Little Scraps of Magic

Childhood Games

I spotted this a few weekends ago in Ellicott City, and it made me grin. Creativity and recycling packaged together...who could ask for more?

Aimee asked us to think about childhood games. Ahem, Aimee, a 60 year old brain has to think wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy  back for this one. In fact, this 60 year old brain partnered up with google to jump start some memories. After quite a bit of rooting about in these brain cells, I came up with:

Old Maid: We played this for hours and I can picture Denise, mom, and I sitting on the floor in a circle playing this one. No one wanted to end up with that Old Maid! I can still see her with a black hat perched on white hair, a pair of black glasses, white belt, and blue jacket. Now, please tell me why it is that I can see her so clearly when I had to google games from the 50s and 60s? So not politically correct today, but much fun, none the less!

Chinese Checkers: I loved this game with all of its multicolored little marbles. It seemed quite exotic to me, and I know that I thought it really was Chinese. So foreign and exciting. I felt quite the woman of the world. Truth be told, I just loved the colors and the noise they made rolling around in the game tin.

Rummy/Gin: 4 kids + a job as a milkman = not much disposable income. In hindsight, I think we might well have been classified as "poor" or nearly so. We never felt it, though. Cards didn't cost much and they proved quite versatile with all that you could do with them, including building a house of cards, a good old fashioned game of "War,"  and a bit later, learning to play solitare.

Scrabble: Honestly, I remember my parents playing this more than I did. Dad always won. Always. Here's what mom didn't know for a very long time. Dad had learned to glance away and then look back at the tiles. The grain on the dreaded x and q varied a bit from the other letters; dad could tell them apart, so he never ended up with them. With each loss, mom muttered some words that I generally didn't hear otherwise. Fast forward years later...Phil's brother, Mike, gave us this game for our first anniversary. It nearly led to divorce court and to this day, we refuse to play this game together. Let's just say we interpret the rules VERY differently.

Monopoly: Once we got past the arguing over who got what piece, we loved this game. Of course, we didn't play by the "official rules," but since we all agreed to the variations of those rules, it didn't much matter. For some reason, I loved the railroads. The lure of travel? Who knows, but I made it my mission to acquire them. Utilities ran a close second. Denise played smarter; she went after "Boardwalk." Guess who won more?

Googling this did reassure me that I didn't completely fail the memory game. Turns out that kids in the 50s made their own fun more than playing store bought games. Thanks, google...appreciate it!

 

 

Sunday Morning

Looking through my window savoring blue skies and the warmth of the sun on my face.

I am thinking about family connections and the threads that run through all of us.

I am thankful for so much, most of all a husband that loves me dearly.

From the kitchen, all is quiet. The chief cook and bottle washer is snoring gently in another room.

I am wearing a fuzzy soft blue robe.

I am capturing the magic of flowers on my table.

I am going to relax into this day.

I am reading flea market style magazines and delighting in the possiblitiles.

I am hoping to go exploring somewhere today.

I am hearing traffic mixed with birdsong and the creaking of our house as it settles.

Around the house, two fat cats dream of tender vittles in their bowl.

Sunday morning bliss.

Possiblities

Pom poms for art.

Beads for stringing.

Seems obvious, doesn't it?

Not to a four year old!

Toss the string.

Grab the pom poms and stuff them into the holes in the beads.

Create a really really cool graphic design.

Smile at the results! You've just made art.

Snowstorm Tease

The promise of a snowstorm...I don't know who prayed harder, the teachers or the students!

It didn't look promising yesterday afternoon - blue skies,white clouds. But by 11 the flakes drifted slowly down, and by midnight the school system declared: "Snow Day!"

By 6 AM, the snowflakes fell just a bit more furiously, and the weathermen declared that we might even get more! Maybe, just maybe, up to 10 inches!

Sounded like a second day off in the making.

Mother Nature felt differently, and the mix of snow/rain, which should have shifted toward the all snow line, shifted the other way, to the all rain line.

We may have 2 inches at most, and the weather gods have lifed the winter storm warning. The powers that be promise dry roads for tomorrow morning. Bleah! Another day of putzing around would have been so lovely.

Have to admit, though, that I managed to spend a great deal of time here:

Got a bunch of papers corrected, grades entered and posted for parents to see, and now, I'm off to read and relax!

"Snowquester" it wasn't!

Photo Heart Connection: February 2013

So many photos tugged on the heart strings this month...a trip to the beach and a new lens equaled a great deal of fun.

But, I kept coming back to this one.

Winter photos often frustrate me; there's so much brown and gray. Dark depressing colors - ugh! I need sunlight, crave it.

So, as I sat and stared at this shot, trying to figure out what drew me in, I realized that the almost golden light on the dry marsh grasses caught my eye and my heart.

And, there's a peacefulness here, one that my heart needs in the midst of papers that wait to be corrected, emails that wait to be answered, and students that wait for my attention.

This one offers a bit of solitude and peace, a time to quiet my monkey mind, and a time for me to breathe.

 

It Works for Me!

Over at Artsyville, inquiring minds would like to know, "What's working for you?" After mulling it over for a few days...and quite frankly, being brain dead, for most of those days, I've compiled my list:

...vanilla spice lattes from Starbucks

...macro lenses

...wide angle lenses

....photo walks

....curling up with a good book (Just picked up J.D. Robb's newest!)

...Suduko and crossword puzzles at the end of the day

...early morning prayer time in our school chapel

...dark chocolate sea salt caramels

...working my way through Trader Joe's coffees

...journaling

...photoshop elements

...weekend time with the "grands"

...making lists

...picking up homemade pierogis and halushki on Fridays during Lent

...destashing and decluttering

...art time in the studio

...sending/receiving cards through Postcrossings

...having my photographs printed as postcards and sending them through the mail

How about you? What's working right now?

 

Snowy Beach Day

Picture 2 middle aged women (60 is still middle aged, right?), ruddy cheeked, faces tucked into their coats, happily clambering about, cameras in hand.

Why?

'Cause there's snow on the beach. Not much, grant you, but snow, there is!

It doesn't take much to make us happy...

I love this shot; the snow added such neat sparkle and texture to the beach grass - just gorgeous!

Playing here and here. 

Now, go see all the pretties!

Here...

Here...

Head bowed, buffeted by a bitterly cold February wind.

Tears streaming down my face

Eyes blinking against the sunlight's glare.

 

Here...

Head turned toward a radiant sun

Lost in the magic of stay puff marshmallow clouds

 

Here...

Numb hands gripping the camera's body

Wondering how to begin to capture this magic

 

Here...

Kneeling on wet damp sand

Listening to the shreiking of laughing gulls

Watching the itty bitties battling ferocious gusts of wind

 

Here...

Tasting gritty bits of sand

Capturing magic

 

Here...

 

Snow Geese and a List

                                                                       Snow Geese on VA's Eastern Shore

Over at Artsyville, this week's topic is "Unintended Use." Here's a few items that come in handy, but not for the purposes which they were intended for:

1) My macro lens often serves as a telephoto lens, although I did use an honest to God telephoto lens for thepics above.

2) Newpaper bags come into use as grandson diaper disposal and bags to stuff shampoo bottles - and the like - into as I travel. I've learned the hard way that no matter how much I'm careful, the darn things leak.

3) Used up gift cards spread glue and paint very nicely.

4) Old phone books or magazines serve as table protectors when I glue things. Glue, turn the page, and glue some more. I'm no longer getting glue where I didn't intend glue to be!

5) Toliet paper tubes make great "bincoulars" for the grands. Let them color or paint them, and then add some stickers...even better!

6) Enclosed envelopes for remitting payments find another life for practicing tearing (fine motor skills) or grocery list making.

7) Bubble wrap and corrugated cardboard (coffee cup sleeves) make neat textures in paint, and those toliet paper tubes above? Well, they make awesome circle prints! Potato mashers and combs of all sorts also create awesome texture.

8) Empty peanut butter jars hold water for art making.

9) Wine corks in an decorative container get emptied and replaced, over and over again, by the two year old grand.

10) A decorative wooden red bowl often serves as a hat for the same two year old.

11) Paper bags make awesome books.

And, I'm sure there's more, but I'm heading off to breakfast and then some exploring on Virginia's Eastern Shore.

Calling My Name

Sitting here, inhaling the salt air.

Doesn't matter one bit if it's cold, or if it snows.

I'm at the beach.

Heading across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge

 

Playing with my new wide angle lens...thanks, kids!

 

Trying to hold the camera steady, which is not so easy...

 

Amusing myself while Phil checked us in.

Who knew the inside of a car plus a wide angle lens could equal so much fun?