FLAMBLOGGER: R is for....

REMINISCENCES

In keeping with my post last week about finding Pieces of my Past in old diaries, I thought you might be interested in seeing this, that just arrived yesterday.  

I saw an ad on Blogger for taking your blogs and putting them into book form: BlogstoPrint from SharedBooks.

I thought I'd give it a try and this is the result.

The cover is glossy and looks much nicer than this and the pages are photographic or glossy paper. I chose green because I love that color but there are other colors to choose from. I was very pleased with the result.  There are about 70 pages and the cost was approximately $33.00

The nice thing about this is that now instead of old diaries full of reminiscences done in tiny writing in pencil from my teens, I now have a full colored illustrated diary of my seventies!

I just did the year 2007 to see if I liked it.  My husband is so pleased with the result that he is urging me to have 2008 done.  Then at Christmas I'll do 2009 followed by 2010.

If you're interested just Google Blogs2print or SharedBooks.  I'm not getting any commission!  I just thought other people might like to see their work preserved in a different way other than on computers.

But while we're at it  -- the letter 'R' that is,-- this is another reminiscence that begins with R -- me and my dog Rip, taken about 1950.  My eyes are not shut, I was just looking down at Rip.  What a great dog he was!

One day I had just read a touching story in the newspaper about a dog, so I took my ten shillings I had been saving up for a tennis racket and told my mother "I'm going around the village to find a dog and I'm not coming back until I've got one!"  And that's exactly what I did.  I found a fisherman who had Rip, (who was about 6 months old).  I gave him my ten shillings and I took Rip.  He lived to a good old age.  He was still with my parents until a few years after I was married.  That was a pretty good bargain.  

Heritage Park Oceanside.

We took another day out to look for gems in our own Tri- City Area.

Heritage Park is a small park in Oceanside that is often overlooked.  It features old buildings and replicas of Oceanside in the early days of its history.  The buildings are set around a large green, grassy quadrangle.  At one end is a beautiful bandstand:

At the other end  a few solid and clean picnic tables...

...right next door to the City Jail.

Along one side of the quad are some old store fronts  and some  farm implements...

...the General Store and a Barber's Shop

Beautiful wood toned store fronts

Along the other side of the grass quad is the old "Blade"  newspaper building.  Our son started out his photography career with the old Blade Citizen newspaper (not in this building!  We're not that old!)

The first Libby School building is next to the Blade.

Same buildings, but a step further back to look at the beautiful tree set in front of them.

Now look at that tree again  -- so beautifully shaped.

And that was our day out last week.  

Once again, not a soul there.  The caretaker did come out to say hello.  He said that three or four days a week there is nobody using this park But next week they are to have a big splash when all the old timers from what was the Oceanside School District, (now incorporating Carlsbad and Vista) will have a great reunion with a lot of fun and many memories recalled.

Why don't you explore your old neighborhoods?  Bet you'd find some gems too.

'Q" IS FOR....

Q is for QUARTZ

If I had been born in the desert I think I would have been a rock-hound.  These two pieces, of quartz, each about 3" in size, I bought when we were in Brazil a good number of years ago now.  It was an impulse buy.  I'm sure I could have bought them here in the States, but I liked them and they had good color and were a fair size, so I bought them -- only a couple of dollars each as I remember.

The purple one is of course amethyst and the amber colored one, citrine.  Both are beautiful and grace the top of my bookshelves.

Speaking of beautiful....

Here is Henrietta between two small piles of rose quartz which a friend gave us many years ago when he was re-doing his front yard.  I could have cropped her out -- and the beautiful berries, but I didn't have the heart to do it.  Henrietta was such fun when she stayed with us!

Here she is the 

QUEEN OF THE QUARTZ

Actually, if you look closely you will see that this is actually my replica for Henrietta.  After she left us, I transformed a rooster I bought in Kauai and this is now Henrietta enjoying the rose quartz.

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WEDNESDAY'S WORDS

I wondered if I could find an appropriate Bible verse with Q in  and sure enough I did.

"In Quietness and confidence shall be your strength." Isaiah 30:15

As a child I was always hyperactive, only they didn't use that word in those days.  What it means is I was never still and talked way too much!  As I have grown older and hopefully 'matured' I have learned that when I'm rushing about, tumbling my thoughts and actions, I do much better if I slow down and quieten down.  Today, I would say I have learned to look to the Lord for peace, quietness and confidence when I have something important to do or say (at other times too, but especially in those times).  So I'm glad I looked up Q in the Bible for ABC Wednesday.  This verse is a good reminder.

*****

If you have a moment, please go back and take a look at the two paintings I posted yesterday.  I was quite pleased with the way they turned out -- though they are no masterpieces.

Dings and Things

Well it had to happen some time, but we weren't quite ready for it yet.  Last week we went down to our favorite park, me to watch birds and Barry to read.  There wasn't a soul around as we parked the car and took out the lawn chairs.  It was beautiful, quiet and warm.  We'd been there about an hour when a group of young fellows approached from afar, throwing a frisbee back and forth.  Suddenly we heard a loud bang -- almost like a gun shot.  Whoops!! One of the guys missed his target and the frisbee flew about 50 yards straight into the door of our brand new car!!

Can you see it?  Right in the middle of the yellow reflection.  The poor guy was so apologetic.  But what can you do?  It is too small to warrant repair.  The only good thing about it is that I wasn't the one to make the first ding in the new car.  I would have felt so guilty.

I've been doing some more painting while recovering from my cold.  The first is:

The Two Trees.

I found this scene for Virtual Paintout, but didn't get it finished in time. (Sent in a different one.)

But I so liked this scene that I decided to finish it anyway.

 The next one is from a photo I took while up in Boise.  It hasn't reproduced too well.

I call it "Vicki's lamp".  This little vignette caught my eye, mainly I think because of my two favorite colors -- peach and sage green -- and the beautiful lamp.

See you tomorrow on ABC Wednesday.

Back from Boise

So off we went to Boise for our annual visit to Son #2, whose birthday is in April.

The good old Capitol Building is a fine historical and political marker.

The weather was not exactly California style -- showery and cold, but we came prepared with sweaters and jackets.  We had highs of 53 F!

This looked kind of ominous, but it missed us and as you can see we were still in sunshine.

I'm missing Bailey, but this little love, Violet -- I call her Lady Lavender -- helped me along.  What a little sweetie she was!  She napped with me Saturday afternoon.

Boise is a blaze of blooms at this time of the year.  Such a beautiful city in the spring time.  This year the snow was still on the mountains around the basin.  But I had to photograph these. I love catkins.  They remind me of spring in England.

Sunday, the sunshine stayed warm enough for our early Mother's Day Dinner. This turned out to be a great photo -- and the meal just as great -- but we ended up indoors half way through.  This was the first time we had met Vicki's parents, so it was an especial treat.

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If we had sound on blogger, you would now hear Barry's coughing and sneezing in the background, as I gave my sniffles to him!  I'm generous that way :)

WEDNESDAY'S WORDS ON THURSDAY

WEDNESDAY'S WORDS
Late again this week, but two excuses:  I've been out of town for five days and also brought back a bug -- or allergies or something with me.

Paul's prayer for the Colossians, among many to be found in that letter, is that we "may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God".


We can't walk worthily or be "fruitful in every good work" unless we have the "knowledge of God".  This knowledge of Him is why I attend Bible Studies and read the Bible regularly.  Nowhere else can I find the true knowledge of Him.  If I look elsewhere, I end up with someone else's opinion of Him.  Have you ever wondered at the thousands of ideas as to who or what God is?  How can we find the truth in that maze of opinions?  But Jesus says, "I am the truth".  Thank goodness we have something and Someone who really knows truth in this sadly mixed up world.

Pieces from my Past

Going through a long unused closet packed full of junk, I recently came across an old cookie tin.  When I opened it, pieces of my past came tumbling out...

    My report card from kindergarten (I'm 72 years old!)
    All my old high school report cards
    Three diaries crammed full of my frivolous teenage adventures from ages 16, 17, and 18
    The stub from my first paycheck as a teacher
    The first birthday card my husband-to-be sent me before we were even 'going together'
    The bill from the hotel where we spent our honeymoon in1959

While I spent a good many hours looking through these and other things like them, I think you might be more interested in more up-to-date 'P's such as...

Colored PENCILS which I frequently use for my art work

 Photography another one of my recent hobbies

 My plumeria which has survived yet another winter.  This is a bloom from last year.  The plant will not bloom again until much later this year.  We are fortunate because we did not have a whisper of frost this winter.Usually I watch the weather forecast on the cold winter nights and have to throw a light cover over it if the temperature goes below 40degrees F

The brown PELICAN which has made a remarkable come-back in the last 30 years.  There are plenty of them in the beach and harbor area.  I am told they were dying out because the use of DDT made the egg shells soft and the babies could not survive.  Well they are  certainly surviving now.

Anyone from Liverpool will recognize this as what we call "The PIER Head".  It's correct name is the Royal Liver Building.  "liver" being the name of a bird that so far as I know, no longer exists.  But Liverpool certainly still does and this magnificent building is in good shape.  It was known by my husband and his cronies who grew up there, as "the peer-red".  Say it fast and you will understand. It stands beside the River Mersey.  Yes, this is the same Liverpool as the one where the Beatles came from.  We have the distinction of knowing someone who knew JohnLennon.  He used to stand as lookout while the rest of them went shoplifting!

 In honor of the Virtual Paintout this month, whose topic is Portugal, I decided to include this tile made in Portugal and brought home for me by my husband after visiting there a year or two ago.

 *****

I'm back from my visit to Boise and will be visiting my blogging friends again soon.  But Boise  -- or the flight -- was a little too generous in passing along a bug to me.  Anyway between sneezes and blowing I have not missed ABC Wednesday.  Aren't you glad computers can't pass along this kind of bug , or virus?