My photography skills...

I got an undeserved compliment on my photography skills. Thank You, but my photography skills consist mostly of:
1. http://saltlakedesignergal.blogspot.com
and
2. http://thefooze.blogspot.com They both have “good” cameras.

I've got a digital camera around here somewhere that goes through batteries by the half-hour. The myriad of knobs and buttons on the back of the camera, with their little zig-zagged arrows and mountain and sun icons, are a mystery to me. But I have taken a few good pictures on my own, I think purely accidentally! And with the help of the cropping tool on Photoshop, some of them look pretty decent.

I’d like to get a new camera, with a rechargeable battery and a good zoom. It’s hard to get a good, candid photo of the school kids without a strong zoom. You know they pose as soon as they see the camera.

Since I am new to blogging, each entry takes soo long! I struggle trying to get my photos placed, aargh!! If they're not placed in the center, they stick togethether or look all scallywhompus!! My text appears underlined and it won't "go" where I want it!

To all of you old-timers out there, when you were a rookie , did you have the same problems? I feel like a techno dope! Maybe I need to take a class.

Come on in! I will take you on a little tour.

Come through the gate, the yard is so lovely this time of year!

The iris are heavy with the recent rain.

Cobwebs and Elm seeds stubbornly hang onto the watering cans and sunfaces.

I used to spend hours in my garden manicuring, fine tuning, lavishing it with care.

Now, the morning glory is already beating me at our contest to see just who is the boss of this yard.

Containers wait longingly to be filled with flowers. While plants, like the sedum, think they are getting away with something growing wild and unfettered up between the bricks and anywhere they darn-well choose!

I hope you enjoyed my little tour! Follow the path back to the gate.

Kitty says "come again soon!"

See ya next Winter

What did I ever do to pass the long, cold, dark Winter months before American Idol came to town!? It coincides so conveniently with the changing of the seasons, Winter to Spring, ending just as we are called outside to play in the lengthening light of Spring nights.

Adam, you sexy, gay, boy you! I will miss you! You was robbed!!! (First Prop.8 and now this!)

Chris, my boring, safe, boy next door, try to wipe that look of total disbelief off your face by next week! And get rid of the Mexi-stache.

Actually, both of them have it made in the shade. They'll both be rich and famous... for a while at least. It's a mad world.

Her Windsong stays on my mind...

I have discovered a great perfume site! http://www.luckyscent.com/.

They review new scents, sell hard to find or discontinued old favorites and best of all, they sell samples!! A couple of dollars gets you a small vial of perfume to try on for size. If you dont like it, you're not out much and if you do, well, you then may acquire the real thing, depending on how much you are willing to fork-over. Unfortunately, lately, the perfumes that really appeal to me are in the hundreds of dollars range!

I love perfume. I feel no shame in stopping a stranger, male or female, in the grocery store, mall or church to say,"you smell so good! What are you wearing?" I'm on the look-out for my perfect perfume. I don't want to smell like every other Happy wearing gal out there. Not that there's anything wrong with Happy, I'm just not wild about Freesia. And I am not a fan of all the new perfumes that smell like cotton candy! I like a musky, "dirt-y" scent. Very dry, green and white. Has to have a patchouli note. I wear perfume every day. I love it when some little guy at school tells me, "you smell nice."

Being a teen in the 70's, I tried many of the perfumes of that era: Charlie, Windsong, Maya, Love's Baby Soft. A pretty eclectic mix! My uncle Herman was a Sales Rep for Dana and in the trunk of his Lincoln was an emporium of perfumes. He introduced me to finer scents like Herme's Caleche and Paco Rabanne's Calendre, both "green" scents. Once those bottles had been savored to the last drop, they were never replaced. Designer taste on a teen budget!

While in college, I discovered L'air du Temps, my favorite for quite a while until I met Rive Gauche. Oh, how I love that scent and its metal silver,blue and black spray can. Yes, a can! Not a bottle! I remember the cold feeling of the metal in my hand as I sprayed it on! It became hard to find and Anais, Anais took it's place.

Of late, I wear Wrappings, a perfume by Clinique that has been almost discontinued and can only be purchased at Christmas. Don knows without asking to always add that to my list! I also have enjoyed Lovely. It's an easy one to wear everyday.

But still I search! I know that my perfect scent is out there! I will find it, if I try enough samples from Luckyscent! I just may have to splurge!

Back from Hurr'kin

Just got back from short visit with the folks. These short, little 2 night stays are very sweet. Short and sweet. There's something to be said for the short and sweet visit, that "so glad you are here" feeling never wears off.

I made my Mom a lemon cake from a recipe I found at http://suzannemcminn.com/blog (one of my fave blogs!) and what greeted me as I entered Mom's kitchen? A big ol' lemon cake from Costco...great minds think alike! We enjoyed our first BBQ'd hamburgers and corn on the cob of the season, eating out on the patio. It was so pleasant out there, sat and talked til late, watched and listened to "their" birds, enjoyed the green and flowers of the backyard. Spring is the best time of the year in S. Utah. On the way down, everything was so green! Baby lambies, calves and colts in the fields...it was a nice trip. Of course on Friday night the infamous Devil Winds of Hurkin' kicked up, they don't call it Hurricane for nuthin"! Sleeping in my folk's guest bed, a beautiful antique, burled-walnut, spool bed, is not the greatest. It was built for smaller, old-timey people. Oh, my back! Don and I are looking forward to sleeping tonight in our King-sized bed(for king-sized people!)

At breakfast this morning we were talking about Clover the goat (at mcminn's site) being taken to another farm to get bred and how we had never read if she were pregnant or not.

Ty said, "oh, is that what they call it?"

Confused, I replied, "yeah, you know, to breed."

"Oh!! I thought you meant "to get bread", like a euphemism for getting her pregnant!"

Hahahaha, we had a good laugh over that one!

I'm so grateful my folks are only 3 hours away. I thought to myself on the way home, "why didn't I do this more often before my Mom got sick?" They've lived here now for a few years and until just recently, I probably saw them 5 times a year. I don't know... Life gets in the way until something "wakes you up".

Well, here's to many more trips and a good night's sleep in a big bed!

Is It the Eyes?

I've always been attracted to guys with this "look". So for
me, Zach Quinto was the best part of the new Star Trek movie.

Guess that's why I married this guy...

Ladies in Hats

picture via http://libertypostgallery.blogspot.com/

My Grandma Nanny wore hats. She had a closet full of them, all packed in hat boxes from various Dept. stores, milliners and dress shops. I remember lots of feathers, fabric flowers and french-netting. The hats were worn along with high heeled pumps chosen from her vast collection, incredible clip-on earrings and beautiful diamond estate jewelry, to accessorize well tailored suits and dresses. Of course, underneath it all was a sturdy girdle, whose clips held up fine silk stockings and a lacey, albeit sturdily constructed, brassiere.

These were donned for occasions that, now, would warrant the most casual of attire: Dr. visits, shopping, hair appointments and CLUB. Nanny belonged to the El Monte Women's Club and the Garden Club. Membership in both came with the bonus of luncheons, many luncheons. Being Nanny's eldest grand-daughter came with the bonus of occasionally accompanying Nanny to these soirees, I likewise dressed in my Sunday best.

I remember the Garden Club luncheons as a collage of flowers, compliments, food and proper femininity. Round tables, with white linens fluttering in the breeze, were crowned with beautiful flower arrangements. The ladies sitting around the table were all adorned with lovely, colorful hats perched on their stiff, gray coiffures. From high overhead it would have seemed many giant, white centered, flowers had been strewn across the lawn.

The luncheon served was usually an array of beautifully prepared salads such as; Jello, fruit, chicken, tossed-green, pasta, potato... Warm, yeasty rolls and iced tea were a given and it was all topped off with delicious dessert.

There are two luncheon foods that I still "get a hankerin' for"; Garden Club Salad and Chocolate Oatmeal Cake with Coconut-Pecan Frosting. Although it was a favorite when I was a kid,I know that the appeal of the Garden Club salad may have much to do with the occasion of its being served. I actually haven't made or eaten it for many, many years. I am including the Garden Club Salad recipe but I've lost Nanny's recipe for the cake. Anyone out there have one?

Garden Club Salad

1 sm. "red" jello

1 sm. can crushed pineapple. Drain and save juice.

1 sm. can grated(julienned) beets

1 Tbl. vinegar or lemon juice

Make jello using pineapple juice for part of liquid needed.

Add pineapple and beets when jello is partly set.

Serve with small dallop of sour cream.

The Difference between Conservatives and Liberals?

Whomever made-over Sarah Palin for the presidential campaign needs to make-over her kitchen! I'm sorry, but politics aside, I could never vote for someone with such an ugly kitchen. (Dude, get your stinky-ass feet off of the eating area!)
I think that a person's design sensibility and artistic sensitivities, or lack there of, reflects a certain world view. I would be surprised if a person, with a kitchen that looks like that, would vote to appropriate money for the arts or would care about protecting beautiful places over exploiting the resources therein.
I would worry that such a person, if elected President, would have the power to choose new White House china!