And she went to Washington

When this young lass comes to visit, my husband likes to take her into Washington DC. A big change from where she lives. The first time they did it was the first time she'd been on a subway train and had a moment wondering if they'd get lost. No worry. Last time, she was a pro!

It was also a return visit to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum.  A few necessary and then fun tweaks to this photo gave me the inspiration for this layout.



Simplicity is often the best way.

Hello Again and Merry Christmas!

This end of year has been hectic but mostly in a good way. I've been committed to my scrapbooking and recording daily life. Here's some of my latest about a week in Boston this month!

Maybe I'll be able to stick with the blog once again.










That's a wrap for today! Tomorrow sees the arrival of teenage granddaughter! Looking forward to seeing her again. Have a great holiday and enjoy life!

Wordy Wednesday: July 24, 2019

I did not partake.

Wordy Wednesday: June 5, 2019

I may not say it to you but this is what I think.

Betwixt Home and the Hospital

My life is not totally my own now so I think this will be a break ...until...August or later. We'll see.
Each day evolves in an unknown way. Peace...

AAM Monday: Project Life Weeks 15 & 16

Wordless Wednesday: Funny but it works!

Tuesday's Scrapping - April Challenges

These prints come from the April challenges at The Lilypad. April was a hard month as we both struggled to accept the cancer diagnosis and then wait, wait, wait for a treatment plan to start. Not a lot of color here.

AAM Monday: Project Life Weeks 13-14

Well life has been both busy and silent round here. With my husband's cancer, I've done virtually no cooking and because of his throat issues, there is mostly silence chez nous. It's a very strange way of life.  I can't quite describe the feelings but it is strange to be in a room with someone who is almost totally silent. In his own world.

So I scrap and try to make my own life full of as much life as I can. Scrapping helps. Here are two older weeks that were done in late March and early April. Week 14's PET Scan gave us the cancer info that was needed to move forward.

AAM Monday: Project Life Weeks 11 and 12

Life is a medical story round here and that has been the focus in the past two weeks. All that stuff was looming in March but we were still looking for answers. Some things got done but but mostly it was just nice to see the signs of spring.  We thought we were getting our solar panels but were stumped with a safety issue. Lots of things to require patience these two weeks. But it was a lot of fun to use spring colors on these pages. Find joy where you can.

Start of a plan

As my husband has become sicker and sicker, I have found that that situation has given me the incentive to get back to my desire to clean out the unnecessary. I got so little done this winter as the mood in our house was not good. With no real answers to his issues, I just didn't have the energy. But it's time and this was a start. The_Lilypad Template challenge for April 2019.

TBT: just one of those English days circa 1972

Another one of the TLP scrapping challenges from March 2019. This one was to take a photo, split it and frame it as if it were two different shots. Yes, 1972 on my beloved red  couch, with the forest green walls in the background. How trendy I was with my velour animal print pillow covers! Old is new again.

One thing I hadn't noticed that a fellow scrapper pointed out...the extra large cuffs on my son's shirt. Yep, it was the 70s and I imagine his collar had had 'matching' long points. And his overalls were on trend then too. His hair was his own and I imagine he'd be glad to have half of that 50 years down the road.

What I love about challenges is that if often gives me a chance to tell old random heritage stories before I forget a lot of them.

And so I read...

When the days are difficult, and the answers to issues are not forthcoming, I have trusty fallbacks. Chocolate is always my answer but sadly it's not a good answer any more even if it ever was. But still, there are times when it's all that works.  Or so I tell myself...the quick fix.

I do have my tried and true remedy which has been one of my defaults since childhood. Reading. What solitary child has not found her escape in a book? I grumbled a week or two ago when a whole shitload of my library holds all come in at once. But silly me, that was what I needed. Last week I read almost a book a day. And yes, brownie bites were also in play.

Here's what has transpired this year. The newest are on top with a periodic dash of Pema Chodren's
The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times. 

And so I continue to read. What book's helping you escape these days?

AAM Monday: Project Life Weeks 9 & 10

More of life has involved doctors and health issues round here. Scrapping is a nice escape but still my mind is cluttered with wondering about the future.

TBT: England Summer 1972

Every time I think I have found all the photos that need sorting AND scanning I find more...aaargh. But this one tickled me as I'd forgotten just how large our side yard was in England. We were down at the bottom of the Close and had a much larger yard than many of the other houses. Nice, except when it was grass cutting time! Fortunately, not my job! lol

Tuesday Challenges March 19, 2019

Some more layouts from March's challenges at The Lilypad.  It hasn't been my best month with a lot of energy expended on my dh's health issues but that's why I love making pages. The creative energy balances out a lot or at least some of the heavy mood in our house. March has been better than last month though! I'll take any bit of sunshine that I can.

The first one here is for a List Challenge with the 5 categories assigned. Pretty easy especially with using an old freebie template from Designer Digitals.

Second layout comes from having to show someTHING we love. Not a person or a pet. I really do love my set of laundry appliances. Really.

AAM Monday: Project Life Weeks 7 and 8

Not quite caught up yet but I see light on the horizon. Back when it was still seriously winter weeks. Valentine's Day came and went with no fanfare. That's ok, but the various medical issues were a bummer. But two weeks done and one more snow fall.  Almost the end of February!

You want eye candy? oh yeah...

Friday, I was reading a review of a new Netflix show. I still had a couple of episodes of  "Secret City" to watch so I was just half interested while reading especially as the headline was that the two new shows reviewed  'try to hard at playing it cool'.  One was Hulu's "Shrill" and since I don't use Hulu very often, I skipped right on to the Netflix show but "Shrill' still got a tentative favorable review.

The reviewer started his  descriptor for "Turn Up  Charlie" with these words..."Less can be said sadly, for Netflix's clunky "Turn Up Charlie", an eight episode British dramedy that starts Idris Elba - known for his work in "The Wire", "Luther"  and your daydreams... Well I was sold right there! It's got Idris?  There's a lot to be said for an evening of eye candy. I'm all in. hopefully tonight.




If you want the reviews yourself, here they are from the Washington Post.

AAM Monday: Project Life Weeks 5 and 6

Still working with just one page a week. Less than my normal two a week but more than 1 or 2 pages per month. I do plan to switch it up a bit but as long as I can get the gist of the week recored, I'm good.

Wednesday Smile: Comparisons are Odious

We all are inclined to compare ourselves to others. I still do but often can catch myself when it starts. I don't recall where I found this but it's funny and so true.

Look at my hometown, will ya

See that church on the bottom left? I take that little bridge several times a week but never really had a chance to see the aerial views. See that dome in the center? I used to work there and in several other buildings nearby. Those modern-ish buildings to the left of the area after crossing the bridge are buildings of the USNA and all the trees you can see a little SE of the Naval Academy live on the campus of St. Johns College. They are ancient trees since St. Johns was founded in 1696. No I didn't make a mistake with that date. It is  sixteen ninety six. Amazing, right? well certainly for the US. 

See that red barge either going or leaving Baltimore Up at the top of the picture? Well this image shows the view looking eastward and the large body of water you see is the Chesapeake Bay and the distant blue of Maryland's Eastern Shore. If you were to take the bridge (not shown) and continue driving eastward you would reach the Atlantic Ocean in about 90+ minutes. 

Thank you Len for posting this image. 

AAM Monday: Project Life Weeks 3 and 4

Project Life moves on. Here in mid January it WAS cold! Bitter cold but I don't mind this kind of weather. He was in Florida and I was glad I wasn't. Only doing one page a week worked then but from a March perspective, I think I'll definitely do what I want whether it's one or two pages. Time will tell.

a few on Friday: March 1, 2019

Lots of fun doing challenges this month. The process seemed so light after doing a challenge a day and taking on line classes at the same time in January. February was kind of a wind down month and one that I needed. Here's three pages that I really liked though the last one with the circle of elements is not my norm. I did enjoy it though and now feel that I can do things like this whereas before I'd have been overwhelmed with the idea of all those elements. Challenges are good for getting comfortable with other ways. You never know what you might like!

ThrowBack Thursday: way back, like 1934

I used one of three images to make a scrapbook page this week. If I were to do it over again, I'd make the image more pronounced but this way fit with the style of the page. I'm not sure that I'll do this page over again but I do want to scrap all three images on one page.

Here are the three images with three girls. None of them are my mother and I'll say she was the one taking the photos. In April 1934, my mother would be 16 and turning 17 the end of May. If these were her friends, they certainly look much much older to me but they would have been more adult than teenager back then. But look, the middle one is doing the same silly rabbit ears behind her friends.

Smokers all. I wonder which one(s) of them developed lung cancer.

Here's a variation of the hands on hip shot that teenage girls still do and still look dorky.

I'm glad I didn't live back then, even if life were simpler. I have no doubt it was harder.

Wednesday Smile - February 27, 2019

as seen in the alerts on my iPhone - Polar Bear Invasion? and I thought we only had to worry about zombies... whatever will be next!

AAM Monday : 2019 Project Life weeks 1 and 2

So far this year, I've only done one page for each week. I wasn't sure how that would go but I seemed to be pulled in so many directions that it wasn't even easy to get that done. I think I hit a wall with the various things I was trying to do, especially when I like to keep January and February as quiet months with more internal work being done. In some ways I did but in other ways, not so much. Live and learn. But while I feel like 1.5 pages would be ideal that is not going to happen. Week by week, I'll find what fits for me this year.