I’m joining Mary Lou at Patio Postcards where “the idea is to take 3 photos that are linked some how; by theme, by colour, by date, by moment, by points of view.” I spent last weekend in Niagara-on-the-Lake at a wonderful workshop, “Adventures in Seeing” led by Kim Manley Ort. Kim’s book, Adventures in Seeing: How the Camera Teaches You to Pause, Focus and Connect with Life, focuses (like the workshop) on contemplative photography. The group that gathered for the workshop was diverse and inspiring, and I’ll have a lot more to say about it later. But for now, here are three photographs:

Heartstring

Stairway to Heaven

Survivor

Blogging is likely to be intermittent at best for the next several weeks. I’ll pop in when I can, but family and travel are going to be taking up most of my time. It’s a blessing I don’t take for granted, and in the spirit of mindfulness I’ll be focusing on the experiences (with a camera nearby, no doubt!)

 

These photos were all taken on June 6th when we returned from trips to two garden centers. By the time the weekend is done, most of them will surely be planted. These don’t include all the annual packs we bought for the cutting garden:  asters, dahlias, snapdragons, zinnias, stock, and gazanias. There are also astilbe, shasta daisies and some other perennials that have returned to the cutting garden.

Royal Candles Veronica

A beautiful lily that came home without a tag

Asiatic Lily: Pink 

One of four lupines I purchased to replace those that didn’t come back this year. This is the only one with a bloom. The others are red, and a wonderful mix of colors.

Two different colors of geraniums for the bed along the patio.

When this post goes live, I’ll be in Niagara-on-the-Lake with a friend for a weekend contemplative photography workshop with Kim Manley Ort. I’m really looking forward to it, and the weather looks like it will be very cooperative. 

Waving to Sandie and others participating in the June 5 in 5 at Itchifingers.

My niece’s birthday is coming up, and when I recently came across WPlus9’s “Sparkle and Shine” set, I knew I’d use it for this year’s birthday card. She definitely leaves a “sparkle wherever [she] goes.” Once I had the two circles embossed and die cut, I was thinking about how to arrange them, and remembered this week’s Freshly Made Sketch:

I originally thought I’d use gold or silver embossing powder, but found a jar of Enchanted Gold in my stash that is loaded with glitter. The larger circle (cut with a Simon Says “Stitched Circle” die) is from WPlus9’s set. The smaller one was stamped from a Simon Says set of the same name.

I made the banner from a piece of beautiful, shiny Washi tape that I picked up in Florida. I die cut that panel with a Simon Says “Stitched Rectangle, and mounted it on a Smoky Shadow card base. A few gold and silver sequins added the final touch.

Neither the shiny Washi tape nor the embossing powder show up as well in a photograph as they do IRL. I’m popping this into the Freshly Made Sketch pool just before Monday’s deadline. Although I’ve been following this blog challenge for awhile, I think this is my first entry.

It’s amazing what two beautiful, unusually warm days will do for the view. On Friday, I wrote that there were almost no flowering trees in bloom, and very few trees greening. Last night Tracy and I took a walk after our Easter celebration at his brothers, and the neighborhood has burst into color. 

We had a pretty quiet weekend until Easter Sunday when we were away nearly the whole day. On Friday and Saturday, I caught up with my online class assignments, and worked on getting my studio back in order. We made our second run to the garden center, and picked up two beautiful pots for our front yard, and some pansies which will withstand the great variation in temperatures expected this week. 

Yesterday we started the day at Matt and Betsy’s with the girls for breakfast and their Easter egg hunt. Skylar and Ella were really into it, and it was so much fun to watch them run about the yard looking for their eggs. The Easter Bunny had left a letter for them, telling them what color eggs they should look for. Skylar’s were light blue, Ella’s were dark blue, and Maddy had green. Then there was one golden egg for everyone. Maddy, of course, was just an observer this year.

They needed Daddy’s help to reach some of the eggs. The Easter Bunny may have had a drone!

Then, of course it was time to find out what was hidden in those eggs.

From there we went to church. I don’t take photos in church, but I wish you could have seen the gorgeous flower arrangements, and heard the amazing music. There was brass and timpani, and a full choir. Absolutely glorious!

Tracy’s brother and sister-in-law hosted Easter dinner. Thunderstorms were predicted, but aside from a brief shower just as we arrived, the day remained sunny and warm. Susan set the table with her grandmother’s china, and we had a wonderful feast of ham, potatoes, broccoli au gratin, salads, and hot cross buns. I’ve been pretty good about watching my portions, but I definitely overate yesterday.

There wasn’t much in the way of exciting mail this week. Last week, I noticed Melissa had received her copy of Uppercase, and I wondered where mine was. It did arrive this week along with the newest issue of Cloth, Paper, Scissors. The latter subscription was a gift from a friend. Now that I don’t do much multi-media work, there’s not as much that interests me. There’s always one article, though, that attracts my attention. 

On the ride home last night I finished the novel for our book group, Shadow of the Wind. It was a long book with a very involved plot, but I enjoyed it, and am looking forward to next week’s discussion. I should have time now, to catch up on reading some periodicals. A rather large pile has accumulated since we returned from our trip.

I thought, perhaps, I’d get a Happy Easter post up yesterday, but I was too tired last night, so if you can hang in there just another minute or two, I’ll share the Easter cards I made for the grandchildren. All of them were created with the March Simon Says Card Kit. (Maddy’s card was made earlier and shared here.)

Ella loves her sunglasses, and I couldn’t resist casing this card from Yana Smakula.

The inside sentiment continues, “thinks you’re awesome! Happy Easter”

“Happy Easter!”

And last, but not least, for the newest grandchild:

Waving to Sian and Monday Memo Makers! Hope you have a great week ahead.

I’m a month late with my One Little Word post. I originally thought there’d be two posts, one a reflection on 2016’s OLW, and then this one. But I’ve decided that although I’ve done quite a bit of reflection, it’s too late to justify two posts.

My 2017 word literally leaped out at me in November while reading a blog. I lived with it for several weeks, and time and again I’d find another reference to it that resonated with me. So I’ve been living with it for awhile, and for many reasons, believe it will be a significant talisman for the year, particularly give the political climate in the United States.

I purchased and framed this print for my office.

JOY is the word for the year. For me it flows easily from SIMPLIFY and MINDFUL, my last two One Little Words. The kind of joy I’m speaking of is not the stuff of dictionary definitions, but joy that is rooted in gratitude. Our church chooses a theme for each year, and in September we began a focus on “reconciliation.” Again, it seems a remarkable choice given the divisiveness that is so rampant now. Our pastor gave a sermon on “Reconciliation and Joy” in December—one of the many connections that occurred after I chose my word. In it he quoted a theologian, Daniel Hardy, who wrote that, “Where there is vulnerability and sorrow [joy] still appears, but adversity alters its character to . . . trust and perseverance.” It speaks to me, but I’m under no illusion that it will be an easy task.

The only book I finished in January was The Book of Joy by The Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu. It, too, speaks to the ability to find joy regardless of your circumstance and has a wonderful section at the end of daily practices. Last year as part of my Mindful practice, I took a course in mediation and did quite a bit of reading about it. I never did establish a daily practice, but I do practice some mindful techniques on a daily basis, not the least of which is I’ve pretty much abandoned trying to multi-task. Many of the meditative practices in this book seem very doable to me. Now that I’m back into routines at home, I’m hoping to give a couple of them a try.

The best definition for joy I’ve found so far is “Happiness is an emotion and temporary; joy is an attitude of the heart.” (Randy Alcorn) So I’m off to try to find joy in the every day through reading, photography, volunteering, and creative pursuits. I’m going to struggle through the hard times, remembering how very grateful I am for my many blessings. And I’m going to move on with both SIMPLIFY and MINDFUL, because they too have proven to be good words to live with.

Happy Monday! Waving to Sian and the Monday Memo Makers. It’s been just one week since we returned from Chicago, and much to my surprise, I have completed a nearly total purge and reorganization of my office/craft room. I anticipated that it would take several weeks, but once I started, I devoted the better part of every day to the project. Shortly before the holidays I started scouring the internet for a set of affordable bookcases to replace the ones I purchased at Target ($25 a piece) nearly 15 years ago. They were literally falling apart. I found some I liked at Wayfair (50% off), but had to wait for a restocking. They arrived at Matt’s while we were away and it was a huge motivator to get ready to have them assembled and in the office. 

I ended up with two boxes and three stuffed shopping bags of materials that I donated to the charity craft shop, a bag for a friend, and several larger items I’m saving to see if another friend might be interested in them before I donate them. I have LOTS of stamps (I’ve been at this for 25+ years) still to go through and repackage if I decide to keep them. Here’s a look at the new set-up. I did take before photos as well, but really, no need to see them! 🙂 There was a mish-mash of storage containers and stuff stuck in and around. I had a couple of the gray CD holders from Target, and fortunately, they still carry them. These bookcases are wider than the old ones, and we removed a CD cupboard that held my Papertrey Ink stamps that were, for years, packaged in CD cases. Now the boxes hold stamps, paper pads, embellishments, kits, and stamps that need to be repackaged. I must say, I get a lot of pleasure out of having a color coordinated storage system.

For many years, I resided in a tiny bedroom at the back of the house, but after Sarah moved into an apartment, Tracy encouraged me to move to the front of the house to a much larger space. I resisted for a couple of years. Why, I can’t tell you, because it’s just a wonderful spot! There’s a built-in bookcase and desk in the front corner. It used to hold my sewing machine, but when I had to replace my printer the only one that had a top feed was a wide-format printer which no longer fit on my desk. The sewing machine is now in the guest room, and the result is I rarely put it to use. 

I still need to go through the book shelves here, but for the most part, I think I’ll keep much of what is there. Next to the filing/die cutting station is a chair that folds out into a single bed. We don’t often have to use it, but it’s come in handy a few times, and it’s a great place when someone “visits” me for them to sit down and chat.

And lastly, my desk. When I moved into this room, I purchased the desk and the filing cabinet from an inexpensive, put-it-together yourself, furniture store. It’s held up very well. and works for me. The iMac was a surprise Christmas/Mother’s Day/birthday gift from Tracy, and was just replaced with a newer model last year when I ran out of memory. This one has the new higher resolution screen. After editing photos on my tiny laptop for three weeks in Chicago, I had a new appreciation for it when I returned.

I am, I know, spoiled by such a lovely space, and I never take it for granted. When I first moved in here, Matt was still living at home, and his comment has stuck with me. “This is the best possible use for this room. You should have moved in here a long time ago,” he said. “After all, you live in here.” There’s some truth to it. Until Tracy and I started our morning reading time together by the fire in the living room a year ago, I spent almost all my time in here.

So, now you know how my week went. Tracy put the bookcases in on Friday night, and Saturday I celebrated by doing some card-making. And that’s where the happy mail comes in. I received my February Simon Says Card Kit last week, and it stayed in the box until I finished cleaning.

The first card I needed was for a friend in hospice, and the stamp set and stickers weren’t appropriate. I did, however, want a card that was bright and cheerful, so used the cardstock, patterned papers, and one of the epoxy hearts to create the card.

The basic design of the card came from the inspiration sheet that is also included each month with the kit. The papers are from Doodlebug, and the sentiment from Papertrey Ink’s “It’s the Thought” set. I hope it brings a bit of cheer to the recipient. The dies are both from Simon Says:  Stitched Circles, and Stitched Banners. The banner die I’ve had for some time, but broke open the package for the first time. I’m entering this into the NBUS challenge, which I need to participate in more often.

I made several other cards as well this weekend, so they’ll be popping up on the blog soon. 

Hope your week is off to a good start. I have lots of fun engagements scheduled for this week, so I’ll be squeezing crafting time in-between breakfast, lunch, and coffee dates as well as book group and bridge! It’s good to be busy during these gray days of winter.

The last of the Nantucket SNAP collections, assuming I can come up with something original and interesting this week. There seems to be no end of the images from Nantucket that interest me. 

When I took the upper left photograph, I said to my daughter-in-law’s sister, “This is for Maggie,” and then explained how many of Maggie’s photographs through the door, window, or arch I’ve enjoyed this year. If you were sitting on that deck you’d see the ocean beyond. The upper right photo is the Nantucket harbor where the ferries come in. I’m not sure of the name of the beach on the lower left, but we ate take-out pizzas on the beach that night, and stayed for the sunset. It was more remote than most, and we had to climb up and over some pretty high dunes. The lower right photo was also taken at the harbor, although in a different spot. The docks there were crowded with some beautiful, and very large, yachts and sailboats.

It’s lovely here right now, though. We spent last night at dinner on the Genesee River across from the Rochester Yacht Club watching the sailboats go out to race on Lake Ontario. We sat over our dinner and coffee long enough that we were still there when the boats came in at dark. Because it was a Tuesday there were plenty of empty tables so we didn’t have to rush. We know all too well, that these beautiful evenings when you can eat outdoors are soon to be few and far between!

Linking up with Helena for SNAP–a collection of three or four related photos.

Truthfully, I wasn’t really sure I’d ever catch up with my monthly PL spreads. When we returned from vacation two weeks ago, I was eight months behind. But shortly after we returned, I read on a blog about a woman who prints her photos each month, and then goes back to finish the spread when she has time. It gave me an idea that has worked out well. Yesterday I finished all eight months of the PL spreads. All that’s left to do is a bit of journaling and some embellishing. 

As I began to work, I came up with a process that worked really well for me. Since the pictures and words are what I focus on, I started with my Lightroom files. All my photos are uploaded to Lightroom and put in folders by month and year. Within those folders are events or categories. So for November 2015 I had 11 miscellaneous photos from various events like our church’s Grocery Run, a folder with photos from Ella’s birthday, and a folder with photos from Thanksgiving. For many months, I have as many as five folders filled with photos. How to choose?

Here are my notes from July, and the planning pages for June and July.

After going through the photos, I made a list of the ones I’d like to include. Because I use photo templates that allow me to get two, three, or as many as six photos in one 4X6 pocket, I have more latitude than I used to. Then I use the planning sheet on the clipboard to decide where the photos should go. The checkmarks indicate the photos that have been printed, and the circles ones I needed to do the next time I sat down to work.

Here’s November 2015. 

I couldn’t find a template I liked for the six Thanksgiving photos I wanted to use, so I made my own. The word art is Paislee Press, and the journaling card from Becky Higgins.

The calendar page I use for all my title cards is from Paislee Press. All the rest of the templates on this page are from Tracy Larsen’s Simply White templates. By the time I journal on the templates, lots of the journaling is done. Today I added the brown card (Becky Higgins) and the gold leaf overlay (Pink Press Studio), the journaling with a sticker (Michaels) and some jelly stars (Gossamer Blue kit), as well as some die cuts (Papertrey Ink) and the #1 (AC Thickers) on one of the photo templates to finish off the page.

All that had to be done for this page, was to attach the 8.5 X 11 page to the 12 X 12 patterned paper by Echo Park, and add some brief journaling to the journaling card.

I’ve got to say, it feels good to be this far along, and you’ll be seeing PL posts pretty regularly now. I even have a start on the August pages before August ends!

Every time we visit Niagara-on-the-Lake we are taken with the gorgeous flower displays along the main street. All of these photos were taken within one block. They’ll be just as gorgeous in October when we return with our friends for our annual weekend away.

With all the dry weather we’ve had this summer, I can’t imagine the amount of watering that must be done to maintain these displays. Try as we might, we can’t keep our flowers looking this fresh all summer.

Linking up with Helena where you’ll find more interesting sets of three to four related photos.