We had the nicest weekend:
It's not often that we make so many travel plans in one weekend. With all this cold weather and little desire to go out I'm glad to have such nice events ahead of us. Something to look forward to is always a good thing.
The day after the election I tried in vain to find a New York Times. Then I tried to get on the web site to order the special (expensive) edition, but I could never get through the process. Too many people like me wanting to preserve an historic day. This morning I was out of the house by 6:30 and found a paper at my first stop. On the local news tonight they had a brief story about the fact that all the New York Times were gone by mid-morning. I enjoyed mine with a cup of coffee and a touch of spring.
I've decided that I'm not a fan of totally digital layouts. I need some texture, some layers. But this week I downloaded some photo frames (no link, unfortunately since the blog has been closed down) that I thought I'd like to try. My first attempt was not very successful, but after some help from my blogging friend, Joni, I managed to get all the photos where I wanted them. Since my album is an 8.5 X 11 album this is what I have. Next week (since I'll need another one page layout) I think I'll try resizing the frame a bit and then mount it on cardstock with a little embellishment.
Although it doesn't appear to have scanned, there is a narrow black border around the top and two side edges.
. . . to be an American on this historic day.
Well, actually this is a post for both Weeks 2 and 3. Week 3 photos are posted in the photoblog on the sidebar, and here is the layout for Week 2.
I have driven by the parking lot for Corbett's Glen on old Penfield Road many, many times but until this week I had never been there. Monday Matt and I took a long hike through the glen. If you live in the Rochester area, I highly recommend it. It was a beautiful winter day (with temperatures in the 30s, rather than the subzero temps of today) and the trail is well marked and used. We encountered several other people, many walking their dogs. Here are my favorite photos from the hike.
Matt and I both agreed that it would be great to go back in other seasons. According to the official web site the glen is a stopping place for migrating birds in the spring and the fall. The trail is pretty flat except for two short, but steep slopes that take you from North Corbett's Glenn to South Corbett's Glenn.
One of my favorite online sources for scrapbook classes is Shimelle.com. I have participated in three of her Christmas Journal classes as well as two others. She's giving a free class that begins on January 18th. All of the information can be found here. Even if you don't have time to complete the project now, be sure to download the prompts so you can work on it later.
I'm a tulip fan, and I usually start buying them at Wegmans in March. This year I'm already sick of snow and cold weather, and it's only January 16th! Last weekend I bought a pot of white tulips before our bridge group played here on Saturday night. One of these photos will show up as yesterday's 365 photo, but if you're as sick of winter as I am here's a taste of spring.
I usually rely on my 50mm 1.4 lens for shots like this, but my wide-angle Tamron lens did a pretty good job since my Canon lens is off for repair.
My photos for this week past are posted in the Photo-a-Day on the sidebar. For the last several days, I've been shooing on manual. Usually I shoot in aperture priority, but a post on Pioneer Woman motivated me to try manual again. It's getting easier, and I'm pleased that this project is really getting me to try some new things. We put away all the Christmas decorations today. Before we took the tree down, I played around with a slow shutter speed and the Christmas tree lights. Fun.
I have friends who don't understand about blogs–about all the information and wonderful inspiration there is on the internet. I admit there are times when I spend too much time reading on the internet and, as noted in a post below, my book reading time has diminished since I discovered the blogging world. I have my son-in-law to thank for this. He has a theological blog that has quite a loyal following. I thought it would be a fun thing to do, a way to commit myself to sharing and writing. It's been a good thing. I've learned so much, and found so much inspiration. And I still get excited when I find a new blog that inspires me.
Today I found Habit–fabulous photography–and through Habit, the blogs of the women who created Habit. Molly is giving away an Epson printer on her blog, so go check it out. And be sure to check out Habit if you are interested in photography and choosing just the right words to accompany your photographs.
There are two web sites that I'm aware of that allow you to keep track of the books you read. Thanks to Sarah, I started using Shelfari a year or so ago. This morning I got an email from Shelfari about posting the number of books I read in 2008. My goal for the last 18 years that I have kept track of what I read, has been to read 25 books a year. I have met my goal almost every year. Frankly, the number of books I read decreased when I discovered all the information on the internet. Reading blogs and articles online has certainly taken away from my book reading time. (Then there are also magazines to consider. Tracy just caught up on all the MacWorld and MacLife magazines so now there's a stack on my dresser for me to read.) So I've always thought 28 was a pretty good number, but my accomplishment is pathetic compared to most of those posting on this survey. Oh well, I will never read over 100 books in a year, nor do I want to try. There are too many other interesting things to do!
Matrimony-Joshua Henkins
People of the Book-Geraldine Brooks
Pennsylvania Avenue: Profiles in Backroom Power-John Harwood
Intuition-Allegra Goodman
Take This Bread-Miles
Belongs To Me-Marissa de los Santos
No One You Know-Michelle Richmond
A Camera, Two Kids, and a Camel-Anne Belt
Run-Ann Patchett
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society-Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
The best book was People of the Book, followed closely by Intuition and Matrimony. Another interesting insight was that I read a lot more fiction than nonfiction last year, which is unusual.
That's always been a problem for me, but it's really an issue right now. Well before the holiday, I put several books on reserve at the library. You never know when they'll show up. Then for Christmas I got six new books, and I bought one that had received a great review. So I'm reading Listening is an Act of Love while I'm walking on the treadmill, and I'm reading Songs for the Missing at night. I'm also trying to squeeze in a chapter or two of some of the nonfiction books I got as well. Lo and behold, I discover the library has received two of the books I put on hold. I started both of them last night, secretly hoping I wouldn't care for one of them so I could return it. Alas, I like both of them very much, so now I am reading I See You Everywhere at home, and Reading the OED: One Man, One Year, and 21,730 Pages while I'm walking on the treadmill. You might think the latter book would be a bit dry, but I have laughed out loud time and time again. I'll never remember the words Shea found in the OED, but his interpretation of their definitions is a hoot! I'll get back to the others when I've returned these to the library.
I finally got back to the Design Your Life layouts. I had two weeks and a few miscellaneous layout to do. Today I completed both of the Week 11 layouts on Type.
