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Ithaca in September

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I spent Saturday in Ithaca with Matt. It was the perfect fall day, although very few trees have begun to change color. Warm and breezy, blue skies–a perfect day for sightseeing and hiking. I love the Ithaca Farmers’ Market. The produce is almost all organic. There are wonderful pottery stalls and this cute tee shirt stall:

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I brought back some pumpkins but would have loved to have brought home flowers as well. Matt and I had never seen Cockscomb Celosia. They were beautiful:

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It’s easy to see how they got their name:

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And there are always the beautiful sunflowers:

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Our favorite apples:

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The veggies:

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After lunch and window shopping on The Commons we drove out to Taughannock Falls State Park. We hiked back to the falls which were a real disappointment. It’s been so dry there was hardly any water going over at all. So we decided to hike the North Rim Trail. There are beautiful views of Cayuga Lake as well as the gorge.

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We walked out to the lake and spent some time in the park and then headed to Ithaca Falls which is right in the city. A lot more water here.

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I’m always glad to be able to spend a day with either of my kids, and it’s a rare event that I get a whole day. This was one of the perfect ones. Thanks, Matt!

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30 Days

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Stacy Julian’s project for September in her More Fun class is to create a scrapbook dedicated to “present moment” living–that translates to a scrapbook page a day. I’ve actually done it once before this year for a free course at BPS in January. I thought it would motivate me to live up to Paper Source’s motto: Do something creative every day. That didn’t turn out to be possible working full time, but I got a lot done in January and enjoyed it.

Stacy has made it somewhat easier by sending us prompts each day under three categories: Capture, Collect, Record. Some days I use the prompts. On others I have my own agenda. When the computer was gone, I got seriously behind. But yesterday I caught up. It was fun, and it feels good. One thing I’ve had to give up is my perfectionism. I decided that I would use my own handwriting for most of the pages. I REALLY like type better. So sometimes the writing is not exactly straight, and sometimes I’ve had to correct some minor errors, but I did NOT start any page over. It is what it is—and that is a pretty good record of what’s gone on so far in September as well as some “what’s important” pages.

Eventually, I may get all the pages posted to the Scrapbook Layouts page, but for now here are a couple from yesterday as well as the title page. The album uses both 12 X 12 pages and 6 X 12 pages. There’s also a 6 X 6 page thrown in for good measure.

So here are a few as well as the title page.

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One of Stacy’s prompts: What’s in your purse?

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Another prompt about what is in your nightstand–I was amazed at how much!!!

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Prompt: Where are you and what are you doing at 9:15 am? The “record” part of the prompt was to list your favorite blogs and websites.

Random Sites

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Elizabeth Dillow had a link to this great website: http://www.howmanyofme.com/. I love the name of the website to start with. Here are how many there are of me:

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This is no surprise since there are at least 5-10 women with my name right here in Rochester. At nearly every store where they keep track of purchases I am asked for my phone number or address so they can determine which Karen Walker I am.

As part of More Fun, Stacy sent us off to Wordle which I had seen, but not played with. Here’s my Wordle for our family:

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The Futurist

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I wasn’t very familiar with the term “futurist” until last night when we had an opportunity to hear Ray Kurzweil speak at RIT. He is an inventor and entrepreneur whose interests range from energy concerns, nutrition and health, genetic engineering, speech recognition programs . . . An amazing mind who has a very positive message about future. A first look at his web site is an indication of all his interests and accomplishments. It was a fascinating look at what the future might hold.

The Way It’s Supposed to Be

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I have a new computer, so I’m slowly getting caught up with all my projects. Yesterday was the way it is supposed to be on retirement. I’m not sure why every day doesn’t work this way, but now there’s been one, so maybe I can work on getting several of these each week.

8:00 Bone density exam—in and out in less than 20 minutes

8:30-11:00 Edited photos and created two layouts for the More Fun class (I am seriously behind.) How does that happen on retirement?

11-11:30 Made & ate lunch; double-checked ingredients needed for dinners, soup for my neighbor, dinner for Stevie and Teresa.

11:30-12:30 Drove to Pittsford and walked along the canal. Walked quickly out and stopped to take photos on the way back in.

12:30-12:50 Stopped at Talbots to look at the sale items; tried on two things, bought nothing.

1:00-1:45 Did the grocery shopping.

2:00-2:15 Talked to two of my neighbors when I went out to get the mail

2:15-3:00 Put away groceries, started dinner prep (stir-fry ingredients all chopped!)

3:00-5:00 Completed two more layouts.

5:00-6:00 Made & ate dinner

6-8:00 Watched the news (local, national, Jim Lehr News Hour) and uploaded photos, checked emails, read blogs

8-10:00 Finished reading Leeway Cottage by Beth Gutcheon. Looked back over my reading lists for the last 18 years to see when I had read her earlier books. This turned out to be a very interesting read, and I noticed several books I’ve read that I never recorded.

Good day—filled with all the things I like to do!

Two pictures from the canal walk:

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Feeling a Bit Lost

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There was an accident this weekend, and now my new MacBook has been shipped off to the Apple Repair Center. It’s amazing how lost I feel without it. I’ve got an old MacBook to use that we’re planning on listing on Craigslist, and nearly all my files are backed up on Tme Machine, but nothing is just one click away, and I do feel disoriented. I knew that all my hobbies were connected with a computer, but it’s never been more clear than it is today.

Time for Photos

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Thanks to the prompts for the More Fun class at BPS, I’ve taken the time to take more photos the last few days. Just because photos. No special reason–except for the sunrise which was one of Stacy’s prompts.

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Is this another sign of the end of summer? An empty park bench and an empty path.

More Fun

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Here’s my second project for Stacy’s More Fun class at BPS. This month’s assignments have focused on being productive. This is an album of our photos from July’s trip to California: 176 photos in an album! I love this system of using a 2-up album with journaling cards.

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I made the tiny photos with a contact sheet in Lightroom 2.0. This is a new program for me, and they came out just the way I hoped.

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Thanks to Sarah’s friend, Jessica, who took a series of family photos.

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One of the suggestions Stacy gave us was to work with limited product and consistent design which really speeded up the process. All the papers are from the new Scenic Route Sonoma collection. I stuck with a simple circle stamp, a American Crafts Thickers number, and the date.

I have two more projects to get done before Stacy starts the September agenda. Then there is July, which totally went by the wayside because of our traveling. So nice to be retired and see that the time is there.

Fingerlakes Trail

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Saturday six of us hiked a portion of the Fingerlakes Trail outside of Naples, NY. (The photographer of the first photo, Diane, is of course missing from the picture.) It was a beautiful day and a leisurely hike. Not much uphill, although I think downhill is harder on my knees and feet than uphill. We had a great time.

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Scrapbooks, Etc.

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It’s been a long time since I posted any of the layouts, etc. that I’ve done. I’m taking Stacy Julian’s More Fun class at BPS. I finished one little album and just about have all the photos ready for a bigger vacation album. In the meantime, I’ve made a couple of cards and have an old layout as well.

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This little album is one of those $1.00 affairs, but it made a nice little album for all the flower photos we took in California.

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The idea for this card came from the BPS Big Wig Bash going on for free this week. This is based on Nic Howard’s handout.

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I made this card based on an idea sheet from Archivers.

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The photo says it all–this was done a while ago.

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Another layout from several months ago.

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And the most recent one. Not happy with how it photographed, however. Much better in real life.

Fresh Tomato Soup

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I’ve been wanting to try to make some fresh tomato soup, and finally the homegrown tomatoes are here. Tracy and I dug out the tomato press we bought years ago when we used to can tomato sauce. It took a few minutes to figure out how to get it together, but it was certainly worth the effort. What an invention! I’m sure Unclutterer would tag this as a unitasker–a one function piece of equipment, but boy is it worth having around. Seeds and skins out one side, tomato pulp out the other!

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Here’s the recipe:

2 Tbs. olive oil
2 Tbs. butter
2 medium onion, chopped
2 lbs. fresh tomatoes, peeled and quartered (mine were mashed–obviously!)
1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
2 Tbs. fresh thyme
3 cups chicken broth
1 tsp. salt
ground black pepper
(I added a teaspoon of sugar at the end)

Heat oil and butter and saute onions until just tender.

Add tomatoes, tomato paste, basil and thyme, mashing up tomatoes with the back of a spoon, if necessary.
Add chicken broth: bring mixture to boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 40 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot. Serves 6.

From the All Seasons Cookbook which I purchased during a visit to Mystic Seaport, Connecticut years ago.

California: Part 2

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It’s only taken me three weeks to edit the photos from California. In fairness, I did it in Lightroom 2.0 which is a new program to me. Since 2.0 was just released there are no books to help you along, so I enrolled in the KelbyTraining site and watched several hours of (wonderful) video on Lightroom 2.0. I like it a lot, but have a lot yet to learn. So here are photos from the rest of our trip.

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Among many other sights, we enjoyed some time in China Town where we visited the Fortune Cookie Factory. Warm, right from the cooker, fortune cookies are delicious!

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Tracy and I spent a great day in Napa. We toured the diRosa Nature and Art Preserve and did some wine tasting at Artesa Winery.

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The grape fields.

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One of the many sculptures in the fields at diRosa.

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Aresa Winery

Adam has a new job starting September 1 as a pastor for youth and young adults at the Asbury Methodist Church in Livermore, CA. He and Sarah will be moving there a month from now, having successfully sublet their apartment in Oakland. We spent a morning & afternoon there. Livermore, like Napa, is surrounded by wineries.

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Asbury Methodist Church in Livermore

Matt, Tracy, and I took the ferry from Tiburon and hiked to the top of Mt. Livermore on Angel Island. It was a very brisk day, but the views (360 degrees on the Sunset Trail) were spectacular.

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We also hiked from Bear Valley Information Center out to Arched Rock in Point Reyes National Park. It was a beautiful hike through the woods to a outcrop overlooking the Pacific.

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One of the best excursions was to Golden Gate State Park and the Dale Chihuly exhibition at the deYoung Museum. Here are a few of the lovely glass sculptures we saw.

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We also spent a day at Muir Woods and Muir Beach. Much more crowded than any of the other parks, but the redwoods are impressive.

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Our last day, we drove to Santa Cruz. On the way back, we came upon a group of kite boarders. They were incredible to watch.

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California: Part 1

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We arrived in San Francisco on Friday afternoon after a relatively smooth (but long) flight.

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We’ve been busy and seen a lot. Saturday we went to Walnut Creek and did a lot of shopping for Sarah who needs “business casual” for her new job at Kaplan. I never thought to get out my camera! On Sunday Sarah, Tracy and I went to the Oakland Farmers Market. Lots of great organic produce as well as live entertainment.

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Then we drove to Sausalito which is beautiful but was very crowded and much more touristy than I expected.
The harbor is gorgeous.

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Then we went on to Tiburon where Sarah and Adam are leading a new Episcopal congregation this summer. It is just as beautiful, in my opinion, as Sausalito, and much less crowded. We had dinner after church at a fabulous Mexican restaurant on the bay. If you look closely you can see San Francisco (in the haze).

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Yesterday Tracy and I drove to Bodega Bay. Sarah was studying for her Kaplan training and Adam has been training at the Apple Store. On our way we drove along Tomales Bay.

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Tomales Bay.

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Bodega Bay.

Just north of the bay, we found great views of the Pacific. When we drove up the coast last time (12 years ago) it was so fogged in we never really saw the ocean or the coast clearly enough to take a photograph.

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More later.

Happy Fourth of July

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This is Bestor Plaza at noon today. There is no better place to celebrate the Fourth of July than at Chautauqua Institute. This is the third Independence Day we’ve spent here, and I never tire of the music and festivities. Although I certainly don’t agree with much that the present administration of our country does, I am eternally grateful to be an American.

More photos of the day:

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Happy 4th of July!

Project 365

I threw up my hands in March when I realized I just couldn’t keep up with a photo-a-day. I recently acquired a copy of everyday:  a yearlong photo diary. After reading it, I decided to try again. So I’ll be posting photos again under the Photo-a-Day log on the sidebar. Yesterday’s is posted. It feels good to get behind the camera again.