A Dramatic Sky

This poor blog has been so neglected lately! So my blog greeter, Marty, suggested that I give you a little visual photo treat from our trip last week to middle Kentucky. Specifically, he challenged me to show you an artsy-fartsy one, instead of the usual “post card” type. Challenge accepted!
Sunshine lasted only a few short minutes after our arrival at Shaker Village, and clouds hung over us the rest of the day. The clouds got more interesting as the day wore on, and I took a hurried snapshot as I came outside one of the buildings. I have to admit that the original photo looks very dull. But I knew a captured image had some potential after a few adjustments in Photoshop CS4.

Below is the original image, with no editing. I filled in a little of the branches on the pine tree on the lower left, adjusted the levels, and then played with the RGB color curve. That’s it. I was done with the magic in a couple of minutes. If you don’t routinely use a photo editing program, hopefully the comparison of these two photos will help convince you that a computer can be a great friend to a photographer in this digital age!

I plan to get back into the blogging groove this month, now that our home-life situation has settled down a bit. I am also looking forward to learning and playing more with digital images in the days ahead and sharing them with you!

Happy Thanksgiving!

BEST WISHES

FOR A WONDERFUL
THANKSGIVING CELEBRATION!

We are certainly counting our blessings right now!

On the Other Side

We are finally on the other side of our packing, moving, and house selling activities! Hip-hip-hooray!!! It has been grueling for the past couple of weeks, but we’re ecstatic that we have reached this point and can now begin a new chapter in our lives!

We have settled in pretty well at our rental quarters. We still have a bit more unpacking to do in our offices. The place is starting to feel like home and we have acclimated to an entirely different layout. We are very grateful to find a comfortable place for our “camping” period while we build our new cottage. Next week, we will purchase the lot and sign the contract with the builder.

But for now, we’re taking a much needed little vacation for the remainder of this week. We’ll be returning to Kentucky’s Beaumont Inn for another Thanksgiving celebration. This time we will be sharing the holiday and relaxing with two dear friends of ours. Thanksgiving 2009 will have a special meaning for us.

I greatly appreciate everyone’s good wishes during this lifetime milestone experience! It means so much to both of us. And I promise to catch up with all my blogging friends next month!

A Moving Experience

It took a day and a half, but the moving service got us over to our new, temporary home! They did a fine job and everything went well. We lucked out with good weather too. We moved many household essentials ourselves over the past week, so that helped streamline the work by the pros. The two big rooms in our rental’s basement also proved to be more than adequate for warehousing the majority of our furniture and long-term storage boxes.

The past month has been chaotic and tested our physical endurance. And we’re not over yet! Yep, we’re facing the dreaded “aftermath” of the moving experience! We still need to unpack everything for our two offices and set up our desktop computers. (I’m using a laptop right now.) We also have to make more trips back to our country cottage to clear out the garage, empty a few more cupboards, and complete tidying chores.

My knee has suffered some in the past few days, and I can sure tell that my current stamina leaves a lot to be desired. My poor hubby has been gotten some wear and tear on him too. We’re hoping that we can recharge our batteries and get some needed rest during the Thanksgiving holiday.

I appreciate all your good wishes and prayers. Our next milestone is the house closing next week. Please continue to keep us in your thoughts!

Dog Tired

Are we getting dog-tired yet? We’re getting there! It sure would be nice to veggie out on the couch and take some well-deserved naps.

ZzzzzzzZZzzzzZZzz…

But NO, we can’t rest yet! The movers are coming next week! So we’re still shaking our booties and getting ready for the big event.

Veterans Day

God bless our service men and women
who have protected us and won our freedoms.

Life is Getting Weird

Every day, it’s getting weirder than the day before. Nothing is where it is where it is supposed to be. Things have been rapidly disappearing into boxes, transported to another dimension of time and space. We wake up, go into rooms, and see stacks and stacks of boxes. We add to the piles during the day. Then some of the boxes get carted off to a new location. It is getting especially surreal now that we rented our temporary home this week. We have one foot in and one foot out of both places. And, we’re mentally trying to figure out future routines for everyday living in a vastly different configured space, while 90% of our possessions will remain packed away until next summer.

Numerous phone calls and visits are required to take care of countless moving and selling details. To-do lists are being updated. Address notifications are also underway. In the midst of all of this activity, we signed a contract for purchase of the new lot and are working on a draft contract with our builder. Despite the moving chaos, we have to focus and make firm, long-term decisions.

Through it all, we’re staying pretty calm and collected, except for a few temporary breakdowns with frustration and pain. We’re glad to be retired now so that the transition isn’t as daunting. We think back to 17 years ago and wonder how we did the last move along with job responsibilities. Of course, we were younger then and had more energy, so maybe that is the big difference!

November - A Look Ahead

What a difference a month makes! I would have never dreamed a month ago that my October plans for hobbies and relaxation would get completely altered! Who knew that Grey Havens cottage would suddenly be sold after many months of waiting? October turned out to be a surprise whirlwind of activities and emotions. November will shape up to be even busier! But no matter what, we will be taking countless moments to be thankful that our life plans are now becoming a reality. This Thanksgiving holiday will take on a whole new and special meaning for us!

Monumental changes are in store for us in the days ahead. We will continue our daunting job of packing. In a few weeks, we will be moving into a rental condominium home and assume a “camping campaign”, with most of our possessions stored in the basement of the rental home. With the sale of our property, we will say goodbye to our dear cottage which we built 17 years ago and the lovely country acreage that we reshaped. And, we will embark on the building of our new Grey Havens cottage in a villa subdivision just a few miles away. The new cottage will be ready for us in the May–June timeframe. We’re ready for the next life journey in store for us!

In the midst of all of this activity, there will be a little time for rest. Before all of these sudden changes happened, we made reservations to stay again at Kentucky’s historic Beaumont Inn for Thanksgiving. And this year, we will be joined by two dear friends of ours! It will be a glorious Thanksgiving celebration!

I will be posting as time permits this month and give you a few updates as we achieve our milestones. Thank you, my sweet friends, for your patience and support!