In Wendy's World

I'm Baaaaacccckk

2009-04-11T18:13:00.002-04:00

I thought I would keep up this blog while I was in Costa Rica, but found it unrealistic to try. There was just not enough time. We did not have internet access at our house or even a telephone. When I went to the internet cafes, it was all I could handle just to keep up with emails and my Facebook activities. I had thought about typing into my laptop and taking to the internet cafe, but our electricity was not a direct hook-up. We received our electricity from a line hooked into our neighbor's line. I had to be careful with the amount of electricity used and also loss of power was too frequent for me to be comfortable using my laptop much. I did get a surge protector and power backup eventually. I had difficulty finding one as I didn't know where to look and couldn't speak enough Spanish to inquire where to find one for the first month or so I was there.

We came back earlier than planned. We had planned to return on June 10th, but John injured himself (ripped muscles around the ribcage and nerve damage associated). We decided to return home where his health insurance would cover physical therapy and doctor visits.

My cats were well-cared-for while I was gone. They seemed not to care that I had left them for three months. And, it's great to have my desktop computer set up again and online once more.

Sharing

2008-12-10T21:43:00.002-05:00

Great source for photo-related info and gadgets:

Time Flies

2006-12-12T20:37:00.000-05:00

It's hard for me to believe it's been so long since my last post. Guess I'm getting lazier. I'm still taking pictures with my new camera, but I still have so much to learn. I don't get the results I'm looking for when I take the pictures. I tried to take some pictures last night of my son's new dog. I had a lot of difficulty because three grandchildren were too rambunctious and kept getting in the way or getting the attention of the dog so it kept turning its back to me. The ones I did get were not focused as clearly as I would have liked. Nevertheless, here are a few pics. The parakeets are my grandson's Christmas present. I don't know the birds' names, but the dog is named "Clifford" (named by my 3 and a half year old granddaughter). The dog belongs to my son, so I'm not sure it will remain named "Clifford."

Earlier today I wanted to print some photos on my inkjet printer, but I got a message that the paper wasn't loaded properly. Upon investigating I discovered the reason the paper didn't load correctly...there was a dead mouse in the paper load area. Guess my cat, Mrs. Whiggins, must've tossed it in there when she was playing with it. (See photo.)

I took a lot of pictures of windmills and other scenic areas over the weekend also. Sunday was a beautiful day in the high country around Niles.

Whew, It's Over!

2006-12-29T15:07:00.000-05:00

I guess you can tell I'm glad Christmas is over. I'm kind of a bah humbug person. I do not decorate or put up a tree. Christmas is way too commercialized and really turns me off for the season. I bought presents for my grandchildren and my son and daughter-in-law, and I went to their place for Christmas morning. As soon as gifts were opened and they had to leave to go to my daughter-in-law's mother's house, I went home (I was home before 10:00 a.m.) and took a long nap and just vegged out until 6:00 p.m. I then left to go to John's house for the night.

I guess I pretty much veg most of the time since I am not working. I need to get more active and find another part-time job. I haven't found homes for my cats yet, so I haven't made the move to John's full-time. I guess I'm spoiled. I have no objection to service jobs except that I'm afraid they will want me to work weekends. I could go back to work for Subway, but that would require me to drive too far and over the back roads to get to Dryden, and I just don't feel it's worth the hourly wage. I'd rather work from home with my computer, but I don't want to get into any kind of sales or marketing gigs, or sending voluminous unwanted emails to people. I want to do creative work with my computer. I got to do some fun creative work this week--fun work. I scanned several old family photos for a project my niece wants to do with her scrapbooking. I will share a few with you.

These pictures are of my deceased sister and deceased brother, as well as my two living brothers and another sister when they were children. The boys pictures were taken in 1966. My sister's picture was taken the year she died--I'm not sure what year, but somewhere around 1949. She was 5 years old when she died. According to my mother, she died from spinal meningitis, and I also had it. The doctors told my mother I survived it because I was a baby and babies have stronger immune systems than 5 year olds and I was better able to fight it off. Her name was Evelyn, and she was named after my grandmother--and it turns out my grandmother's real first name was Agnes and Evelyn was actually her middle name. Harvey is my deceased brother. He died a year ago on December 17th. My mother died on December 17th also, in 1995. The brother with the bolo tie is Elwin, named after my father's brother. The last boy pictured is my youngest brother. He lives in Kuwait now. And this last picture is my sister, Pat. She is two years older than me.

Guess I'll go get dressed now so I can head back to John's house. I'll try not to be so long in updating next time. No promises, however, even if New Year's is coming up!

Hooray, It's a New Year!

2007-01-02T21:24:00.000-05:00

I had another nice weekend with John. I always take my portable toolbox with me because there is a good chance I can use some of them at his house. I love that we can work on projects together. Of course, it is always a learning experience as well! This weekend we laid new linoleum in his second bathroom--operative word being "second". As beginners on a project like this, it took us a good part of three days to complete. John had previously removed the old floor tiles, so we didn't have to deal with that also. We had to fix the water shut-off valve to the toilet first of all because it leaked when we tried to shut off the water. That turned out to be the easiest fix--we replaced the gasket. We had several places to cut around to make the flooring fit. We didn't have a grease pencil, so we used a felt-tip pen on the reverse side (which meant we had to "reverse" everything) so that took a bit of studying, measuring, re-measuring, and re-cutting (because I figured it was better to have to cut out more later, rather than cutting too much). That process paid off. The floor ended up fitting pretty well. Before we could cut out for the toilet area, we had to remove the toilet. So after all that and glueing the linoleum down, we had to rebuild the toilet! It was so old, all the bolts and nuts were rusted and the gaskets were hardened and misshapen. The jury is still out on how well that turned out. When I left today, the water was not leaking from around the tank to toilet gasket, but the water would not shut off in the tank when it got full. John is going to get new guts for the tank now sometime this week. We're beginning to feel like "John" experts now. Who knew a toilet had all those gaskets or that I would ever be part of replacing the "wax seal"? One of our next projects will probably be removing the rust and repainting the heat venting in the bathroom.

On my way home today, I stopped and took another picture of a tree that fascinates me. I've taken pictures of it before, but the sun wasn't shining and they didn't turn out that great. The sun cooperated today. I love the way the shadows show on some of the branches and I also love the way the branches seem to reach out like welcoming arms.

I also got a great shot of the moon this afternoon. I manipulated the shadow lighting so that the texture shows through a little better.

That's all for now, folks....

Sharing Christmas Morning

2007-01-05T05:13:00.000-05:00

Just thought I'd share a couple of pictures from Christmas morning. This is my granddaughter, Jaden, and my son's dog that Jaden named Clifford. (So far, my son has not been able to rename him.)

Reminiscing with Old Photos

2007-01-09T16:18:00.000-05:00

Hi, everyone. I've been having fun scanning old photos--makes you think back to life during the era the photo was taken. I'm not old enough to have been alive at the time all the photos were taken though, LOL. Photos of my ancestors are kind of fun to see. The first picture is of my mother's fraternal grandparents. You can see I didn't take the time to remove the crack in the photo.

The second picture is my oldest (half-) brother. He died in a car accident when he was 27. His son was six months old at the time and my son was a newborn. My son will be 37 this year! The second picture (obviously not really an "old photo") is of my grandson during one of his hare scramble races last year or maybe the year before. He's been racing since he was 5 years old. He will be 11 this summer.

The next photo is, to me, the most perfect Santa picture. Look at those rosy cheeks! How could anyone doubt that this guy is the REAL Santa. He is being hugged by one of my great nephews (David) when he was a little guy.

This photo is my mother, father, oldest brother and oldest sister. It makes me feel ancient that they are all deceased now.

I love this computer age (at least most of the time).

Always Learning Something New

2007-01-25T19:14:00.000-05:00

I'm still busy with my camera, but also with my scanner and old photos and enhancing photos. This is a picture I took a few months ago. I was just trying to capture the glimmer of the water in the little creek in the woods--so imagine my surprise and happiness to see what I had captured in those woods. The woods are on the edge of property owned by friends Heather and Jack in Niles, NY. John's shadow played a part in the ability to capture this view. I see many faces in this photo, but the two that really jump out at me are the "panther face" and the man's partial face tucked into the left side of the panther. "I see faces..." hmm, where have I heard that before? LOL

See if you see more faces (monsters have faces too)--and the head of a bird--in the same picture turned upside down.

Working on my photos helps me forget for awhile the cold that is on the other side of the walls of my house. My fingers get a bit cold even inside though because I keep the thermostat set to 62 degrees F. Even though this has been a very unusual and mild winter, I am thoroughly looking forward to the warm sunshine of spring.

Photo Manipulation

2007-01-30T08:11:00.000-05:00

I've been playing again with photo manipulation. Check out this pic of my grandson, Matthew, and his sister Jaden.

OK. I think I'll go take a nap now. I have been up all night just playing with photos in PhotoShop.

G'night, er g'day, all.

Cold and Blustery Photo Day

2007-02-03T19:10:00.000-05:00

Today was beautiful from the perspective of seeing--not so beautiful for taking pictures without gloves on! But I did get some good shots. I used the polarizing lens and I think it gives the pics too much of a brownish tinge. However, it is a learning experience. What do you think?

Finding the Beauty

2007-02-08T18:28:00.000-05:00

Since I can't go to Costa Rica for awhile, I have to find some beauty in this ccccccold area of Upstate New York. I looked out my window a little while ago and could see the beginnings of the sunset and decided to brave the cold to go outside and capture it with my camera. It wasn't nearly as cold as it was on Sunday, luckily. I can't wait to complain of the heat!

More of Finding the Beauty

2007-02-17T21:05:00.000-05:00

After shoveling as much snow as I have this past week, I very much enjoyed the beauty along the lake on my way to John's house. He spent Friday night at my house, so when he was on his way back to Auburn so he could take his son to work, he noticed the awesome number of waterfowl along Route 38 near Auburn. He called me to let me know so I could drive that route as well in getting to his house for the rest of the weekend. Luckily they were still there when I came through. Awesome. There were Canada geese, Trumpeter and Royal White Mute swans and ducks also. Not a really good place to park, however, to get pics, but I managed to get a few shots anyway.

No Energy

2007-04-11T22:52:00.000-04:00

Hello again. Wow, it's hard to believe it has been slightly over a month since I last posted. I just don't seem to have the energy lately I used to have. I know I don't get enough sleep because of the sleep apnea. Most people around me don't seem to understand that just because I may "sleep" eight hours (or more), it doesn't mean I am actually resting that whole time. Even with the machine, I don't stay asleep like normal people do. Anyway, as long as I am here...here are a few pics I've taken lately. These were taken while I was at a friend's house. All have been modified slightly on the computer.

Where Is Spring?

2007-04-18T22:20:00.000-04:00

I got snowed in at John's house in Auburn Monday. I didn't mind staying in Auburn, but I sure hate this snow and cold. I had to shovel my driveway out when I got home last night. I only shoveled enough to break through what the State Department of Transportation plowed into the end of the driveway and in just a few feet more. Then I just floored it and let the car go as far as it would into the snow. I figured it was going to be melting in a day or two anyway. Am looking forward to flying to Costa Rica a week from this Saturday (28th). At least it will be warm and sunny there! In the meantime, here are a couple/few pics I've taken recently.

Beautiful Weekend before Costa Rica trip

2007-04-25T03:03:00.000-04:00

This past weekend and the days since have been a boon to my mental health! I fare a lot better when it is warm and sunny! This coming Saturday John and I will be heading to warm and sunny Costa Rica. I will try to update the blog while there, but don't know how successful I'll be.

Here are a few photos out of a whole bunch I took this past Sunday (April 22, 2007). See if you can see at least two faces in the "mantree" picture. Hope you enjoy it and the rest of them. I also recorded the spring peepers that we were surprised to find whooping it up in the late afternoon instead of early evening (it's not much to look at, but the sound is impressive).

I liked this picture because it looks surreal.

I loved this view of the countryside with Skaneateles Lake in the background:

Being a fellow motorcycle rider, I had to capture this biker out enjoying the great riding weather after being stuck on four wheels through the winter season:

I believe these next photos are of a downy woodpecker:

Ooops, best laid plans...

2007-05-10T13:29:00.000-04:00

We ended up postponing our trip to Costa Rica. We have until near the end of February 2008 to use our airline tickets. Not sure when we will actually be able to go. John felt (and I agree) he shouldn't leave the country without taking his youngest son with us--teenagers will be teenagers, LOL.

Since we didn't go to Costa Rica, we spent some time in the country again taking pictures. The chipmunk was eagerly chowing down on bird feeder spillover:

This tree photo is the opposite side of the "tree of men" in my previous post. We were so drawn to that tree that we went back for another look and discovered the "devilish face" on the other side of that tree. (See the possibility of horns rising from the forehead?)

My Second Post of the Day

2007-05-10T21:23:00.000-04:00

I had a strange experience this afternoon. I often have to catch little critters that my cats bring inside to play with and then get bored with. Today, the field mouse that kept showing up in my living room was eating my hanging plant (philodendron). My female cat, Mrs. Whiggins, would get real close to it and just reach out and touch it with her paw and the mouse did not run away! However, when I got close to it, it would amble away (and Mrs. Whiggins didn't even chase after it!). NOTE: when you have an in/out door for your cat, you have to decide whether you'd rather have an indoor litter box or put up with the critters! Anyway, here is Mrs. Whiggins looking like she has spring fever...not!

I had finally cornered the mouse into a small cardboard box and put it outside where the mouse finally emerged and that is what Mrs. Whiggins is looking at. I'm surprised she didn't go out the kitty door and come around front and bring the mouse back in!

The mouse is still on the porch; however, it is no longer living. Must've died of fright or else eating the philodendron was its downfall...

Weekend With WOWSkunk

2007-05-21T11:03:00.000-04:00

Where do I start?! What a great weekend. I arrived at my friend, Cindi's, around 4:30 P.M. Friday. We enjoyed dinner at Kodiak Jack's. The following night was party night. The first guests arrived on their motorcycle with pop-up camper attached. It was a friend of Cindi's, Mike, and his daughter, Megan. Other guests arrived periodically after that. Cindi's other friends (by that I mean other than me) at the party were a lot of fun. We had a lot of laughs--and a lot of warmth, wink, wink! Oops, lest you misunderstand--there was a GIGANTIC bonfire during the party. This first picture shows you the size of the pile (notice Cindi's grandson in the front).

The size of the actual burning pile gets lost in the dark background.

I always manage to see different images in a lot of pictures. This next photo looks to me like there are demons in the flames. (Besides Cindi's demons, ha ha. Oh, maybe these are Cindi's demons!)

This pictures looks like a (ever so appropriate) fire-breathing dragon:

This truck belongs to a friend of Cindi's son, Cory. Notice the car and motorcycle between the wheels, to give you some perspective on the size of the truck!

All in all, it was a fun weekend and I now feel I have a lot of new friends that I hope to see again and become better acquainted with. Here they are, bringing up the rear.
Thanks so much Cindi!

Wow, Video Upload!

2007-06-15T17:27:00.000-04:00

It has been a few weeks since I last posted. I decided I would make a quick post before heading to see my boyfriend for the weekend. What a nice surprise to find that we can now upload video! Thanks, Blogspot; I'll give it a try. (I couldn't find where that capability is accessed and don't have time now to research it. Maybe next time.)
Here are some of my recent photos. I just loved the columbine. It came from my sister's garden. I visited her the other evening and she sent me home with a bouquet of cut flowers (irises, peonies--pink, white, & red, and the columbine).

I managed to capture pics of two different dragonflies last weekend:

And here is what I am told is a "Viceroy butterfly":

This is a Canada goose I captured on my camera card recently. Wouldn't this make a great painting?

Meet Savannah! She is the latest addition to my "Chihuahua grandchildren" (my son and daughter-in-law have four of them!).

I'm sure I have others I could share with you, but I need to get "on the road again". 'Til next time, enjoy.

P.S., Lest you think my cats do nothing while I am gone away, look what I found when I returned home last Sunday night. It is a real bunny head--minus one ear.

Not Impressed with WYSIWYG Writer and Blogspot

2007-06-19T18:35:00.000-04:00

So much for WYSIWYG Writer!! Can't publish my photos after I get them placed within the text where I want them. So here I am back to my regular form of publishing, checking the page and moving things and re-publishing, and re-publishing.

I had another weekend of great photo ops in Auburn and surrounding areas. This must have been the weekend for painted turtles to mate or something. I saw one in Cascade park area and another on Townline Road in Sennett, NY. They were both in their respective roadways. After checking them out and taking pics, they were moved out of the road.

Isn't this a great little dragonfly?! Actually, there are two different ones.

This couple oared by us while we were walking the trail by the inlet/outlet (can't remember which it is) on Sunday afternoon. We took John's dad along with us on this trip. He seemed to enjoy getting out for a little while to someplace different.

We stopped for ice cream just outside Moravia. The ice cream was great and I enjoyed some sights while there, but the pesky flies I could have done without quite nicely!

This started out as a shot of the sunset when I came over the hill from Moravia toward Niles. I did a little photo manipulation and turned it into a fake lake with the sunset in the background.

See you in a few days. Gotta go get some stuff ready for a yard sale this weekend.

More of Recent Photos

2007-06-26T13:55:00.000-04:00

This is a picture of the sky from the back corner of my deck as a rain/hail storm was coming in on June 22, 2007. As my usual, I see a face in the cloud formation. I edited a copy of this picture to help point out the face I see.

Most of the rest of the sky was solid dark clouds, but I found this image in the sky with the sun casting light and shadow very intriguing.

This is another cloud formation from about the same time as the others. I think the white clouds are so pretty against the blue background.

Here is a photo from the week before that I think I forgot to post. This is the flower garden that my grandson, Matthew, became my personal gardener for. He says it's his garden now!

93rd Birthday Celebration Weekend

2007-07-10T21:23:00.000-04:00

This past weekend was a terrific weekend! We started out with a nice evening picnic at the sailboat launch in Emerson Park on Owasco Lake. John picked up take-out from Connie's (a Mexican restaurant in Auburn) for the two of us. I took some photos while we were there.

Owasco Lake - Auburn, NY

John's dad turned 93 on Wednesday, July 4th. On Saturday, we had a wonderful picnic celebration at John's sister's home (which is the home John and his brothers and sisters grew up in).

John's dad cutting birthday cake

John's dad and oldest son, Christopher

John played and sang

"Now I've got a few words to say."

On Sunday, we took a drive out route 318 and dug up some "butterfly weed" that we had seen growing there on our way out to Rochester the weekend before. We also dug up a "black-eyed Susan-looking plant". (I transplanted them all to my house yesterday.) When we got back from rt. 318 we stopped in briefly at Emerson Park again and I got some pics of young ducks. Then we went to Niles, heading toward our friends' Jack and Heather's house. We stopped and visited an old silo down a seasonal road on the way there. John would like to play his sax and guitar in the silo because of the fantastic sound qualities. He is going to try to get permission from the owner.

We call these young ducks "teens"

Old barn and silo in Niles

I thought the different shading of the bark on this tree looked interesting.

This was a storm coming in.

While we were at Jack and Heather's, we noticed all the moths "parked" on a shed door. They were quite interesting and didn't seem to care that we were observing them. I am finding that if I take time to observe them closely, they turn into "cute little critters" that Pixar could use as a base for movie characters.

Stewart Park Circle of Drums

2007-07-17T19:24:00.000-04:00

I didn't go to Auburn this past weekend. It was nice I didn't have to make the hour's drive. John came to my house instead for the weekend.

Gimme some food!
I SAID gimme some food!
Mama stood by keeping other adults away so her babies got fed

Here is an interesting link on confusing domestic geese (and hybrids): confusing domestic geese...

So anyway, on Saturday afternoon we went to Stewart Park (Cayuga Lake) and walked around a bit and enjoyed the scenery and all the Canada geese and seagulls begging for food. A fellow John had corresponded with online had said he and a group of others would be at the park around 5:00ish for a drum circle. We didn't know exactly where they would be, but didn't actually hear any drumming until around 5:30. So we wandered over where they were and actually joined right in and beat some time. It may seem weird to some people, but it was kind of fun, social, family-friendly and FREE (and free of alcohol).

We are both planning to head to Woodstock on Thursday to spend a couple of days there relaxing at a summer party/BBQ with old friends of John's. John will be taking his PA and guitar with him because his friends from that area that are coming to the party are all musicians. (John used to live and work in that area for about 20 years.)

Memories -- and Making Memories

2007-08-02T22:39:00.000-04:00

I have been lax in posting; but I don't need to tell you that! I've been busy going to birthday parties and my family reunion; babysitting the granddaughter (Kelly) of a friend of mine and also my great niece (Hayleigh). In fact, I had both of them this afternoon. It was their first meeting and it went well for the most part. (I hope I can look back someday and say that was the beginning of a lifelong friendship for them.) Kelly was like a little mother to Hayleigh (she's a month older than Hayleigh; they'll both be turning two years in two and three months, respectively), but Hayleigh is too independent and didn't always take that kindly to being mothered! They were fun, but I sure am glad its not a full-time gig!

Tonight I have been looking through my digital files and thought I'd share some with you. These are two of my granddoggies: Clifford and Chester.

This is a picture I created with a sunflower picture taken about six or seven years ago and one of my grandchildren that I took last summer at Stewart Park.

This was a couple years ago in my back yard (my lawn kind of turned into a meadow) then (as it is now--again). My granddaughter, Jaden.

I believe this was the cake from Elaine's "Maunnnnnument Party".

This was one of my late husband's (wow, it still feels weird to write of him using that term) sunflower plants.

These pictures were taken in October of 2001. My friends, Bonnie, Elaine, Cindi, and I had a lot of fun checking out the botanical gardens in Buffalo, NY.

Matt's Birthday

2007-08-04T14:21:00.000-04:00

Last Saturday was my grandson's 11th birthday. He's been racing in motorcycle hare scrambles since he was five years old. He has taken first place for the season in his class twice so far. I think he does really well, but he never thinks he's good unless he comes in first. Anyway, I have no idea why he wanted a pocket rocket for his birthday since it seems pretty tame to me to what he's used to. His riding spaces are very limited on the pocket rocket since it is only supposed to be ridden on asphalt and that does not include the public roads. Oh well, what do I know. I'm getting close to sixity years old, after all!
My grandchildren's cousins have a new dog named Otis. I guess since those children also call me grandma, Otis must be another "granddoggie" of mine!