It's A New Day

Good Bye Golf Cart

On a whim last week I asked our good friend Hiram how he'd go about selling a used golf cart. While the question was posed as hypothetically, it was obvious to all that I was talking about the golf cart sitting in our garage. After 17 years of faithful service, it quit in the middle of a round and had to be towed home. The culprit was probably the batteries but our membership is one that includes the use of the club's carts so it didn't make any sense to spend $700 to replace all the batteries. That was two years ago and although we've talked off and on about the need to do something with the disabled cart, it never found it's way to the top of the job jar.

Take a picture of it, Hiram said. Someone's always asking me about a used golf cart. So I did.

 

Turns out the first "someone" was one of Hiram's long-time friends and the guy who did all the dirt-moving and irrigation when we built our house. He is a golfer but not looking for a cart to take out on the course;  he wants to convert one to a hunting vehicle for his grandson. The Jayhawk sticker is likely to be replaced by camouflage he said this afternoon when it came to pick it up.

And while I'm not into hunting, it's kind of cool that he's getting it to share with his grandson. Kayla's spent many an hour in this cart starting from when she was just big enough to ask Grandpa to take her for a ride in it. She progressed from " driving" it on his lap to actually being behind the wheel. She'll be a little nostalgic that it's gone but she's moved on to real vehicles now. Me? I'm happy to have some extra room in the garage. 

Quite Possibly The Best $10 Investment Ever

Let me start by saying that I'm not one to rearrange my furniture. For the most part, everything is where we put it when we moved into the house twenty years ago and I'm fine with that. That would be unlike my friend Carol who does move hers around. Dr. Dale tells the story of coming home after being with a patient until the wee hours and almost killing himself colliding with furniture in new places. We can walk around our house in the dark without that fear; nothing moves.

In some cases, the location of windows, doors, etc., doesn't permit much flexibility but even where they do, I'm not inclined to switch things around until something old must go or something new comes in. And in this case, something went...one of the desks in Wayne's computer room a few days ago. He broke the old desk down as it was going to the dump anyway but with it out of the room, we needed to rearrange the furniture that was left in there.

Enter the best $10 investment we've ever made:

Furniture sliders. A part of me says how did I not know what a godsend these are but then the occasions when I've really needed them have been few and far between. Wayne was sort of rolling his eyes at my insistence that we buy them but once we slid the first piece with minimal effort, those eyes were wide with amazement. Like me he was wondering why we waited so long to buy some.

I don't foresee regular rearrangements of the furniture in our house now that we have them but I can guarantee that they'll be used a lot more in the future, if nothing more than to make it easier to pull things out and clean behind them. Who knew it only cost $10 to make so much easier.

Karma

We here in Wayne-and-Brenda-land are big believers in the idea that what you send out into the world comes back to you. Whether you call it reaping what you sow, comparing life to a boomerang or just plain karma, the message is still the same: Treat people with respect and kindness and do good things and life will smile on you. Most of the time you just have to go on faith that the theory is really working but once in a while, the Universe gives you a shining example.

Like Monday, for instance. Wayne was signed up to play in a little outing with the men's golf association. It wasn't a big affair, just 26 players, but they try to hold an event once every month or so to foster comraderie  and support the club. Players pay a small sum towards a prize fun and the men's group picks up the tab for lunch...in this case it was BBQ ribs with all the fixings. The format varies; this time it was two-man teams playing six holes of scramble, six holes of best ball and six holes of alternate shot. The computer up at the golf shop paired up the players so the team handicap would be as equal as possible.

As Wayne strolled across the parking lot in advance of the outing, Hiram (our golf pro best friend) came out to meet him. The sheepish look on Hiram's face told Wayne something was up. We have a little problem, he says. Would you mind playing with Ralph?

Like us, Ralph has been a member since the beginning so everyone knows Ralph. What that really means is that everyone knows Ralph is a grump...a disagreeable fellow whose every word is woven into one gripe or complaint after another. Not only that, he has a temper. I doubt there's a club in his bag that hasn't been hurled in anger at least half a dozen times. The story is that once he threw a club so far into the trees behind one of the greens they never could find it. His foul humor has apparently gotten him crossways with at least a few people, one of whom the computer paired up with him for the men's outing. That person was threatening to withdraw if he had to play with Ralph and Hiram was looking for someone to switch. Would Wayne be willing?

Sure, Wayne replied. I can put up with anyone for a few hours, he said. So off they went...he and Ralph. And at the end of the round, their team came in first. Wayne said neither of them played outstanding golf but they partnered well. And Ralph was pleasant. Well, pleasant for Ralph...he didn't throw any clubs.

Wayne agreed to switch because he knew it would make things easier for Hiram, and while Ralph might have been among the last people he would have chosen as a partner if he had been picking, he made the best of a less than perfect situation. I love it when you see proof that what you put out into the world really does come back to you.

From Oops to Ummm

So I've had this craving for macaroni and cheese for several days now. Like most people, It was a staple on the family menu for both Wayne and I when we were growing up and the same for our boys too...guess that's why they call it comfort food. It doesn't show up on our table much these days as we're trying to make more healthy choices but every now and then we deserve a little indulgence. Today was that day.

I was hot and sweaty when I came in from my walk and hurrying to get the mac and cheese in the oven so I could take a quick shower before fixing the rest of dinner. Into the pot of boiling water went the macaroni and then I started to get out the rest of the ingredients. Oops...one problem. The box of Velvetta in the fridge is jalapeno cheese, not the plain kind. (Yes, I know...Velvetta is hardly gourmet but it definitely fills that comfort quotient I was talking about earlier.) It was kind of a double oops as I didn't intend to buy the jalapeno cheese in the first place. I picked it up by accident when I meant to get the plain one. There was no turning back at that point as I didn't have another cheese choice; I just went with it.

And it was really good! It had a little bite to it but it wasn't really all that hot and actually, the meal needed something with a little punch to it. This kicked-up version wasn't quite the mac and cheese of my past but it was good enough to be comforting.

High Tech Wreck

Given the fact that Wayne has worked in computers since 1966, it only follows that we have one or two computers around our house. Or five or six. There's his and mine and the laptop and the smartphone and the iTouch and the PDA...the list goes on. I guess we're not very good at sharing because for the most part, they all get used.

And because we use them, there's always a need for a bigger, faster, newer one. We're good at buying them; we're not so good at getting rid of them. The old ones end up in a closet...you know, just in case. Today was the day to do something about that. Actually, yesterday was the start of a clean-up campaign in Wayne's office; we just didn't get to the computer part of it until today.

Here's the bed of the truck filled with the results of our efforts. Wayne took the hard drives out of two processors and those along with two monitors, three scanners, a printer and a keyboard are all new residents of the county's electronic recycling bin. We tried to find some place that could use them but no one seems interested in old computers, even Goodwill. I can understand that though. Recycling is the next best option.

The computers weren't the only thing that we carted off today. Wayne dismantled one of the desks that was in his office and hauled it off with the computers, piling the pieces on top of all the computer equipment. The desk was an old one in rather sad shape; it needed to go. But then, of course, we had to find a place for what was in it. It's a snowball effect...cleaning up one thing just means you have to clean up another and another. At one point in our reorganizing, we had the floor almost covered with things out of the closet and it even spilled out into the hallway. Sometimes things have to get worse before they can get better.

Wayne spent a cozy evening with the shredder tonight, disposing of old bank statements and other personal papers while he watched the football game. I think we're making progress...or else we're just expanding the wreck.

His New Best Friend

We have a standing joke in our circle of friends and it has to do with referring to someone you've just met as your new best friend. It dates back a couple of years to when Natalie, the granddaughter of our real best friends, Hiram and Bonnie, would refer to everyone she'd just met as her new best friend. Adult or child, it didn't matter to Natalie...in her pre-school logic, you really were her new best friend.

Wayne, however, has taken this concept to a new level...he has a new best friend he hasn't met yet. In fact, he hasn't even laid eyes on him. Let me explain.

There are new people moving into house across the street from us. With the house next to us still empty and in foreclosure, we were thrilled when we heard the one we see out our front door had sold after only three weeks on the market, especially considering the young couple were ready to move with their job transfer. We didn't need another empty house on the block. It's a nice house...not too big but not too small and the previous owners had made a number of improvements in the short time they lived there, all of which probably contributed to the quick sale. Word on the street is that the new people are from California. I'm betting they're over the moon at seeing how far their housing dollars go in northwest Florida compared to where they've been living.

We haven't seen the new folks yet but the moving trucks did show up this morning. And when we headed out on some errands, Wayne's eyes lit up when he saw this:

See what's in the upper left corner of the truck? A yellow kayak. Well, the yellow part isn't so important but the kayak is. Wayne's been out geocaching in a kayak a number of times now (yes, they hide them along riverbanks too) and really enjoys the unique challenge these type of caches offer. Some of his buddies have kayaks so he rides in or borrows one of theirs. Now there's one right across the street.

I wonder if Wayne's new best friend a/k/a our as-yet-unmet neighbor knows he's about to take up a new hobby...geocaching.

Fashion or Fluke

Fashion Week for Spring 2012 wrapped up in New York City a few days ago. It's not that I follow it; news of the event kept showing up on my home page every time I signed on to the Internet. Long shorts, geometric prints and neon colors are among the hot trends, in case you're interested. I'm trying to decide if there might be one more.

I was standing outside a restaurant in Louisville waiting for our turn to be seated when I noticed the woman standing across from me had cuffs on her jeans. They weren't designed that way; she had rolled them up herself...one single turn, about 4" high. My first thought was that Stacy and Clinton might come swooping in at any moment, ready to chastise her for her fashion faux pas. I could just hear them tell her to either buy petite sizes or have them altered.

All this was rattling around in my brain when I saw a second lady walk up with rolled-up jeans. We're not talking convert-the-jeans-to-crop-pants here; just like the first lady the bottom of the leg barely brushed the top of her foot. I was impressed, however, by the fact that there were at least two turns and both legs were perfectly matched. It took some talent to get skinny jeans folded that evenly.

When a third lady with cuffs on her jeans walked up, I began to wonder. Was this a new fashion trend or just a fluke?  Who knows...maybe it's the hot look in Louisville. I'm needing a new pair of jeans but you can be sure I won't be buying them long enough to roll up the legs, fashion or not.

Illinois Wrap-Up

We racked up almost 900 miles yesterday, rolling into the driveway a few minutes after 10pm. It was really too long for one day but not really worth spending another night on the road as we were both eager for our own bed so we just kept on chugging until home said hello.

Our time in Illinois was part celebration, part reunion and part just sharing family time. My brother Jerry's birthday gave Dad a good excuse to come for a visit and we decided to join the celebration. Then my only cousin on my dad's side decided he'd make the trip over too and before you know it we had a houseful. He brought an envelope full of old photos for me to take home to copy. Not only was I thrilled to have access to them, but with my dad and two of his cousins there, we were able to get names to go with some of the unidentified faces...a real bonus. And, of course, that lead to plenty of stories but then that's the fun of getting together.

Another part of the fun is listening to Jerry, Diane and Mark (two of his children) play and sing. Thanks to rain in the area, they were a true garage band on Sunday afternoon but no one seemed to mind. The grandkids included a kazoo in the birthday presents Jerry opened and he immediately put it to work. Actually, it seemed appropriate since his repertoire included songs like Ghost Chickens in the Sky and Oreo Cookie Blues but there were plenty of serious songs too. They even played Five Foot Two so Rosie and Ray could dance...and they still cut a mean rug even though they're in their 80s.

It's clear both my brothers Jerry and John inherited that Hedrick musical talent and passed it on to their children. I think it skipped over me; I prefer to think I got the brains instead. : )

 

No family gathering would be complete without a bunch of group photos. It's amazing how my dad and brother can pose politely in every group except when I get in the mix...they just can't resist picking on me. Well, they pick on me when there's no camera in sight too but it's a guarantee they're going to misbehave then.

 

Eventually they straighten up and we get a nice photo.

 

Well, until you throw my cousin John into the mix...Dad likes to pick on him too.

I'm glad Wayne snapped some shots of the horsing around as they're as much a part of my family story as the group poses of all of us together.

Our time in Illinois was far too short but then it always seems that way when we go visit people we love. The photos and memories will have to tide us over until the next time we're together.

A Busy Day

We've packed a lot into one little Saturday...but then we needed to as the clock is ticking. We only have a few days here.

After a relaxed family breakfast, we headed off to watch cute little Camilla compete in her first riding competition. Camilla is my niece Mindy's youngest. She competed in three events and came home with three ribbons, including a first-place one for the trail ride that we watched. It was interesting to watch as she maneuvered her horse along the course and while she might not have been the youngest competitors, she wasn't far off it. She didn't seem the least bit intimidated by the big horse.

Then it was off to Morton for the Pumpkin Festival. The roads we traveled to get there wound through fields filled with corn that was either in the process of being harvested or just days away from that point. But we also saw acres and acres of pumpkins. A few were the bright orange ones you use to decorate your home in the fall or even the little ones you buy for pies. Most, however, were a paler, oblong pumpkin. They're the ones Libby's uses to make canned pumpkin. And when we arrived in Morton, we drove past the plant where big semi's were unloading pumpkins ready for processing. They back the trucks onto giant ramps that lift up at one end to dump the pumpkins. What was unusual was that the entire truck, cab and all, tilted rather than just the trail part holding the pumpkins.

We spent some time wandering around through the exhibits, craft booths and other things going on at the festival before heading out to a traditional pumpkin patch for a few of the decorative ones for my brother's house.

Who says pumpkin patches are only for kid's photos...the corn stalks made a great background for this picture of my brother Jerry, his wife Carol and my dad.

And I passed my camera off to Jerry who took this one of my dad and me.

And then we headed off to a marching band competition to watch my niece's oldest, Nicholas. He ordinarily plays the oboe but since the oboe isn't part of the marching band and they didn't have anyone to play the bass drum, that's his job. They'd just come off the field so he'd shed his hat and you can see the typical teen expression at having his picture taken but it was still fun to see him compete.

Then it was back to my brother's house for dinner and an evening of old photos, new stories and great memories. A busy day indeed.

Ohio Days

Our time in Ohio is rapidly coming to an end...far too rapidly to suit us but we haven't figured out a way to slow down the clock. We start out each morning with only a thing or two planned for the day and somehow the day disappears.

Take Tuesday, for instance. The plan was to visit The Wilderness Center (about 30 minutes from Dale and Carol's place) to see them tag monarch butterflies. We were all fascinated by the idea of tagging butterflies and anxious to see how it could be done given the delicate nature of butterflies, but when we arrived, we learned the event had been canceled due to an illness in the family of the naturalist in charge.

Although we were disappointed, we took advantage of the beautiful weather and a wide variety of walking trails to spend a little time with nature. It was quiet and peaceful among all these tall trees and I don't think we saw a single person on the trail with us.

There were plenty of wildflowers still around and even though parts of this flower aren't as sharp as I would prefer, I do like that I captured the bee doing his thing in the heart of this blossom. We saw plenty of pink, purple and yellow blooms here and there but not a single butterfly. Maybe we would have been disappointed even if the naturalist had shown up as there might not have been any monarchs to tag.

The trail took us down by a pond filled with water lilies as well as geese. They were a bit disappointed that we didn't have anything to feed them and we were a bit disappointed that we had to pick our way along the trail to avoid the "presents" they'd left there.

It was the perfect day to be out walking, and when we finished, we headed off down some more back roads to see what else we could find. And we never have a problem finding something either...a little shopping, a little geocaching, and a lot of just riding the back roads admiring the farms and rolling countryside. We even managed a stop at the orchard for some of the first apples of the season.

Tuesday I wore short-sleeves and capris; today I had on jeans, a sweatshirt and a coat. There's a lot of difference between almost 80 and barely 50, not to mention rain and a gusty wind. But the laughter and friendship are more than warm enough.

We're heading west in the morning, off to visit family in Illinois for a couple of days. We've loved our time here and are already talking about the things we'll do next year when we come. There's just something so peaceful and relaxing about our Ohio days.

Here I Am

I'm here. Well, not really here...as in home but there. We've put a few miles between us and home and we're relaxing and enjoying a little Ohio hospitality at the home of our friends, Dale and Carol. We have no AT&T service here in the heart of Amish country which is nice in a way. It forces us to disconnect for a while which is great for rest and relaxation. But that also means I can't blog from my phone. And frankly, I've just been enjoying the company of good friends too much to steal away and borrow their computer.

We traveled the back roads today, exploring what was Ohio's first State road. It was once used by teams of horses or oxen pulling wagons of grain to the canals to transport it to bigger cities but the route now is mostly gravel roads through Amish farms and wooded hills. Peaceful and scenic in a bucolic way.

There's a nature center on tap for tomorrow with the promise of some butterfly pictures...at least we're hoping so. And some brats and fresh corn on the cob on the menu for dinner tonight. Nothing beats time with special people.

Kiss*Kiss

Today was yard-work day. We barely got it mowed last week before the rain drove us indoors so the edging and trimming never got done, making more work for this week. It wasn't a problem though; it was so beautiful today, we were happy to be outside enjoying it, even if yard work was the reason behind being there. In fact, I think Wayne must have said how much he was loving the weather at least half a dozen times and I had to agree with him. It's amazing how much better yard work is at 81 degree and 60% humidity versus 95 degrees and 85% humidity. We can thank T.S. Lee for at least part of that. Tropical storms are a lot like giant vacuum cleaners; they suck all the clouds and humidity up with them when they move on, leaving us with some amazing weather.

That's the good news. The bad was that there were lots of limbs and tree debris to pick up before mowing could begin. We got plenty of wind that cleaned out any branches that had died since the last storm. And since the wind whipped first one way and then suddenly the other, it brought down a lot of live ones to, especially small ones from the live oaks trees. They're heavy now with green acorns anyway so the barrel was half-full before we got to the grass.

In addition to the limbs, I picked up a huge clump of mistletoe too. It's basically a parasite that grows in other trees so it doesn't show up among all the green leaves most of the year. But I've seen it in the winter when the tree in the yard next door is bare. It's pretty common around here and it's not unusual for Boy Scout troops or other organizations to "harvest" some of the the trees at the holidays and sell it as a fundraiser.

This one will be wilted long before Christmas but I took advantage of it to lobby for a kiss. It's a little difficult to see just how big it is in the picture because it sort of blends into the pine trees in the background but it's bigger than a basketball. Merit's a big ol' kiss, don't you think?

Score!

Errands took me to Pensacola this afternoon, and I figured that as long as I was in town, I might as well run in Belk's since it was right on my route. I'm not a big shopper but I bought a couple of shirts there a few months back and I really like them. They're nothing fancy...glorified T-shirts, really...but they're comfortable and do up nice. Maybe I'd pick up another color or two.

 

Or four or five. Plus a crinkly button-down shirt and a pair of crop pants. It's been a long time since I bought that many pieces all at once and yes, there's a predominance of my favorite color in there...but that's not the story here.

Shopping is a have-to-do thing with me, not a love-to-do one. Obviously, I could use a few pointers from Kayla in that department. I usually wait until I need something then hit the store with a purpose: Find something that (a) fits, (b) I hopefully like and (c) doesn't cost an arm and a leg. I'm retired; I don't need designer clothes. Bottom line: I don't shop just for fun so it's rare that what I'm looking for is on sale.

But today was a rare day. Not only where the shirts I went to look at on sale, they were really ON SALE! As in 75% off, making my $20 T-shirt $4.98. When I saw the price marked on the ticket, I had to go ask if it was right as there were other numbers written on the tag too. The clerk said the shirts were considered summer merchandise and they were hurrying them out the door. It was the same thing with the crop pants and crinkly button-down shirt.

So I was feeling pretty good about those savings but it got even better. They'll take an additional 30% off all the clearance merchandise at the register, the clerk says. Now the shirt I had been prepared to buy for $20 was only going to cost $3.49. $3.49! Heck, I could buy them to work in the yard at that price. That wasn't my objective but I couldn't see passing up a few more colors given the deep discount.

Bottom line: I got seven pieces and paid a grand total of $33.79 with tax. Major score! I could relate to the thrill those extreme couponers get when the cashier handed me my receipt and told me I'd saved $148.57. Even the few things I needed from Hobby Lobby were half-price. With all the money I was saving Mr. A I probably should have kept going into the night but I gathered my sacks up and came home to enjoy my haul. Maybe this shopping thing is more fun than I was giving it credit for.

I Labored; Let's Call It A Day

While it's a holiday for most people, it was a regular Monday here in Brenda-land. The house is clean, the laundry is done and I even managed to fit in a walk between the showers. No need to feel sorry for me; I chose to stick to the usual schedule rather than postpone them until tomorrow. Besides, I'm retired...every day is a holiday.

We did take time yesterday for a little holiday weekend activity...we went to the beach. It wasn't for sunning and enjoying traditional beach activities; it was to see the big waves being kicked up by Tropical Storm Lee. And I've got to say, they were pretty impressive.

Northwest Florida is blessed with some of the most beautiful beaches in the country with the prettiest blue-green water and sugar-white sands. And while the surf is occasionally dangerous, most of the time we have wienie-waves. A storm in the Gulf changes all that. You could hardly see the steel-gray water for all the foam generated by the breaking waves. They were 6'-8' feet out just a ways but smaller near shore. Needless to say, the red flags were flying and swimming was prohibited. The surfers, who are exempt from the swimming ban, were loving it.

We went down the island away from the homes and beach business and used one of the dune walk-overs to get to the beach. The wind was really howling, sending sand flying so it was like getting sandblasted as we walked. It was better once we got close to the water as the wet sand wasn't being picked up by the wind...but the spray was. It didn't take long before you tasted salt when you licked your lips, and I had to clean my camera lens more than once.

Pensacola Beach sits at one end of an island...well, it's really just a long sandbar, but you can drive the length of it to a second bridge to return to the mainland, and that's what we did, enjoying the sights and sounds of the crashing waves as we went. OK, I was enjoying them; Wayne had to keep his eyes on the road...or what he hoped was the road. The sand was blowing so bad it was hard to see where the pavement was, as evidenced by this picture I took from inside the car. In fact, he said it reminded him of driving in snow storms back in Kansas. The sand is really soft so you're sunk, literally and figuratively, if you get off the paved surface. And, of course, the sand drifts just like snow too, accumulating on the road. It wasn't long after we completed our trip that they closed the road until the storm passes and they can clean it off again.

The winds (which have been much more gusty today) have shifted, the temperature has dropped and it looks like Lee is moving out of the area. We probably got 6.5" of rain here at the house but I know Pensacola got several cells with heavy rain that missed us. I'm always glad when these systems move on, especially when wind and rain are all we had to show for them. 

September's Five on the Fifth

Lately I’ve been suffering from a case of the end-of-summer blahs. You know, where nothing…and I do mean nothing… seems to spark my interest. Yard work is uninviting, inside projects hold no charm and even my blog is boring, as my better half recently pointed out to me. Needless to say, it was with a sense of dread that I approached this month’s Five on the Fifth. Where can a girl find a starting point when creativity takes a hike?

It turns out the answer was easier than you might expect. I went to the one place where I know I’ll find inspiration perfectly matched to my design aesthetic: my own scrapbooks. That’s right, I scraplifted myself. I grabbed an album, flipped through the pages until I found a page that “spoke” to me then I set off to recreate it with different photos and supplies. And you know what? The end result is something totally different but that’s a good thing.

Here’s the page that caught my eye:

 

It’s one I did for Creating Keepsakes several years ago but good design never goes out of style. It has all the things that say “me”: Clean lines, a grid design, simple patterns, and a story supported by the pictures. I’m slowly working my way through my brother’s share of the old family photographs; could I make this design work with those pictures? The answer is yes and here’s the result:

 

Supplies:
Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper Patterned paper: Deja Views, Fancy Pants
Corrugated papers: DMC Industries Punches: McGill
Ink: ColorBox, Clearsnap; Tattered Angels
Paint: Golden Paints
Chipboard letters: October Afternoon
Pen: Staedtler
Font: Zurich, Bitstream
Other: Glossy Accents, Ranger Industries; dictionary paper

Journaling: The long black pages of an old-style album yielded these photos that left us with more questions than answers. A class photo: A prom dress? Does the hand tinting reflect the look of the original? And who are the young men…family, friends or boyfriends? The only name we have is “Frenchie” for the photo booth close-up, but who is “Frenchie”? Still, this peek at Mother as a teen is intriguing and the background scenery of the Hedrick front yard brings back fond memories.

When you have a lot of old photos but don’t have many details about them, you have to look for a common thread among them. Here there are two: They’re all of my mother as a teenager and they left us with a sense of regret that we don’t know more about them.

So many of the pictures are really small and it would be easy for them to get lost on a page, but by clustering them together in small groups, they have more visual weight and thus, more prominence. I simply substituted those clusters for some of the single photos in the original design to keep the same balance. Some corrugated paper strips compensated for the varying sizes and gave me the same vertical line as the rickrack in the original as well as a little dimension without a lot of bulk. Repeating the journaling on the circles would compete with these small photos so I opted for flowers instead. An added bonus was they were left over from this project, allowing me to rely on past creativity when my own seemed lacking. Their round shape served the same purpose as the circles, softening all those right angles, and the larger artisan shape rather than half-circles seemed a better fit with the vintage feel of the photos. Just having somewhere to start from made this page come together quickly and along the way my creativity came back from its hike, at least temporarily.

The journaling is as much about what we don’t know about these photos as what we do. Five simple questions, some only a few words, form the core but it’s really the only story we have at this point. Had we known of these photos when Mother was alive we might have learned more but they’re still treasures and we deal with what we have.

Chances are you won’t be working with tiny old photos (but kudos if you are), so I’ve created the layered photo templates for the original page. There are four 3x3 square photos on the template but I left off the two larger photos you see on the layout on the theory that you know how to get 4x6 pictures from your processor or your printer. Here is the download:



Download SeptLayeredTemp

And it wouldn’t be Five on the Fifth without some freebies to make journaling a little easier. These are rather generic in subject with a nod to back to school. You can download them here:

 

Download SeptExtras

Scrapbooking is just like everything else: Sometimes you just need a starting point. Once you take that first step, you can follow the road to the end but we can all use a little push to get out of the gate. I chose to scraplift myself. While I encourage scraplifting in general, I think we often overlook using our own completed pages as inspiration and we shouldn’t. After all, where else are you going to find inspiration so attuned to your own style? And besides, you have the added benefit of reliving those fun memories and celebrating past design choices in the process of finding that creative push you need. But if you’re looking for a different inspiration, here are five more starting points you might use:

    1. Check out Shimelle Laine’s new Starting Point concept on her blog. She’s done the cardstock/patterned paper foundation; you duplicate it then add the photos and pretty extras to finish it off. The link is to one of the first ones she did but she’s making it a regular feature on her blog so you’ll find others with a quick look around.
    2. Take advantage of the talents of professional graphic designers by starting from an advertisement. This one by Paula Gilarde at Write.Click.Scrapbook. is a great starting point and I love her interpretation. You can find more ad inspiration challenges at other scrapbooking websites too…Google is your friend.
    3. If it seems you’re always working with the same color combinations (like me and teal), shake things up a bit with a new one. Hop over to Kuler and challenge yourself to design a page using one of the color combos rated most popular with professional graphic designers who hang out on their site. You’ll be amazed at how a fresh mix of colors will spark your creativity and open you up to new possibilities.
    4. A trusted starting point for design is to work from a sketch, and for me there’s no better place to find one than Sketch Support. Not only do I love the way Alison Davis fills her pages with lots of photos but still has room for fun extras, but she and her design team do a terrific job of showing you how to interpret the sketches in a variety of ways so you can use them over and over again, giving you lots of starting points. She even shows you ways to turn card sketches into layouts. There are links to all her past sketches there on the right so you’ll have a bazillion starting points…more or less.
    5. Sometimes you’re in the mood to scrap but uninspired by the photos and stories at hand. Maybe what you need is a starting point for a new story, one you hadn’t thought about telling until the idea was suggested. You’ll find some great writing prompts at the Write Source as well as the Creativity Portal. Don't get hung up on the fact that some of them are topics for students' writing assignments; there are some great scrapbooking layout ideas within those suggestions.

Whether it’s scraplifting yourself, finding your direction from one of my suggestions or just grabbing some pictures and paper and doing it, the idea is still the same: Create a scrapbook page that documents a part of your life and use a list of five things as the basis for your journaling. I've given you the starting points; the rest is up to you.

Dreary Days

I'll borrow a little from Snoopy and start by saying it is a dark and stormy night. That's OK; it fits with the gray and stormy day. The rain held off all day yesterday and I was able to get out and accomplish some things. Today, however, not so much. We did manage the weekly grocery run without getting too wet but things went downhill from there. It rains and then it drizzles. It pours and then it just looks like a deluge could arrive at any minute. Such is the nature of a tropical storm. Three inches of rain so far and counting.

The day's entertainment has been watching the hummingbird who claims ownership of the feeder. He's been a regular since spring and has been the sole partaker of the sugar buffet until recently. Over the last several weeks we've seen at least one more visitor, probably two.

This little guy is protective of his meal ticket on a sunny day, zooming in to chase away any newbie who dares to dine at his table. I keep trying to tell  him to share...I'll make more whenever the feeder gets empty...but so far he hasn't listened. The feeder sits just off the edge of the back porch and we regularly see them zipping by the windows as they fight over the nectar.

And that's just what happened today. I suppose the constant rain made it more difficult to get food from nearby flowers, etc., so the feeder was a prime dining locale. And while the regular guy spent a lot of time just sitting on the perch, guarding what he's come to believe is his, he wasn't afraid to fly out into the rain to chase off the unwanted visitor. Then he'd fly back into the perch, fluff up his feathers to shake off the excess water, and settle in to await the next assault. And it always came. They went on like that all afternoon.

That was the action I was trying to capture but they're too fast for me. The photo isn't all that good as I had to take it through the window...they're shy and disappear at the slightest movement. It's fun to watch them size each other up, though, as they stop, start and change direction with sharp precision. It's a little like an aerial ballet, complete with funny little squeaks as they scold one another.

One time, however, I looked out there and two hummingbirds were sitting on the feeder at the same time. That's why I think there might be three of them. One was clearly the male who regularly hangs out there but the other looked like a female. She was there and gone so quickly I didn't get much of a look. Maybe she'll be back tomorrow and stay longer. We have several more days of rain and dreary skies ahead of us; I'll need some diversion.

There's An App For That

My friend Carol receives the Farmer's Almanac each year as a Christmas gift...per her request. She likes the folksy blend of weather forecasts, trivia and other information contained within its pages. But maybe this December she'll ask for the smartphone version...the Farmer's Almanac has gone high-tech.

I'm not sure why I find such a contradiction with a book that still comes with a hole in the corner (for hanging on a nail in the outhouse library in days gone by) and now has followers on Twitter and more than 30,000 fans on its Facebook page but I do. Seems like an oxymoron to me but I suppose even the Farmer's Almanac has to keep up with the times.

Although Carol won't get her copy until December, the newest version will be released next week. And in case you're wondering, the almanac predicts a stormier-than-usual winter for most of the country. I always wondered how they could predict weather months and month ahead of time; their formula factors in sunspots, tidal action and planetary alignment. My guess is they're right about as frequently as the weatherman on TV with his sophisticated models and technology...and that doesn't seem to be very often.

Somehow I don't see Carol giving up her paper copy in favor of an app for her phone but she won't be alone. They expect to sell 4 million copies, a fact that surprised me also in an age when phone books are disappearing because people obtain that information elsewhere. You'd think the same would be true of what's in the almanac but apparently not. In fact, they're seeing a new audience of younger readers lured by the book's back to basics approach. It seems the dismal economy has been good for the Farmer's Almanac.

Ordinarily I'd hook you up with the online version so you could have a semi-high-tech Farmer's Almanac experience but my brief experience there was filled with pesky pop-up ads that found their way around my blockers. You can get there via Goggle though. Or Facebook or Twitter or......

Got Plans?

Have you got any plans? It's Labor Day, after all...the unofficial end of summer. But in this case I'm not inquiring about what's on your schedule for the holiday weekend. I hope whatever you have planned will be fun and relaxing but I know where I'll be: inside.

The plans I'm referencing are for building an ark because we might be needing it. The big blob of weather in the Gulf is likely to turn into Tropical Storm Lee tomorrow and is forecast to bring us ten to fifteen inches of rain over the weekend...maybe more. Then again the other big blog of weather out there might make tropical storm status first and claim the name Lee, leaving us with Maria. It's an odd race of sorts.

One reason we're likely to see so much rain is that the storm is moving like a snail, giving it plenty of time to dump rain as it creeps along. And the other is that landfall is expected to be west of us, probably Louisiana, and the heaviest rains are always in the northeast quadrant of the storm.

I blame the storm on the state forestry guy who was on the news the other night. He was talking about the danger of more wild fires and lamenting how our rainy season didn't live up to its name...it wasn't very rainy. He actually wished for a tropical system to remedy the shortfall and it looks like he's going to get his wish. I, on the other hand, would have just wished for more afternoon thunderstorms.

It could be worse; Lee isn't expected to develop into a hurricane so the rain will be a bigger concern than the wind. We will, of course, be keeping a close eye on the storm just in case things change. While the Weather Channel and our local stations are good sources of information, I like getting things right from the horses mouth...the National Hurricane Center. I guess if we're going to have a system in the Gulf, this is the best kind to have. Well, unless you're New Orleans where heavy rains are a real problem. The rest of the Southeast will be grateful for rain although for a tourist area like ours we'd probably rather it didn't come on a holiday weekend.

Rainfall in those quantities isn't unheard of around here; I remember us getting 17" from one storm. Still, I'm keeping that ark option...open just in case.

Here and There

I spent the day running errands...going here for birthday cards and socks, there for salmon and vegetables for supper. One of the best trips of the day was the one to the salon to get my mop cut. Man, does it feel good to have less hair up there! In short, I was in and out of here all day long...and it really took me all day long.

Actually, it was nice to get out and around as I've spent the last two days right here working. Yesterday it was ironing (remind me not to let two weeks worth pile up again). And on Monday I was out there trimming bushes. What I usually do in two days I squeezed into one very long day, but it's nice to have it all done and looking tidy around here.  

Bushes and ironing don't offer much in terms of blogging material but we did have some excitement here in the neighborhood tonight. I heard all kinds of sirens as I was out on my walk and as I rounded the corner I saw an ambulance on its way out. The emergency lights weren't on at that time but it clearly had someone in the back. Moments later here came a Sheriff's deputy behind it and as I turned another corner, there was a second deputy's car. I'm not sure what was going on there but clearly some type of event in our sleepy little suburb.

Finally, I forced myself to abandon the comfy couch and come over here to the computer. I knew if I stayed where I was, I'd sink deeper and deeper into that soft, well-known corner and before I knew it, I'd be off to dreamland. It's happened there before. My job here, however, is done; I hear my bed calling my name.