Early morning

 

It's so quiet and peaceful early in the morning. We stayed overnight at Chris' house last night and will travel on to the Lake House today.

The landscaping at this house is amazing. At every season there are things blooming. All around the pool there are various flowers.

I took some photos and played around with waterlogue and Brushstroke apps.

I've never seen this kind of lily before but the deep colors are gorgeous.

Not only is the pool area landscaped but all around the house there are beds. So pretty.

 

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Lenses

 

I am no expert photographer but little by little I am learning. Even before I had a smart phone I bought two lenses on Etsy. Today I finally got them out to experiment a little.

First I tried out the macro lens. I see a lot of macro photos throughout the web and it's fun to give it a try.

The other lens is a fisheye.

 

I need some more practice but this was fun.

 

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Whizzing by

 

It's almost July and summer is going by so fast. Today we are having a light rain which is so welcomed since it has been dry for so long. This will be so good for the flowers and gardens. Yesterday it was almost ninety degrees here which is very hot for us.

I have just finished binge watching Orange is the new Black on Netflix. I love that they release the whole season at once. It's great to find a program with a complicated story line and interesting characters. I even cried when one of my favorite innocent characters was killed.

 

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Helping out a friend

I spent all Friday and Saturday helping my friend Linda at her yard sale. Linda will be leaving for Texas soon with her three cats and she needed to liquidate a huge house full of things. Having a sale is a lot of work and thank goodness she had some people to help her. She did very well and sold all the big pieces of furniture and most of the little things. 

 

She gave me this cute little rattan chair. I am going to use it in my art studio room.

 

Today we will begin packing for our holiday trip to my sister Diane’s lake house.  Evan will be watching the house while we are away. We always look forward to this weekend because all of my family and their kids join Diane’s family and we have a ball! Lots of fun in store.

Art lessons

As you know I have been taking art lessons since the fall. I’ve wanted to get back into painting for some time now and I knew a class each week would give me the motivation I needed.

What I really love about the class is that I have input into what exactly I want to do. Adriana is an excellent artist and teacher but she also allows me the freedom to paint on my own.
 

This zebra painting started out as an abstract in the background but became realistic. It isn’t a subject that I would have ever chosen but I enjoyed working on something completely different.
This lion is something I worked on at home and finished in class. What a great time I am having. Update on Sadie. I don’t know that you can tell from this picture but since we have taken her off of the steroids for a week she has lost weight and looks terrific. The vet in Buffalo is working with our vet here and we will be putting her on an anti-inflammatory for ten days. She feels better and her joints are not swelling as much. But she still has trouble with her back legs. She has trouble getting up from sitting and jumping up. We even put small stairs so she can get up on the couch easier. Hopefully the new meds won’t be so hard on her and help those back legs. She loves to swim in the lake and we want her to be more healthy. 

Playing dress up

I must admit I was a tomboy as a child. I played baseball with the neighbor boys and climbed trees. I only dressed up for church occasionally. I spent one summer in a tree wearing nothing but a bathing suit and carrying a stick for a spear. I was Jane ...you know...Tarzan's wife.

But I now love to dress up. I guess putting together an outfit is a form of using my creativity. Picking out the right top and bottom along with scarf and sweater and accessories is fun to me. Unfortunately I don't go too many places that warrant getting all dolled up. Mostly just meet the girls for coffee and go exercise. I love date night when I can get on fancier things.

I still have a lot of jewelry from my teaching days when wearing a matching set was the fashion. Back then I was the earring queen. Now I'm lucky if I remember to put them on in the morning.

Anyway this morning I took the time to assemble an outfit..I had to iron and everything

Tan crop pants, aqua top, woven vest, animal print scarf, turquoise earrings.

 

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Ellicotville outing

 

Yesterday my Circle of Friends went to Ellicotville, NY for our monthly outing. This lovely little town about forty minutes from Bradford is famous in the winter as a ski resort. But it's just as pretty in the summertime.

We ate lunch at Dina's where I enjoyed the best sandwich...turkey, roasted red pepper, carmelized onions, Brie and pesto panini. Yummy!

 

Afterwards we did a little exploring in the unique gift stores in town. I found a new dice game to take on vacation for the kids in this shop.

In Tangled Twigs I found a scarf and Linda bought a new top.

 

This store called the Purple Doorknob sold only funny socks. There were a lot of sports gear stores as this area is huge for outdoor recreation.

On the way home we stopped at a strawberry patch where I bought eight quarts of home grown strawberries. I froze some of them to be enjoyed later.

What a great day we had! I enjoyed these last few times with my friend Linda who will be moving to Texas soon. How I will miss her!

 

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We've created a monster

We've created a monster..a sugar monster that is. We have been feeding the hummingbirds in the summer for eons but this is the first year a Baltimre Oriele has come to the feeder don enlarged the holes to accommodate his larger beak. And the Mrs. Comes too. But today I saw something that had me laughing out loud. Mr. Oriele came to the feeder with a bug in his mouth and dipped it in the sugar water.

 

But that's not the monster I'm talking about. A woodpecker is also having his daily snack at the feeder. I've never seen that before.

The wildlife certainly entertain us, don't they?

 

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Why I love where I live

This is what I get to see in my backyard. Can you say awwww?

Really live

Try to learn to breathe deeply, really to taste food when you eat, and when you sleep really to sleep. Try as much as possible to be wholly alive with all your might, and when you laugh, laugh like hell. And when you get angry, get good and angry. Try to be alive.  ~ William Saroyan

 

I know I don’t have to tell you this. We all want to live in the moment. Savor life. Over the years I’ve read many self help books which advocate being present. We only have this moment, etc. etc. As we age we realize that these moments are flying by. One needs to be content in life, enjoy what is happening now. I am lucky that way.

It doesn’t really matter what you do, just that you seek out a few ways to nurture yourself during the day.  – Nicole Gulotta

 

I’m on “wander time.” Time is changing for me. I have a bit more breathing space. –Kerri Smith

Oh, summer day.

 

Summer days..drifting away. I'm sitting on my porch swing listening to the waterfall of the pond while a gentle breeze flows through the breezeway. I've just finished lunch. We grilled chicken but by the time I ate a green salad and some Waldorf salad along with an ear of sweet corn I was so stuffed I couldn't go on. I could sit here all day listening to the chipmunks chatter. And maybe I will. My books are handy. Enjoy your day whatever your activity.

 

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What a chuckle!

Can you guess where we had dinner last night? Sprague’s has these faux antler chandeliers lining the top of the room. We went there after the date night movies. We saw Now You See Me 2. My review….ok, but not as good as the first one. You can wait for the video. At Sprague’s Don and I both had their buttermilk battered fish fry…delicious!

When we were walking out to the parking lot we saw this…and grabbed my iphone.
I have never seen anything like this before. a van on a bus covered with paint. So funny.

The door was like a telephone booth.
And it had funny sayings and quotes all over it.

While I was taking pictures and other people were staring in amazement the owner of the van brought his little girl out and I asked him if he painted all that. He said yes with the help of a few parties. He told us he lived just up the road. I told him that it was awesome. It sure gave me a chuckle.