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Memos, Mail, Me: Easter Weekend

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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. 

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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.

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

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

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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.

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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. 

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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.)

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

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The inside sentiment continues, "thinks you're awesome! Happy Easter"

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"Happy Easter!"

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

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

One Little Word: 2017

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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.

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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.

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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.

Memos, Mail, Me: Refreshed!

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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.

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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. 

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

SNAP: Day and Night

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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. 

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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.

Project Life Catch-up

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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.

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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. 

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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.

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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.

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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!

SNAP: The Flowers of Niagara-on-the-Lake

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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.

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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.

SNAP: The Backstage Tour

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Thursday was our 43rd wedding anniversary and we celebrated with a day trip to Niagara-on-the-Lake to see their new musical, "Alice in Wonderland." I'd give the musical a mixed review—the production was amazing with wonderful videography that served as a backdrop to each of the scenes. For me, the musical itself was too episodic, and the lead seemed poorly cast (a 40 year old actress as 10 year old Alice just wasn't very convincing.) Nonetheless, I was happy to see the performance. When I purchased the tickets in April, I also purchased tickets for the backstage tour in the morning. We loved the tour, learned lots of interesting information about the musical, and the Shaw Festival as well as seeing behind-the-scenes. So this week's SNAP is four photos from the backstage tour.

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Another thanks, to Helena, for hosting SNAP each week. I took photos for two collections in Niagara-on-the-Lake, so there'll be another SNAP from this trip next week as well. 

CASE(E) this Sketch 181

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As soon as I saw this sketch from CAS)E) this Sketch, I knew I wanted to use a new piece of patterned paper I picked up over the weekend in Buffalo. I bought it to use with some summer layouts for Project Life, but when I saw this sketch I knew I had the perfect stamp set to go with the patterned paper.

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The patterned paper is from imaginesce, and the stamp set is "Ice Cream Dreams" by Simon Says–from a stamp kit two summers ago. I colored the ice cream treats with Copics and gave them a heavy coat of Glossy Accents after fussy cutting them. The sentiment (which I moved from the top of the sketch to the bottom) was stamped on a banner from MFT Dynamics Blueprints #28. It's hard to see in the photo, but I partially die cut the edges of the patterned paper with one edge of a Stitched Rectangle by Simon Says.

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At the end, I decided the card needed just a little something, and three rainstones from PTI did the trick. 

Challenge: Use Patterned Paper

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I have two bins of 6X6 paper pads, and I do use them for both card making and scrapbooking (although it's been far too long since I've worked on Project Life), but they aren't my go-to supply like they used to be. The folks at Simon Says feel the same way and this week's Monday Challenge is to use patterned papers. Both my cards today use the patterned papers that came with one of Papertrey Ink's Mini-Market kits. This one is "Still Life: Summer." I love the colors, and hope they'll issue a refill pack soon, as I've come close to depleting the papers.

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I mounted a sheet of the patterned paper on a card base of Raspberry Fizz, and added a strip of Washi tape down the side. The diecuts come already printed in the kit, so it makes for a quick and easy card. The sentiment, from "Scripted" was embossed in white on a scrap of black cardstock. 

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Although it didn't photograph well, I added some Wink of Stella to the fruits, and die cut a black shadow for the diecut word.

Here's another card, also from the kit, with just a strip of patterned paper. This time I used a preprinted tag from the kit as well as the colored raffia.

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The patterned paper was added to some white cardstock, then die cut with a Simon Says "Stitched Rectangle" (could be the most used die cut set in the house). Then all was mounted on bright green cardstock. I used a new-to-me Distress Stickles, Clear Rock Candy on the peaches, which photographed much better than the Wink of Stella.

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Linking up with Simon Says "Monday Challenge."

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SNAP: The Chicago Botanic Garden

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We made an unexpected trip to Chicago last week to lend Sarah a hand. We were there just five days, but were able to help out in a variety of ways. The most fun, of course, is entertaining Caleb, and although he is not in the SNAP collage, it's thanks to him that we were at the gardens. He loves the Model Train Garden there, and once he's had his fill of trains, he's happy to wander about the gardens looking at the flowers, fountains, and waterfalls. We've spent many a happy hour here, but this was our first spring visit, and the flowers were glorious!

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And because I must, a photo of Caleb enjoying the warm Sunday afternoon.

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Linking up with Helena, and off to see the other SNAP collections for this week. In case you haven't seen it, Rinda has announced her annual Summer Scavenger Hunt which starts today! It's always one of my favorite photography projects of the year.

Happy Mother’s Day

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It's Mother's Day in the United States, and I want to wish all the mothers (here and elsewhere) a happy day! I've certainly had one. We started the day at church, and then just as we started out to brunch at Tracy's brother's and sister-in-law's, a van from a florist pulled up in front of our driveway. He delivered a wonderful basket of flowers from Matt, Betsy, Skylar, and Ella. My gift from Sarah, Adam, and Caleb is on its way. We had a lovely FaceTime talk with them this evening, and evidently my new bike seat will arrive tomorrow. I'm excited to try it out, so we'll have to get our bikes out of Matt's garage. Tracy gifted me with a pretty hanging basket, and a gorgeous necklace that we discovered in New Orleans. It was more than I wanted to pay, but he purchased it for Mother's Day. 

We had a lovely brunch with all of Tracy's family who is in the area. This year it included his brother from Texas who was here to play at the Lilac Festival on Friday night. It doesn't often happen, but I simply enjoyed myself, and never thought about taking photos until we were on our way home!

I made three Mother's Day cards this year. The first for my mother-in-law. I used another of the watercolored magnolias that I first shared here. 

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I found the perfect Memory Box card to match the watercolored flower—don't think I have any more of these. The tag is the "Dressed Up Tags" by Simon Says. This time I add the tag top using a piece of watercolored paper I had in my scrap pile. The sentiment (die and stamped) are from Simon Say's "You."

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This gives you a better look at the gold embossing that was done before the watercoloring.

Betsy also got a magnolia/tag card for Mother's Day.

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This is the first year I've noticed the beautiful yellow magnolias in the neighborhood, and they inspired this magnolia. Same technique, same tag. The sentiment is from an old Papertrey Ink set, "Fillable Frames #4," and the card is also from Memory Box. Both the beautiful magnolias are part of the Alt&New "Magnolias for Her" set.

I didn't think these flowers which are almost three-dimensional would make it through the mail to Sarah, so I needed to find a flatter design. 

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I just acquired a new purple paper and ink from Papertrey, "Amethyst Allure." It's going to be a favorite for sure. The flowers are from a free set sent by Papertrey to customers at the holiday called "One Big Happy." The sentiment is from "Happy" (Simon Says) and "Happy" (Mother's Day by Avery Elle). The green leaves were die cut from New Leaf (PTI) with "Leafy Green" die from My Favorite Things." They were all arranged in the Horizontal Stripes cover plate cut from Amethyst Allure. 

Looking forward to a quiet evening of cleaning up my studio and getting some reading done.  

5 in 5 on 5/5

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I was inspired by Maggie's post to see if I could find five blooms worthy of a photograph in our yard. Maggie had double that number, but we are way behind this year due to many cool (and frequently, rainy) days. But I grabbed my camera after dinner and did, indeed, find five worthy subjects. The Helleboros was past it's prime as were most of the daffodils. Sadly, I don't know the names of some of our ground covers which are quite lovely right now. The yard, in general, is in need of much loving attention.

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Our Korean Pear Tree is one of my favorites. It looked as if it might not make it through the winter, but I was delighted to see it come back to life this spring.

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I'm not sure of the name of this low growing flower that blooms for a long time along our stone wall.

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We have lots of myrtle which I love when it's blooming.

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We have several primroses blooming along the edge of my perennial bed. This one is the prettiest.

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And another pretty ground cover that I can't name. I do know where it came from, however. Every fall we dump our hanging baskets into the shade garden, and frequently some of those flowers return and take up residence in the garden. This is one of them.

 I'm happy to link up with Sandi at itchifingers for the May Five in Five—on the fifth, no less!

SNAP: Fences

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As most tourists in New Orleans, we spent quite a bit of time walking in both the French Quarter and the Garden District. The two areas have very distinct personalities which you'll see more clearly in later posts, but there are beautiful wrought iron fences in both. 

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Interestingly, both districts have a cornstalk fence. The one in the French Quarter sits in front of The Cornstalk Hotel, and was erected in 1840. According to a tour guide we overheard, the same story about the owner building the fence to ease his wife's homesickness for her home state of Iowa is told about both fences. I think this one is more beautiful because of the painted posts and gorgeous gate. 

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The mansion in the Garden District was built in 1860. The fence was created by the same company that built the fence in the French Quarter. 

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There's one other cornstalk fence. It was built 1858 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Linking up, as always, with Helena and off to see what other SNAP offerings there are this week.

SNAP & The Winter Scavenger Hunt

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Tracy and I had a Groupon that was about to expire for a new-to-us restaurant last week. I'd heard great things about it, and we were not disappointed. It's a small place, but the service and the food were both exceptional. On one wall were three pieces of cutlery, and I immediately thought of the Winter Scavenger Hunt even though I'd already taken a photo of our cutlery at home. Then I spotted another photo of cutlery—a graphic design on the window as you came into the restaurant, and realized I had (with one more photo from another favorite restaurant) my four photos for SNAP.

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If you look carefully at the bottom left photo, you can see Tracy looking at me as I take the photo, and the cutlery on the wall inside as well. The only way I could get our cutlery in the template was to put it in sideways, but fortunately the soup spoon is at least right-side up. The top right photo is the graphic design for a great restaurant a few blocks from us called Orb—they specialize in meatballs. 

So here are the last of the scavenger hunt items. I'm still hoping for a better photo of a robin, but I've found the required items for the hunt.

11-Your favorite pudding. This was made easier once I was assured "pudding" was synonymous with dessert. I splurged and purchased my favorite cake to take to friends- chocolate raspberry ganache.

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12 A fancy button. Here are three I cut off a favorite dress once it went out of style. I have several of each, and hope someday to find some way to use them.

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14 Afternoon tea. I usually have my tea in a mug, but for this occasion (a photograph) I used one of the fancy tea cups I inherited from my great aunt.

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21 Your own handwriting. I'm keeping a gratitude journal this year and so here are a couple of pages from it. I'm trying to find a quote each week to "illustrate" as well.

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And a page from my daily journal. Keeping a daily journal is critical for me especially when I'm so far behind in my Project Life pages.

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So that's it for the Winter Scavenger Hunt. My other finds are here, here, and here. I know I'll still be looking in case I find some more good candidates. Linking up with Helena for SNAP, and with Joy and Eileen for the Winter Scavenger Hunt.

 

Project Life: June 2015

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I finally got my June and July Project Life pages completed. Most of June had been done quite some time ago, but I was waiting to figure out who took the photo of Karen, Debbie, and me at Karen's retirement party. Just a few weeks ago, I was texting with Karen's sister in Wisconsin, and discovered she had the photo I wanted. July has taken so long because there are SO MANY photos. I had most of them printed locally with a white border, and had started the pages in October and November. The whole project got sidelined when I took on doing a Christmas Journal, and then we were gone for several weeks. Now they're done before we head off again for nearly all of March. In the next few days I'll get the July pages posted. They'll need to be divided up into several posts. Now my goal is to be caught up over the summer. We'll see how that goes.

So here is June:

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We took an unexpected trip to Chicago in the middle of June to help Sarah, Adam, and Caleb move to a new house. It's only five minutes away from the old one, but five minutes or an hour, the packing up, preparing the new house, cleaning the old house, and getting it all moved is still the same amount of work. On our way, we stopped for dinner with my cousin, his wife, and my aunt in Ohio.

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As always, the focus is on the photos and the story, and there's minimal embellishment. I've recently realized I opt not to tell longer stories, and I think I might begin to do more of that in the near future.

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Right after we got home from Chicago, we took off to Hyde Park to meet my grand-nephew, Finn, and to attend a really special wedding where our neighbor's daughter (who we've known since she was in preschool) married a soccer buddy of Matt's. They are both artists (a fashion designer and an animation designer) so the wedding had lots of special touches.

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And lastly, a page with Miss Ella and Miss Skylar, and my friend Karen's retirement party.

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Karen (in the middle), Debbie and I spent three years together working in a blended classroom (1/3 special education students). They were the best four years of my 37 year teaching career.

Back tomorrow with the first installment of July's pages.