The Reason I Am Not Posting

I am not posting today, because I am moving.

I know what you're thinking, "Again?!"
Stop shouting at me. Yes, again.


I am moving from one mac to another.
Feeling sheepish for being so critical? Don't. Read on...

So, 2300+ emails HAVE to finally come off the computer (I know, I know!).

I have to delete 4039 sent messages-- many with attachments. Stop already, I know.

We all know I hoard. I treasure. I love reading, I like words, communication is important to me.

I have one folder just of my husband's deployments. His emails to me, mine to him. I stopped keeping a journal when he left the first time and I use my emails for milestone information and every day kid silliness.

There's emails from bloggers, comments I'd like to return when I have more than 5 minutes a day to myself. Gasp... how will I ever catch up? I can't even begin to tell you of the Sunday Lesson helps, photography tips and news blurbs that have never even been read.
Picture my email in box looking a little like my bedside table-- stacked with things I really want to read when my eyes aren't crossing from exhaustion.

How do you keep your email program tidy? Where do you find the time to do it?

A Penny Saved... is a Missed Opportunity

What are you saving your china for?

or that secret box of gourmet chocolates?

The tablecloth that comes out once a year?

The quilt your grandma made?

When will you use it?



Are you hoping to pass it down, in pristine condition, to your children...

who won't use it?



I collect Spode Blue Italian (oh, and Royal Doulton Norfolk pattern too if you're keeping tabs for next Christmas).

I USE it.
We eat on the plates and even my gardener drinks from my cups. I don't freak out when I hear them clink a little roughly when being put away.

In 2008 I sent my mother a Spode tea cup and saucer.

When I was a young adult and she was a young-ish widow, we'd sit in the morning sun and have a hot drink together. We'd joke that we were "celebrating the moments of our lives".

I wanted her to use that cup and imagine we were not only on the same continent, but in the same kitchen.
She said she loved it.

This year I happened on a Blue Italian Tea for One (little tea pot with cup). I was thrilled because Spode went under about a year ago and stopped making anything-- of course that sent people into a panic and they shopped until I dropped (they have since been "financially assisted" by a different company and have resumed producing my pattern, but so far it's mostly the basic pieces, nothing like candle sticks).

I saved that tea pot and cup for 5 months and then lovingly wrapped it and mailed it to my mother for Christmas.

When I asked her about it... she said, "Oh yes, it's beautiful! I had (my step dad) put it up with all of my other tea pots for me".

Wha...?!

I clarified that she had placed this gift up high where she couldn't reach it and truthfully, can't even really see it without straining. I'm willing to bet she even kept it in the box.

I could cry.

I would have used it. I would have let my children use it.

Thirty or forty years from now, I can envision my children sitting around their own tables with a mismatched, chipped or cracked dinner set remembering the times we had used it as a family. Long after I am gone, my children will know which quilts my Granny made for me because they see them now on my bed. I don't allow them to drag them around the house like the other blankets, but her quilts are lovingly used.

Please

save a child from neglect,

save your friend from making a terrible mistake.

save the harsh critisism even though your husband has set himself up for it,

but for Pete's sake,

USE your treasures while you're here to use them!





At least use the ones your daughter sent you.

362- Gifts

My daily photo...

Wait, first--

Great Britain is experiencing its coldest winter in 2 decades. I am enjoying the most winter-like winter I've ever had in my lifetime. Gorgeous. (let's see if I'm still saying that as I stand at two bus stops, on ice, waiting for the sun to come up).
Admittedly, I'm not out in this glorious winter much, but when I am I can't get over how beautiful it is.

Today I set out in -5c, icy road conditions to do a little grocery shopping (since school goes back in session tomorrow and I thought my kids might be tired of party foods I've been feeding them for four days).
I came upon downed power lines and slid nicely to a stop before hitting them-- good thing I was going slow and it wasn't night! I took a photo before deciding my new route.

You won't see that one though, not very interesting.

The diversion took me past a lady standing by what was left of her car. She said she was going slow when she lost control and began sliding, but I could see her windshield cleaner-- there was no car left to shield me from looking at her engine. The poor woman was just trying to get to the dentist for a check up. That'll be one expensive check up.

I didn't take a picture of that either-- come on, I'm not that obtuse to take photos of an elderly lady standing in the snow while waiting for a tow truck.

I made it to the base with enough time to stand in a queue for 20 minutes at the mail window. Do you think it's unreasonable to expect more than one person in the pick-up window on the first working day following two holidays?

This was waiting for me.

That's a beautiful apron with a nice roomy pocket under it all.

Isn't he adorable?

I entered the Secret Ornament Exchange over at Valerie's It's a Wonderful Life. My partner made the Thanksgiving deadline, however, she shipped from Canada and as our APO system would have it, it meant her package traveled to the states first and then here to England. So, it wasn't here for Christmas but I'm just happy to have a nice surprise to start the New Year--and truthfully, it would've gotten lost in the chaos had it come earlier.
I love all things snowmen and I LOVE cooking with my Aga, so I think Sandy from Aging Disgracefully nailed it, don't you?
Thank you Sandy, I am thrilled to bits! Sorry our military post had you wondering where your package went.

The ornament I sent was to Euissa who had stated that she didn't care for Santas, Snowmen or anything glass. She had mentioned somewhere that she liked birds and I was lucky enough to find some adorable little birds in one of my favourite shops. It was funny when I checked her blog to see if she had received them (she's in Australia), she had posted about birds she had sewn for the person she was gifting-- they looked very similar to the ones I sent (mine were paper mache-ish).

I love these little exchanges. I wanted to host an ornament exchange, but by the time I got around to it, there were too many out there. Valentine's Day is a little too close now as well... maybe a St. Paddy's Day exchange? We could send each other cabbage.

Oh...

that's right,

I was going to show you photo 362 (which is actually the fourth--can I stop numbering yet?).


This is the wonderful view that I am fortunate enough to enjoy daily on my drive home. Today was the first time that I noticed how the bridge's arch frames the tree in the field.
THAT is why I am doing this 365 Photo challenge.

I am training myself to see again.

Today I have a challenge for you, should you chose to accept.
Open your eyes and really see something you usually just pass without thinking...
and then share...
The starving look in your children's eyes as you blog doesn't count (because I saw it here first).

363- Everything I Needed was on My Kitchen Counter

When picking up a new magazine, newspaper, craft book etc... I will always turn immediately to the back. I flip the pages from back to front--"always have, always..." "old dog-new tricks" "leopard's spots" and so on.

My photos will therefore be titled backwards. My 363rd picture is actually my third shot even though there are 365 days. You still with me?
Me neither, but some big dummy created a folder and renamed photos and now it's more trouble to go back and change everything. Yes, I realize it's only three photos, but it's done.

So,

photo 363, taken today when I looked up at the fading light and said, "Oh, oops, I need to shoot a photo!".
I donned my wellies (and my very attractive coat bearing my kids' football team emblem) over my church dress and crunched out into the snow covered fields.

I saw deer prints-- this deer has been eating plutonium or something because the prints are HUGE-- no deer though. There were mole holes, but they were nothing compared to what dots my garden. Birds were sparse, they must've been away for the holidays or something. Even the pigeons were scarce.

I carefully focused on clumps of ice balanced on dark green strands of grass, glistening in the last golden rays of the day. I took 3 photos with different white balance settings. Auto was boring, shade was warm and reflected the warmth of the setting sun, tungsten gave it a nice cold, bluish hue.

My walkabout took me through the fields surrounding the house and lead me familiarly back into my own garden-- where I finally got my shot. An odd angle of the mossy bottom of a pot holding the last of the summer heather.

I quickly headed into the house to upload my accomplishment and impulsively shot a picture of the flowers my friend brought to me on New Year's Day.
They remind me of the watercolour I painted for my mother while I was in college... the painting she hung in her room where the Arizona sunlight eventually erased all traces of colour.

But these flowers?
I captured them in a format that will never fade...


I could've saved a little bit of frozen toes if I had just stood in my kitchen for today's photo.

What did you do with your few extra minutes of sunlight today?

Happy New Year-- You've Been Warned

Remember NaBloPoMo? Posting EVERY day for 30 days...
I don't learn.

I have committed to the 365 day challenge (I'd love to link to the sadist creative soul that comes up with these challenges, but I have no idea where it originated--let me know if you came up with it and would like your credit).

I will be shooting at least one photo everyday for a year. That's 365 days of unrestrained creative expression.



Oh stop cringing, I didn't say I'd POST one photo every day.
My friend Chris did this challenge and came up with some pretty amazing shots in desperate times (like a photo of the ice cream sunday he was eating around 11.50 pm). Bombastic Bandicoot is trying it this year-- her enthusiasm is what made me start thinking about it (blame her).

So,

now that you know you won't be suffering through each photo, reading that announcement back is pretty funny isn't it? I'm committing to do something I already do-- me and my Nikon implant I also use as a right arm.

My first photo of 2010?
Sure I'll post it, thanks for asking.

New Year's Eve in London.
Loads of people, streets blocked off, tube station put on hold, river closed down, freezing conditions.
The fireworks on the Thames, appearing as if they were springing from the London Eye and lighting up the clock tower. Amazing.

Only wish I were there instead of photographing the event on my telly.

Yep. The quality I will come up with under pressure to perform.
Here's to 364 more exciting photos like this one. Happy 20TEN.