Off To See The Wizard

I wonder if the Wizard ever felt fragmented, I know I certainly do and the Scarecrow and Tin Man sure did. It's a good thing for places like Emerald City and Mrs. 4444's Friday Fragments, where we can all get our bits and pieces neatly organized.

Well I am not exactly off to see the Wizard, although that would be really nice. I am however off to the other side of the state to attend my future daughter-in-laws' bridal shower. If I was going to the Wizard I would ask him the ruby slippers so I could travel back and forth quicker.

*****
My son tells me his future Mother-in-law is much worse than I am about procrastinating. Now that I found extremely hard to believe as I am the queen of procrastination.  Although two days ago I was provided with proof of her level of procrastination, and while I have to admit she gets very high marks, I still think we may be about even. LOL

Two months ago he let me know that she would be calling me because she had a question for me. I finally got the call two days ago. Okay, that isn't all that bad. The question she had was that she is putting together a cook book for the kids and she would like it to include recipes from both families, and would I be willing to write up recipes so she could include them in the book. Awesome! I love the idea and of course am happy to do that. Then came the proof. It seems she wants to give the book not as a wedding present at the end of September but as a bridal shower gift this Saturday. Oh and we live on opposite sides of the state so she had to overnight me the recipe cards for me to fill them out. I received the package yesterday. I am so glad I requested only 12 cards. I have two left to write out. One I am not sure I will be able to finish in time as I am still waiting on the recipe which is a family recipe that I don't have but requested from my aunt in California.

*****

With less than a month to go and both my dress and my youngest daughters dress to make I am feeling a great deal like the White Rabbit at this moment. I know I shouldn't stress, it is actually plenty of time for to make the two dresses.

*****

Yesterday I set about the final steps of publishing my poetry book, only to realize I had missed one very important requirement. The publisher requires a minimum of 32 pages and my book is only 22 pages. Time to go searching for my older poems or put on the writing cap or maybe I should just make it a combo poetry and short stories. What do you think, all poetry or combination poetry and short stories? 

Have a great weekend!

Wild Wishes

It's Wishing time again! 

That is right we are half way through the week so it is time to let the universe know what we are wishing for. So here goes, oh powerful universe any one of these will do, thank you so kindly. :D

Isn't it PRETTY! It just needs to be red!

Yes, my wild wish is for a red and white Austin Healy!

Although I wouldn't mind a red 65 AC Cobra

 I am not picky! 

I would even be willing to settle for a newer Jaguar ftype.

I do believe I make this wish a bit too often, as my seven year old grandson pointed out a little red convertible sports car the other day and said 'don't worry Grandma, I will get you one when I grow up."

The universe has set the wheels in motion!

Now maybe I should wish that I will still be able to drive by the time my wish finally comes true..... LOL

That is my wish this week, so what is yours?

Come join us at Wednesday Wishes

and let the universe know your hearts desire.

Nature Hike

The Hanson-Larsen Memorial Park trails are extensive and yet I have only seen a very small portion of the trails. Here is a bit from my last little hike.

When I headed out the sky was still pretty overcast from the brief thunderstorm that had quickly passed through. The color is a bit off in this first shot but it will give you an idea of how beautiful  the clouds were.

The sky quickly cleared and left behind a beautiful day. It was still a bit warm but not too bad and not too humid.

 Thankfully the ground wasn't too wet either.

I was a bit surprised when I came across this giant spider web. Along the interstate in Virginia I had seen humongous spider webs but never had I seen what I would consider even large spider webs here in South Dakota. Until I saw these.

They are no where near as large as those in Virgina but large ball of web was at least two feet in diameter. Needless to say this was one time I was kind of glad to follow the trail rules and not leave the trail to get a closer look.

There wasn't as many wild flowers as the last time I walked the trail but there were still a few.

 And there were quite a few little creatures enjoying the afternoon.

There were also a lot of these. They remind me of a dandelion seeds but are much larger, about three to four inches in diameter. Yes, I am clueless most of the time when it comes to names of flowers, birds and trees.

I even saw a dear, although it was too quick for me and I missed capturing it with my camera. I hope you have enjoyed this little nature hike in Rapid City, South Dakota.

Wishing all happy travels

both real and virtual!

Just hopping happy on Friday

Happy Friday Everyone!

Yep it is that time again, the weekend is upon us and time to unload the bits and pieces from the week that didn't make it into the blog. Thankfully Mrs 4444's host the perfect blog hop for all our bits and pieces. 

Adrienne at My Memory Art wrote a post this week that I just have to share. The wisdom and beauty in her words and photography are well worth reading over and over again.

Image Source and link to purchase

Just when I had begun to loose hope this woman comes along and restores my hope. When I read about this 86 year old great-grandmother publishing her first romance novel it dawned on me that I have only myself to blame for not being a published author. Especially in this day and age were it is relatively easy to self publish. So this week I pulled out the manuscript for my poetry book. After much work, proofing, formatting  and illustrating, it is almost ready to go. Yippee!

I can't believe the summer is over and school starts on Monday. I am both excited and sad at the same time. There was so much I hoped to do this summer with my grandchildren that due to circumstances beyond my control just never happened. I am however looking forward to having more uninterrupted time.

Last week I shared comparisons of model Joan Scott and actress Kate Winslet in the comments Mrs. 4444's mentioned that when she saw the image of Joan she thought of Madonna. Looking at the photo again I too saw a resemblance to Madonna, so here is a new comparison. 

To say the least I have been very busy. Between mini hat making, designing my dress for my son's wedding and working on getting my poetry book ready for publishing I am surprised I had any time to take photos. I did manage to take a short hike in the hills with my camera and will be sharing those photos on Sunday.

For all of you that enjoy quoteography (images with quotes) I came across a quoteography blog hop at My Captivating Life. She has put together some very pretty image/quotes. If I can squeeze in some design time this weekend I just may have something to share on her hop Monday.

Have a great Weekend!

A Would be Tailor's Wish

It's Wishing time again! That is right we are half way through the week so it is time to let the universe know what we are wishing for. It can be big or small, silly or serious. I don't know about you but I spend a lot of time wishing the best for others but until Unknown Mami designated Wednesdays for giving a voice to personal wishes I rarely acknowledged wishes I made for myself. Just click on the Wednesday Wishes button below to join us and let the universe know what you have been wishing for. Now for this would be tailor's wish.

I wish I still had Gertrude! 

When I was ten years old I had a full size dress form. I can't remember where it came from but I was so excited to have it that I named it Gertrude. I had sewn my first dress the year before, and found I loved sewing. So Gertrude quickly became my most prized possession. Over the next few years Gertrude made sure every dress, top and suit I made fit perfectly. And I am sure I owe the good grades I received in Junior and High school sewing classes and later in the tailoring classes to Gertrude. She held up with my abuse for eight years before she finally fell apart. Many times over the years I have wished she were still with me. Like now when I am designing a formal dress to wear to my youngest son's wedding next month. It would be so much easier to get a perfect fit if only I had Gertrude. 

Here is a sketch of what I hope to make.  It has been some time since I did anything this detailed so the design may change a bit by the time I am finished.

Wish me luck, I think I need it!

Foraging For Fragments

Time to forget about all that needs to be done and pull together the bits and pieces of the week. If you have found some fragments hanging around your place stop over at Mrs. 4444's and share them.

I came across this Getty image at the beginning of the week and until I read the credits I thought I was looking at a photo of Kate Winslet. So I decided to do some comparison and here is what I found. I thought they might be related but there is no evidence to even suggest that. What do you think?

This is from last week at the Sturgis Rally. I am a little confused as to why anyone would name their store Overpriced T's. Honesty is good and all, but from a marketing standpoint I don't see the logic. Am I just missing the appeal here?

Linking to Weekend Reflection and Skywatch Friday

How about a reflection of a reflection, and a sky shot all in one! It took a number of tries before I got it but I didn't give up.

Well if you follow me on Instagram or Twitter you may have already seen this. This is my first #Steampunk mini top hat hair accessory. I just really hope my client is as happy with it as I am.

I also shard the above photo on Facebook and my oldest brother commented  "way cool, how do you think it would look on me?"  So of course I took that as a Photoshop challenge. My reply was "simply dashing, see!"





Today's final fragment . . .
At the beginning for the month I wrote "I am not sure which direction my course will take but I will know eventually." Well, I still don't know exactly but taking a bit of advice from Cyril Connolly it will definitely be something that is true to myself. I even made myself this little sign as a reminder.

Thank you for stopping by.

Have a Fantastic Weekend Everyone!

Wishing on a . . .

Wednesday!

I bet you thought I was going to say star. 

Nope it is Wednesday and time for Unknown Mami's new link-up titled Wednesday Wishes. This is her way of focusing on the manifestation of abundance in her life and encouraging others to do the same. The idea is quiet simple really. Life's possibilities are endless when one recognizes and acknowledges that the universe is abundant in gifts and powers. So this is the day we give voice to our wishes, be they big or small, simple or complex. 

I often like to write acrostic poetry and a few weeks ago I decided to do one for the word Wednesday and post it on Wednesday. Then I read it and thought wow, that is rather negative, so I did not post it. It dawns on me though that this poem wasn't entirely negative, but is the universe's way of waking me up to my own wish. So this week I am giving voice to my wish for spontaneity or maybe it is a wish for adventure. Or maybe a little of both!

Wednesday

Where has the time gone

Each hour, each minute

Day after day

Night after night!

Entrapped in an endless routine,

Spinning wildly in senseless determination

Driving myself insane????

All for the needs????

Yet none for the wants!????

So now the question is how does one plan to be spontaneous?

LOL

 So what is your wish? Why not join us and give it a voice?

Have a Happy Wednesday!

RIP Robin Williams

I am always to some extent saddened when I hear someone has died. Yet, unless I know them personally my sorrow is generally fleeting and more empathy for their family and friends than true grief. There have been however a few celebrities who's deaths have rocked me to my very core. Princes Diana, Michael Jackson and now Robin Williams. Today my heart aches, for him, for his family, for his friends and yes for those like myself whose hearts were touched by his incredible talent.

I know the best way to honor him is to remember him for his joy and talent and laugh in spite of this tragedy.

I promise I will laugh tomorrow!

FF: A little blog housekeeping

Bring on the weekend!

Welcome to my Friday Fragments!

Time to clean out my In Box:

Let's see how about we start with some lonely photos that have been sitting in my blog folder for way to long. 

I took this one of the original Rapid City City Hall building back in April. It is a cute little building with definite aspirations of grandeur.

Well this one isn't so old. It was taken at the beginning of the week while we were out finding presidents. I was thinking of holding on to it to reference the Sturgis Rally as I didn't think I would be going to the rally, but it looks like I just may go tomorrow.

This one of Mr. G's remote control helicopter is really old! It has been sitting in my blog folder now since the beginning of the year and for the life of me I can't figure out why. Maybe I was thinking of writing a post about boys and their toys????

This one of my grandson's impromptu parking lot has also been hanging around for a while, and again it sure looks like a boys and their toys post to me.

Anyone hungry!!? I wasn't before but I sure am now.

I took this sky shot way back in April and how I never posted it I really don't know. I half considered using it in this weeks Sky watching post but decided an April sky didn't fit the Summer sky theme.

Here we have poor ol' Calvin Coolidge the 30th President of the United States, who some how got left out of my Presidential line up post. 







With the housekeeping out of the way now I can share a few thoughts!

With scores of half concocted ideas swirling through my head this week you would think that some of those would fit into this Fragment post but the ideas are all over the place! Maybe it's A.D.D. (Another Doddering Decadian)


When did having more than one project going at a time get so difficult? In my younger years multitasking was a breeze and I actually thrived on having six or seven projects going at one time. Going back and forth between projects never slowed me down or made it difficult to complete any of them. Sure can't say that now. But on a good note, at least I managed to get some work done this week.

After the long week of rather deep retrospection and a much needed boost of encouragement I have come to a conclusion. You can't wait for something good to happen, you have to make it happen. (of course that first part is no new revelation for me) Even if that means scrapping everything and starting all over on a different course. (which is a new concept for me, one that almost feels like giving up but I know isn't truly giving up) I am not sure which direction my course will take but I will know eventually.

I can't remember where I came across this quote but it is just seems so fitting.

“Where there is ruin, there is hope for treasure.” ~ Rumi

Be sure to hop over to Mrs. 4444's for some fragment treasures

Limitless Universe

Lately I have felt my level of optimism slipping precariously close to the half empty line. Feeling as if the limits of what I can  accomplish are ever decreasing. Then yesterday Unknown Mami aka Claudya posted her Wednesday Wishes. With just her words she reminded me that those limits are not decreasing, no the universe is abundant with possibilities and opportunities. She inspired me not only to continue wishing but to create this new artwork titled Limitless Universe.

I was so motivated by this project that I worked into the wee hours of the morning creating the image and then making it available in our gift shop, both with and without the encouraging words.

Visit Here to see the full line of Limitless Universe products

 Thank you Unknown Mami for continuing to inspiring me!

If you haven't read her Wednesday Wishes post yet I encourage you to hop over and read it.

To all you wonderful readers:

Dream Big

Wish Often

Explore the limitless possibilities of the Universe!

Wild Wet Wednesday

Okay so these weren't taken on a Wednesday. But hey, looking at this last weeks photos trying to decide what to post today the photos just screamed this title. So here is my interpretation of what a wild wet Wednesday should look like.

Happy Wednesday!