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Merry Christmas!

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Yesterday we celebrated Christmas with Matt and his family. I think the girls were genuinely pleased with their gifts—more so than any other year I remember. Here they are before our pizza and salad lunch and the opening of gifts. We’ll see them again this afternoon when they stop to say hello to all of Tracy’s family.

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Skylar (11), Ella (8) and Maddy (6)

Our Christmas celebration with Tracy’s family will be subdued this year. Two weeks ago, his mother fell and was in the hospital just a week before she died. She was in excruciating pain before the fall, and the family had been working with a palliative care doctor to try to increase her pain medication so she could more fully enjoy life. After the fall, it was clear she would not be able to go home again. The palliative care staff at the hospital were wonderful, but they also had difficulty managing the pain until finally, the decision to medicate through an IV was made. Just three days later she passed away peacefully. Ellie was 93 and beloved by her family. Her presence will always be missed, but it will be a gaping open hole this Christmas. 

Tomorrow we hope to head to Wisconsin to celebrate Christmas once more with Sarah and her family. The Thruway remains closed from here to the Pennsylvania border. We have an alternate route if it’s clear through Erie, but that’s uncertain at this point. If all goes as planned (we always have our eye on the weather) we’ll be there about ten days before returning home.

Finally, here is a Christmas wrapping project. I always have great intentions to use my papercrafting supplies to wrap gifts. This year I purchased a couple of products from The Greetery’s All Wrapped Up collection and felt compelled to put them to use. I love how the gifts turned out, but only had time to do three of them. On the other hand, yesterday was the first Christmas Eve Day when all of my wrapping was done! Hopefully next year I’ll get to this a bit earlier. 

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Warm wishes from bitterly cold Rochester for a wonderful Christmas if you celebrate it and a Blessed New Year!

 

A Test Run (Or Walk, as the case may be)

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Tracy and I took a day trip to the Finger Lakes last Saturday. It was a three-day weekend here in the States, so heading to Watkins Glen wasn’t probably the best idea ever, but I have a new camera and a new pair of hiking shoes that I wanted to test out. It was crowded, but we had a good time. We parked at the top of the gorge, walked to the bottom and then hiked up to the top.

When we were in Scotland, I saw a tiny Sony compact camera with a 200mm zoom lens. I was intrigued. I loved my Sony which “died” several years ago. The Panasonic that replaced it has never been a favorite. After doing a lot of research, I went to the local camera shop to see what they had to say. They had nothing but great things to say about the new Sony, and let me play with it for awhile. The next day I took my Panasonic and my mirrorless camera (which I never quite mastered) and traded them to help offset the cost of the Sony. The Sony is really tiny, but I have small hands, and the controls are familiar to me and easy to use. I’m already a fan, and never again will I be hauling a big camera around when we’re traveling. Here are some photos from our hike, and a close-up from a winery we visited after lunch. It will take some more experimenting, but I’m happy with the first run.

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Looking down at the glen from the top of the gorge.

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So I’m quite happy with the camera, and also with the new hikers.

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It was the first time I’d worn them and I had no discomfort whatsoever. With two bunions and other feet problems, they are definitely keepers! I like the looks of them, and they’re water resistant which was another requirement. 

We’re having wonderful weather this weekend, after four straight days of rain. My brother is here for a long overdue visit. Dane, Matt, and Tracy golfed today, and we had a lovely dinner at a favorite restaurant downtown on a patio overlooking the river. Tomorrow we’re off to a favorite Mexican restaurant for lunch, a visit to a winery, and then dinner here with Matt and his family.

 

Five in Five: August

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When we moved into our house 35 years ago, the patio was surrounded by an evergreen hedge. It provided some privacy, but more importantly it protected folks from falling off the edge of the patio. That might not seem particularly important except our house is built on a hill and our lower yard is a long stairway away. Children and unsteady adults might step off the edge and then tumble some distance before stopping,

This year the hedge finally had seen the end of its time. The last several years it’s been less and less attractive, and this year it had become an eyesore. Matt, our landscape artist son, could not come up with any plantings he thought would provide the needed protection and thrive in our very shady back yard. So we took some of our travel money that had been saved for the two big (aborted) trips this year, and had a wrought iron railing installed. Truthfully, I wasn’t sure what I’d think of it, but I love it. Here’s a photo (not part of the 5 photos in 5 minutes for Sandie’s monthly meme) taken after the bushes were removed.

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This fall the area you see to the left of the first steps will need to be landscaped, We’re planning to move a large group of  peonies to a sunnier spot in the yard and redo this area. Following are the five photos taken early in the morning showing the new railing,

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Here you can see our lower yard. The little shed is ours and our property line goes back to the tree on the far left.

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Moving to the right from the previous photo, you see one of two gates installed. This one takes you to a series of stone steps down to the lower yard. Our next major expense is to have the stairs and the stone walls on both sides rebuilt. We had
hoped to have that done last year, but we are still looking for a qualified mason to do the work.

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To the left of the first photo is the second gate which leads to the lower patio which Tracy completed two years ago.
You can see the fire pit covered up in front of our two red Adirondack chairs.

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Another view of the shade gardens and the second gate.

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And finally, the view toward our neighbor’s home, and a peek at the fence Tracy is building along the property line. It replaces six or seven straggly arborvitae that had foliage only on the top. We have a lot more light on the east side of the house since they’ve been removed. The other advantage (we hope) is that it will keep the deer from crossing through the backyards. It’s a work in progress. Eventually all the posts will be evened out and we’ll add solar lights to the tops of them. We’ve just added several lovely solar lights in the shade garden and on the patio and they add a lot of ambiance at night.

I was afraid that the railing would make us feel closed in, but it actually has had the reverse effect. It feels more open–we can see through the railings, but couldn’t see through the bushes! In addition the furniture can be set against the railing so there’s actually more room on the patio.

Joining in with Sandie for her monthly meme, 5 in 5.

 

 

Walking in the Park

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We live just a short walk from one of the nicest parks in the county. It’s especially beautiful in the spring. During a normal year (which this is definitely not), there would have been a 10 day long Lilac Festival. But the truth of the matter is, had it occurred, none of the lilacs would have been in bloom, and it would have been nasty and cold. May’s weather has been bizarre. We walked in the snow twice, and this past week it was 90°. But . . . the park is now in full bloom. Earlier in the week the lilacs were at their peak. The park was too crowded for our tastes, so we walked among the lilacs and stayed off the sidewalks. It was easy to stay a good social distance apart. 

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We’re at the park every year, and yet, I don’t think I’ve ever come across this variety (“Sensation”). It’s one of the most beautiful in the park.

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Later in the week, many of the lilacs had started to fade, but there was still lots of beauty to be seen. Only about 50% of the rhododendrons are in bloom, but this one is gorgeous.

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I think there is only one of these trees in the park, and it’s the first time I’ve seen it in bloom. It’s called a Goldenchain tree—perfect name!

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Most of the magnolias have come and gone, but this beauty was still there.

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This is always one of my favorite spots in the park. The azaleas are in full bloom.

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These rhododendrons are beautiful, too.

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And this is our parting view as we walk down a set of steps to the street that takes us back to our neighborhood.

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I hope this tour makes up for some of my bitter complaining this spring when all the beauty seemed out of our grasp. It certainly lifts my spirits!

 

 

April OLW Recap

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COMMIT has remained a good word for these unusual times, although the goals for April evolved as the month progressed. This, I’m sure, will be the new normal for the summer ahead. All our plans for travel and special events have now been cancelled through the end of August. I’m still holding out hope for a trip to Wisconsin before summer ends, but we’ll have to wait and see what things are like, not only here but in all the states between here and there. If things were normal, we’d be there now to celebrate Mother’s Day and my birthday. Thank goodness for FaceTime and Zoom. 

Like the pandemic, winter has still not lessened its grip on western New York. Trees have still not leafed out, but the birds are returning. In the last two weeks, we’ve had rose-breasted grosbeaks, Baltimore Orioles, many yellow finches, and a red-winged blackbird and a cowbird at our feeders. The last two are new are new to our yard. 

I finished Sandie’s 30 Day Photo Challenge, and managed a photo-a-day–again all on my iPhone.

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In the middle, you’ll see a couple photos of grandchildren I did not take, but were sent to me by my kids. Twelve of the photos were from our almost-daily walks and hikes. We tallied over 57 miles during April, 24 of them on the Lehigh Valley Trail. There are also three photos of food. I’ve really enjoy cooking, and there could have been many more photos. I’m trying 2-3 new recipes each week, and doing some baking which is really unusual. The walking seems to be offsetting the increased calories!

So back to goals, on the 7th of April I committed to doing a 100 Day Project–daily coloring in any medium which coincided with Kathy Racoosen’s 30 Day Coloring Challenge. It’s a good project, challenging me to try some new techniques as well as get out a variety of coloring mediums. Amazingly enough, I’ve managed to post on Instagram regularly as well. I also signed up for an Online Card Class which I’ve enjoyed. I completed several projects, and have several more I want to tackle.

Another new goal emerged a week or two later when I received notice that my iCloud storage was about full. After offloading about 90% of my documents to an external hard drive, I started to tackle the incredible numbers of photos in my Photos app that go back to 2006. I’m about halfway through (now working on 2013) and have purged over 11,000 photos. It’s been a good trip through memory lane and a reminder to henceforth delete duplicates and blurry photos as you go. (As well as the multiple photos I take solely for my blog.)

I read seven books:

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I particularly enjoyed Writers and Lovers, the only romantic novel on the list. I found some of Alice Munro’s short stories challenging, but in the end understand why she has received so many accolades. Although I found the first of Nora Gallagher’s book slow-going in the beginning, by the end I had marked so many pages, I ordered her second memoir and enjoyed it as well. Five of those are books for my Unread Shelf Project. April’s goal was to read five books and complete a BINGO sheet. Done! (See the photo for Day 17; one of the books was finished late in March which met the requirements for the BINGO game.) Now I’m engrossed in two long, but interesting books, so I’m thinking I won’t finish seven books in May. 

So my goals for May: keep working on the 100DayProject, and begin to assemble cards with all the coloring I’ve done so far; participate in Spring Card Camp 2 which started Wednesday; read another book from the unread shelves (reorganized by genre during April); complete the purging of photos in the Photos app, and move on to one or more projects I keep pushing ahead month after month. We’ll see which ones win the battle! I’m also determined to walk every day in May. This weekend will be the biggest test as snow is predicted Saturday night. Mother’s Day (celebrated here on Sunday) is going to be really cold!

Fusion Challenge: Let Us Remember

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The beautiful poppy photograph that’s one piece of the current Fusion Challenge inspired me to pull out the My Favorite Things “Flowers in Bloom” set I bought several months ago. I watercolored them as part of my two coloring challenges, and then turned it into a card for the challenge.

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You have the option with this challenge to use the sketch and/or the photograph. I chose just the photo.

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I liked the black edges around the photograph, and die cut Ink to Paper’s “Geometric Rectangles” in black to use as a frame for the poppies. Then I added it all to a black Memory Box card.

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The sentiment from Sugar Peas “Everyday Sentiments” was embossed in white on black cardstock. Finally I added a few Amuse black pearls that have been in my stash for years.

Coloring has been very therapeutic while observing our stay-at-home mandate, especially since winter still seems to have a grip on western New York. Yesterday we had temps in the 50’s but today it’s back to the 40’s and the 10 day forecast shows no improvement. At least the sun is out today, a big help. Nonetheless, spring is trying hard to burst through regardless. Here are a few photos from our walk yesterday through Highland Park and down a few city streets on our way home.

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Our forsythia isn’t doing particularly well this year, but the ones in the park are lovely.

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On the other hand, we’ve had gorgeous daffodils, and most of ours are near the end. The ones in the park are just beginning to open.

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I’m always happy to see the beginning of the flowering trees. Highland Park is known for its extensive lilac collection. They are just beginning to bud,
and very few trees have begun to leaf out.

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The magnolias need some warmth! I was playing around with adjusting the f-stop on my iPhone. It’s always been an available option, but I had been unaware of it until recently. Not wanting to hold up our walk, I took this photo a bit quickly. The background is appropriately blurry, but the magnolia blossom isn’t as sharp as it should be. 

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And finally, these bright red tulips are the first tulips we’ve seen blooming anywhere. Most of them are just beginning to show their buds.

 

 

 

Happy Easter!

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Well, it’s an Easter unlike any other, and with its disappointments as well as its eternal promises. I will miss our annual Easter egg hunt, usually here in Rochester with the three little girls, but on occasion in Illinois or Wisconsin with Caleb and Hannah. And I will miss our in-person worship service. Our sanctuary is always beautifully decorated and the music with full choir and trumpets truly inspirational. On the bright side, it’s sunny (for awhile at least) and warmer, so we’ll get out for a walk. I splurged and bought a small leg of lamb for dinner. I don’t think I’ve prepared one since my father died in 1998. It was always his menu choice for Easter, and I’ll use the same recipe from The New York Times Cookbook. The leftovers won’t go to waste as one of Tracy’s favorite dishes is Shepherd’s Pie, so that’s on the menu for this week, too.

All the Easter cards have reached their recipients, so it’s safe to share them now, although I’m quite sure none of the grandchildren ever see my blog! First off the cards for the little girls–three here in Rochester, and one in Wisconsin.

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I fell in love with this bunny from Waffleflower the minute I saw it! It’s called Rejoice Rabbit which is such a perfect name. I stamped it on watercolor paper and cut it with my Cameo. Then watercolored it with Altenew’s 36 pan watercolor set. I die cut a piece of paper from My Favorite Things paper pack, “Watercolor Wash,” with Reverse Confetti’s Pierced Round Top die. Then added that to a piece of white cardstock die cut with the “Pierced Plaid Cover” die by The Stamp Market. Finally it was all added to a Lovely Lady card (Papertrey Ink.)

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The next card is exactly the same except for the color choice–purple instead of pink.

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That darling bunny was clearly too feminine for a boy, so Caleb got a shaker card.

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I love this “Peeking Rabbit” from Simon Says. I die cut it three times and inset the colored cardstock for the eyes, ears, and nose. I found the patterned paper in my stash from a long-ago Simon Says card kit and have no idea who manufactured it. It’s perfect, though with Easter sayings, and it determined the color choice for the card—Sea Glass by The Stamp Market. The greeting is from an older Papertrey Ink set, “Bunny Basket.”

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When I got ready to mail the Easter cards to Wisconsin, I began to worry that Hannah would find her card lacking when Caleb got a shaker card. I called  Sarah to ask, and her answer was so sweet. “Hannah will love her Easter card, and Caleb will share, so don’t worry about it!” In fact, Caleb is a wonderful big brother and most likely will share. Hannah always loves her handmade cards, so hopefully she won’t be disappointed. 

There are still a couple of challenges open for Spring-themed cards so I’m posting one of the bunnies on the CAS Watercolor Challenge for Spring Flowers. With it’s layers, it may not qualify as CAS–but I saw a couple entries that made me believe it might be OK.

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I’m posting the shaker card in the Inspired By “Spring is Here” challenge. I wish spring was really here, but I think we have a few more weeks to go. We alternate between somewhat warmer temperatures and downright cold!

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Hopefully by next Easter, the pandemic will be a thing of the past, and we can go back to celebrating with our traditions. If you celebrate Easter, I hope you have a wonderful day–home though you probably must be!

 

5 in 5 and Watercolor Challenge

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Today’s the 5th of April, and time for Sandie’s meme 5 in 5—5 photos in 5 minutes. Sandie shared some of her projects during this time of isolation, and I thought I’d do a bit of the same. I shared a little on my last blog post, but today I’m focusing on coloring projects I’m working on. I lined up a bunch of projects and snapped away.

Improving my coloring skills with watercolors and Copic markers is always on my list. This increased time at home has given me ample opportunity to watch videos, pull out supplies and practice. Tracy gifted me with two Sandy Allnock classes for Christmas. I finished the videos for the colored pencil class in February, and continue to practice, but have moved on now to the Copic Jumpstart class. The first lessons focus on color theory as did the colored pencil class, but I created a new color wheel with Copics this week, and made notes on the essentials of color theory to add to a notebook I started a year or so ago. Sandy also suggested we make color wheels with a set of darker markers which I think I’ll try this week.

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I also updated my pages with a few markers I’ve purchased in the last six months or so.

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Last month I focused on watercolors, and I haven’t abandoned that effort at all. When a good sale arrived via my inbox a week ago, I decided to splurge and purchased a new set of watercolor markers. I spent one afternoon swatching out the 60 colors. It took a lot longer than I expected, but I learned a lot more than I expected as well. It was interesting to see how the colors blend out, some more easily than others, and to see in some markers a range of tones.

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Yesterday I spent some time watercoloring the Wild Rose Stem from Memory Box. It was my best effort so far in no-line watercoloring. It was all done with just three Karin Markers and a watercolor brush to draw out the colors. 

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Here’s another look at it. I’m taking this opportunity to share this at the CAS Watercolor Challenge which currently is “Spring Flowers.”

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I hope you’re finding time to destress with a comforting hobby. Crafting is the one thing that is able to take my mind off all the terrible news, and understandable fears we all have.

OLW: March Recap and April Intentions

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I continue to be grateful that I chose to set intentions month by month this year since March certainly was not the month we expected. By the time we returned from a wonderful week with Sarah and her family, it was clear that traveling to Hawaii and California were out of the question. Fortunately we took care of most of our cancellations before the wait time on phones reached an hour or more. In just a week we were in self-isolation where we have stayed except for a daily walk and a weekly trip to the grocery store. 

Once I realized I was going to be home WAY more than normal, I took a second look at my intentions for my OLW, COMMIT, for March. After about a week of having difficulty staying focused, I made a list of “To Do Items for Imposed Seclusion.” Being a list maker at heart, I immediately felt better and began to be more productive. I didn’t put organizing, cleaning, or purging on the list, but I’ve been doing little bits and pieces of that as well.

First on the list were two items that have been on my mental to-do list for months, even a year or two. About two years ago, I realized that I could be cutting my stamped images with my Cameo. I watched a few videos, but frankly I’m intimidated by technology I don’t really understand. In August, Sarah gave me a tutorial, but I never felt independent. Finally, with another tutorial from Sarah at the beginning of the month, I have mastered the art of cutting out my stamped images. I’m still working out some details, but here’s a look at two bunnies I die cut with the Cameo and then watercolored.

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The second task has been copied over and over and over on my weekly lists. At long last, I have all our photos from our road trip in September edited and up on SmugMug. If you’re interested, you can find them here. There are a lot of photos, but the format on SmugMug allows you to look at them very quickly. 

I kept up with my watercolor practice, watched a series of videos on layering stamps (and started practicing with those), and kept up with the Photo-a-Day project.

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A note on the photo of Hannah on the top row with a Band-aid on her forehead. She woke up in the middle of the night and told Sarah her head hurt. Sarah asked if a Band-aid would help, and she thought it would. She wore it for several days! I must say the hardest thing about this isolation is not being able to see my grandchildren. We stay away from everyone now, although we do, gratefully, get to video chat with everyone. It’s clear there will be no personal photos of grandchildren in April, but hopefully I’ll get a few from their parents. Although there was snow in March (see the snow on the daffodils on the 23rd), there quickly were signs of spring in the park, and the daffodils on the kitchen table are from our back yard, as is the hellebore. I found the hanging basket of pansies at the grocery store that are now outside our kitchen window. Many of the photos are from our daily walks.

Last, I kept up with The Unread Shelf Project, finishing Ann Patchett’s debut novel, The Patron Saint of Liars. It had been on my shelf for years, a paperback copy that I purchased at a used book store somewhere. I also finished four other books: Apeirogon, Tell Me More: Stories About the 12 Hardest Things I’m Learning to Say, The Hope of Glory, and Dear Edward. I enjoyed all of them, but was especially fascinated with Apeirogon by Colum McCann. It’s the most inventive novel I’ve ever read, and a tragic commentary on a true story of two fathers, one Israeli and one Palestinian, whose daughters were killed as a result of the ongoing conflict. The two men now travel around the world telling their stories, hoping to inspire an end to the bitter conflict. 

 

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So April. It’s going to be a lot of the same: daily walks (fortunately the parks and trails here are still open and people have been great about keeping appropriate distance from one another), lots of reading (I have a list of six–two new and four on the unread shelf), continuing to play with watercolor (I have a new set of watercolor markers I’m anxious to try), and working on the second online course Tracy gave me for Christmas—Copic Jumpstart with Sandy Allnock. So it looks like lots of coloring is in store. The biggie on the list is getting started on making a photo book. Some of you know well, I’ve been promising to do this for years! Like the Cameo, for some reason I’ve always been intimidated by making a serious photo book. I figure now is the time. I’m also going to keep up the photography habit, including in my daily search items from Sandie’s 30 Day Photo Challenge, and Kim Manley Ort’s 30 Days of Perception.

I hope you are well, and keeping busy. It’s easy to get discouraged during this unprecedented time. Every day I lift up my gratitude to all those in the front lines of this pandemic, and all the workers providing essential needs. And my prayers for all those who have lost their livelihood, are ill, frightened, overwhelmed, lonely, and in need of comfort. I’m blessed to be where I am, and who I am with right now. And I certainly don’t take it for granted. 

Playing with Watercolors

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As part of my OLW, COMMIT for March, I’m still playing with watercolors. Over the next three days, you’ll see three cards that resulted from one afternoon session. I’m learning quite a bit: I need to work more slowly, and I’m better off with a good #4 watercolor brush. Patience, too, is important. Waiting for one section to dry before moving on is also important. All the flowers I watercolored came from the same Simon Says set, Delicate Flowers, which was part of the May 2019 card kit. 

Here’s the first card, another for the birthday stash.

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I used Altenew’s 36 pan watercolors for these flowers. It’s one of my favorite watercolor sets for painting flowers. Almost no mixing needed since the colors are so fresh and bright.

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Because I wanted to play along with the Addicted to CAS challenge: Circle, I used a PTI Shape Shifter Circle #2 die as a backdrop for the flower. I think most CAS blogs now accept a color as the “white space” and this one is Spring Rain, also from PTI. The blue cardstock is its truest color in this photo.

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I’m entering this in the Addicted to CAS Challenge: Circle.

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The Flower Challenge: Anything Goes:

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And the AAA Birthday Game: Flowers:

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We made an early grocery store run this morning, needing to purchase a gift card for RAIHN (Rochester Interfaith Hospitality Network). My friend and I provide dinner each time our church hosts families from RAIHN. Needless to say, during this time of seclusion, we are not hosting families. We are, however, providing dinners for a family that is residing in the RAIHN apartment. We arrived just as Wegmans opened, and were pleasantly surprised to find the shelves reasonably full. A week ago there was no meat except for a few packages of hamburger, no salad dressing, no bananas . . . you get the picture. Today I was able to pick up ingredients for several of our favorite meals as well as some cleaning supplies we needed. It was relatively easy to stay appropriately distant from other shoppers, too. We go to the Wegmans flagship store which has wide aisles and ample cashiers so I feel as safe as I could be under the circumstances. We won’t need to return again for at least a week, if not longer. I am a fan of fresh produce so am likely to make a quick run once every week or 10 days.

Hope you are finding good things to occupy your time. Sarah gave Tracy a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle for his birthday, and in three days, he’s just about completed it. I’d like to say I helped, but if I put in 50 pieces that would be saying a lot. Granted, I also have not put in the time!

Stay safe!

 

 

The New Normal

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We arrived home from Wisconsin two weeks ago Sunday afternoon. By Monday morning, news of the coronavirus had become dire enough that we began cancelling all the moving parts of a planned 17 day vacation to California and Hawaii. It’s taken almost two weeks to get everything taken care of as best we can. As disappointing as it is, it pales in significance to the people whose lives have been totally disrupted and upended by the virus. My prayer list now includes all those whose livelihood is jeopardized by the closure of almost all businesses and cancellations of major events, those suffering from the virus, and the many, many health care workers and caregivers offering their skills and risking their lives to those who are ill.

We have gone from one confirmed case of the virus in our county last week to a total of forty-six this afternoon. The governor of New York and our local officials have moved swiftly and consistently to the current situation where people involved in non-essential services/businesses are required to stay home. We are allowed to leave our homes to get groceries, go to the pharmacy, and take a walk—as long as we stay appropriately distant from anyone we encounter. It’s all transpired so quickly. A week ago Thursday night, my interfaith book group met here. No one would consider such a meeting today.

On Monday we felt comfortable walking outside with Matt and the girls, but now even that level of contact is gone. We cancelled Tracy’s birthday dinner celebration, and are relying on video contacts now even though they live just over a mile away.

Walks are the saving grace. It’s good to get out of the house once a day, and we’re accumulating steps in numbers we haven’t seen in a long time.

We try to find a new route each day. Monday it was the Brickyard Trail with the girls.

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Betsy had given Skylar (8) and Ella (5) a list of 10 things to look for on their walk. All the schools in New York are closed indefinitely, and both of my children are now homeschooling their children. Sarah is also trying to work from home, so it’s a challenge. Her church (as well as ours) is also closed indefinitely, but both churches are providing worship experiences for their congregations online. Our church is live streaming a service each Sunday. My Lenten Study Group met via Google Meet on Tuesday.

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Maddy (3) walked part way, and rode part way.

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The end of the trail.

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On Wednesday, we walked the Erie Canal path from the Jewish Community Center to the lock on Clover Street.

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Not a sign of spring on this walk. You can see the lock in the distance.

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Thursday, we took our longest walk. We walked to Mt. Hope Cemetery. Frederick Douglass (famous abolitionist) and Susan B. Anthony (women’s rights activist) are both buried here.

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Yesterday the temperature was in the 60’s, and we took an early walk before the high winds and rain began. The high today is not quite 30°.

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There were, however, some signs of spring walking through the city neighborhoods.

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It’s taken me some time to adjust to the new normal, and get productive. I finally made a list early this week of creative projects to work on and as part of my OLW, COMMIT, decided that working on two different projects each day would be a good start. So far, so good, so there will be some blog posts coming more regularly now.

 

 

Me on Monday: Christmas Eve

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Merry Christmas to those who celebrate! The meteorologist wasn’t sure if we’d have a white Christmas, but it looks like we’re well on our way. I took this photo about three hours ago, and it has continued to snow ever since.

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It was a busy weekend. The highlight was celebrating Christmas with Betsy, Matt, and the girls on Saturday night. Ella and Maddy were particularly excited.

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After our gift exchange, the rest of Betsy’s family arrived for dinner.

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The only “fail” in this photo, was forgetting to pull Maddy’s highchair out so she could be seen! 

Sarah’s gifts for the girls didn’t arrive in time for the gift exchange, but arrived yesterday. After wrapping them, I took them down so they could open them this afternoon. Sarah had made each girl a beautiful book pocket pillow. Maddy had hers turned backwards, but on the other two you can see the lovely quilted patchwork on the pockets. Off course, there was a book in each pocket.

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Tonight, the table is set for tomorrow’s dinner–fourteen strong, and Tracy and I will go out to eat. That’s been the tradition for many, many years. Once the house is ready for company, off we go. It makes for a relaxed evening, but not an early one. We’ll be attending the Christmas Eve service at 11:00, and this year I am one of the readers. It’s an opportunity I enjoy fulfilling. I hope your holiday is also relaxed and fulfilling!

Chicago Celebrations

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As always, we packed up right after Christmas and headed to Chicago. After Erie, PA received nearly 60 inches of snow, we decided to take the route through Canada. We had generally clear roads, and sunny skies for most of the trip, but had a two hour wait to cross the border when we reached Michigan. I guess we weren’t the only ones trying to avoid the mess in Erie.

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By the time we got there, both kids were in the pajamas, but Caleb was eager to open gifts.

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I had a hard time this visit, capturing good photos of Hannah who is now walking, but here’s one of her with her dad. She has a variety of these little animal pacifiers which she loves.

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We not only celebrated Christmas, but on the 30th we celebrated Hannah’s first birthday, and Caleb’s sixth birthday. The night before we blew up about 100 balloons and tossed them into Caleb’s room. Much to my surprise, he slept through it all.

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When he woke up in the morning, he found one package on the dining room table, and a clue for the next. One clue required popping balloons until he found the six with the words to the next clue. It extended the birthday celebration through most of the morning.

One of our gifts to Hannah, was a water table. Even without water, it proved to be a popular gift with both kids.

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Adam has made a poster to commemorate Caleb’s birthday every year since he turned two. Caleb remembers every one of them, reminding his dad the night before of the images he’d drawn on last year’s poster. Here are this year’s. Caleb received quite a wonderful camera for Christmas, and was eagerly taking photos of everything he could.

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And Hannah’s for her nickname “Hannah the Banana”—who knows where that came from?

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Sharing your birthday with a one-year-old isn’t too bad. I think it might become a bit more challenging as Hannah gets older and has some opinions about how things get done. And one last photo of Adam, Sarah, and Caleb at dinner one night—one of my faves from the trip.

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Thanks to Laura Bassen, Caleb got one of my more involved birthday cards. I pinned it as soon as I saw it on Laura’s blog, and recreating it wasn’t as difficult as I expected. It opened and closed perfectly at home, but required a bit of adjusting once it was opened in Chicago. Looks great, though, in his bedroom which is decorated with a space theme.

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The card required just two sets of dies: “Space Journey,” and “You’re a Star,” both from Simon Says as well as some Dark Indigo cardstock and a bunch of scraps (all Papertrey Ink.)

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I’ve learned the hard way, not to give toddlers a shaker card. Ella took hers apart the minute she opened it on her second birthday. But I figured I’d go for it for the first birthday since Hannah was unlikely to want to play with it. I found a shaker kit I purchased quite awhile ago which made it easier to assemble, and frankly, quite a bit sturdier as well.

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I’ve had the Mama Elephant “Carnival Cupcakes” stamp set for quite a few years. The little bunny and the cupcake both come from that set. I colored them with Copic markers and fussy cut them, adding some Distress Glitter to one layer of the cupcake. The sentiment is from Papertrey’s “Birthday Bash” set–also an oldie. The balloon and strings are dies from Papertrey and the number one is from the “Typewriter Numbers” by Memory Box. I added a few Nuevo glitter drops as a final embellishment. 

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That wraps up December! Now on to finishing up my reflections on 2017, and putting the final touches on the One Little Word for 2018. I’m pretty sure the number of blog posts in January will double (triple?) the number in December. 

 

 

December Highlights

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Between the holidays and traveling, my blogging took a rather unexpected hiatus. It wasn’t intentional, but I have a few events to record here after the fact. Because the Christmas in Chicago also included two birthdays, I’ll save that for the next post.

The George Eastman Museum hosts an evening with Santa each year, and for the third year in a row, we’ve taken the girls. This year we missed seeing Santa come down the grand staircase (no fault of our own), but we still had a good time. None of the girls is quite sure about an individual chat with Santa so we forego the long line, but Ella expressed an interest as we were leaving, so next year may be the year Grandma hops in line to save their places.

Skylar has enjoyed the Gingerbread House Scavenger Hunt for both of the last two years.

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My favorite gingerbread house this year was fashioned after a real home in Canandaigua, New York. The facsimile was remarkable close to the photograph that accompanied it.

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Upstairs in the Discovery Room, there are always fun things to explore.

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And although, they’re reluctant to visit Santa themselves, both Skylar and Ella enjoy watching Santa talking with other children. This year Skylar had a list for Santa, and the kind volunteer took her list and put it in Santa’s bag for her.

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The following weekend, we went to Buffalo with friends to visit the Teddy Roosevelt Inaugural Site, followed by a visit to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. It was a wonderful visit and we really enjoyed the current exhibit: “Out of Sight! Art of the Senses.” You can see a video on the website here of some of the interactive installations. We had tea in the tea room, listened to music, and had a particularly good time in the room of mirrors. We were lucky that the museum was not crowded the day we visited. Here are some of my favorite photos from the art gallery:

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A house made of green fabric.

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The room of mirrors; love the second one. I had no idea what I’d captured until I uploaded it!

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Light and shadows

We celebrate Christmas three times; twice in Rocheter and once in Chicago. First with Matt, Betsy, and the girls. Although they come for the early part of the Walker Christmas on Christmas Day, the event is too late for the three little girls. This year, Betsy’s family joined us. Karen, her sister, arrived from Boston just in time, and Pam, Nadia, and Betsy’s dad also joined us. These photos are courtesy of Pam, who records every family event faithfully.

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Skylar and her beloved cousin, Nadia

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Christmas Day is always fun with the Walker crowd. Here are a few faves from that gathering. The first two photos were taken by Skylar who wanted to try out my camera. She captured the only one of me for the day, and one of her dad with his Uncle Greg.

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Matt, Ella, and Maddy

When Skylar and Ella came to bake cookies the week before Christmas, Skylar wondered if “the piano lady” was coming this year. We missed Sonora last year, but she was here this year, and entertaining the girls as always.

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From the right, my niece Jasmine; her brother Mason; his girlfriend, Molly; Jasmine’s husband, Hollis; and Tracy. Jasmine and Hollis had exciting news—they’ll be parents
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And last, my favorite photo of the day: Miss Ella on the stairs before the party began.

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If you got to the bottom of this post, thanks for hanging in there! Still frigid weather here; hoping for warmer temperatures tomorrow when I do have to go out. 

 

Memo, Mail, and Me

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The first Monday in November—how quickly October disappeared. We arrived home from Chicago on Friday. The trip didn’t turn out exactly as I planned or hoped. I was sick every. single. day. we were away. First a cold, then a virus that put me flat on my back for 2 ½ days. Fortunately Tracy and Adam soldiered on with not only two children to care for, but me as well. Yesterday was the first day I felt 90%, although I did muddle through the first few days we were there, and the last several days. The project box I so carefully packed was never opened!

Being with Hannah and Caleb was a delight, however. They both have changed so much since June when we last saw them. Caleb is the perfect big brother, entertaining Hannah, and thoroughly enjoying his first year in public school. He has a fabulous teacher in a wonderful elementary school located at the end of their street. He was the Star Student of the Week while we were there.

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Here he is dancing for Hannah.

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Hannah was crawling everywhere when we arrived, and by the time we left had figured out how to get up the stairs. It’s amazing how fast she is.

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Caleb and I made Halloween cookies.

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Halloween turned out to be totally awesome for Caleb. He couldn’t wait to get to school. We were invited to his classroom for the party and then to watch the school parade. Hannah’s day care also had a parade.   Caleb appeared as Flash, and Hannah wore the same pumpkin costume Caleb wore for his first Halloween. Although Hannah smiles constantly, she only napped for 24 minutes on Halloween so was absolutely exhausted by the time we took photos.

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Caleb went trick or treating with friends before dinner, and was just thrilled with his stash.

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As usual, the stack of mail was huge when we returned. Most of it was holiday catalogs, but there were two pieces of happy mail. The first was the November Simon Says Card Kit. It’s particularly beautiful this month with elegant embossed papers and an oversized stamp set with an accompanying die. I have lots of cards to make in the next few days so I was happy to see it.

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Botanica also arrived. I preordered it months ago, and am so delighted to finally have it in my hands. Janine Vangool, who is also the publisher of Uppercase, is such a talented woman. Her creativity knows no bounds! I’m quite sure this will be a source of inspiration for both papercrafting and sketching for many weeks to come.

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The one outing I had before the virus hit was to the Botanic Gardens. I posted a few photos from there for the 5 in 5 meme, but I’ll be back shortly to share some more.