Coincidence?

I have gained weight over the summer.
Eight pounds to be exact.

Enough to make my rings tight.

Then, this past week I have had itchy hives all over.
My hands must have swelled too, because my rings got even tighter.  Tight enough to be uncomfortable.  Very uncomfortable.  Too tight to come off.

Three nights ago I decided I really needed to get them off.

I soaked my hands in ice water in an attempt to reduce the swelling.  Even a little bit would help.

My wedding and engagement rings came off.

The ring on my right hand did not.

I told my husband.  He told me that maybe I should think about getting it cut off.  We talked about how my father had to get his ring cut off his finger  years ago.

I was persistent.  I tried oil.

I pulled and pulled.  Little by little it came over my rather large knuckle.

I was so relieved!



The next day I decided to go through my closet to find things to donate to Goodwill.   Among other things, I pulled out a couple of old pocketbooks that I haven't used in a while and put them in the growing pile.

Yesterday I walked by that pile and decided I had better go through those pocketbooks to make sure I didn't leave anything in them before taking them to Goodwill.

Look what I found.

A man's ring.

My father's ring.

 Look closer.

I don't remember putting it there.

My dad has been gone for more than two years.

I lay in bed thinking last night with my dad's ring next to me on my nightstand.

What is the likelihood that these two events would happen within 24 hours of each other?

Coincidence?

I think not.

I'd like to think of it as a gift.

Thanks, Dad.
 

How Many Friends Can You Have?

People have soooo many FRIENDS these days!

And the number of FRIENDS we have grows larger every day...

OR DOES IT?

The average Facebook user has 130 FRIENDS.





A leading anthropologist, Professor Robin Dunbar claims
the maximum number of FRIENDS a person can have
at one time is 150.  He says our brains can't keep track
of more FRIENDS than that.

Aristotle had much to say about FRIENDS.

 "The desire for FRIENDship comes quickly.
              FRIENDship does not."

"A FRIEND to all is a FRIEND to none."

Aristotle also said there are 3 kinds of FRIENDships:
         FRIENDships based on usefulness,
         FRIENDships based on pleasure,
   and genuine FRIENDships.

The first two last only as long as the person is useful
         or gives us pleasure.
Genuine FRIENDS are those who sit with one another
         across the course of their lives.

FRIENDships take a lot of time. 
I don't think it's possible to be a good FRIEND to more than 5 people at one time.
That's just me.
I can be "FRIENDly" with lot of people though.

What do you think?

How many FRIENDS can YOU have?

Where Has the Time Gone?

It's the first day of school today for Annie. 

It's also the first day she drove to school - by herself!

My baby got her driver's license yesterday.

After posing for our yearly "first day of school" pictures....

She climbed into the driver's seat of Papa's truck, gave us a wave,

  
and drove away!

It wasn't too long ago that she was the passenger.

It wasn't too long ago that they ALL waited for the bus.

It doesn't SEEM like that long ago...

 

 

As the days, months, and years slip by so fast, how can these moments seem like just yesterday?

The human mind is like a time machine.

It can take us WHENever we want to go.

Isn't that nice?

See How They Grow

Over the past week, I have been working on a very important project. 

My family has been going on vacation to Lake George every summer for the past 17 years.

The very first year we went, 1995, we went for a ride on the Minnehaha, a paddlewheel steamboat that gives one hours cruises on the lake.  Before you board the boat, each group poses for a picture.  After the cruise is done, the pictures are available for purchase.

We bought that first picture back in 1995, and that started a tradition that has yet to be broken.  Even after the kids no longer had any interest in riding the Minnehaha, we went back JUST to have our picture taken. 

Each year I would come home from vacation, frame the picture, and hang it on the wall in our living room.  When I painted the living room last week, I took all of the pictures down and noticed how discolored many of them were.  We only have that one copy of each picture and it made me sad to see them that way.

My project this week - photo restoration.

Here is a before and after.

 

I finished all of the pictures!

Here they are in order.  Watch them grow!  (click on each one to see it larger if you want)

And finally, this is the picture taken this summer.  I didn't really want to get it taken because Adam wasn't with us on vacation this year, but Adam insisted that we should not break the tradition! 

We may not have had Adam, but Jojo joined our family this year!

Logo Mojo

I am currently in the process of setting up a
small photography business.   One of the things
that has been slowing me down has been my
search for a logo.

Keeping in mind that a logo would be around
long term for the life of my business, I felt it
was worth much consideration (kind of like
choosing a husband).

It had to be something I wouldn't get tired of.
It had to be something simple.
It had to be something colorful because I LOVE COLOR!
It had to be easy to read.
It had to be easily converted to a watermark.

After finding the design that I liked, it was another
whole issue to find a font(s) that I liked.

There are many thousands of fonts out there!
I must have looked at most of them!

So.........................................................

I HAVE A LOGO!

I have actually had it for a few weeks now, but I
wanted to try it on and wear it for a while to make
sure it feels right.  And it does.

The font for my name has a unique flair to it, with sweeping tails on a few of the letters.  I also like the shape of the letters, somewhat looking like calligraphy.   It contrasts nicely with the very simple round font of "Photography".

 The image in back of my name makes me think of a flower, or possibly a dandelion.  Since I love to garden and I love flowers, this felt right.

 At first I thought I had to choose one color for the background, but then I asked myself why?  Why not keep the graphics the same but vary the color of the background?  So I plan to mix it up instead of keeping it the same. 

And it even looks nice as a watermark...

 Now that I have a logo,  I can make a website and business cards.

I am deciding what items I would like to offer to my customers, and getting samples of each one to show what it will look like.

I am determining what I will charge for my services.

There are so many little things that must be considered.

It will all come together soon. 

I'll keep you posted.