New app

I'm an app fiend. Especially camera apps. I have more fun with these. It makes my simple photography look more professional. This app is called VSCO cam. I took this picture from Ryan's back porch. There are many options. In the bottom picture you can see Ryan has already plowed his garden. 

Picture

Sara, get up here so I can take your picture

Take it now.

Come on up.

Take my picture this way 

Ok

Sara, your toes are cold.

Don't touch them. 

Ok. 

Girls time

I waited a long time to have a girl..two sons and three grandsons. ...and thenSara arrived. And she is one hundred percent girl!  Today we went to Walmart for some things and by the checkout she spotted a little packet of nail polish and lip gloss. Of course she HAD to have it. She doesn't beg but just smiles and tells you that she really likes that. That smile is too sweet to resist. So when we got home I painted her fingernails..and of course being the girl that she is she wanted her toes painted too. Then we made funfetti cupcakes which we will decorate later.  I LOVE having a girl 

Smile

Just noticed the bad grammar..it should be you're in the poster below. This is going to drive my teacher friends crazy. 

On a Brighter Note

I couldn’t end on such a downer post. So here are some images dragged out from Windows Photo Gallery that I really liked. Hope you enjoy them too.

Health update

I had my throat scope done this morning. I was his first patient so I didn't have to wait long. I had scar tissue inside my esophagus which causes a narrowing...about the size of your finger. No wonder food got stuck. He dilated it but only a little since there could be a danger of rupturing. Evidently the scarring is cause by acid reflux so I need to avoid any acid producing foods like tomatoes, tea, chocolate, etc. I also have medicine in the form of a pill which I am fearful of swallowing. Wish me luck with this  I'm not a happy camper at the moment. 

Thinking

Outside my window.....it is so cold and the ground is still covered with snow 

I am thinking...I hope my throat scope will give me answers to tell me why I keep choking.

I am thankful ......that soon I will get out of the snow and into some warmth  

In the kitchen....is homemade French onion soup. 

I am wearing .......my warm pjs.

I am reading...just finished The Orphan Train, loved it. 

I am looking forward to...getting on the floor and playing dolls with my granddaughter. 

I am hearing....pop songs on Sirius in the morning.

I am learning....to use my Canon camera. 

And by special request a few more pictures of my breezeway.  Unfortunately those lovely lanterns wore out. I've been trying to replace them but can't find any that large. 

A friend made the swing from a tree that he had planted as a child. 

Where I live

My photo challenge was where I live. I know I was to take a new picture today..that’s the purpose of the challenge. But it’s only ten degrees out there and I didn’t want to go out to get a picture of my house.  So I dug this out from the archives.  My breezeway is where I live all summer. It’s my favorite place to sit and swing and read and just relax. Do you have a favorite spot where you live?

Looking down

Cold feet...do you have them? 

Today's subject for photo taking is ..looking down. What could be more appropriate than looking down at my slippers?  You can also see my white fluffy robe.  Do you get the idea that I get cold easily?  I don't generate my own heat like a lot of people do. So I have to rely on warmer clothes to cuddle in.  My temperature seems to depend on my surroundings. So I'm always dressing in layers. 

  I even have an electric mattress pad that I turn on before I go to bed which gives me a nice heated bed to get into at night. Then I turn it off because my blanket is so warm it would get me too hot to leave it on. I have a small electric blanket that I have by my couch and on those cold days I cuddle beneath it. 

   

Be a better photographer

One of the ways to be a better photographer is to take on a challenge. I am still trying to learn my Canon Rebel but I need to push myself in photography. So I chose one of the easiest challenges out there…the daily prompt. Each day the list tells you what kind of picture to take. Some lists are quite difficult requiring you to take photo walks in new places. But this list I feel is manageable.
  For March first the prompt is LIGHT. Sometimes finding light in our gloomy winter can be difficult but yesterday I took a photo of the sunlight streaming in on the hyacinths.

Let's have a conversation

Are you familiar with Gretchen Rubin? She wrote The Happiness Project and sends out an email each month. Her most popular questions this week was ...Do you struggle to make conversation?

   I don't feel like I struggle but I am one of those people who listen much more than I talk. For some reason I don't feel that my stories are as interesting as those I'm listening to. Lack of self confidence, I guess. Then when I have a really great story to interject I don't speak up fast enough and the subject gets changed and my story is no longer relevant.  Does that ever happen to you? Some people are great story tellers and make their life sound like a sit com full of funny adventures. And some can talk to total strangers and have just the right words to say. Some I could listen to for hours because they have had such exciting adventures. It's a good thing I blog because I don't talk about myself all that well. I wonder if that is caused by feeling that bragging was a bad thing to do. What is your conversational style?

Random five for Friday

1. Homemade chicken noodle soup. What is better when the temperature is below zero?  Minus eight when I got up this morning. But warmed up to twenty. I don't even button my coat or wear gloves then because the sunshine feels so warm. Notice the dish from our past favorite Emery Hotel. 

2. At Literary Club Ron Orris, president of the Chamber of Commerce for Bradford spoke about our city. I learned that we have a small business that makes handmade snowboards. It was nice to hear all the positives about our small struggling city. There is a lot to be proud of if you look. 

3.  Did you watch Scandal last night?  So many programs on at once..Parenthood was back too 

4. I loved this.  Are we missing these great moments in our lives?   This device generation..will they lay on their backs for hours and just watch the stars?

4. Don't sweat the small stuff. 

5.