The song of the sail

Dug through the files to find something new to bring you today. I don't have anything new. I haven't been taking any pictures, playing around in photoshop elements or even making anything cleverly crafty. Other than going to work, I've pretty much been a lazy bump on the log. I suppose I could take a few days off from blogging but it's about the only thing that is forcing me to actually use a portion of my brain in my off time. Besides, I'm working on a personal challenge here to see how many consecutive days I can go with my posting. I thank you all for being so tolerant of my less than interesting days. You guys are just the greatest.
Looking in to the files I found a picture that I had taken at Presque Isle State Park. Of course it was altered quite a bit and when I was doing the week of Presque Isle pictures (which started here) I was trying to avoid them. However, if you look at that post, I gave you the original and the edited version. I think I skipped the edits after that.
Oh so shut up already and show the picture, they have other things to do this year...lol

Duke in black and white

Just a couple of shots of Duke that I converted to black and white.

On this second one he had a very long piece of fur covering his left eye. I found another picture of him in his better groomed days and cut the eyes out and pasted them on to this picture. Don't worry he didn't feel a thing. It could be a lack of perfect vision but I couldn't tell when I was done with it.

Pretty Please

With sprinkles on top...

...before I go completely coo coo-nut, would someone please tell me what happened to my inspiration, motivation and ambition. It seems that the trio walked off and I haven't been able to locate them. I would appreciate it if you could tell me where I could look to find them.
Tell me where you think they went. Even if I don't find them I could be entertained by your clever ideas.

Time for sweaters

The evening have been getting cooler lately around here but I'm not quite ready to pull out the sweaters just yet. Unless of course it's for something else.
But what else would you do with a sweater besides wear it?
Well I'll tell you.
I started this little project some time ago after I seen an etsy shop that was selling them. I can't for the life of me remember who's shop it was or I would gladly post the link to it. Any way, I finally got around to finishing this just last weekend. While going through a box of old clothes that Amanda had left behind when she moved out I found a sweater to use for this project. It's really quite easy too. I cut the bottom part off the sweater and pulled it up over an old wicker basket and then glued it down. Then I cut off the sleeve and pulled it up over an old glass jar that I use to dump spare change in. The jar was a little tougher to do since the sleeve was such a tight fit but I did eventually get it pulled up.
Here's what they ended up looking like

The basket

The bottom edge of the sweater is on the inside of the basket. That way I didn't have to worry about finishing off the edges. On the bottom I did a long running stitch with yarn around the edge and then pulled it tight to fit the basket. Then I turned it under and glued it down.
And the jar

On the jar, since it fit so tight I didn't need to really secure the top of it, but I added the twine around the top for the bow. I just glued down the rough edges on the bottom of the jar.

On this day

Duke wants to tell you what today is. Today is his human dad's birthday. Do you know how old he is?

Duke says now that dad is 52 he's finally playing with a full deck

Aw Duke, you're so funny. ( lets hope that either Wade doesn't read this post or that he's got a sense of humor when he does)

Happy Birthday Wade

A visit to the doctors office.

I went to the doctors office the other day. No, I'm not sick. I went after they were closed. No, I wasn't breaking in to steal drugs. There is a doctors office right behind my house. When I'm out in my back yard I can see the back it. They have a little patio set up for the employees. In the summer they go out there on their breaks. I'm pretty sure I've even seen a grill sitting up there.
Anyway, they of course have a professional landscaper come in and take care of the lawn and flowers. There's a huge bush by the back door that I've always thought was rather pretty.

My reason for going to the doctors was to take some pictures and get a closer look at this huge bush. You can see that's it's taller than the building.
Here's a closeup of the flowers on it.

While I was there I snapped a couple other shots too.
Don't know what this dried up thing is but I thought it looked rather cool.

And just one more.

That was the first time I've ever gone to the doctors and it didn't cost me a thing. No waiting either.

Games people play

Chess anyone?

Just a picture I took at the Great Lakes Medieval Fair. Cropped and texture added.

Time travel

Before I get in to time travel I want to let you know that in addition to T's White party that I posted about yesterday, she is having a giveaway. You can read more about that on her blog 
http://desperatelyseekingseersucker.blogspot.com/2010/08/white-party-giveaway-detailsfinally.html
A little trip back in time today. We won't be going too far back so this shouldn't take too long.
The year was 2008, Amanda was over and hanging out with Duke.
I walked in the room and they both gave me the "I'm not doing anything" look.

I had a sneaking suspicion that they were up to no good when I heard giggles coming from the room. Now who do you suppose Duke is talking to on that phone?

I always suspected that Duke was a little devil and on this day he showed his true colors, with the help of Amanda.

White Party

T over at Desperately Seeking Seersucker is hosting an online White Party today.  I actually forgot all about it until I was reading her blog post for the day. Since I don't have much of a real social life, I didn't want to be left out of an online party. So I grabbed the first white thing I could find and put on my party slippers.
I'm sure that you'll all agree that this is THE most appropriate thing for a white party.

Besides I'm doing this last minute so Duke was happy to oblige.

If you want to know more about it, head on over to Desperately Seeking Seersucker

Fun with plates

Driving can be boring sometimes. Especially when you're driving the same old route looking at the same old scenery. Often, while driving, or even walking through a parking lot, I will take not of license plates. More specifically the first three letters of a plate.

Just what do those three letters stand for? That's my little game to amuse myself.
I once sold a car to a friend of mine. When we were signing the papers to do the title transfer the notary handed her the new plates. She looked at the plate and I watched the look on her face. I knew what she was doing. When we walked out I asked her if she had been trying to think of what the letters stood for. Yep, she plays that game too. At least I know I'm not the only one.
I won't tell you what I've decided the letters stand for on this plate. I'll let you guess for yourself.

My Brightoned day

 At the beginning of August I entered the Brighton your day with a purse giveaway over at The Urban Cowboy .
The giveaway was for a Brighton Barbados Ziptop Hobo. Well last weekend I was sitting at my computer when an email came in from Brian (the Urban cowboy) saying that I won. WOW! How cool is that? It came in the mail Thursday. Check this out.

 Is this not the most awesome looking bag? Thanks Brian for the wonderful prize.
If you aren't familiar with The Urban Cowboy you really should go check out his blog. He's a wonderful writer and you'll be captivated by his short stories.

The best part of waking up

Is Folger's in my cup.

That is something I never would have thought I would ever say. For years I loved the smell of coffee but I hated the taste. It didn't matter if it was loaded with sugar and milk or even flavored creamers. I just could not stand the taste of it.
I did however love cappuccino. We have a machine at work that has 2 different flavors of cappuccino and cocoa. We had run out of my favorite flavor one very cold day and I was desperate. I loaded my cup half full with hot cocoa and the rest coffee. I fell in love. The love grew to the point where I was buying coffee and cocoa to make my own mix at home. I eventually changed to just coffee with cream and sugar. (Still can't drink it black)
Now there is nothing better first thing in the morning than a nice hot cup of coffee. I fill my mug and it takes me through the morning drive. When break time rolls around, I refill and enjoy a good cup of coffee and the morning sun out in the parking lot.
So what do you enjoy first thing in the morning?

This took me back

While Amanda was here visiting she decided to take Duke for a little walk which of course made Duke a very happy dog.

They made Duke's ritual stop at that tree and Amanda found something.

I looked at this picture and just had to smile. She may be all grown up now but she still brings her mom treasures.

Yep, I'm still smiling over this one. Stuff like this makes being a mom all worth it.

Just a little bit longer

Summer is flying by way too fast for me. I want it to stay just a little bit longer. Here's a picture that says summer to me.

My flip flops and an ice cold diet coke make for a wonderfully relaxing summer day.
Imagine my horror when I was out taking pictures and noticed this.

I don't know, maybe the leaves on this pear tree turn this color every year at this time, but I'm just not ready to see fall colors yet.

The great explorer

Duke loves to explore. Every chance he gets he roams the back yard in search of something.

I don't think there is one inch of the back yard that he has not checked out. If he finds even the slightest little hole he's got his nose down in it trying to discover what's inside.

 I swear I did NOT photoshop his face off. This is how you frequently find him in the back yard. Now our yard doesn't have a lot of holes in it but there are a few and he knows where each one is. He inspects them thoroughly every day for signs of change in their condition.
It isn't just underground expeditions that satisfy his curiosity.

If it's in my back yard, Duke will find it. Sooner or later, he will sniff it out.

Identify the flower

I never did get around to telling you about the flowers I got in the spring for FREE. We get a selection of flowers and vegetable plants in each year right around mothers day. After a week or so they usually reduce them to get rid of the last of them. This year there were quite a few left over and my boss was going to throw them away unless someone wanted them. I was on that in a flash before someone else could scoop them up. I ended up with 3 flats of FREE flowers.
I'm not the best at gardening but I do know how to stick a plant in the ground so in they went.

 Not real impressive but hey it's something besides weeds growing in my flower beds.

My only problem is that there is a mysterious white fluffy flower growing in amongst these plants that I can't quite identify. I was wondering if any of you might be able to help me out

So any ideas on what that big white one in the back is?

Welcome to Avaloch

Saturday we took a short trip to Geneva Ohio for the Great Lakes Medieval Fair. Last year I was so mad at myself because I didn't take spare batteries with me and mine died after about 6 pictures. This year, I was prepared. Not only did I take both cameras with me but I had spare batteries also. I took tons of pictures, or so I thought. I got home and went to pull the card out of my sony. OH NO!!!! No card in the camera. That camera doesn't have an internal memory so I didn't get a single one on it. I can't believe that I didn't notice. Luckily the battery died on that one about half way through the day and I switched to my old camera. At least it wasn't a total loss.
We saw shows but I only have pictures of this one. Too bad, because the washing wenches are hysterical and the naughty baudy babes were pretty good too. 

Here are a few of the vendors doing what they do best.

I just couldn't help taking pictures of all the people dressed in costume. Some were very accommodating. The guy in the first picture stopped to let me finish taking the picture. Some were not so pleased like the guy in the center picture who appears to be covering his face. And some were totally unaware of my camera. The guy standing in the third picture is the Sot. He does a very amusing drunken show.

There were plenty of places where you could purchase costumes of your own. I think it would be fun to dress up to go to one of these things but after looking at the prices I'll just settle for the pictures.

While we were out

Wednesday night Amanda (my daughter for those of you who don't already know) came over for dinner. It was so great to see her again. We had steaks on the grill and made plans to shop the next day.
Little did she know that I would be armed with my camera to record the day.
She was on a mission to find some new clothes, so first stop was Kohl's. Not a whole lot of luck but she did find a sweater that she liked.

This is when I first pulled out the camera. I think I embarrassed her but isn't that what a mother is for?
Next there was a stop at the Verizon store. She needed to ask about a problem with her phone and I wanted the cool clip on cover like she had for her phone.
Next stop was lunch at TGIFriday's
My lunch

and hers

After that we headed to the mall. I know, lets park by A.C.Moore (ulterior motives here)

Time to shop

Had to stop in the Hallmark store to check out the selection of Snoopy stuff.

Since I'm getting a little carried away here I won't show you the pictures from Walmart or the gas station. I'll just skip to the last stop of the day.

 It was a fun day but I can't believe how tired I was once I got home. Ian (Amanda's boyfriend) chose to spend the day mowing the lawn with his dad instead of joining us. I laughed when Amanda said he was excited about mowing the lawn. First time I've ever heard anyone say that.

The Brenda Photo Challenge (8-14) Dirt

That's right, the subject for this Brenda Photo Challenge is dirt.

Dirt....Yes, Dirt! As usual, YOU decide about what's dirt or dirty! AND I DO NOT MEAN PREVERSE!!!LOL....I MEAN, dirt on roads...dirty faces...dusty trails...etc. Get it??

I procrastinated way too long with this one and tried to get some pictures with  my cell phone while I was on break the other day at work.

  LOL, pretty pitiful isn't it? OK, run outside with the camera and see if I can do anything better.

It may not be much better, but this dirty clay pot sure does qualify. 

I took a look through the old files to see if I could just a little bit better and I think this one pretty much works.

I liked the way these gloves looked laying on the rock in my flower bed.

Now go ahead and check out the rest of the entries. I'm on my way to do that now.

Tickled pink

Just a couple shots from out in the yard today.

I have no idea what this is. A lady who used to live across the street from me gave it to me a few years ago. This is the first time it's ever gotten any kind of flower on it so it was a very pleasant surprise when I saw it.

 I've shown a picture of this one before but I liked this one so here it is again.

No time to say hello, goodbye

Sorry for the rush today but it's a very special day. Amanda's home but only for a short time so we've got to run.

YEAH! Amanda's home.

Poor Duke

Last Saturday mom and her friend went to the Pymatuning Lake Festival and left me home alone.

They went on a free pontoon ride

Looked at crafts. They didn't buy anything but they got a couple of ideas

The saw cool cars

And a big fish

I don't think I like it when mom goes out and has fun without me.

Oh poor poor me.