Back at the Hunt…

I’m not sure why, but I haven’t had what it takes to participate in Ashley Sisk’s Scavenger Hunt Sunday for the last few weeks.  But today I managed to get ‘er done.  Here are this week’s prompts:  M is for…, What you saw today, Corner, Pink and Hands.  And here’s what I’ve got.

M is for a nice, hot Mug of coffee at Sylvester’s in Northampton.

Today started out with promise and a little sunshine, but by the time I got out to take pictures, it was overcast and not all that nice.  But as I was driving along, this little pop of red caught my eye.  Here is what I saw today.

This week, I went out to visit my daughter Carrie in Northampton, Massachusetts.  We went up on Mt. Holyoke and caught this view of the Connecticut River valley.  Here is the Connecticut River turning the corner.

PINK!

Yesterday, Greg and I attended the wedding of our son’s best friend, Bryan.  It was a delightful affair, casual and comfortable.  At the reception, we were each given a Mason jar with our names attached and were told “This is your glass for the night.  Fill it with whatever tastes right.”  I thought that was a nice “green” way of doing things.  I opted to fill my glass with a darn good micro-brew.  Here it is in my hand.

Archive dipping...

I dipped into my archives today and messed around with a photo I had no intention of leaving on my hard drive.  It is a challenge that I like....trying to turn something mediocre into something that I actually like.  Here it is for Tuesday Muse.

Best laid plans turn into this and that...

I had every intention of participating in Ashley Sisk's Scavenger Hunt Sunday this week.  I really enjoy the challenge of coming up with something appropriate for the prompts.  But this week, I just never seemed to be able to get to it.  The prompts this week were candy, pink or red, love, kisses and smile.  You can see that it is pretty obvious that I never got to anything that even vaguely resembled those prompts.  But here's what I did take this week...or at least a few of the pics I took this week.

We went out for lunch one day this week when I had my camera with me.  So I took a couple of shots.  I think that it could be argued that that first photo could fall under the category of love -- at least for me.  The second one could be red if you're color blind or maybe candy if you really, really love pickles.

This next photo reminds me of the way I felt before I got my knee replaced.

And these days, I feel a little more like this:

...Because while I can't do much about that fact that I'm not getting any younger, at least these days I'm standing up straight.  And that's a good thing.

Scavenger Hunt Sunday…

I managed to get my camera out this week and use it.  So I have entries for each of the Scavenger Hunt prompts:  forest, morning light, touch, newspaper and coffee or tea.  And here they are.

We live in a very forested area.  Most of the back roads around here look pretty much like this:

I don’t generally get up early, but I did one day this week.

I have an iPod Touch.  I am not altogether happy with it because I really liked my old Nano better and if it hadn’t stopped working, I would have been happy to keep it for another few years if not forever.  Here are my problems with the Touch.  It is too sensitive.  I listen to books all the time and one false move and I have lost my place.  I don’t know how many times I’ve had to listen to a chapter over because I accidentally touched something.  I also don’t like that it is so small.  When it falls to the bottom of my purse, I have a panic attack.  Not just because I am afraid I lost it but because I’m afraid it’s going to be touched and I will lose my place.  Okay, rant over.  On the bright side, I listen to books all the time and this baby has all my music and a number of books on it with room to spare.  That’s sweet!

OK!  I have been corrected by my husband Greg (aka Mr. Know-it-all).  I do not own an iPod Touch.  I own a Nano.  I thought it was an iPod Touch because you have to touch it to get it to do anything and you also have to touch it to mess it up.  I thought "Touch" was an accurate description for it so the name seemed appropriate.     I guess you can tell I'm not an Apple lover. 

I read the newspaper nearly every morning of my life.  Here’s some of the things I read this week.

Coffee.  It has to be coffee, preferably strong, black, organic and fair trade, but it has to be coffee! 

Linking to Ashley Sisk's Scavenger Sunday Hunt. 

Sunday Scavenger Hunt…

Here are my entries for this week’s Scavenger Hunt.

TRAVEL:  If you’ve followed my blog even a little bit, you know that I love to travel.  I feel very fortunate at this time of my life to be able to go to places that were out of reach when I was younger.  One of the things I really like about travel is the research that goes into the trip beforehand.  My “go to” travel books are the ones in the Eyewitness series.  I love these books because they are full of photos and you know I love photos.  By the time I ever get to the place we’re going, I have thumbed through the book a million times.  Currently, I am wearing out the Norway and Sweden books because that’s where I want to go next year.

SILLY:  Any of you out there who are living with a pug know that pug is the perfect definition of “silly.”  Our pug Olive is silly and she doesn’t really need to do anything to make herself that way.  She came out of the womb silly.   I mean, just look at her…  I consider having a pug is a true blessing because the pug’s innate silliness makes me laugh every day and it sure is good to laugh every day.

BLACK AND WHITE:

SPOTS:  We finally got a bit of rain this week.

PAPER:  I am old school.  I read the newspaper every day.  And on Sundays, I read two newspapers.  My favorite sections of The Boston Sunday Globe are the Ideas section and the book reviews.  I save those for last…well, I save the crossword puzzles for last really.  Anyhow, I love reading the newspaper.

The news is always easier to take with a good cup of black coffee.

Linking to Ashley Sisk's Scavenger Hunt Sunday.

Sunday Hunt…

It was another challenging week on the Scavenger Hunt…at least it was for me.  But I managed to get them all in.  And here they are:

Crossed:  I have been doing counted cross stitch for quite a few years now.  Here is a shot of one of my samplers completed in 1999.  I do finish a project occasionally.  This one was done, I thought, but at the very bottom of the sampler are four or five stitches that I forgot to cross (not shown here.)  I didn’t notice it until after it was framed.  Oh, well…

A Glimpse:  Here is a look into the Brookfield, Massachusetts town cemetery.  Isn’t this entry arch beautiful?  It is one of my favorite cemeteries to wander around in on a beautiful fall day

 as it is full of maples.

Handwritten:  I have terrible handwriting but manage to make it legible enough here.  This is one of my favorite quotes from Kenneth Grahame’s Wind in the Willows.  I will let you know here that we are off in a few days to travel the world again.  That’s what gave me the inspiration for this photo.  I might have time to post one more time before we leave but I have laundry and packing to look forward to so I might not be spending a lot of time with my camera and the computer.

Bliss:  Every morning my bliss comes in the form of organic, fair trade, dark roast coffee except when we’re on the road when I will drink any coffee as long as it contains caffeine.

Gray:  Here’s my grey Baggallini.  I love this bag!  I love its jaunty hot pink lining.  I love Baggallinis in general and carry nothing else these days.  I own one in each size for different occasions.  They never wear out and they keep me organized.  Well, sort of...  So here’s to my grey Baggallini!

Linking to Scavenger Hunt Sunday.