Old Country Roses

My favorite china pattern! A few years ago, my mother-in-law bought this china for herself. We both always liked roses.

After a few short months, she told me I could have the china when I wanted it as she was tired of it. I knew that was not the case at all, rather she knew how I loved them and wanted to bring me happiness.

My dear mother-in-law passed away on May 1, 2009 and I just recently acquired this set from her home. This past weekend I removed everything from my china cabinet, scruffed and buffed everything and lovingly placed Old Country Roses in their new home.

I can almost feel her peering over my shoulder, telling me they look nice. Thanks Denise!

Art Clubs

If it's the third Sunday of the month, it's time for ATC and Altered Book Club. I had an incredibly difficult time coming up with something worth anything for the Altered Book Club this month. The book I had to work on was "Alice in Wonderland". I don't know why it was so difficult for me, but it was. I stressed and stressed all month long and just could not get inspired by any image I saw. My clubs met at 2pm today and I finally was inspired by something at 11am!!! Talk about cutting it close, huh? Well, I told the group that Alice helped me because that's how it looked. I'm so hard on myself sometimes, but rightfully so. When all else fails, add trims. They can spruce up anything!!

I had fun making my ATC's this month. I used alcohol inks on white glossy paper for a marbled effect. I like the way it turned out.

Here are some of the other ATC's for November.

It's always interesting to see the different ways we interpret a theme. I love getting together with this group of women. This is our seventh month together and we are really getting to know each other and have fun together. We only meet once a month and I think we were all nervous at first sharing our work, but we've learned so much from each other and there is nothing like getting like-minded souls together to share their creativity. It was fun!

Half Way There

Today is the 15th which means I am at the halfway mark for NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month). For the most part, I've enjoyed being connected to my blog on a daily basis this month. For the other part, that is not part of the most part, I find it a challenge to come up with something interesting, exciting and/or thought-provoking on a daily basis. Part of me wants to bail out and the other part of me is saying that I'm halfway and it would be foolish to bail out now. So here I am, writing nonsense. Done. Time to keep on moving on.

My New Fire Bowl

We built a fire tonight in my new fire bowl. We found it a couple weeks ago at Home Depot at a very reasonable "clearance" price. I've had a couple of chimineas, a wrought iron circular firepace last year and now I have this fire bowl. I think I like this fire bowl best of all! I love to have a fire on my little patio. It just makes it so cozy. The nights are a little cooler here now so the fire is a nice touch. A perfect ending to a great weekend!

Beautiful Today

We had a great day today! The weather was gorgeous so we went to downtown West Palm Beach to the Green Market. They just relocated it by the intracoastal so the atmosphere was superb!

There were lots of people enjoying the laziness of a gorgeous day.

There were people being artsy.

Tranquil places to sit and relax . . .

A really cool tree . . .

Rachel . . .

Tom and Rachel . . .

Pretty boats on the intracoastal . . .

Pretty palm trees . . .

A beautiful day was had by all . . .

Hope you enjoyed your day too!

Do What You Love

Had a nice time tonight celebrating a friends birthday. A group of us met at a small restaurant for some good conversation and good food. It was a great way to end a busy week. It's nice talking to different people, finding out what they do and how well they like it. You can find out a lot in just a few minutes with people. I love that. It's so interesting.

It's funny how our careers come to be. I got lucky by getting into the human resources field. Someone encouraged me and someone gave me a chance. I worked hard to prove myself. I've always been good with people. I can talk to strangers and depart as good friends. We all have talents. I wonder how many people are spending their time doing what they are best at. You can certainly tell by talking to people if they are happy in their shoes. Peace and contentment comes from within and jumps out for all to see. Make it worth it.

Vermont

Wanted to share some random Vermont pictures. Blogger photo upload isn't working well for me tonight. I'll have more another time, but enjoy the beauty.

Don't these turkey's know it's November 11th???? Better get a move on now.

Isn't Vermont pretty?

Notable Books

I belong to a Book Club. I've been participating for several years now, but unfortunately do not always read the monthly selection. I buy it, but I don't always get around to reading it. I know that is not a fine attribute of a book club member, but I really despise taking my precious time to read a book that I detest. I know, a poor book club member.

A couple of months ago we had a book to read that was superb. Girl In Translation, by Jean Kwok, was excellent. It is about a mother and her young daughter immigrating to the United States and the trials and tribulations they endure. Please take a moment to check out this book because it was an excellent read and it offered great opportunities for discussion.

Our book for this month is, "The Lost Dogs: Michael Vick's Dogs and Their Tale of Rescue and Redemption". So far, so good. I would imagine that book will offer some interesting discussions.

What are you reading?

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

At least around my house! I'm busy getting things together for swaps and having such a blast! I had a wonderful time creating tonight while watching Dancing With The Stars and Parenthood. It was a quiet, peaceful evening doing what I love best. Often I create with the idea of making what I think the recipient would like. Since I do not know the recipient of the card I made tonight, I made what I like.

There are a couple of really good online classes going on right now and I would so much like to participate but I just know I would not be able to find the time to do them. Why is there always more to do than time to do it? It drives me nuts when someone says they are bored. I just cannot understand it. I could fill up a week's worth of activities in a day if I could squeeze the time. Sleep, you say? What a waste of time, but work tomorrow. I'm getting old and need my beauty sleep. Sweet dreams.

White On White

I had to create two white on white bookmarks for a swap with one of my Yahoo groups, Art For The Creative Mind. I jumped on the bandwagon for this swap as I thought it would be such fun and easy. Oh was I wrong! First of all, I love texture. You cannot texture a bookmark or it won't fit well in your book. And white on white? Oh boy. Not as easy as I thought. I always like to personalize my swaps as best I can so this is for Linda.

That one was fun to make. When I ventured on to bookmark two, I was stumped! Silver counts as white kinda doesn't it? Yep, she says.


Now I have 12 calendar pages to do for the month of July. I had my pages all set until I realized Canadians don't celebrate the 4th of July. But they do have Canada Day on July 1st so perhaps I can incorporate that in some way. I think four or five in my group are Canadian. I also have my ATC and Altered Book Clubs this weekend. ATC's are a Fall theme - easy. The book this month is Alice in Wonderland. That should be fun also. I love when I have creative commitments. It's a wonderful excuse to just sit and be creative. Hmmm, do I have to have an excuse?

Dexter Mountain Road

This is the street my brother lives on. This is the view coming down the mountain, going into town.

There is a spring house where you can get fresh mountain water. It's always cold. It's always running. It's always clean, clear and fresh.

Right after the spring house, there is French Cemetery. This is a very old cemetery.

This is the view from my brother's front porch.

And this is my brother's log cabin and the shop he had built to work out of.

It is so peaceful and serene. Vermont is a beautiful state.