be yourself: live with passion

Just hatched?

I just went outside to feed the pond fish...I've been using every excuse possible to stop kitting and head outside because it's such a gorgeous day.  Anyway, on my way to the pond, I saw this egg on the ground, which wasn't there just a couple of hours ago.

There's a hole in the back of the egg so for sure a little one came out of it.  Plus, I'm hearing little peeps from the top of the shamel ash tree.  So cute!

I love spring with all of its brand new life and energy.

Does anyone know what bird would have laid this egg?  The coloration sure is gorgeous!

So, here's to new life and a brand new baby in the backyard...now, it's back to kitting (until I come up with another reason I need to be outside).

Bye for now...that's two posts in one day...can you believe it? 

Credits:  background paper on digital collage from collections elements.

Dyeing

I'm dyeing.

Before you go expending unnecessary sympathy for me, I'm not expiring (well, hopefully not :)) as in dying but I am coloring cloth.  These fabrics are for the Life is Beautiful creatologie kit going out later this week...aren't they so pretty?

 

One of the things I love about hand dyeing fabrics is the inconsistency in color.  There are some fun things you can do to create various shades and I'll be including some of those tips in the kit instructions.  There's also a way to "cheat" so that you don't have to mix dyes and dunk...I'll also mention that as well.  In the meantime, I learned my lesson from last month...WEAR RUBBER GLOVES!  No dyed hands this time...that coral color took forever to come off!

Speaking of color, I snapped some colorful backyard pictures this morning and wanted to share with you. 

 

 

 

I hope the colorful blooms brighten your day.  Happy Sunday!

 

DETAILS

I came across a marvelous quote several weeks ago and wanted to share it with you:

“The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life.”
~William Morris

 

Details have long been a part of my life...in the work that I did, as well as what I'm currently doing, if I didn't pay attention to details, I would be in a world of hurt.

 

The difference between how I normally view details and the perspective given in this quote is enormous.  It's all about taking a genuine interest versus paying attention because I have to.

 

I had a chance for a practical application on Easter weekend.  This time, I very deliberately paid attention to details for our family brunch.  Here are a few pix:

 

 

I decided on an all white, cottage flavored theme for brunch.  Easy enough in my kitchen because I have long favored white dishes.  Add a white tablecloth, distressed white wooden candleholders, white candles, a white porcelain pitcher and white tulips and then just add food...which was served on white platters or bowls.

 

 

This is the family room which attaches to the dining area...the cottage white armoires house my scrapping stuff...and they are filled to the brim.  What was missing was something to tie together the white armoires and the white table setting.  Enter a white beverage keeper and a couple pots of white kalanchoe...one little detail tied the rooms together...and that enhances everyday life and just makes me wonder why I didn't think about it sooner!!!!

 

 

A close up of the kalanchoe...just look at the details on the tiny white flowers.  So pretty!

 

It was fun to pay attention to the details...and to take a genuine interest in making them happen.

 

As I'm working on kits for Inspired and creatologie, not only am I paying attention to details in presentation and making sure that all of the product is included, but I'm thinking about next month's creatologie project, which is going to focus on very detailed presentations done in small scale...so excited about sharing that one with you.   

 

What details of everyday life have your attention lately?

 

Laundry Day

From the time I can remember, Monday has ALWAYS been laundry day for my mom (and it still is!).  The fact that it's Monday, plus finding a beautiful (amazingly discounted) book about laundry from Chronicle Books on Friday afternoon, prompted me to do today's post. 

 The title of the book is "Laundry: The Spirit of Keeping Home" and it's authored by Monica Nassif and photographed by Patrick Fox.  The book is filled with tips about sorting, washing, pre-spotting, drying, etc. and I mainly bought it because the interior colors were soft and pretty and the photography was clean and simple, plus it was brand new and just one dollar.  Doesn't get much better than that, right?

When I brought it home, I actually started browsing through the book and reading some of the tips and such rekindled my memories about Mom and her laundry day.

Monday's laundry day actually started Sunday night before she went to bed, when she stuffed all of the whites into a huge laundry sink filled with water and a powdered enzyme...this was the pre-soak "setting", so to speak.

Mom had an automatic washer and dryer, but she refused to let go of her old wringer washer, which, she insisted, did a much better job of getting clothes clean.  The dryer was used on VERY rare occasions, as Mom said that clothes coming out of the dryer didn't smell fresh and clean like they did when taken off the line.

It was really important that clothes that were hung on the outside lines be stain free and sparkling clean, especially the whites.  To that end, the whites were not only pre-soaked and washed, but then were put through a rinse with bluing...anyone else remember that stuff?  You can still find bluing online in specialty stores...do any of you use it?  The purpose of bluing was to keep whites from getting yellow or gray...and, it actually worked.

Laundry day was an all day affair.  The sheets were stripped, bathroom towels replaced, and all dirty clothing was washed, hung to dry, taken down and then ironed.  (Don't even get me started on the ironing part!)

Mom had many laundry rituals...she really enjoyed the process...and she definitely received a lot of personal satisfaction from the results.  That, I think, is THE SPIRIT OF KEEPING HOME. 

I couldn't help but contrast that with doing laundry around my house.  It's a chore that must be done...sort, throw into the washer, throw into the dryer, put on Ashley's bed (she folds the laundry around here), pick up the folded piles from my bed and put away clean clothes.  And, oh yes, spritz on stain remover when needed, and hang up the clothes that require being drip dried.  Laundry is pretty much done daily to fit into the non-peak hours set out by our utility company.  There are no clothes lines in the backyard; many communities don't allow hanging clothes and homeowner's associations levy fines for those who disobey and make the neighborhood less beautiful.  Quite a contrast, no?

For most women, life today is paced so differently than it was for my mom when I was a child...and the lack of time seems to be responsible for the spirit of keeping home to have diminished and for things like clean laundry to go from being a source of personal pride to a chore that needs to be done.

There was a tip that I picked up for keeping whites looking whiter in those regions with hard water (that would definitely be the Phoenix area)...I altered it a little to make it more simple, i.e. doable.  She suggests using lemon peel, wrapped in cheesecloth and tossed in the wash cycle...I just squeezed a lemon and put the juice and some water into the rinse cycle...the clothes definitely looked brighter and smelled fabulous...plus no harsh chemicals like chlorine bleach means a greener load of laundry.  Cool.

I did a large backlog of laundry on Saturday...and because Ashley is away pet sitting, ended up doing all of the folding...which gave me time to think about this cultural change.

I'm interested in your feedback...did you grow up with a mother or grandmother who had laundry rituals?  Do you?  If given a choice, would you ever want to rekindle that spirit of keeping home or make lifestyle changes to accommodate taking more time to care for what you have?  Can't wait to read your thoughts...in the meantime, I'm off to stuff the washer with yet another load.

Happy Monday and Mom, Happy Laundry Day! 

 

Travel to Australia wouldn't be complete without a kangaroo...or two!

I promised you more pix and since the tour of the Koala Park was cut short, I'll just resume from there...to the kangaroos.  I loved that we could interact with the 'roos...they are actually fairly quiet critters here at the park...kind of like the petting zoo animals usually are.

OK, so here I am petting one of the mamas...take a close look at the photo (not at me, please, as I look like I need another cup of coffee).  Does she (the kangaroo, that is) have an extra tail?  Ahhhh...take a gander at this one...

Mum stands up and look what pops out of her pocket...a little joey!  Lil one looks a little sleepy.

Look at Mama's feet...she's pushing on the pocket...definitely using some force...think that she's trying to send a message?

OK, message received.  Out comes the not so little joey...how in the world did Mama keep that in her pouch?  I'm guessing that some of you who were pregnant with large babies or twins or other multiples can relate!

The little tyke is obviously well socialized as it curiously sniffs Bob's hand...it's got the stance down...just like Mama.  Just a bit of trivia here...did you know that the kangaroo is the only large animal that hops as its means of getting around...and they they hop at about 13-16 miles per hour? Just sayin' in case you ever decide to race a roo!

The fur of the roo is quite soft...I expected it to be a little more bristly...but no.  What a fabulous opportunity for me...to be able to interact with the kangaroos was definitely icing on the cake of a very fabulous week.

A peek into the yard of several very small rescue penguins...they are really, really cute!

And finally, the only guy that I was tempted to bring home with me...the cockatoo who looked at me and said, "Hello, Dahling!" (complete with Australian accent).  What a charmer!

For those of you who asked me about the bead store, the name is Ron Chudy Jewellery...click on the link for the address, etc...don't have a clue how to get there!  They told me that they do ship to the States...if you're willing to pay the freight.

Hope you enjoyed the whirlwind tour...I've got lots of other pix...you may see them here and there in layouts and projects.  Thanks for reading...and for your comments.

the saga continues...

I really hope that I'm not boring you with these stories...it was such a jam packed week and I want to get the outline of what I did in writing, which seems to help me remember details I might otherwise forget.

Both Lorraine and Joan had asked me if there was anything in particular that I wanted to do and I had mentioned that I was interested in doing a little junking...I really wanted to bring home something unique to Australia.  We went to a number of shops that advertised antiques and collectibles but they mostly contained high priced antiques...or really large collectible items, neither of which filled the bill for what I wanted.

Julie Van Oosten had mentioned a bead store in Sydney that she really likes...said that there were all sorts of boxes that you had to look through, etc.  I figured that's exactly my kind of store...Joan got the info and took me there.  I HIT PAYDIRT!  It was totally my style...down on hands and knees, rooting through plastic bins and cardboard boxes...I was just tickled.  What I brought home was a bag filled with beautiful pewter charms, which I found out were actually made there on the premises.  They were molds unique to the store, designed specifically for them.  So, not only was I getting something unique, it was also something totally Australian.

Here are a few of the varieties that I brought home...for me as well as for Ashley:

There are a lot more styles but I thought this might give you a good sampling of the gorgeous pieces.  I also found metal roses in a variety of colors...the green and blue are pictured and when I got home, I placed a black one on top of the miniature shadow box that I created in the Collections booth.

This is the mini shadow box...for your reference, so that you know just how small it is, the dimensions are 2 1/2" x 5".  You can sort of see the little black rose at the right side of the box top.  One of these days, I'm going to incorporate a little 3-D nest into one of my projects and I will share Julie's oh so brilliant, but simple, technique for making the nest.

On Saturday, Joan and her husband, Bob, attended a wedding and I spent the day hanging out with Rebekka and her family.  It was a blast.  Both of Rebekka's daughters play net ball, a game played primarily by females that they likened to basketball.  The BIG difference is that the players don't travel with the ball...it is passed rather than dribbled.  Rebekka's husband, formerly an Aussie football star, was the coach for both teams...that was fun to watch.

After the games, Rebekka took me to the famous tourist beach in the Sydney area, Bondi Beach.  

 

Here are a couple of beach scenes.  It was cloudy, windy and a bit chilly and the water wasn't as colorful as it usually is due to all of the rain in the previous days.  There is a strong undertow in the ocean and there are quite a few drownings each year because of people swimming outside of the flagged areas.  I guess there are so many incidents there that they actually have a TV show down there based on Bondi ER's.

I loved the rock formations that made up the sea wall, beaten up by the sun, wind and salt water...just gorgeous.

Of course, what beach would be complete without the sea gulls?  Apparently they are a world wide epidemic!

I'm not a huge fan of graffiti, but I was impressed with the detail and artistic quality of these paintings...this was definitely not just random, middle of the night, acting out, making a statement graffiti.  Nikki and her friend, Keenan, joined us for dinner by the beach...which is another episode of the story.  One of the restaurant servers called out to us as we were passing by and mentioned that they had lasagna and salad, along with free garlic and herb bread (bread is usually a pay-for appetizer in most restaurants in AU) on special for a really good price...we bit and then wondered if we got hooked into a place with really yucky food.  Much to our surprise, the calamari appetizer was delicious and so was the lasagne...the server was a bit on the faux perky, enthusiastic side but the food was as advertised...very good!

On the day I was leaving for home, we had an extra hour due to the change in time the previous night.  Bob and Joan wondered if I'd be interested in swinging by the Koala Park and seeing the koalas and kangaroos...you bet I was!  Here are Bob and Joan by the entry.  OK, I want you to get ready to say "ohhhhhhhhh", much in the way you do when you see a cute puppy or baby.

Didn't I tell ya? :))

Koalas typically sleep about 23 hours a day...some of them were barely awake in anticipation of their feeding, which was to occur in about 20 minutes.  Aren't they just the absolute cutest things?  There were several of them in this tree...all tucked into their own little "Y's".  So fun to see them.

OK, Typepad isn't all that crazy about having me add more pictures, and I still have a few so I'll just have to do another chapter in this journal!

Thanks for staying with me...hope you're enjoying the variety of places and things as much as I did!

Happy Friday!

 

 

 

 

travel stories, part two

Over the years, I've thought about consistently journaling my life...I've even bought the journals and made a few entries.  But that's about all that happened...for some reason, hand writing about my day, or a trip, or an event wasn't something that I could consistently maintain...but I still love the pretty journals! :)

Enter the world of blogging.  This is something that I have stayed up with fairly consistently...and I don't know what the difference is other than I add photos and you read what I write.  All that I know is that it's a great way for me to tell my stories and regularly use my pictures.  Today, I have some more stories to tell. 

I ended up being excused from jury duty as it was predicted to be at least an 8 week criminal trial, an awfully long time for a self-employed person to be away from doing business...like putting kits together, coming up with new projects, teaching at Inspired...all the great things that inspire us!  No jury duty also means I have more time to blog!

Yesterday, I stopped with the SIA event but I just wanted to mention how fun it was for me to be able to hang out with my friend Ngaire.  I met her 5 years ago when I was teaching 7 gypsies classes at the Pride Publishing Convention in Gold Coast, near Brisbane.  Ngaire was also teaching there and we got to know each other a bit...since then, we've stayed in touch thru our blogs and the occasional email.  I was tickled to hear that we'd be sharing an apartment for a couple of nights during SIA.  Being around Ngaire is like being around a breath of fresh air...she's unconventional, funny (we sure spent a lot of time laughing), creative, and she definitely has a caring soul.  We had a chance to hang out between classes and both did some creative play at the Collections booth...so glad you were there, Ngai!

I often tell women in my classes who comment about feeling inspired that, after an event or a class, I totally feel inspired as well.  Being around scrappers in Australia was great for me...I learned, I grew, and I came away from the event feeling energized and inspired.

I received an invitation from my friend Joan to spend the remainder of my time down there at her home.  To be honest with you, I don't know exactly when I met Joan, but I think that she was in the States and took one of my classes at Memory Lane.  We connected and stayed in touch over the years; when she would come to the States, she would get in touch and we would have a meal together or a class.  Joan is "mum" to Rebekka Erickson, who launched her own product line in Australia several years ago.  Rebekka is a very talented professional photographer...I love what she captures in her photos.  I'd had several opportunities to get to know Rebekka as well so staying with them was a little like a homecoming.

Joan is an extremely organized person and she planned out an itinerary that would allow me to see most of the highlights of Sydney in just a few days.

Sydney Harbor is beautiful and here's the first complete shot of the bridge that I took.  As I stood there looking at the scene before me, I had chills running up and down my arms.  Five years ago, I was thrilled to be able to visit Australia to teach classes...at the time, I viewed it as a once in a lifetime experience and I was great with that...I mean, who would have ever thought I'd be traveling across the world to teach memory art?  But to come back a second time, to a new city and a new audience, and to physically stand and see what I had only ever seen in pictures, was overwhelming.  It made me feel so grateful and blessed to be doing what I do.

Here's Joan, with granddaughter Nikki on the left and Nikki's best friend, Natalie, on the right.  Nikki and Natalie decided they wanted to spend the day in Sydney with the "old ducks"...they were so much fun and reminded me of Ashley and Elizabeth when I've spent time with them together. 

Of course, no Sydney travel journal would be complete without a picture of the Opera House, which, from this perspective, looks like a floating ship.  What an amazing structure!

From the harbor area, we walked up to The Rocks...there really is a story around every corner...the farmer's market, old churches, humongous trees, alleyways that I would have loved to explore, interesting architecture, an old bridge...the list just goes on and on.

I captured the girls walking up the stone steps to the high point which overlooks the whole city.  They were really good sports about me and the camera...I just kept telling them that I appreciated them indulging the tourist...and not getting too embarrassed every time I clicked another shot!

From the lookout point, I was able to capture a different perspective of the bridge.  It's an awesome structure.

This outrageously huge tree is what my mom and grandma used to call a rubber plant...only theirs grew in small pots as houseplants.  I looked it up in Wikipedia and here's what it says:

"Ficus elastica, also called the rubber fig, rubber bush, rubber plant, or Indian rubber bush is a species of plant in the fig genus, native to northeast India, south to Indonesia."

Take a peek at the children in the background and it will give you a little perspective as to the size of this monster "bush".

It's hard to resist a farmer's market...and we picked up some fresh bread and dipping oil for our supper that night.

I can't remember the last time I saw a phone booth in the states...so had to capture this one!

Here's a view of the city as we were leaving...absolutely beautiful...and such a fun day!

They had been predicting rain all day...and while we had some ominous clouds (which made picture taking a little interesting), fortunately there was no rain and we got to see all that we set out to see!

Guess what?  I still have more stories and pictures...so I'll do another post on another day.

Thanks for continuing on the journey with me!

 

Travel Stories

I have read all of your travel stories...thanks so much for sharing them.  Obviously, many of you love going to new places (and sometimes going back again :)) as much as I do.

I've sort of neglected the blog in the past week...there have been so many deadlines to meet, plus I've had that sort of mental fuzzy feeling that you get when you've taken nighttime cold medicine for several days.  But, it's getting better every day and I'm actually sleeping when I'm supposed to again...always a good thing.

Hope that you had a great Easter and Passover.  For me, it's always good to go back to the basics of my faith...knowing what you believe helps strengthen faith, doesn't it?

I finally finished uploading and editing my Australia pictures and wanted to share some of them with you, along with some stories of my time down there.

I left home on Friday evening, flew to San Francisco, changed planes and then flew directly to Sydney.  Flying there is usually better than coming home, sleepwise, because it's nighttime and the body is ready for sleep.  Of course, when you have a little tykelet across the aisle who insists on screaming through most of the night, it doesn't matter how ready your body is for sleep...it won't happen very easily!  The good thing is that my body was fueled by excitement and adrenaline so that when I arrived, I was ready for action.

I was met at the airport by Lorraine Bate...she was holding a sign that said "CAROL, HRH"...I totally cracked up at that!!!  All that was missing was my crown!  Lorraine is a total sweetheart...she works for Scrapbook Creations Magazine in Australia and there are few people in the industry that she doesn't know.  She graciously opened up her home to me and cleared her calendar to take me sightseeing on Sunday...oh, did I mention that I totally lost Saturday during travel and time changes?????  We stopped in at her home to have a fabulous grilled breakfast prepared by her hubby, Lyle, who cooked while we were on our way, to drop off my luggage and to change before heading out.

Lorraine took me up to the Blue Mountains...we passed through quaint villages and towns, saw apple orchards, and, of course, the reason for the blue haze, the thousands and thousands of eucalyptus tress.  While we have some in Phoenix, seeing these forests just totally amazed me...and the smell was glorious!

Here's Lorraine at The Three Sisters...what fabulous rock formations.  Like the Grand Canyon, Sedona, etc., a camera just cannot capture the majesty of it!  It was a beautiful day to be out and about and walking up in the mountains did me so much good after hours and hours of sitting on the plane...especially because I'm not much of a sitter!

I think I have a nose for sniffing out French themed stuff...didn't take me long to find it, either!  This is a vignette from one of the little shops...makes you want to sit down and have some tea, right?

Hospitality...I just wanted to stop for a moment to talk about the subject.  I have never seen such warm and welcoming hospitality as in this industry...and this next story will definitely show you just how hospitable.  While we were eating lunch in Leura, a mountain community, Lorraine called her friend and boss, Donna, the managing editor of Scrapbook Creations.  She mentioned that we were in the area and wanted to stop by the house...and the immediate response was of course we were welcome...we just needed to watch for the wet paint on some of the trim.  Just like that...she opened her home.  It was definitely a humbling and learning experience for me...warmth, generosity and openess matter a lot more than having an imperfect home that's in the middle of renovation.

Donna's cottage styled home is lovely.  She and her hubby have done an amazing amount of work in it and we share a passion for collecting good junque.  I love her style...somewhat shabby, cottagey, but above all, comfortable and welcoming.  After a tour of her home and scrapbook rooms (yes, that would be more than one room!), we had tea...a tradition I can solidly get behind!  Of course, I then had to check out her fabulous rose garden, as well as the many plants she has that are similar to those grown in our high deserts...great for the birds and butterflies.  

One of the things that I forget to do when I'm interacting with people is to take pictures...I'm really into listening to them and into building a relationship that it doesn't even enter my mind to grab a camera and take pictures. The end result is that I always have a lot of scenery pix and very few people pix...but at least I have the stories and the relationships, right?  If any of you reading this have some good SIA pix, would you please email them to me?  I totally dropped the ball (or camera, in this case)!

Lorraine told me that her guest room bed has been fought over...that it's considered one of the finest beds in Sydney...and I would have to agree!  I slept like a ROCK...I was going to say "baby", but after the experience on the plane, that would not be a good analogy!

SIA, the Australian version of the trade show, CHA, was amazing.  Because it's smaller than CHA, you can actually speak with vendors and with retailers.  I taught two classes there...both to retailers...what a blast that was!  My first class was sponsored by Aussie Scrap Source and it featured Jenni Bowlin and Tattered Angels products.  We had so much fun playing with Glimmer Mist and screens...and cutting and pasting...and making rosettes.  Teaching retailers is so much fun...they totally LOVE product!  Thanks to Cheryl and her staff for the great kits and for sponsoring the class.

The second class was a 7 gypsies class sponsored by Print Blocks.  Thank you, Michelle, for coordinating the products and the kits!  This class was about creating layered structures...great for demonstrating a lot of products and how to use them.  This was another fun class...loved the enthusiasm of the women there.

It actually poured both days of the show...sometimes it sounded like it was going to come right through the roof!  Good thing we were indoors.

On Wednesday morning, I did a breakfast talk to the retailers.  When Sally Wilson, the president of SIA, owner of Delish Designs, and one of the warmest, funniest women I have ever met, first asked me to do this, she said that she wanted me to talk about myself and that the time I had was 30 minutes...my response was "OK, that'll take 5 minutes...what do I talk about for the next 25?"  Well, I guess I figured it out...cuz I ended up taking almost 30 minutes.  I really appreciated the women there...and I think that some of them totally related to what I talked about...the circuitous route that you sometimes go through in life to get you to where you are now...the sweet spot...the place where you know you are supposed to be.

I had the opportunity to take a class from Sally...love her teaching style...a great blend of teaching and storytelling!  I also had a chance to play at the Collections booth, designed and owned by Julie Van Oosten, an artist in the industry that I have long admired.  She is the queen of all things miniature and detailed...just check out her blog and her Collections samples...you will have to agree with me on this!  Anyway, I sat at a table at her booth and just played and had fun.  I'll have to remember to take a picture of the miniature shadow box that I put together...made from chipboard and paper...LOVE it!  Thanks, Julie and Audrey, for letting me play!

To everyone who had a part in putting SIA together, thank you.  Thanks for the opportunity to be a part of your event and for bringing me down there to share inspiration together.

I'm going to sign off now...this takes care of the first part of the week...more to come.  I have jury duty today and have to get ready to go...doing my civic duty, right?  Stay tuned...and for all of you who have emailed me to make sure I'm OK, thanks for taking time to write and to give me a gentle nudge to update my blog!

 

 

Back in time to pick a winner!

I got back from Sydney yesterday late afternoon and my body has been trying to figure out exactly what time it is...and my mind has been trying to figure out what day of the week it is!

I feel a little fuzzy...like you do after too many doses of nighttime cold meds.

Thanks so much for sharing your favorite travel places...and to so many of you for sharing your stories about why you loved where you had been.

Here's the winner of the travel journal product pack:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

54

Timestamp: 2009-04-06 19:19:08 UTC

Number 54 is LOUISE MURR!  Here's what Louise has to say:

Hey Carol,

I have never traveled to exotic places or out of the country and probably never will. But my most memorable trips are the ones with my family every other summer when we would take a trip to FL. We always did a Disney park or two, a water park and a beach day or two, space center day and a resting by the pool day. The most fun usually would be the road trip there. We always took car games and books and lots of yummy snacks. Some of our have to's for a trip would be bugles, crunch and much and tootsie roll pops. We would have contests to see who could "get to the center of the tootsie roll pop" without biting it. These trips are so precious to all of us. My kids are grown now and still talk about these trips to their spouses. It makes us feel good that they thought our family vacations were always fun and special as simple as they were.

Have a fun safe trip...I will miss your blog for the week you are gone...

Take care.

Louise Murr

I'll get a pack out to you, Louise...and thanks everyone for playing.   It may take a day or two to get rid of the fuzzies and figure out where I'm at in life...but in the meantime, I thought I'd share a couple of peeks...of what's to come by way of pix and stories.

 

Stay tuned...more {complete} pix and stories to follow!