Coxsackie Christmas by the River

I'll be showing again this year at Coxsackie's 14th Annual Christmas by the River. I made a quick website for it, in case people are searching the web for details this year. It's www.christmasbytheriver.com. I hate that GoDaddy put ads on the top, but I didn't feel like shelling out $60 for a year of hosting! C'est la vie.

I've got a birthday dinner party for 9 to host tonight, and Thanksgiving for 10 to host on Thursday. AND I have to finish some window treatments for a customer to be installed tomorrow at 11am. Can you guess I'm a little stressed? I'm actually just on here to grab some recipes, and figured I'd post. I got my Wacom tablet, but I haven't had much time to play. I'll probably have time to show you some of my creations next week.

In the mean time, if I don't post before then, Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

Blog Makeover

So...what do you think? :)

More Fun with Photoshop

I know I posted that picture of Kathleen in a tree on here before. I think it was around one of her birthdays. Anyway, I broke it out of the archives to put it in that little frame on the wall. I can't get over how little my little girl has really changed, in the whole scheme of things. You can see the little smirky glint in her eyes and in her smile at the tender age of three! (I think that's how old she is in the pic...three or four.) And she's got the same smile NOW, at 14! She cracks me up. I took the bigger pic of her this fall on a picnic table at a fall festival. I snipped her out of that picture, and put her in this layout (that I made from the kit I bought the other day....see my post from two days ago for a link to her blog and store.)

I've had a Wacom tablet on my Amazon wishlist for a while now, and I finally broke down the other day and bought this one. I got the least expensive factory refurbished one, because I don't even know if I'm going to be able to USE the thing. If I love it, I'll upgrade.
I'm waiting for it to arrive. I can't wait!

Shipping Pallet Plate Rack

For the last month or two, BF has been bringing home shipping pallet wood from work, to burn in the outdoor fireplace. It's been nice. They use these pallets all the time, then break them down to get rid of them. Then last week he came home with a whole one, undamaged. SO.....my mind went racing....and then I let my fingers do the walking right on over to Google...and would you look what I found?!

How cool is that? I love it! BF thinks it's too rustic, and weird. But I think it's the most clever thing EVER. I even love the bent up rusty nails, holding the plates in. Am I crazy?

I have no place to put such a thing in MY house...but I could always gift it to someone. It might even look cool painted...whitewashed...or even black. What do you think?

Kitty Cat Christmas Card

I'm not in total love with this one either, but I'm having a heck of a fun time playin'!

Christmas Card?

Note my time of publishing this, and you will see how obsessed I have become with creating things with Photoshop. I downloaded the most amazing scrapbooking kits today from this fantastic digital artist, Irene Alexeeva. I created this layout below, and I'm liking it for this year's Christmas card. What do you think? I'm sure I'll be doing more tweaking. Click it to enlarge, so you can get a good luck at that adorable little chickadee! :)

Fun, right?!

Substantive Post. Well, sort of.

Gee, what am I going to do when Kathleen goes to college? I'll have to find something else to take pictures of! lol. I was playing with Photoshop for a friend, and threw this together. I cut her out of another pic, created the damask background, and popped her back in front of it. I like the modern look it has. Pretty cool.

So Saturday, I went for another of my drives. I've been doing that a lot lately. It's good for clearing my head. And people, my head needs some serious cleaning! Anyway....I ended up across the river at Olana again. I just love it there. The views are amazing at any time of year, and the architecture is incredible.

Love the copper gutters...wish I could afford some o' those!

This fence always begs me to take a picture:

I tried to make this picture of the Rip Van Winkle bridge look like it was taken sometime in the 60's. Not bad, eh? I took this pic from the back side of Olana. There are views in every direction, pretty much.

....and on my way home, I pulled over to get a picture (or seven) of the Athens Lighthouse.
I adore this little brick beauty.

So Diane, was that good enough? Do you wish I would ruminate more about the meaning of life, or are these pics good enough? ;)

Pardon My Dust!

I'm trying to get my background image to load properly, and I'm having a devil of a time. I'll get it right at some point. Sorry if it's giving you googly eyes. :)

Edit: OK. I think I've got it! Now maybe I can upload a post with substance! (Don't hold your breath.)

Fall--A Poem

shadows

light

blustery breezes

carrying leaves

in tiny tornadoes

swishing

turning

new paths

discovered

rejected

surfacing

searching

lifting

embracing

shadows

and

light

and the

moon

full as

faces

filled

with smiles

and laughter

on lips

for

fall is

here

singing

glory

to all

who will

listen.