Telephone Wire Art – Celia Smith.co.uk
The Art of Upcycling
Filed under Creativity, Wire Art
“Flower Celebration – Tulips” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
I am SLOWLY making progress on figuring out how to do things on my new PC. My husband is very happy that I’ve made the switch, since he can try to help me now. Since he’s a computer analyst, it’s only smart to have an in-house guru to help you when things aren’t working as they should.
I’m making a list of things that I want him to look at, explain how to do, or FIX – if possible – as I stumble onto them.
I’ve discovered that my reaction to not being able to figure things out is out of proportion to the problem. In a nutshell, I’m almost bald now, my throat is sore from yelling, and the air is blue from my bad words…..
I am determined to learn how to do what I want to do and overcome the problems I’m having. It’s a waste of energy to want to eat the keyboard, throw the computer and all its parts out the window, and go out to the front yard to shriek over and over, so I’m trying to remain CALM and handle this in a more GRACIOUS manner.
So far, my husband is at a loss as to why MY pop-up screen for Password Safe is different from his, and that ‘I’ have to do 80 steps to figure out what a password is when it used to be easy. Did I mention I’m also gnashing my teeth?
This WILL get better. I’m actually taking breaks now and going to CLEAN something. THAT’S how frustrating this is!
Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, Attitude, Challenges, Changes
283 Best Force de lage
“As long as I am breathing, in my eyes, I am just beginning.” ~ Criss Jami
Filed under Encouragement, Faces, Favorite Quotes
Frugal and Thriving
I’m still a slob. There is almost anything that I put ahead of cleaning. At the beginning of the year I made myself a promise that I would go through things in my house religiously – once every 30 years or so – and REALLY make a difference. I also promised myself (yes, I talk to myself a lot) that I would make every effort to make a donation to the Disabled American Veterans, aka The Veterans Thrift Town in Fort Smith, plus our local library, once a month all year long until all was under control.
To date, we’ve made 6 donations to the Vets and 2 to the library – a mixed success rate, to say the least.
I took a break, but now I’m starting with Phase 2 of my decluttering/purging/reorganizing/cleaning promise. The biggest areas of concern were tackled in Phase I. Large areas needing help from my husband remain our basement, garage, and the shop. The problem is that basically, he would like to throw away MY stuff and vice versa. So I’ve put these on hold to ‘discuss’ another day.
Today I started on Phase 2 of our Office clean-up. I tackled a 4-drawer file cabinet that I discovered was a repository of old records from my website, Creative Artworks. I shut down the website last June. All the records were obsolete, just taking up space. So, I –
The next step will be to relocate stuff that I can now store neatly in the file cabinet that have been looking for a home. I’ll clean out the office shelves more in the process and then clean when all is where it should be (assuming it gets that way.)
I’m making definite progress on my promise, even though I’m one-and-a-half donations behind to the local library. They collect books to sell to the public in order to raise money twice a year. They either just had a sale or are going to have one very soon; so as soon as that is done, I’ll get more serious about finding books around here that can be donated.
I still don’t like cleaning that much, but PURGING is beginning to feel really good!
I had a nice chat with our son this morning. He said he had spent most of the day today (It’s 1:00 in the morning tomorrow now) at a cafe he likes, doing computer work for a client.
All of a sudden a Chinese girl came into the cafe, distraught because she had left her purse in a red truck (taxi). Our son was able to talk to her in Mandarin, called the police and talked to them in Thai. They were able to find the particular red truck, the driver, and the purse. Our son said that would have never happened in China. I think it wouldn’t have happened in the United States, either. He said the Thai people are very nice.
I’m so pleased that he wanted to – and was able to – help, speaking in two languages. He has always thought it was important to try to learn the language wherever you are, showing respect for the country and its people. I’m happy that all his work on language classes actually helped someone in distress today.
(The picture above shows the Chinese people on the left, including the girl with her Cat’s Eye bag. The Thai red truck driver in the middle, and the Thai police on the right.) It makes me feel good that the driver was honest, the police were helpful, and the girl was helped. There is still good in the world!
“Grade 3 Meeting” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
Rebel Circus
My husband was upset that I was using an iMAC and he was using a PC with Microsoft Windows 10. He’s a computer guru, used to being able to solve things when I screw them up. Our son is also a guru, but he lives and works halfway across the world and is not always available to help. My husband has been badgering me for a long time and I finally gave in.
He built the computer from scratch. What SHOULD have been a simple plug-it-all-in turned into a major nightmare because of compatibility problems. We returned parts, ordered more, replaced others, and were tearing our hair out. (Actually, I wasn’t tearing MY hair out because I didn’t really want to change to the PC and Microsoft :0) ) The problem turned out to be the video card. Once he got a compatible one in, the computer booted the way it was supposed to and the progress in earnest began.
After using a PC for years, my son got me to switch to the iMAC. Since we did this while he was home, I made as many notes as possible and learned as much as I could before he left. It was really difficult for this old lady to change, since everything I ‘knew’ how to do was wrong, but I finally managed to do most of the things I wanted to do on the iMAC.
Yesterday was the start of MY exploding head. I’m back to where even the MOUSE is difficult. I’m used to using one that is flat. Now I’m back to using a regular mouse. All my instincts are wrong again. My head is exploding! I start typing and get a bunch of gobbledy-gook. I have a nice ergonomic keyboard to use, but my fingers are used to the other board.
The only REAL problems were not being able to move my bookmarks the way we thought we could, and my pictures file showing ‘icons’ instead of pictures. I had laboriously made a list of my bookmarks (I have a lot). It’s a good thing I did because now I’m putting on bookmarks one by one as I need them. This is the first post I’ve done since switching to the new PC, new keyboard, new mouse, new look to everything. ARRRRRRGGGGHHHHH!
My husband finally got Password Safe working. This is crucial because you can’t get into any of the programs or websites you use all the time without it. Lots of bad words were said by everyone, including Amber, who desperately wanted to play tug of war; but finally he prevailed. I asked him to help me move the new stuff into place, moving the iMAC, keyboard and mouse to the side in case I need something. I figure I’ll learn faster if I’m FORCED to try to do things on the new equipment. I’ll also figure out things we forgot, etc.
Right now, I’m not an unhappy camper, but definitely a TIRED one.
Dusky’s Wonders
Wish me luck?
Filed under Challenges, Changes
WikimediaCommons
My husband is building me a new computer. He really doesn’t like my iMAC and wants to be able to help me when I have problems. He has almost gotten things to the point where we can start putting data onto the new computer.
ON THE ONE HAND – it would be good to have an in-house computer guy to help when my computer goes wonky. Our son has helped me, but he’s across the world from us now -with a 12-hour time difference – and busy with his own life and pressures. ON THE OTHER HAND – I feel fairly comfortable with the iMAC and am really not looking forward to having to relearn how to use Microsoft – specifically Windows Microsoft 10, and have to learn all over again how to do what I want to do.
I went through this before when I changed to the iMAC. Everything I knew how to do was wrong on the MAC. Even the mouse was a pad, rather than a mouse. (You can’t left click or right click on a pad, for example.) All my programs were different. How I access my pictures was different. It didn’t even have Word or Excel or Capture Pro….
Now I’m pretty used to the new regime. It isn’t perfect, and there are some things that aggravate me, but I don’t learn new things nearly as easily as I used to. Technology has always been magic to me. (Kind of like electricity – I know how to USE it, but have no clue what actually happens to make it so the light comes on.)
So I’m ambivalent. Life is too short for my husband to be aggravated all of the time that we can’t share files as readily as we once did. Neither of us is in a position to problem-solve, or figure out how to overcome differences, so it makes sense to make my husband secure in the knowledge that he knows how our computers work, how they are set up (pretty much the same), and what to do in any given situation.
This morning, though, we tried to move one file from my computer to the new one – just to see what was involved. I tried to export it from here and import it over there. Nope. I tried simply dragging and dropping the file from where it was on my computer to the new one. It said it needed ‘authentication,’ and that I needed to get permission from my administrator. Supposedly, I AM the administrator!
This is the point at which I want to throw ALL computers out the window and tie my posts to the leg of a pigeon and hope for the best….
Filed under Challenges, Changes
XciteFun.net
“The richness of the rain made me feel safe and protected; I have always considered the rain to be healing — a blanket — the comfort of a friend. Without at least some rain in any given day, or at least a cloud or two on the horizon, I feel overwhelmed by the information of sunlight and yearn for the vital, muffling gift of falling water.” ~ Douglas Coupland
______
“Do not be angry with the rain; it simply does not know how to fall upwards.” ~ Vladimir Nabokov
_____
“Never run in the rain with your socks on.” ~ Billie Joe Armstrong
Filed under Favorite Quotes, Mother Nature
City Rock Bluff Overlooking White River in Calico Rock AR – Jennifer Price via Cindy Basnett Thurman
Filed under Arkansas, Awe-Inspiring Photography
“Turtles at Rest” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
I always walk around the yard while taking the doggies out. Lately I’ve been deciding which of our yard art pieces need refurbishing, like the gloves, bow tie, and bandana on the two robots in the previous post. I thought you might enjoy seeing a few of the pieces I looked at today –
I call this critter the “Crow.” I like him because of his simplicity. He is attached to a big boulder to the side of our driveway, watching all comers.
We found a picture on the net and did our best to make one similar. “Dog with Bone” has a moveable tail and moveable head, so you can ‘face’ him any way you want. He has a spot where the paint is peeling on the left end of his bone, but I think I’ll let that go for now.
A group of emus is called a ‘mob.’ We have these four just off the driveway and two more on our back deck. They need their faces washed, but I think that’s all. You can also see part of our “watermelon” propane tank in the background on the top left of the picture. :0)
This is our flying pig. He hangs from a sturdy line from a tree in the driveway. He turns and twists in the breeze. He’ll probably have to fall down for me to refurb him. He’s too hard to get up there!
This is the gazing ball I covered with a mosaic design a couple of years ago. It needs a good scrubbing with a brush, but it looks okay, otherwise.
Our “Guard Dog” is bolted to the big boulder on the other side of our driveway. He is made entirely of cut out metal, wire, some tubing, and ball bearings for his toes.
“Mama and Baby Snail” are made from rolled up strap metal and some beads for eyes. I think they mainly need washing.
The “Peacock” has lost a lot of his flat beads from the spokes the make up his tail feathers. I’ll try to find the beads, or replacements for those.
The “Pop-a-Doo” Bird seems to be holding up pretty well. I spray him heavily with wasp spray, as they like to nest around his neck for some strange reason. His beak needs a good scrub.
I may need to paint the shovel part of this shovel bird this year after a good scrub. The birds like to eat seeds off his back.
The “Sitting Bird” needs some paint on his legs, as well as a repaint of his chest, plus a good cleaning first. I’m going to put a rod in the planter so that I can sit him on the corner of the planter behind the rod. He tends to blow over in a hard wind.
This wonderful stone turtle is from a Mexican treasures shop in Van Buren, Arkansas. We bought him several years ago. He was plain, without eyes or any coloring on his shell. You can see he needs a good cleaning and a refurb of the paint on his shell.
The turkey just needs a good scrub.
I hope you’ve enjoyed the partial tour of the ‘stuff’ we’ve made. You can see that I have a lot of work ahead of me.
Our “box turtle” is in the shop now. His eyes were falling off and his paint is peeling. I’m going to start on him next.
Filed under Lewis Art, Lewis projects, Lewis yard art, project refurb
In my travels around the yard recently, I noticed that the robots on either side of our garage door needed some refurbishing. Each had a pair of gloves that had almost rotted off with the combination of wind, sun, and rain. I got a couple of pairs of old gloves from the shop, laboriously stuffed the fingers and palms of each with plastic bags, and they sat on our table waiting. Yesterday was the day. My husband did most of the work on getting the new gloves on once I removed the old ones with a combination of a screw and wire. I then added duct tape around the top of each to prevent wasps from building nests inside the gloves. (Lesson learned the hard way.)
This one is a “Cleaning Robot.” He has a broom in one hand and a ‘dust pan’ in the other, ready to do a quick clean-up when needed. His bow tie used to be bright red. Since his has really faded and is also rotting, a new one is on the way. He is made from a combination of an old propane tank and scrap metal, plus an old set of fireplace tools.
This is our “Gardening Robot.” He’s ready to help with mowing, planting, filling holes, mulching, and more in his tennis shoes and overalls and heavy gloves. He wears a bandana around his neck. We’ll get him a new one at Yeager’s today, I hope. He is made from an old propane tank, a metal box for his head, tube iron and scraps.
Filed under Lewis Art, Lewis yard art, project refurb
artist unknown
myArtMagazine.com – Hans Dahl.
naturesoilpaintingwallpaper
Filed under Creativity, Oil Paintings I Love
“Shades of Green” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
I notice – a LOT lately – that I’m rich.
I’m rich in marriage, child, retirement, friends, fun things to do, and more. I’m rich in everything but money. (I’m working on winning the Publisher’s Clearinghouse Sweepstakes, the Mega Millions, Power Ball, and such, but that would be icing on the cake. :0)
Last night I finished Book # 4 in the Jack Reacher series.”Running Blind” by Lee Child. I have the next one, “Echo Burning” on top of my desk, but I’ve decided to detour into another of my favorite series.
Amazon
If you haven’t read “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” series by Ann Brashares, you’ve missed a wonderful world of true friendship, love, and laughs and tears. The official summary of the books says, “Some friends just fit together. Once there was a pair of pants. Just an ordinary pair of jeans. But these pants, the Traveling Pants, went on to do great things. This is the story of the four friends—Lena, Tibby, Bridget, and Carmen—who made it possible.”
I’ve read what I thought was the whole series, four books: “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants,” “The Second Summer of the Sisterhood,” “Girls in Pants – The Third Summer of the Sisterhood,” and “Forever in Blue – The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood.” Today – to my delight while getting a URL and other information for you, I found there is a 5th book in the series – “Sisterhood Everlasting,” which I just ordered. :0)
I also have the DVD set to go with them, so I can re-read them, watch the DVDs (while my husband is doing something else. Just Imagine! He doesn’t really get into this series :0) ) and THEN read the new addition!
I can share their world by book and DVD, shedding years as I identify with young women in the late teenage years with their whole lives ahead of them, enjoying their wonderful friendship and experiences.
Do you see why I’m rich?
Lake Ann-Bella Vista AR – Douglas Keck – Only in AR – via Cindy Basnett Thurman
Filed under Arkansas, Awe-Inspiring Photography
by Matilda B
“Whenever you fall, pick something up.” ~Oswald Avery
“Live by this credo: have a little laugh at life and look around you for happiness instead of sadness. Laughter has always brought me out of unhappy situations.” ~ Red Skelton
Filed under Faces, Favorite Quotes
pm-clay-plus.livejournal.com
southwest laced gourd-“Midnight Retreat” – Maria’s Art Creations
ДЕРЕВЯННЫЕ УЗОРЫ ДЖОУИ РИЧАРДСОН (JOEY RICHARDSON), Великобритания.
Filed under Creativity, Gorgeous Gourd Art
Our son wrote to tell us that an “American tourist” had stolen all of the donation money from the donation box in a temple in Chiang Mai, Thailand recently. They had a picture of the man inside the temple, but hadn’t apprehended him. Our son has always tried to overcome the bad image of American tourists in whatever country he is in. He tries to learn their language and speak to them. He tries to be kind and thoughtful of the culture and the people. He is angry and embarrassed that the behavior of Americans abroad has been so rude, thoughtless, downright crude, and even – to THIS news – criminal.
This feeling of being upset at the behavior of others reflecting on him goes back to when he was a young toddler. We would take him to a restaurant and someone would come over to our table and say something like, “We are SO impressed by the behavior of your son! He’s been a real little gentleman.” We would thank them and they would leave. Our son’s face would turn red as he said, “Other kids are giving me a bad name. They make it so that all people expect ME to act bad.” We told him that we understood his feelings, but that the only thing he could control was how HE acted. It didn’t seem to help much.
He told us he made a donation to the temple that was robbed.
Filed under Attitude, Family, kindness, life lessons, making a difference
IncredibleSayings
I just took the doggies out, walking straight out to the garden to see if our plants made it through the night. It was due to get close to freezing this morning, and I debated whether to try to cover things up. I finally decided I had too many things to cover and would just hope for the best.
It wouldn’t have been the end of the world if the plants had frozen, but they were doing really well and I would have been very disappointed if Mother Nature had zapped everything.
Everything is good!
I hope that the weather is good where you are this morning. I wonder what the day will bring?
Max Eastman via sayingimages.com
“A sense of humor… is needed armor. Joy in one’s heart and some laughter on one’s lips is a sign that the person down deep has a pretty good grasp of life.” ~ Hugh Sidey
“Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.” ~ Mark Twain
I don’t know why, but I’m thinking of my dad today.
Part of his life was hard. He fell off a horse when he was three and busted his arm in three places. Back then, the doctors did the best they could, but his left arm was much shorter than his right, curved, and his hand almost useless. He was teased about it in school. He felt bad because they wouldn’t accept him to serve in the military because of it. He learned to use humor as a way to break through people’s initial reaction to his arm. In fact, there were whole patches of time I would forget that others might consider him ‘handicapped.’ He learned to use his humor and wit to make his living- carving out a space writing radio advertising spots. He billed himself as the second worst radio voice in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He went from barely making a living to never having to look for clients again, winning Addy awards – plus a silver one for “Lifetime Achievement.”
He couldn’t control his alcohol consumption and smoked heavily, ending up an alcoholic with emphysema. He joined Alcoholics Anonymous. He learned to carry an oxygen tank.vHe still kept his sense of humor, drawing cartoon drawings of himself, making others laugh. He taught my brother and me to appreciate humor – puns, jokes of all sorts, funny stories, funny situations, sarcasm, and to practice the ability to stand back and look at things, trying to see the funny side. This has been a lifesaver for me.
When he died, he wrote on a scrap of paper, “Remember me laughing.” And I do. I remember him telling stories, laughing so helplessly he could hardly finish. He and the lucky people listening would all be exhausted when he finished – stomachs hurting from laughing, cheeks hurting from smiling so hard – at the stories, but also enjoying the joy we all experienced as he told them.
“A day without laughter is a day wasted.” ~ Charlie Chaplin
“I have always felt that laughter in the face of reality is probably the finest sound there is and will last until the day when the game is called on account of darkness. In this world, a good time to laugh is any time you can.” ~ Linda Ellerbee
Filed under Attitude, Encouragement, Family, Funny Signs - Humor, life lessons, Tribute
“Geese in the Shadow” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
piccsy.com
Okay. We were in the middle of a drought and it even caused bad problems with our water supply, making the turnovers in the lakes cause our water to have a bad odor and taste. Wildfire danger was high. Warm, windy days were worrisome. I started doing mental and physical rain dances, trying to get our area over the problem.
Mother Nature listened. I’m not sure if she saw and heard ME, or if a whole lot of people were also doing rain dances, but she delivered. Big Time. We’ve had rain, rain showers, heavy rain, storms, sleet, and more rain. I’ve definitely STOPPED even thinking about rain dances, but now I’m thinking Mother Nature is saying, “You wanted rain. Okay. Here it is!”
Today we’re due for MORE storms, particularly between 11:00 and 3 this afternoon with possible severe weather. We did a group of errands this morning, paring our list down to one appt this afternoon, in an effort to be ONLY blown away, rather than blown away and DROWNED trying to get our stuff done.
The doggies came and demanded that I take them out a couple of minutes ago, insisting they would blow up if I didn’t take them out NOW. I complied, then came back for my camera, to record some of the beauty I found while walking around the yard. The storm today might wreak havoc with our yard, so I wanted to try to catch Mother Nature at her BEST – first.
Every day the wisteria gets more lush and more purple.
It SMELLS wonderful, too!
We have purple iris blooming in planters, in clusters around the yard, even off the edge of the civilized part of our yard, plus down our driveway.
We have buds on the three new Rio Samba rose bushes, and now some of the buds are starting to open up!
A knock out rose bush is starting to have blooms.
This is the north side of our square foot garden.
And the south side.
The winds really picked up while I took pics and walked the dogs. We’ll probably be right in the heart of the thunderstorms this afternoon, since we have to be out at 1:30. It’s a good thing we don’t melt in the rain. We’re thankful for our warm, dry home. Our doggies have already snuggled down for a nap, and even the two cats came in with us.
Have a wonderful day. Stay warm and dry!
creativeartworksblog 