Another TTV

TTV

I have been wanting to learn TTV (Through the Viewfinder) but just haven't yet. I have done some reading on it & got a viewfinder camera on Ebay but it's on the long list of things to do. This month though in the new "Memories" magazine is a tutorial on how to do a digital TTV. So this picture and the one below of Maddie are my first one's. Not bad. Maybe I should blur it more around the edges.

Madeleine

I have been away far too long. I wish I had the time to do everything I would love to do. Today may be a day when I can. I finished working on the yard early so here is one picture I worked on. It's an older image of my youngest, Madeleine. I think it's when she was 6, so that makes it about 4 years ago.

Mary's Little Lamb

Couldn't resist....last picture of lambs or any farm animals for a bit. Until I can find some new ones. There has to be some cows out in Fife. I don't know if my district manager had farm animals in mind for our website to depict us fine state workers. Ha.

We do have a great view of Mt. Rainier from work but the last several days it's either been clouded or hazy. Then maybe I can photoshop Barney Fife climbing Mt. Rainier & see if she notices. Hee hee.

Speaking of work, it's 2:36 and I have to get up at 5. Arrrghh. I hate it when I have insomnia or in tonight, fall asleep for an hour 1/2 only to be woken up by something & for the life of me can't stop thinking or worrying about stuff that keeps popping in my head. I took 1/2 of a sleepy pill and I think it's beginning to work. I won't get up in time but oh well.

Watson't Nursery in Puyallup

Fushia baskets are abound at my favorite place to garden shop, Watson's Nursery in Puyallup WA.

There were these huge incredible baskets everywhere. Plants, shrub, trees, all ready and waiting for someone to take them home. Alas, I walked away with sugar snap pea plants and my favorite candles by Root, the Ginger Patchouli scent. Yum. Fingers crossed that 3 of these lovely beauties will be mine for mother's day for my front porch. I hope, I hope, I hope.

Baaaaa

And here are the sheep that live down the road from goat. When we drove into the small driveway with a ricketty fence simply held together by a thin wire, they all came running up to the fence no doubt thinking I had something good for them. They hung out a few minutes more to give us an opportunity to dig something out of the car for them and then slowly one by one walked away. I want sheep now too.

Maddie and the Goat

One day on my way back to work from lunch we spotted a very large goat standing so proudly on top of a dog igloo. I asked my friend Lee to slow down and I rolled down the window to make a goat sound. I don't know why I feel the need to speak animal when I see one but I do. Then this goat understanding my goat speak leapt from the igloo & perched herself almost upright on the fence. I didn't have the nerve to get out of the car to find out if she would take my fingers off and we were late getting back to work.

So on Sunday I ask Ron if we could drive around Fife for some photo opportunities because I am on a committy for our webpage and was asked to find some lovely sites in and around Fife instead of what we currently had. A picture of Barney Fife. Now I thought that that was pretty funny but our district manager thought perhaps it gave an impression that we child support collecting folks maybe like Barney...bumbling, never get it right, etc etc. I said to me it shows that we had a great sense of humor and we don't take ourselves too seriously. Guess who got out voted. So off the 3 of us (Ron, Maddie (quite reluctantly) and I) went off to Fife. I myself looking at farm animals and I remembered that goat. We drove past the house slowly, I rolled down the window, made my noise and sure as heck she came running up to the fence. We got out and after talking to her to get a feel if she was a good goat or a nasty goat the good goat won. I slowly began touching her and after my finger not being taken off I was hooked. She kept pressing in me with her horns for more. Maddie finally got the courage to come over & give it a try. This is the picture when the goat got up on her hind legs & stood almost upright to take a closer look at Maddie. The goat has her tongue sticking out if you click on the picture for a large view. She was just so much fun and I was noticing that she was kept in the front yard. I couldn't see any food or water for her but she seemed healthy. I also noticed in the yard.....no poop! My yard with my 2 Yorkie Poms make bigger poo piles then this goat did. So now I am working on my Ron for a goat. And maybe some sheep too from further down the road. He said maybe but I am thinking he's blowing me off.

It's a wonderful life

This is Princess. We adopted her from Linda and Ludmil Markov of Willow Nest along with Sister.

She is enjoying the sunshine in our living room. My cats life is something I wouldn't mind having a few days a month. Just laying around cleaning yourself and basking in sunshine. Get up now and then to eat, get a few human strokes in and it's all good. Princess is especially docile. She's very slow in her moving and I don't think there is an ounce of preditor in her. What is so funny is watching her trot. She doesn't run, she trots and when she does her belly flab swishes from side to side. I have never seen anything like that in a cat. It almost swishes so hard that it looks like it's going to slap her sides. Quite funny.

Rampart auction part 3 is tomorrow. Hoping I win the bid on the companion cabinet. Only thing is with that cabinet. Steve, the deceased owner, had written a few gentlmen's names and numbers on it in premanent ink. I guess he didn't want to loose those numbers. How to get it off without having to paint it all. I will have to google to see if it's possible.

The Rampart Auction

Yeah!!! I got the one thing at the auction I wanted. The bead board cabinet! Now to get it home by Wednesday. Haven't told Ron yet. I will wait til the last minute. Ha.

The second auction at Rampart in Tacoma was held today. A couple weeks ago I went to the first one in hopes of winning a spiral staircase. I couldn't stay and figured I would be outbid anyway. It went for a song but I am sure had I been bidding too it would of gone more for anyway. That's what I tell myself over and over again.

So today was par deux of the sale. There were so much things, stuff, junk, etc. Steve, the gentleman who passed away and owned, amassed some wonderful collections of NW memorabillia, old bar games (Pak Man, Destroyer, etc) vintage posters, art deco things, and on and on. Next week will be the final phase. The first auction was of the store items. The one today & next week was of all there was in his loft which is above Rampart. Next week I hope to get the other piece that goes with this one. We'll see. Saw Linda aka Lulu and Virginia there too. They are so much fun to with an auction with. They have a good eye and we have not competed on anything that we each wanted. Yet. Come to think of it, I see the same faces at these auctions each time. A gentleman that comes to these for the Tacoma Library NW Room. He was thrilled when he won an old ledger of the first Tacoma Public Utilites clients. It was cool.

Our reward

Gretchen, her dogs Ursa and Cowboy and my Ron. Ron is talking beer with Gretchen. No doubt talking about his favorite type, IPAs. Our reward for dealing with some "amazing" folks during the garage sale.

It's a strange crowd that wakes up at the crack of dawn to arrive 30 minutes before the sale begins. Then you have the few that will talk you down on any price that may be on the item. Even if it's a deal of the century, they still want it for less. I am not like that. I rarely ever ask if they would take something less than what it's priced for. I figure I am getting a deal already.
Then there are some that take the price stickers off in hopes that you would give them an even lesser amount than what was on there. Geez, just pay the measly sticker price.

Then there are the old folks that come in. They warm my heart. They have a story to tell to anyone that wants to listen. I love to listen to them. One woman who had to speak with one of those speach things held up to her throat was so sweet. She bought Gretchen's old rattan crib/swing that her parents had her in. This woman must of been 75 and sweet as can be. She had to go home to get one of her sons to help her get it home. That is when she told me she had 9 sons. Oh, and 6 girls. Wow!! Can you imagine that household? When I was 13 I had wanted a huge family like that too. I am glad I stayed at 4 although I still wish I could have just one more. 5 is a good number.

The Virgin Mary of Guadalupe Garage Sale

Yes, it's the VM on a piece of toast. A multi-person garage sale at my friend Gretchen's house on Saturday and Sunday honoring the VM of Guadalupe. Why? Just because.

There was about 8 of us selling whatever was laying around taking up space in our world. We had some extremely cool music (thanks to DJ Gretch) to move around to to keep warm. Saturday we had all four seasons in one day but that did not keep the hourds of people from coming to buy to their hearts content. We roasted hot dogs on a fabulous rotissere machine. I have never tasted a hot dog so good before. Could be that I hadn't had anything all day except for that hot roasted hot dog. Man was it good. 2 o'clock came around and it was beer time. A beer and another dog was just the ticket.

My Rosenthal

When I was 8 and living in Germany my mother bought me and my older sister a set for 12 of Rosenthal dishes. This is my set and my sister got the set that supposedly JFK had. My set has every extra dish there was to be had. I love my dishes but unfortunately I am afraid to use them. I have only 3 times used them and each time was at family gatherings with my mother (Thanksgiving/Christmas). She didn't help matters any by telling me that someone was going to break something so only the older adults got to use the good stuff, the rest had to use the everyday plain white sturdy restaurant style dishes. Each time someone would walk with a plate I could hear her suck in air. I swear each time she comes over she takes a count of them in the hutch. Ha. My mother is very proud of those dishes. She bought mine and my sister's dishes with her own hard earned cash. She cleaned other people's houses in order to get us these so I understand and so appreciate what she did for us. She is so German and it was very important to her that we have a good set of china. My father, not so much & that is why it was up to her to earn her own money to buy it for us. That was alot of house cleaning and I am forever grateful and lucky.

Beginnings

A work in progress, well actually it's done but this is when it was in progress. I love this picture. The middle woman is my mother-in-law, Grace Madele Mcafee Parry. The closest to a saint I will ever meet. She was the most absolutely patient person. She took her sweet southern time about everything. She was after all, Texan. Mrs. Parry was a school teacher in a one room school in Texas in the early 30's. I called her Mrs. Parry because first all I only call my mother Mom and I couldn't call her Grace, that seemed to disrespectful so it was Mrs. Parry.

Mrs. Parry would watch Dylan for us while we worked. She would sit with Dylan while he was on the potty and read to him or just talk. One day when I arrived to pick him she told me on how she sat with him while he was going potty (Dylan was about 4 yrs old) and they counted to 600 together. 600. My jaw must of dropped. I couldn't imagine me sitting there for how long counting slowly to 600. Then when Dylan began going to kindergarten she picked him up from his school and he feel asleep in his car seat. She didn't want to disturb him so she stayed in the car with him and worked on some crossword puzzles until he woke up from his nap. She always put my children first before anything else. My Dylan looks so much like her. And her faith has also impacted Dylan. He is the only one of us that goes to church every Sunday. He's 18 now.

Mrs. Parry watched our youngest Madeleine until she started kindergarten. She would of continued to but we live in a different school district and she was 84 and we really didn't trust her too much to drive across town to pick her up but made sure Maddie would see her on weekends and every school holiday. That is what kept her going. Maddie was her purpose to go on each day. We lost Mrs. Parry in 2004. I still can't believe she is gone. If everyone could be just a little like her, the world would be good.

Arrrggghhhhh....banner fitting problems!

How the heck do I make it fit. So fustrating. Oh well, until next time, it's a bit off.

Chocolat

Great chocolate store in Seattle. Stopped in when we were at the Fremont Market.

Pretty in pink

An older small collage I did a few years back. Still love it.

A day in Seattle

A spur of the moment decision to go to the Fremont Market in Seattle today. I was going to get so much accomplished at home and kidded myself that we (or rather I) can just go up there, look really quick and come back to get all my work done. Ha.

I asked my sister and her daughter Carlie to come with us. Ron was our driver. He happily comes along to these ventures up to Seattle because his reward is a stop at Bottle Werks. A micro-beer lovers mecca.

I have never been to the Fremont Market. Don't know why, just haven't. Turned out to be a pretty decent day and I got some vintage only I could love dolls, tags, a necklace and a wrought iron plant stand. I would like to be a vendor this or next year there. The beautiful tags and necklace were from my friend Linda's booth. I meet her years ago when she owned a shop in the Northend of Tacoma called "Frona and Zig". I LOVED that store. It was on my weekly shop stop list. She moved then downtown Tacoma for a while. When I went down to visit one day, it was closed. Much to my excitement when I went to my first event at Willow Nest, there she was!! As always, she had something I just had to buy. I never leave her shop or space without having to have something. She now has a blog called Luluz, the link is under my favs to the right and is at the Fremont Market most Sundays. So nice to have found her again. You can purchase some of her wares online, see her blog.

Then off to Chinatown to have some dim sum. The pictures above are of my niece Carlie and my Madeleine in Chinatown. We were stuffed ourselves and then walked around to burn some of it off. Seattle is such a different world that we live in just 40ish miles away. It's a wonderful place to visit but I love our quiet little corner down south.

I love Crows

Some art for Gretchen and my artists reception at The Lark Gallery.

G&K's Artist Gallery Reception

Isn't she the cutest muffin ever? This is Nannette and her darling daughter Naftali. They attended Gretchen's and my gallery reception last month at The Lark Gallery in Tacoma. It

belongs to G and her friends. Last month was our turn to display our collaboration. It turned out wonderful. We managed to make 23 pieces and sold 15. Unbelievable! Tacoma doesn't dig deep in their pockets for art so this was amazing.

I will post more pictures. The next project Gretchen and I are working on is a carnival theme. I love old carny pictures. So we will see what we come up with. I think we are planning to have the show during "First Night" a New Year's celebration downtown Tacoma.

Good Kids

I think I am a pretty lucky person. I have a wonderful husband and children and a great family.

What more can anyone really ask for. They love me unconditionally and I them.

Here is a picture of our youngest son Dylan (one on the left) with his friends and of course my darling Madeleine our youngest daughter. His friend Chris came to say goodbye (he's the one in the suit) on Easter Sunday as he was leaving to join the Air Force. My Maddie has a little crush on Chris. All of Dylan's friends are such good kids. They love Maddie hanging out with them. Never complain that she is always there in Dylan's room to play video games or just to talk. There is hardly an evening that we don't have 6-9 cars in our driveway and the house full of boys and a girls. I love that they like to hang out here. They eat me out of house and home but that's ok, I prefer them here. Safe.

One evening when Ron, Maddie and I just finished dinner and cleared everything. Dylan and his friends returned. I set the table for maybe 6 of them to eat. I put the food on the table and I thought for sure all these big boys and girls would be diving in and grabbing food like crazy but they all bowed their heads & took each others hands and said a prayer of thanks. Then proceeded to break one of the 7 deadly sins.....gluttony! Ha. I was very touched that these kids said their prayers and not for my benefit but their's.

Dylan and the 3 guys at the end of the picture went on a road trip last night to Los Angeles. They decided they wanted to go down there to go to a restaurant owed by a band member in Tool called "Cobra and Matadors"? I worry about them going down there, it's so different and a much tougher rough crowd. But he's got to spread his wings. Ugh my stomach hurts! They will be back on Sunday.