Focus On Life 52 Photos - Week 7 ~ The Beauty of Flowers

 The Earth laughs in flowers. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sally's prompt for us this week was~

"A single flower with it's beauty has the ability to lift our spirits and bring a sense of happiness to our souls. The sheer sight of flowers can evoke feelings of excitement, positivity and enhance our well being.

This week take a moment to bring a little happiness to your soul and enhance your well being.

Take a moment to enjoy the beauty of flowers."

 I took these shots right before we left Florida to come home. They are of the purple passion flower vine that we planted along the fence behind our house about 10 months ago.

The vine has spanned the width of our property in that time  and you can tell by the tightness of the tendrils, it is a serious climber!

The blooms remind me of some underwater sea creature, as if it could just swim right away into that deep blue sky there.

I want you to know that these are not post processed in any way other than applying a frame to them and this first one is slightly cropped. The colors are that vivid.

 The outermost petals remind me a little of an upside down water lily.

Seeing as how we are having a very cold rain right now which is supposed to turn to sleet and snow as the day and night wear on, the sight of these flowers and that beautiful blue sky really do brighten my day today!

Go enjoy a walk through the virtual garden at The Studio Sublime and see what everyone has picked this week!

Focus on Life 52 Photos - Week 3 ~ Take Time

Week 3 of this journey of focusing on our life, one week at a time, one photo at a time and our prompt was "take time".

Sally said " take time for you, without feeling guilty, time to recharge"

That just happened to be what I was doing this past week.
My husband and I were on a long awaited vacation in the Keys and as you can tell by this photo, I was recharging and not feeling one iota of guilt about it!
The temps were in the mid 80's, sunshine, crystal aqua blue waters. Perfection!

I enjoyed walking around during the day taking lots of photos of the colorful houses and buildings in Key West, seeing the historic sites, all the wonderful artwork and riding the trolley.
Then at night I enjoyed the colorful sights again, all the cool bars, hot music, cold drinks and walking down Duval street, drink in hand not feeling guilty again because I was walking and my children are all grown and on their own!
It felt wonderful to just be a couple in love,
 not parents, grandparents, business owners or any of the other responsible hats we wear.

Why is it these times for ourselves are so few and far between?
No matter how many times we resolve to hold onto these times we so often find ourselves right back in our everyday ruts, caught up in work and responsibility and all the "shoulds" in life.
You know I live right by a beautiful beach and never made it there once this past summer!

Thank you Sally for reminding us of the importance of focusing on time for ourselves.
Head on over to the Studio Sublime to see how everyone else took time this week.


Happy Spring!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter/ Spring break!

Everything around here is so far ahead of schedule (except me of course), the wisteria is in full bloom, a month early, the irises are budding, the daffodils are just about gone, as are the cherry blossoms and flowering magnolias. I feel like I have almost missed spring entirely with all my travelling about!

Since last we spoke, I went away to the Art and Soul retreat in Virginia Beach from 2/29-3/5 and had 7 fantastic classes.

Came home , unpacked, repacked and left bright and early on 3/6 and headed back to Florida for the last hurrah and to close up the house for the season and returned home on 3/21.

While down there, we took a trip to St. Pete and met up with Barbara Lewis and her husband Jim for a delicious Thai lunch and a driving tour of the area and got to see her new studio/shop in progress.

Caught up with work at the restaurant ( Ok , sort of) and then headed out to Leesburg Virginia for a chalk painting workshop with Annie Sloan on 3/31.

Picked up my grandkids on 4/4 and headed to the beach for the afternoon as they started their Easter break and kept my grandaughter for 3 nights and days during her break, she returned home on 4/7.

Now I am getting ready to head out to Beadfest Spring with my daughter where she will be taking her first jewelry making classes, the trip is my gift to her for her birthday. I am so looking forward to this time together, I even bought her a set of tools of her own!

I hope to see some of you there!

When I return I will post pictures of all of my adventures, most of which are STILL in the camera! Ha!

It's been a fun ride but I am looking forward to getting back to my regular routine ( whatever that is these days!) and putting into action all of these creative ideas I have filling up my head!

Thanks for stopping by, see you again soon!



Winds of Change 2012

Mary Poppins, Walt Disney Pictures 1964

"Wind's in the east, mist comin' in.
Like something is brewin' about to begin
Can't put me finger on what lies in store
But I feel what's to happen, all happened before"


First of all let me apologize for being AWOL with no explanation for the past 2 months.
You see, Ray and I closed the restaurant right after Thanksgiving for the first time in MANY years for a much needed break and went to Florida.
I had hoped to be able to blog without giving my location away for reasons of security, being in business I thought it wouldn't be a good idea to announce to the world that we weren't around.
The problem is everything I wanted to blog about would have done just that. Then the longer I went the less I knew how to say anything about it at all.


So, here I am, having arrived back home this past week, trying to catch up with my blog reading and getting settled back into a routine readying the restaurant to reopen on Thursday for the season.
As soon as i upload and process the thousand+ pics from 2 cameras I'll share some here.


In the meantime, thank you to those of you who wrote to me privately to check on my whereabouts and to keep in touch.


As stated above in the clip from Mary Poppins,  2012 is bringing with it some changes, I hope you'll be with me along the way.
Hugs



On The Hunt

OK so I know most of you out there are just like me, hunters and gatherers from way back.

I remember going to the playground in elementary school and before long while everyone else would be swinging and climbing I would be digging in the dirt for elusive treasure. Stones, rocks,coins whatever.

Same with the beach, my Pop-Pop would take me even in the winter so I could find beach glass and beautiful shells.  I was always bringing something home no matter where we went as a family. My famous line was " but I could make something out of that!"

Then I grew up and discovered flea markets and estate auctions ( insert Tim the tool man Taylor's growl here)

Well, the mother of all flea markets is in Webster Florida.

My husband and I have been faithful monday morning followers ever since my parents took us for the first time years ago. We will plan our trips to Florida around how many monday's we'll have while there. Sick right?  No? Ok you're my kind of people!

I don't think either time that we have been, that we have actually seen it all in one day. We have our plan, usually to go all the way out back to the big field first to all the sellers who drive up and set out all their wares either on tables or blankets or just in the grass.

Then we work our way back towards the covered buildings, each one designated with colors or numbers or letters. When all else fails we use cell phones to find each other and meet back at the big tree ( pictured above in the mosaic)

I had planned on taking pictures this trip lugging my camera in my bag but got so caught up in the search that I never took one shot this time.  

Back in Jan we went but it was very cold and rainy that day and we didn't stay long. I took  a picture of the big tree and the Webster's sign before heading for cover.  I was there long enough to score this beautiful vintage Singer sewing machine. I have never seen one with 3 drawers on each side and the elaborate scrollwork on each end. It had all the components in the drop down top drawer and even had a spare treadle belt in the side drawer. The seller assured me it still worked, the treadle moved very freely.  I haven't tried it yet and have kept it in Florida.

When he first told me he wanted $75. for it I walked away. I wasn't in the market for a treadle sewing machine but it haunted me and I thought, "this is crazy, go back for it" and believe it or not, he came DOWN from that price. I bought it and stood guard while my husband ( shaking his head all the way) went with my Dad to get the van and load it up. While I stood there I had a number of people ogle it and tell me what a beautiful piece it was and how great I did.

This was THE find this trip, for me anyway. Antique brass and iron backplates and drawer pulls.  Isn't the detail amazing? So much design work, you gotta love old vintage pieces for that alone. The seller had trays and trays of old pieces of hardware that I had the most fun scrounging through. A hunter gatherer's jackpot.  I was a happy girl  when I left her booth. My family had long since left me to my treasure hunting and we met up for some lunch and a few last minute purchases including a big ole bag of kettle corn before heading home.

Some of the other scores of the day are pictured above in the mosaic-

a high domed crystal butter dish

 a few old labels to frame up for the restaurant

old purple glass bottles, 2 of which have an irridescent coating on them from age

old ball jars including the one from Canada with the crown and marked 1950 in the bottom, I know nothing about it but thought the crown was too cool to pass up, besides I'm a glass addict remember?

And marbles, the woman selling the marbles must have thought I was a collector because as I picked through her stash she took a bag out of each pocket to share with me, one bag the marbles were $50. a piece and the other bag they were $100. a piece.  Uh, no thanks, these 50 cent ones are just fine for what I want them for but thanks for sharing! Geez! Really???? $ 100. for a MARBLE???   Somewhere there is a very happy person probably blogging about the find of a century, the elusive $100. marble they have been searching for. I guess it's what makes the world go 'round. I am happy with the jadite ones, they were $4. a piece and the vaseline one which was a whopping $1.

I also found a gorgeous lead crystal footed, covered candy dish with birds engraved in the sides and lid, a cranberry glass vase and a ruby glass covered stick butter dish all of which I left in Florida and have no pictures of yet. 

My husband found decoys again and a few of his favorite collectibles so a good time was had by all.

If you're ever in the area , don't miss the opportunity to go.

Secrets Revealed

The past month has been one of many surprises.

First , as promised, here are the pictures of the fatbook pages for this years' Art and Soul in Hampton. The theme as I mentioned is "In the Garden".  My first thought was Adam and Eve but then quickly turned to a saying I have on a flower box that says "Leave room in your garden for fairies to dance" that I thought most appropriate.

I bought a few new tools to accomplish my needs, a Sizzix which i used to cut the papers for the seed packets and the flower petals. What a fun toy that is! I know, i'm late to the party, scrapbookers and paper people everywhere have been doing this for years right?

Next I bought about 60 packets of seeds to divide amongst tiny jewelry ziploc baggies to fill said seed packets. Forget-me-nots, four-o'clocks, baby's breath, oriental poppies, larkspur, foxgloves and canterbury bells, all things for a proper fairy garden don't you think? Then I sealed the envelopes with glittery purple sealing wax and a fairy seal.  I just love sealing wax.  I decided afterwards that it was probably silly to invest in the seeds as they probably won't ever get opened and planted!

I printed and cut out vintage fairy images and used glue buttons to give them a raised effect on the page and added butterflies and the sayings to complete the front. The rule is, the fatter the pages the better.

The other saying that I have loved for about 20 years is "Bloom where you are planted" but I added a twist to decorate the back of the page. I applied the saying to flowerpots that I hand cut, attached the sizzix cut out flower petals and added a face to the centers of each flower with a clear cabochon. This is the page where you list your contact information.

 Then for a dangle ( all fatbook pages need danglies) I attached a pewter fairy charm with stretch cord through a rivet, so she can dance of course! The side of the pages need to stay blank to allow for the coil binding to be inserted. We had to make 40 pages total. I will be sure to post pictures of the completed fatbooks that we will receive after I return from A&S in May.

Then the next surprise I couldn't mention was we returned to Florida on March 5th to be there for my Mom's shoulder surgery on Mon. March 7th.

I should have taken a picture of her face when she answered the door but the story goes like this.... We had planned the trip for a month, gathered as much as we could fit in the Prius such as dishes, pots pans, small appliances ,towels and linens , Gotta love those space bags, they really work! We laid the plans for where we would be that day in case she called us on cell phones, which she did, then left at 4:30 in the morning to drive straight through.  Just before hitting the Georgia/ Florida border, the phone rang,

 Mom "where did I catch you?"

Me stumbling " Oh I'm shopping in Salisbury, just going between Kohls and Michaels, what's up?"

 Mom " I just sent you some pictures in an email, take a look when you get home and let me know what you think"

Me" Ok, what are they of?"

Mom " It's a surprise, you'll see"

Well, what she sent me pictures of was the front of our house in Florida where my Dad bought some garden bedding plants, petunias, daisies and begonias and planted them, fertilized and mulched it for us.  Love and surprises abound!

About 3 1/2 hours later, we rang her doorbell and when she opened the door I said " Do you mind if i look at those pictures on your computer? I'm kinda far away from mine right now"

Surprise!!!   Speechless surprise, then tears.

The surgery was a mixed bag, they were unable to fix the rotator cuff, the surgeon called it irrepairable, torn on both sides, but he was able to clean out bone spurs, damaged cartilage and scar tissue in the hopes of alleviating the pain and allowing for better range of motion. She has already started back on physical therapy 3x week. So the recovery wasn't anywhere near as bad as it would have been had they been able to repair it but hopefully I was a help the first week. 

It was wonderful being down in March, I had never been in that month and the oranges had been harvested leaving the trees full of orange blossoms starting anew! What fragrance!!! This is a shot over the fence behind our house, these little perfumed powerhouses filled the air for blocks! I wish I could have bottled it and brought some home with me!

The sun was warm and strong, the temps upper 70's to mid 80's, pool water 84*. Perfect.

I had arranged ahead of time to have the laminate floors installed while we were down, figuring I would be with my Mom during the day and my husband could be at the house with the installers. They completed it in one day. We had the hall, dining room, kitchen and living room done.

Since Mom was doing so well we had extra time we didn't plan on and we were able to get a lot done while there. My husband and Dad power washed the entire front porch and carport side of the house, we planted several other plants such as delphiniums, peruvian lillies, snapdragons, million bells, red sister dracaena and a bouganvillia. Replaced the shower rods and curtains, removed the shower doors in the master, hung all new vertical blinds throughout and a chandelier in the dining room and ordered some living room furniture, being delivered today, and got all the dishes and kitchenware washed and put away into cabinets along with the linens.

The living room furniture is all pulled out awaiting removal. next up will be a new dining room set. I am going shabby chic romantic, all neutrals as a decor. Isn't that a pretty sunset in the windows?

Hanging these crystals would have been good therapy for Mom had she been further along! the design of the new verticals is called "white vines"

It's hard to see here but it's the only shot I have of it, there is a white corner cabinet in the living room which had been a vintage built in that mom and dad found for us at an antique shop called Second Hand Rose. We wanted it for our dining room but it was a little too large for the corner we had in mind. Ray installed the new kitchen faucet along with a new one in the guest bath.

We still have a lot we want  to accomplish but we got a lot more done than we thought possible this trip.  We even got a trip to Webster in but i'll leave all that for another post.

Thanks for visiting!

Say Hello To My Little Friend

As promised, I will be doing a little review of my new camera and lens today.

First let me say, I am very happy with this camera and lens setup, but it takes more than a notion to learn how to use it to it's full capacity. I am finding there is a learning curve going from a point and shoot back to an SLR after so long.

I used to really be into photography years ago before the point and shoot revolution.  I would never shoot with film over a 100 speed, usually opting for slide film either 64 or even sometimes 25 and then converting to prints or image transfers. I especially loved to shoot with black and white and infrared and would develop them myself.

All of the pictures that follow were shot in auto mode, that will be changing I can tell you, and they were various scenes from around the lake we just bought on.  I am amazed how differently the camera would configure one shot from the next with the triangle of F stop, ISO speed and shutter speed.  Some of which I would never have chosen in manual mode.  I also need to learn the little idiosyncrysies of this camera itself. Like see that little switch on the side of the lens, the VR one? Yeah, well it seems that is for Vibration Reduction, helps you steady the image with the large lens, however, like on a computer, I found out ( after i shot all the pix) that you need to switch that ON after the camera is on and it has to be switched OFF before the camera gets turned off or it says the lens may rattle. No worries, just unmount the lens and remount it to correct. Problem is, I didn't read that until I got home and uploaded the pix!  Lesson One learned. 

Don't you just love that Cheshire Cat smile of a moon? This was taken hand held, no tripod with me.

F 5.6   1/60  Iso 800.   Love the way the 300mm lens can capture such an elusive shot though.

F5.6  1/160  ISO 800. This was taken from the bench on the dock and I was facing east. Sitting on the bench and turning to face west i shot the sunset below.

F 5  1/250  ISO 100 Isn't it incredible the difference in film speed from one direction to the other? I think it has mostly to do with the lens length, the sunset was wide , the moon telephoto, less light into the lens.

These cattle live on the opposite side of our lake, you can see the water tower in the distance, we are located to the right of it.  F 5   1/100  ISO 400

F 5.3  1/60  ISO 450   And that's no bull

Isn't this cashmere cow beautiful? As cows go that is.  F 5.3   1/60   ISO 450

As we were leaving the dock, this Lesser Blue Heron was making his way through the marshy edges looking for a little snack.  F 5.6   1/125  ISO 800

F 5.6    1/125  ISO 900

These are the trees right outside our bedroom windows.  F 7.1   1/200 ISO 200

With a lens this long it may be impossible to go really low in ISO without compromising too much in image quality from the speed and depth of field. But that's where this comes in. I have signed up to take an online class in going manual at Big Picture Classes as a refresher course and to learn the nuances of a DSLR. It's called Mastering Manual Mode with Elisha Snow. It begins Feb 3rd and runs for 8 weeks. Signups close on Feb 9th.  Hope to see you in class with me!



A New Chapter

It's funny how a new chapter in your life dawns sometimes without any warning whatsoever.

The scene is new year's Eve, parents had just left 2 days prior from an extended visit for the holidays, Ray and I were planning on leaving Tuesday Jan 4th for a getaway visit to Florida before reopening the restaurant for the year.  We had even contemplated not going as it seemed we had so many other things to take care of.

The phone rings, it's our daughter. She asks " So, are you and Dad going to look for a house again while you're down there this year?" To which I reply, " No, I don't think so, not this year".  You see for a number of years now, ever since my parents retired to Florida, we secretly dreamt that one day we could get a house there too, where the kids and grandkids could visit and we could spend winters away from work and the cold and snow.  Several times we came really close only to have the houses sell the week before we arrived to see them. It just never seemed the right time. Last year we toured a number of houses but nothing clicked.

So after hanging up the phone I thought , well, I could go online and take a look and see if anything new is listed.......

The morning we left, Jan 4th, this was the sunrise as we crossed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. You can see the Cape Henry Lighthouse in the first shot as it beamed into the morning sky. The air was very cold indeed as we stopped at the lookout to take a few shots, these are taken with the new nikon, my first pictures. We were an hour and a half into the 13 1/2 hour drive.

We arrived late tuesday evening, went to see the house weds. at 10:30 am, put in our offer which was accepted and papers were signed right after lunch. Are we there yet? Talk about a whirlwind! But when looking back over our lives, most big decisions seem to have happened that way. I guess when the time was right we knew it and just jumped.  The family of the owners arrived on Saturday to empty the rest of the personal contents and sign their part of the closing and we had our closing on tuesday 1-11-11.  The pictures of the inside of the house can be seen here. Those pictures were all taken right after we signed on the first weds so have the personal contents still there.  The house is a manufactured home, 1456 sq. ft with a 10 x 26 enclosed front porch, a 9x12 shed and a nice long driveway with carport. This pix shows the newly planted gardenia on the west side of the porch along with the lemon tree and palm tree already on site.

The community is a lakefront community on Lake Juliana in Auburndale, Florida.  We are located halfway between Orlando and Tampa.  20 minutes from Disney. We had long contemplated both coasts but decided on being here as it was centrally located. An easy ride to most attractions which is key with young grandchildren, yet close enough to the coasts to visit for fishing and beaches. 

There are 2 clubhouses, upper and lower , 2 heated pools, shuffleboard courts, a dock, and many activities.  We are in the upper section, known as phase 2, number 242, and we are next to a retention pond which my dad says hasn't had a drop of water in it since they have been there in 18 years. The front of the house faces south, the west side is the retention pond so we don't have neighbors there, and the house backs up to an orange grove, orange filled trees are right outside our bedroom windows. The entire community was once all orange grove clean down to the lake.

This board shows phase 1 with the main clubhouse, pool, shuffleboards and dock down by the lake.

We drank champagne with strawberries out of plastic cups and spent one night there before all the work began! In the week before we left, we had the entire house painted inside, ceilings and walls, Ray replaced all the ceiling light panels and fluorescent tubes, the kitchen faucet and guest bath faucet, we cleaned the baths and kitchen and washed curtains replaced irrigation sprinklers and weeded and planted a gardenia which was an offshoot from my Dad's beautiful bush. We had someone come and give us an estimate on wood flooring for the kitchen, dining, living and hall areas which will have to be done while we're away.  We couldn't have gotten it all done without the help of my parents, who patiently drove us everyday to Lowes and all the other stores for everything we needed. I hope they're getting some rest now that we're gone!

With the forecast of snow and ice possible with ridiculously cold temps coming our way, I wish we could have stayed just a little while longer! All in due time I suppose.

Greetings

I have a story to tell, but that will have to wait until another time right now.

We just arrived back home last night from a 2 week Florida visit and are in the middle of sorting mail, checking emails, unpacking, catching up with the kids and grandkids, restocking the fridge and all the things that happen when you arrive back home.  For now I will leave you with this-

I have been collecting interesting old postcards for years now from flea markets and antique shops. This was found at a local antique shop here on the shore. As you can see the postmark is 1938 ,way before our time. Our last name is Twiford, descended originally from 3 brothers who arrived from Twiford England. My husband's name is Ray and he has a younger brother Jack.  Here on the Eastern Shore is a family of Twyford's, obviously whose postcards these one time were. Onley is a town about 25 minutes from me. I couldn't believe the coincidences when I found this postcard and I especially love the printed description on the top back of the card-

Florida, land of sunshine, is the winter playground of the Nation. Every known form of outdoor pleasuring is pursued without the necessity of considering weather conditions -- for winter skies are always smiling and December breezes are as balmy as May.