I thought I was done for today but then came across these cute faces and just had to do something with them.



Jacob was not sure if he could manage a smile so early in the morning but then decided having a birthday on the same day as his Nanan was a good enough reason to give it a try.

Rhiannon is a self-confessed little Drama Queen and she managed to keep us entertained for a long time. I just love her adorable freckles.

Oktober colors

A short visit in Virginia in September gave me a first taste of fall. The nights were quite a bit cooler than in Florida. The leaves started turning and that was a sight I don't see much anymore, we have blossoms all over, but they don't tell you that fall has arrived.

Sometimes a little hat can lift a mood -  this one did!

There was a flood warning for this day

 We had not seen Chesleigh since she was a baby and here we were greeted by a sweet, very pretty young girl.

 I so like this photo of my #1 SiL. I decided to make a masculine frame for it.

This year I had a small birthday celebration and this is my most favorite cake. The bottom is a thin galette covered with a hard chocolate layer and then all the wonderful fresh fruit on top.
Needless to mention, I did not make it.

So this is it for now, have a bunch of photos to work on and, yikes, the vacuum cleaner is waiting for me to get busy.

When there are a bunch of new photos to play with it does not take very long for a new post.
These are still from our visit to Universal Studios. I think what I enjoyed most are all buildings and all the little alleys one can explore.

This shows the building where they had a performance on the porch. The "Blues Brothers"  appeared from several directions and proceeded to sing and play. When they were done they jumped into the old squad car and drove away.

I learned a couple of new techniques today and I had to try them out. The photos above show the result. The background was a photo of the concrete on some streets.



This explorer was up on some shelves in one of the stores. What an interesting collection of paraphernalia surrounded him.

I thought the lamps in Harry Potter's theme park were really neat. They really seem to have made sure that everything looked just like described in the books.

 Being in sub-tropical climate there were lots of beautiful plants and flowers to be seen.

 Sometimes it is wise to look where you place your feet, especially, when you are always on the look-out for some interesting textures.
I found some in the walk ways.

 It almost looks like a painting.

This photo not only shows the palm frond pattern but the shadows from the tree add an almost Bokeh pattern.

Next will be another trip to Virginia for a week and I will see what I can find there for my photo collection.

Until the next time, have good days and keep your eyes open for all the beautiful sights out there.

A visit to Harry Potter's World

Hogwarts Express

Time went flying by as usual and here it is just about September. August this year, as hot as always, had some
fun days this year. Susie came to visit and the 3 of us hopped in the car and drove to Universal Studios.
We finally got to see Harry Potter's world.
Just loved the town of Hogsmeade. The buildings are just wonderfully ancient looking and the chimneys bend in all directions. Inside the shops we found all the sweet treasures described in the books.

We were all set to took the simulated ride on the brooms but the waiting time was over 90 minutes and neither one of us could face standing in place that long in the  93ºF heat.
If we visit there again one day it will be during a time when the schools are not on vacation and some day in the middle of the week.                                              

The train made a lot of folks jump when they got and suddenly steam came puffing out.

The entire park was so packed, sometimes it was impossible to move. Amazingly nobody seemed      to  be impatient and very little shoving was going on. People having fun tend to be more tolerant it seems.  

       

                                                                                          

We stopped at the "Tattoo Parlor" and each of us got a funny little frog tattoo. Mine stayed on my ankle for   close to 2 weeks, then the Henna faded  away.               

  There was this "fishy" little bird house in the.   

  It really begged me to have some fun with it,

  so I added a few things.                                                                                                                         

There are more pictures from the other park and sooner or later I will get around to posting some more. It always takes more time because I cannot just take photos as they are, I have, and I mean HAVE to fiddle with them first.

We visited Sea World to see the sea life but the Flamingos
provided their own little show. Too funny how their feathers get ruffled when they fight (top left).
The "Alpha" bird posed and I took a step back. All stretched out they are quite big.

 This little flock of Chilean Flamingos gets to take a
daily constitutional through the park guided by to keepers who just walk behind them and guide them along so they don't stray off the path.

 And back to phantasy land. A few years ago Storm had been lost for 13 months and then suddenly appeared again. We do not know where he was all that time but there he was like stepping out from another dimension.

Sometimes you are able to capture a perfect pose. This crane stood still while I was getting my camera out of the bag and turned it on. As soon as I had a couple of pictures he hopped into the water and turned his back to me.

I love the so obvious attitude of the camels and the giraffe.
That giraffe, after posing, bent that long neck down and licked my hand. What a truly weird feeling that was, not like a puppy lick at all and that tongue is just so very long.

 The reflections in these 2 evening photos are spectacular. Plain black and white or sepia were fine but I like the blue mood.
The photos were taken by my friend Nicky on a trip to Guatemala.

Not all the same faith, but all beautiful buildings

Midnight Garden

 Sometimes it is great fun to get into something magical, even if it's only on paper.
So many bad things happening everywhere, it is wonderful to be able to not just create a little special place but let others have a peek.

A very surprised Birthday girl just discovered an unexpected guest. Such fun to see her reaction.

Had to add one more Steimy picture.

Time went flying by as usual. From Easter it seems we jumped straight to Memorial Day.

May was not a happy month for us. After a long and happy life of 19 years Matt's beautiful  pup Steimy was given freedom of pain and sickness. For me this furry family member always seemed like the most dignified being. I only knew him for about 7 years so I missed the playful time of his life, but there were always moments when the puppy seemed to make an appearance.
He is so greatly missed by family and many friends.

The wonderful friends that Matt and Susie have started a "Steimy Fund" and collected over $500 which is being donated to a local vet to provide free treatment for animals in need. Steimy  was the coolest furry friend.

This rose [was] called Josephs Coat but for me it is Steimy's Rose. A beautiful reminder of this pup.

 Now it is Memorial day and Susie and Matt drove to the Quantico National Cemetery to visit her dad's final resting place. This time there was an added visitor, Atlas.
Atlas is posing in all his patriotic splendor, but he is  not the usual happy puppy because he lost his Big Brother Steimy who taught him the ways of being an Alpha Dog. Size means nothing, it is all Attitude.

It is a gloomy day today, rain on and off, grey sky, but there is a little wind blowing that keeps all the small and large flags waving. There are a lot of flags here in The Villages.


At the rate I write here it might just be the 4th of July before there will be anything new. ;)

Easter Trip

We took a trip to Northern Virginia over Easter. It is always so enjoyable to visit "the KIDS" and this time our little family was complete.
We left Florida with 89ºF and arrived in VA to start shivering with the 63ºF that surprised us. It took several days to get used to these cold temps, brrrrr!

Carina spent time with her friends and so did I. It is always so good to give and receive hugs from people that are no longer just around the corner. When it takes 13 hours continued driving to reach your destination, the visits have to wait a long time.

We visited "Old Town" Alexandria. It is always nice to see the river and the old buildings, quaint shops and wonderful restaurants.

At the Reston Towncenter you find a completely different atmosphere. Here you find modern buildings, which make you feel like you are suddenly in a city, where business people rush around during the lunch hour. The quaintness of the Old Town is not present here but in exchange there are first class restaurants which not only offer beautiful dining areas but to my real surprise I was able to so enjoy the staff being trained as they used to be, a long time ago. They not only knew what was on the menu, but they could explain how the dishes were prepared and name the ingredients.
I have gotten used to the greeting "Hi my name is*** and I'm your waitress (er). No problem with that, but encountering first class service was just such a treat.

After we left VA it turned warm there and now here in sunny FL we have a cold wind blowing and it stays in the very low 70ºF.

That's o.k. I'm a lucky person, I do not need sunshine every day to be happy!

Kits : CourtneysDigiscraps-AlteredArt 1+2 - Hide and seek  @ Digital Design Den

A little less time past this time between posting. Maybe I'm finally getting the hang of it. There is really not much to talk about, but, there are always some pictures to show. One of these days, maybe someone will even leave a message. If all my friends were youngsters it would be different I believe, but alas, they are not and everyone is used to all the new methods of communication. So, I'm pretty sure one of these days I will find some kind of a message.

Kits: Geld- Art Emporium and Heart Vintage Images - Stefairy-Burgandy Rain @ Digital Design Den

 Not everything this past week has been altered art.

I will be spending Easter with my children and won't have all my tools so I thought  I'll go ahead and post my Easter wishes early.

Kits: DesignedByEllie - Beauty in books- DesignsByBrigit - Hop and minikit by DesignsByMozz

Invitation to a game of hearts.

Sometimes one comes across something that inspires and that's what happened to me with this altered art kit. I'm having a great time with it.

Yesterday I received a photo of a friend's Corgi puppy. She just won her very first medal, a start in becoming a show dog champion.
She might achieve fame one day but right now she is a
happy pup who did not like the quacking coming from the little toy duck. She fixed it, ripped off the beak and tore
out the quack box.

Her expression looks like she learned it from the Cheshire
cat in Alice in Wonderland. I just love that fur face.

Brecon the beak breaker

Unbelievable how much time has gone by again. In the passed weeks spring has arrived and that means mowing again. I enjoy mowing but I really really hate weeding. I found out that here in Florida we not only have weeds 3 seasons each year, there actually is such nastiness as winter weeds. This year new ones popped up that I had never seen before and they were especially nasty, nettle-like. They fight back when you try to pull them out so you have to pack tools.
The temperatures are almost warm enough for summer but at least right now there is a nice breeze and mornings and evenings are just wonderful.

Kit: Creative Inspiration by: Courtney'sDigiScrapping and KellyJosScraps

Kit Altered Art 1 by: Courtney'sDigiScrapping and KellyJosScraps

Kit The road less traveled by: Sandra Collins and GreenEyedLadyDesigns

 

I so enjoy altered art layouts. You can just let your imagination go wild, especially when you have some wonderful kits to work with.
The little "dragon" is actually one of the thousands of little lizards zipping all over the place. Sometimes they even come inside if given the chance. I love to see the little babies, tinier than a match stick and already running and jumping. Most of them here are brown but we do have a few green ones.
I'm forever trying to rescue them on the lanai because my Nutmeg thinks if it moves she needs to hunt it.

Today I encountered something new. I made a broom stand up without support. I'm sure there is a good scientific explanation for this but I don't know it. Supposedly it only worked today. So, I will be sure to go out tomorrow and give this another try.

Inside it worked really well and the broom just stood there. Outside was a little more difficult because we had another windy day and the broom kept falling. Finally the wind stopped for a moment and here is the broom.

The wind is still blowing pretty strong but the sun was out so at least it looked nice out there. I decided to stay inside and have some fun with some stored photos.
I have a dear friend, Nicky, who loves to travel and she takes wonderful photographs which she shares with me. I listen to her travel adventures and see the pictures and enjoy it all without having to get up at 3AM to see the sun rise in a far away place.
Having been a military wife for 20 years I had to travel quite a bit. Didn't mind it then because being young made it all seem like a grand adventure every time. Now I love to be at home and just here and there take a not so far away trip.
Today I played around with some photos Nicky took in Guatemala. Hope you enjoy the pictures as much a I did creating them.