Love Those Spinning Red Chairs

Eloise and Baga went for a girl's day out to see the Faberge Egg Exhibit at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. She adored these red squishy seats being that she could spend around and around. It is so wonderful finally having one granddaughter. We have just the best time together...and she does not seem to mind my constantly taking photos of her. 

This post is linked with:

Ruby Tuesday

and

Rednesday

Old Remington ~ 12-12-11

Old Remington

I basically followed Kim Klassen’s "Typewriter I" recipe in her Recipe Book (she calls for you to use a layer “mustard seed”), but I added a layer of her “mad love" texture at multiply 51% and frame #12 from Coffeeshop. I love Kim’s Recipe Book and being a part of her Test Kitchen. She is so kind and generous with her creativity and instructional knowledge. I have taken two of her courses which I also can recommend.

Since I cannot do a “mouseover” to save my soul... have tried and tried and tried to figure it out to no avail. I just don’t get it. Going into the HTML and making the changes is too confusing for this old worn out brain. So, pretend you are doing a Genie-style mouseover and take a gander at the “before” shot. This is better than nothing at all. Where there is a will, there is a way.

This post is linked with The Creative Exchange, Ruby Tuesday, and Rednesday.

It Is Christmas Present Making Time

I am one of those who believes in making her gifts and not buying them. These wreaths were made from scraps of fabrics I had for my quilting. They are so easy to make.  If anyone is interested, I will be happy to upload a tutorial. The first wreath in the second row is made from Mary Engelbreit fabrics, but all of the other are from Christmas colored ones. I have some blogging pals who adore Mary’s things, so I thought they could use the wreaths in their crafting rooms. Here is a list of what I used: circles cut from a roll of multi-purposed 14 gauge wire from Lowe’s, a wire cutter, florist’s tape, pinking shears, and rectangular fabric pieces folded in half and ironed. I tied the fabric around the wire circle in a 1/2 knot, pushed each really close to the one before, and this is what I got. So easy:-) The time consuming part was cutting the fabric and ironing it in half...the rest was a breeze. Not expensive even if you have to buy a 1/4 yard each of some Christmas colored fabrics...and the wire goes a long, long ways - it was $8.00 for the roll. The wreath fabrics are floppy so you can turn and squish them however you like. I have thought about brushing them with  fabric stiffener, but as yet have not had the nerve to give it a try.The countdown is on, so I am well on my way. Need to make another 6, but then I will be through. I have some other little goodies I have made, but I will save them for next week. They are easy, quick, and inexpensive, too.

(The ones in the upper left and lower right are the same wreath...oops...no one is perfect :-)

This post is linked with Mosaic Monday ,Rednesday, Ruby Tuesday, Free Pretty Things.

Buddy and The McDonald’s Half Marathon ~ Richmond, VA

So sorry the shots are not larger. For some reason clicking on the photos is not enlarging them. I did find if I hit command and the + sign, I can enlarge the collages to see more of the details...especially the runners in the second one.

This collage takes you from the night before when he got his stuff together until the end. The girl is Helen who works with Buddy at the Outfitters and ran the Marathon. He was freezing walking from the car to the race. I took photos of him from front and rear.Yes, Bud used the Port-a-John before the race, and Gene and Eloise are sitting under the tree waiting for Grandbud to round the curve. The 2 shots of him running are right in the neighborhood where Gene and the family live. The little boy playing while waiting for his family runner was the cutest thing ever. That last shot of Gene and Bud was Gene congratulating him on a job well done. He made it in a smidgin over 3 hours....he was thrilled. He was so worried that morning, but at the end of the day he was one happy runner at 59.

These are the “real” Marathoners. Buddy was quite lucky in that they happened to merge into the half marathon just where Buddy was running. Gene had a great time with his iPhone and his Photoshop skills. Look below and you will see the results.

Buddy Is a Close Second...Only in his dreams!

This post is linked with Ruby Tuesday and Our World Tuesday.

Bad Memories but a Great Day in the Woods

Yesterday we had been up on the Blue Ridge Parkway and into Shenandoah National Park for a wonderful day in the woods. The two of us had been winging it all day so were returning home taking our time and enjoying the fall scenery. That was when I saw “IT"!  SHEETZ. Cheap gas, but not for us 2 years ago. Here comes the story.

Buddy and I were driving home from visiting the kids and grandkids when we began feeling a bit tired. Great...there is a Micky D’s...let’s get some coffee and tea for the road.  We were slowly coming out from McDonalds which was located directly across the street from this filling station. We came out and around the upper end of the median and slowly moved forward. There was a lot of traffic.

As we reached the little pull off area there to the left of the sign, a man came directly at and into us with his big and heavy “Richmobile". I was in the passenger seat, and he got me. Thanks goodness we were both creeping so we avoided anything serious happening to us. Immediately, he yelled at us for getting in his way and told us to move the car out of traffic as we were blocking the people trying to get onto the interstate just up on the right. Like old fools, we were in such a state of shock we did it waiting there over an hour for the police. The man still would not give up and demanded it was out fault. He argues and argues with the law man. Then the guy took us each aside and got our stories of the incident. We knew it wasn’t our fault but were so afraid we were going to lose out. But, No! That big mouth lost in his rental car.The old folks who were obeying all of the laws came out on top. The insurance companies settled out of court, and we WON!

Now, here it the clincher to the story. We are back on the interstate heading home and what speeds around us and pulls in front but a SHEETZ petrol truck. In a split second I had my camera in hand shooting this out the front windshield. Can you believe it?

Just before we got home, I spied these red tractors on the side of the road...maybe for sale. I do not have a clue. They certainly were red and thought they were just the right ending to my happy day in the woods of Virginia. They do not look like they are going to run into anyone anytime soon.

This post is linked with Ruby Tuesday.

First Snow of 2011

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

For the first time in my memory we had our first snow on October 28th...unbelievable. It wasn’t much of one, but it left all of my few flowers, greenery, and water lilies weighted down with icy snow.  Just take a look!

My Yellows and Golden Yellows

My Reds

My Greens

A Lone Icy Red

A Bit of Blurry Pink

The Remains of my Herbs

My Wilted Water Lily and Goldfish Kettle Pond 

"Delicious autumn!  My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.”
  ~George Eliot

This post is linked with:

Mosaic Monday

Macro Monday

Mellow Yellow Monday
Ruby Tuesday

Reds, Water, and a Bridge ~ 10-19-11

Experimentation with Color, Texture, and Movement
The Reds Are Popping Through

The lake at Watoga State Park in West Virginia.

Here is the same picture, but this time I experimented using the “twirl effect” in PSE9 as well as a texture.  I wanted to do a mouse-over, but I tried and tried to no avail. I cannot figure it out to save my soul. I went online and read multiple entries and even tried Kim Klassen’s tutorial, but still had no luck. So here you have it. 

I think the experiment turned out a bit bizarre but really cool.

Another West VA Bridge...see that wee bit of red popping out around the corner?

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.”

  ~Albert Camus

This post is linked with: 

An Outdoor Wednesday from West Virginia

A Saturday hike through the Cranberry Bogs/Glades in West Virginia. 

We call these "cotton puffs,”  but I am not sure what the correct name is for them. The blog flowers were not in bloom, and the birds were few, but the watery bogs and all of the trees, ferns and other ground plants were a true treat for the eyes. We were on a boardwalk from beginning to end so that was really nice for me.

"See everything; overlook a great deal; correct a little. “

 ~Pope John XXIII


This post is linked with Ruby Tuesday and Outdoor Wednesday .

 

Daily Photo ~ 7-30-11

Does this bridge look familiar? For those of you who have not seen it

 during the different seasons, it is our “Bridge to Somewhere,” 

the “somewhere" being our house across the creek. 

Well, my husband is about to leave to hike that part of the Long Trail though Vermont to the Canadian border that he did not hike when he did the Appalachian Trail 10 years ago. Today I carried his pack downstairs to weigh it...16.6 lbs without his sleeping pad and 17.8 lbs with it. NO tent! No passport! I carried it out to the bridge, shot these pictures and uploaded them SOOC. We leave to drive to Lynchburg, VA, Tuesday night, and he leaves on Antrak at 5:00 AM Wednesday...crunch day for him and for our government....I sure hope he does a better job of hiking than our elected officials have been doing for us. He will be gone 3 weeks. I will be posting photos from his hike as he sends them to me on his new iPhone. 

Here it is... all 17.8 lbs sitting on the bridge...and he still has stuff to put in it. 

 He’s 5’5” and weighs only 135 lbs and still  has to put in his food

for the first 4 days, odds and ends, water, water, water, and his Crocs.

Jack to Buddy: “Dad, are you REALLY going to leave me for 3 whole weeks?

 How am I going to handle Mom for all of that time? I hope she 

doesn’t  forget to feed me because that has always been your job."

Buddy is definitely a Mountain Hard Wear ~ Leki man.

Before going back in the house, I just couldn’t resist shooting the pack

 and his stick  sitting there underneath the tree at the edge of the creek and bridge.

"Nobody trips over mountains.  It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble.  Pass all the pebbles in your path and you will find you have crossed the mountain.” 

 ~Author Unknown

This post is linked with Louis LaVache’s Sunday Bridges

and

mary/the teach’s Ruby Tuesday.