tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90013599442852189902024-02-18T22:06:46.114-05:00EDGE OF THE WOODS STUDIOColleenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06158949884724708133noreply@blogger.comBlogger86125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001359944285218990.post-58818773127771665612011-08-31T22:20:00.001-04:002011-08-31T22:20:27.417-04:00No damage . . . no power . . . thank you IreneAnd I mean that! Although we did a bit of grumbling, I am VERY thankful that the only trouble we had was 3 days without power! There are many many with lots of far greater troubles. A house across the river from us burned down yesterday! We are not yet sure what happened. Speculation is that they got a generator and had a malfunction or misused the generator. But that is speculation!<br />
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We live along the Delaware River and the Delaware Raritan canal. There is a beautiful towpath that runs from Trenton to Phillipsburg. I would guess some 50 plus miles. We are but 5 miles from Trenton. Years ago the mules walked the towpath pulling barges on the canal. Here's a drawing, not of Titusville, if my words don't describe it accurately.<br />
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Anyway, the towpath collapsed a few miles north of us and the river and canal have become one. They, I believe state road crew type people, were working on the towpath at a spill way to improve a bridge. Now they have lots more work! The main road also caved in in the same area. Thankfully no one was in the area at the time it all happened. It will be quite some time before it is all repaired. In the meantime, the canal continues to have less and less water. At some point, there was a train along the canal. Last night people were "excavating" and finding old railroad pins and all kinds of interesting things. <br />
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Before the rains came on Saturday, I went down to the river to check out the water level at the bridge and the 1955 highwater mark, just for a reference point for after Irene came through.<br />
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The second white sign on the tree behind my car, and considerably higher than my car, about the middle of the photo or a bit higher, is the 1955 high water mark, August 20, 1955. When I took this on Saturday, before Irene, the river was to my back and the canal is thru the trees. Two hurricanes in August 1955 caused the streams that feed the canal to overflow into the canal and the canal to overflow. At least that's the story I've heard. </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--SGnx99gvBA/Tl7f-VsFUhI/AAAAAAAAAr8/tnYHKwUQpj8/s1600/P1010435.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--SGnx99gvBA/Tl7f-VsFUhI/AAAAAAAAAr8/tnYHKwUQpj8/s320/P1010435.JPG" width="320" /></a>Back to present day . . . here's the Washington Crossing Titusville Bridge . . .<br />
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Saturday mid morning on the left . . .<br />
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and Monday mid morning below<br />
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Monday neither of us had to go to work so we went to Goat Hill Overlook above Lambertville. Rumored to be were George Washington had a lookout. Lambertville was hit hard. Lots of flooding and extended power outages. We were at Goat Hill Overlook in March so I have a few photos for comparison. <br />
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This was taken in March . . . Waterworks Condominiums on the Pennsylvania side just below New Hope.
The stone walls along the building in the river create the wing dam
which was used by <a href="http://www.newhopepa.com/history.htm">Union Mills</a>.
It was a grist mill and saw mill in the early 1800s and later a paper
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Same view taken Monday after Irene. You cannot see any of the wing dam. Notice the tree in the first picture. It does not have any leaves and see it here? Yicks! </div>
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From the open field at Goat Hill Overlook, looking north up the Delaware into New Hope. Lambertville is on the right side. This was taken in March.</div>
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Taken from just about the same spot as the photo above, you can see how much wider the river is. The bridge had been closed the day before because a tree had hit the bridge as it was coming down the river. Must have been a BIG tree.</div>
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As much as I love the water, my 12 years here near the river have
taught me that if I am lucky enough to live on water when we retire, it
will be on a lake and it will be up high above the lake!<br />
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I hope you and your loved ones are safe and dry from Irene's aftermath.<br />
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Blessings, <br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: Roddy; font-size: 16pt;">Colleen</span></i></b>Colleenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06158949884724708133noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001359944285218990.post-44233878235540499152011-08-26T21:51:00.000-04:002011-08-26T21:51:22.656-04:00I'm as corny as Kansas in August?<div style="font-family: inherit;">
Given the weather forcast for hurrican/tropical storm, i don't hav emuch planned for this weekend . . . just a hair cut early Saturday morning.<br />
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However, last weekend we were as corny as Kansas in August. We froze 8 dozen ears of corn last Sunday. What a messy job. Chuck shucked the corn (seen below)</div>
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and he also helped cut it off the cob. What a trooper! We had stuff everywhere. Darla was helping by cleaning the floor. </div>
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We ate a little as we worked because we needed quality control, right? </div>
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We should have fresh corn until next spring. Thru the fall and winter we can have corn with dinner, I can make stuffed peppers, corn chowder and one of my favorites, tomato corn pie. <br />
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I'll keep you posted about the weekend weather. I expect the Delaware River will rise. We are 1/2 mile from the river but significantly high enough that we should be safe. I've always said if the river is at our house, we will need Noah to rescue us! I do expect some roads to flood and others to be closed because of downed trees. Since we are the last house on a dead end road. I expect we will be house bound. Not a problem. I have lots I can do.</div>
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<i>Blessings,</i></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: Roddy; font-size: 16pt;">Colleen</span></i></b></div>
Colleenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06158949884724708133noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001359944285218990.post-68151554749221346752011-08-25T22:08:00.000-04:002011-08-25T22:08:07.355-04:00Mornings at my houseEvery morning, the alarm goes off at 5:30, except for Saturday and Sunday. On those days, my body clock still wakes up at 5:30 but I get to go back to sleep for a short while until a cold nose wakes me up at 6:15 to go outside! During the week, I'm up at 5:45 and moving slow. Dressed, with the dogs fed and a few very small chores done, I head out with Darla for a little walk around 6:30. <br />
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Here we are headed down the driveway. Does she look happy? She is. She is such a good girl. I tell her that all the time. It's been 7 weeks since the ACL surgery on her leg and she has a bit of a limp after the walk, but the vet said she needs the exercise. And she loves it. She just can't wait to run around in the yard. That's next week. I'm a little afraid. But she needs the freedom. I just pray she does not hurt herself. <br />
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And now we are on the road. Soon we will pass Kiera's house. Kiera is an Australian Cattle dog/Border collie Mix. She is really sweet. We always stop to visit, quickly of course. Sometimes we see our neighbor Pat with her cocker spaniel, Jack. And if we are really lucky we see Terry, with her poodle Spike. That's a fun morning.<br />
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And after our walk and all of our visiting, we head home so Buddy can have a walk. And we almost always find Buddy waiting for us at the window. Can you see how dirty the window is. We fondly call it Buddy Slime. He spends a lot of time in the chair at the window and barks at the world as it goes by. Buddy drools quite a bit. And when he barks . . . well, maybe you get the picture. It's yucky! But we love Buddy, slime/drool and all. </div>
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And then it's a quick change of the leash and off I go with Buddy. If Darla and I did not see Kiera, Jack or Spike, Buddy and I might! We do this on the weekend too, just not as early. I know they love the walks and I enjoy the morning walk. It clears my head for the day. As the days get shorter I will probably be walking in the dark. I counted street lights the other morning. I think I'll be OK. </div>
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Blessings,</div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: Roddy; font-size: 16pt;">Colleen</span></i></b> </div>
Colleenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06158949884724708133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001359944285218990.post-51088142026427778182011-08-22T20:55:00.000-04:002011-08-22T20:55:31.546-04:00A Day on the Farm<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">My staycation of a few weeks ago seems but a distant memory. Towards the end of the week I spent a day on the Howell Living History farm with my friend Lois. It was an absolutely beautiful day. The air was crystal clear, the sky was a beautiful shade of blue, the clouds were puffy, big and white and perfectly placed in the sky and the warmth of the sun was shining on us . . . there was no humidity. We had all day to spend on the farm to paint, draw, take pictures and just relax</span>. </i></div>
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<i>We walked the long lane to the farm, taking in all the beauty around us.</i></div>
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<br style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;" /><i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> We stopped to visit Buttercup. Her name is really Daisy, but we liked Buttercup better. </span></i> <i><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bwNkpnhm9wY/TlLqBRZZzII/AAAAAAAAAoM/pFt9eVcIie4/s1600/Photo+Aug+18%252C+5+41+53+PM.jpeg" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bwNkpnhm9wY/TlLqBRZZzII/AAAAAAAAAoM/pFt9eVcIie4/s400/Photo+Aug+18%252C+5+41+53+PM.jpeg" /></a></i></div>
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<i>Then we went to the hen house where this guy was in charge!</i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">And finally we headed to what drew us there, the sheep. Almost all were gathered under a tree, by the fence.</span></i></div>
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<i>Most were resting. We tried to be quiet. </i></div>
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<i style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Some were taking their rest seriously. </span></i></div>
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<i style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">She found the perfect head rest and was REALLY comfortable</span>. </i></div>
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<i>Lois choice the lamb with the choice sleeping head rest to draw </i></div>
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<i>and claimed her spot at the fence.</i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">While Lois drew, I walked around and took some pictures. </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">These two handsome guys caught my eye! They are Barney and Prince.</span></i><br /> </div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Here they are helping teach someone how to drive a team of horses with a plow. </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">And here they are again. They were quite handsome together. </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">And waiting patiently in the wings for their turn are these two guys. </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I'm not sure of their names.</span></i><br />
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<i>And back to the sheep to see what's happening . . . still resting.</i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">But . . . someone was watching me!</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I was fascinated by their fleece. It's just so beautiful! </span></i><br />
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<i>And this is what Lois was doing while I was taking pictures - she drew sleeping beauty!</i></div>
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<i>And these two were on her left while she was drawing, watching or maybe sleeping. Since I can only see there noses, it's hard to say what they are doing!</i></div>
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<i>This little one was however sleeping and his position just made me laugh.</i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">It was time to change locations so we found a small bench and moved it to the side of the blacksmith shed, shown here and both painted for a while. </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This was the view from the other side of the blacksmith shed. </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">And after a beautiful day on the farm in the company of a good friend, </span>we headed out. We will return again soon. </i></div>
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<br />Colleenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06158949884724708133noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001359944285218990.post-52342980520253685672011-08-11T10:22:00.000-04:002011-08-11T10:22:23.429-04:00Staycation . . . Day 2 and 3I'm enjoying my staycation. I think this might be the first time I've taken a whole week off and Chuck has not!<br />
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Tuesday started, as all my days have recently, with two dog walks. Darla is doing well on the walks, and I need the exercise too!. It's a nice way to start the day. Morning are a nice time of day. I weeded a bit more Tuesday morning and am done except for the vegetable garden which we never planted this year. That needs more than weeding - it needs, well I don't know what it needs. Some of the weeds begin to remind me of Jack and the Bean Stalk!<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-X966aCYw_Sg/TkPgePeiglI/AAAAAAAAAnc/myPHsqQkr0k/s1600/July+Aug+2011+046a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-X966aCYw_Sg/TkPgePeiglI/AAAAAAAAAnc/myPHsqQkr0k/s200/July+Aug+2011+046a.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's not blood . . . he was REALLY enjoying a cherry</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sZJI9Z4GDoc/TkPgfJU8JyI/AAAAAAAAAng/8WJCqlldsaM/s1600/July+Aug+2011+049a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sZJI9Z4GDoc/TkPgfJU8JyI/AAAAAAAAAng/8WJCqlldsaM/s200/July+Aug+2011+049a.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And she was enjoying a cupcake</td></tr>
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I started to watch weather.com as I had plans to meet my friend and her sister and two children, Tim and Anna (seen above) who are visiting from Texas. Yeah, they needed to experience heat :). Our plan was for a picnic at <a href="http://www.howellfarm.org/">Howell Living History Farm</a>. Chuck and I also had tickets for an outdoor concert that evening. The weather was NOT LOOKING GOOD. But we decided we could picnic under cover of a tree at the Farm, which we did. After lunch we saw a movie about how the New Jersey Barn Company helped the farm disassemble a barn and move it to the farm and reassemble and raise it to become the visitor center we were sitting in, which protected us from the downpour outside! We never got to go to the farm to see the animals, boo hoo. We parted quickly in the rain. I managed to take a few pictures when I first arrived before the rain.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p9ywQB_Z5zU/TkPgToK1b5I/AAAAAAAAAnQ/kjQyLsXqvu0/s1600/July+Aug+2011+044a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p9ywQB_Z5zU/TkPgToK1b5I/AAAAAAAAAnQ/kjQyLsXqvu0/s320/July+Aug+2011+044a.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lane to the Farm</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mYSdBy2KuFo/TkPgdeWK5BI/AAAAAAAAAnY/iqL3-gxmAhw/s1600/July+Aug+2011+036a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mYSdBy2KuFo/TkPgdeWK5BI/AAAAAAAAAnY/iqL3-gxmAhw/s320/July+Aug+2011+036a.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just fertilized a field</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A view from the Visitor Center, before the rain</td></tr>
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At home I decided the best thing to do on a rainy vacation day was a nap!
When I woke up the sun was shining and I ran to check the weather in
Bethlehem PA at <a href="http://www.musikfest.org/">Musikfest </a>and it was looking good. YEAH, I will get to see Alison Krause and Union Station after all!<br />
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When Chuck got home, we checked the weather again and off to
Bethlehem we went to see Alison Krause and Union Station with Jerry
Douglas. WOW. What a show. An incredibly talented group of musicians. And what a great place for music. <a href="http://www.musikfest.org/">Musikfest</a> is so much fun. This year they
moved several of the venues to be in and around the old Bethlehem Steel. It's
amazing to stand in front of the old blast furnaces. They are
ginormous. The shells of the old buildings are still there. Amazing
architecture. They've done a fabulous job of putting an <a href="http://www.artsquest.org/">art/music community</a> in an around the remains of Bethlehem Steel. And right next
door is the Sands Casino.<br />
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Day 3<br />
Not as busy as day 2 . . . I read, alot, and went to Pet Smart and the grocery store. <br />
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Day 4<br />
Is just beginning. I am hoping to go the Howell Living
History Farm today as the weather is absolutely beautiful. Should have
lots of pictures to share!<br />
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Take Care<br />
<b><span style="font-family: "FG Jayne Print"; font-size: 16pt;">Colleen</span></b><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: small;">"Those that say you can't take it with you never saw a car packed for a vacation trip." </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: small;">Author Unknown<b> </b></span></i></div>
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Colleenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06158949884724708133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001359944285218990.post-31316921266801290662011-08-08T21:21:00.000-04:002011-08-08T21:21:45.085-04:00Staycation . . day 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vxvWJflhh2E/TkCF0tQG1NI/AAAAAAAAAnM/8cSkvHPgzK8/s1600/DSC06058.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vxvWJflhh2E/TkCF0tQG1NI/AAAAAAAAAnM/8cSkvHPgzK8/s320/DSC06058.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gDATRsbFsHU/TkCFzrIa16I/AAAAAAAAAnI/l6U_ohu-WaU/s1600/DSC05285.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gDATRsbFsHU/TkCFzrIa16I/AAAAAAAAAnI/l6U_ohu-WaU/s320/DSC05285.JPG" width="240" /></a>Today was the first day of MY staycation. Chuck is working, I am not! I had the whole day to myself! Want to know what I did? I hope so 'cause here it is! I walked the dogs, like I always do. At 8am I decided that if I wanted to weed I better do it before it got too hot. So I weeded in the front and picked up the branches from Chuck's shrub trimming on Sunday. Then I had breakfast, read a little bit and decided that I would wrestle one of the stuffed chairs out of the house to see if it would fit in to the back of my subaru. We have talked about donating these 2 chairs to the church for about 5 months but don't seem to do it. I got the first chair out the front door. Step one accomplished. Amazingly, the chair fit in the back of my car. Yeah! You would not believe what I've had in that car! Off to church I went (5 minutes away) to deliver the first chair. And back home to get the second. When I got home after delivering the second chair I decided I should rake the pile of stones in the driveway by my. I had lunch first, leisurely of course, and read some more. And when it was really hot out, I went out to tackle the pile of stones. Then I decided I would go back to weeding and I went to the back yard and did some more weeding. We have a lot of fenced in beds to keep the deer from eating all of our plants and lots of areas to weed. I watered the plants, cleaned the bird feeder and did a few other things too. All in all it was a good day. I got a lot done. <br />
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Tomorrow I might have a bit more fun. I think a picnic might be in my future! <br />
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Take Care,<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "FG Jayne Print"; font-size: 16pt;">Colleen</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: georgia,bookman old style,palatino linotype,book antiqua,palatino,trebuchet ms,helvetica,garamond,sans-serif,arial,verdana,avante garde,century gothic,comic sans ms,times,times new roman,serif;">"No two gardens are the same. No two days are the same in one garden." <i> </i></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: georgia,bookman old style,palatino linotype,book antiqua,palatino,trebuchet ms,helvetica,garamond,sans-serif,arial,verdana,avante garde,century gothic,comic sans ms,times,times new roman,serif;"><i>Hugh Johnson</i></span></b></div>
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Colleenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06158949884724708133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001359944285218990.post-80489408081830439972011-08-06T12:23:00.000-04:002011-08-06T12:23:25.162-04:00Thanks Barb!<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iLYS-PEihVU/Tj1l_8pda0I/AAAAAAAAAm0/Aa64XQsanJc/s1600/lucytree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iLYS-PEihVU/Tj1l_8pda0I/AAAAAAAAAm0/Aa64XQsanJc/s320/lucytree.jpg" width="225" /></a>I had lunch yesterday with a friend from a former job, Barbara Reeder. She's actually the person who got me started in watercolor oh so many years ago! We worked in two different real estate offices that were adjacent to each other and visited back and forth. We kind of lost touch over the years but earlier this year we ran into each other on the street in Princeton and discovered that we are again working just about next door to each other, not quite as close as before. We keep in touch thru facebook although I'm not a great facebooker (is that a word?) and we have lunch once in a while. I told her about my blog and she shared it with her facebook friends. Thanks Barb! </div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">My
first watercolor class was with <a href="http://www.lucygravesmcvicker.com/home">Lucy Graves McVicker</a>, a friend of Barbara's. This is the first
painting I was happy with. It's called "Lucy's Tree". Lucy walked me thru several portions of this so it felt like it was as much hers as mine. Barb and I had alot of fun in Lucy's studio with many other talented artists, learning about
watercolor. The lessons we learned are ones I will always remember. Lucy always found the best part of everything we painted - no matter what it looked like! Lucy's husband
Chuck played the piano alot during our lessons. <span style="font-size: small;">We always enjoyed our time with Lucy. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Barb IS a great facebooker - she has the BEST posts. Today this is what she posted and I had to share it!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><i><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}">When I woke up this morning, I asked myself, "What is life about?" I found
the answer in my room...the fan said, "Be cool." The roof said, "Aim
high." The window said, "See the world!" The clock said, "Every minute
is precious." The mirror said, "Reflect before you act." The calendar
said, "Be up to date." The door said, "Push hard for your goals." The
floor said, "Kneel down and pray"...~ </span></i></span></div>
Colleenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06158949884724708133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001359944285218990.post-12354971218121722772011-08-04T22:17:00.003-04:002011-08-04T22:17:52.771-04:00Evening on the RiverI thought I'd share this picture with you. I've had meetings the last few nights at church. I took this tonight before my meeting. Our church is right on the river - it's a very beautiful place. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Evening cruise on the Delaware River at Titusville/Washington Crossing</td></tr>
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Last night was the first of many meetings to plan for the church's 175th anniversary in 2013. It's very exciting to work towards this. Not exactly sure where we are heading but it will be fun planning and quite a journey. I'm also on the Church Life and Fellowship committee and we met to plan our fall calender and, yes we talked about when we would go christmas caroling. I, of course, had to ask if we really had to talk about Christmas in early August because I'm a brat! However, the bulk of the meeting was devoted to planning for Duck Duck Pig which is a cookout (the pig part) in the fall that the community is invited to. Everyone gets a yellow rubber duck to race in the canal (the duck, duck part). It's a hoot, or should it be a quack. Oh, that was bad. Sorry!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">about 100 ducks "racing" down the canal</td></tr>
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<br />Colleenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06158949884724708133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001359944285218990.post-5005027201877530412011-08-02T22:26:00.000-04:002011-08-02T22:26:08.626-04:00How much is in your glass?<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jT46gWcbRJc/TjixN639hCI/AAAAAAAAAmo/IME9otgURJc/s1600/glass+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jT46gWcbRJc/TjixN639hCI/AAAAAAAAAmo/IME9otgURJc/s320/glass+4.jpg" width="239" /></a>I subscribed to <a href="http://clicks.robertgenn.com/shows.php">The Painters Keys</a>. It's a bi-weekly email from a very prolific writer and painter. He always has great stories and advice and I always find both inspirational. What gives his emails extra depth are the reader comments he invites. He calls that section "Current Clickback". Those opinions/stories are always interesting and they are filled with inspirational paintings. I have subscribed to the email for quite awhile but typically do not get a chance to read them as they come in. So I often take a block of time to go through the last few month of emails. The "Clickback" from a few months ago started out with "Our attitudes determine our accomplishments". The person talked about people having either a "glass is half-empty" or a "glass is half-full" attitude. The writer thought perhaps that the half-empty folks were destined to have emptier and emptier glasses, while the half-full folks were bound to have fuller and fuller ones? I've always been a glass in half-full kind of person, thankful and happy for the blessings I have been given. I do on occasion dwell on the half-empty glass and it is in these times that I need to remind myself that the glass really IS half-full. How about you?<br />
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Good night,<br />
ColleenColleenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06158949884724708133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001359944285218990.post-18013010819793044572011-08-01T21:30:00.001-04:002011-08-01T21:30:09.079-04:00Winnie Viedt used to say . . .<br />
the older you get the faster time goes. She was in her late 50s and I was probably 7 or 8 when she shared her wisdom with me. Little did I know then that these words would come to me almost every day as I got older. But now that times seems to fly by at a crazy pace, I remember those words and my grandmother, Winnie Viedt. I never called her grandmother or grandmom. Actually I guess I must have once and it was then that she told me that she was too young to be a grandmother and that I should call her by her name. So I asked her what her was. And the rest is history as they say. She was known in the family for other words of wisdom, but they do not warrant repeating. She had a rather sharp tongue! But she was very good to me and made THE BEST peanut butter fudge. I can still taste it and can close my eyes and imagine myself in the kitchen. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Grandmother, Winifred, standing, Great Aunt Miriam on Pony, 1923</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Grandfather and Grandmother, on left, 1935</span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></td></tr>
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As July has flown by, as my Grandmother told me it would, I realize you may be wondering how Darla is since her surgery in early July. She is doing well. For about 2 weeks after the surgery she was using only 3 legs and she was doing quite well at that. After about 2 weeks she started to use the leg again but the vet has said she should be on a leash at all times. She does have freedom in the house when we are home, usually unless she starts running around too much and then she goes in her crate. I feel like a mean mom but I don't want her to hurt her leg. She does well if she is just walking but as soon as she gets excited and runs or jumps a little while later the leg is up and she will not put weight on it. So, it's tough love! When we are not home she is in her crate for safe keeping! I have no idea what goes on while we are not home. Best that I don't know! We go for a walk every morning. The vet (we love Dr. Smith, thank you!) said we need to build up the muscles in the leg. Early September she can be off the leash and run in the yard. That will be 8 weeks on the leash. She will need lots of walks to get her leg strong so she does not hurt herself when she goes tearing around the yard when she finally has her freedom!<br />
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While Darla has been on leash and being a good girl, Buddy has been outside, unsupervised, which is what we usually do. But alone, he gets in to trouble. We discovered last week that he's eating the green and red cherry tomatoes off the plants on the deck. And I was puzzled why there were none getting ripe! Oh that boy!<br />
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I am loving these summer days. Hope you are too. We have not gone on vacation yet, coming up on a month or so. I refuse to wish away days until vacation. I'm enjoying every one!<br />
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Take Care,<br />
Colleen Colleenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06158949884724708133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001359944285218990.post-12043262312672665282011-07-04T20:54:00.000-04:002011-07-04T20:54:45.812-04:00Happy 4th of July!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>I have listened to lots of fireworks the last few evenings but I have not seen any. They were very loud and rhythmic so they must have been very gorgeous - the ooh and ah kind.<br />
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It's been quite a while since I last posted. I took a break form my computer. It lasted a bit longer than I expected [big grin!]. I wish I could say I accomplished something earth-shattering, but I did not. I painted a bit . . . and now have a few more things that need to be finished . . . seems to be my pattern for the last little while. I did finish 2 knitting projects I had started. Yeah! I am now an accomplished knitter . . . I can watch TV or a movie and knit at the same time. I have not learned how to knit in the dark though, not that that would be a useful skill but I recently met someone that can knit in the dark. It would be quite entertaining to see what I could produce in the dark. Although I think it best if I keep painting and knitting with the lights on!<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LtvSEZCHl5o/TViSzMQzn0I/AAAAAAAAAYc/SjTs1xjXjJA/s1600/DSC05252.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LtvSEZCHl5o/TViSzMQzn0I/AAAAAAAAAYc/SjTs1xjXjJA/s320/DSC05252.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
Darla, our 5 year old black lab, is having CCL surgery on Tuesday to fix a torn ligament in her back right leg. CCL in a dog is like the ACL in a human. She has been on a leash for a week and a half. It started as a severe limp so we were resting the leg. It got better quickly, but I read about pulled muscles and learned that it could me more so we kept her on the leash and took her to the vet. And the diagnosis was torn CCL. So she had to remain on leash walks and will remain on leash walks for 8 weeks after the surgery. She loves to run in her yard and is not too happy about being on a leash. She is so sweet and patient about this process so far. When she is finally off leash she will probably jump out of her fur with excitement! I'm a bit worried that she will re injure her leg or hurt her other one. I have a plan though. Buddy will have to go on patrol in the yard for the first few weeks before Darla can go out so he can chase away any as many birds, squirrel, deer or anything else that runs. We have to get to that point though! If you knew Buddy you would know how completely crazy that plan is. Most times when I left him out he just stands and look at me. Either I'm suppose to go out with him or he's afraid he is going to miss something. So it will really be Buddy and I outside ridding the yard of things that Darla can chase. <br />
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I have an IPad on loan for 4 months No idea what I will do when the loan is up. The loan is part of a research project at Princeton University, where I work. If you are interested, here is the <a href="http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S30/91/87E56/index.xml?section=featured">link</a>. The TUBE project is how I got an IPad to use for 4 months . . . And use it I am! I can type a post any time any where. PRETTY COOL! So what was it I was saying in the beginning about taking break from the computer.<br />
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Blessings,<br />
ColleenColleenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06158949884724708133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001359944285218990.post-76928761862919845892011-04-12T21:32:00.000-04:002011-04-12T21:32:21.210-04:00Look What I Won!You may remember earlier this year I participated in One World One Heart. OWOH is an event for bloggers and a chance to meet and make new friends all around the world. It lasts about 2 weeks. And in that 2 week period there are a lot of people to visit. You can enter a drawing for a giveaway item on each blog you visit. The item is usually a piece of artwork. There were almost 1,000 bloggers participating this year. There are lots of kind, generous and talented people out there and lots of inspiration. I visited lots of blogs and made many new blog friends, found some neat ideas and was inspired! I really needed to take a few days off from work to visit all the blogs I wanted to visit and soak up all the art I wanted to. As a result of all my blog visits, I am now the proud owner of these two beautiful pieces.<br />
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The Angle of the Seas from Debbie at <a href="http://craftymoosecrafts.blogspot.com/">CrafyMoose</a>. The Angel is hanging safely in my bedroom, protected during the day from <a href="http://edgeofthewoodsstudio.blogspot.com/2011/02/my-buddy-my-pal.html">Buddy</a>. Debbie has many beautiful things, I love her beaded flowers!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-b8FzpjuZukw/TaT2SBuZFMI/AAAAAAAAAc4/NXB8bzAJGlo/s1600/ANGEL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-b8FzpjuZukw/TaT2SBuZFMI/AAAAAAAAAc4/NXB8bzAJGlo/s320/ANGEL.jpg" width="193" /></a></div>And from <a href="http://nakedheartart.blogspot.com/">Naked Heart Studio</a>, this cute Jester. She is in the den on my painting table, watching me, providing inspiration. She too is safe from Buddy during the day. Visit Robin at Naked Heart Studio to view or participate in the <span>2011 Project 365, a quest to create 365 pieces of art, one a day for 365. </span><br />
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This was the fifth and final year of One World One Heart. Next year Lisa from <a href="http://awhimsicalbohemian.typepad.com/a_whimsical_bohemian/">Whimsical Bohemian</a>, who works VERY hard at organizing and running OWOH is starting Our World Our Art. As this was my first year participating in OWOH, I'm really looking forward to Our World Our Art.<br />
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Take Care,<br />
ColleenColleenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06158949884724708133noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001359944285218990.post-46550890297590401432011-03-31T20:18:00.000-04:002011-03-31T20:18:15.287-04:00Japan Quake Appeal<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-40NqEcudeCA/TZUW8YWN61I/AAAAAAAAAcc/fD9fThZMcBc/s1600/il_570xN_200717374.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="186" r6="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-40NqEcudeCA/TZUW8YWN61I/AAAAAAAAAcc/fD9fThZMcBc/s200/il_570xN_200717374.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2skrJ_s4_1o/TZUW-J88MqI/AAAAAAAAAcg/Kr3UgsVLvLw/s1600/il_570xN_203930366.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" r6="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2skrJ_s4_1o/TZUW-J88MqI/AAAAAAAAAcg/Kr3UgsVLvLw/s200/il_570xN_203930366.jpg" width="170" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">An Etsy acquaintance, Rita from Surfing Silver, is participating in a wonderful raffle going on right now. To enter to win one of Rita's beautiful pieces of jewelry, pictured above, you must make a donation to an organization helping to give relief to the devastation caused by the Japan earthquake and tsunami. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"> </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">To learn which organizations to donate to and how to enter, please go to this blog post <a href="http://jojoebi.blogspot.com/2011/03/mothers-day-love.html" target="_blank">jojoebi.blogspot.com/2011/03/mothers-day-love.html</a>. The deadline is April 4th. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The woman running the raffle is a Etsy artist from Japan. While on jojoebi.blogspot, be sure to also click on the Japan Quake Appeal button.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div>Colleenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06158949884724708133noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001359944285218990.post-89109960018571461942011-03-06T09:15:00.000-05:002011-03-06T09:15:01.072-05:00Will you plant a garden?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>We usually have a garden, but not this year. Besides time flying by at lightening speed, the garden needs a serious boost of fertilizer. We were going to plant a cover crop last fall, but that did not happen. We are looking at putting in a spring cover crop, but need to move quickly on that too!. So this year we will be visiting the local farmers markets to buy produce. There are quite a few in our area so it should be fun. <br />
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The painting below was inspired by a photo in a seed catalog. It took me much longer than I would have liked, but I finished it, something I seem to have trouble with these days. It's not listed in my Etsy shop yet, but it will be soon. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-GokWgJUgGGM/TXOM2JTFMZI/AAAAAAAAAZA/Iq6SLvfDQi0/s1600/bowl+of+tomatoes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-GokWgJUgGGM/TXOM2JTFMZI/AAAAAAAAAZA/Iq6SLvfDQi0/s640/bowl+of+tomatoes.jpg" width="479" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Seeing this bowl reminds me that Buddy, our yellow lab, ate a fair amount of our tomato harvest a few years ago. We had left tomatoes on a tray on the breakfast counter one Monday after picking quite a few on a Sunday, NEVER thinking he would eat them. We had so many we were both taking them to work to share with co-workers. When my husband came home Monday night to find the tray empty he was a little put-out at me, thinking that I had taken ALL of the tomatoes to work. When I came home and saw the tomatoes were gone, I asked where they were. He made some comment about me taking them to work. When I told him that I had not done that, we looked at each other and then at Buddy, lying on the floor sleeping. And we had the same thought and both headed for Buddy's bed. Sure enough, there were lots of tomato seeds dried on his bed. We went back to the counter and there was no sign of any "disturbance". A further inspection of the living room rug (oriental) revealed a few tomato seeds. So this is what I imagine took place that day . . . he smelled them (? although I thought he liked chocolate much more) and put his front feet up on the counter to check it out, grabbed a tomato got down and ate the tomato on the living room rug. Since that was so good, he went back for more but not wanting Darla to bother him, he starting taking them into the other room where his bed is. He had about 15 tomatoes, but he didn't get sick. Now NOTHING in the way of food or anything every having had food in it is left on the counter.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Blessings,</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> Colleen</div>Colleenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06158949884724708133noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001359944285218990.post-20186179344412196272011-02-19T11:59:00.000-05:002011-02-19T11:59:05.430-05:00One World One Heart Winner<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>The winner of the One World One Heart give way is Cathy Horner. Congratulations Cathy - your cards will be on their way soon. Check out Cathy's blog - http://cathyhorner.blogspot.com/. Cathy is a OWOH participant and fellow artist. And one of the many new followers of my blog. YEAH! thanks Cathy.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pqlo--WBcVk/TUXx_6VbkOI/AAAAAAAAAW8/sDo3eLRbN-A/s1600/hand+made+notecards.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="292" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pqlo--WBcVk/TUXx_6VbkOI/AAAAAAAAAW8/sDo3eLRbN-A/s320/hand+made+notecards.jpg" width="320" /></a>What an experience OWOH has been. Thank you to everyone who visited my blog. I read all of the comments. People had so many nice things to say. I owe several people a visit and note. I just could not keep up with it. Someone responded who grew up on Pennington, as did I. I still have to get back to her. If I find out that we went to grammer school together someone will have to come pick me up off the floor! <br />
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A HUGE thank you to all those who visited and and big hug to my new followers. The idea of all everyone giving away something was dizzying, but this is so much about what everyone has to share. I found myself wandering through blogs (and countries), watching tutorials, marking things to go back to because there just isn't enough time and marveling at all of the amazing artists. Lisa put together an amazing event. And now she is going to Our World Our Heart next year. I am so excited about that. I think I'll take vacation during that time next year so I can actually get to visit all the blogs I want to! There's are lots of friends I have yet to make!<br />
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<span style="color: #333399; font-weight: bold;"></span>In case you were wondering how I selected the winner . . . I used random number generator. I did think about asking my husband to pick a number but I thought possibly for my first give away I should use ever faithful random number generator. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SDPHdI8OkCE/TV5jHCxPLaI/AAAAAAAAAY4/W98zLqpqsJA/s1600/random+no.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span id="goog_694990717"></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SDPHdI8OkCE/TV5jHCxPLaI/AAAAAAAAAY4/W98zLqpqsJA/s1600/random+no.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SDPHdI8OkCE/TV5jHCxPLaI/AAAAAAAAAY4/W98zLqpqsJA/s1600/random+no.jpg" /></a></div>Colleenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06158949884724708133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001359944285218990.post-35614062908569816832011-02-13T22:01:00.000-05:002011-02-13T22:01:26.870-05:00My Buddy, my pal!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MqjeTeIijXs/TViS2w5BdZI/AAAAAAAAAYs/B-0R4-YrwFg/s1600/DSC06044.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MqjeTeIijXs/TViS2w5BdZI/AAAAAAAAAYs/B-0R4-YrwFg/s320/DSC06044.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">S</span></i><i><span style="font-size: small;">OMEHOW, I got him to sit still for this photo!</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Our dog Buddy has been with us four 4 years today. We braved a snow storm on February 13th, 2007 to drive to Moorestown to pick him up because we couldn't wait another day to have him in our home. We met him in January at a pet adoption day at Petsmart. He was being fostered by a wonderful lady thru Burlington County Animal Alliance. We talked to her for quite a while and she said if Buddy were a human she'd marry him. She had me laughing with that one! He is handsome! We filled out all the paperwork and had gone prepared with pictures of our other dogs (who had gone over the rainbow bridge only a month before) and of our home. It's quite an ordeal to adopt an animal. They checked us all out and we passed. So we set out in a snowstorm to get Buddy. That was his name and we kept it. It fit his personalty as we knew it and he truly is a Buddy. The storm really wasn't that bad, but there are a few things I probably would have postponed due to the weather. Picking up Buddy was not one of them. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0GSlQqtZbzo/TViUw35MKFI/AAAAAAAAAYw/RqvgQH_DqT8/s1600/Mr.+Buddy+Conrad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0GSlQqtZbzo/TViUw35MKFI/AAAAAAAAAYw/RqvgQH_DqT8/s320/Mr.+Buddy+Conrad.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">Buddy's Throne!</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Once we had Buddy in our home for a few weeks, we realized he needed a friend. We had had 2 dogs and had every intention of getting a second. But decided to move a bit quicker. My March 17th we had a second dog. I'll write more in March about Buddy's buddy Darla.<br />
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Buddy is just the sweetest dog. But really all dogs are sweet! When we got him he was between 1 and 2 years old and we were his fourth owner! He started out as a pup with a couple station at Ft. Dix in New Jersey. When his people were deployed to Afganastan, he went into the pound and a few months later he was adopted by a 70 year woman. Mind you, he's 90 lbs and although not at all mean or aggressive, it is Buddy's world and he kind of does what he wants. She quickly discovered he was a bit too much for her and back to the pound he went. His next home was to a man named Ross, who as I recall, trained police dogs. Ross taught Buddy some better habits (which I have not followed thru on, sorry Ross!). Ross had to have heart surgery and could not give Buddy the attention he felt he needed so with tears in his eyes, he brought Buddy to the rescue agency we adopted Buddy from. We were lucky in that we were able to communicate with Ross before and after adopting Buddy. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cqSHanzq7sE/TViS0Ejc2OI/AAAAAAAAAYg/NDf4C5vDuv0/s1600/DSC05660.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cqSHanzq7sE/TViS0Ejc2OI/AAAAAAAAAYg/NDf4C5vDuv0/s320/DSC05660.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>I left a package of paper lunch bags on the counter. Won't do that again!</i></span> </td></tr>
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</tbody></table>It took a while for him to settle in. No surprise there since he had moved around so much and had little stability in his life. We had to learn what we could and could not do. Leaving food, out, especially chocolate, was a no-no. He got in to lots of things because there were there! He had a package of potato rolls, a loaf of bread, he's chewed on several travel coffee mugs and had a few packages of chocolate chip cookies. I caught him one morning with a bag of dark chocolate dipped marsh mellows, individually wrapped. He was SO intent on eating them he didn't even know I was there. I totally surprised him. And all that was within the first year. Because he is so big, he can put his front feet on the counter and reach far. So it is a challenge to get things far enough away or high enough. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NsgQQRo1kTE/TVhvyt5Ni-I/AAAAAAAAAX4/RiV8vCYjOoc/s1600/Buddy+in+the+yard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NsgQQRo1kTE/TVhvyt5Ni-I/AAAAAAAAAX4/RiV8vCYjOoc/s320/Buddy+in+the+yard.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Then there's all the fun he had outside when we first got him. After he was here a few months he took a liking to rolling in ground hog poop. That was pretty nasty. He had lots of baths and he and my husband had a bit of a difficult time developing a bond. But, that habit passed quickly and they became good friends. Buddy is Chuck's shadow, both inside and outside. Outdoors is not his favorite place to be. Unless you are outside. And even then, he might decide he's had enough. He has a fear of anything that buzzes. So although he would love to lounge on the deck in the sun in the summer, the flies drive him absolutely crazy. I can't seem to reason with him that maybe the grass would be better? We try to spend early mornings on the deck with coffee and a book. Some days he digs little holes and eats dirt or grass. Boys will be boys! <br />
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</tbody></table>As you can see below, Buddy love the sun. And he shares the little spots of sun with his best friend in the world, Darla. <br />
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Happy Valentines Day!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Colleenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06158949884724708133noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001359944285218990.post-65760938266027498192011-01-31T06:40:00.001-05:002011-01-31T06:41:21.043-05:00One World One Heart 2011<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://draft.blogger.com/%20http://awhimsicalbohemian.typepad.com/a_whimsical_bohemian/2010/12/annoucning-the-fifth-and-final-one-world-one-heart-event-.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="158" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-HwtPLMIs2g/TUXxIcakDHI/AAAAAAAAAW4/btRrnDTn2mY/s200/owoh.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal">It’s the end of January and while I'm trying to stay warm and marveling at all the snow we have here in central Jersey, I'm also dreaming of the spring and my garden (and the mud!). But before I go too far off into thoughts of spring, I am taking a little trip through the blog world, courtesy of <a href="http://awhimsicalbohemian.typepad.com/a_whimsical_bohemian/one-world-one-heart-1.html">One World One Heart</a>. Doesn't the name just sound wonderful?! In its fifth year, One World One Heart is an amazing event organized by Lisa Swifta of <a href="http://awhimsicalbohemian.typepad.com/a_whimsical_bohemian/">A Whimsical Bohemian</a>, who I might add is a very talented artist and she must not sleep because I just cannot figure out how she has time to do all she does as well as OWOH. Of course, there is the possibility that all of the characters she creates come to life in January and February to help her? </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I am very excited to participate this year. Last year 1,088 bloggers from 40 countries took a two week whirl wind tour of each others blogs. What is OWOH? It brings together bloggers across the globe who share a common interest. For me, three things make this fun, first there is this long list of blogs (1,088 last year!) that I can meander through, visiting people around the world, knowing that they all are connected by One World One Heart. This is better than the random visiting I seem to do. Second, everyone has a door prize and you can leave a comment to enter to win! And finally, I am hoping to make some new blog friends. Here's my door prize.</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-HwtPLMIs2g/TUXx_6VbkOI/AAAAAAAAAW8/cbBAbojvNJg/s1600/hand+made+notecards.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="293" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-HwtPLMIs2g/TUXx_6VbkOI/AAAAAAAAAW8/cbBAbojvNJg/s320/hand+made+notecards.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Handmade note cards from original watercolors</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal">Three handmade blank note cards (and envelopes). The images on the cards are from my original artwork. The note card on the left is the Bar Harbor Shore Path, the top right is Long Pond, Mt. Desert Island and the third card is a sure sign of spring, Tulips. My medium of choice is watercolor. I’ve tried pastels and colored pencil, but always come back to watercolor because I love the freedom. My favorite thing to paint are landscapes and typically I paint somewhat abstractly. I’ve recently started to look for other things to do with my artwork. These note cards are fun. Adding the different papers with the images is kind of like framing artwork. I’m also experimenting with jewelry and fabric but both of those endeavors will require a bit more time. Before the end of OWOH I may have a few more cards to add to this bunch. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>How to win?</b> Leave a comment and your e-mail before midnight, February 16th. The winner will be selected using random number generator on February 17th and announced the same day. The cards will be mailed shortly thereafter.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">Thanks for visiting. Hope to see you again.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">Blessings,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">Colleen</span>Colleenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06158949884724708133noreply@blogger.com100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001359944285218990.post-22532827461525676522011-01-25T23:07:00.002-05:002011-02-01T13:30:51.399-05:00A FUN Visit to the Library of CongressIt will be fun, and you can visit from the comfort of your home! I discovered a while ago that the Library of Congress has an amazing photo collection. Once in a while something jogs this poor little memory of mine and I check out the photographs.<br />
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Take a quick peek at the <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/">Library of Congress</a> main page and when you have time to explore, go back to look for pictures of your state or town or something in particular you might be interested in. I also discovered they have a Flickr photostream. It's not organized, at least not that I could tell. I got a bit lost looking at pictures. There are over 650 pages. Needless to say I did not see all of them, or come any where close to seeing all of them. I did see a picture of Connie Mack. Anyone know who that is? He was a rather well known team manager for the Philadelphia Athletics back in the early 1900s. There was a stadium named in his honor. It was demolished in the 50s or 60s.<br />
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Here's a few things I found in the Photochrom Prints:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-HwtPLMIs2g/TT-bVCUobaI/AAAAAAAAAWM/tv8PtyFiVvk/s1600/CA+Orange+Grove.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="210" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-HwtPLMIs2g/TT-bVCUobaI/AAAAAAAAAWM/tv8PtyFiVvk/s400/CA+Orange+Grove.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Orange Grove, California</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-HwtPLMIs2g/TT-bacwa3xI/AAAAAAAAAWY/DFdBuhxUbRU/s1600/southdome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-HwtPLMIs2g/TT-bacwa3xI/AAAAAAAAAWY/DFdBuhxUbRU/s400/southdome.jpg" width="210" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">South Dome, Yosemite</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-HwtPLMIs2g/TT-bojipE6I/AAAAAAAAAWg/a8FQMJd-W9o/s1600/Cromwells+Bridge+county+Cork.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="236" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-HwtPLMIs2g/TT-bojipE6I/AAAAAAAAAWg/a8FQMJd-W9o/s320/Cromwells+Bridge+county+Cork.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cromwell's Bridge, County Cork</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-HwtPLMIs2g/TT-bW9mwfMI/AAAAAAAAAWQ/ZcxFVaS0zzk/s1600/princeton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="251" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-HwtPLMIs2g/TT-bW9mwfMI/AAAAAAAAAWQ/ZcxFVaS0zzk/s320/princeton.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nassau Hall, Princeton University</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-HwtPLMIs2g/TT-bbjBBTXI/AAAAAAAAAWc/5VzD9Gs7r8E/s1600/Belle+Isle+Forest+Drive.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="232" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-HwtPLMIs2g/TT-bbjBBTXI/AAAAAAAAAWc/5VzD9Gs7r8E/s320/Belle+Isle+Forest+Drive.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detroit, Belle Isle, Forrest Drive</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Colleenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06158949884724708133noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001359944285218990.post-71478663660664200942011-01-16T21:36:00.000-05:002011-01-16T21:36:24.228-05:00The Art of Fern I. Coppedge, 1883-1951<div style="text-align: left;">Fern I. Coppedge was one of the Pennsylvania impressionist artists and part of a 20th century art movement centered around Bucks County Pennsylvania, mainly New Hope. The movement was often referred to as the “New Hope School" or the "Pennsylvania School" of landscape painting. The artists of the movement came to prominence in Bucks County after 1915, or after two popular shows, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armory_Show">Armory Show</a> at New York City’s 69th Street Armory that introduced New Yorkers to modern art and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama-Pacific_International_Exposition">Panama Pacific International Show</a> a World’s Fair In San Francisco.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-HwtPLMIs2g/TTOahrh0XjI/AAAAAAAAAVc/ufzTto19n-w/s1600/Coppedge+Road+To+Lumberville.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="287" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-HwtPLMIs2g/TTOahrh0XjI/AAAAAAAAAVc/ufzTto19n-w/s320/Coppedge+Road+To+Lumberville.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Road to Lumberville</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Although there were three notable artists from the New Hope School, John Fulton Folinsbee, Walter Emerson Baum and George Sotter, Fern Coppedge was quite well known. Fern was born in 1883 in Illinois and dreamed of becoming an artist from her early teenage years. She found inspiration in the reflection of sunlight off of snow and sea. She learned on a visit to her sisters’ watercolor class of the wonderful possibilities that paint would provide. She later attended the Art Institute of Chicago, the Art Students League of New York, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-HwtPLMIs2g/TTOfXodb31I/AAAAAAAAAVg/hzcVMjKJht8/s1600/Coppedge+The+Delaware+Valley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="308" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-HwtPLMIs2g/TTOfXodb31I/AAAAAAAAAVg/hzcVMjKJht8/s320/Coppedge+The+Delaware+Valley.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Delaware Valley</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Fern was also a member of a group called the “<a href="http://www.tfaoi.com/newsmu/nmus16c.htm">Philadelphia Ten</a>“. A group of ten women artists who exhibited together, both in Philadelphia and in traveling exhibitions, most of whom had studied at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women or the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. It's believed that while at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts she met and possibly studied under Daniel Garber, another well known Pennsylvania Impressionist who introduced her to the New Hope area. Fern painted the villages and farms of Bucks County mostly under the cover snow. She also painted harbor scenes from Gloucester, Massachusettes where she spent summers. She worked directly from nature, tying her canvas to a tree during winter storms! She was not a studio painter. She painted outisde in the winter in a bearskin coat, with earmuffs and gloves. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-HwtPLMIs2g/TTOnBuWK1pI/AAAAAAAAAVk/stNq90olG94/s1600/coppedge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="304" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-HwtPLMIs2g/TTOnBuWK1pI/AAAAAAAAAVk/stNq90olG94/s320/coppedge.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Backroad to Pipersville</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
In the book <em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FPennsylvania-Impressionism-Brian-H-Peterson%2Fdp%2F0812237005%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dbooks%26qid%3D1180451023%26sr%3D1-1&tag=argonzark&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">Pennsylvania Impressionism</a></em> by Brian H. Peterson there appears the following quote from Fern<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><i>People used to think me queer when I was a little girl because I saw deep purples </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>and reds and violets in a field of snow. I used to be hurt over it until I gave up </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>trying to understand people and concentrated on my love and </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>understanding of landscapes. Then it did not make any difference.</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-HwtPLMIs2g/TTOaeW5z0DI/AAAAAAAAAVU/pNnuDP3uJ4o/s1600/Coppedge+Lambertville+Church.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-HwtPLMIs2g/TTOaeW5z0DI/AAAAAAAAAVU/pNnuDP3uJ4o/s320/Coppedge+Lambertville+Church.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lambertville Church</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
I love her use of color in the winter scenes. She brings an otherwise white, somewhat bland landscape to life, without it looking unreal. She captures those colors that are truly there if you only take the time to look. She also helps us see the shimmering colors and changing light, which we all too often miss as well. She captured the beauty of the area. Luckily for us, it's still just as beautiful here.<br />
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New Hope is still an artist colony and tourist area. It’s just across the river, and up a bit, from us.<br />
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Blessings,<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "FG Jayne"; font-size: 18pt;">Colleen</span></div>Colleenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06158949884724708133noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001359944285218990.post-45692283276187070672011-01-12T22:34:00.003-05:002011-01-23T21:51:49.772-05:00An ETSY Treasury inspired by the snowIt snowed again last night. We did not get as much as NY! But we got enough! I love the snow. It's the cold, windy weather I'm not so fond of. It seems you can't have one without the other! The sparkling of the snow in the sun inspired me to create an ETSY treasury. What is an ETSY treasury? It's a collection of items (a treasure chest if you will) with a common theme. It's serves many purposes:<br />
<ul><li> I get to "window shop" looking for fun things and inspiration and ideas. It is AMAZING what's out there.</li>
<li>I get to share what I find with you - always fun. </li>
<li>I sent a short note to the artists whose items are my treasury. It's a way to meet artist, so it is a little networking tool.</li>
<li>But really most of all it's just plain fun. Music is playing in the background and in between songs, there is the music of doggie snores! </li>
<li>And people do this for you so it's nice to reciprocate, or pay it forward? </li>
</ul>Here is what the treasury looks like. If you click on the link below the Treasury you can then click on any of the individual items to view them or go window shopping in the shops.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4d2e6d90b98a8eef61d10a7a/snowy-icy-sparkling-january" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-HwtPLMIs2g/TS5veyMYw-I/AAAAAAAAAVQ/2wAqJWS50oY/s640/Snowy+Icy+Sparkling+january+copy.jpg" width="616" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
<a href="http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4d2e6d90b98a8eef61d10a7a/snowy-icy-sparkling-january">http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4d2e6d90b98a8eef61d10a7a/snowy-icy-sparkling-january</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<a href="http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4d2e6d90b98a8eef61d10a7a/snowy-icy-sparkling-january"> </a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">Blessings,</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "FG Jayne"; font-size: 18pt;">Colleen</span></div>Colleenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06158949884724708133noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001359944285218990.post-3792247969187335712011-01-09T22:20:00.004-05:002011-01-09T22:31:54.662-05:00Recipe Card - Mrs. Smith's Onion Pie<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-HwtPLMIs2g/TSps22SVnJI/AAAAAAAAAUY/Ln5j-M-_bOk/s1600/onion+pie+recipe+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br />
<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>I made recipe cards to go with the breads I gave at Christmas time and thought it would be fun to share. There are so many places on the web to find fun graphics I thought this might be fun to dig into to my recipes and share some with you. Mrs. Smith's Onion Pie happens to be one of my favorite recipes. It's SO easy to make and the taste is worth singing about! The onions are sweet and the Swiss cheese like velvet.</i></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-HwtPLMIs2g/TSp84_v5ftI/AAAAAAAAAU4/fJXY4vt_0Fo/s1600/onion+pie+recipe+copy2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="280" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-HwtPLMIs2g/TSp84_v5ftI/AAAAAAAAAU4/fJXY4vt_0Fo/s400/onion+pie+recipe+copy2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>CLICK on card to open large version to print</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Who</i></span><b> </b><span style="font-size: small;"><i> is Mrs. Smith? She was like a second mom to me. I actually had two second Mom's. I'll tell you about the other one later. Mrs. Smith was my first, second mom, confused yet! The Smiths moved away in 1967 to Ithaca, New York. It's a beautiful place, we've visited often, but I still miss her! She was full of love! Everything was fun. What comes to mind when I think of Gwen are waffles. If I was at the Smith's in the morning or at lunch time, Gwen made waffles. I must have been at their house quite often because I remember a lot of waffles! She played a game with Guy, her son, and I where she would lie perfectly still on the couch and we would hide little army men all over her, in the folds of her clothes, in her hair, in her socks. It kept us busy for quite a while. I realized in my 30s or so talking with someone about it one day that she was actually napping AND entertaining us - oh how clever! I remember she made me feel loved and so special and I spent a lot of time at their house. </i></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><span style="font-size: small;"><i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I hope you like the recipe card. I hope to have another one for you in February. </i></span> <br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Blessings,</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "FG Jayne"; font-size: 18pt;">Colleen</span></div>Colleenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06158949884724708133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001359944285218990.post-52862682035253784062011-01-08T22:25:00.000-05:002011-01-08T22:25:48.518-05:00Welcome to a new follower<span style="font-family: inherit;">Welcome to Brenda from Oceanside California. Thanks </span>for following! Brenda has an Etsy Site <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/brendashandmade">http://www.etsy.com/shop/brendashandmade</a> and a blog <a href="http://www.brendashandmade.blogspot.com/">http://www.brendashandmade.blogspot.com</a>. Please stop by and visit Brenda. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-HwtPLMIs2g/TSkl1oaL4RI/AAAAAAAAAUI/mk389FsES9o/s1600/we+like+followers+penguins.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="148" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-HwtPLMIs2g/TSkl1oaL4RI/AAAAAAAAAUI/mk389FsES9o/s200/we+like+followers+penguins.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Photo from Pixdaus.com; posted by peasant</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i> I love followers, both on Facebook and on this Blog. </i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Please share Edge of the Woods Studio / Conrad Designs with your friends.</i></b></div>Colleenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06158949884724708133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001359944285218990.post-65106508306395901722011-01-06T21:54:00.002-05:002011-01-23T21:52:09.102-05:00Meet another Etsy artist . . . Rita from Surfing SilverI’d like to start to share with you some of the wonderful artists on Esty. First up is <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/surfingsilver">Surfing Silver</a>. When I first found this shop, Rita was making beautiful surf-inspired jewelry. She is still doing that but she has now expanded into custom work, making pieces from your child’s artwork. Take a look at the pieces below. They are amazing . And what a great feeling for a child, or parent, or grandparent, to see their artwork transformed this way. I can only imagine how much fun this must be for Rita. Here is a little bit about Rita and some pictures of the jewelry, as well as the links to her Etsy shop <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/surfingsilver">http://www.etsy.com/shop/surfingsilver</a> and to her facebook page <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/SurfingSilver/282442721016">http://www.facebook.com/pages/SurfingSilver/282442721016</a> <br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/61578128/sacred-lotus-silver-earrings" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="193" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-HwtPLMIs2g/TSZ2xisz8aI/AAAAAAAAATo/Uo-F_Ulw2LY/s200/lotus+earrings.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="color: black;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><h1><span style="font-size: x-small;">Sacred Lotus Silver Earrings </span></h1></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="color: purple; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><i>ABOUT RITA . . . Born in So California and lived there all my life except for a brief stint in Hawaii. As a child and adolescent in So Cal I lived in a house where we could see the ocean all day, everyday. Having a houseboat at Lake Powell allows me to live on the water for a time each year. Being an artist I have always been fascinated with water and especially moving water. I have studied the movement of water for years. When I first started working with PMC all of my other art immediately went on hold and my paints have been put aside for now. I never thought I would get into 3D sculpture, but I have found that carving has become my favorite thing now, and my pieces are taking on a sculptural quality. I am constantly evolving so I'll just have to see where this takes me. I was trained by the world famous metal smith Tim McCreight and I am guild certified in PMC techniques by RioGrande. I currently belong to the PMC Guild and teach PMC classes.</i></span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/62535234/your-childs-artwork-unique-shapes-larger" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="174" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-HwtPLMIs2g/TSZ2iOaAgBI/AAAAAAAAATI/ftMoO4CEg_c/s200/child+artwork+2.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Your Child's Artwork</b></td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-HwtPLMIs2g/TSZ2q2C-hlI/AAAAAAAAATU/nOCa5btooiM/s1600/silver+wave+bangle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-HwtPLMIs2g/TSZ2q2C-hlI/AAAAAAAAATU/nOCa5btooiM/s200/silver+wave+bangle.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><h1><span style="font-size: x-small;">Silver Wave Bangle Bracelet</span></h1></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/65242045/your-childs-artwork-made-into-a-silver" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-HwtPLMIs2g/TSZ2osgu5vI/AAAAAAAAATQ/SF8D_RybCVo/s200/child%2527s+artwork.jpg" width="192" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Your Child's Artwork</b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/54305813/cloudbreak-at-tavarua-womens-version" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-HwtPLMIs2g/TSZ2ut-hVGI/AAAAAAAAATY/SOZmOLeQlUQ/s200/cloud+break.jpg" width="198" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Cloudbreak at Tavarua</b></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/64821465/your-childs-handprints-or-footprints" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-HwtPLMIs2g/TSZ2lQy9wTI/AAAAAAAAATM/nFWaRGVS9E4/s200/footprint.jpg" width="185" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Foot (or hand) print of a loved one</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b> </b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">So, what did you think. Don't you wish you had your kids artwork? Or maybe even your own from days gone by! And the waves! Do they make you feel good. Can you feel the warm sun! It works for me!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Thanks! </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "FG Jayne"; font-size: 18pt;">Colleen</span></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Colleenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06158949884724708133noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001359944285218990.post-47105477313356825232011-01-01T14:22:00.000-05:002011-01-01T14:22:12.910-05:00Happy New YearI wish you all a happy, healthy and safe New Year filled with god's blessings.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyoTkTje1kT3hmGcAx8wHQORnbAi_K_HkKquHIFBfX9fvV72SvjVtWKjw2fD0cMQCzcARwQ1cT0diRLB4wyz6xdhSp2vnjSx38z1q7zhx8k4Dfr-1IMJ1NvCWEN-XcLrwf6Z7UuKCkJdY/s1600/P1000013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyoTkTje1kT3hmGcAx8wHQORnbAi_K_HkKquHIFBfX9fvV72SvjVtWKjw2fD0cMQCzcARwQ1cT0diRLB4wyz6xdhSp2vnjSx38z1q7zhx8k4Dfr-1IMJ1NvCWEN-XcLrwf6Z7UuKCkJdY/s400/P1000013.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>Santa brought me a new camera and a book and the supplies to learn Chinese brush painting. Lots of new things to learn. Here's a picture of our back yard the day after Christmas. We just missed a white Christmas. I've tried my hand at Chinese brush painting. I am having fun experimenting with the brushes and paper, both different from the brushes and paper I am used to. The paper is placed on a blanket to soak up the water, with weights on either side to hold it down. I am used to taping the paper to a hard board to keep the paper from buckling when it's wet from water or wet paint. Brushes are held straight up, instead of at an angle. I should have something besides doodle lines and dots to show soon!<br />
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I am starting the year out in a Etsy Treasury. Here is a picture of it and here's the link <a href="http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4d1f460929328eefa772df6a/2011-resolution?ref=pr_treasury">http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4d1f460929328eefa772df6a/2011-resolution?ref=pr_treasury</a>.<br />
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Lots of great items in this Treasury. It is always fun to look at what other people make and learn about what inspires them.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-HwtPLMIs2g/TR945OaRxVI/AAAAAAAAAPM/oO16JLXrMjM/s1600/Treasury+1_1_11+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-HwtPLMIs2g/TR945OaRxVI/AAAAAAAAAPM/oO16JLXrMjM/s640/Treasury+1_1_11+copy.jpg" width="537" /></a></div>Colleenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06158949884724708133noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9001359944285218990.post-1795383765160963972010-12-28T20:06:00.000-05:002010-12-28T20:06:31.468-05:00Welcome to a new follower<span style="font-family: inherit;">Welcome to Julie fr</span>om <a href="http://maxiesknitwear.blogspot.com/">Maxine's Knitwear</a> from Auckland. Thanks for following! Julie says on her blog<br />
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<i><span style="color: black;">"</span><em style="color: black;">Since 2004, my husband and I have been involved in supporting special needs orphans in China. Many of the children we support became orphans due to poverty, and have been cared for by the New Day Foster Home in a small village outside of Beijing. You can read more about the New Day story on their website at</em><a href="http://www.newdaycreations.com/foster/" style="color: black;"><em> </em></a><em style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.newdaycreations.com/foster">www.newdaycreations.com/foster</a></em></i><em><span style="color: #3366ff;"><i><span style="color: black;"> Maxies Knitwear was born out of a desire to help these special needs children. For every item sold, 25% of the profit will be donated by us to the New Day Foster Home. So each time you purchase an item from Maxies Knitwear, you are contributing towards the needs of a small child in China. Isn’t that exciting?! "</span></i></span></em><br />
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<div style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The New Day Foster Home children's stories are amazing and will touch your heart</span><em>. </em></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><em><span style="color: #3366ff;"></span></em></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><em><span style="color: #3366ff;"></span></em></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><em><span style="color: #3366ff;"></span></em></div><em><span style="color: #3366ff;"><br />
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</span></em>Colleenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06158949884724708133noreply@blogger.com0