Ecclesiates 1 - Post 90

Hi! I'm still around, but have been having some "Ecclesiastes 1" moments for the past week or so (I've been reading Eugene H. Peterson's contemporary language Bible, The Message, although I grew up on the King James Version.)

Politics (bah and double bah!), the financial markets mess (bah!), unrest in my chosen religious denomination (not at my own small church, thank you, Lord) and a variety of other disquieting goings on are bothering my brain and robbing me of my rest. I have to keep reminding myself that I need to 'let go and let God.' Also, I had let myself get involved in too many things at one time, and sort of wore myself out. While I might like to think that I'm not "old," and the Good Lord has seen fit to let me live past my three-score years and ten, I'm paying the toll for the physical mileage I've racked up.

Weekly Wamblings

(I don't want to steal rhymeswithplague's Tuesday Ramblings)

I've enrolled in a Basic Photography course hosted by a local retail camera & video establishment. The instructor is quite knowledgeable and the presentations are excellent. The students range in age from late 20's (I'm guessing -- mothers of young children who want better photos for their scrapbooks) to two of us who are over 70, and all seem as interested in learning as I am. I'm enjoying it immensely. I'm hopeful that at some point I'll be able to do more with my digital camera than just take snapshots in full "automatic" mode. The photo below is the one I submitted for my first homework -- an easy task since the only requirement was that it be the sort of photo I like to take. I photographed this group of colorful leaves outside the library where we have stamp club meetings.




This week's homework, which has to be turned in tomorrow, Wednesday, the day before class, was more complicated; not because I didn't know what to do, but finding a suitable subject to photograph was a challenge. I don't care to go off very far when I'm alone, and what I had in mind was a bit hard to find locally. I took 52 shots this afternoon, and am not completely happy with any of them, and have to turn in only one. Ah, well.... if the critique session Thursday evening doesn't beat me up too badly, I'll share it, but I can tell you ahead of time it's not nearly so colorful as the one above.

Last weekend I attended the 50th Wedding Anniversary party of a dear friend and her husband. It was a joyous occasion in a beautiful venue. Both my friend and her husband are in general good health, have a wide variety of interests and are delightful to be around. I was happy to be invited to share this occasion with them.

I've also been on a reading marathon, and while not stamping, blogging nor reading (many) blogs, I've managed to go through 10 books in the last 10 days, and I have a stack of nine more sitting on my desk ready to pick up. Most of them (all, actually) are literary bon-bons; all sugar and no substance, not mentally nourishing but mind-occupying, which is what I've needed lately.

I've picked up my crocheting, again. I finished one prayer shawl and started on another, but have only ten rows or so done, so far. Our church maintains a cabinet of prayer shawls which are available for members to give to others, such as new mothers, new brides, persons who are ill or distressed. Each shawl has been blessed at our altar with a special prayer asking God's blessings upon the recipients in whatever circumstance they may find themselves. Since this ministry started last fall, I have completed 15 shawls. I think cooler weather may be more conducive to having a lap full of yarn.

That's it for now. Thanks for reading.

Roosters from Hell - Post 89

I was playing catch up reading my favorite blogs Friday evening, and had my "memory cells" stirred up by the post on Musings of a Ranch Wife, a fine storyteller who lives in New Mexico. So this whole post will make a little bit of sense, I invite you to first read her post, here, then come back to read my remembrance.

Not too long after we moved to Arkansas, my daddy acquired a batch of half-grown Bantam game chickens from one of his uncles. They were pretty things, and smaller than our regular chickens. "Little Mo" was the rooster, and he was a first cousin to Ranch Wife's "rooster from hell."

(Wikipedia photo -- Little Mo didn't look quite like this; he was more colorful,

 but this was the best photo I could find)

Our farm's outhouse was on the back side of the chicken yard, and you had to go through the chicken yard to use the facilities. Little Mo would attack anything that moved, and he had spurs a that were a good inch, or more, long. All of us had a few scars on our legs from being spurred at one time or another, but usually you could shoo him off before he did much damage. One morning, he jumped my mama, wouldn't "shoo," and tore up both her legs something terrible. She came in the house crying and bloody. He had made gashes in her poor legs that must have been 6" long. That was it! Unlike Ranch Wife's hero, I had no gun (probably couldn't have hit the broad side of the barn if I had one), but my brother's baseball bat was on the back porch. I grabbed it, ran to the chicken yard with hot-blooded murder on my mind and, screaming and hollering at this wicked little bird, committed rooster-cide. I do believe that is the most angry I have ever been in my whole life. I'm not proud of murdering him, though; it left me feeling pretty sick.

I remember that Daddy wasn't too happy that I had killed his game rooster, but didn't fuss at me very much after he saw Mama's legs. Mama was in her early 50's when this event occurred, and still had faint traces of the scars on her legs when she died at age 86.

A good time was had by all - Post 88

Celebrating World Card Making Day

Twelve women gathered at the home of one of my friends at 1 p.m. Saturday to make handmade greeting cards. By 5 p.m., we had created 287 cards (one card got "mis-stamped and had to be scuttled; we'll add another one so as to make an even number.) We created thirty six each of three 'thank you' cards, four Christmas cards, and one 'birthday' card. As I mentioned in my previous post, these will be divided equally between Ronald McDonald House and Cards for the Troops.

A Basket full of Greeting Cards - and a curious cat
(images copyright Stampin' Up!)

Let me hasten to say that I don't bear the entire burden of putting together a stamping project such as this. However, my half was enough to keep me busy for several days (I didn't even participate in any of my normal theme posts this past week, but I will try to get around and visit those who did.) My stamping partner Elaine and I design the cards, provide all the stamps, ink, card stock, specialty papers, ribbons, adhesive, etc., for making the cards. We cut all the card stock and papers, score and fold the base cards, cut any specialty papers to the precise dimensions required by the design, cut and pre-tie the ribbon embellishments and get everything ready for assembling the cards. The actual putting together of the cards is just fun; all the 'work' has already occurred.

Anytime we ladies get together for stamping, there is always something good to eat, and this was no exception. Our good friends Jane and her husband, David, operate a part-time catering business, and love to feed us. They prepared a table full of good things for us to eat, all at least semi-homemade: chicken salad, a wonderful cheese ball, delicious brownies, Carrot-Zucchini-Raisin Muffins (Jane's recipe follows below, along with a photo), and crispy crackers, along with soft drinks and really good coffee. You may well ask how we got 287 cards made with all those yummy things calling to us from the kitchen -- but we did!

Carrot-Zucchini-Raisin Muffins

1 package Duncan Hines Decadent Carrot Cake, mixed as directed
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup crushed pineapple
1 cup grated zucchini
1 T. vanilla

Bake at 350 degrees in a bundt pan or cupcake tins. Can also be baked in loaf pans.
* * * *

Now... it's time for me to be thinking of Hallowe'en cards, Thanksgiving cards, and Christmas cards, along with a few between-now-and-year-end other occasion cards. No rest for the weary!

Forgotten, but Not Gone - Post 87

To my Dear and Faithful Readers: I have not abandoned my blogging, but other than to participate in the recurring theme posts (Sky Watch, Today's Flowers, Camera Critters), I haven't been doing general blogging (or visiting many blogs) lately because I'm up to my eyeballs in making cards -- again. The "Stamper" part of my blog name is getting a real work out!

A couple of weeks ago, in a period of about 6 working days, I put together two hundred fifty (250) handmade cards of various types (thank you, birthday, thinking of you, Christmas, all-occasion) for the Cards for the Troops project in which one of my stamping clubs is involved. All told, our club created 695 cards (photo below). One other member exceeded my contribution -- she brought 276 cards! Our club participates in this most worthwhile project with stamping groups around the country. We send our cards to a stamp club in Oregon, the O.R.C.A.S. The Oregon folks actually do the packaging and distribution of the cards. To date, they have gathered and sent out over 72,000 cards.

Cards gathered at Stamp Club meeting

The cards are sent to U.S. military bases all over the world, but are not to individual service men or women, but rather for them. The cards are blank inside so that they can use them to send their own messages to their loved ones. As we understand the situation, greeting cards are not easy to obtain in many areas, and this is one little thing we can do to help.

That particular effort was wrapped up on Wednesday of this past week, and I immediately started planning for the next major card-making effort (and I haven't even begun to think about my personal Christmas cards, yet.). My chief stamping partner and I have designed and are putting together materials (paper, ink, embellishments, envelopes) for 288 cards (36 each of 8 designs) for World Card Making Day, this coming Saturday, October 4. Twelve to fifteen ladies will gather at the home of another stamping friend (she has a large home) to make cards -- all of which will be donated; one-half to the local Ronald McDonald House, and the other half for our own Cards for the Troops efforts. The latter will go to the 39th Arkansas National Guard units which are currently serving in Iraq.

So... if you haven't heard much from me lately, please don't think I'm ignoring you. This particular episode of card-making fever will be over by late Saturday afternoon; perhaps I can get my blogging life back on track after that. Maybe I'll even have some pictures to share.

Today's Flowers - Post 86

Hibiscus

When I visited a local library last weekend, my attention was drawn to the flower bed ouside the front door; specifically to this bright yellow blossom. I believe it to be a 'tender' hibiscus; that is, one that does not survive the cold of our winter here. To have blooms of this sort the following year, you have to put in new plants, or find a way to over-winter the plant in a greenhouse.

Today's Flowers is a weekly Meme created by Luiz Santilli, Jr. and may be found here. Please visit to see others' lovely flower photos. If you have a flower photo of your own to share, please join us.

Camera Critters - Post 85

Butterfly on Abelia

I think this is a Black Swallowtail butterfly, but am not sure. Information from anyone who knows is welcome! The only photo I could get was of its underside; the upper side of the wings are more colorful.

Camera Critters is the creation of Misty Dawn. To see others' photos for this week, visit here.

Sky Watch - Post 84

Nothing but blue skies do I see!

 

A hint of fall is in the air here in Arkansas, with temps falling into the 50's at night. A bit of color is showing in the leaves of the crepe myrtle in my yard; I thought it made a nice contrast to the uninterrupted blue of the sky today.
Sky Watch was created by Dot and is now brought to you by our friends Imac, Klaus, Sandy and Tom. Visit the Sky Watch Friday home page anytime after 7:30 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time on Thursdays to see sky photos from around the world.