Historical websites

My oldest son told me that he found some old photos of mine online. That got me curious. I had decided not to renew a previous web hosting site and since then somehow had lost my backup of it’s content. I figure this had to have been somehow related to the photos he found. So I used the waybackmachine web archive and did, indeed find some thumbnails of old photos, pages where my poetry was located and many of my mother’s and my Paint Shop Pro tutorials. Talk about ‘back in the day!’ Sadly, the only poetry page that actually loaded contained the poem below. I wonder if I have the original hand written copies in one of those boxes in the basement…..

Feeling nostalgic….

Creativity

“A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.” ~Ayn Rand

The quote above was in my email reminder to journal today.  It is a great quote. However, the motivation is not only a desire to achieve. With the process of creating comes inner peace and calm.  Fulfillment and joy follow closely behind.

A creative window found in Philadelphia with wonderful friends over Thanksgiving weekend made me smile. Joy!

Connections and Blessings

“Vacation” is over. Yes, I still have almost a whole week before I return to work, but I have a ton of things to get done around the house and tons of errands to run, etc. Before all that happens, I would like to reflect on the past two weeks. We spent approximately 7 of the last 13 days in the car. During those 7 days, I discovered that Michael and I travel very well together. It was also wonderful to be able to have that time together alone without life’s every day distractions. Thank you, Michael, for being my better half!


Thirteen days of travel and family. There are so many folks in the areas we travelled through that we didn’t get to see or spend time with. I wish we had the time to have been able to do so. If you are one of those family members or friends, there will be more road trips one of these days. We love you all!


I have to say that, as we began our trip, I thought I would be completely overwhelmed. I was a bit overwhelmed, however, I felt even more welcomed and loved. I am so blessed to have all of you in my life. I may still struggle with everyone’s names but I am trying! I believe I got photos of most everyone with my phone and I’m looking forward to sharing them with mom and dad. Do not be surprised if I post some asking for a reminder of who is who! I am so grateful to be able to reconnect with family and spend time with family members I have never even met before. I love you all and I hope that we can continue to learn about each other and make those connections stronger. Thank you all so very much!


Speaking of family, not all family are by “blood.” Georgia and Randy, you are also our family. Some connections are just natural and immediate. We are also very blessed to have you both in our lives and we look forward to sharing more time and making more memories! I’m sorry that Michael spoiled your fur babies!


Karen, thanks so very much for taking care of our fur babies while we were gone and also putting up with Sparky’s bitchiness! We couldn’t ask for a better neighbor and friend!


The biggest blessing of our trip was spending time with people. The other blessing was getting to spend some time in some very magnificent areas of our country. I still have many photos to process and I’m looking forward to doing that. I was nine when we moved from Idaho to Connecticut. I remember driving across country and simply being miserable. I wasn’t old enough to appreciate the beauty we passed through. I am completely in awe of the grandeur and beauty of the Rocky Mountain region. I want to explore even more of our country now!

No Time for Resolutions

I never, ever follow through on New Year’s Resolutions. Therefore, I’m not going to make any! I do, however, have some goals for the new year. First of all, I really must make at least one post here per month. I know, that is not a lot. With my track record, I want to make it at least seem to be achievable!

Knitting

I have pulled 17 skeins of sock yarn out of my (ever exploding out of it’s containment) stash. It is more than likely that I will not get all 17 pair of socks knit, but I can certainly try. I will be perfectly happy to achieve 12 pair. There will be other knitting projects along the way. I would also like to delve deep into my UFOs and complete at least two projects from those this year. Of course, everyone knows I have serious case of startitis. I seriously doubt that will ever go away, so, even if I do manage to complete two UFOs, I will likely end up with even more by year’s end.

Spinning

Spinning? Seriously? What the heck is that? I did manage to do some drop spindle spinning this year, but just a smidge. My wheel hasn’t seen the light of day. Perhaps this year I could pull it out from behind the dining room table and spin — at least a pound of fiber!

Weaving

I will finish the 2nd ever weaving project of my life. Yuppers, the one that has been on my loom for the better part of the past year. Oh, I was sooooooooo excited last Christmas when Michael bought me a stand for my rigid heddle loom. I did dress it and finish one project nearly immediately! The second one, however, remains securely on the loom awaiting my attention. Perhaps I can get that project finished sooner rather than later.

Photography

Last year I took several photography classes and really learned a lot. This year I must do a much better job at putting that knowledge to the test and get out there, anywhere, with my camera for some serious shooting! I must get enough quality photos each month to create next year’s photo calendar.

Travel

I have no idea what travel plans will greet me this year. I do know that we are seriously considering a trip to New Mexico and Idaho in the fall. These are going to take some serious planning and saving. I do want to get at least a weekend on the Atlantic Coast, but I have no idea when that will be, if even this year.

Organizing

Say what????? Organizing????? I think my fingers just ran out of “ink” …

A day late…

It wasn’t planned to do my #caturday post a day late, but, as it turns out, waiting provided a wonderful opportunity. Mr. Rex was checking out our garage sale find of about 70 LPs and a handful of 45s.

Michael picked up a couple of boxes of electrical supplies for a steal. We also snagged this old singer for $5.

It does power on and it is missing a plate. I should be able to get a plate with little difficulty. I will play with it later to see how well it works.

Neighbor, we’re sorry to see you go, but thanks for the bargains!

Caturday again….

It’s been a long but wonderful week. This site is a norm in our house. I used to call Michael “The Squirrell Whisperer.” As it turns out, he is really “The Cat Whisperer!”