Sunset in Iowa

I've been taking this online course from www.ed2go.com - it's photographing nature with your digital camera. The last assignment was to take a picture of the sun at either sunrise or sunset. Well...first of all, we haven't have sunshine for several days now. Secondly, anyone who knows me knows that I don't do sunrise! So, tonight I was finally able to get a picture of the sun setting over a farm. I think it's pretty good - we'll see what my instructor says. The next lesson's assignment is to take 3 landscape pictures, keeping in mind point of view and aperture openings. This is starting to get a little complicated!

It's 9:31 and I just got home from choir practice about 20 minutes ago. DH just drove in the driveway...he's been at work since 7:00 this morning. I think he's burning the candle at both ends! Gotta run - more tomorrow!

Tuesday already!

I can't believe that it's Tuesday already. I don't know why I didn't post yesterday. I was working on getting the information together for our taxes and that took longer than I thought it would. This morning I had to go to a funeral for a lovely woman who will be missed by many people here in Ottumwa, She was quite a lady! Her daughter is my P.E.O. sister and she's quite a lady also!

I wish I had something new to report. I've been working on some cute Easter cards for our grandchildren. Hopefully I'll get them done in time to send them! Actually I have 2 of them done and need one more really cute idea...back to www.splitcoaststampers.com I guess!

Today is a rainy day. We've got water standing everywhere in our yard. The robins are sure enjoying it! Another nice thing about the rain is that the grass is getting green! It's been a long winter and green grass is certainly a welcome sight! However, since it's such a gray day, all I feel like doing is curling up with a good book! More later....

A Good Day!

Aren't these beautiful? They were growing on the sidewalk in the Los Olas area of Fort Lauderdale. I love hibiscus, and I especially love pink ones. I can't take credit for this photo, though. Our friend, Howard, took it. I didn't have my camera with me the day we walked by these! Thanks, Howard. Speaking of Howard, tomorrow is his birthday and Sudi is having a party tonight for him. I won't say how old he is, but let's just say it's a 0-birthday and it's somewhere between 50 and 70! Couldn't resist, Howard! I'm sure you'll get even somehow!!

Today, DH and I went out looking for a fountain for my perennial garden. We love hearing the water when we're near the ocean, or even at a lake, so I decided we needed a fountain to replicate that sound. I sure hope it makes sound - it's a cool fountain. It's called "playing by the water" and has a little child kneeling by the water looking at fish. I know I have to wait for it to get warmer to get it going, but I'm ready now! Today is a pretty good spring day - it's 62 degrees and mostly sunny. We even went out to our friends and got our '56 Chevy out of their shop. I got to drive it back - there's nothing quite like getting into a classic car on a warm day, especially when it's been a long winter!

I've got to run for now. More later....

Watercolor Cards

Yesterday, in between sitting outside in the sun and working on our taxes, I put together these cards. They are both stamped with the same stamp from SU and I used the watercolor technique on them. They both have a SU top note behind the flowers (one is a decorative paper from DCWV and the other is white paper, Cuttlebugged, and chalked with pinks, purples, and a touch of yellow). I think they're both beautiful!

I said I was sitting outside in the sun yesterday, well today there is no sun! Yesterday we set a record with 79 degrees - today it's 48! I got up this morning, put on shorts and a sweatshirt - that wasn't smart! It's cold in this house today! I guess I'll have to put on long pants again before I go out this afternoon.

Yesterday I said I would put an update on here about the election of officers at last night's meeting. Someone else agreed to take the Presidency! I am so happy! I was getting overwhelmed - just too many things to keep straight! Today my online ed2go class started. I'm taking a class called Photographing Nature with Your Digital Camera. Hopefully you'll see some cool pix as I complete my assignments. My assignment for this lesson is to shoot 3 nature photos, focusing on a particular detail that I've never noticed before. I think I'll wait until it's a little warmer outside to go looking for nature! Stay tuned...

Cool Tree!

Isn't this pretty? This is a tree near Hillsboro Beach that I photographed the first day we got to the Fort Lauderdale area. I love taking pictures of objects that are truly different - most of the trees here in Iowa have one main trunk, not a bunch of small ones like this!

I don't have much time to blog - I've got a Beta Sigma Phi meeting tonight. We have election of officers - what do you suppose the chances are that someone else would like to be President? Since I'm also President of my P.E.O. Chapter, I'd like to turn this Presidency over to someone else! Stay tuned.....

New Cards

Here are a couple of cards I made this past week. The one on the left is totally CASE'd from Lori at http://byloridesigns.blogspot.com - she does some absolutely beautiful cards! This is a woven card, so I used 3 different SU papers that I thought looked good together. Actually everything about this card is SU except for the "middle" of the flower top left. I'm sorry, I don't know where it is from - I've had these for a long time and have never used them.

The card on the right is made with SU stamps and scrap paper. I colored the flower with SU markers and I added a brad in the middle of the flower. The top note shape (the dark brown layer) is something I'll be using a lot. In fact, the other day I cut out probably 80 of them - all different colors of the rainbow. I cut a lot of them out of Diecasts With a View Sweet paper mats. I love the colors and patterns they've used in these mat packs!

That's all for now. The thermometer says 63 degrees so I'm going outside to see if I have flowers peeking through! More later....

Good Saturday

This is the view from our balcony at our first condo. It was truly magnificent! Just imagine waking up to this every morning. The ocean is so relaxing - I love the sound of the breakers coming in.

We had a great day today. DH dethatched the yard - it looks really bad right now because he didn't have time to get the waste picked up...that's a tomorrow job. Then our son was here in the afternoon and hooked up our TV to a new receiver with surround sound. Hopefully we'll be able to hear it better now. He kept telling us how out-of-date our TV is - maybe one of these days we can get a new one - one that isn't so heavy...this thing probably weighs 150 pounds. I know I can't lift my end at all! When we get a new one, we'll get a flat screen LCD so that it won't weigh much at all. Besides, we're soon going to need a bigger screen - those football jersey numbers are sooooo small! Our son was here for supper and we had time to visit after eating. Our daughter-in-law was visiting her family, so she came over for a few minutes and off they went to Waterloo. Now Dh is sleeping in his chair and I'm getting ready to go read for a while. Nothing much on TV now that we have the sound working again - oh, well! More later...