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Thursday, March 31, 2011

Fresh snow

I know, I know. I promised no more snow pictures. But this morning I had to take the camera out to get some landscape pictures to practice my texture lessons with. Here are the results.
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Monday, March 28, 2011

Never stop learning

If I ever had a motto it would have to be “Never stop learning”. Discovering how to do something new brings joy and creativity into my life. I am so happy that I am on the cusp of the computer age and am able to make the transition to a wide world of learning through the web. I am taking a course online with Kim Klassen and have learned to further manipulate photos in a way that is artistic for me. Here are some of today’s homework. These pictures were taken by me at Letchworth Park a few years ago. My family and I traveled up there for the day and were fortunate to come upon a hot air balloon launch. I think these pictures have the quality of old time postcards.
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Saturday, March 26, 2011

Saturday,….really?

I can’t believe I haven’t posted since Thursday. When you are sick the days seems to go by so slowly. I got really tired of laying around and watching tv but didn’t feel like doing much else. I looked like some kinda monster because my face was so swollen with two slits for eyes. Today I look better but still not feeling one hundred percent yet. I think I’ll stay in another day and by Monday I hope to be much better. Here are a few pictures I worked on in my online class.
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Thursday, March 24, 2011

My friend, Lynda

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This picture of my friend, Lynda Rook was taken by our Literary Club speaker. I took it from her blog and moved it here because I just love the picture. Lynda is one of my coffee friends. She is a super lady who is an angel on earth. She is so very kind to everyone and never says no. What a wonderful person.

Have you ever?

Have you ever noticed how things can be going along just fine and then…boom! A little cold virus sneaked up on me this week putting me down on the couch all day yesterday with a runny nose and chest congestion. Today with meds I’m feeling a little better but I’ve just lost two whole days.
    Today I felt good enough to continue the course I’m taking online to learn how to  make my photographs better using Photoshop Elements. Kim Klassen is a great teacher, showing videos of step by step lessons and then providing practice time. Here are a few of my creations from the course. 

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Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Eleanor

After my mother, Eleanor Garthwaite, passed away I found this unusual object when we were cleaning out the house. We weren’t sure exactly what it was. It had a heavy metal base and five tall rods with clips at the end. I use it to hold some pictures of my mother and my grandfather.

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This shot is the only picture I have of my grandfather, Walter Todd. It was taken in 1963 as he was loading a wagon to prepare to take his sons and my dad on a fishing trip.
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My grandfather’s great-grandfather came to the United States from Ireland, but the family was originally from Scotland.  They landed in new York in 1812 and in April they purchased a conestoga wagon and journeyed south to Hanover, Pennsylvania which took them a month or so. They spent the summer there and continued on to South Carolina in the fall. In the family history this is said of my grandfather: “The Lord must have looked upon the marriage of uncle Walter and Aunt Alder with favor, they were blessed with a large family. They always impressed me as being two happy people. Uncle Walter had the facility of making people happy.  There was always laughter when he was present. To me that is a virtue within itself. He was such a warm and lovely man.”
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This is one of my favorite pictures of my mother. She was chasing my father with a broom. Dad was a tease and I can just imagine her swinging that broom at him. The house behind was where my mother grew up in Eastern Georgia. Dad was a Yankee and he promised her that he would always take her home once a year when they married. And he stayed true to his word. Every year, during the first two weeks of July we traveled south. I remember playing in the sand under those black walnut trees in the picture.
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I’m crazy about this picture of my mom checking her makeup in the side mirror of my dad’s first car.
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I’ll bet mom was only sixteen when this picture was taken.

My mom was a wonderful lady and when I look at these photos I catch a glimpse of her youth.


    

Monday, March 21, 2011

A little bird told me

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It’s time for spring the little bird said and she is right.
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The snow is almost gone and winds are blowing wild.
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Our cat sniffs the air when the door opens knowing that there is a change coming.
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Bare branches are begging for the warmth of the sun to encourage the buds.
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Inside the artificial flowers will have to do till the real thing comes along.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

New pictures from Tennessee

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The kids are sick with RSV, a respiratory illness.

Friday, March 18, 2011

The Roaring Twenties...Bradford style

It's the bee's knees! Our final meeting for the Literary Club of Bradford took place this afternoon at the Bradford Club. The theme was the Roaring Twenties and the girls were sitting pretty with their flapper get-up! We enjoyed a fabulous meal...a salad of oranges, red onion and fennel with mustard vinaigrette, pork rollup with a caper lemon stuffing, a potato pave , and a wonderful filled sponge cake roll.
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After our business meeting Sally Costic, a local historian, gave a humorous and informative talk on speakeasies, murders, and the goings-on in our progressive town during that era. Did you know that The Jazz Singer, the first "talkie" premiered in Bradford on the same day it hit New York City? And that we had an active Klu Klux Klan group, which insisted at that time it was just a social club, (despite burning a cross on the top of the hill). There were many gangster killings during that time.

We had a wonderful afternoon of fun! Our club meets from October to March. As President this year I felt that we had many great programs and a lot of great times.

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To gain access to the "speakeasy" you had to know the password. Those who didn't were penalized by performing the Charleston in front of the group.
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Do you know the password?
 
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If it looks like we're having fun, we are!
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Wednesday, March 16, 2011

SPRING, PLEASE ENTER THE ROOM

Welcome, Spring. and welcome to the tablescapers visiting here from Susan’s wonderful blog..Between Naps on the Porch.

Even though the snow is still hiding in the woods, under the trees, and in the humps along the roadways Spring has come to my sunroom. I couldn’t resist setting a little light colored tablescape today.

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I just used a mixture of things I found around the house.
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These antique berry bowls fit in well with the pressed glass plates. I couldn't find a charger that I liked so I put the plate on a pretty blue dish that I picked up at a flea market.
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I used my white flatware and cut glass goblets along with a pineapple pressed glass candle holder.
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The little tulip was a find at Ashcombe's near my son's house in southern Pennsylvania.
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I moved this centerpiece from the living room and added a paperwhite in the center. (don't mind the blue tarp outside..it's hiding my lion fountain for the winter)

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I set the placemats at each side of the table. (now you know we really don't eat that far away from each other, don't you?)

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The napkin is just a paper one that I ordered online. I love the colors.

I hope Spring has come to your house too.




THE SNOW IS MELTING, THE SNOW IS MELTING


Call out the trumpets! Bang the drums! Line up for a parade in the streets!  All because the snow is melting. This should be a holiday in our town. Our temperatures got above freezing and most of the snow is gone.

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Now it’s time for sugaring! Don has started boiling down maple sap to make that delicious, golden maple syrup!snow is melting 3.11 539
His friends, Don and Charlie, are helping him collect the sap. This is just one day’s worth. There are two garbage cans full plus all of these jugs.
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Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Where have I been?

Hello, I’m back. Hope you didn’t miss me too much. I looked at my blog today and realized I hadn’t blogged in a week. No particular reason, I guess I just got busy. Things like that happen. (plus I was down with a hip problem, maybe arthritis?) And I know you didn’t want another picture of snow. Now it’s Tuesday again and I’m back in stride. I feel much better today and ready to tackle a little spring cleaning. (Got to do it when you are in the mood, right?) I think today I’ll clean and dust my neglected living room. Since we added on we spend all our time in the sunroom and just pass through the living room. It’s about time to dust and shine and think about rearranging the bookcase items. Have you ever noticed that you don’t think things are dirty, but after you clean they shine so brightly it almost hurts you eyes?

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Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Show and tell

Pictures say a thousand words. Here are some from Tennessee.

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Sara was cutting teeth.
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tenessee 3.11 022 Chris brought Sean these lifesized Toy Story posters.
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The Woody hat was great until he opened the Buzz costume. To infinity and beyond!
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Sean with Don’s sister Ginny.