Christmas Cards

Generally, I like to have my cards done by now, but what with all the decorating, selling, and shopping, I only just began the other evening, getting about ten done before calling it quits for the night. But, while doing so, I came to a name that I swore I must have misspelled in my address book. Because we receive cards from these folks I knew I might still have one from a previous year that I could check. You see, it is hard for me to throw the cards away. Often times they sit in one of the end table drawers for a few years, then I go through them, reminisce, and only after that am I able to put them in the recycling bin. Much to my delight I hadn't thrown them all away, and what a treasure trove I found. Here's one I'll probably always keep just because it is so wonderful.

The truth is that most of the cards for purchase use poor quality paper, with both silly images and sentiments. It is very hard to find a memorable Christmas card, or at least it is for me. The stack contained some other gems, including one from Bruce's mom that I will never throw away either. Furthermore there was one from my Mom's best friend that's a keeper too. As it turns out, I did have the correct spelling of Neil which does not follow the "i" before "e" rule except after "c."

More and more people are skipping the tradition, and I think that's a shame. Some might be doing so because of the expense, but even at our poorest, I always sent cards. They tell the story of your life, and those you know and love. As does my address book. Years ago I finally realized that penciling in the names and addresses was the way to go because some folks move a lot, including our son Matthew who since leaving home has lived in Tallahassee, Atlanta, Chicago, and now London where he has remained the longest; I can't see him leaving London anytime soon! I've yet to erase those who have died, or for that matter, divorced. Perhaps I should, but it is all part of the story...

Probably because of the poor quality of available cards, more and more people are sending their own including multiple photographs of either themselves, or their children. One that came this year was from Bruce's former boss who nearly died of Lymphoma. He's his former boss because he's taken a new position at Darden. The photographs show he and his wife enjoying a trip to Italy, something that seemed like an impossibility a year ago.

Have I made my case? Probably not, but what the heck, I tried!

In other news, where do you suppose pictures go that don't load into Picasa? Last night, uploading some from my Nikon, which included some photos of shutters I want Bill to use on his new house, they simply disappeared. I've re-booted multiple times, thinking perhaps they got caught up somewhere, but no dice. The card also contained some amusing decorated yards, which seem to be lost in cyberspace. Good thing I had taken this one with my Olympus when I went to get orange juice. Located a few blocks from Red Hill grove, it is astonishing to me how they fit so much onto one yard!

Because I took it out my car window, and because I had a fixed lens, you are only seeing the half of it!

I don't know why it is that I so like cute snowmen, having never once seen one in person, but I do. Dropping off some shirts at the dry cleaners the other day I came across this,

except it was only on the red counter. Because my Olympus is always in my handbag,  I had to get a shot of it. Trying my best not to include the clutter of the surroundings, it was not working, until, and that's a big until, this nice young woman,

said, "I have an idea, I'll hold up one of our bags behind it!" Now that's a plan! Remember the old Cheers song about where everyone knows your name? That would be the folks at Spencers Dry Cleaners who are all just as friendly as can be. I was reminded of something that happened about four or five years ago. It was the day I took an image at home that I thought was SO GOOD that I actually printed it on my home printer, something I never do, and took it with me to show them!!! Basically, Bruce must have been out of town, and I was so excited, I wanted to show it to somebody! I just checked my book, and my hunch was right--it has sold more than 60 times. Now, if I could just do that again!

Strawberries are in season again,

taken this past Sunday at the market. You can pretty much always buy spinach and green onions, but I thought this turned out nice, so I'm including it as well.

Something is going haywire with Blogger today, and frankly I've had enough of it. Perhaps it is because they want to make all my photos, "Auto Awesome", or so the notification states. Thanks Google, but I just want my photos back!

Because this is such an odd post, I guess I'll throw this one in for good measure. A sunflower that has seen better days:

I just checked the preview of this post and I don't see one sparkly image amongst them, making me think Google is having a bad day. Hope you have just the opposite.

Now, off to begin the wrapping marathon......