Old Friends

Steve and I celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary last Sunday and serendipitously 

an unexpected gift arrived in the mail on Monday.

I had forgotten that a dear friend we met 45 years ago was making us a quilt.

I was cleaning up the "garden room" when the package arrived and I laid the quilt on the table photograph it.

I am in love with all the different "beachy" fabrics Carol chose for the quilt

and the backing is wonderful.

When passing through Ventura, Carol and Mike have stopped by a couple of times this past year

so she knows my color palette and did a great job on the colors of the quilt.

The quilt looks so pretty in the garden, but it will never be used outside where it might fade.

No, the quilt gets a prime spot on the sofa so I can see it

and smile every time I look at it.

I wasn't planning any changes in the living room this week,

but thanks to an old friend our living room is looking fresh for spring.

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Join me at Poofing the Pillows for Thoughts of Home Thursday

Deleting ... Editing ... Adding

As I age and parts of me no longer cooperate with my plans, I have come to realize that I need to add new things to my life, delete others and edit many of the things I already do.

I love to doodle, but holding a pen is painful so that's a deletion

as is embroidery for now - I started this piece in December and I don't know if I'll ever finish it.

The most difficult deletion is tennis (a very, very old pic of me on the left) - it doesn't look like I will be gripping a tennis racket for quite awhile

and, I will never play competitive tennis again.

But, editing how I do things I have always done (like riding my bicycle) keeps me active.

Nowadays we ride farther, but I can't grip my handlebars well for hills so the flat trails along the beach are pretty much my territory.

A year ago we switched from paddle kayaks to pedal kayaks

and that "editing" has made all the difference in the world - like a quick pedal out to the mile marker.

Walking was always just a couple of miles in the morning,

 but now we take 5 to 6 mile walks, along a variety of beaches, several times a week.

So if I can no longer say I am a tennis player or a crafter or a doodler, what can I add to my list of pastimes?

These days I actually think of myself as a photographer and I have fun "staging" photos

and playing with my camera.

On our walks and bicycle rides, I am always looking for something to photograph like wildflowers in the state park and

it's always fun to stop and watch the herons.

I no longer spend my time doing fine motor skills crafts so

with spring in full bloom in my neck of the woods,

I am moving furniture around the "garden room",

 planting flowers

and taking photographs.

The bud finally opened and all of you who told me I had a poppy were right.

Just as I delete, add and edit my blog posts,

I have done the same with my life

and after a lot of tweaking,

I think I finally have it right.

Wasting Time

I love this John Lennon quote because it reflects my life.

I love taking pictures and I love posting 1 picture daily on Instagram, 

but rarely is the picture I post the first (or second or third . . .) shot I take.

I was looking at my computer desktop this morning and it was filled with a ridiculous amount of photos all of the same thing.

The other day I wanted to take a photo of my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt to show Jann of Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson because she recently posted a pic of a similar quilt she found at an estate sale.

I literally took more that 50 shots (and edited most of them) just to get one pic to post on Instagram.

That led me to take my grapevine basket off the bench to get it's own photo, but I just wasn't satisfied with the photo.

 I added a few more flowers, but I thought the photo needed more color

so  I swapped the flowers in the basket, but I still wasn't sure about the photo.

I placed the basket on my sewing machine base table in the garden, 

tried it on a tree stump by my garden house

and then on the patio table.

My last attempt was to put the basket on one of the garden chairs

and this was the final edited shot I posted on Instagram.

After looking back at all the photos to write this post,  I am wondering if all those shots and all that editing was a waste of time because I really like this view that I took about 40 shots before that final picture.

If I listen to the words of John Lennon, all the photos I take

 and all the editing is not wasted time because I am enjoying myself.

Now my only problem is deciding how to waste my time tomorrow.

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Join me at 

Poofing the Pillows for Thoughts of Home Thursday