Sky Gazing

Astronomy has never much been 'My thing'... I think it's because I just can't wrap my head around the idea of 'The Universe'... It's quite enough for me to try to focus on 'This Planet' and everything IT encompasses. Is there life out there? Perhaps, maybe, I don't know. All I know is, it's just too much to consider. So I don't care, call me narcissistic.

For my husband and my daughter though, star gazing is becoming a bonding experience. My husband received a telescope for his birthday this year and he and the girl child are so excited by each new discovery.

Today, they got up at Oh-dark-thirty so they could see this:

Amazing isn't it? Can you guess what star that is?

Surprise! It's not a star at all, it's this:

It's the Space Station and it flew over our house at 5:32 am this morning.

In my husbands words, this is what they had to do to prepare for the sighting:

We had to figure out which way WNW was (we did this the night before)…

We used google earth to find North relative to the front of the house,
We then magnetized a needle, put it in a cork, floated it in water, and found north that way,
Finally, we located the North using the North Star.

Then we drew compass points on the driveway in chalk based on the results of the various methods. The needle method differed from google and the north star (which agreed fairly well), so we went with the majority opinion.

We went out this morning at about 5:25 and sat on the sidewalk facing WNW, positioned so our little tree in the front yard blocked the annoying street light… and watched.

Of course, eagle-eye Sarah spotted it first, slightly north of where we had 'computed' it to appear. It moved quickly, going from horizon to overhead in about 2 minutes. We watched with binoculors and Sarah tried a time exposure with her camera. After it went overhead, we got up, went to the driveway, and watched it some more.

A very nice way to start the day.

A very nice way to start the day, indeed! A Dad and his Daughter bonding under the stars... Well, it makes for a wonderful life. Where was I? In bed, asleep, of course!

Kick Ass I-Pod Shuffle Song of the Day:
First off, I have to fess up and admit to not walking this morning. I'm giving the dogs a rest, meaning my feet AND the actual dog, 10 yr. old Anna. She's been gimping around too much to subject her to 3 days in a row. But anyway, this song was in my rotation yesterday and while it may be a little too 'Alternative' for some of you, it's got a kick-ass pounding rhythm. Anyone else out there a Blue October fan?

In honor of my NEXT 500 blog posts...

I can hardly believe it but THIS is my 501st post!!! (my thanks to my boy for noticing... I'm not much on catching on to the intricacies of all this here bloggin' stuff!)

Anyway, in honor of all the amazing and informative text I've shared with you over the past 500 posts... Everything from 'When the men buy the pants' to my sons possible need to 'Go Commando'.... I'm proud to announce myself as the recipient of not just one but TWO awards.

Behold my awesomeness...

This award bestowed upon me by that nature lovin', marathon runnin', attitude dishin' Stacie. She's my gal to the nearby south, who I'd like to confirm, I'd absolutely love to meet face-to-face and do a lunch/craft store thing (or even better a photo safari in D.C.) before she's up, up and away with her husband to their next tour of duty. Thanks so much Stace and here's a little extra scribble for you ~~~~

But wait, here's my second 'Fabulous' award:


This one from that Belle from the south She loves decorating AND she's a sometimes scrapbooker which means she plays with paper, so I just gotta love her! Thanks Belle and in the interest of following through with the rules of a Fabulous Blogger, here is a list of 5 of my addictions:

1. Oatmeal with Cinnamon & Splenda brown sugar. I eat it every day except Sunday's, that's when my husband makes pancakes. Should I be referring to oatmeal as an addiction? Yes, because nothing else leaves me satisfied as a breakfast meal and sometimes dinner too!
   
2. Ribbon... I LOVE ribbon, be it wired, grossgrain, satin or florist... It's my ultimate wish to own every style, every pattern and every color... Ribbon just makes me happy and it makes me a complete and total dork, I know.
   
3. Since the title of this blog IS 'The Paper Treehouse' I guess it's a given that I LOVE paper... I have stacks and stacks of it in my studio... Addiction? well, I can't mainline it, but it's pretty much a staple in my creative life.
4. Okay, I'm embarressed to admit this but *hanging head to avoid the dis-satisfied glares, fingers pointing at me, and all the tsk-tsking*... I'm addicted to solitaire. My son has tried to get me to play other games, minesweep, spider, scrabble, you name it. Anything to get me to stop that annoying mouse clicking. I always play draw one, vegas style. I've won thousands and lost millions. Why do I indulge in this monumentous time waster? It's what I do when I'm avoiding something I don't really want to do ie. housework, homework, you name it.
5. Photography blogs... If I spent as much time taking pictures as I did looking at pictures people take? Well, for one I'd be begging for a better camera and two, the probability is I'd just be taking a truck load of crappy pictures... I really should however, work harder at trying to understand exactly how a camera works. Maybe that's when I'll achieve photography blog worthy photos.

So yeah, I'm sure you were expecting something a little more Addiction worthy, but it doesn't take 500 blog posts to come to the conclusion, I'm NO Courtney Love and I'm certainly NO Amy Winehouse. I'm just your plain ol' run of the mill, oatmeal chuggin' goody-goody. Hope I didn't disappoint anyone.

Little Time for Blogging

I've at last taken the time to load pictures into my laptop in order to illustrate a few of the things that kept me so busy throughout the month of October... Laying around for the last few days holding my throbbing head in despair ultimately left me bored enough to blog about my accomplishments BEFORE I got sick... Because daytime t.v. really, REALLY SUCKS and if it weren't for the Discovery Channel, I'd have to say the same for night-time television.

Anyway, in early October I was busy planning hostessing a luncheon following the Memorial Service for my husbands Aunt Carol. She passed away in February but was being interred at Arlington National Cemetery. Aunt Carol was to be the second Aunt in my husbands family to be buried at Arlington. She served as a WAC in WWII and a drill Sergeant. Family came into town at my Mother-in-law's, from as far away as Washington state. There were cousins from Florida, Virginia, New Jersey and friends from Ohio paying respects to Aunt Carol and a life well lived. I volunteered for not only the role of planning the luncheon but was also tapped as photographer for the day. Here are some pics of the service at Arlington:

Amid the rush of 27 people waiting to be fed, I managed to get one pic of the buffet table which I had fretted over getting beautifully laid out to honor Aunt Carol, who always agreed with me that it was totally worth it to splurge on the more expensive paper napkins. While we were down in the D.C. area for an extended period and since there was family visiting from out of town, we of course, had to visit the District. My daughter got this beautiful shot of the capitol that day.

On top of the planning for the Memorial I've also been busy with another project. Our small town has an event known as 'The Festival of Trees'. Last year I was on the planning and decorating committee and because I'm a glutton for punishment or just really bad at saying No, I'm heading up the decorating committee for this years event. The way it works is, local businesses purchase and (sometimes) decorate a tree. This year the trees will be on display at different locations throughout Main St. for a 4 week period. During which time a silent auction takes place. In mid-December a large Christmas party will take place on Main St. with a visit from Santa, Carolers & Free Horse drawn buggy rides. At that time the trees will be awarded to the highest bidders at auction. I had the bright idea that this might be an opportunity to showcase my paper art skills and have volunteered to do a 'Paper Treehouse Christmas Tree'... I've been working on ornaments in my 'Free (ha! ha!) Time' and have completed roughly 25 so far. However, this is what my studio looked like in early October:

Since October is also the month of my birthday my husband put hours of time and labor into creating a studio space in which I could be more organized and have not only miles of table space to work with but also proper lighting. It's difficult to tell from the pictures above just how dark the cave is in which I normally work because I had to use the flash on my camera so you could actually SEE the space. That would explain the number of lamps on my desk top.

Anyway, following a few weeks of studio upheaval and a lot of time invested in some serious organization, I'd like to show you my NEW studio space:

18 Feet of Table Top

Loads of Storage underneath.

And also Above.

And just look at all that beautiful light... This pic was taken without flash.

My husband is a genius and I, I'm SO fortunate and spoiled to be married to a man with carpentry skills. Now I just wish I felt good enough to get up off this couch and create something in my new studio.

The Perils of Putting it Out There!

Today was my first attempt at 'putting it out there'... My cards to be exact.

I've been selling my Paper Art, Dream Books & Cards for years. All by commission and word of mouth. Today however, I actually walked into a gift shop, snipped the ragged thread which secured the tentative hold I have on my self esteem and spilled my worth across the gift counter'.

My friend Lori, recently got to know a woman who owns the gift shop of which I speak. I'm grateful to Lori for not even thinking twice about asking her new friend if she'd be interested in my cards and for setting up an appointment for me to meet with her. I am such a BIG FAT GIANT WUSS when it comes to this kind of thing. Just let me sit in my studio, let the muses take over and create away... Ask me to put on the hat of the slick saleswoman, touting my goods and defending their worth... Well, I'd much rather shrivel up and die a thousand deaths.

Don't get me wrong, I'm proud of the work I do, but I'm also very critical of myself. I'd much rather be the first to criticize myself or my work before I give another the chance to do it first. And then, when it comes to the monetary value.... e-gads I REALLY hate that part!... Again let me reiterate, just let me sit and play with paper, don't make me think about how much it costs, how much time it takes, business licenses or tax implications... These matters make the creative process wither on the vine.

Anyway, I think the shop owner liked what she saw, (she LOVED my business cards)... However, it's always hard to gauge. Was she complimentary 'because' she was doing a friend a favor? OR Is she like me, and wouldn't want to hurt anyones feelings? She took 4 cards on consignment... I know, just 4 cards, sounds more like a pity purchase... Not even a purchase really, they ARE on consignment... But, whatever. She did however give me a list of the type of cards her customers are typically interested in, so I'm taking that to mean she'd like to see something more closely related to the theme of her shop.

Lori is determined to represent me and I'm thrilled for it, because I SO suck at it! She's got me scheduled to meet with someone from the local flower shop on Wednesday. I kinda know some people there, so I'm not as apprehensive as I was about todays meeting. Plus, I think my cards are far more fitting for a 'Florist/Gift Shop' than a shop with a 'Boating/Chesapeake' theme... So excuse me while I go make more cards....

Planting Party

Life has been SO busy lately that I completely forgot to mention the 'Planting Party' my friend Lori and I hosted last week.

What is a Planting Party you ask? Well, it's something I read about years ago in Better Homes & Garden Magazine. As spring approached I remembered the article and asked Lori if she'd be interested in hosting one together... And because A) I didn't feel like cleaning... and B) Lori's home sits on the Elk Neck River (gorgeous views)... I suggested we hold the party at her house. I know, I'm such a good friend.

Anyway, I made invitations and we invited a bunch of close friends from Art Space, the clay studio where I used to work. The guests were completely confused by the invitations because they'd never heard of a 'Planting Party' before and assumed they were being invited over to help Lori plant her garden. They thought they were being asked to provide flowers for this task. The guests who responded with an emphatic yes, before understanding the logistics are considered 'Keepers'.

Here's the way the party works:
Each guest brings a flat of flowers or greenery, annuals or perennials.
Each guest also brings any manner of containers, hanging baskets, pots, window boxes.
Each guest may also want to bring a trowel and garden gloves.
The host(s) supply the potting soil.
I also provided fragrant hand soap, nail brushes and lotion which I purchased at the $ store.
Once everyone is gathered together the planting begins. One could worry that you might be saddled with 10 flats of geraniums but the choices for our party were numerous and even though we'd hosted this party for a group of potters (think plethora of hand thrown clay pots) there were flowers left over.
Once the planting is complete, everyone gets washed up for lunch.

As the hosts of the party, Lori and I provided all the food... However, a pot-luck would work well too. For our particular party we had hoped to eat outside on the deck, looking out over the river... Unfortunately the weather was dark and dismal, sloppy and rainy (we set up our planting station on 2 long tables just inside the garage)... The weather turned out to be perfect for our newly planted flowers which received a gentle first watering by Mother Nature herself.

For food we served 'Chinese Chicken Salad' with rolls and Lori made an delicious Curried, Fruited Rice. There was a lovely fruit platter and I made a Tropical Waldorf style Trifle which received rave reviews.

After the food we all sat around and visited. There were roughly 10 of us, if I remember correctly. I'm still angry at myself for forgetting my camera. The party started at 11 am and I think the last guests left around 3 pm. Each with their own pots and containers filled with the flowers shared by friends. Here's some pics of my container... I took these this morning and am thrilled to see how everything is growing with such gusto!

Open House

Newest property on the block now available.
Start your nest egg here.
Others will be flocking to this stylishly decorated
1 bedroom abode.
Fly on in and check it out.

This lovely birdhouse, designed, stained and displayed on a very high tree, by my husband and daughter, as their weekend project. We can't wait to get pictures of the new habitants. We'll be sure to post pics once they take up residence.

Surf and Learn...

When I received my lovely little laptop I thought I'd spend the majority of my time on it 'blogging'... Uh, not so much... I'm in a slump folks, as it pertains to writing witty little ditty's that'll leave you clutching your sides in uproarious laughter... Wait, was I ever capable of such a response?... Don't answer that.

Regardless of my lack of posting, I have indeed been spending a great deal of time acquainting myself with lovely little 'Godiva'... Namely, I've been surfing the web in search of awe inspiring photography sites. Places like this: Jules Bianchi Photography or this: Jessica Claire Photography
and this: J. Garner Photography.

Yeah, okay, I'm living in a dream world... I'm not even fit to carry around the camera bag of people this talented. It is however nice to dream AND imagine I have an extra 12K sitting around to invest in an awesome camera and a couple of bad ass lenses. I am however, going to continue playing around with light, color and form... Try and get myself some flare shots, along with some cool depth of field tricks.

One thing I am learning from all this surfing is the portrait sittings of the past are so... Well, um, Yesterday! The new look in photography seems to be all about illustration. The best wedding shots aren't posed affairs with everyone in stair step order, like geese at a shooting gallery... No, they're about movement and projecting the joy of the event. I love this... I also love, Love, LOVE, the idea of shooting the little details... The small things that so much thought and preparation go into when it comes to planning the event... These are the things you forget about later if they aren't photographed. A bridesmaid tending to a ribbon on the back of the brides gown. The curve of her ankle as the bride slips into her satin shoes. When it comes to photographing children, it just seems odd to make them sit in a chair in front of a painted backdrop when their real joy and exuberance for life shines through when their engaged in doing something they love, like playing outside or dressing up. This is what I want to capture... And I'm tired of sitting here just dreaming about it. So, I'm gonna try and post more pics and if anyone has thoughts on them, complimentary or constructive, well... Damn I'd sure appreciate it. Maybe someday someone will search out a site I create for inspiration? And maybe the reality will be I can just make myself happy trying to get better at something I really enjoy... Yeah, that would be Great!

Below are a couple of pics I took last Friday on our walk from the Washington DC Convention Center to Metro Center. Getting ready to cross the street ahead of us was the most elegantly dressed couple... Look like they stepped off the pages of 'Mid-Life Vogue'... My Goodness but they're handsome aren't they? I'll bet their kids are named Biff and Buffy with grandchildren Beatrice and Henry... They're probably already planning ahead to the whole family vacationing on the Martha's Vineyard in late June. Then again she might be the aide to this little known congressman and his wife might be plenty pissed if she ever runs across this pic... Sorry, I'm such a cynic.


I was able to zoom in for this shot just before the traffic light changed.

A Diversion

It's that time of year again...

The time of year when I look at areas of my home and I get notions of redecorating. Rather than actually taking the time to clean, I think to myself, "Hmmmm, how can I completely change this area?" Because cleaning is just SO BORING! Why not add a heap load more work into the mix? And of course later regret ever starting the project.

This weekend I informed my husband that I'd been thinking about the space in our basement, namely what I like to refer to as 'My Studio'. Truth is, it's less a studio and more a place for all my crafting stuff but it sounds so much more idyllic to call it a Studio. Sort of an affirmation of whatever artistic ability I might possess. Anyway, my ideal 'Studio' would combine miles of open table top with loads of built in shelves and cabinetry. Bright light would flood the space and it would always be neat and organized so I could locate whatever I needed with little effort. And in this perfect world of unicorns and rainbows I would forever be happy and content.

In what I believe was an effort only to appease me (definitely not a plan to actually buy things), my husband and I went to the local home improvement superstore and scouted out counter tops, cabinets and lighting. Ultimately I ended up alone in the paint department, selecting colors for our master bedroom and bath, both of which have yet to receive any color other than the contractors white they had when we moved in. My thinking is this (since I knew there would be no purchasing of counters, cabinetry and lighting)... Why not decorate the upstairs whilst it's still cold outside ie. warmest part of the house in the winter... Then when the heat of summer hits, I can while away the hours in the coolest part of the house, the basement, which is always freezing in the winter.

So over lunch today my husband and I begin discussing changes we'd like to make to the master bath. I'm thinking, a coat of paint, some sort of window treatment and new lighting. Whilst my husband draws up a layout of the bathroom and begins moving around doorways, walls and adding a new larger size tub. Ordinarily I would get excited at the notion of completely 'refurbing' a room. But I know my husband pretty well after nearly 25 yrs. of marriage. He throws out ideas with absolutely no intention of ever following through because, eh... In the end it's just too much work, not to mention expense. It didn't stop me from looking at bathtubs online... Namely, this beauty for over $11,000 from Kohler...


Even if we were independently wealthy, the truth is, if we had something like this I can bet we wouldn't share it. We'd never be able to look that relaxed knowing we'd spent over $11 Grand on a bathtub AND we'd NEVER get anything done... Needless to say that awesome basement space I've got in mind.

Is This Thing On?

Friends and Family have flattered me with compliments on my photography skills. When I tell them I'm not really all that good at it, that I really owe it all to a good camera, set on AUTO... I'm told I'm just being modest.

Well folks, here's proof that I don't really know what the hell I'm doing... And if every once in a while I end up with a nice shot, it really is all about the camera... Not the dolt behind it.

Camera Shy

A couple of months ago my trusty-rusty Olympus C-2100 digital camera with the 10X zoom, took a terrible spill... A fall so tragic that it was left with it's little digital dial hanging by a single thread of a wire. If cameras were to bleed, I'm certain the red-cross would have been little help to my poor broken camera. That camera and I, Oh we went places! The things we saw... The pictures we took... Vegas, Southern California (twice!), Key West, Florida and The Bahamas. Not to mention the Weddings and the Baby's and just the quick shots we'd take around the house.

I'll admit my eye wandered during our partnership. It was when my trusty-rusty Olympus started to show her age by taking an eternity to start up or even allow me another frame while I'd try to capture a shot of my niece who moves at warp speed, I would curse her (the camera, not my niece.) More than once I would whisper under my breath or sometimes shout to my husband, "If ONLY I had a Canon EOS!" The fact is I wasn't worthy of the quality pictures my sweet Olympus produced for me. She quite simply, made me a far better photographer than I could've ever hoped to be. *sniff*

Last night I made the decision to replace my dear old Olympus and today I'm the proud, yet reluctant owner of a sharp little 'Canon Power Shot S3 IS'... Ask me how many pictures I've taken with it.... NONE! I spent the better part of the morning just figuring out how to attach the neck strap. In my defense, the instructions were rather vague... Probably because the people at Canon figured if the mook who bought the thing couldn't put the freakin' neck strap on, then how in the hell did they even THINK they could manipulate this camera? I've looked through the many booklets that accompany my little 'Power Shot' but I'm tired and it's much like reading Greek. I know what I really need to do is JUST start shooting pictures, JUST DO IT! But I'm daunted... I knew my old Olympus so well... This thing, it just has SO many buttons... So many different screens, modes, settings, etc.

I'm waiting for my son to come home from school. He has this innate sense with electronic equipment... He just seems to somehow KNOW how it all works (WITHOUT having to read a freaking manual.) I figure if he's around he'll be able to walk me through the process... Introduce me to my new little friend, so to speak. I think I'll get used to this little guy (why this camera is a 'Guy' I'm not quite sure) before too long... I just need to pick him up and start taking some pictures... Did I mention he has a 12X zoom?! :-)

Practice, Practice, Practice....

I took lessons when I was 8 yrs. old for about a year. I can't tell you how much I despised practicing... I remember too well sitting at the piano for the required hour of practice, playing the songs from my last recital over and over again and hearing my mom yell from the other room, "Stop playing what you already know and practice your lessons." I hated the lesson music. It was the same notes, again and again... I find repetition exceedingly boring. I wanted to make MUSIC! For anyone who's ever taken piano lessons... Bookwork is NOT music!

Today, I'm so thankful for that year of having to learn those basic notes through and through. I'm no Billy Joel... In fact I'm about as far away from a Billy Joel as Pauley Shore is to Sir Lawrence Olivier... However, I can play well enough that my husband, family and most importantly I, myself can enjoy the melodies I tap out.

My husband gave me a MASSIVE 'Fake Book' for Christmas with hundreds of pages of tunes... I've yet to make it through the entire book to try playing just the tunes I'm familiar with. I suppose one would call it practice, in a way... But it's not like when I was young... Now I feel like all I want to do is play. Instead I have all of the household duties nagging at me to STOP PRACTICING and get to work!... Funny how things can change like that.