A Nice Rain Amidst The Bright Sunshine

Today was a nice day to sit outside under the pavilion and think about flowers for fall. Mums and pansies immediately come to mind of course.

Butterflies are everywhere, flitting about the yard and then out above the fence into the alley.

Leaves are starting to turn colors and drift down. A sign that summer is almost over.
 

This morning I went to Lowes and purchased some matchstick blinds for the east and west sides of the pavilion. The intense heat here didn't seem to bother me until now. Must be the way the sun is setting in the sky this time of year.

Gives it a rather cozy feel, I think. And makes it so much nicer to sit out here and dream or read.

This afternoon I was sitting out here enjoying the breeze (and the overhead fan). When out of the bright sunshine came unexpected falling rain. 

 

It was so strange. And came so suddenly. But of course I enjoyed it. Sitting here in my chair with the dogs alongside me. Listening to it pelt the roof. Loving that fresh rain scent.

 

Then I came inside and had an afternoon cup of coffee. I always set my mug in this little blue dish. A lone plate picked up long ago at a tag sale. Placed where I can enjoy it everyday.

 

What We Have: A Memoir

Just imagine what it would feel like to be born and grow up female, knowing full well that no woman in your family has lived past age 45 due to cancer.

Amy Boesky and her sisters knew they would someday have to face difficult decisions. As they went about their young lives, they felt the urgency to hurry up, get married, and have children. Before it was too late.

They were advised by their doctors to not wait past age 35 to have preventative surgery. So Amy had not only her own life to consider, but then the worry that comes from knowing your sisters face the very same curse. And then there's her mother's fate as well.

It made me really think about genetic predispositions and traits. Precursors of health woes. And how this figures into our destiny as humans. And in this particular case, women.

Amy writes: "Later, looking back, I sometimes played a terrible game with myself, trying to decide which goodbye was hardest. There were so many of them, layered on top of each other, and each seemed more difficult than the others. It was like listening to music that reached a crescendo only to build and build until you were certain you couldn't bear it anymore."

Amy weaves back and forth from the past to the present in her quest to achieve her goals in the face of such frightening uncertainty. Her memoir reads much like a novel, as the cover attests.

This book is about being afraid at an early age. It is about changing what you can, and then hopefully living a full life despite what you cannot. 

Amy Boesky has degrees from both Harvard and Oxford, and has written several books for children and young adults. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband and two daughters. And is an associate professor of English at Boston College.

A Gift From A Very Creative & Caring Friend

Yesterday a box arrived for me from Donna at Brynwood Needleworks. This is the surprise that I found inside. I burst into tears when I saw my sweet Bonnie girl's image. We last saw her about three months ago, as you know. 

Below is what the back looks like. Guess I shouldn't have laid it on my checked tablecloth. Obviously Donna knew my favorite colors!

 
To say that I'm immensely touched by Donna's generosity and sweet gesture is a vast understatement. 
Here is the note she sent along with the pillow.

I stood there with the pillow in my hands and cried like a baby. The dogs shifted uneasily and whimpered. I wondered: What would I do without my blogging friends? Whatever would I do?

Here it is in its rightful place on the couch in my garden room. Where Bonnie use to accompany me as I sat at my computer. 

I don't suppose I'll ever see my Bonnie girl again. My Bonnie Bonita. We're fairly certain that she was taken by a predator when the hotel down the block was going up. And the wild animals in the thick grove of pine trees there then became homeless. 

I simply can't write this without crying anew. But I still have my Clyde. My big boy Clyde.

Abi is nervous seeing mama cry. She gets on the couch because that is where my eyes are gazing.  

"Hey Ma, you're alright, aren't you?" those eyes ask me. 

I'm okay. Just sad that life gives us precious gifts and then inexplicably takes them away. It is the natural pattern of things. But that fact doesn't make the grief any easier to bear.

My sweet Bonnie girl, you gave me such joy. 1998-2010

How To Take Your Best Photos For Blogging

 
This week in our blogging series we are focusing on photography. Everyone knows that photos are part of what brings people back to a blog. We are visual creatures. We like "pretty"  things to look at.

Pat from Back Porch Musings has been kind enough to give us her top photography tips. Her photos are most assuredly some of the most admired in the blogosphere. (All the photos in this post were taken by Pat.)

Pat's tips:

1. Download Picasa, Photoscape, Photofiltre (all free editing programs and very user-friendly.)

2. Turn off the flash

3. If you don't have a tripod, try setting the camera on a stack of books or step stool or something else to stabilize the camera and set the timer.

4. Think outside the box when taking photos. Choose subjects out of the ordinary and find new ways or angles to get the shot.

5. Take lots of pictures. You might take 100 to get 10 good shots to use in a blog post. 

6. Practice with the aforementioned editing programs.

7. Take time to play with the camera and angles, etc, 
when you aren't necessarily doing photos for a blog post.

8. Try not to over process photos. (I asked exactly what she means by this. She said over processing is when too much saturation is used for darkening, etc. She said use the saturation tool sparingly. For instance, when you think you have just the right amount of color, decrease it a tad.) 

9. Shoot in black and white now and then.

10. The Picasa program has a straightening tool that works great when the horizon or angle of a photo is a tad off.

11. You don't have to have one of the big cameras to get good shots. I use a point and shoot Canon G11, as well as a Canon Rebel T2i.

12. Early morning and dusk are great times to take outdoor shots, when the light is soft.

13. Try using natural light indoors, when possible.  

I have looked up the links for the free programs Pat mentioned:

Picasa: http://picasa.google.com/
Photoshop: http://www.photoscape.org/
Photofiltre: http://photofiltre.free.fr/download_en.htm

I have been sitting here going through Pat's blog. I want to share a gallery of her photos with you. I am nearly brought to tears by her inspirational images. I could look for hours and hours. Enjoy.

Welcome Wagon Friday 8/27/10

Can you believe it's already the last Friday in August? Still hot, but moving steadily toward fall. 

Here's my picks for this week: 

Buttermilk Hill is a darling little blog with lots of good food and pretties. You'll get that "down on the farm" feel. 

Nancy's Vintage Trailers is a blog about those cute little vintage trailers some of you bloggers have that I am head over heels for. If you love old trailers all dressed up in vintage pretties, this is the blog for you. 

Nanniepannie's Blog happens to be the sister who shares a house with Days At Buttermilk Cottage. (And I already love that one!) 

The Tiny Tudor is all about home projects and documenting and sharing her journey with other bloggers. 

So go give these gals the "welcome to the neighborhood" greeting. I'm sure they'll appreciate your kind visit.

Also, a note about Word Verification. If you don't want to have spam on your blog, but not make everyone have to type in Word Verification, here is what works for me. 

1. Go into Comment Settings. On: Who Can Comment? Click 2nd choice, which is Registered Users. 

2. Scroll down to Comment Moderation. Click on: Only On Posts Older Than __ Days. I put in 5 days. This is easy for you to moderate, without making your reader jump through unnecessary hoops to comment. 

3. Scroll down to: Show Word Verification. Click "no."

4. Save your settings and you're good to go. 

Believe me, you will get a thank you from me and a lot of others for doing this. I hate to find blogs I like only to have to type in word verification in order to comment. I will never make anyone do that. If someone is kind enough to visit my blog and wants to comment, I am going to make it as easy on them as possible so that they are likely to return. 

Tomorrow we will have a tutorial on blog photography. Pat from Back Porch Musings, who is as phenomenal a blog photographer as I've ever seen, is going to give us her best tips. Go over and check her out if you aren't familiar with her. Divine photography!

Next week in our blogging series we will have a tutorial on creating blog banners.

Book Review: Lies My Mother Never Told Me

She had big shoes to fill as a writer. Her father was a famous man. His name was James Jones and his claim to fame is "From Here To Eternity," That's mighty big shoes. And then there was "The Thin Red Line."

Yet she prevailed. Both as a writer and as a child who had parents who also were alcoholics, Kaylie Jones has overcome many obstacles. And this is her memoir.

Her story is not without its own tragedy. Alcoholism is often hereditary. There is not just having it around you from day one. There are the genes that heighten your risk. Kaylie could have been another statistic. But she fought the good war and she won. 

This memoir goes back and forth in time. Its passages are mere chapters to you and me. For her it was a roller coaster ride, to hell and back. And then some.

She grew up amidst the likes of William Styron, Irwin Shaw, James Baldwin, Willie Morris. She socialized with writers such as Truman Capote, Norman Mailer, and Kurt Vonnegut. You will read about common events in her life accompanied by celebrities we know by name only. 

Her father was a giant among writers. Her mother Gloria was relentless with her withering sarcasm and bitter criticism. Such is the life of a child of alcoholics. And yet, she was determined her own daughter would not suffer from this fate. 

In reading the story of Kaylie Jones, author of "A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries," we understand that she did her fair share of it behind closed doors. And that it took her many years to climb up out of the abyss she'd precariously fallen into.

"A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries" was ultimately made into a film. And it starred Kris Kristofferson and Barbara Hershey.