FEELING ALL ALONE?

There can be beauty even when you feel all alone!

LOVIN' IT!

Oh, I am so lovin' my new camera!!!!! One of the things I wanted to be able to do is take some pictures of our backyard "wildlife". Now I know our "wildlife" is no where as exciting as friends Lee or Susan's are, but hey, when you live in a suburban housing development ya takes what ya gets! Lee gets bears and Susan, well Susan has what we consider all sorts of exotic critters seein' as she lives "down under" in 'strallia. Here in Germantown we get squirrels, chipmunks, bunnies and the occasional skunk! Fortunately non of those this year so far.....

I've been waiting for some wildlife. It's been so hot here lately I think they've been hanging out in cooler areas, but today my patience was rewarded and I got to play with my telephoto feature on my camera. The first pic is what Mr. Squirrel looks like using the normal lens length. What you can't see him???? Look closely just to the left of the broken fence beam. See him....well I don't really know if it is a him or her, so I will just use the generic him.

Here he is......Isn't he cute? It looks like he has found himself something to eat. Not sure what it is????? It looks like he is not so sure that I might not come to get it, but I think I will wait for a much tastier breakfast of fried egg and English muffin with raspberry jam. This was taken from the same position on the porch just with zoom out to the full 12x. I don't have the digetal zoom engaged as I don't use it, but I wonder how close I could get with that???


I really went out this morning hoping to find one of our resident bunnies, but figured I was going to have to settle for Mr Squirrel. Oh well. I go in to put the camera away and then when I went out a few moments later to get the morning paper look who I found next to the same fence Mr Squirrel was standing on......? I guess Miss Bunny didn't want to miss out on here moment of internet fame....Now why I have labeled her a she I have no clue! Maybe just because I think bunnies are cuter than squirrels.........This picture was also taken from porch with zoom.

So that is it for my morning fun with the new camera. I now have close and far shots figured out. I wonder what I should learn next????? Stay tuned to find out.......

NEW CAMERA!

After 6 years it was time to get a new camera. The trusty ole' Pentax 3MP 3x optical zoom camera just wasn't cutting it anymore and it was getting rather flaky only working when it wanted to not when I necessarily wanted it to.

I had certain requirements that I wanted to find in a camera and debated lomg and hard as to whether I wanted to go all out and get a DSLR. Finally I came to my senses and decided that when I had a film SLR I raely changed lenses. Too lazy to do so I guess and it always seemed I had the wrong lens on for what I needed when I did change them so I missed some good shots. So I decided see if I could find a non DSLR that could do most of I wanted. And I did! The Fugi Finepix s1000fd. I have had it two days and already I love it.

So what were some of my requirements....1) it had to use AA batteries (uses 4 of them) 2) a long optical zoom (has 12x) 3) capable of macro photography (this camera not only has macro but super macro down to .8 inch) 4) preferably used SD memory cards 5) At least 8MP (has 10MP) and 6) settings for high ISO so can do low light shots (can go up to ISO3200 if reduce MP setting)

What I didn't care about was tiny....it fact I didn't want tiny...too easy to misplace. For the powerhouse if a camera that this one is it is amazingly small and light weight. Here is a picture I took of one of the blooms on our azalea bush in the back yard. It is using the macro mode. And I am very happy with how it works. I still have a lot to learn about it though. More as I learn in future posts. Oh the other nice thing about it was the price. I set a limit of $300 and this was on sale from local camera shop for $230. So I think I did good!

BABY IT'S HOT OUT THERE!!!

I've been trying to find a picture that would depict how hot it is today. I've looked everywhere and this is the best I can come up with for now. It doesn't truly show it since this is a desert picture which means little humidity and our humidity is 46% at the moment. This means that though it is only 92 degrees it actually feels like it is 97 degrees. Which I guess is probably a bit cooler than this picture were it was probably about 100 degrees. But when you get that hot what is another 3 degrees....

This picture was taken on a vacation in the fall of 2006. It was a wonderful vacation where we jeeped around south western Utah for a little over a week. I loved our little yellow jeep that took us to some very interesting and desolate spots. This is one of them in Canyonlands Park.

So look at this picture and feel the heat. If you want a true feeling of what it is really like outside here in Maryland at the moment. Go into your bathroom and turn on the shower with the water coming out as hot as you can get it. Leave the room for a bit making sure all the doors and windows are closed. Let the steam buildup and then pop back into the room and close the door behind you. Take a deep breath. If you feel like you are drowning in the steamy heat, you have it. It is supposed to be like this till Wednesday when it will get cold again....89 degrees for forecasted high.

GETTYSBURG BATTLEFIELD

On Tuesday I took a group of women from our church, The Golden Girls, up to Gettysburg National Park. We had a wonderful time and it was an inaugural trip for us and the church van.
If you live in the area or are planning a trip to the area you need to make time to explore this park and definitely do not miss the brand new information center. It is wonderful! Plan at least 90 minutes to tour the center. And if you want to spend some time looking through the huge book and gift shop even more time.

This is a picture of one of the over 600 cannon that are scattered around the battlefield, and according to the guide we heard many if not most of them still work!

It was a good thing that we started our trip with an early lunch in Thurmont, MD. After we spent about an hour at the visitor center (we didn't have 90 minutes to devote to it) we got back into the van and toured the battlefield for 3 hours! It was a fascinating tour which was directed by an audio CD giving history of the battle and actually doing some audio reenactments.

We almost forgot to take a picture of our little group,but we didn't and we found a nice place in front of the largest monument in the park. So here we all are. At this point it had been a rather long day and there still was a 45 minute drive home.

Now they are debating among themselves as to where and when our next outing will be.

GRADUATION!

It was graduation day for Nate, our youngest, last Saturday. It was a beautifully sunny day, though a tad windy!

We left home for our 2 hour drive northwest to Frostburg, home of Frostburg State University and Nate's home for the last 5 years. This is what greeted us when we arrived! Okay so it was still two and a half hours till graduation.

We relaxed a bit and then headed out to lunch at one of his favorite restaurants. El Canelo, it serves good Mexican food at prices that can not be beat! My chicken quesadilla served with Spanish rice and refried beans was $5. You don't find that in the Washington DC area. Then it was time to head back to his house grab his cap and gown and head to graduation.

There are no pictures in cap the wind took those mortar boards and they became kites without strings. BUT here is how he looked cleaned up and in his gown. Not bad huh?
HE was my man in black!

The graduation ceremony was appropriately solemn with cheers and laughter thrown in just to show how proud friends and family were of this group of grads.

After graduation it was a totally different matter. This was when it became apparent that though Nate graduated with a degree in Physics, his heart was with his roommate and friends who were theater majors! Yes this is a whole new use of diplomas and academic cords.

It was a great day and we ended it with dinner at the restaurant were it all began with a family dinner early in his freshman year; The Acropolis. A world tour of food through the high in the mountains of western Maryland. Mexican for lunch and Greek for dinner.

As I said at the beginning it was a beautifully sunny though windy day. A special treat since it had been raining all week. As we left for home the rain once again moved in and we drove through it the entire 2 hour drive back to Germantown.

MORE PINK!

The cherry blossoms are long gone, but we have more pink in our yard. The recent rain intermixed with moments of sun have brought our rhododendron bush into bloom. We forgot to prune it last summer so it is very big this year and full of beautiful blooms.

This bush is right outside our front door. The blooms are actually a cluster of many smaller flowers and each bloom measures about 6 to 8 inches across. This is what one looks like close up. Fortunately for allergy sufferers there is no scent at all with these flowers. I'm sure my husband appreciates that.

I also took a picture of the whole bush so it could be seen in all it's beauty. It's relly quite large and this summer we will need to be sure and prune it back or it will take over the whole front of our house.

I think I mentioned in one of my posts about the cherry blossoms that though they are pretty when they are fresh they get really nasty when they are old. If you look carefully at the lower left of the picture of the rhododendron bush you will see what looks like brown dirt on the side walk.....That is what is left of the cherry blossoms that didn't get swept up before the rain came. They are a pile of brown mush now......YUKKY!

Also though the rhododendron doesn't have any scent at the lower right you can see my lavender bush that also is overtaking the garden bed and when it looms it has a lovely scent.

QUOTE FOR TODAY!

"What you need to know about the past it is that no matter what has happened, it has all worked together to bring you to this very moment. And this is the moment you can choose to make everything new. Right now."
- Author Unknown

I have to give credit to Stampin' Mama (Erica) for this wonderful quote. She shared it on a very personal scrapbook layout on her BLOG and it spoke to me in a big way. The past is something I have been struggling with for some time now and I need to be free of it. I think this is true for many of us. We are so tied up in past mistakes or past pains that we are not free to live our present life as God means it to be lived. Rather than seeing the past as what has brought up to this very moment it becomes what is keeping us from this very moment.

I know that there are not many visitors to this BLOG and that is okay. But if you do visit here and read this and like me are struggling to be free of the past to live in the present my prayer for you is that God will help you make this happen. Also if you stop by here and have not ever visited Erica I encourage you to do so. You can just click here. She is one talented and amazing woman!

A BIT OF A RANT!

This is not a pretty picture post or even a wonderful quote. It is more of a registering of a trend that I find very disturbing. Call me old, call me old fashioned, call me out of touch with the culture today.....I don't care what you might call me, but this article in the Washington Post yesterday really bothers me in a BIG way. What are we teaching our children? What have we taught the young parents of today about the meaning of being parents themselves. From this article it would seem not much good.

The article appeared on the front page of the B section of the Monday, May5, edition of the Washington Post and it is about nightclubs that open their doors to parents and their children 7 years old and under for a time of "clubbing" together. It's called Baby Loves Disco. Now I don't have any problem with little kids dancing and having fun with there parents, but this seems mainly to be a program to allow parents a day or night out drinking and dancing in a nightclub atmosphere with their kids. This is how the article described it...."it was a 300-person play date that mixed Bud Light and ba-bas, sequined halter tops and Huggies. Once a month, the latest in I-don't-wanna-grow-up parenting hits the District at the edgy nightclub of the moment,"

It was some of the quotes from these parents that really set me off.

"..... took a long pull on his rum and Coke. He was glad that he could buy a drink. He was, after all, huffing on the dance floor, his 11-day-old son, Henry, strapped to his chest in a Baby Bjorn and his wild 2-year-old, A.J., wiggling across the room.

His wife, ....., was delighted to get back into a nightclub so soon after childbirth.

"When you become a parent, you suddenly stop being this person you've been all these years, and that part is hard," she said."

Well, yeah, when you choose to have children you do become a parent!!! I don't think you stop being who you are you become a different facet of who you are. You now have a new role. In my old fashioned opinion if you don't want to be a parent that DON'T BECOME ONE! And yes it is hard! But it is so rewarding as well. As a parent you have a responsibility to your children and I personally don't think that includes taking them clubbing at 11 days old!

If you would like to read this whole article you can see it here. It is not just a DC phenomenon. It is all around the country. I would be interested in knowing what you think. Am I the only old fashioned thinker that worries about what we are teaching our young ones about life and how is should be lived????? Just curious. If I am I will go find a rock and crawl under it.

PINK PETALS

A while back I posted pictures of our beautiful ornamental cherry tree and mentioned that when the blossoms came down they would need to be shoveled up! Well that is where we are now. here are a few photos from our front yard now that the blossoms are falling off the tree and there are many more to come down.

When the wind blows and they fall it really is as if there is a pink snow fall. BUT after they a have been on the ground for a while they begin to turn brown and that is not so pretty. What we need now is a really strong rain fall to wash them all away! Once they are all gone we know that is is now summer in Maryland!

EARLY MORNING MUSING!

I woke up way too early this morning, but decided to just go with the flow and get an early start on the day. My husband got an even earlier start and was already gone , but all was not totally quiet. There was the song of very early birds in the air as they greeted the new day with more enthusiasm and joy than I was feeling.

One of the ways I usually start out my day is reading my e-mail that has come in since I went to bed the night before. This always includes a morning devotional e-mail from the Upper Room. Some mornings what they say strike me more than others. Todays was one of those. I would like to share it with any who wander by here as well as journal it here for myself so I can return and find it when I need a reminder. Some thoughts are just too important to loose.

"WHEN WE ADMIT our weaknesses …, we discover one of the greatest secrets of the spiritual journey — that in our weakness lies our strength. This is one of the most powerful spiritual truths that we will ever discover. Rather than rejecting us because of our weaknesses, it opens the door for God to come alongside us and help us overcome what had previously defeated us. God’s strength can lead us beyond our weakness and enable us to grow spiritually strong."

- Trevor Hudson
One Day at a Time: Discovering the Freedom of 12-Step Spirituality

From p. 10 of One Day at a Time by Trevor Hudson. Copyright © 2007 by the author. Published by Upper Room Books. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.

I think one of the hardest things for 21st century people to do is to admit they have any weakness. Everything in our culture tells us we must be strong. We must be able to handle whatever life may throw at us if we are to be worthy. "Chin up", "Buck up", "Just deal with it", "You can do it!".....these are things we hear and say many times over.

Sometimes it may seem like it is hard to find God working in our lives. Is this because we are too busy struggling to make sure we can handle things on our own. Working so hard to gain the approval of the world by showing how strong we are that we leave no room for God? Maybe the most courageous thing we can do is to admit we have no courage. Maybe rather than "You can do it!" we should be saying "Let go and Let God!"

Have wonderful day!

SIGNS OF SPRING!

Since this BLOG is titled "Life out My Window" I thought I would share a bit of what I actually see outside my bedroom window. Things have been changing over the past week.


A week ago this is what I saw when I opened my bedroom curtains in the morning. Our Ornamental Cherry tree was just beginning to show the hints of buds that would eventually burst into full bloom. A Few leaves were also beginning to poke out and show some, but not much green. As you can see out neighbors home a crossed the street is very visible.


Now a week later after some very sunny warm days and some very spring like April showers this is what I was greeted with this morning when I opened the curtains. A profusion of pink cherry blossoms. They are so pretty when they are fresh and new. Now our neighbors home is barely visible through the thick layer of pink petals.


So this truly is what life out my window currently looks like. It is very beautiful. BUT it is even more beautiful when I venture outside my home and get the full view of this wonderful cherry tree. Here it is..........what do you think?

The sad thing is that in another week or so these gorgeous pink petals will begin to fall to the ground. It will be like it is snowing pink flakes. That in and of itself is pretty. But soon after they land on the ground they turn an ugly brown and are layers so thick I consider taking out the snow shovel to get them all up.

The happy part of this though is that after they all fall the tree will then be a lovely shade of green and summer will be soon upon us!

DREAMS AND LIFE

When I was in Lancaster, PA for the Quilter's Heritage show I went to a Tea Room for an early dinner. Painter on one of their walls was this wonderful quote...

"It will cost nothing to dream and everything not to."

I don't know who first said or wrote this quote, but I have thought a lot about it since I first read it. This is a very true statement. We can dream all we wish at no cost. It is out of dreams that so many, if not all, great inventions and advancements have sprung. It is a dream that gives us the desire to to become something to achieve something. Without dreams the world and our lives would become a very staid and bleak place.

Yet all to often we are (I am) afraid to dream. Why is that? Are we so afraid to fail that we fail to dream of what could be? Or have we become such an immediate response and result culture that to dream of what is possible in the future is becoming a forgotten or discarded skill? Have we become so beaten down by realities that we forget to dream of possibilities?

I use we here, but really should be saying I. As a child and a youth, and I think even as a young adult I used to be a great dreamer. Day dreaming out the window during class was one of the things that often got me in trouble in school. But now as an older adult I find it very difficult to dream...how sad....! I get too caught up in perceived reality, in perceived road blocks, in concerns over what another person would think of me if I shared with then a crazy dream I might harbor....how sad!

"It will cost nothing to dream and everything not to."

I need to redevelop this lost skill. I need to remind my self of this short quote. Dreaming costs nothing, but if I don't dream than I can not become what I am meant to be. Not dreaming will cost me the wonderful life that was meant for me and put me in the sad position of just being a place holder in this world. I think ceasing to dream is in some real sense is ceasing to live......

What are your dreams?????

CARDS FOR OUR HEROES!

Last Saturday was Women's Health Day at our church. We put on this program for women of the community, though mainly church members attend, and this year the topic for discussion was Bone Health. Lots of wonderful information on developing AND maintaining strong bones. We even had a team from the local hospital do DEXA scans as a screen for osteoporosis. I was a bit nervous about doing this as I have so many markers for developing this disease, but my T score was well into the normal range. Whew....one less thing to worry about health wise right now.

As part of the program we serve breakfast and lunch. I was in charge of purchasing the food for these meals and having it all ready for the men who come in to set it out, serve it and clean up.

We also do a craft/service project. I was also in charge of this and so we made Mother's Day cards I sent off to Cards For Heroes today. Since most of the women have very little crafting let alone card making experience I made up 4 sample cards and put together kits for each sample. I did all the cutting and stamping and they did the assembly. It was fun to see that after they made one a few of the women got brave and made some minor yet creative changes. We did 45 cards in about a 60 minute time block. Here is a pictuure of the final results of our work.

Every one that worked on the project, probably about 15 women, seemed to really enjoy it. A couple of them made four or more cards.

If you would like more information on several of the individual designs hop over and visit my Stampin' and Kwiltin' Blog tomorrow. Tonight I am now headed to bed. It's been a long busy day. Good night!

BIRTHDAY FLOWERS

I don't get flowers very often so I'm making this picture big so I can come back here and enjoy them often!!!! They are from the Golden Girls (affectionately called the GG's). This is a group of Senior Women who meet for fellowship and lunch at our church once a month. I cook for them and put on the lunch. Their normal meeting day would have been the day right after Easter which is a day many are still busy with family around here so they changed the date to the next Monday which was March 31; my birthday! That didn't bother me. These are a fun group of women and I really enjoy putting on the lunch for them. They surprised me with this bouquet of a dozen roses. They are so pretty and they brighten up our kitchen table especially on this another dreary rainy spring????? day. (The question marks are because it is barley rain rather than snow!)

PART TWO OF VISIT TO DC

Welcome back for part two of our Saturday adventures.

After leaving the rugby match Jerry and I walked down to the Tidal Basin. This is only one of many places around DC that you will find cherry trees, but it is probably the best know and most popular area. The picture here is of the Jefferson Memorial which is at one end of the basin. It to is a popular tourist stop. This picture was actually taken further on in our walk around the basin but I wanted to show it to you here as a picture representative of the beauty of the area.

There were many of these paddle boats out on the water and they added to the picturesque scenery.

There was a concert going on at the foot of the monument. It looked as if in might have been a high school band. We did stop and listen to them for a moment. They were pretty good. Then we climbed the steps and went in to visit Tom.
He's quite an imposing gentleman standing watch. I always find it humbling to read his words that are etched into stone at various points around the interior of the memorial. They are words that make one stop and think for a moment about where we began as a country and where we are now.

In case anyone is wondering, even though the cherry blossoms are plentiful and very pretty, Jerry reported that they do not have any scent. This is probably a good thing. It could have been vary noisy and maybe even a tad dangerous if all those thousands of people had a massive allergy attack and all sneezed at once!

We continued our walk around the Tidal Basin. Just after leaving the area of the Memorial we came upon a Bride and Groom having their wedding pictures taken in a very small park area and in front of the hanging cherry blossoms. It was a very setting for wedding pictures.

Our next stop was at the FDR Memorial. This was the first time either of us had been at this memorial. It is quite impressive. Unlike many of the memorials in DC this one has absolutely no steps and is totally handicap accessible. (On thing DC is known for is its steps! Be prepared to climb if you visit here!) Once again there were many inspiring quotations carved into the stone. There also are beautiful cascading waterfalls and a number of brass statues. Several are of FDR including one of him in his wheelchair, one of Eleanor his wife, then several which show images of people during the depression years. I've been wanting to visit here and was glad we were able to finally do so.

Our next stop was by the Washington Monument. Here we were able to watch, for only a moment as we were running out of time the multitude of kites that individuals and families were flying at the annual Smithsonian Kite Festival. Boy kites have sure changed since I was a kid. I don't think I saw a single kite that looked like the type I ever flew. There were dragon kites, butterfly kites, bee kites, fish kites, stealth bomber shaped kites and I even saw a kite that looked like a bi-plane. There were also all sizes of kites from very small hand made paper kites to one that looked the size of a small airplane. Everyone seemed to be having a wonderful time and the weather was perfect. Just the right amount of wind. Unfortunately I did notice a few kite eating trees!

We had one more stop we wanted to make before we headed to dinner. This was the National Gallery of Art. The East Building had an exhibit on the Photographs and Paintings of the Forest of Fontainebleau in France . We stayed there till the Gallery closed at 5pm and then headed to our dinner location.

Dinner was at Marrakesh, a Moroccan restaurant in DC. It was a wonderful end to a fantastic day. The food was great, but the restaurant itself was a treat. I wasn't sure where Jerry was leading my to as we headed down New York Avenue. I could see nothing that looked at all like one of Washington's top restaurants. We went up to some fairly nondescript but large double doors and he knocked on one of them and this little door in the middle of one of the bigger ones opened and they invited us in. (It reminded me of the types of doors you might have seen in movies placed during the prohibition era with a speak easy as one of the locations.) Now we were in a nondescript room that had a coat room off of it. We told them we had a reservation and our name and then...........they parted a curtain for us to enter the restaurant. I was as if we had just stepped into Morocco. It was beautiful and lavish. We sat on low couches and had a very small low table. There is no choice of menu items. It is a 7 course meal and as I said the food was beyond good. You do eat with your fingers though! Also at 7:30 we ere all entertained by a very talented belly dancer. We were seated pretty much right in front of the portable stage they set up. I think this was probably because when making the reservation they asked if we were celebrating something and Jerry told them it was my birthday. I also received a special drink (no idea what it was, but it was good) a piece of baklava with a sparkler stuck in it, and a birthday certificate which is in Arabic so at this point I have no idea what it says but it looks impressive!

So that was our day. After dinner was over we headed back to the Metro and took a train home with many others who were returning from their days adventures as well. Fortunately, I found a seat as about 20 minutes into the trip home I fell asleep.

There was one depressing thing about the day. This is for my SCS FLYBaby Buddies.....after walking all over downtown DC all day long (we did take a two bus trips to navigate the full length of the mall each direction) my pedometer showed I still had only walked 9876 steps!!!!!! No wonder in a normal day I have a hard time getting over 5000! How on earth unless you use a tread mill and walk for hours do you reach 10000 steps. I really would need the 48 hour day I have been yearning for!

TRIP TO DC

Yesterday Jerry and I took a trip into the District. It was one of those trips where we had many planned sites to see and discovered other unexpected ones along the way.

Since this year long photo project has morphed from the 365 project of daily photos into a photo journal for 2008 I would like to share some pictures from our days travels. I tried to pick out a few of the highlights and will share them in two posts. One made today and the other hopefully tomorrow or Tuesday.

Our first stop of the day after we arrived downtown via a very crowded Metro system was the Botanical Gardens which are at the Capitol end of the Mall.

This was my birthday trip so I got to choose the activities and the first was a stop to see a small quilt exhibit at the Botanical Gardens. The show was around quilts which had depictions of flowers and/or vegetation. I know several of the women who had quilts in the exhibit and so wanted to see them. This is one of the wonderful quilts that was there . It is a marvelous example of hand appliqué work done over the top of a beautifully pieced background. I love the way the quilt maker chose the fabrics she used and the effect of shading in the background.
I found my first surprise of the day here at the gardens. Not only was there the quilt exhibit, but they had a special exhibit of orchids. They had ones of every color and size imaginable. Some were very delicate while others looked very strong and sturdy. This was one of my favorite that I managed to get a good photograph of.

We spent additional time going through a few other of the many exhibits and then decided if we were going to see all we had come down to see we had better move on. So we headed back outside. (The Botanical gardens are primarily indoors in controlled environments.) It was now lunch time and so we found a seat on some steps by the reflecting pool in front of the Capitol building and ate a rather chilly lunch. This was the view from where we ate.

I think that all towns across the country must have emptied out and headed for Washington DC yesterday. I have never seen so many people in town. We thought it was crowded up by the Capitol, but it was empty up there compared to our next stop which was to see the Cherry Blossoms around the Tidal Basin and the Jefferson Memorial.

We took a bus to as close as we could get and then walked the remainder of the way. The Mall and Monument areas of Washington are known for their game fields. Almost any hour of any day you will come a crossed some sport being played and yesterday was no exception. Normally you expect to find football in the fall, baseball in the spring and soccer all year long. Yesterday we found along out walk what at first I thought was soccer, but discovered when I saw the ball was rugby. I've never seen rugby played before and so we stopped and watched for a while. What they say is true: it makes American football look like a game for wimps. Rugby is one rough game and the players wear no protective clothing. Here is a picture of the beginning of a pile up which the ball is under. They just keep pulling and clawing at each other until the referee determines no one will be able to get the ball out. It was also interesting that when they toss the ball out from the sidelines team members pick up one of the guys and lift him up over their shoulders so he can try and catch the ball. It was very interesting to see and another unexpected treat.

After this short stop we reinserted ourselves into the flow of humanity heading to the tidal basin and moved on closer to the cherry blossoms. But that is where I will pick up later as this post is already long enough. I hope you are enjoying this trip through Washington on a chilly spring day.

LOOKY!

God is so good! I didn't pray that he return my camera to me, but I did ask that he not let me stress out and fuss and fume all night over having lost it. That if I was to have my pictures of the trip that in the light of morning and not being so tired it would turn up and look!!!!! When I thoroughly unpacked the tote bag with fabric pieces and new sewing machine pedal I had purchased look what I found wrapped in the folds of nice soft padding fabric at the bottom of the bag next to the pedal. I am one happy photographer right now and ready to take off to snap pics of and enjoy cherry blossoms! (I had better get dressed first though!)


While I am gone here are a few photos of Lancaster County, PA for you to enjoy. These are pictures of things you see all over the county. Amish buggies mixed in with trucks and automobiles, beautiful farms and of course the ever present porches lined with wonderful quilts made by the Amish . Many Amish homes have signs out front indicated that they have quilts for sale and please stop in. This was one home in town that we stopped by to visit. The quilts are wonderful, but way out of my price range. At one time Amish quilts were very identifiable by there use of solid fabrics and use of grays, navy blues or blacks as a base color. You could even identify the part of the country the quilt came from based on the color palette used. Those are now highly valued quilts by collectors. In the 1990's the American buying public (ie tourists to Amish communities) began asking for quilts made with print fabrics and being astute business people the Amish women gave them what they wanted. Now very few new Amish quilts are made in the traditional fabrics which I find very sad as they were absolutely stunning and a wonderful showcase for the amazing quilting designs the Amish women use. These fine stitches tend to get lost in the patterned fabrics they now use. Don't get me wrong their quilts are still wonderful, they just aren't as differentiated from quilts of other amazing quilters like they used to be.

It is now time for me to get moving we have lots to see and do today!

SO TERRIBLY SAD!

I am back from my wonderful two day adventure in Lancaster, PA where I visited the Quilters Heritage Show. I saw many wonderful quilts and took many wonderful pictures that I had hope to share here. Unfortunately my camera has disappeared. So for now and until who knows when I am out of the picture taking business. This makes me very very unhappy, but there is nothing much I can do about it. I have no clue when I will be able to get another one so this will be a really time of learning how to be content with not having one. It will be specially hard tomorrow since we are planning on going down town to see the Cherry Blossoms and other sights and I so was looking forward to photographing them. Plus I am very sad I lost all my pictures of the quilt show.....

Easter

I love Easter flowers. We don't have a lot of them at our church on Easter morning. Not so many that people with allergies are miserable and sneeze through the service, but enough to make things look like it is Easter and also spring.

Here are two pictures of the flowers around our altar on Easter morning. We weren't sure there would be many blooms. Easter was so early this year that the florists had a hard time pushing the tulips and daffodils into flower. When we picked the plants up on Friday non of them had bloomed. The mums and Easter lilies were fine. We were surprised and pleased that on Sunday morning all the daffodils had opened and s few of the tulips had.

We used to have hyacinths also, but they were banned several years ago when half the congregation sniffed, sneezed and scratched their eyes all morning long. Not being allergic to flowers this banning made me very sad as I loved the wonderful smell the had. But I do understand the problem they caused others, especially my DH who is allergic!