PHOTO HUNT #17 -- ORIGINAL

PHOTO HUNTERS HOME
This was a hard one because I could post someone's else's ORIGINAL items or my own. Finally I decided to do my own BUT then I had lots to choose from and couldn't decide on just a few so I chose to post many this time.

First of all, this is last year's Christmas wreath. I made the wreath myself and tied the bow too. The metal words, Christmas balls and frame are bought items. It was definitely an original.


This silly snowman is original -- I know as I made it last winter!


I made this felt Christmas ornament 40 years ago for our first Christmas tree after I was married.


The rest of these are a few of the cards I have made. I have been stampin' just a few years now and it is one of my favorite hobbies. Some of the cards are made from photos I took instead of stampin'.

License Plates

Wednesday, I was walking over to Walmart from the bus stop and saw this license plate and bumper sticker. Of course I did a double take followed by dragging out my camera which is always with me. Pretty neat message, I think! Click on the picture to read the tiny printing of the message on the bottom of the plate. . .


Later in the afternoon, I was close to home and this one caught my eye so naturally, the camera came out again. Read the numbers separately . . .

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O O O . . . just heard that the snow level is down to 5,000 feet!!!!!!! Won't be long now before it gets down to 1,000 feet and we can get SNOW where I live! I am looking forward to it. Hope we get a lot this winter. Wait a minute. . . FALL just started this week. Oh well, I can dream can't I?

I can't sleep . . .

Got a lot on my plate. . . still not finished moving. Tired of moving. Worked all day Tuesday on my books. . . unpacking from many boxes and sorting genre's to put on the 5 bookshelves I have left. BIG job! Every bone in my body hurts.

I wish I could just sleep for a week but I can't. That's why I am here posting. Can't sleep. For a retired person, I sure am busy. I didn't even go downstairs to get my mail from the box today.

Going to storage tomorrow to see what I want to bring back . . . like I can fit anything else into my small apartment!!!!!!!!! I have one more piece of furniture I know I want to bring for sure and two file cabinets and two long trays with lights that I call my indoor garden center. I need to move he rest of my things from the small storage shed to the big one so I don't have to pay for two in October. Good thing there is a rummage sale at church in October and my storage is just 4 blocks from church! I have tried to think how I could save my large wooden file cabinet but there is no way it would fit here. I am sad because it is so nice, though very old. I am not its first owner.

I am also kinda sad because I have no room for my owl collection. I used to have my whole bedroom wall covered with owl hangings, two of which I made myself. The dresser top was full of owls too. I guess I will have to give most of it away. . . maybe I will put it on freecycle in case someone loves owls as much as I do, then the collection won't have to be split up. . .

Guess something good will come of all this sorting and downsizing. . . when I die, there won't be all that much for my family to sort.

This and that and a few more squirrels too . . .

View looking towards Portland from across the Columbia River on the Vancouver side.


Good day for sailing!


View between the trees.


Closeup of the statue of Ilahee along the walking path parallel to the Columbia River.


Saw this little squirrel on the way to the bus stop on a Sunday morning.


Doesn't this fella look like its ready to attack?


This squirrel thought it was going to hide from me but I got it anyway. Squirrels blending into trees isn't too easy.


Next, it decided to hide in the corner of the bank building but I found it.


Closer view.


Guess it decided that I wasn't going to hurt it and it continued on its way.

PHOTO HUNTERS #16- PAPER

PHOTO HUNTERS HOME
The theme this week is PAPER. I thought of all kinds of things. I even considered photos that showed something that was "paper thin." BUT then, I decided to use a paper memory instead.

These are Girl Scout membership cards of my twin sister and I -- and Mom's -- who was the Troop Leader "way back when" in Idaho.

This is the front of the original Brownie cards.

The next photo -- the original really is white but camera wasn't cooperating --is of one of the cards I bothered to save from when I was a Girl Scout leader for my own daughter back in Idaho where I originally started in Girl Scouting. I had been a leader in Hawaii before that. For privacy, I took off my present last name. Unfortunately, I am stuck with my real first name on the card. Ü Did you notice how close the numbers of troops were when I was a child and an adult?

If I had realized that fact when I became a leader in Idaho, I would have asked for the old troop number (22) so I could come full circle! I didn't find these three cards until my Mom was cleaning out some stuff at her home and she asked if I wanted her old Girl Scout Leader's Guide. The three cards from when my twin and I were Brownies and Mom was our leader were tucked inside it! They're quite old! Ü

My walk at sunset. . .

The sun is starting to set over the Columbia River in the west.

Closer view. . .

Next. . . walking west towards sunset.

The Columbia with setting sun.

Almost down . . .

Just the sunset hue left. . .

Statue of Ilahee, the Indian lady who helped Lewis and Clark navigate the Columbia River.

On the way home to uptown Vancouver, I walked through the park where the bell tower is as I had never seen it at night. The illuminated clocks on each side were eye catching in the darkness of the evening.

BUNCO and . . . my new Coleus plant

Well, I am really getting into social activities here in this building! lol Yahtzee last week and now Bunco last night. . .

I remember playing BUNCO with other Navy wives many, many years ago but had no idea how to play it anymore. I decided to join the group. It was kinda fun but no real time for socializing as the games were fast and furious.

We played 15 games. Partners constantly changed. Loser partners had to keep changing tables. I won 8 and lost 10 so didn't win any of the money for most games won. Oh yeah, we each paid a dollar to play. The good news is that I had 3 BUNCO's and got $2.00 for that! It would have been $4.00 but another lady also had 3 BUNCO's also and we had to"share the pot." I had no idea that there was prize money for these things so it was a nice surprise. Heck! It was a nice surprise just to be a winner of something! I almost didn't go because money is tight presently but I dug into my coin can and found 50 pennies and 5 dimes. Ü Another thing . . . the person who lost the most games also got a small amount of money!

It was fun and the only disappointment I had last night was when they decided to close the window drapes because the setting sun was too bright! Heck, that is one reason I went . . . because the 9th floor recreation room has a "west window" where you can see beautiful sunsets over the Columbia River!

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When I bought the plant at the Farmers Market, it did not have any blossoms. I never heard of Coleus blooming like that!

This is the whole plant and below that is a close up. I haven't even had a chance to transfer it to a ncie pot! Got to remember to buy potting soil.

Pinochle

As a young child, I grew up playing Pinochle with my parents and twin sister. It is a card game I love. When I got married to a guy in the Navy, he knew how to play it also since they played it on the ship during down time. So as a young married couple with no children, we had Pinochle marathons with another couple "in same boat" so to speak.

We would start on a Friday night at one of our apartments and play Racehorse Pinochle all night. We took time to eat dinner first, provided by the host couple. Then we would go to the other couples' apartment in another part of town and eat breakfast there and play cards until lunch when we would go back to the original couple's place and eat lunch and play Pinochle 'til supper and then traveling to our last destination at the other home, play cards 'til midnight. Then, Sunday was our church day and day of rest. lol

Sleep? Shower? Are you kidding?

It was one of my fondest memories.

As a single Mom with three kids I had my own Pinochle team! Ü When the kids were quite small but in school, I taught them how to play Pinochle by cheating. . . YES, CHEATING.


We dealt out the cards to each and then I had them lay down their cards and I did likewise. Then I showed them what would count for score and what to take a chance on. Before long, they could play without showing their hands and I took turns being partners with each. They became masters at Pinochle when they were all still in grade school. It was one of the best memories I have of my whole family doing something together.

There have been a few times I got a team together since but not a regular thing. I really miss it. Now I live in a big complex that has a recreation room and we are going to start another Pinochle group soon. I already have one taker and put "sign up sheets" in the elevators. We plan to start next month soon as we get organized! I can hardly wait. Now where did I put my cards? Maybe it is time to buy a new deck?

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POSTSCRIPT: I was looking at Google for an image to include with this post since i have none presently and "lookie" what I found under my search for Racehorse Pinochle Cards:

Jenny McB
240 x 180 - 22k - jpg
jennymcb.blogspot.com

and a picture of her kitty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Isn't that the strangest thing? Well, maybe not since she did write about playing cards in one of her recent blogs and that was one of my search words!

It's that lady with her camera again!!!!!! RUN. . .

"Ha ha, I run so fast that lady can't get a good photo of me. I have a talent of hanging on the trees with my back feet so I can hold this nut at the same time."

"I don't care if that lady has a camera. . . it's my lunchtime and this acorn nut tastes pretty dandy!"


"I'm tired of posing. . . try this view."

I am a Violet What Flower Are You?