the ringing phone, no not anymore.  I am even starting to receive these annoying calls on my cell phone.  YURK!!

OK that is enough ranting. Went to the movies with my girlfriends today...we went to see "Parental Guidance" with Bette Midler and Billy Crystal.  It will definitely not win any awards, but it was cute, made me giggle and I left with a big smile on my face.  The kids were absolutely adorable and there were lessons learned.  Sometimes that's all you need from a movie...just a big smile as you leave.

Linking up with Trish over at Barn Charm.  Wishing you all a good Monday and a great week ahead.


"I've learned that every day we are offered twice as many opportunities as problems."  ~  Age 33

Until next time.....

Scavenger Hunt Sunday - The January 27, 2013 Edition

I think I enjoy Scavenger Hunt Sunday so much because it gives me direction...something to shoot for, not just a random shot, but yet it leaves it open to your own interpretation.  Yes, that's what I like about it, direction but not rigidity.....you know what I mean.  This week's directions are:

• Lace
• Bling
• Wood
• Fuzzy
• Fabric

So lots and lots of ways to interpret these...here are mine.

Lace - now this may look like lace, but only pretend.  Can you imagine real lace on a tea cup, drips, stains, just a real mess.

Bling  Hmmm...looks a might blurry, but that's ok, shows off the bling more.

Wood - Oh my, there were tons of choices for wood, but I settled on this old wooden house...

Fuzzy - what is fuzzier or softer than a kitty.

And last...Fabric, a gazillion choices here, but this was what I settled on.  Leftover Christmas candy that is now with added fabric rose, my Valentine's candy.

OK...that's it.  Take a hop on over to Ashley's blog and see other's...and join in, it's fun.  Direction without rigidity.  Also joining Madge's Weekly Top Shot.

Until next time....

The Skies Were Grey, The Land Looked Cold

Today should have been a day of celebration....today is our 49th Wedding Anniversary.  But today was not a celebration, today was a day that I reminisced on the 49 anniversaries.  The last 2-3 have been just another day since my husband no longer remembers me, or that he is married, or even what an anniversary is.  As I whispered in his ear, "honey today is our anniversary, we have been married for 49 years."...he looked at me and smiled and said "that's wonderful."  And then he continued eating his lunch.  Yes, right now I am feeling a little low.  It wasn't supposed to be like this.  We should be together, celebrating, traveling, enjoying retirement.  But that wasn't the plan.

I am blessed with good friends, a nice home, enough money to live a comfortable life, good health but I miss those simple things in life that we shared together.  The sweet good night kisses, the hand holding, the arm around my shoulder, the opening of the car door....all those little incidental, everyday things are
what I miss the most.

As I drove away from The Memory Care facility I decided to drive thru the countryside.  It did snow last night, but not enough to even cover the grass...the skies were grey and the land looked cold and deserted, pretty much the way I was feeling on the inside.

I drove about 20 miles thru the countryside and these cows were the only living creatures I saw....they were enjoying the leftovers in the corn field.

So if you are married or have a significant other....give them a kiss tonight and hold their hand.  It's the little things that are important.

“Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.”

                                                                                            ~  Robert Brault

Until next time.....

White Stuff Came Down

Be still my heart....I woke up to white stuff.  Just a couple of pics from the window because I am headed out with camera in hand...more later.  In the meantime hop on over to my collaborative blog Focusing on Life where I am musing on connections....

See ya later....

Until next time.....

Whew!!

Can you hear it....that big sigh of relief?  I came home Tuesday evening from a lovely dinner with my Bunco gals celebrating 2 birthdays, to a computer whose internal fan was making way too much noise and a blank screen.  Nothing I did would bring my screen back so I shut it down and went to bed.  The next morning, same thing.  Off I went to Bible Study where I even talked about it, stating it was definitely a major concern but trust and faith would get me through.  Trust that even if I lost everything there would be major disappointment, but faith that I would just have to rebuild.

After Bible Study I drove to Hobby Lobby to buy some new candles, didn't find what I was looking for, but managed to come across this sweet thing...it was waiting for me.

Also stopped at Trader Joe's looking for Spring, but Wednesday's must not be good days for flower buying at TJ's because for the last 2 weeks I have been disappointed in their selection.  No flowers this trip, so headed home with the dreaded computer problem lurking in my thoughts.

Arriving home, same thing.  I ate some lunch and thought....ok what is my next move?  I definitely cannot live without my computer, well, I really can, but you know how important this piece of technology is to a blogger and a photographer.  I made the decision to call upon the Geek Squad at Best Buy.  I bundled up my computer, pretty easy since it is a laptop and headed off to BB.

Waiting in line, I have to admit that I was praying silently for a quick fix and no loss to all the stuff encased in that piece of steel and plastic that I held in my arms.  "I can help you over here"....said a young lady with a Geek Squad shirt on.  "What seems to be the problem?"  I explained as she opened the cover and begin to check, removing the battery and reinserting it.  (which by the way, I had already done)...."is this what you were getting?"  OMG everything began to boot up, everything looked normal, everything was there.  Another Geek Squad tech approached and asked the same questions, all the while my computer was booting up, all intact.  I am not sure what the problem was, I don't know what caused it, but I told the Geek Squad lady that she had magic fingers and definitely needed a raise.  And silently I was saying a prayer of thanks for the quick fix and no loss.

And again, the weather forecast is for possible snow.  Yesterday we had blowing snow, you know the kind that comes down sideways and blows around but never accumulates?  I had hopes, but by evening the skies had cleared and so had the snow.  But right now I am just thankful that my computer is back in working order, snow would just be a bonus.

Linking to Deb's This or That Thursday and Little Things Thursdays and Danielle's Cool Click Thursdays.

"Computers must be male.  As soon as you commit to one you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have obtained a better model.  In order to get their attention, you have to turn them on.  Big power surges knock them out for the rest of the day."   ~Author Unknown

Until next time....

Anything Goes....

Today is Kim's Texture Tuesday with an anything goes day.  This is what happens when she says anything goes....

Last night I made a pot of Dunkin Donuts de-caf coffee.  With my sleep issues I try not to drink anything with caffeine past the lunch hour.  I snipped off a couple of poinsettia flowers, the rest was ready to go into the trash and set them in my blue ball jar.  I liked the color combo so grabbed my camera and started snapping away....obviously I had the wrong ISO and the wrong exposure but today I played around in Photoshop and this is what I came up with....Not sure I like either one of them that much, but I had fun trying.  I used one of my fav textures from Kim...Dreamin.  That's all I can tell you on specifics because I just played around with the rest.

Question??  Did anyone watch that new Kevin Bacon TV show last night entitled "The Following"?  Oh man, was that gruesome.  Not sure I am going to continue watching but the premise is sorta fascinating.  One thing is for sure...I will definitely not watch it prior to going to bed, watching it in the mid-afternoon will be far less scarier.

And this is my new mantra until we have some measurable snow in my area....(found this on pinterest...)  I know some of you probably think I am nuts, but I need to see a red barn covered with beautiful white snow...that cures a world of ailments in my book anyway.

Until next time.....

Hot Tea From A Pretty Cup

I should be downstairs putting away the last of the Christmas stuff (yeah, I know, late as usual), but instead I am sitting here writing this post and gazing out of the window.  The wind is gusting and the temps have fallen into the low teens.

All I see is the white puffs of heat escaping from the chimneys and flues all across the neighborhood dancing from east to west, north and south depending on the wind.  The sky is the color of steel blue with a few white clouds in the southern sky and again no snow.

It is too cold for me to venture out today, thank goodness there are no pressing appointments or "must do" lists that entail bundling into my coat, gloves & hat to sit shivering in the car until the heater throws out its warm blasts.  I would rather stay inside and have a cup of hot tea from a pretty cup.

Toby has been in and out at least 5 times today.  His choice is to be outside, but even he barks to be let inside after only a few minutes of being out in the tundra.

Hot soup for dinner and probably an early climb into bed this evening with the electric blanket turned on high and a good book to read.  Sounds like the best plan for this blast of winter that has settled in and is not leaving until late this week.

Brew me a cup for a winter's night

For the wind howls loud and the furies fight

Spice it with love and stir it with care

And I'll toast our bright eyes

My sweetheart fair 

~  Minna Thomas Antrim

Until next time.....