Sunday, December 25, 2011

Yes, dear, there is no Santa - only Love...



Wherever you are on this day and whatever your beliefs, may your hearts be filled with love and peace.

Mom placing the last present, Christmas eve, Brush St., Detroit, MI

This was the year my SISTER (the cute one on the left) ratted me out that I had shown her the doll she is just opening before the big day. See the look on dad's face in 2nd photo. Sigh. Nope, there were no cell phones, X-boxes or computer gadgets. Just dolls, cowboy outfits, ugly pajamas and memories.



This was the year before, 1957 to be exact. 
Brother Chris, sister Janet, Snowman and me.

First place in Highland Park, MI after mom and dad got married.
Sister was sick that day and was only allowed outside for photo.

Hope, Peace and Love.








Saturday, December 17, 2011

Saturday Morning mmm's....

Bagels, coffee and my homemade  marmalade.  Orange goodness.
Got the Vipertek Capacitive Stylus pen I ordered from Amazon. So far so good. Will have my review on Amazon shortly and will post a link. I can tell you it definately makes drawing and writing much easier.Christmas music on. Only one card left to find new address and re-mail. Spending rest of day making Cranberry Hootycreeks for gifting. Here it is courtesy of Susan O'Dell and Allrecipes.
Wonder where the name Hootycreeks comes from. Must find out. Stay tuned.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Today,s Trials














Electronic joy and madness
color blast, sticker letter


photoshop, sticker letter

Still playing with apps on my i-pad while making cookies and packing gifts. The new cover will just have to wait....

Friday, December 9, 2011

Why I-Pad?



Truth be told, I would probably never have gone out to buy this small piece of electronica with such a big price tag. It landed in my lap by way of a barter exchange three weeks ago and I have hardly put it down - that is, if I can grab it from the man's hands. After a week of nothing but Scrabble, Angry Birds and watching all three of the foreign version of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, etc., on my Netflex App,(in bed.at night.scary-good)I decided to see what else this little gem of a toy could do. Already had Kindle for PC so got the App for Pad and started reading again. What a pleasure. Read the 'Future of Us' in 2 days and am into 'The Night Circus' right now. Got my shelves full of future reads. I love Flipboard and Zunio for my Google Reader and digital magazines and newspapers. Took Pad to kitchen and used Safari to find perfect orange marmalade recipe and kept it nearby while I whipped up 8 half-pints. Found out good stuff about my orange tree and how to make it happy at the same time! There are ka-jillions of Apps out there. I have Sketch Book for drawing/painting that if I like will get the pro version but others I want to try. Photoshop Express is great for taking the noise off the photos you take with the Pad - and you do get a lot of noise! Other photo editors I like are Photo Toaster and Effects. For a cool visual on how to make a painting (she used I-Phone but the same App is available on Pad)go: HERE
We recently purchased a new car that has Bluetooth and I-Pad connection but no GPS. Well, viola! There is an App - I got Gps Drive HD. With a nice big screen hopefully we will not get lost anymore. HA!
The last thing is how to blog and send other stuff from the Pad. Used Pocket Cloud to send previous post connecting my desktop! But find it a little cumbersome. You can do on your Pad anything you do on your desktop - in fact, you are on it! But the mouse and scrolling give me a headache. So I purchased BE Write HD which seems to have great reviews so will do my next blog from there. 
So, you get my drift, it is a keeper. Stay tuned for more evidence. In the meantime I just have to share with you this poem my sister wrote:

A Game With Passers-by 

by J.S. Colley

They turn their heads
When I drive by
In my little red car
I toss them a smile
And they high-five
And shoulder bump
As if they’ve just won
Some great victory
You don’t understand
My husband says,
You never have
Yes…I do
I want to say
But what good is it?
Except for a lark
A game with passers-by
So I stow it
In the back of my mind
Because I know
Whatever it is
It won’t last forever
And I’m afraid
When the time comes
I won’t want to let it go

  

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

First post from my I-Pad (2nd attempt)


Posted yesterday but had difficulties with photos. using I-Cloud app to do this-maybe there is better way...
 Ms. Mattie in the garden. notice the rounded corners? from a quick but nifty little PS tutorial over on Mary Ann's blog.

Whoo Hoo! seems I got it.

First batch of oranges from garden. more about how I made marmalade coming soon!