Sooooo Beautiful

It's almost impossible to explain my feelings of gratitude and wonder toward my ability to see and hear as I go about my life.
To me, everything around me is a photo in action.

While in Skagway, Alaska, I took this photo while making my way back to the cruise ship!
As I was walking, I "saw" this as a photo in my mind before I took the photo! It's always a challenge--will my photos show the beauty I see in my mind. What do you think?

My wreath

Well, how do you like it? It's not what I had planned but . . . I'm happy how it turned out because my favorite color is purple, so it can't be all bad, right?

The Best Laid Plans

of mice and men! Have you ever heard that phrase? I'm sure you have--maybe when you were in high school, you have to read John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men"!
The phrase, though, is from Robert Burns' poem "To a Mouse" written in 1785.

See all the stuff in the photo?
My friend, Lisa P., said she was going to make a flower wreath and showed me the flowers she had made--totally cute! We were at Michaels at the time and the more I thought about her making a flower wreath, the more I wanted to make one too.
So while at Michaels, I picked out various spools of ribbon and some purple-ish bead picks.

I looked at this as a challenge to see who could make the cuter wreath! I love challenges!!!!

I went home and picked out some papers (all papers used are from The Angel Company), and proceeded to make some flowers.
I used several different punches, stickled each flower, sponged all their edges (I don't like white edges), and used a bone folder to "round" all the petals. I then picked several flowers of various sizes and inserted a flower brad to hold them all together!
LOTS OF WORK!

I painted my wreath base and then tied the ribbons around the base. Once I had all ribbons tied, I started to lay the flowers I had made and thought, "oh my gosh, this looks like doodoo!"
In my mind I had thought the flowers would go with the ribbons but they didn't!

Now what?
Well, I wrapped some white/purple-ish fibers around the wreath (kinda in between the ribbons) to tone down some of the color and tried some other flowers I had made. Nope. Still looked like doodoo!

I decided to just add the purple-ish bead picks and call it a day! You can see Lisa's wreaths on her blog. I think she won the challenge for sure! I LOVE both her wreaths!

I plan on making another wreath, using the paper flowers I already made. Wish me luck!
Oh, check back tomorrow to see my finished wreath (the one with no paper flowers)!

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes!

Or out of your hand! Zip is smokin'!!!!!!!!!
Yellowstone is full of geysers! From a distance, it looks like smoke from a fire doesn't it?
About a thousand known geysers exist worldwide, roughly half of which are in Yellowstone. That's a lot of geysers!!!!!

Hot Hot Hot!!!!!

Just imagine, walking by this pool of hot water, hearing the bubbling of the water, feeling the heat hit your skin, and then losing your balance and falling in! Ouch! That's what happens to lobsters and that's why I won't eat them! Poor little lobsters!

Sooooo, question--what is the best known geyser in Yellowstone?

Grin and Bear It!

What a place!
We got to see a grizzly bear!!! It didn't matter that it was in a zoo-like setting either!
We got to see a grizzly bear!!!!!!!! The Discovery Center is located in West Yellowstone and offers visitors a chance to experience the world of grizzly bears and gray wolves. All the animals at the Center are unable to survive in the wild.

While we were watching the bears, we witnessed two of them fighting. One bear started to chase another bear. We thought they were just playing around but NO!!!! The bear being chased stopped and there was a face-off (lots of growling, snarling, mouths open, paws waving), it was unreal. I got it all on video too!

The bear being chased hurt its paw on a rock while running. We found out later, that it needed medical care and had to be separated from all the other bears! Poor little bear!

Grizzly bears are HUGE!

The Center is home to grizzly bears from as far away as Alaska and as close as Yellowstone. Each bear has something in common--they came here after becoming nuisance bears or orphaned cubs of nuisance bears.

What's a nuisance bear you ask?

A nuisance bear is a bear who has learned to obtain food from people, damage property in search of food or become aggressive toward people and are usually killed. Instead of being destroyed, the eight bears that reside at the Center were rescued and are now ambassadors for their counterparts in the wild.

We totally enjoyed our visit to Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center!

So Squirrelly!!!!

Is this little guy cute or what?
It's a mantled ground squirrel, a small chipmunk-like squirrel.
I spotted him while we were walking around looking at geysers! I couldn't believe my luck! Wildlife!!!! Yea!!!!

Sooooooooo cute too!

Yellowstone is a photographer's dream that's for sure!

Riding in Style!

I would NEVER in a million years ever be accused of being a "motorcycle mama"! I am so NOT into motorcyles! BUT if I ever did ride a motorcycle, this would be my idea of "riding in style" that's for sure! I love the color of the motorcycle and LOVE the fur seats!

Yes, I know--it's not politically correct to use and/or wear real fur and I agree! I'm not for killing animals just for the fun of it!
I would like to think the furry animal skins now adorning these seats were taken only after a loooong and meaningful life--please don't bust my bubble okay?!

Petrified Redwood!

The Petrified Tree in Yellowstone is located near the main park road from Mammoth Hot Springs to Tower-Roosevelt. It's the only remaining petrified tree in the area and has a fence around it to protect it from vandals and collectors. There used to be two other petrified trees in Yellowstone but were removed piece by piece by park visitors who thoughtlessly took the pieces home as souvenirs. The trunk is indistinguishable from present day redwoods in California.

It was almost impossible to get a photo of the tree without catching some of the fence! Which I thought was kinda sad--darn vandals!!!!!!

I thought I spotted a vandal trying to take a piece of the tree but turns out it was a "weed" disguised as a tourist!!!

If you go to Yellowstone--take the time to see what is left of this "stone" tree, even though it's behind bars--a prisoner now forever!

Yellowstone!

Yellowstone National Park!
America's first national park--did you know that? I didn't.
It's located in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho--it is HUGE.

Seeing this national park was truly a dream come true. Everything about the park is beautiful.
Is this sunset not beautiful? Oh my gosh, I love it.
In Yellowstone, there is a large variety of wildlife including grizzly bears, wolves, bison, and elk. And. . . yes. . . eagles.
I spotted several cars stopped in the middle of the road, so we slowed down to see what was up. Well, I saw this guy taking photos of something--I didn't know what but I followed the angle of his camera and saw this beautiful eagle sitting on a tree limb RIGHT ABOVE US!
I just about had a cow--the closest camera to me was Zip's so I took a couple of shots (not these). Zip slowly got out of the car (with his camera), and I took these two photos with my camera. Even though the photos are in sepia tone instead of in color, I think they are still incredible! We were so excited that we got to see an eagle. . . and so close to us too!

When we were in Alaska, we saw many eagles but they were very very far from us. We were told to look for tennis balls in the trees--each tennis ball would be an eagle's head! So you can imagine how far away we were if we could only see the white of its head.

Here in Yellowstone, we got to see an eagle almost up close and personal! Truly an awesome sight!

Are you ready for some football?

There were years when my "casual non-working" attire consisted of T-shirts! I had hundreds of T-shirts from just about everywhere we visited. What's more comfortable than T-shirts and jeans, right?
I'm so glad we are not the "formal" society we once were! Do you remember when going to the movies or going out to eat was something to "dress up" for?
These days, I don't get all gussied up unless I REALLY have to. Unlike many women who enjoy dressing up--I'm not one of them! I'm a shirt and jeans kinda gal, and I'm proud of it. I make no excuses, no rationalizations, no nothing! I am what I am!

If you want me to wear a dress or skirt and make that a REQUIREMENT, then you really don't want me to attend because I'm not gonna wanna do it.

BUT, I have to tell you something--I'm NOT into T-shirts anymore! The kind of T-shirts that are really for men. You know the ones, right? The baggy, almost huge, no matter what size you buy T-shirts that does NOTHING for your figure but makes you look even bigger than you are! So I just don't buy them anymore. Zip buys them and wears them. He even wears the T-shirts that WERE mine! Yes, even my stamping ones!

BUT, when I saw this T-shirt at the Mall of America, while waiting to have dinner with Rita W., well, I JUST HAD TO HAVE IT. I'll probably never wear it but that's beside the point!

We've been married 39 years now and football is a part of our lives. During those first couple of years, I tried to fight it. I wouldn't watch it. Nope, not me. It's boring. I could never tell who had the dang football anyway!

And what do they say when they all huddle up in a little tight circle and hit each other on the butt when they break????? Don't you think that's a little STRANGE?

I would try to have a conversation with Zip during, heaven forbid, the game and he would only half listen to me! Can you imagine that??????? I would test him to see if he was listening to me like, "your car just blew up in the driveway," and he would say, "sure, okay, fine, whatever you want to do!" What kind of answer is THAT????

Yes, I fought it, and I lost the battle. There is NO way Zip would ever NOT watch football. I think it's in the human male's genes! He LOVES watching football!

So, I had a choice--watch football with Zip or be the outcast in my own house for HOURS until the game ended!
Today, I am a conquered woman when it comes to football. I have been exposed to so much football that I actually think I like it and understand it now! I know that the Dallas Cowboys don't like the Washington Redskins for some reason and it's always a BIG DEAL for one team to beat the other team! I hate the Redskins because Zip hates the Redskins--what other reason is there to hate them?

I know that there are two brothers, the Mannings, who had a father who, I think, played football too. One brother, Eli, won the SuperBowl even! They do a lot of commercials too! Do I sound football smart?

Football has come a long way--I LOVE how nowadays, on the TV screen, you can tell where the first down places are because there are these cute yellow lines showing them! Way back when, I had to guess where they had to cross to make the first downs--very confusing!

I know that Brett Farve retired from the Green Bay Packers but then came back and is now playing for the Minnesota Vikings. I like Brett Farve even though he looks like he has a huge chunk of chewing tobacco in his mouth all the time! I think he got a raw deal from the team he was with! I think he should play until HE WANTS TO QUIT no matter how old he is!
It's really exciting here at the house when Farve plays his old team. I root for Farve and want to see him to whooop some butt.
When we went to the Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, I actually enjoyed myself. I LOVED seeing all the SuperBowl rings for all the years past. Oh, to have just one! They are gorgeous!
Yes, I have become a football fan FOR my husband. Personally, I can take football or leave it. I still don't know what the heck they are talking about in those little tight circles on the field. Calling the plays, what's for dinner, who has jock itch right now, who knows!

Oh. . . I gotta tell ya--I do hate watching the quarterback lick his fingers just before he gets the football from the center! Can you imagine how dirty his fingers are! Can you say "YUCK!"???
And why do they lift one of their legs too. It's like a ritual--lick fingers, lift leg. . . lick fingers, lift leg! It's crazy!
My FAVORITE thing to watch is an interception touchdown. I LOVE THAT. I don't care which teams does it; I love watching a player make an interception and then a run down the field to a touchdown! Boy, is that ever exciting!
Oh, another one of my favorites (even though I'm told the officials wearing the black and white uniforms frown on it) is to see what kind of dance or gesture a player does AFTER he has scored a touchdown. I think they should encourage the players to come up with innovative ways to celebrate a touchdown! Why not? Might widen the football fan base!

Football and T-shirts? I would sooooooooo much rather watch Carol Duval (sniff sniff) and stay in my jammies all day! :}

Another Red Hot November Calendar!

Almost forgot to include this one--created by Rose Huddleson!

November Calendars!

Created by Dolores Toepperwein!
Created by Karen Hicks!