A Look At My Other Blog

Hello, if you have stumbled onto this blog and are asking the question; "How come this hasn't been updated in such a long time?"  I have an answer for you. 

I started this blog a few years ago and I had lots of fun with it. I liked the layout, background, and all the fun gadgets I could put up! The theme was nice and cozy, and suited me just fine.

Unfortunately, after awhile I began to hear of another site called WordPress. I heard rumblings about how well it worked and how easy it was to use. Well, after awhile I just had to take a look at the site and explore. After a look around the site, of course I just had to start a WordPress blog also!

So then I had two blogs, both pretty much the same format. For awhile I spent time double posting. Each site got the exact same post, but that became tiresome after awhile. WordPress, being the most recent, became my main blogging site and this one (Blogger) has been just sitting (mostly) quietly on the sideline.

So I was left with the dilemma of choosing one blog site over another. I've debated back and forth several times, first choosing one, then the other. It's been difficult!

Finally, I made a decision, for now. I am very used to WordPress and its format by now, and Blogger just doesn't seem the same as when I originally began it, so I decided to continue with WordPress. Notice I said "for now." I reserve the right to change my mind later down the line!

Just to be clear, it's not that I think one site is better than the other, I really like them both, I just needed to choose one, and I did.

So again, if you have stumbled upon this site, feel free to look around, enjoy the many posts and many pictures, then when you would like to read more updated information, please head over to my WordPress blog and read what's been going on more recently.

Thanks for stopping by, and taking the time to read my ramblings!

Wordless Wednesday

Decisions, Decisions

This post might be confusing to some, let me explain. While this blog has been sitting dormant I have been posting on a blog in WordPress.  You can read that blog here, where a duplicate of this post has been made.

Wow, it has been awhile since I have posted.  Christmas activities kept me busy, and did contribute to my lack of posting.  But I must confess, that isn't the only reason I haven't posted much.  After all, Christmas has been over for a few weeks, and I still haven't posted!

Mostly, I haven't posted because I've been trying to make a decision!  What is the decision I'm working on, you ask?  The simple answer is, "which blog format should I continue with?"  I know that doesn't sound like such a major decision, and it probably shouldn't be, but I can't decide which way I want to go.

Ever since I started my WordPress blog I have been missing the (easier) Blogger format.  I do like WordPress, and I hear great things about it, but I just have a harder time with it.  For one thing, I can't get the gadgets that are such a big part of my Blogger posts, and I like them and miss them.  I don't want to spend lots of time trying to learn how to do things within my blog, and that's what WordPress seems to require....it's probably easy for some, just not for me!

On the other hand, I hear about problems with Blogger, and I don't want to have to worry about that.  I do read many popular blogs that are with Blogger, though, so it does work for many.

So because I can't seem to make a decision, I just haven't done any posting!  Not a great idea!  So I decided to post anyway.  Even though I still haven't decided which blog to carry on with, (at this point, leaning towards Blogger) at least I'm posting something.  In fact, I'm posting two somethings since I've decided to put this on both blogs!

Well that's about all for now, I'll let you know what I've decided when I know.

In the meantime, here are a couple of pictures from recent times, just for some color!

Creamy shrimp parmesan pasta

Potato leek soup,  Mmmmm, good.

Wordless Wednesday

A Quick Update

I've been really busy for the last couple of weeks.  Grandkids have been visiting, we've traveled out of state to a wedding, I've been working on a few projects that need to get done. Lots of stuff going on.  With all of this busyness, I've been neglecting my blogging!

So, while I still have lots keeping me busy, I thought I'd take a few minutes and post a little something.

How about a couple of pictures of how our garden is coming along?

Our tomatoes are doing well.  Though I don't have any pictures, we also have zucchini, onions, carrots and melons growing well.  We've been enjoying lots of vegetable dishes.

This stuffed zucchini was really good, with lots of homegrown tomatoes, onions, and zucchini.

And this bag is one of the projects that I've been working on.  I've sewn a couple of them for two of the granddaughter's birthdays.  They are fun, fairly quick to make, and really turn out nice.

And here is the inside of the bag.

I'm thinking I'm going to have to make one for myself, they turn out so well!

I have a couple of other projects that I'm working on but they aren't finished yet.  I'll post them as I get them finished.  Meantime, that's my update for now!

Independence

Happy, and safe, 4th of July to everyone!

No Words?

Lots of bloggers post a wordless Wednesday.  So here's my contribution....  an (almost) wordless Wednesday post.

Into The City

We just recently returned from a visit with the kids, and grandkids, in Utah.  This time we took granddaughters Kayla and Marissa along.  We all had fun visiting but it was also good to get back home again.

While we were visiting we went on a couple of adventures.  One of the best was the day we took the new train (called the frontrunner) into Salt Lake City.  The train starts in Provo, and continues on up to Ogden.  It's great for commuters!

The four girls, Jason, Laura and I, caught the frontrunner in Lehi, and headed for Salt Lake City.  I caught a picture as it was pulling into the station.

The train gets moving fairly fast, at one point we were following the freeway and we were moving faster than the cars.... and they weren't going slow!  I thought we would arrive in SLC quickly, however, we stopped at every little town along the way!  We also had to stop for a short time to let the southbound train "connect on the tracks."

It ended up taking us probably 45 minutes to get into SLC, where we then had to connect to a local city train system to take us into the area we wanted to be, downtown SLC.  So it was probably at least an hour to get to where we were headed.  I admit, it would have been faster in the car, but it wouldn't have been as much fun!  And, nobody had to drive and fight the traffic!

There were plenty of people riding on the train and I saw many who were spending their time working on their computers, playing cards, reading, etc.  It was a very relaxing ride.

Here are a few pictures that I took while on the train.

Katie watching the countryside go by

Kayla and Tara look like they are in deep contemplation, don't they?

Here is one of Marissa and Tara while we were heading downtown on the city train.

They were enjoying it!  But watch out when you get on the city train!  They take off really fast and a couple of us didn't sit down in time (they don't give you much time to do that!) and went flying forward!  Poor Katie got smashed by her dad as he was trying to sit down across from her!

Well enough for tonight. I have more pictures of our train travels, and I'll get some of them posted next time.

Picture Editing Tool

I just read about a free photo editing sight called pixlr.  I don't know a lot about it yet but I've been playing around with it tonight.  It's fun, easy, and I think I'm going to enjoy working with it.  I don't know if it is much like Photoshop, which I've never used, but this one looks very simple and that works for me!

One feature that I really like is labeling my pictures.  I want my pictures to be labeled so they won't be easily used by anyone else who happens to find them out in cyberspace.  I've been trying to find a way to do that, and pixlr allows me to do so.  It also has lots of other features that I haven't even begun to look into!  I'll be spending some time playing around with my pictures for sure!

In the meantime, here is an example to check out.  First is the original picture of the falling down house that I posted not too long ago.  Remember this?

And here is that same picture after I played around with it, and added the label.

I like the change.  It's sharper, crisper.

That's all for tonight.  I do have lots of pictures to post from my recent Utah visit, but they will have to wait for another night.  They'll be soon though!

Mr Yi's Flowers

Last Wednesday when I went to my volunteer receptionist job at the church I was looking at the flowers that were planted in the boxes by the front entrance.  They were all blooming so nice and looking so pretty, I just had to take a couple pictures of them.  There's also a large rose garden in the side yard which I should have taken a picture of, but didn't.  I'll have to get that picture another time!

While I was taking the pictures I got to thinking about who planted them, and the roses, and spends many hours taking care of them.

The gardener who is responsible for all of the flowers is the church custodian, Mr. Yi.  Now it may not seem like such a big thing that Mr. Yi takes care of all the gardening, or keeps the property and buildings all cleaned up and working.  You might not be surprised to hear that Mr. Yi also sets up the rooms when they are needed for meetings, services, weddings, or anything else that may be happening during the course of the week.  You probably figured that's what a custodian's job is, right?  Well that is true, and Mr. Yi comes in to work every day and does all of these jobs, rain or shine.

As his name implies, Mr. Yi is Korean.  He does speak english but sometimes it's very hard to communicate with him.  No matter what the conversation though, he always calls you "ma'am" or "sir."

I'll bet you're wondering where all of this is going!  Just a little extra information about Mr. Yi the custodian / gardener.  He just happens to be 92!

I don't think the word retirement is in his vocabulary!

Thank You!

A salute to all of those who have served, and are serving, for our freedom!

Picture Perfect

While up in Bishop we were driving back from one of the lakes and I just had to pull over to get these pictures.  This is from the highway, the front of the house.  At least I think it was a house!

After taking the first picture I drove down a road that went along the back of the house and took these pictures that were much closer.  This is the back/side.

 This is the back/side from the other angle.

I've driven past this house probably a dozen times in years past when I've been up in the Bishop area.  Every time, I mention that I should stop and take a picture, then keep right on driving!  This time I just couldn't resist.

I love those old, falling down buildings!

A Visit In Bishop

We just returned from a few days vacation in Bishop.  It was a fairly short, but nice trip. We headed out on Thursday morning and returned home Saturday afternoon.

We didn't do any camping, just stayed in a small, family-run motel.  It was a nice place, nothing fancy, small rooms, but the managers were very friendly and provided everything needed.  They even had a picnic area out front with tables and chairs, and provided charcoal and propane barbeques for their guests to use.  I spent a lot of time out there just enjoying the nice weather we had.  Here's a view of the picnic area.

Look what I happened to notice peeking out from a hiding spot in the tree!  No, it's not real!

We drove to several different areas while we were gone and I took lots of pictures.  I used my actual camera instead of my phone so most of the pictures turned out really well.

Some really pretty areas!  And did I mention the weather was nice?  Until it snowed on us the last day we were there!  Well not too much, just some scattered flurries!