Playing on a Rainy Day

It drizzed rain all day yesterday.  I spent some time practicing with my camera and playing food stylist wannbe.  Oh, and just had to show off my recent church sale rummage treasure of these beautiful three pear candles.  It was almost painful to light them, they won't keep that pear shape forever.


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Simple Sunday Scene

Yesterday at church we had an "All Saints' Service".  I made this photo of the church after we left while sitting at a traffic light.  The sky was white at this moment which showed the intricate silhouette of the barren tree.



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Bear with Me with Fall Memories 2015

Saw these wonderful bears right outside our car windows.  There is just something very exciting
about seeing a bear!  This took place during the first week of September, 2015, in Cades Cove
of the Smoky Mountains.

Earlier by a month or so I was making photos from the
Primitive Baptist Church in Cades Cove.  I was attempting to
photograph the sun illuminating the leaves in a brightly lit way.
Later at home I zoomed in and my gosh, it does appear
to be a bear in the photo!

Great food memory from late summer, apple pie and vanilla ice cream.  Thanks
to our neighbor Don for sharing this delicious pie.

Just an early morning photo of a candle back lighting a
floral arrangement.

View from my church while attending the ladies Bible study.  Such
a beautiful church and grounds.

Another late summer memory while I was grilling our cowboy burgers from our deck.

Not the best quality for a photo but enough to preserve a memory from October while enjoying
our neighbours' fire pit.

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We like our predawn mornings with lit candles as we drink our coffee
and enjoy the rising sun.

A Corner of My Studio

For several days I have been working in my studio.  Many years ago I bought this art deco cabinet or book case.  I knew when I bought it the doors would not open.  I had tried different keys to no avail.  Different times in past years, I had tried to pry open the doors. Several months ago, I had made the decision to go get the cabinet from storage and take it straight to a locksmith.  Right before I took the cabinet to my SUV, I tried one more time to open the beautiful leaded glass doors.  My gosh, what a surprise, THE DOORS OPENED!  

After this happened, I was thinking of Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz.  She was told by Glinda, the good witch, "You've had the power all this time, my dear."   

All those years we could have been enjoying this beautiful piece of furniture!

An Adorned Wall

For years I had collected vintage prints.  Recently I painted my studio the Benjamin Moore color, "Serenity Blue".  So far I am totally satisfied with the color.  As we all know, choosing a paint color is not easy sometimes.  When I make a color choice for the walls of a room, I never look back.  I spend a lot of time making the decisions until I am well acquainted with the color.  It is already like an old friend before I apply it to the walls.

Back to my collection of old prints, I chose a theme for this grouping.  Themes of old English cottages, vegetation, floral, nature, sky, water and a couple of snow scenes.

The hardest part for me of doing such a grouping is, "where to begin"?  I began by working around two switch plates which I used my magic eraser for removing in this photo.  I use the smallest nail possible for hanging, none of the works were very heavy.  

My next and last grouping in my studio will be of old photographs ... photographs of people.  Some will be of loved ones and others will be of "instant ancestors".  Two remaining walls after my second and last grouping will be blank.  Not wanting too much busyness in this room.  My easel will be against one blank wall and the wall to my right of my table will remain picture free.

Thank you for taking the time to read this far!

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Being Positive

In my previous blogpost, I had mentioned buying a vintage cobalt blue sake decanter.  For a few days I have been seeing a couple of red spots in our thicket at the border of our backyard.  I found this beautiful blue decanter at a jewelry store of all places.  They had a few rummage type items out front for sale.

About the little vine I placed in the "vase" before I made the photo.  I found out the vine is known as hummingbird vine and also referred to as "rampant" and "invasive". Also, would you believe "cow itch vine?" We don't have very much of it since I saw only two blooms of it.

The main thing was I got in some photography practice and learned something new today about a plant.  I also remembered to lower my ISO on my camera since I am only using the manual feature.   I could have had the bloom a little lighter in the photo.  It is hard sometimes to be positive in today's world. "This happy face I'm wearing, the world didn't give it to me and the world can't take it away!" Striving to be positive, today I made an attempt and learned a little along the way.


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Another Day Trip

Clint and I have started exploring our world around us, going on day trips
around this area.  Tuesday we headed for Fort Payne, Al.  We stopped in
nearby Mentone, AL, and discovered the Wildflower Cafe.
Quirky comes to mind when describing this delightful place.

There was art and more art.  After I ordered in the restaurant, I left the
table to go exploring.  The good news is I did not have much time to explore,
our wonderful lunch was ready in no time.  

Patrons have left their business cards under the glass topped tables in the restaurant.  I could not help but do the same.  :-D

We both had some delicious ham and cheese quiche.  Clint had fruit with his
and I had a small salad with some wonderful blue cheese dressing with a kick.

Later we had just turned to head up to Desota State Park.  It is a narrow
and winding road.  Yes, this truck with a huge load of hay turned right'
in front of us.  A few minutes later, when it was safe, he motioned
us around him.

Clint and I have always had a fondness for Fort Payne, AL.  It had been more than ten years since we had returned to this area.  It was reminiscent of The Twilight Zone, trying to remember where old places used to be located.  There have been many changes there, mostly positive from what we could see.  I was happy to see some of the old thrift stores still there.  I did find a treasure, an old cobalt blue saki decanter ... embossed with a floral silver design. Only $2!


P.S.  Today's photo were all made with my Samsung cell phone.



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Different Kind of Monday Morning

It has been so long since I have posted anything on my blog, I hope I have not forgotten how to do it.  Sometimes I miss posting on it, one thing I have always thought about my blog was that it was a digital scrapbook of our lives.  I seriously need to get back to it.  Even now, if I am looking for a photo or other information from my blogging days I want to look up, I Google my own blog post and find it. 

My most recent search was for my chocolate pie monograms made from bittersweet chocolate.  It is easier to Google than try to find the cook book with the information.

Clint satisfies his desire for writing by keeping a daily diary.  One of his ways I should say includes song writing,too.  As I am pecking away on this post in my studio, he is in the living room studying and writing a Sunday school lesson on Amos.  He is one of four rotating Sunday school teachers who teach in our Sunday school class.  This reminds me I did do some similar writing.  Recently it was my time for having the opening prayer.  We had a hectic but wonderful week and here comes Saturday night and I have no prayer written.  This brings back some of my school days of not getting homework done in time.  I got busy on the prayer, got it typed out and ready for the next morning.  Clint and I feel that a good prayer does not have to be long.  

Speaking of it being a different kind of Monday morning, I slept later this morning than I can remember in recent history.  I am referring to years.  Just before Clint opened the bedroom door to see if I was still alive, I had just awakened.  He had some errands to run so I passed going with him.  I had a more important job of just trying to come back to life.  It was a relaxing morning.  Coffee and armed with a pair of scissors, I went through the May 2015 issue of Country Living magazine.  I cut out some recipes and photos of groupings of frames.  That is something I am currently working on, hanging many old pieces of art work, prints, photos and paintings.  I want to hand them in groups with a theme.  This collection is the result of years of me gathering these little treasures.  Old gold leaf frames are a favorite.

Recently we made the decision to get plantation shutters.  We enjoy them so much.

My how time flies.  Why is it the first step seems the hardest?.  Here is my first step back to blogging on my life's scrapbook.  Thanks to anyone who might read this.  See you again, soon!

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International Space Station Photo