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Click mosaic to embiggen and for others participating in
Thought for Today
“It is not enough to be busy … the question is: what are we busy about?”
Henry David Thoreau
ALMOST
This is my 78th
Misty Dawn started the meme and explains the rules here.
Early morning … long
shadows fall across the yard.
Roses in full bloom ;–)
Click to embiggen for better viewing …and for others participating in
Today’s Flowers and Wordless Wednesday (on Sunday)
See my other Camera Critters posts at
Small Reflections and Sacred Ruminations
Small Reflections and Sacred Ruminations
Thought for Today
“All of us do not have equal talent,
but all of us should have and equal opportunity
to develop our talent.”
John F. Kennedy
Playing with ‘templates’
in Photoshop Elements …
enjoying process!
Thirteen ‘windows’ through
which to examine pansies
growing in MY yard.
Click to embiggen & for others participating in
Wordless Wednesday, Thursday Thirteen, and Color Carnival,
See my other Wordless T-13 Colorful posts today at
Small Reflections and Sacred Ruminations
Small Reflections and Sacred Ruminations
Thought for Today
“Joy is not in things! It is in us!”
Benjamin Franklin
ALMOST
Scroll down for Window Views
While rains fell Midwest,
early morning drizzles brought
me a bit of hope …
here in So Cal, but
soon it became clear I’d be
‘watering’ by hand
Click to embiggen for better viewing …
A few more windows
snapped around the neighborhood
on my daily walks …
filtered and collaged
cutouts … posterized … and some
poster edges too.
… and for others participating in
Mostly Wordless, and Wordless Wednesday t00.
See my other Wordless posts this week at
Small Reflections and Sacred Ruminations
Small Reflections and Sacred Ruminations
Thought for Today
“Our life is frittered away with detail. Simplify. Simplify.”
Henry David Thoreau
This is my 75thMisty Dawn started the meme and explains the rules here.
Often hummingbirds
visit lemon and lime trees
here in my front yard
occasionally
I am quick enough to catch
a few photographs
like the ones I’ve shared
here today in my montage …
(click to embiggen)
Sparrows more common
dart from rooftop into trees
in our neighborhood
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Camera Critters this week.
See my other Camera Critters posts at
Small Reflections and Sacred Ruminations
Small Reflections and Sacred Ruminations
Thought for Today
“The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.”
Dorothy Parker
Early morning skies
in my neighborhood often
delight and amaze.
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See my other T-13 posts at
Small Reflections and Sacred Ruminations
Small Reflections and Sacred Ruminations
and more SKY Watch views at
Small Reflections and Sacred Ruminations too!
Thought for Today
“The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind.”
Albert Einstein
Click to embiggen for better viewing … and for others participating in
See my other Wordless posts this week at
Small Reflections and Sacred Ruminations
Small Reflections and Sacred Ruminations
Thought for Today
“We have to live today by what truth we can get today and be ready tomorrow to call it falsehood.”
William James
Click to embiggen for better viewing …
… and for others participating in
Mosaic Monday, Mellow Yellow Monday and Today’s Flowers this week.
Thought for Today
“If people did not do silly things, nothing intelligent would ever get done.”
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Belatedly …
This is my 73rdMisty Dawn started the meme and explains the rules here.
Sleepily … Molly
observes from the back of the
Explorer as I
snap some photographs.
What a fun day it has been …
first to Doggie Beach
where she romped & played
in the water … on the sand
chasing tennis balls …
and making new friends.
Afterward … a visit to
a local groomer ;–)
Click to embiggen & for others participating in Haiku Friday & Camera Critters.
See my other Camera Critters post
featuring Ms. Kitty at Sacred Ruminations
featuring Ms. Kitty at Sacred Ruminations
Thought for Today
“You don’t understand anything until you learn it in more than one way.”
Marvin Minsky
ALMOST …
Week 6 – My 1st
I’ve observed this new
colorful activity …
and today I’ve played
sharing HATS displayed
recently in Sunset Beach …
Mother’s Day Craft Faire ;–)
colorful activity …
and today I’ve played
sharing HATS displayed
recently in Sunset Beach …
Mother’s Day Craft Faire ;–)
Click to embiggen for better viewing
and for others participating in Color Carnival and Wordless Wednesday.
See also Window Views and Ruby Tuesday at Small Reflections
and WW-Purple Passion Photo & Mosaic Monday at Sacred Ruminations.
and for others participating in Color Carnival and Wordless Wednesday.
See also Window Views and Ruby Tuesday at Small Reflections
and WW-Purple Passion Photo & Mosaic Monday at Sacred Ruminations.
Thought for Today
“I base most of my fashion sense on what doesn’t itch.”
Gilda Radner
“I base most of my fashion sense on what doesn’t itch.”
Gilda Radner
Tuesday morning addendum: While taking time to catch up on blog visits this morning (after being away from my computer most of the past few days), I’ve just discovered and new Monday Morning Mosaic Meme and am delighted to find others who create this kind of eye-candy! I’ve decided to add that logo to THIS post and plan to participate weekly from now on … in fact, once I finish this addition here … I intend to create a belated Monday Morning Mosaic at Sacred Ruminations … just because ;–)
On the left is the logo I found at Gemma’s today and on the right is one I created myself … because I didn’t see one at The Little Red House. If you participate in Mosaic Monday and would like to use mine, feel free. You can find my first ‘official’ Mosaic Monday at Sacred Ruminations.
Mellow Yellow Monday #17 
One collage of blooms
with two different backgrounds …
first white & then black
using a template
I created … fun to share
blooms with yellow here.
Click to embiggen and for others participating
in Mellow Yellow Monday and Today’s Flowers this week.
Thought for Today
“The most important trip you may take in life is meeting people halfway.” Henry Boye
This is my 71stMisty Dawn started the meme and explains the rules here.
Click to embiggen & for others participating in Camera Critters.
See my other Camera Critters at
Small Reflections and Sacred Ruminations
Small Reflections and Sacred Ruminations
Thought for Today
“If we could see our experiences for what they cost us we’d be millionaires.”
Abigail Van Buren
In my Digital Media Arts class I’ve learned to create and use templates with Photoshop Elements … and here is my first attempt. Each lettered space is a different layer on which to insert photos. Our instructor is a Scrapbooker and wanted us to use a 12 by 24 inch format to create two book pages together. I’m not sure I’ll continue this practice for blogging purposes … but I see why she likes it.
Using this template in last night’s class, I entered ten photos of Molly and Ms. Kitty … used the Control G (or ‘group’ command) to link each photo to the appropriate layer … added stroke outlines (blue for Molly and red for Ms Kitty) … shadows … and bevels to each … then used one photo with the opacity lowered as a background.
I separated the left and right pages using the cropping tool,
In order to make this a T-13, this morning I repeated last night’s steps to add 3 additional photos … below. I do love the Control G command because it doesn’t require me to crop photos and finesse them into the correct spot. I suspect that with practice (and some experimentation) I’ll figure out simple ways to combine these new skills with ones I’ve mastered previously … and discover new techniques of my own.
Click to embiggen for better viewing
and for others participating in Thursday Thirteen
Thought for Today
“What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child.’ “ George Bernard Shaw
ALMOST …
Finally … drizzles
Monday morning brought moisture
everyone could see
for a little while.
As summertime approaches
we’re many inches
short on rain this year
causing water rationing.
Day Lily Droplets!
Click to embiggen … for others participating in
“Smile, breathe and go slowly.” Thich Nhat Hanh
South Breeze Farm hosted the Giving Thanks Challenge and I participated at Small Reflections in November and decided to continue indefinitely … generating the following list one day at a time throughout the month of MAY. I’ve decided to transfer the lists at the end of each month from Small Reflections to Happily Retired Gal … just because. Click to see previous lists already published here.
1. for the possibility of rain coming our way.
2. I’m able to keep my plants alive with my garden hose when rain fails to fall as predicted … yet again.
3. for my washer, dryer & dishwasher.
4. to feel healthy & energetic.
5. my sister learned about how to use ‘Exposure Compensation’ while talking to a professional photographer on an excursion up the Stickeen River … then shared that information with me in a phone call later.
6. I’ve freed up considerable memory on my laptop so it runs a bit faster again.
7. I live close to the ocean where I walk daily.
8. for friends & family ;–)
9. time to visit the annual Mother’s Day Craft Faire in Sunset Beach.
10. for telephone connections with my sister and several friends too.
11. for a delightful lunch with the Retired Gals today.
12. my WordPress blog is fixed this afternoon (thanks to Anthony in Tech Support) after being ‘broken’ earlier today.
13. I remember enough from my PSE6 classes so that I’m able to keep up in the Digital Media class I’m taking this session Mondays & Wednesdays from 6-9pm.
14. for Ibuprofen helping me cope with aches & pains in my aging body.
15. I’m finally getting my photos organized and tagged in a methodical manner.
16. I’m gradually figuring out a useful set of ‘keywords for tagging’ photos & learning to use the ‘software tools’ to integrate previous tags into the new system I’ve generated experimentally.
17. I’m able to access my blogs even though something has gone crazy with my ‘C-drive’ leaving less than 8mb of ‘free’ space after running a Back Up to my 1TB ‘G-drive’ last night.
18. With the help of a good friend on the phone, I managed to remain calm in the face of potential technological failure & eventually get things working … reasonably well (for the time being at least).
19. I made time to spend several hours in my yard this morning … watering as deeply as possible while weeding & pruning plants … something I’d put off for too long.
20. for all the new & review PSE6 skills covered so far in my evening Digital Media class.
21. books to savor & enjoy ;–)
22. I finally figured out how to create a symmetrical template for my T-13 photo posts using stroke outlines.
23. to help my friend Lynne celebrate her 60th birthday Saturday night.
24. I’m obsessive enough to keep track of comments I leave on other’s blogs … I’ve reached 985 comments in May, so I have just 15 comments to go to reach 1000 and win Harriet’s trophy this month!!!
25. time to do a bit of catch up on a variety of neglected tasks today.
26. for a TRIPLE CELEBRATION today here at Small Reflections. Click to read all about it!
27. Molly’s feeling better … finally! I’ll need to keep a closer eye on what people feed her so her stomach doesn’t get messed up like it’s been for the past week.
28. the red Mr. Lincoln Rosebush has TWO gorgeous blossoms currently ;–)
29. my computer’s up & running again after yet another MAJOR crash this morning!
30. ESPN2 is covering the French Open so I can watch tennis!
31. Molly’s clean & sweet-smelling after her visit to the groomer this week ;–)
FYI – My previous Gratitude Lists can be found at Happily Retired Gal, my new WordPress site. It is my intention to keep this ‘Daily Gratitude List’ in my sidebar indefinitely because I believe it makes sense to focus on what’s right in our lives regularly. Click for:
2009 Lists – May, April, March, February, January
2008 Lists – December, November
Thought for Today
“God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say ‘thank you?’” William A. Ward
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