Is It REALLY Almost Over?!!

    Yes folks, I'm afraid it really is. The summer is really over! Fall is here, and winter is just around the corner.I can feel it in the air....and see it all around my backyard. Everything around here is either dead or dying...and 'it ain't pretty'!!

     In fact, it's just sad. :-( ...I can't take it!! I want to remember the peace, tranquility, and beauty of my backyard. Not look at it flopping over in sad defeat! So, I decided to take a trip down memory road. Come with me. You don't even need your seat belt for this ride!
    If you've been reading this blog before you may remember these ↓

      These were some of the beautiful flowers in my backyard this past summer. So peaceful. So alive. So fitting my personality right now. :-) But when I look out the window?!

       During the heat waves and the unbearableness of the summer humidity that we were complaining about, the backyard still looked like this ↓

      Even the trees and bushes around the neighborhood looked decked out in beauty and ready to sing!

     Okay....so they still don't look so bad. Hubby took this picture yesterday ↓

    Even when they're on their last leg of the season...so to speak...they still look pretty good! Better than me!! At least they're hair isn't in wet braids all over their head like mine are!! LOL
    Are you tired of the dead leaves, rotten spots on everything, the drooped over "just-let-me-lay-here-and-die!" affect the flowers and plants are putting off?!

    Well, if you are, it's a good thing we have good memories...

    ...and good photos!! And........Blog archives too! Remember THIS post, the one that went with this photo?! ↓

     And the follow up post too?!.....Maybe somethings should just be left as a memory...in the beauty of a photo. So I think I will.
    Have a good rest of the weekend everyone!! I'll be picking the winner of the afghan Giveaway in the morning, so today is your last chance to comment and get your name in the box! I'll post the name of the winner tomorrow! :-)

Summer Is The Sun

Summer is the sun
that makes the sweat down your face run,
when you're having so much fun.
Now the school year is all done;
Your 'Playing' homework has begun.

Summer is the sun,
when your vacation web is spun,
and all your money is down to none.
A dollar bill-you've got just one.
That there's no cash is quite a stun.
But Oh! The memories that were won,
because summer is the sun.

Backyard Treasure...and other stuff and things!

      Have I told you before how peaceful my backyard makes me?! :-) I'm sure I have....probably at least a hundred times! But it's crisp fall/Autumn mornings like this morning that really make me feel that way. The grassy hill is scattered with leaves that are slowly releasing themselves from the trees when the wind blows,...

    ....the trees look like they're just about to do their morning stretch so that they can get all of their blood flowing. Wait a minute! Trees don't have blood!.....Okay, so it's ME that's doing the morning stretch thing! ^_^ {And hubby didn't want to wake up either! He was just about to meet Captain Picard's friend, Ming. He saved Captain Picard from some battle and.......*Charlie Brown's Teacher started talking to me right about there* ^_^}

      And just behind the trees lining the outer edge of the backyard is a little pop of color from a couple of golden trees. Just enough to make your mind wander, wondering what else is going on out there. I actually saw a huge rabbit running around out there yesterday! It was the first time I'd seen a rabbit in the backyard! He looked kind of scared as he was scurrying around too. With all of the critters that are known to be in the woods around here....foxes, black bears, skunks, etc...I suppose I would have had a scurry about me too, being all exposed!

     When hubby pointed the camera up this morning, this is what he saw! A beautiful blue sky....but the moon is still there! I guess we're not the only ones not quite awake yet this morning! ;-)
    I am awake enough to tell you though that I've decided that the "Say What You Need To Say" letter hop day will be on Wednesday, November 3, 2010. I'll be writing my letter to my biological dad, to 'say what I need to say'. Some of you have expressed some interest in doing the same. Great!!
    What I'll do on Wednesday is add all of your links to the page where my letter is, so that anyone interested in reading the other letters can do that. And you can do the same on your letter pages! I'm also going to tweet about it on Twitter and add it to my Facebook page too. I love writing, which you know! But I also love reading, especially letters and experiences from someone's life. I find that I always learn something. We all have similar life experiences, no matter where we live, when it comes to our relationships with one another.
    I'll be checking my whole Blog list of followers...like I always do...on Wednesday to see if you have a letter posted. If you do I'll add it to the list of mine. It's easy with the 'Google Friend Connect'. Any new posts are immediately added to my blog updates. I love it! So, I look forward to all of us 'saying what we need to say' on Wednesday!
    To end today's post I want to show you the new treasury I just got put in. Yep! Another one! I'm feeling so special. I hope I'm not building up animosity and making you sick of me! Oh No!!! ^_^

     OhMyAmpersand curated it. It's titled Follow Friday on Twitter. She included my Beige and Yellow Fire-In-The-Hole Two Painted Seasons Necklace.

     But there's some other great items in there too! And once again, things I'd never seen before. Here's a few of them. You can follow the link to the treasury to check out the others.
Finial Tealight Treasure Keeper

Double Lily Wedding Hair Flower in White 

Raw Citrine and Copper Necklace

Cotton Knitted Tote-Cafe Au Latte

    Okay, I'm off to get some things done, and do a rough draft of my letter for Wednesday. Have a good weekend everybody!...Oh Yeah, Poem! It's a repeat...but appropriate. :-]

Connection

There is a need inside of us
To just connect with someone else;

To look at them and somehow know
that who they are, can help you grow;

That if you just could somehow feel
the way down deep, that makes them real,

Your words will, then, no longer hide
the 'who' you are-the you inside;

And then, if you should laugh or cry
or lean your head, and give a sigh;

And if they mimic back to you
the same reactions that you do,

Then there's a real connection made,
and all your inhibitions fade.

All the walls that you put high
will fall away-into their eye,

Where you can look and see intense
emotion-and their innocence;

And you no longer must explain
the need inside, you now must claim;

The need to be the 'who' you are.
They've taken stock-and raised the bar.

Now-if you touch, or if you don't,
or if you will, or if you won't;

It doesn't matter-not a one,
the things they think, or what they've done;

Because connection has been made-
the needed, real, foundation's laid.

Now-there's a real relationship
that you give action-not just lip!

"Say What You Need To Say" Day and Give It Away!!

     Before I go on to any other subjects today, I wanted to remind you that Monday, this coming Monday, is the day I will be doing the drawing for the green and white afghan. This box  ↓  is where I've been putting all of your names when you comment every day.

    Kind of 'make-shift' I know, but it works perfectly! :-] To avoid any embarrassment, for me or you, ^_^ PLEASE follow the link and read up on exactly what you'll be getting if you win the afghan. And if you'd rather not receive it,...no offense will be taken,...just tweet me, convo me on Etsy, Tell me on Facebook, or leave me a comment below. That way if you're really not interested in it, someone else who is can get it!
    Now, let me ask you: Do any of you have family members, or people that you've never met, that you have something that you want to say, or need to say to them, but you haven't, for one reason or another?! I do. And I've been debating on doing a blog post, for my own amusement, that's basically a letter to this person, saying all the things I would say to them if I had the opportunity. Nothing mean-spirited or rude, just saying what I need to say. {The person I would write my letter to is my biological dad who I never met.}Would that be something you'd be interested in doing yourselves?! Maybe to your son or daughter, grandfather or grandmother, pet, boss, grocery store owner...Whoever!
    I ask because I'm thinking about maybe encouraging a "Say What You Need To Say" blog hop day. All of us with blogs can link to each other's "Say What You Need To Say" letters! Let me know what you think, and what day of the week you think would be the best to do it. I think it would be kinda fun!
    Let's face it, it's not some rocket science idea that's going to change the world...nor is that my intention {I kind of take the world as it comes...at least for now! ^_^}...but I do think that if we promoted it, it could be a way to get some new traffic to each of our blogs and also get to know each other a little better! I'll look forward to hearing what you think!
   On some unrelated news, I made it into another Etsy Treasury! I know!!! I don't know why I'm so popular lately either!! ^_^ But I'm thankful!! It's called Sun and Shadow!

    I think MaritimeArts did a great job with her picks too! A lot of my favorite folks are in it!  Please go by and check it out!...I found a shop here that I'd never seen before, and it has me wishing I had a dog!! If you love words, and you love dogs, you're going to love goingplaces2! This Schnoodle Art Inspirational Dog Print is one...I said one...of the prints that I have fallen in love with!!

       I muster up courage every day!! I'm almost grown-up too! :-) 
    Okay, I'm off to get my weekend started. Nothing special planned except 'Date Night' tonight with my hubby, visiting with family, and doing some reading...and listening! What's on your agenda this weekend?! And what about 'Saying what you need to say'?! You can...

If You Live Long Enough

If you live long enough
and experience you earn,
there is one great big lesson
in this life you will have learned;

that if you laugh your way through it,
and you're positive all the time,
then your heart becomes a magnet
and whats bad stops on a dime!

Love is drawn into your life
like a butterfly to a flame;
People's smiles drop from the sky,
like the rain that does the same.

And because you're lifted up,
there is nothing you can't do.
If you live long enough
your date with "Life" is never through!   

My Menopausal Wacky Brain!

    Some days I could really be mad at this menopausal, wacky brain of mine! It's always an adventure,...but sometimes it's just a wild ride! Then there are other days, like yesterday, when the brain just wants to go where the brain wants to go!...like the branches of this tree in my header photo.
   My brain was all over the place ...after I woke up from any one of my numerous unplanned naps, that is! :-) {That's another thing my brain does!...right in the middle of someone talking to me, or just when I'm about to study some deep point, my brain says: "Not now!...Lights out!!" Next thing I know my hearing comes alive and it seems like somebody turned on the noises in the room. I can, all of a sudden, hear the T.V., the whirring fan, the air purifier going, and the clock ticking my time away!! ^_^}
   Some of what my brain focused on yesterday was funny...like I saw this picture and laughed!

     He looked like his brain was having the same kind of day mine was having! LOL {It's a shot from Wendy's visit to the Aquarium, from the Beautiful Day blog...You can read more about it, and see the other pictures, HERE.}
    Some things my brain focused on were pretty,...and made me smile...

    ....like these two little butterfly friends sharing a flower. Awwwwww! {The blog post that it came from was entitled In the Company of Friends, from the blog A Little Piece of Me.}

     ...and this butterfly from a post on the blog and baby makes three, about her little Emma's trip to the botanical garden for a picnic.

   
     But then my brain did a flip flop and started making me wonder why I was wasting so much time!!! :-0 It said I should be doing something important, like this busy bee!...not sitting here wasting time looking at pretty pictures!! :-/

    Yikes! What should I be doing, Brain?! {This is one of Silja's beautiful photos over on Facebook. I hope she doesn't mind me sharing. You'll do yourself a favor by checking out all the other wonderful photos she has there!}
     Eh! Whatever!!!...Then my brain just got scattered and wacky, and I saw a post someone did that asked the question: What kind of useless talent do you have? Then my brain starting thinking....always a problem anyway these days! :-) ...and I thought: "What kind of useless talent do YOU have?" And of course the 'talent' was something that my brain does!! ^_^

     In case you can't read it still, it says: "Do you have any weird things that you can do, things you wonder why you know how to do it, and what real purpose it will ever serve anyway?!! I DO!! :-) "
     Yep! I can mirror write backwards!! Aren't you impressed with my menopausal, wacky brain?!!....There's no telling where it's going to go today, but for sure it's going to be a wild ride!!! LOL
     My wacky brain even wrote a poem about itself yesterday!! Ha! Ha! ....UGH! :-]

My Brain, My Brain

My brain just does
what it wants and when it wants!
Some days, all of it's positives
is what it flips and flaunts.

It triggers really fast,
and all my brain cells start to meet.
It stores all kinds of things,
and it runs long, without feet!

It fires happiness,
is organized, remembers well.
But then that "Bing!" will come
as if someone just hit a bell.

It slows and starts to ponder.
And what it ponders is not good!
Those days it might as well
be just a solid block of wood.

Can't remember what to do,
or if it already did;
Thoughts are scattered everywhere
and all my memories are hid.

Yes, my brain just does
what it wants and how it wants!
My job is staying with it,
and responding when it taunts.

Chocoholics Anonymous, Here I Come!

    I have a thing about chocolate, as you no doubt remember by THIS POST, where my header picture is from, and this button that I won! ↓

     It's just a good thing that I don't eat as much of it as I talk about, or as much as I like looking at and drooling over it! :-) In fact, the chocolate brown yarn that I use regularly inspires my chocolate creations all the time...Like this Chocolate Brown Spotted Leopard Button Flower Necklace.

     Well, apparently, I'm not the only one with a thing for chocolate! Look at this gorgeous "Chocoholics Anonymous" Treasury that Denise of niecynotes curated!

      Every single item is amazing! And some of them are no doubt delicious too! I mean a Triple Chocolate Diva Cupcake and Belgian Dark Chocolate Butter Caramels?! YUM!! They look...as we would say in the South...'Smack yo Mama' good!! ^_^
    But this treasury is so good that even the things that are not eatable, LOOK good enough to eat! Look at this Hot Fudge Brownie Sundae Pendant or these Hostee Cupcake Painted Bottle Cap Dangle Earrings!!...{My hubby will get a kick out of seeing those!} As I said, everything is fabulous in this treasury. You can follow the link and check them out for yourselves!
   Since I couldn't really focus too closely on anything yesterday, because of my headache...which is gone this morning, by the way...I just sat around and looked at all of the pretty pictures of things online to make myself feel better. I really got in a good and calm mood when I saw this high quality satin paper page of Mariann's new calendar....of the Jaguar!!

    Isn't he just beautiful!! Oh! A napper...like me!! ^_^ And he was beautiful to me all day....even when I didn't know what he was! I kept saying he was a cheetah! ^_^ So....I don''t know my animals that well! Don't judge me!! ^_^ I DO know art when I see it! And this calendar needs to be, not just on your laundry room wall where you can scratch off which day you have to do the sheets or pick Johnny up from soccer practice, but in your studio, or in a corner wall of your living room, where when guests come over it can be an artistic conversation starter!Head on over to her Facebook page and take a look at it, and pre-order one if you like too!
     For the next week or so, until November 1st, you can get it at a lower price, just $20.00! That may sound like a lot for a calendar, but for what you'll be getting, and the information that your kids will learn and be able to use in school, it's a real bargain!
    Speaking of bargains, I've been running into some real bargains on some of the blogs I follow...FREE stuff!! I've been telling you about them, not because the bloggers and etsians are telling me to, but because I really think they're great and I wanted to share with you, so you could get in on them too!
    Some of them have been things you could download, like Mariann's desk-top calendar that she gives us every month or Denise's printable To-Do Lists in different colors. But some of them have been some amazing Giveaways! And I just got wind of some more!!
   Could you use one of these amazing quilted coaster sets?! Well, go to art life's blog and follow the link, or go directly over to lillyella's blog, where she's being interviewed...and where she's offering this fabulous Giveaway!...This is the set I like!

    One more...and it really is fabulous! Sara, over at her blog called Twillypop's place, is having a Giveaway celebrating her brand new blog! You have a choice of what you will win! You can win her Genevieve 3-pack of necklaces for layering or gifting in the colors of your choice...

     or you can have a brand new ribbon and chain like this one designed just for you!

          And you choose the colors!...There's all kinds of ways to get extra entries too, if you want. Just check out the link to her blog above....I think this is a magnificent Giveaway. Her necklaces are so unique! I've been ogling her Etsy shop for a long time now. If you go there you'll see why!
     And guess what?! In her etsy shop she even has a Chocolate Brown Genevieve Ribbon and Pearl Necklace!

    Do you believe it?!! ^_^ Oh Yeah! I could really go for some chocolate right about now!! :-) ... And since I'm all about doing something to make yourself feel better when things aren't just as you would like them, and i don't have any chocolate in the house,...and it's raining....I need to think good sunny thoughts. This poem might help!...Have a nice day everybody, and be careful those of you dealing with the really bad weather across the country!

Sun

You make water cycles flow.
You give green to leaves and doe.
You add shine to a new rainbow,
and you make the flowers grow.

Without you, we could not sow,
there'd be nothing there to hoe.
There'd be no grass for us to mow.
And our mood would be real low.

Because of you, we go, go, go,
and all our 'ducks are in a row'.
We so appreciate your glow.
Our sunny smile is how you know.