A bit of fog

Aynaria 23 Comments

 

Fog 1

I enjoy foggy weather. Well, I don’t like driving in it, but the fog sets the perfect backdrop for some nice pictures, and wandering around in the haze.

Just don’t think about Stephen Kings’ book, The Mist. You never know what might be lurking in the haze.

Fog 2

These pictures were taken out back, overlooking our garden.

Most of our crops have been harvested. We still have some leeks, pumpkins, and the occasional tomato. However, everything else has been gathered, some of it has been given to loved ones, naturally some of the produce used in our meals, and the rest has been frozen to be used at a later time.

I enjoy gardening. the entire process excites me; planting the seeds, watching them grow, taking care of the crops, gathering, etc, We tend to share our crops with the wildlife; birds, deers, rabbits, and squirrels, etc., There’s plenty to share.

During the warmer months, you’ll usually see me gardening without gloves or shoes. I love the feel of the soil on my bare skin.(It doesn’t take much to make me happy). A simple pleasure yes, but it’s something I enjoy immensely.

Simple pleasures… I suspect we all have and enjoy them. What are some of yours?

Joining the Quilting group; Youngest member

Aynaria 8 Comments

Prom quilt cartoon

This cartoon made me laugh. My daughter saw it and frowned, I guess she foresees me doing something like that to her, but I promised her, I wouldn’t embarrass her like that.

Why should I? There are so many other ways that can be accomplished without me even knowing I’m doing that. I have tons of adorable childhood pictures, and equally cute childhood stories that are precious to me, but I’m betting as she gets older she’ll won’t be thrilled about me sharing some of those stories.  Sighs, kids…

Sunday, while at church, I chatted with a lady, who just happened to be over the small groups ministries at the church. I told her I’d be by the next day, to meet the quilting group and get additional information about some of their other outreach programs.

Monday, I arrived to meet the quilting group. I thought I’d only be there for about thirty minutes. You know,  just long enough to introduce myself, express an interest, and off I’d go. Boy was I wrong! The lady I spoke with on Sunday seemed surprised when she saw me. She introduced me to the ladies, who seemed happy to be gaining a new member. When they found out that I could sew, they seemed ecstatic.

As I suspected, at 41, I’m the youngest member of the quilting group. Which is perfectly fine, I have friends/acquaintances my age but I’ve always gravitated towards those a lot older than I, I’ve learned so much from them. The ladies seem to be retired, and the youngest is most likely in her late 50s.

As a new member, there was no sitting back and to observe the process. Since they knew I could sew, they were hoping I’d help. It’s why I volunteered right.  I rolled up my sleeves and started cutting.

Using my sewing skills…

Because they’re making quilts on a grand scale. They aren’t making hand sewn quilts, like the ones you’ll find at Karen’s virtual home. The material is cut, the quilt filler added, edges are secured with pins, and the quilts are neatly placed in a pile to be sewn. Guess who got to sew five quilts today? Yes, I had a chance to sew. Although the sewing machine is different from the ones I have at home, I got used to it and was soon sewing at my normal  breakneck speed.

Edited to add: The quilts are donated to Lutheran World Relief.

I started sewing when I was about seven or eight, creating a lot of designs that I’d dress the few dolls I owned. It’s the only time I played with dolls. I loved being outdoors. In my teens, I made a lot of my clothes, and in my twenties I participated in several fashion shows. At the time, its what interested me — so naturally I went after it. I’m determined that I won’t have any ‘what if’s in my life, and so I put a lot of effort into turning my dreams into a reality. Those were great times, I met some amazing people, and have lots of pleasant memories.

Anyway I’m getting sidetracked…

While sewing each quilt, I said a few prayers, hoping it would give the recipient as much joy upon receipt as the quilting group had making them. The room was filled with so much happiness, teasing, and joking among the ladies. Joined by a desire to help those less fortunate, even as a new member of the group, it’s obvious that they’ve become friends too.

I wanted to bring my camera, but I decided to hold off. How would that look, someone brand-new to the group coming out taking pictures? 😉 However, I’ll bring my camera next week so I can snap some pictures of the quilts, and if they ladies don’t object, I’ll include them in some of the shots, and I’ll share a few on my site.

Three hours later, our time was over. With cheery goodbyes from the others quilters, and see you next time. I left the group exhilarated (and a bit surprised that time had flown by so quickly).

It always feels great to help others, spending time in fellowship with like-minded souls is good for the soul too.

Rose; Fading Beauty

Aynaria 15 Comments

The cooler months are my favorite time of year. Unfortunately with the change in temperature it also means saying farewell to our lovely flowers — at least for a few seasons. Taking pictures is a great way to remember them, when they’re no longer around outside.

We still have plenty of unblemished roses on our rose bush, but  I was more intrigued by the ones that were starting to fade, and so I snapped many photos of the roses fading beauty.

The picture above, was taken on a particularly foggy day. As I recall, It was taken right before I took my daughter to school. It was a chilly morning — perfect for me. Besides taking pictures of flowers, I took pictures of the fog, our woods, and a few birds flitting around in the early morning sunshine.

I used my dependable Nikon D80 for this photo. I’ve had the camera for about six years, and although I’ve purchased a few more cameras (and lens) since that time. It’s still my camera of choice — when I haven’t lost the Nikon D80 battery charger.

The majority of my photo editing is done with Aperture 3, it’s an amazing photo editing software for Apple computers. I don’t edit all my photos, and this is one I kept as is — no edits. I have Aperture 3 installed on my 17″ MacBook Pro.

The flowers, around our home, serve as a gentle reminder (for me) that although I have a lot of projects that keep me busy, I also need to take time to relax and enjoy life. Also, I’m reminded that something (or someone) doesn’t need to be ‘perfect’ to be beautiful.

Happy Veteran’s Day; Send hand-crafted cards so our troops can use to send to loved ones

Aynaria 6 Comments

Honoring our troops

In the United States today is the day we honor our veterans. This day was formerly called Armistace Day. Since it’s a federal holiday you’ll find many government offices, schools, and some businesses off for the day.

President Woodrow WIlson was the first to declare this holiday. On November 11, 1919 he stated…

“To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations.”

A Mother s Love

Although today is set aside to honor our veterans, it’s important to remember them throughout the year.

For those of you who’ve fought, died, and continue to serve, all I can say is thanks. A lot the privileges we do have, wouldn’t  have been ours if it weren’t for you. Thanks, your service is appreciated.

Operation Write Home

I’m happy to say that I’ll be giving a few of my handmade cards to Operation Write Home. Operation Write Home is an organization that sends hand crafted cards to our troops, so they can use to give to their loved ones.

If you want to send your own hand-crafted cards to our troops read the guidelines, check the deadlines, and make sure to mail your hand crafted cards to the correct location.

 

Hat tip to other websites remembering our Veterans

Photosource: Unknown

Reaching out: The spirit of giving

Aynaria 7 Comments

Peanuts spirit of giving

Throughout my life, I’ve been actively involved with groups that constantly stepped out of their comfort zone, to do things to help others. Assisting at homeless shelters, mentoring for at risk youth in high crime areas,  sharing our garden produce to those in need… things like that. Helping others feels great.

For myself, it seemed the natural thing to do. When it came to giving, my parents have always been great role models. It’s something they’ve always done, and as a child it was how my brother and I were introduced to many of the activities I mentioned above.  So yes, they passed on that spirit of helping others onto us.

I do have a confession to make, for about a year now, I haven’t done too much reaching out. Naturally, I’ve helped at school that’s not going to change, I’m very involved with my daughter’s life. Her teachers have always known that I’m a phone call or email away. That’s one of the perks of working from home. I can usually assist them — if I have advance notice.  However stepping outside my ‘comfort zone’ wasn’t done as much.

I had the typical excuses…

I got wrapped up in several business related projects.  I channelled so of much energy and time into those endeavors, outside of my family, I stopped doing many of the things I enjoyed. Looking back, I  didn’t feel great about it, and discontent crept up in other aspects of my life. At the time I wasn’t sure what was wrong — until  a few months ago when it dawned on me that reaching out was a major part of my enjoyment, and so I started looking on what I could do to change.

The church I’d attended wasn’t as active within the community as I’d like, and so I found myself looking for another church, and I believe I’ve found one. Although it’s s small step, joining the quilting group at this new church is a great move.

I mentioned the group briefly in one of my crafting posts. When I checked out the church website, I was happy to learn that this quilting group is part of the Lutheran World relief which donates their hand crafted quilts to people all over the world.

Lutheran World Relief works to fight poverty and promote a more just and peaceful world by helping people help themselves. Your support provides the foundation for LWR’s work.

Naturally, I clicked on through, once I’d read the information on the church’s site. I never heard of Lutheran World Relief, but their website was very informative. It surely made my heart happy reading the above statement.

As an adult, I’ve mainly gotten involved with various outreach organizations on my own, but it’s surely nice to be part of a church that (that just so happens to be a church that I’m very interested in joining) does outreach on a local and global scale.

You want to know what’s even better? The lady I knew I’d miss most, at the church where I’m a member now is part of the quilting group at the Lutheran church. I didn’t know it until I checked out the picture they had of the quilting group. It looks as though I’ll be the youngest lady in the quilting group, it seems that most are retired, which makes it even better since I’ve always enjoyed interacting with those much older than myself. I’ve learned a lot from them.

What I enjoy about the new church is there’s plenty of opportunities to get involved on the local and global level. I’m sure over the next several months; I’ll be writing about various other outreach programs I have joined.

A crafting start; All that glitters

Aynaria 19 Comments

Milk 11 06 11

This weeks challenge at A Crafting Start is all about glitter.

The name of the challenge is ‘Stickles’. Stickles is a popular glitter glue that many paper crafters use. I’ve used it in the past but these days I make my own glitter glue. My homemade glitter glue does just as good of a job as Stickles, and the bonus is I can make tons of the glitter glue for a fraction of the cost.

The coloring page was found at the Deviant Art website. This lineart drawing is titled, Milk. It was drawn by the lovely and talented JadeDragonne. Jade also has art tutorials which are located on You Tube.

This sweet little girl reminds me a lot of my daughter. My daughter loves pink, so I chose that color for her outfit and hat. I used my Bic Mark it pens and colored pencils for this card. I edged the picture with silver glitter, I used white glitter for the spilt milk. I used the same glitter for the dots and starbursts on this page.

I’m new to shading, so there’s room for improvement, but I know I’ll get better as I color more. However, I was happy with how this turned out, and more importantly, my daughter liked it. She’s displaying this card in a prominent position within her room.

If you’re new to paper crafts, or would like to participate in some of the crafting challenges, stop on by A Crafting Starts virtual home.

 

Plenty of firewood

Aynaria 11 Comments

Woodpile 3

Do you think we have enough wood to last the winter?

I’m not sure why, but I feel that it’s going to be a cold winter. I’ve been having this feeling since springtime.

I’ve always found it fascinating to see that some animals seem to know when cold weather is ahead.

At the edge of the pool stood the muskrats’ house. It was taller than Laura, and far larger than her arms could reach around…The muskrats had gnawed dry grass to bits and mixed the bits well with mud to make a good plaster for their house, and they had built it up solidly and smoothly and rounded the top carefully to shed rain…

…Inside those thick, still walls, Pa said, the muskrats were sleeping now, each family curled in its own little room lined softly with grass…

…There they curled comfortably to sleep.

Laura put her hand on the wall of their house. The coarse plaster was hot in the hot wind and sunshine, but inside the thick mud walls, in the dark, the air must be cool. She liked to think of the muskrats sleeping there.

* Pa was shaking his head. “We’re going to have a hard winter,” he said, not liking the prospect.

“Why, how do you know?” Laura asked in surprise.

* “The colder the winter will be, the thicker the muskrats build the walls of their houses,” Pa told her. “I never saw a heavier-built muskrats’ house than that one.”

Laura looked at it again. It was very solid and big. But the sun was blazing, burning on her shoulders through the faded, thin calico and the hot wind was blowing, and stronger than the damp mud smell  of the slough was the ripening smell of grasses parching in the heat. Laura could hardly think of ice and snow and cruel cold. ”

The Long Winter (p.12) by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Some animals (like beavers and muskrats) will make their walls a bit thicker. Occasionally, you’ll see other wild animals get thicker coats and a tad heavier in preparation for the potentially unforgiving months of frigid weather.

I did a Google search, and judging by the  winter weather forecast for 2011/12 it seems that the Farmer’s Almanac shares my views — well at least for certain parts of the United States.

For the winter of 2011–12, the Farmers’ Almanac is forecasting “clime and punishment,” a season of unusually cold and stormy weather. For some parts of the country, that means a frigid climate; while for others, it will mean lots of rain and snow.

Ok back to that woodpile…

To give you and idea of how massive this woodpile is, I’d like to point out that this pile is over 5′ tall. Which is how tall I am.  You’re only seeing one layer. It’s three layers deep, this is the last layer that was stacked. Additionally, on the opposite side, there’s another neatly stacked woodpile, admittedly it’s not as impressive as this one.

Even if this winter is incredibly nasty, we’ll still have enough wood to last for several winters.

I’ll be happy if there’s a few blizzards tossed into the mix. At least for my area — don’t hate me Marylanders, but I love cold weather!

 

 

* Bold emphasis mine