simply a moment | 4.15.23 …

A quiet day, punctuated by a delightful 2 PM afternoon walk, bright blue sky, and colorful flowers in the ground, pots and on trees.


Before and after my early afternoon walk, I spent time on several Zoom calls with scrapbookers from around the world, sharing, gathering ideas and making plans to document daily our individual lives via photo and words, the last week of this month, April 24 – 30. This is a project I’ve done off and on over the past 10 or so years.

In today’s mail, I received a surprise package from my Delaware friend Kathy, filled with scrapbook papers, embellishments and ephemera ~ perfect for the upcoming week’s documentation. Most of the items are yellow and I have the perfect yellow 6 x 8 album waiting in the wings. Yes! Yellow is absolutely my favorite color. Just the thought makes me happy.

These moments today clearly made me happier… and I hope they have the same effect for you!

Cheers~

tgif | 9.6.19 …

 

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Chris practicing walking…

thinking: I’m a tad bummed that I missed a special encore showing of Downton Abbey, Series 1  – not only last night but also this afternoon! Q: Why? How? You might wonder… A: 1 – I didn’t check my calendar tho’ I’d written the program in and more importantly, 2 – Habit! We usually watch TV starting at 7 PM with evening news and I settled in, perfectly comfortable with the routine, totally forgetting about Downton Abby, which began at 8 pm.

grateful: Sunday, there is a repeat performance; fingers crossed I will get a chance to see. I wrote myself a big note and left it sitting on the coffee table where it can be prominently seen! I am also grateful for today’s temperature; it feels just like a Fall day!  And we slept with the windows open last night!

inspired: Kelly Rae Roberts is an artist who lives in Sisters OR. This month, she offered a new online adventure: monthly Art Dates With Kelly Rae . I love it! She is truly genuine and natural, friendly, welcoming, and encouraging. Plus, I get to see some of Sisters, my favorite place on earth! It’s the next best thing to being there.

fun: this evening, I’m joining an online session of scrapbookers from around the globe  – we generally meet 2-3 times a month, each in our individual home spaces, working on our stories and layouts. Not sure what I’ll do tonight – tho’ for sure, something featuring the boys.

Have a great weekend,

Cheers~

 

and so it’s tuesday…

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The photos:

Top Row, Left /Right:

In a little over six weeks, my quilting organization has its quilt show.  In my sewing studio, every flat surface and  my design wall are covered with quilts in various stages of getting done – primarily, making quilt sandwiches and bindings and then sewing them (the bindings) on. In searching through my stash, I’ve come across a lot of stuff and someday/maybe quilt project wannabes…I’m thinking I’ll spend at least several weeks the first couple weeks in April döstädning – sorting through and selecting items to sell at the Peddler’s Table: one quilter’s discards ~ another quilter’s treasure !

The sun shines! And has been all day. Just about 4:30 pm, I took a walk to clear my head and breathe in some fresher air. Saw the crocuses on the elementary school’s grounds…

Bottom Row, Row, Left /Right:

Meet Hazel, a Labradoodle. She’s 10 weeks old and belongs to niece Chris – who has had her not yet a week. Chris named her Hazel because of her eyes! I’ve not seen her in person but we have FaceTimed! She uttered not a sound…

Mary asked how I organized the scrapbook layouts I made last month and shared here. Right now, they are all in that box and will eventually go into albums:

  • 6 x 8 if of me or are nature scenes, etc
  • 12 x 12 : one for for Kayla and one for Dolly

Sunshine abounds. 6:25 pm! Where did the day go? I just blinked my eyes – or so it seems-  and now, it’s time for dinner, a glass of wine and a bit of quiet…

Cheers~

collecting february 2019 …

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Every year in February, since 2010, I’ve participated in the  month long scrapbook challenge – LOAD, Layout A Day. Each day we received a prompt and a challenge based on a theme. This year’s theme was inspired by the 80th Anniversary of the movie “The Wizard of Oz” and great fun!

Tho’ we’re not required to keep to the theme or the prompts – for the object is to make a layout a day of favorite memories – I found that the prompts certainly recalled memories and inspired my layouts. Most of mine featured Kayla, the little boys, the weather, events, etc…in short: snippets of me, family members, my life and memories!

Days 1, 6 and 21 feature Kayla, circa ages 2-4; she is now 18. The little boys are in 4, 8 & 18.; they are ages 4 and 14 months. I – or a facsimile of me – am in 7,9,11, 20 & 21. The photo of me in # 20 was taken when I was about 42…a while ago!

Sadly, my god doggie ( # 27) Watson’s life on this earth ended  this month but we take solace in knowing that his last seven years on this planet earth were spent in a home filled with love. (Watson was a rescue dog, found abandoned on a PA roadside).

Strangely enough, looking through my stash, I found a cutout from a birthday gift card – #28 – that my friend Margaret gave me at some point in time…and it was perfect for the last day’s creation: my Ode to LOAD. 

And that’s a wrap for February…

Cheers!

PS. A click on the photo (or use command /+ key on a Mac) should make the image larger.

sometimes mondays| 2.18.19…

 

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… are very leisurely. Today,  Presidents’ Day,  has been filled with making lists, plans, menus and layouts (I am doing a layout a day, LOAD 219 that I’ve done every year the month of February for about 9 years) and a very extended MSQT (Morning Solitude and Quiet Time)! Just about 10 minutes ago,  I looked up at the clock and realized the day is well on its way to being over…

Today, it’s quiet and windy, sometimes sunny; other times, not! I think I will pause doing not much of anything and take a quick walk.  That should help me refocus my attention (and energy ) and get back to my lists, plans, menus and today’s layout/s – featuring a bit o’ green…hmmm, I just realized that yesterday was St Patrick’s Day.*

Trust you are enjoying a leisurely day, too!

Cheers~

*PS. 3:15 PM. Oops, as I walked I realized St. Patrick’s Day is in March.

capturing me…

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(Me multi-tasking: participating in one of today’s sessions on my iPad, taking a photo with my iPhone and drafting this post!)

One of my creative pursuits involves capturing my life “memories and moments, my stories on this planet via words+photos:

  • I capture stories  in my journals, on this blog..
  • I participate in online classes, forums and groups … all which are designed to both encourage and instruct…
  • I use ( tho’ rarely) social media, primarily Instagram…
  • I make scrapbook layouts, such as those I shared in my  Collecting October 2018 post
  • I belong to two scrapbooking membership groups. Both sponsor group activities that engage and inspire their membership, provide for instruction and most importantly, incentive, inspiration and opportunity  for members to meet online via their sites, chat, and thanks to today’s technology: gatherings online.  These platforms, such as Zoom, enable us to see, talk, create, share, offer one another assistance, in real time! 

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This weekend, one group is celebrating its 10th Anniversary. We’re having a three day, almost round-the-clock live (and being recorded) event. I am grateful that I am a member of this group, have the time and the resources – WiFi, computer; iPad; – to join the festivities with the community. So far, it’s been not only fun and instructive but also inspirational – made possible by today’s Internet technology. Around the world in less than a half second!

We’re on a break.. enough time for me to take a brisk walk on this very sunny, windy autumn day. TBC…

Cheers~