Something to think about...

I received this email a couple of days ago with a very special story.  I usually don't pass them on because I know that people don't like getting a lot of unnecessary email, but this story is definitely something to think about and a wonderful lesson to learn, no matter what age we are.

The Daffodil Principle
 By Jaroldeen Edwards
 

Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, "Mother, you must come to see the daffodils before they are over." I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead "I will come next Tuesday," I promised a little reluctantly on her third call.

Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and reluctantly I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn's house I was welcomed by the joyful sounds of happy children. I delightedly hugged and greeted my grandchildren.

"Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in these clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see badly enough to drive another inch!"

My daughter smiled calmly and said, "We drive in this all the time, Mother." "Well, you won't get me back on the road until it clears, and then I'm heading for home!" I assured her. "But first we're going to see the daffodils. It's just a few blocks," Carolyn said. "I'll drive. I'm used to this."

"Carolyn," I said sternly, "please turn around." "It's all right, Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience."

After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand lettered sign with an arrow that read, " Daffodil Garden ." We got out of the car, each took a child's hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, as we turned a corner, I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight.

 It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it over the mountain peak and its surrounding slopes. The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns, great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, creamy white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, and saffron and butter yellow. Each different-colored variety was planted in large groups so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue. There were five acres of flowers.

"Who did this?" I asked Carolyn. "Just one woman," Carolyn answered. "She lives on the property. That's her home." Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house, small and modestly sitting in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house.

On the patio, we saw a poster. "Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking", was the headline. The first answer was a simple one. "50,000 bulbs," it read. The second answer was, "One at a time, by one woman Two hands, two feet, and one brain." The third answer was, "Began in 1958"

For me, that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than fifty years before, had begun, one bulb at a time, to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountaintop. Planting one bulb at a time, year after year, this unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. One day at a time, she had created something of extraordinary magnificence, beauty, and inspiration. The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration.

That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time--often just one baby-step at time--and learning to love the doing, learning to use the accumulation of time. When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things. We can change the world ...

"It makes me sad in a way," I admitted to Carolyn. "What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five or forty years ago and had worked away at it 'one bulb at a time' through all those years? Just think what I might have been able to achieve!"

My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct way. "Start tomorrow," she said.

She was right. It's so pointless to think of the lost hours of yesterdays. The way to make learning a lesson of celebration instead of a cause for regret is to only ask, "How can I put this to use today?"
Use the Daffodil Principle. Stop waiting.....
Until your car or home is paid off
Until you get a new car or home
Until your kids leave the house
Until you go back to school
Until you finish school
Until you clean the house
Until you organize the garage
Until you clean off your desk
Until you lose 10 lbs.
Until you gain 10 lbs.
Until you get married
Until you get a divorce
Until you have kids
Until the kids go to school
Until you retire
Until summer
Until spring
Until winter
Until fall
Until you die...
There is no better time than right now to be happy.
Happiness is a journey, not a destination.
So work like you don't need money.
Love like you've never been hurt, and, Dance like no one's watching.

If you want to brighten someone's day, pass this on to someone special. I just did!

Wishing you a beautiful, daffodil day!

Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin.
No regrets!
Keep Inspiring!

Flip-Pal

      I want to share with you a great product that I found....it is the portable scanner. It can be used for business purposes or for your hobbies.  If one of your resolutions was to be more organized, than this is for you. You can scan documents, pictures, artwork, or anything you want to preserve. It can than be stored on your hard drive, a CD-R, flash drive, or an external hard drive.
       It's easy and fun with the Flip-Pal mobile scanner. Photos can stay safe in their albums and the included Easy Stitch software can assemble multiple overlapping scans into one large 'stitched' image with full detail.  

Welcome to Linea!

Linea is for photo storage and for sharing lines to anyone you invite to share with.  The best thing about Linea is sharing photos with friends! But in order for your friends to share or view your pictures they have to download Linea on their computer, IPad or their IPhone, once downloaded they can share and comment on the photos! It  works best across multiple platforms.  Such as the iPad, iPhone, Web, and a simple Desktop App running on Adobe Air. You would use it as you would any ordinary photo album and carry it with you wherever you go. Find precious moments to capture and share them in as much time it takes to snap the photo. It’s really as simple as finding the photos you love, upload, and share.  Try it today for free and start sharing with your friends and family!
Linear download

 Welcome to Linear!





Linea-Share Your Way.



Linea-Easily Organized.

Florida

This February I went on a much needed vacation to Naples, Florida.  Mostly I relaxed on the beach with my two sisters, we beach combed for shells,  walked the beach in a gorgeous sunset, went on a cruise on the Gulf and saw some very expensive so out of my budget homes, one of them was Larry Birds former home. I also for the first time had "hush puppies" which are like little balls of breaded onion rings.  And I went to the zoo and rode a camel for the first time, it was kind of a slow and bumpy ride.  I can't imagine riding one in the desert.  Oh and the temperature was in the lovely 80's!! I got to where my shorts, tank top and my flip flops ALL week! Boy am I ready for summer. But thanks Naples for the memories!!

 I am the one driving the camel.

 Meet Joshua the camel.

 My 2 sisters and nephew and his 2 children.

 Love the sunsets!!

 Beach combing for shells

 Pelican

 Larry Bird's former home

 A dolphin

 Hush Puppies

 Crab cake & garlic bread

 My bloody mary

 More pelicans

Making A Difference - One StoryBook at a Time

Tips on taking that great Photo

I notice more and more websites offering do it yourself photo art like in canvases.  Here are a few tips in helping you create that perfect photo:


 1. for the best quality artwork, use the highest resolution your camera can handle. To put it simply, the higher the resolution, the larger you can print the image. If your resolution is too low, you will see a warning when you upload.
 2. Black-and-white images add a lot of modern drama to the room. To really make the images pop, choose a canvas museum wrap, or a black frame and a white mat. The black frame creates a strong contrast while also complimenting the gray tones of your image.
3. Ever wonder what causes red eyes in photos? Basically, the light from a flash is being reflected from the back of the eyeball! The good news is that most modern cameras have a quick setting to reduce red eye.
4.  Think you only use a flash in the dark? Guess again. When photographing in bright sunlight, you can turn on the flash of your camera to reduce the harshness of the shadows.
5.  As you decide where to hang your photo artwork, keep in mind that the optimum viewing distance for a framed print (or canvas wrap) is about twice the diagonal of the frame.
6.  Want to capture your subject in mid-motion like the pros do? Simply use a higher shutter speed and a higher ISO setting to freeze the motion. A higher ISO setting is also ideal for dimmer conditions, like cloudy days or indoor shots.
Pretty simple huh? But the ideas are endless, so now instead of putting that photo in a boring photo album, now you can put blow up that photo into wall art, photo book, etc. 
Happy Photographing!

My new years resolution

 Meet my newest best friends.This is the 3rd day of  walking/jogging on it for 30 minutes. My goal is to use it every 4 to 5 days a week.  It's more for health reasons than to look good, I mean looking good is a plus, but I am doing this more for health reasons.  I also plug my nook in to the treadmill speakers and set it to sand interval, a setting for walking on the beach, it would give you the same workout as if you were walking/jogging on the beach.  There are 10 settings to choose from but that one is my favorite.  And there is even a place on the treadmill to put a water bottle.   Before January it has been an eye sore but over the last 5 months I noticed weight gain and my blood pressure going up. So now I am taking a different approach to life starting with this exercising thing and eating more of fruits & vegetables.  When I meet my goal weight I will post a picture of me.  So Pardon me while I go exercise.
Until next time!

In honor of Martin Luther King

"There is no easy way to create a world where men and women can live together, where each
has his own job and house and where all children receive as much education as their minds can
absorb. But if such a world is created in our lifetime... It will be accomplished by persons who have
the courage to put an end to suffering by willingly suffering themselves rather than inflict suffering
upon others. It will be done by rejecting the racism, materialism and violence that has characterized Western civilization and especially by working toward a world of brotherhood, cooperation and peace."

— Martin Luther King, Jr., Nonviolence: The Only Road to Freedom

My thought for the New Year!

I saw this table cloth in the November 2011 issue of Country Living Magazine and I just thought I would share.  Every Thanksgiving this family, as a tradition would sign their name with the date and their thanks to the tablecloth.  This is such a good idea to share and remember loved ones.

Christmas 2011

Here are some pictures of our christmas gathering in Maine.  It was a great seeing everyone!! Everyone out did themselves with the food.  I will definitely need to hit the treadmill after the holidays.  Darrell made an awesome prime rib for dinner, Judy cooked the turkey & stuffing, Debbie did the Vegetables, I made twiced baked potatoes,  and there were way too many desserts.  I also went out to dinner with my family for my 50th birtthday celebration and had a great time at Dimillo's,  a restaurant boat on the water.

Until next time...

Life Lessons Learned

This cute little baby turns 50 in a couple of weeks.
Yes,  I am more than half a century old. That could really be depressing!
But I am trying to look on the positive side of things. That whole older and wiser thing.
You would hope that after 50 years a person would have learned a thing or two. Maybe just a little bit smarter, a little bit wiser.
So, in celebration of my birthday, I thought I would share with you some of the wisdom I have learned over the last 50 years.
So here they are, in no particular order....
Life is not fair. My children have heard me say this so many times they have threatened to have it put on my headstone. But itʼs true – life isnʼt fair. Life is what it is and you just need to embrace it and make the best of it.
You always have a choice. We may not always choose what happens to us in life but we can always choose how we react to things – that is always a choice!
Kill them with Kindness. Not only have I used this one with my children many times when they have come home with their feelings hurt or mad at a friend but I have employed it myself many times. It really does work.
Do it First, Do it Now. This line was one I liked to use in regards to homework. Just get it done. Donʼt put things off because when you wait until the last minute there is always something better or more fun that comes up that you canʼt do because you didnʼt get your work done first!!
The only person you can change is yourself. This is so true – You canʼt change people. You can only change yourself. Really, donʼt even try.
Just Ask! So many wonderful and amazing things have happened to me in my life just because I asked.
Keep Calm and Carry on.
Choose your Battles. If you are a parent you will understand this one. When I was a new parent, a very wise, “older” man gave me this advice. You canʼt make everything a battle, especially when it comes to teenagers. Choose wisely.
There is always something to be glad about! Count your blessings!
It doesnʼt get any easier, it just gets different. I always thought when my children were young that life would be so much easier when they were older. Guess what, I was wrong. Itʼs not easier, itʼs just different.
Do the right thing. Wouldnʼt the world be a much better place if everyone just did the right thing?
Sometimes it is easier to ask forgiveness than permission. So Iʼve lost count of how many times Iʼve had to ask forgiveness....
Itʼs all in the presentation. You can get just about anything you want if you just ask the right way.
Another personʼs behavior is never an excuse. “Itʼs his fault!” Heard that one a time or two? If we all just took responsibility for ourselves and quiet blaming everything and everyone else for our problems weʼd all be a lot better off.
Weʼre not talking about them, weʼre talking about you! I say this all the time when my kids bring up someone else that has done the same thing that they are getting in trouble for.

So there you have it – a little wisdom from this old lady.

Fall

These pictures were taken in Northern New Hampshire, there is still foliage but another week and that will be the end of the foliage season this year. We went to North Conway to do a vendor show then a little shopping.

   Early morning view from the hotel, with the fog rolling in, the mountains look like there floating.

                                                        Red Jacket Hotel

                                             Lake Winnipesaukee

Columbus Day

It was such a gorgeous Columbus Day that I went to the beach to hang out with my son and daughter and of course our dog Daisy.  Fall in New England is my favorite time of year, I only wish it was longer.   I did start my son's quilt for graduation, the piecing part of it is half way finished. I hope to complete that part soon.