SOMETHING RED

 

Red is not a color that I use in my decor very often. So it is a change to have it out at Christmastime. This arrangement has berries and florals from Jan Williams florist in Fredericksburg. We are so unhappy that Jan is closing up her shop after all these years. We stop there every time I’m in town and buy a little something each time. I bought the artichoke urn this time from her.

Another spot of red is in the amaryllis that I have in the long box sitting on the table in front of the sunroom window.

And one last dash of red…the windowpane checked placemats that I am using as a table runner.

I am enjoying this pop of color on these dreary days. We don’t have snow but we also don’t have sun and it is rainy. Do you use red in your house?

Today was busy. I went to Dr. Kinkartz about the bursitis in my hip. First I needed xrays since it has been a year since I was there with the same thing last year. My hips and lower back were xrayed and as I suspected there was bursitis in both hips. Now I will go to therapy and if it works as well as last time I will be out of pain quickly.

  Afterwards I just stayed up at the hospital and waited for our Literary Club luncheon. The speaker today talked about Advanced Directives. She was very knowledgeable and a great story teller and emphasized the need to have your will known to save your family grief when emergencies or end of life happens. My next doctor appoint will be soon and I am going to get one in place. 

What is on your wall?

The photo prompt for today is “a wall”. To me a wall just calls out to be filled with something. I am NOT a minimalist! (understatement of the year). So I love to have something pretty to look at on a wall. My favorite wall of all in my home is this one.

When we bought this house in 1973 this little room was used as a small tv room. It is brick because it used to be part of the outside of the house. Eventually someone closed in this small room with a sliding glass door. We used it at first to house our player piano then later our small hot tub. It was ideal for that because it had a cement floor with indoor outdoor carpeting. Then in 2006 we added our sunroom on to the back of the house. Then having a hot tub in a center room seemed strange. Add to that we didn’t use that hot tub all that much. So we sold it and turned this room into our office. I found beautiful furniture from Sauder (although putting it together was a pain for Don). The white dresser I painted with the leaves was already there and fit in well with the office furniture. I love that small piece because it has a double file drawer in the bottom.

This has given me a place for all my supplies and books. I am in this room a lot. I love that the brick gives it extra charm. 

It’s just a Thursday in January

I find myself with a day. You would think that being retired I would have a lot of time on my hands. Not so, says she. As my sister always reminds me I have the same twenty four hours as everyone else. But I try to cram a lot of living in those hours. I’ve always been someone who likes to keep busy and learn so I can fill up time easily. That’s not to say that I don’t know how to relax. But when I do sit down I can think of things I want to do besides sit and watch tv. But today I have no appointments, no commitments, no place I need to be. I can choose to just sit at the computer, read or watch a video. But instead I think I will tackle the “dreaded” basement. Do you have a place in your house that never, despite your best efforts, seems to be in the state that you want it to be? That’s the basement for me. It is a catchall. In my promise to myself to get rid of my stuff I go down there periodically and eliminate some things and throw them away. Each time when a bag leaves I celebrate. I ask myself “is this thing usable in my life now?” I don’t entertain or have crowds of people as I did when I was younger so how many serving pieces do I need? Do I need all those fancy baking pans?  And what in the world are you keeping that for? Time to lighten up.

Sadie Update

We took Sadie up to the Orchard Park Medical Center for an appointment on Tuesday. As you know Sadie is not doing well. After her surgery she has never been able to put weight on her leg. But also she stopped using her better leg in the back which has an ACL tear and dislocated kneecap. Because she put so much weight onto her front legs her wrists bowed out and were swollen. She had a blood and urine analysis and Dr. Brummer called me last night with the results. Her urine was fine but the lupus test indicated that it is much worse than the last time she was tested. We were going back up for a joint tap on Thursday but he decided to put her on a high dose of steroids and we will see him in a couple of weeks. I am hoping that this will make her feel better. It is so hard to see her not walking at all. She sits wherever we put her and doesn’t move until we pick her up again. She does love her water therapy which we are doing every other day to keep her muscles from atrophying. It is so hard to see her like this when she used to be so active. Hopefully this treatment will help.

CHILDHOOD

The photo prompt for today is “childhood”. When you think of your childhood is there a particular moment that is frozen in time for you? My memories of my childhood are like pages flipped through a book. I do not have a wonderful photographic memory as some seem to have where they recall events in amazing detail. My memory is more like snatches. At five having a birthday party at my grandmother’s house and playing The Sky is Falling with all my friends there. My elementary years participating in programs at school. Being a tomboy and always loving to be outside with the gang. Flying like the wind on a horse racing my cousin.  Having a sweet sixteen party. Maybe all that accounts for me being an extrovert. If it wasn’t for photographs I wouldn’t remember my young years at all. They were happy and I was loved. All my memories are good ones. Who was that girl who spent the summer dressed in nothing but a bathing suit sitting in a tree playing Jane of the jungle?

Technology

Technology is the photo prompt for today. Can you imagine your life now without a computer? Those of us who grew up with paper and pencil and an old manual typewriter know how far things have come. It is a new age and some of the people my age didn’t change along with it. I was lucky to be in the education field where I had access to training and using a computer every day.  But still I had to do a lot of work to keep up.

  The computer..and ipad..are my lifelines. They have opened up a whole new world for me. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t check my email or look at some things on Facebook. But it goes beyond that. I always check my favorite bloggers to see what they are up to. For someone that likes constant intellectual stimulation the web is my playground.

   The greatest things about the web in my eyes is the access to information. Now anyone in the world with a computer has the ability to learn. Education is at your fingertips if you will only take advantage of it. There are online courses in just about every subject. And if you want to know how to do something just find a YouTube video. There have been many times when I just “googled” it.

 

But that leaves me wondering. Since information is at your fingertips (and it probably will be actually at our fingers as nano technology reduces the size of the chips) will there be a need to “know” information?  Will there be memorization anymore? Will we phase out learning and testing to see if the information is retained? Or will we depend on our devices? And if we do what will happen to civilization if the devices no longer work? Will we be thrown back into the Dark Ages? How will this information age play out?

52 Moments

The prompt for this week's 52 Moments is ...me. There was a time when I would have been too embarrassed to put my picture out there for everyone to see. Why is it that we are our own worst critics? We can always find a flaw in our appearance. Then I took an online photo class in self portraits and realized that it is not vain to look at your own image. And at this stage of my life I have accepted what I look like and am satisfied. I chose this photo because I think it shows the more playful side of me. I love scarves and jewelry, zydeco music, thinking movies and traveling.

 

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What makes you smile

There it is….the sun! It seems in the winter we don’t see it as often as I would like. We have bodies of water near us that pick up moisture and form clouds which block out any sun that might be there. Even though it’s cold when the sun shines it makes me smile. Today was one of those days. Yesterday it rained all day, we had flooding around our town and we lost electricity for three hours. The melting snow caused the creeks to rise and become swift ribbons of brown. But today the sun was out. That’s something to smile about.
Last night I finished my lighthouse painting at art class. This is from a photograph I took this summer of a lighthouse in Celeron, NY on Chautauqua Lake. I am giving it to my sister Diane.

Now we’re into January

Isn’t January the craziest month? After the hubbub of the time between Thanksgiving and New Years you find yourself in January. Things slow down…somewhat. The weather this morning was minus one. That means that travel isn’t the best idea and staying in has more appeal. And staying in means that you have more time to devote to things you want to do. I bounce between wanting to sit cuddled up in a blanket and read to jumping into a cleaning/organizing project. I hope that I can find time to do both.

Reading: I stopped at the library and got a few random new books. I’m looking for something really good so if you have a recommendation be sure to let me know.  I just finished Dark Matter which was a sci fi book about all the universes that could be created if you made a different decision.

 

Writing: Still keeping up with my blog and thinking about getting busy and finish putting my blog into book form.

 

Watching: My new Thursday night shows are beginning to come back on tv. And football playoffs.

 

Needing:  To get back diligently on my Weight Watchers program. Just gained a little over the holidays and this would be the perfect time to get it off. Spring will eventually be here and it would be nice to be lighter.

 

Creating: New spaces. I got rid of a tv in the entertainment center and this left a nice hole which I can use to store items.

 

Learning: I just joined a group on Facebook called 52 Moments where each week you take a picture from their prompt.

Planning: Trying to find a nice European trip. Our favorite Fredericksburg florist is planning a summer trip to London for a flower show, garden viewing and castle visiting.

 

Loving: Getting my house back in order after the Christmas chaos.

 

Dreaming about: going out this summer and painting en plein air.

 

Wearing: It’s all about the sweaters now and warm slippers.

 

Coveting: a new winter coat…but I want to wait till next year and a smaller size (hopefully).

 

Working for me right now: Tracking my points on the WW app.

Fog

What a miserable wet day it is. I took this photo this morning of the duck pond where the water filled the pond, spilled over and was almost covering the road. If it does there will not be a way for people to get to town at all. The creeks were muddy and overflowing their banks at nine this morning. I can’t imagine how they are now since it has rained almost all day. I have to go out for my art lesson at three so I hope that I can get back home again. I do have an alternate route if the road becomes blocked because I live east of the duck pond.

  I had an enjoyable visit today with my friend Bonnie. We laughed and talked and I helped her start a blog. Being a teacher I love to pass on information and she was delighted to begin a blog and record her thoughts and pictures.

Mellow yellow

Today’s prompt is “something yellow”. When I went to Walmart today I quickly used my iphone to take a picture of banana…how trite! I can do better than that. Yellow is not a color I use in my home very much but I did find these square plates. I remember being so excited about the bright colors and patterns on them.

Now they just sit in a china closet unused. I think I’ll get them out and use them tonight for dinner. Those colors would brighten up this white icy day. On top of those are two of the four yellow Fiesta plates that I collected. I didn’t collect them because they are rare but just because I liked the yellow color. At one time my kitchen was blue with white ducks on the wallpaper border. Do you remember that trend? I loved that cheery blue and white kitchen. I still have some blue dishes. The silver edged dishes that you see were a wedding gift from my Aunt. I used to bring them out for formal occasions but they haven’t seen the light of day for some time now.
When I looked around for something else yellow I took a photo of this rooster lamp that I got from the Valerie Parr Hill collection on QVC. I am not a big online shopper but my sister had this one and I liked it so much I got one too. It sits in the corner of my kitchen between the corner windows and is on a timer so lights up the kitchen at night.

What do you have in your home that is yellow?

On a personal note I cancelled my teeth cleaning in Warren this morning. We had icy roads overnight and even though some were clear I was afraid to drive by the dam with its shady roads. I’ve become much more cautious in my “old” age. I don’t take the chances that I once did. There will always be another time for what I need done.

Sadie update

She knew something was up the minute Don got up first and way ahead of his schedule. We had to be on the road to Buffalo by seven for a nine o’clock appointment. Warily she eyed us as we got ready for the morning. She knew something was happening but because there were no suitcases involved and we didn’t pack her bag she wasn’t sure that she was included in the plans. She was happy when we took her bed and put it in the backseat of our car and plopped her in it.

  There was a prediction of bad weather but we encountered fairly dry roads all the way to Orchard Park. After weighing her in (she had lost weight, which was the goal) Dr. Brummer did an exam and talked to us. He was very concerned that she had gone downhill since he had last seen her in March of last year. Another vet there had seen her since. He was concerned about her front wrists which have turned out significantly since her surgery and carrying so much weight on them. He feels she is not walking because of this problem. He is thinking that later we should draw fluid from those joints to assess and possible her having surgery later on on the wrists.  He drew blood and took a urine sample and will call us later to let us know the results so we can form a plan of action. He suspects the Lupus as the culprit of her problems and wants to get that under control.  He is thinking about putting her back on steroids which I am in favor of because it will make her feel better. I don’t feel we have solved any problems and I still have questions but we will wait for the test results.

   The photo prompt for today is animal and in the above picture I can feel the frustration that she has laying day after day just looking out the window.

It’s not as easy as it sounds

One of my not stated goals (not a resolution, not a plan, just a goal) is to improve my photography this year. Everything I read from other photographers says that you can’t become better by just looking at photos, reading about how they are done, or browsing. You actually have to take your camera out and practice. I’m not good at that. It stays in the bag most of the time because I find myself busy with other things. But I need to make it a priority if I want to improve. 

  So I am doing a prompt a day to force myself to get out the camera and record. Today is the second day and I didn’t look at the prompt ahead of time. It was “breakfast” which I had already eaten. Sigh. So instead I took this picture with my iphone when I was at coffee with the girls.

It’s not a very good picture. But it is a picture. I am drinking green tea on a very cold morning. I find it refreshing. We go out every morning but I eat my breakfast at home. We sit, we talk, we share. I like getting up and meeting the girls for it gives me a reason to start my day by getting dressed and getting active. Tomorrow’s prompt is an “animal” so that should be easier. We are taking Sadie up to the vet at Orchard Park in Buffalo for an evaluation. Those of you who have been following my blog for a while know that Sadie has had her surgery but still won’t walk. We need to find out what is going on and if it can be fixed.

52 Moments Home

The 52 Moments prompt for this week is HOME. This picture seems to tell how I feel about home this winter….a cozy blanket, a good book, and my ipad. Home means that I can take time for myself to relax and enjoy my pursuits.

The daily prompt today is sky. It’s hard to get a picture of the sky when the clouds completely cover its color. It is a snowy day and the gray sky reflects it.

So I added some sky in Photoshop to make the picture more interesting.

Preserving memories

 

After my parents retired to northern Georgia the first thing we did when we visited them was to get out the old photo albums and look through the pictures. Some in black and white reminded me that there was a time when there was no colored film. There were old pictures that my father took when he was young and dating and we got a glimpse of a handsome younger man in his prime. Pictures stuck in a black paged photo album with pasted corners.

When the newest, latest, hottest camera was the Poloroid Don and I delighted in taking "instant pictures". No longer did we have to take film out of a camera and take it to the store, wait for a week and then pick it up again. Now we pulled a strip from the camera, waved it in the air to dry and watched and a black and white picture magically appeared.

Then the movie camera hit the shelves and we carried that large camera on our shoulders as we recorded our children and our lives on a big VHS tape. It was a step up from the old8mm camera and projector. Even now on rare occasions we get out those old films and that rickety projector and watch those old films.

I became even more interested in photography when I started to blog. I knew the blog would be a record of my life and I wanted pictures to go along with my thoughts. I upgraded to a better Fuji camera and the idea of using a chip and transferring the photos to the computer became an obsession. I continued to read about photography and take a few online classes and felt the need to have a real big girls camera. I got a DSLR and really put intention in my photos. I still have a lot to learn about photography but enjoy the journey.

 

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Tennessee snow fun

When there is this much snow in Tennessee it is cause for a celebration. The grandkids get out there first thing to enjoy that unusual occurrence. Of course it will melt soon so they make the best of it. They get on their winter “duds” and off they go into the yard for a day of fun (which probably lasts a half an hour before they get too cold).
Making a snow angel is a very rare thing for them. But they love it!  so did Selina!

Spaghetti

 

 

Have you ever been asked to do something that you knew was beyond your capabilities? That you felt was totally foreign? That was so confusing to you it made your head hurt? That happened to me today. Our son Chris bought us a new flat screen tv for Christmas for our sunroom. Our old tube tv was huge, weighed 230 pounds, and took up a lot of space. And there was the problem of how to get rid of a huge , out of date tv even if it was in perfect working order. No one would want that big tv. I did try to donate it to the YMCA but they didn't want it. So I called Get Junk and a fellow came out this morning. I had told him that it would take two men to carry it but he picked it right up and out the door he went. I was so happy to see it go and we immediately set up our new one. Well...not immediately. First I had to disconnect the Wii which we used to play our Netflix. Then I had to disconnect the old XM house radio that we haven't used for years. Then I had to figure out what all that a electronic spaghetti behind the stand. Then it was time to set it up. Here is where I faltered. When it comes to electronics I am an idiot. I'm just being truthful. I can figure out computer programs but wires just stump me. So I called me son and he had to walk me through it. It took many calls and sending photos back and forth but we finally made it. I'm so grateful I have him but wouldn't it have nice if he lived in the same town and just could have come over and done it in person for me? But despite my reticence and lack of confidence I was able to do what I thought I couldn't. I didn't like doing it, wish I didn't have to do it and hope to never do it again but I did it. And we love the new screen...so clear!

 

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Appreciation

Maybe my new word of the year should have been appreciation. There are so many aspects to this word.

ap·pre·ci·a·tion

əˌprēSHēˈāSH(ə)n/

noun

1. 1.

   the recognition and enjoyment of the good qualities of someone or something.

   "I smiled in appreciation"

   synonyms:
   valuing, treasuring, admiration, respect, regard, esteem, high opinion

   "her appreciation of literature"

1. 2.

   a full understanding of a situation.

   "they have an appreciation of the needs of users"

   synonyms:
   acknowledgment, recognition, realization, knowledge, awareness, consciousness, understanding, comprehension

   "an appreciation of the difficulties involved"
   
   First of all I think of grateful when I think of appreciation. I appreciate it when someone does something nice so I know that they are thinking of me and hold me in high regard. How pleasant it is to get a little note, a small gesture, a gift out of nowhere and know that a person took the time to think of you as special. When someone reads your blog and takes the time to write a comment I get so excited to know that the person liked me well enough to write something down to me. When a phone call comes because they heard that you were having troubles and they wanted to let you know they were concerned about you lets you know that you are loved.  When a family member takes the time to show up at your doorstep just to say hello it makes me smile in appreciation.
      For the second definition of having a full understanding of the situation I find the hardest thing to grasp is when you don’t understand and try as you do there is no way to comprehend it.  One of the hardest things is not knowing where you stand with someone. Have you ever been in the situation where you wonder if someone likes you or not? If you should continue the friendship or let it go? When you give but don’t receive? If you are appreciated or not? It’s agonizing when you can’t get a response from the other person.

FRIENDSHIP TEA

Are you a tea drinker? If you are I’ll bet you have a special teacup, mug, or pot that you prefer. There is nothing like the familiarity and comfort of drinking your daily cup of tea from a unique vessel. This tea set I call my “friendship tea”. The tray was given to me as a gift by my friend Aline. The teapot came from a treasured collection from my friend Kay who just passed in October. And the cup is so special because I bought it at Royal Copenhagen in Denmark while traveling with my best friend Yrsa.  How wonderful it is to sip and stare at those items and remember how important those friends are to me.

How I spent my Christmas vacation

It was going to be a lonely Christmas this year as I was staying at home for the first time in years by myself. I am family oriented and the idea of not being with family was just impossible for me so Christmas day Don and I traveled to southern Pennsylvania to stay a week with my son Chris. Part of that time I visited Fredericksburg, Virginia to be with my two younger sisters. We always like to get together as often as we can and I have a tradition of visiting in December. What fun we always have…eating, shopping, laughing, but this year was even more special. I got to meet a blogging friend. I follow a lot of blogs from my sidebar and I became acquainted with Donna Hopkins from Like Medicine for Me through a comment on Kim Klassen’s blog. I always am looking for good photographers to follow in order to learn from them and Donna had a unique perspective. She goes out every day and takes pictures and posts them along with commentary. She is a talented writer as well as photographer but what I especially like about her is that her pictures are ordinary every day things that you would see on a walk. And that is what makes them so interesting. In one of her pictures she mentioned Fredericksburg so I wrote her about it and discovered that she lived in my sister’s home town. We struck up a correspondence and when I knew I was coming to her town we decided to meet for lunch. The four of us meet at Foode, a local restaurant, and spent an hour chatting away.

 

 

The food was great and this is how they presented the check.  Donna is such a delightful, bubbly personality that we hit it off right away. And what’s even nicer is that she and my sister Linda are planning a walk later on this week.

 

 

 

 

 

I returned to Chris to spend New Year’s weekend with him and his family. Don had caught a bug earlier in the week and was sick and then New year’s Eve Chris became sick…then Michele….then Leah…all throwing up and feeling miserable. On New Year’s Day I quickly packed and got out of there before the bug could catch me and was bragging that I escaped from it only to find that yesterday it caught up with me and I spent the day not far from the bathroom.

  Hopefully today I can get back to normal. There is a lot to do when returning from a trip…laundry, putting things away…but add undecorating for Christmas on top of that and putting away things that I bought on my trip and presents, well…I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me. And today I will meet girls in my high school class to play cards. One nice thing about retirement…you have time and don’t have to rush anything. things will get done.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best intentions

I had such wonderful plans for a fresh new year but fate had other plans for me. I've caught a bug that is going around and spent the day running to the bathroom. No cleaning or putting away Christmas decorations for me. That will be put off until I am feeling better.

 

 

 

 

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