Life’s a whirlwind right now.

A very quick post to say that I am sorry for not visiting everyone lately.  Life’s a whirlwind, stressful, and busy.  Whoops, I am not a “stressful” kind of person, I don’t subscribe to that theory. 

OK, it’s just been a really busy week, and it’s not done yet.

My elderly neighbor has just returned from a hospital stay, and we are all pitching in to help her out, there are some amazing people in this group. But it takes time, and effort, so I have been neglecting you for a very good reason.  And I have the coolest stories to share with you in a few days.

Here to keep you happy are some of the calendar shots from my Mom, and Dad’s Christmas gift from last year.  June, July, and August.  Yes, Christmas is coming, I need to organize all of my shots for Muddy Boot Dreams greeting cards.  Get them printed, and out to the stores soon.

Can I say, I absolutely dread working another “retail” Christmas, [that is separate from my card business], I really am dragging my heals on this one, but I know it’s coming.  Ah, the canned music, the business, the hours..sigh.

Right, who but me would be worrying about that so soon, but it’s true.  Maybe this will be my last, and our Muddy Boot Dreams will finally come true in the spring. Keep your fingers crossed, if it does, you will be one of the first to know.  I can’t wait!!!!

So when things calm down, I plan on getting out there, and finding some pine cones, and some snow, anyone know where to find snow this time of year?  LOL.

Since we never got any last year, it was hard to get seasonal shots, life is what you make it, and no show snow, well that’s life. 

Here’s to a great long weekend.

Jen

2nd Blogiversary

 

 

 

First let me thank each and every one of you who takes the time to read, and comment on my blog.  Wow!

So many of you feel like close friends, and I had thought to name each and everyone, but it would take forever. 

So please, consider yourself ___________ named here, thank you so very much.

It’s been two years since I started blogging, I remember that first post, I was hitting the publish button with more then a little trepidation. In some ways it feels like decades, not years, I have learned so much. Nothing like Blogger going berserk to make you figure out the problem.

To my blogger friends from all over the world, when you visit it’s like adding another stitch in this giant quilt we call blogging and it brings us closer every time.  It’s wrapping up the world, and making it a much more inviting place.

Thank you so much. I can’t wait to celebrate more blogiversaries with you.

 

Jen

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A lost and splashed day, but I got the shot

When Turf Toter and I were at VanDusen Gardens last week, it was hot. And that turned out to be a really good thing, because I got soaked.  And from the screams erupting from the maze nearby, I wasn’t the only one.

It all started when I fell in love...again, with a new plant.  Cupid’s Dart, or Catananche caerulea.  Oh my, and I did I fall hard. Where have you been all of my life? And why have I never encountered you before?

Imagine, a gorgeous hot day, the sun is shining, and as we came over a small rise, spread out before us was a long banking filled to the brim with Cupid’s Dart.  A small stream meandered beside the banking, making this photo op even more appealing to me.  I had to have some shots of it.

 

Only thing between photographers bliss, and me, a set of rotating sprinklers. No problem I thought, they aren’t on that high, I’ll just skip through them. I crossed the stream, and climbed the banking, barely got wet from the first sprinkler, and started to take some photos.

When the water started to fall on my shoes, I proceeded up the path, and that’s when it ambushed me.  Out of nowhere I got shot directly in the glasses.  Hair dripping, lens foggy, I tried to proceed the way I had started, but without being able to see where I was going.  Splat!  It got me in the side, my skirt was soaked.  And splosh!  There was another sprinkler, my camera was all wet. Nearly blinded, I walked right into another sprinkler.

Soaked head to toe, I rushed up the banking to safety, and looked over my camera.  It had survived, and I dried quickly. And, I got the shots I wanted.

As for the poor people in the middle of the maze when the sprinklers turned on,  they were soaked also. There was lots of good natured screaming that didn’t end until they found their way out.

Kind of a lost, and splashed day.

Jen

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Garden Memories

 

A long time ago, in my other life at the garden center, we used to exhibit every year at the VanDusen Garden show in Vancouver.  It was the biggest outdoor garden show in Western Canada.  Fun, hectic, and very competitive, it was a rush of four days, unlimited budgets, and perfect plants. Showcasing new, unusual, rare, or the just simply beautiful plants.

The first year we entered, we won the silver medal for best all over garden design.  The next year against some very well known competition my garden design won gold, best overall. Kind of cool for a girl from White Rock, who didn’t know what she wanted to do with her life at that time.

I still remember the competition demanding a recount, and getting it. We won by a overwhelming amount of votes. Sadly without a camera then, I have no photos to show you.

 

Nearly a decade later, along with my Sister [Turf Toter] I finally made a return visit to VanDusen Gardens last week.  I made sure to go to the spot on the great lawn, where we had assembled our display garden, and take some pictures of the bare grass, and the garden behind it, this would have to do as a keepsake of garden memories for myself.

 

When I  look at the spots where once so many spectacular displays were, I don’t see hydrangeas, and trees, I see pillars, and trellis, roses cascading down the walls, and fountains splashing.  Great garden memories for me. The way a small nursery from White Rock trucked in plants, and materials, and worked together to build a award winning garden display. The heat, the rain, the stress, the amazing sea of people everywhere.

Most people go to VanDusen for the stunning collection of plant material.  I went for the memories.

Jen

 

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More Blogger Blues

 

I don’t know if anyone else is suffering from the Blogger Blues, but if you are, my misery would love some company.  Blogger requires me to sign in with my entire password, and user name every time I leave a comment on one of your [Blogger] blogs.  This is becoming a very frustrating hassle for me.  And I am getting very short tempered with Blogger.

At first, I thought that some bloggers had changed their way of leaving comments, but that wasn’t the answer. After I am forced to type in my full user name, and password for the 6th time, I am so not inclined to leave a comment.  Because Blogger won’t accept it even if it is correct the first time. It’s finicky that way.

I have checked the help forums, and there are others who are experiencing this annoying difficulty also.  But apparently there are not enough of us complaining for them to do anything about it.

The quick answer from Blogger was, we were not allowing third party cookies, we all do.  It has not gone away. Clearing the cache is not the answer.  Anyone with a working solution would be gladly received.  Signing out of Gmail is not the answer for me either.  Nothing seems to work.

And on the subject of comments, may I be so bold as to ask..very humbly?

For those bloggers who moderate their comments before publishing, would you please consider not also having word verification?  Having to type out the word verification, along with my entire password, and user name is making me less inclined to leave comments. I am sure there are many readers out there that feel the same way, and yes we all hate spam.  But you would have caught any spam comments before you published them.

Sorry, but that’s the way I feel about it, maybe you have a different opinion.

So if you are suffering from the same Blogger Blues that I am, would you please let me know what you have done to fix this?  Or if you can’t seem to fix it, would you contact Blogger?  The more bloggers who bring this to their attention, the better.

If you don’t suffer from the Blogger Blues, consider yourself lucky, it’s bound to catch up to you someday.

We will now return to our regularly scheduled posts, all full of flowers and good will.

Jen

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Stalker Kitty

 

 

We have new neighbors, the nicest young couple, with two kitties, and a restraining order against Bootsie.

Well, I am almost sure that they don’t have one against him...yet.

But maybe they should, not that it would stop anything from happening.  The problem is they let their cats out, and they are not supposed to do that. While neither are we, our Bootsie comes with a long past history of running free. And we can always claim that he is only visiting from across the street. Like he has been doing for the past four years.

He is obsessed with their two cats, going so far as to wait in front of their gated patio all day. Like a military General, he is mustering forces, going undercover, stalking them. Back and forth from our deck to theirs, tracking. Eyes wide open, pupils dilated in the twilight, to catch any movement. 

The new cats cower in the corner of their patio, jostling for position closest to the door. Until one sacrifices itself and makes a desperate run for the garden. 

Bootsie follows, oblivious to our pleas.

Crouching down outside walls, reconnoitering under shrubs, mission impossible, catch the kitties. Pounce, and yowl.  Run, hide, scatter. Doors flying open, apologies all around, kitties being called home.

We are all living on edge, waiting for the next howl. and the only really good thing happening is he is losing weight from all the running back and forth.

Gar calls it his surveillance diet.  He never sleeps, and forgets to eat. I am sure that will change soon.

Agent Jen, signing off.

Mission not accomplished.

Be-Zazzled

 

Being a Canadian is wonderful, but at times it feels like being a little kid and watching your big sister try on makeup.  Or standing outside of a enormous, and spectacular candy shop but not being allowed to buy anything.

Reading about all the talented American bloggers who are celebrating as they opened online stores, offering things we Canadians could only dream about was hard also.  I would read about what they were doing, and say to myself, if only, if only.

When Brenda at Cozy Little House inquired about getting a enlargement made from one of my images this admittedly threw me into a tizzy.  How was I going to ship such a large size photo to her in Texas, would it get there, would it survive the trip, and did they even make shipping envelopes big enough for it?  Although I regularly ship cards, and smaller sized enlargements to the US, this was a perplexing situation at first.

Someone mentioned going through Zazzle, and Brenda, who should be commended for her patience was game. Thanks to her a whole new world has opened up for me. And after many false starts, I think it’s all worked out now.

 

I am announcing the opening of Muddy Boot Dreams new Zazzle online store. I am in the process of unpacking, and adding to my stock, but I hope that you will find something that is appealing to you there.  If you don’t see a item that you are wanting, drop me a note, and I will do what I can to make sure it is available. New products will be added frequently, so be sure to visit often.

You can find a banner on my sidebar, just click on the bottom of it where it says view more products from Muddy Boot Dreams.

For my US customers please use this site,

http://www.zazzle.com/MuddyBootDreams*

If you are a Canadian customer please use this site

zazzle.ca/MuddyBootDreams*.

The really cool thing for us Canadians, Zazzle covers the cost of local taxes and import fees on behalf of Zazzle.ca customers shipping items to Canada.  Click here for more information on that topic.

They ship fast, the quality is excellent, and it’s easy to order from the site. Zazzle offers a 100% guarantee on their products.

I love it, and I hope that you do also.

Now I no longer feel like the kid sister, I’m playing with the big girls now, and I am having so much fun.

 

Thanks for visiting,

Jen

If you would like to see a selection of what’s in my Zazzle photography shop, here is a banner below.

 

See more personalized gifts from Zazzle.

The roaring twenties, and the dirty thirties.

 

Apparently the complaint department at Mother Nature’s headquarters is working overtime.  All the disgruntled people who have been dissing the weather are finally getting their wishes granted. 

Sun in the roaring twenties, and the ever increasing dirty thirties. Celsius, that is, for you non metric heat lovers. I have no idea what that is in Fahrenheit, except..

Baby that’s hot!

And I hope that you enjoy it.  I know that since the A/C practically quit at work, it’s spewing out hot air, and I have to wear a poly – stinking – hot uniform I am not happy.  Not that it is ever cool enough there for me, aren’t hot flashes supposed to start when you hit menopause?

Yes, I am cranky!  And I deserve to be so.  My muddy boots are starting to get piles of dust underneath them. 

Giggle. 

I like the cooler, more temperate days, really I do.

So all you sun lovers, have your dog day afternoons, sipping on your minted ice teas, while I pour myself from aisle to aisle, giggle, I am having too much fun with this!

I’m meltiiiinnnngggg.

Enjoy the sunshine, we all know here in the wet coast that we only really get a few weeks of sun, and then it goes back to the regular “singing in the rain” story.

My day in the rain will come soon.

Note:  all of the above really is tongue firmly in cheek, not that I should have to explain myself anymore, because I am sure you know what I am like by now. 

Oh, and Bootsie, well he’s not a big fan of this weather either.

 

Jen

When bad things go bump in the night!

 

I am not a good sleeper at the best of times, and when Bootsie decides to escape outside and refuses to come back in like a errant teenager, I don’t really sleep at all.  He loves to sleep all day, ignores our pleading and prodding, and only wakes up when it is fully dusk.

I know that cats are nocturnal, but hope springs eternal.  And those nights that he deigns to sleep on the foot of our bed, are my best sleep.  No worrying about him being outside, no stress when I hear howling, and hissing noises outside of my window.

Life with a teenage...cat. At least he doesn’t ask for the car keys.

We don’t willing let him out, but he has a past history before coming to live with us, and that involves refusing to use a litter box, and coming and going as he pleases.  We are all in counseling, and one day they say he might even come to love us again.  Tough love isn’t easy.

Sometimes we are forced to lock down the patio door partially open so he can come back in when he feels like it, and I can actually get some sleep. A win-win for both sides.  I thought, until the other night.

As always, I lay awake until I hear him finish his carousing and decide to come home for the night.  Then I usually get up, give him heck for ignoring my calls and shut the door.  Hearing the sharp click of claws on the door frame, I got out of bed, and headed to the kitchen.

Crunching noises ensued,  he was finally in for the night.

In the dark, with my trusty flashlight, so as not to wake up Gar, and here might I say..I am SO GLAD I PUT MY GLASSES ON!  I went towards the kitchen and the cat food dish. But it wasn’t Bootsie eating there, it was a stinkin Raccoon. 

I screamed, it jumped, and started to come towards me, I shined the light right into it’s eyes, but it wouldn’t back off.  Bare feet, middle of the night, weak flashlight, and a dark room.  This is worse then a horror movie!  Run Jen! Run Jen!  But where? It’s going to get me no matter where I go.  We only have 800 square feet, Gar save yourself! 

Bootsie you are on your own.

Finally my yelling scared it enough and it sauntered out the open patio door.

Gar, by the way, slept through all of this, and Boots, well he turned up the next morning.

  The patio door?  It’s now firmly locked all night, and if Bootsie doesn’t return at dark, he is out there all night.  It’s every man, woman, and raccoon for themselves around here.

Jen

 

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Gathering his memories into a photo book

When I was a little kid, I used to look through my Mom and Dad’s photo albums all the time. Those thick black pages, and retro photo corners fascinated me.  I know that it was a lot of work to keep them up, and now with the pages falling apart, the photo corners coming off, many of the photos are just put into a old chocolate box.  Languishing in the past, dark corners misting the images.

My Dad keeps some special photos in a container beside “his” chair, and when we come to visit, he pulls them out.  He reminisces about the good old days, and turns the photo over trying to remember the year that it was taken, and just who was that person?   Faded names scratched in pencil, faded photos, these are the only copies of his memories that he has left.

I thought that I would spirit them away one day when he wasn’t looking.  Scan them onto a disk, take it home with me, and present him with a finished photo book.  Can’t you see his face, as he pulls out the book to show his friends?  From the old black and white photos complete with captions, names, and dates, and maybe progressing to family photos of all of us.

My local photo book printer Treasure Books is having a BOGO sale until July 31st.

You can find out about it here.  

They ship all over the world, and do a superb job of printing professional quality hardcover photo books. I plan on using them to print one for Dad. The free program is easy to download, and the possibilities are endless.

It’s something to consider, putting all of your treasured memories in a book, clearing out the hard drive of the computer, documenting your life, your garden, your family, and turning it into something more then a dusty pile of photos.

Just so we are all clear, I am basing my recommendation on my experience with a superb local supplier, and I am not affiliated with Treasure Books, nor do I receive payment from them to write about them.

Check them out for yourself, and see what they can do for you.

Jen

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