Thursday, September 22, 2011

What I did this Summer….Sailing on Catnip

We don’t always get to spend as much time on our little sailboat as we would like but this year it got closer…
Catnip went in the water at the beginning of June…
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Sometimes sailing involves picnicking…
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Sometimes it is busy out on the water…..
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Sometimes it is nice and quiet…
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Sometimes we drop the kids off for a swim at the beach…IMG_5052-1
Sometimes we meet up with friends…
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Sometimes we go out in the evening…
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and stay for the sunset…
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Sometimes I take photos of boats, birds, shoreline, buoys, lighthouses…
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and if I get bored I can start taking photos of parts of the boat…
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I hope we still have a few autumn sails to go.

Monday, September 12, 2011

What I Did This Summer…Summer Birthdays…

Oh summer! I do love it but I always feel as though I am rushing, rushing, rushing to squeeze everything in.  Looking back on this summer it seems that I have fit in quite a bit.
There were six  birthdays…
First came both Mr and Mrs R’ s 29th…and they gave us all a special surprise gift as well as their own party on a very hot and happy July day…

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Then came Ms O’s 34th birthday party on the beach…after supper at Champlins..
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A week later is her husband Mr H’s birthday….We  celebrated at Senor Flaco’s followed by a walk in the park…
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We returned from our Maine vacation just in time to get ready for both of my grandchildren’s birthdays…Mr J turned six years old…
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and one day later Miss E  turned four years old…
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Sprinkled in with these family birthdays were birthdays of friends and cousins…and I honored my sister’s Fourth of July birthday with a glass of wine at her bench.
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Saturday, August 27, 2011

A Postcard Swap…

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Our Maine vacation is over and  the birthday week filled with family, house guests and parties is over.   Before either of those events occurred I joined  Liberate Your Art, a postcard swap initiated and organized by Kat Sloma of the blog The Kat Eye View of the World.  For the swap, participants had to send out five original postcards and in return would receive five postcards from others.

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The postcards could be made in any medium…mine were photos of course.  During the months of July and August It was fun to wait and see what arrived in snail mail. 

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The first to arrive was titled “Abstract in Blue” by Kelly of I Need to Color.  I like to think that her inspiration was taken from the water of ponds and oceans.

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This beautiful photo by Angela  was the next to arrive.  On  the back was a quote from the Budda: “We are what we think.  All that we are arises with our thoughts.  With our thoughts we make the world.”  Her photography and family oriented blog Peach Coglo is full of beautiful photos.

The next three postcards came while I was away in Maine and I am sad to say I have yet to contact the senders…but I will!

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Anita’s beach photo made me feel right at home…I liked the quote included too:  “Logic will get you from A to B.  Imagination will take you anywhere.”  Albert Einstein.  I was already familiar with her blog Going A Little Coastal and her amazing creativity.

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This wonderfully purple photo postcard was sent by Brigitte – aka Rosie-Grey of  Rosie’s World.  She wondered if I liked purple…how could I not love this?

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I can’t imagine the amount of work that went into the pen and ink drawing that was on the postcard that Lea sent me.  Even the back of her postcard was hand painted and drawn and beautiful…She left a link to The Beaufort Art Center but not a blog of her own.  Maybe she teaches there?

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The last postcard I received was from Kat in thanks for participating…It is I who should thank her for this fun opportunity…I would do it again! 

Friday, August 5, 2011

Another Maine Interlude…

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Tomorrow we head out for our annual Maine vacation…Although we are fortunate enough to stay in the same place each year it is always a little different.  This year both of our children and their husbands and our grandchildren will be with us as well as some young family friends with two more children.  What will be different is that we could not co-ordinate with our best friends and their family to vacation nearby at the same time.  This is the first time that has happened and I will miss them tremendously!  The only two our age to sit and chat and drink wine with!  The only two who might hike as slowly as I do!  The only one who thinks nothing of cooking for a crowd and doing it deliciously!   It will be odd to be up there without them. 

Still…my grandson is excited about the hiking and I am excited about the lobsters so I am sure we will make family memories.  I will be back in a week or so to record those memories with photos…and a few words.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Obsession…

So what is my latest obsession?  It is the Instagram app on my iPhone

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This is surprising in part because I don’t Twitter, rarely use Facebook, and I am a very infrequent Flickr participant.  In spite of this, since I joined the IG photo sharing community I have spent more time taking and processing photos and checking the site feed on my iphone than I have with my camera and computer it seems.  It is a fun, creative community and I am constantly impressed with and inspired by the photos I see there.  Comments are shared and there are many different languages seen…The photos can take you around the world in one sitting.  Breakfast in Germany or Cyprus in one photo and dinner in California at the next.  I just find it fascinating. 


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There are a lot of photos of food and restaurants…


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breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and drinks…


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cats, dogs, bugs, butterflies…


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flowers and leaves…


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children and grandchildren…

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husband and self…

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places near and far…


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shots using fun apps….

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…and lots of feet “from where I stand”!  

All the photos above are taken by me on my iphone..