A Few Randoms

I think I am joining Kim's Random Finds on Friday since this post will be filled with bits of randomness.  But before I begin my ramblings I would appreciate a hop over to our collaborative blog Focusing On Life where I am musing on "When Is Too Old".  I think some of you may appreciate my thoughts on the matter.

OK, can't start without a couple of more pics of my great-great grand.  I find it extremely difficult not living closer to this bundle of joy.  I want to capture her as she grows and changes but being almost 2 hours (and that is fast driving) away, I will have to restrain myself to occasional visits.  I won't even be around for Thanksgiving (going to California to visit my son and daughter-in-law).  Rather excited considering I haven't seen them since last Fall.  They have bought a new house and have a new dog which adds to the excitement.

Her hands can't be constrained....must be that artist in her.

Well, nothing is going to compare to that sweet bundle, but I did go to Trader Joe's this week and came home with pumpkins.  I love this green one.  Remember the days when pumpkins were just orange?   Now we have orange, light and dark, almost red, green, white, variegated reds & oranges and probably more and then there are the gourds that come in every size, shape and color.  Maybe some of those odd color pumpkins are really gourds and then again aren't all pumpkins part of the gourd family. Who knows, I am certainly not a pumpkin connoisseur.   I just enjoy them and take their picture.

I also came home with a bundle of beautiful flowers that were picture worthy. 

The crab apples are in abundance this year as well as the acorns.  Had to have been all that moisture (snow) from last winter, but then I read where the apple crops around here have been decimated by that same winter.  Some crops are down 60% which does not bode well for apple pickin' in these parts.

And finally a shot from my trip to Ohio with a little added word art...

So just a few of the "finds" from my week.  Hope you had a marvelous past week and that the week ahead will give you joy.

"May every sunrise hold more promise, and every sunset hold more peace."  ~  A Blessing

Until next time....

My Loss of the Written Word

Today over at Focusing on Life, Kelly writes about the "written word" how powerful it is and the necessity of hand writing.  I agree 100% however as the aging process takes over my body it has affected my ability to hand write.  Arthritis has settled in a few of my fingers resulting in writing becoming a painful process, not to mention the "hen scratching" that appears.  Even last evening as I was writing a little note inside a birthday card to a friend I realized my nice handwriting has bit the proverbial dust.  But that is not stopping me from putting words to a page, thank goodness for computers, they are now my hand-writing tool.  Somehow (thank God) typing on a computer does not bother my fingers, perhaps because I am not griping an instrument.  So my words will continue to flow, just not with pen in hand.

And by the way, welcome to Fall, when the leaves begin to turn their glorious colors of golds, oranges and reds, when we put away the flip flops and bring out the sweaters, when we shift from iced tea to hot tea or cocoa, when we taste savory soups & stews instead of watermelons & ice cream (altho I continue to eat ice cream year round, vanilla ice cream with hot chocolate is a food group in my diet).

And speaking of Fall are you as excited as I am that the new Fall season of TV has begun?  Summer always leaves me wanting...altho I did watch a few good series this past summer.  I have watched 2 new shows already, "The Red Band Society" about a group of rather seriously ill kids that "live" in a hospital...their triumphs and struggles, well written and the kids are all appealing.  Octavia Spencer plays the "stern" nurse that keeps the kids in tow but it becomes obvious that she has a heart of gold. And "Madame Secretary", a tough, smart, quick thinking woman with no hidden agenda that steps into the role of Secretary of State with no political background.  I vote that we replace all of our politicians in office today with that kind of person.  Many new shows to watch, so little time.

And PS on one of our shopping trips with my sis-in-law I picked up some new mugs and cups at Marshalls, how could I resist the one above!!??  I know I am helpless.

Joining Kim today at....

"It's not that everything will be easy or exactly as you had expected, but you must just choose to be grateful for all that you have, and happy that you got a chance to live this life, no matter how it turns out." 

 

-- Author Unknown 

Until next time.....

I Found An Angel At Home Depot...

OK, you know that my whole family will be here for Thanksgiving, right (altho my sweetie will be here in spirit only)....and my dining room is rather smallish...in fact my living room - dining room is just one big room and not really all that big anyway.  The only thing that separates each room is furniture.  So I am trying to figure out how I could possibly fit the 9 of us around my dining room table that really only seats 6 comfortably.  And since this is our first, since my son got married, Thanksgiving together I didn't think a "kids table" in the family room would be the answer, in fact it wasn't even a consideration.  So what to do??  Well, I came up with this brilliant idea, I do that sometimes, not often but sometimes....to just place a large piece of plywood on top of my existing table and extend the size of it.  So I called Home Depot and talked to this really nice guy on the phone....you know, "let your fingers do the walking" before making a trip because the closest Home Depot is about 30 minutes, OK 20 minutes if my foot gets heavy on the accelerator. He suggested instead of plywood, particle board, it's sturdier and smoother than plywood.

OK, plan in action...drive to Home Depot, then what.  The particle board is 48x96 way, way to big for my car.  OK I was really thinking hard about how I was gonna get this large board home....probably going to have to bribe one of the kids across the street to drive down and pick it up.

As I entered the store a man with a Home Depot Orange vest just happened to be walking by the front door, how many times does that happen??  I asked him if he could show me where the particle board was.  He was guiding me to the spot just as another man was trying to load two pieces onto a cart, struggling, the Home Depot guy rushed over to help him before he and the boards toppled over.  As I see this big burly man struggling, I am thinking, Deanna what in the world were you thinking....no way on God's green earth are you going to be able to handle this. So you know, shy me, began talking to both of them, explaining my Thanksgiving table plan and they both agreed that it was a grand idea, but there was no way I could possibly get it into my car.  Mr. Home Depot man asked me where I lived and then instructed me to go to the Pro-Contractor Counter and tell them my tale and ask them for any "suggestions" they may have for me.  He just repeated that again....ask them for any "suggestions" they could give me for getting this home.

OK, I will do as instructed.  Walked up to the contractor's counter, an Asian lady was ringing up the purchases from an Hispanic man's cart filled with obviously stuff he needed for a job he was completing.  Now, neither one spoke clear English, the Asian lady had a very heavy accent as well as the Hispanic man, but they were both conversing together with no problem, I seemed to be the one with the problem of understanding.  The Asian lady asked if she could help me, and I explained to her what Joe (yes, I knew the orange vest guy's name, so observant that I am, it clearly was printed on his name tag) said about any "suggestions" they might have in helping me get this particle board home.  She looked at me rather oddly, which I would have done the exact same thing, and I repeated it again.  With that, the Hispanic man asks me where I lived, I told him and he said, no problem, he was going that way, he had a truck and would gladly drive it home for me.  The Asian lady says...."Lorenzo's a good guy." so they obviously knew each other.

We loaded up and I led the way with Lorenzo and my particle board in his truck behind me. As I was driving home, I began thinking about what a kind gesture for this man who had never set eyes on me before, did for me out of the goodness of his heart...we talk about angels around us and he was just the angel I needed at that very moment.  I was really touched by his kindness, in fact it brought tears to my eyes.  I was trying to wipe them away before arriving home, I didn't want Lorenzo thinking I was some silly weepy woman.  But that kind of kindness really tugged at my heart.  We arrived at my home, he backed into the driveway, unloaded it into the garage, making sure it would not tip and was ready to leave when I handed him some money.  He really did not want to take it, seemed totally surprised when I offered it.  I asked if he was married, yes, then I said, take your wife out to lunch, he kinda rolled his eyes, got in his truck and my angel drove away.  For the angels who find us when we need them the most, for that I am grateful.

I still had grocery shopping and more errands to complete so off I went again, stopping long enough to snap a couple of pics of the snow that was falling.  It tends to make everything look a little magical and I was in that light-hearted mood after my particle board angel happening.

  
Within a week I have had a Leaf Fairy rake all my leaves and an angel appear with a truck...can't get much better than this....for these moments in my life I am truly thankful and blessed!!

"Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom."~  Marcel Proust 

Linking to Kim's 

Until next time....

  

My Attempt At Flashiness....

I am up to my  elbows and earlobes with stuff to do this week.  Decided to finally make a list...now I am and never have been a list-maker, I have always depended upon my brain to remember everything that needed to be remembered (except ofcourse grocery shopping) but woe is me, the brain has become way way overloaded with menu plans, table decor, stuff to put away (out of sight) stuff to buy, the pure joy of having my whole family together, that I thought it might be a good idea to make that list and check it twice....gonna find out whose naughty or nice, oh wait that's another story.

Anyhoos....I have a couple of pics left from one of my ventures to the Arboretum that I will share today, and then I am off in a flash.  Who am I kidding, I don't do anything in a flash, but I gotta try awful hard this week to put on my "super-woman" suit and get stuff done.  So for a full week ahead and my attempts at "flashiness" I am grateful.

This is such a magical place....too bad all that beautiful color is now gone for the year.  But it was a pure delight while it lasted.

 
"We are not given a good life or a bad life. We are given life. And it's up to you to make it good or bad." -- Ward Foley 

Hope your week is just full of "thanks" and "giving"

Until next time....

The Brown is Settling In....and The Leaf Fairy!!

As I was driving to Bible Study this morning, I noticed that the trucks were out gathering the leaves for the Fall pick-ups.  In our community and in many surrounding communities we rake our leaves to curbside and these wonderful trucks with a huge vacuum cleaner attached travel up and down the streets sucking up all those leaves.  Sure wish those giant vacuums could come in my yard and suck up all the leaves so I wouldn't have to do that big chore in raking the leaves to the curb.  I know, I am definitely getting lazier and lazier as age continues to catch up with me.  I did spend time outside yesterday blowing & raking the leaves from the parkway out to the curb, but there was still a whole yard full left to do.  When I came home from Bible Study and running errands today, I was surprised that all the leaves from the front and side yard had been raked and are now in huge piles along the curbside.  It must have been the leaf fairy...is there such a thing?? I strongly believe in guardian angels (I overwork mine all the time) but leaf fairies are quite new to me.  I hope you are blessed with a leaf fairy if your yard is as full of leaves as mine was. So today, I am grateful for the leaf fairy, whoever that might be!!  And for those giant vacuums that pick up those leaves that the leaf fairy magically cleared from my yard.

There is still some color left on the trees, but a lot of the surroundings have taken on the 6 month brown look.  Now I love brown, it looks especially nice with red or that lovely shade of robins egg blue, but by March brown is no longer a look I love, but right now I'm likin' brown, especially when I can find a red barn for the background.

So what about where you live?  Has brown settled in for the long haul or are you still seeing plenty of color, or maybe Fall hasn't even reached you yet?

And I am apologizing right here, right now, I have been sooo very bad about visiting your lovely blogs and leaving you some love...I have been really, really busy editing photos for the photo shoots I have had lately, trying to organize myself for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday when ALL my children and grandchildren will be here, trying desperately to get ready for our annual Christmas Art Show where I sell my calendars and cards with my photography and keeping up posting daily for my month of gratitude.  And day to day living stuff....forgive me.  You know I will catch up as soon as possible.

And fyi, if any of you make those lovely CD calendars for gifts here is a link to a couple of templates for 2014.  Tracey Clark has one on her "Our Collective Page"  follow this link and click on calendar...it will automatically down load in a zip file.  And Lauri at Pride in Photos also offered a link for one as well, click here 

I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual. It is surprising how contented one can be with nothing definite -- only a sense of existence." 

-- Henry David Thoreau 

Until next time....

I Can Hear You Groaning....

I know I can hear you groaning saying...what is she doing already posting Christmas mugs?  Well you know I have a "thing" for mugs & cups, especially Christmas ones.  As I walked through Hobby Lobby picking up some extra ornaments for the Christmas Tree I decorated for one of the "raffle" prizes for the Advent Tea, I came across this little guy.  Now I ask you, how can you resist that?  And ofcourse he was 50% off, even more of an enticement.  Between Hobby Lobby and Home Goods I keep my cupboards overflowing with those irresistible cups and mugs.  Drinking my coffee each morning and afternoon, I delight in sipping that warm drink from a pretty cup or mug, it just makes it taste delumptious and it makes me happy, for that I am grateful.

And yes, my leaves are still on the ground, I have been so busy lately that they are still laying exactly where the fell....and yes, those are my pj's and slippers, after my sketcher's go walks, these are my 2nd favorite foot covering attire.

And  yes, it frosted last night.  Feeling really bad and praying for those that are still without electricity and especially for those that lost their homes in our recent storms...

Linking with Kim for Texture Tuesday....

"Truth is a deep kindness that teaches us to be content in our everyday life and share with the people the same happiness."  ~  Kahlil Gibran

Until next time....

Yes, It Snowed Here Too....

Yes, it snowed here too.  I have been seeing bunches of blog posts about the "first" snow of the season for a lot of us...and for a lot of us it was a complete surprise.  We received far less than many, but enough to coat the grass and the rooftops with that fresh fallen stuff we will be wanting come about Dec 24th.  Right now, my yard is still full of dropped leaves and there are some "fall chores" that still need to be completed, so I was definitely not ready for that white stuff to fall.

Everything around us seems to be caught between the two seasons....still colors so vivid on some trees and bushes, while others are stripped bare.  Today there is very little traces left of the white stuff, a little on the slopes that receive no sun but gone from the sunny spots. My backyard is almost completely covered in shade during these winter months. The sun being so low in the sky that the shadow created by the house looms over the garden.  Yesterday I captured this snow-capped dried monarda in those shadows.

Yep, time to drag those bird baths in so they won't crack over the winter.  I leave a couple out that are not made of ceramic so the birds have a place to grab a drink or two.

And because it snowed, it was time to bring out the snowman mug for my coffee this morning. Goodness, I have already dripped coffee down the front.  And yes, it sure tasted good on this cold windy morning.   For having a home that keeps me warm on those first frosty, snowy, cold, & windy mornings I am grateful.

While taking pictures in the back yard, I snipped some of the dried hydrangeas off of the bush and brought them inside to enjoy...I snip them all off during the holidays and place them on my Christmas tree...I love it.

Linking to Kim's

Until next time....

Thank You From the Bottom of My "Textured" Heart

Just as I was uploading this image I received an email from Kim Klassen sharing 3 new textures with us.  Today I am focusing on those that share their talents so willingly, especially Kim.  I began following Kim shortly after I joined my first Tracey Clark "Picture Classes" I am guessing 4 or 5 years ago.  Kim was one of the many participants that added her photos to the class, I immediately fell in love with her "style" of adding textures to a photo.  I just thought they were so "cool" and ofcourse wanted to know more and more about this new addition to photography.

Over the years Kim has shared 100's of textures that she creates, most of them are FREE, has shared her knowledge of how to work with textures on her website and created classes that are filled with her knowledge of photography, Photoshop, PSE, Lightroom and her work process. She is constantly giving away her time and her talents to us out here in the blogland/internet world.  She continues her generosity even with her husband's illness which has been a life-changing experience for her, her husband, John and their family.

I even had the privilege of meeting and spending time with Kim last year in Palm Springs for a 4 day Tracey Clark event, bringing together photographers from all over, spending time together, learning & playing together.  And yes, she is as nice, caring & loving as you would expect.  Soft spoken, unassuming and so very lovely.  So, today I am grateful to Kim Klassen, an amazing, gifted and generous person.  Thank you from the bottom of my little "textured" heart!!

Until next time.....

Ahh Morton, How I Love Thee

This is my 3rd year being a member of the Morton Arboretum.  We have lived in this area for over 35 years and why it took me that long to realize the beauty that awaits me in just a short 10-15 (depending on lights & speed) minute drive from home I'll never know.  I guess it took my love of photography to wake me up to all of the delights found there in any season of the year.  

Joy Morton, is founder and owner of the Morton Salt Company, and yes, Joy is a man which surprised me too, but why not??  The Morton Arboretum with it's 1700 acres stands today as a natural expression of a desire Joy Morton had from childhood, when he learned from his father, the founder of Arbor Day, and his mother, a dedicated gardener, that a necessary complement to a good life is the cultivation and preservation of the environment.  This beautiful place stands in tribute to his desire to cultivate and preserve the almighty tree.  

I have spent many hours enjoying the fruits of Joy Morton's dedication to the preservation of trees, from the smallest pine to the largest oak. And for that I am grateful!!

And fyi, these are my second pair of Sketcher's GO WALKS, the MOST comfortable shoes I own. I love them as much as the pair of black ones, and I am definitely in the market for more in different colors.  I was with another friend on Friday evening who also drove immediately to the store to buy a pair after the testimony given at book club last month. She whole heartily agrees that they are a little bit of heaven on your feet.  

As I write this there are still leaves to fall even this late, but right this minute the snow is falling and sticking to the roofs and grass...must go, gotta grab my camera to capture that first falling snow of the season.

"The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found?"

J. B. Priestley

Until next time.....