The Life of Mrs. Miles

BARRY AND BILL'S ICE FISHIN' KIT
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Our twin brothers are turning ?? (haha, won't gossip about your possible age here - I'll let everyone 'speculate all on their own) I thought about making a card - but then I thought for the effort it would take I could make a little something that everyone can share in.



If you would like to say thanks to the Brothers for inspiring this kit I would suggest you visiting Barry's wife's Judy (our sister in law's) blog and leave a comment there. Unfortunately Bill does not have a blog, but I'm sure Barry would pass your greetings on to Bill. Just click HERE to be taken to Judy's blog!



Bill and Barry are (MUCH OLDER THAN ME) two wonderful, talented guys who are gifted in many ways. Barry is very skilled with his hands - building professional quality furniture, cabinets, cupboards and many other projects out of a variety of wood. He does not look at a tree as a tree, I'm sure his brain is always on overdrive making some wood item out of it! I bet every single one of us in the family has a bit of Barry's talent gracing our homes. In our home, we have a beautiful wooden fishing tackle box - far to nice and delicate to ever take out on the lake! Bill can 'turn a mean duck' - no, you quail eaters, I don't mean cooking it on an open fire, but I mean carving one out of wood. He can make loons appear out of a plain piece of wood. And of course, they like ICE FISHIN'



Because they must be MUCH OLDER THAN ME (haha) they have the wisdom to work out these amazing projects.



Barry, Bill, we wish you the best birthday ever. We hope you have a terrific day, and we know you will be spoiled by your lovely families! Our best wishes to you! We LOVE you!

SUMAC DECORATED BY NATURE!

I was out taking pictures when we got our first skiff of snow recently. Every little bit of grass or dried twig supported a tiny cap of snow, so I set out to capture the moment. I even inspired Judy to try her hand at catching the last remnants of summer's color in a withering orange daisy - I think her take on it was beautiful - which you'll see if you visit her blog.



We've sure had the entire spectrum of weather lately. Snow, rain, sun - and today has dawned with a soft blanket of fog lingering. I have been thinking of all you folk on the Washington/Oregon coast who have been hit so hard - how devastating for many of you!



Speaking of weather, it brings to mind an article I saw yesterday on climate - in particular one about Global Warming. I liked the viewpoint this was taken from. This scientist writes a "100 Year Letter" - basically a letter to his grandchildren, speaking about how the world was before we messed it up. He also invites concerned readers to compose their own 100 Year Letter. What would YOU write?

Simon Donner, a climate scientist at the University of British Columbia, contributed one of the “100-Year Letters” gaging ways to tell the climate story, which sprawls across time and geography and relates to every life decision, from turning off the lights to pulling a lever in a voting booth to choosing a vocation.

To find out more, just click HERE

SUMMER'S LAST COLOR
TOPPED WITH WINTER'S ICING SUGAR

Now that I've also opened up the conversation about phototgraphy - I must share a wonderful new feature I found for photos. If you are a Flickr user, (and if you're not, you should check out this FREE service) They have just added the ability for you to do some basic fixes to your photos. I would say they compare to the fixes you have with Picasa - but hay, a photographer can't have too many great (free) tools, right? I find Flickr a wonderful asset to my blogging, that along with the FLOCK browser - its a snap! Drag - drop, drag, drop, really, how hard can that be?



So how do you find the new photo editing feature for Flickr? Once you have uploaded a photo there, just look for the new little button above your photo that says Edit Photo - simple as that. In case you would like to read an article on it, just click HERE.

ICE CRYSTALS TOP MISS BROWN DAISY

I also came across another handy site - which I thought might come in handy, being that many churches etc may be giving powerpoint presentations. I found a site which offers a large array of FREE powerpoint presentation backgrounds - and they are NICE! Without further ado, here's the link for you - just click HERE.



Well, I must vanish again for a day or two - I'm helping my friend Olivia try to get some more Christmas kits ready for her store. My dear friend Melanie and I are going to spend the morning in our Jammies playing with ArtRage on the computers - she spent the night and we tore down the Lego Robots the gifted kids built in Miles last session with them. It took us several hours to seperate all the little pieces out, so we feel we deserve to play ... we may even get to share with you!



Have a wonderful day!