click on digital 'page' to enlarge

"If you reveal your secrets to the wind you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees."

Khalil Gibran

"Alone with myself

The trees bend

to caress me

The shade hugs

my heart."

Candy Polgar

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

fall seems to be making it's presence (presents?!?) known more every day. a chill in the morning air and afternoons beckoning with wonderfully mellow sunshine in a sky that is somehow bluer than at any other time of the year.

the hollyhocks thrive during this time of the year. while photographing them i was intent on noticing the glorious light and the deep red color of these particular stalks. it was only after i uploaded the shots onto the computer that i also seen the hollyhocks had another visitor at the time . . . a surprise that made me smile.

you may have noticed that i haven't been posting much and have been pretty slow to answer most comments. this is due to most of my extra time going towards preparing myself and my household for my upcoming hip surgery. the date has been set and during the second week in october i will go in and have it done.  i'll be blogging quite a bit less for approximately the next six weeks. it may be a shorter amount of time but there is no way for me to really know and amazingly at the six week mark the holidays will be upon us all and so that may slow me down as well. 

in an effort to be more prepared i've been trying to get some of my holiday creating done early . . . i do hope to be able to share that here in my blog in bits and pieces as i can as well as do some blog-hopping to see what everyone else is up to. i may be a bit of a lurker, checking it all out when i can . . . hang in there with me. i'll do my best.

today's gifts included:

• time with the trees
• the autumn afternoon warmth
• freshly picked corn from the garden for dinner
• that blue BLUE sky

i've been tucked behind the  computer for most of the day playing in photoshop.
i'm proud to say that i made the background image myself from one of my painted journal pages and my own  macro photo of the surface of a rock. i used the image of the triple frame from a scrapbooking suite (It's My Hx) and i used the lady, the compass and the clock face with a dragonfly from Deviant Scrap/Colorsplash.
in addition to the background, i used my own photos of a clock face(the larger background image) and stained glass hearts (within the triple frame) as well as my own layer of text.

Seeking Direction

today's gifts included:

• the ease of leftover homemade pizza
• clouds and a small afternoon rain to ease the heat of the day (90's)
• time to create today's post

busy as a bee . . .

these shots really must be clicked on and seen large to be fully appreciated. i hope you enjoy them as much as i enjoyed taking them.
today's gifts included:

• watching the bees and other pollinators within the mint blossoms
• productive 'nesty' feelings
• a cool evening on the back deck with my family

Morning Glory Memories

this morning i went for a visit to see what Bonnie at Pixel Dust Photo Art was up to. i like her artistic style and today she was offering two of her beautiful textures as a freebie to play/test out. they were irresistible and this evening i've given them a little workout.

this first photo is one that was taken while i was in Honduras this past Christmas. i didn't think it was a great shot for a variety of reasons but i wasn't ready to totally give up on it either. so i tucked it away for possible future photoshop play and today while i was looking through my photos it popped out at me as a possibility for using with Bonnie's textures.

so this is what i did:

• cropped it square
• duplicated it
• added the Silent Memory texture at 40% opacity - hard light
• added the Fleeting Memory texture at 30% opacity - overlay
• flattened it

i'm very happy with the results. thank you Bonnie. i hope to play with these textures again very soon.

Morning Glory Memories

it's interesting how seeing and experimenting with this shot brought back so many different memories from this special trip. it was the first time i had seen my daughter in over a year and a half. not only was i happy to see her again (all whole and happy and oh so freckled) i was also pleased to be able to experience the country and people that she had been involved with during that time. while there with her i realized that she was a young lady with extraordinary discipline. she's tough as nails on the outside and amazingly resilient but inside she has a heart/spirit that aches to make the world a better place. what a winning combination (!!) and such a blessing in my life.

today's gifts included:

• a visit from a close friend
• trying out the newest kitchen gadget: a handy dandy cherry pitter.
• smelling the fresh lemon that i sliced for iced tea ~ lemons smell really good~!!~

a finished mixed media postcard. i made this one using a chunk of the hexagon pieced paper i was experimenting with. i've included a bit of vintage embroidered pillowcase edge, a fussy cut butterfly, a piece of vintage book page that i have sketched (watercoler pencils) a california poppy onto and some of my own embroidery work. this one is on it's way to my mom in celebration of her birthday.

and here's a sneak peek/teaser shot of the progress on the AAQI  pear quilt that i am working on.

today's gifts included:

• spending some time with my daughter
• brainstorming and gathering materials for an upcoming birthday quilt that i want to make
• the arrival of my new needle felting machine (!!)

Texture Tuesday/ 8-9-2011

it's all about the small stuff over at Kim Klassen's Cafe today. i used her  free 'Not too Shabby' texture with one of my photos (square crop). Thank you Kim~!~

today's gifts included:

• playing tug and fetch with River (she's not 'lost' anymore)
• watching the hummingbirds chase each other around the feeder
• participating in the texture tuesday challenge this week