Oh Deer ~ February 10, 2011

 I got a phone call from my neighbor Bev early Thursday morning. She sounded excited telling me that there were deer traipsing through our neighborhood. Grabbing my camera, I quickly snapped a few photos...sad that I had to go off to work. I would have liked to watch them for a while...so beautiful!

Three of seven deer peer from the shrubbery in Jim's backyard.

Now where do we go? Doesn't look like anyone will feed us here.

Yay...Greenfield Street is finally passable!

Card Making

I finally set aside some space for paper crafting. I have a place for everything, however it is rare that everything is in its space. I've watched many "how to" videos on my computer. One technique that I like uses crinkled up waxed paper for the background image, (gina k, stamp tv). I used glossy card stock for the wax paper piece (sea creatures), rubbed the card stock with distress ink, then stamped the images. For the other samples I created a background using twinkling H2Os. The one on the right was left as is and the other was rubber stamped with trees.

Seasonal Cards

Wednesday evening at Linda's house...we experimented with a new Cricut Halloween cartridge, the Big Shot diecut machine, and plain old household bleach to change the color of card stock. It was a fun night and I think we should call it the Wild and Wacky Wednesday Nite Card/Crafters.

Avery and Landon Vieira celebrate turning 3

Steve and I went to the birthday party for one set of the Vieira twins. Gwen and Michael’s youngest, Avery and Landon are turning three later this month. The family decided to celebrate their birthday on this beautiful Sunday (5th) afternoon.
I spent most of my time trying to remember names and who belongs to whom. I don’t think that I’ll ever be able to tell Jon and Suzie’s twins apart…so I’ll just tell you their names.
Traci and Nicholas play ping pong, while...


Savanah and Brook pose
Jaden samples a cupcake
Brody and a friend catch bubbles

Gwen and Michael (Diesel in background) play volleyball with family and friends. Birthday girl, Avery takes care of her doll, Jon and Suzie's girls, Portia and Shelby pose for my camera, and Landon demonstrates his new weed wacker!

Denise and Nicholas (he's starting 10th grade, OMG)

Jason, Traci, and Savanah

Rachel and John with Landon and Brody.....

Whew, lots of kids....it was a Splendid Day!

July 6, 2010

Today I am feeling a bit melancholy.
Hali and Lisa are moving to New York to be close to SUNY Brockport, Hali's second choice for college. We will miss them; they are our closest family. Here she is getting her diploma at Tri-County on June 6, 2010. We were seated quite far away, and I just had my old Canon....excuses, excuses!

Since I'm already sad...I'll kept going on this theme. Alyssa, our beautiful black lab is four months shy of her 16th birthday...she's an old lady! Today she was doing poorly...we hate to make that final decision, but I can tell it won't be too far in the future. I thought I'd share a picture of her when she was still a spry lady. Here she is last July with Steve in the backyard.

And then there's Pumpkin...1 year old on July 5th. Always making us laugh with his goofy ways!

Backyard 2010

Here is a collage of people, animals, and other things that are in my backyard. I used Picassa to create the collage. I will try to insert the album on this blog...not sure if it's possible.

I Miss My Mom

Holidays come and go and many times we are happy to go on with life sans the holidaze. Many people have asked what I'm doing for Easter. I reply, "I don't really celebrate Easter." However, there was a time when Easter was quite warm and wonderful. It was always at my mother's house...Memere...as she was known to her grandchildren. She always did something a little out of the ordinary. This one year in particular, she made bunnies for everyone. I captured the raucous rabbits making merry at the dining room table with wine and a scrumptious bunny cake. I wonder how they really felt about that cake!

Unfortunately I didn't photograph the weightlifting rabbit she made for my "soon to be husband." She always made everyone feel at home and the food was delicious!

Spring is an especially difficult time because now my mother would be getting ready to plant seeds for the new season. I dedicate my flowery backyard to her and thank her for sharing her knowledge and love.