212- Beatrix

Tonight I went to the Ward picnic up at Kelly's Grove, driving up in my little car, Beatrix. As usually happens I was one of the last to leave. As I walked towards Beatrix I was filled with appreciation for this little car that has served me so faithfully for almost 10 years! She's become such a good friend.

We've worn out the road between Palmdale and Utah; first in one direction and now in the other. She's been a freight hauler (you'd be surprised how much junk I can get in her trunk!) I've camped in her. I've laughed and cried in her. We've listened to HOURS of Harry Potter together. "They" say that her engine is good for 250,000 miles, so we are only halfway through our journey together. I like to say, She's cute, red and gets 48 mpg... it's a tough job, but somebody has to do it.



I suppose it's silly how we get attached to inanimate objects, but there you are!

211- Fresh Tomato Pasta

Today is the first day that I've had enough tomatoes to do something with (other than eat as fast as they get ripe!) One of my favorite recipes is Fresh Tomato Pasta. Rather than a photo of the finished product, I wanted to share the beautiful sight of all these vine-ripened diced tomatoes. Can you smell them?


FONTS- Problem Secretary, CK Cursive, BRUSH- KPertiet_LedgerFrames, BA_photomask01a, FRAME- Hof3_SandedOverlay1_RF

Fresh Tomato Pasta
this is a fast and easy meal

1 lb penne pasta, cooked
1 TBS olive oil
10-12 medium tomatoes, diced
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp onion powder OR
1 bunch of green onions, sliced
1-2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2-1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

In a large skillet heat oil. Add garlic, tomatoes, Italian seasoning and onion. Cook just until heated through. Add salt and pepper. Pour tomato mixture over hot penne pasta. Stir in shredded Parmesan cheese and enjoy!

210- Faerie Lights

This afternoon as I was leaving the Temple my attention was immediately caught by the dancing faerie lights on the lower fountain. Between the fountain itself and the wind there were more waves than normal and each little wave had its own little faerie sparkles.

I remember the first time I saw this phenomenon; it was 1991 and we were on a family vacation. Rebekah and I had taken an evening stroll down by Lake Almanor; the full moon had the same effect and there were thousands of tiny faerie lanterns just under the surface of the water. It was almost magical.


FONTS- Problem Secretary, CK Cursive, BRUSH- KPertiet_LedgerFrames, FRAME- RhonnaFarrer_2ps_SnapShot_Frames, TEXTURES- experimentalgrunge3

209- A New Home

Almost 10 years ago Gordon bought me my little red Beetle, Beatrix (she's cute, red and gets 47 mpg... it's a tough job but somebody has to do it!) Shortly thereafter we got a California personalized plate for my funny little car. It read TURBONM- which people could never figure out. It comes from an old VW Turbo Beetle ad where they've created a new element... Turbonium. Most people wanted it to say Turbo-mom which would have been more fitting (wish I'd though of that!)

When we moved we had to get new Utah plates and the old CA plates went to live on a shelf in the garage. One day I was visiting my friend and she too had old CA personalized plates... but she'd turned it into the roof for a bird house. GREAT IDEA! So now my old CA plate has a new home living happily on my bird house in the garden.


FONTS- Problem Secretary, CK Cursive, BRUSH- KPertiet_LedgerFrames, FRAME- RhonnaFarrer_2ps_SnapShot_Frames, ACTION- (A2D)_Lomo_V2 TEXTURES- CoffeeShop Texture 4, chaotic soul, chaos 2

208- Summer Sunset

FONTS- Problem Secretary, CK Cursive, BRUSH- KPertiet_LedgerFrames, (A2D)Lomo_V2

207- Simba, hiding-out...

Simba is our 14.5-year old cat (aka old-man-cat)! That would make him, what,101.5 in human years? Yeah, old man cat! Even though I am the one who wanted to get Simba, all those years ago, we all know that you don't own a cat... the cat owns you. Sadly, Simba has never really been interested in me; he would much rather spend his time with Stuart or Gordon. The only time I can count on Simba is when I am sick then he will deign to come lay down by me.

We have our niece, Melodee, visiting for a couple of days with her 5 children, very nice children, in fact. But look who came to take refuge in Mama's workroom! First he hid out under the sewing machine table then he moved to under my computer table. Yep... just a little too much action for one old-man-cat!


FONTS- Problem Secretary, CK Cursive, BRUSH- KPertiet_LedgerFrames, TEXTURE- Fake TTV Texture 2, ACTION- CoffeeShop Cocoa 2 action

206- Summer Flowers

I'm wondering if anyone else out there in the creative-blog-o-sphere ever gets into a creative pattern (I don't like the word rut, that implies something negative and this isn't a negative). Anyway... I'm quite captured right now with watercolor filters. So don't be surprised if you see more of them in the next little while.

I love summer flowers, particularly petunias... they smell summer to me (bwahahaha... smell/spell) These are some of the flowers at the Provo Temple. I'd love to have gardens that looked like this!


FONTS- Problem Secretary, CK Cursive, BRUSH- KPertiet_LedgerFrames, ACTION- DP Moms Perfect Workflow action, FRAME- SandeKrieger_Whitefloral photo edge_Pink October_2Peas

205- Gerbera Watercolor

Today in little spare moments between bathing and clipping Harley, laundry, changing sheets and cleaning I managed to find time to play with this Gerbera daisy photo that I took a couple of days ago. I captured it in the late evening and it has that wonderful bokeh background that I just love.

First I ran a new action (Orton Effect) that I got over at CoffeeShop (she has some lovely actions that are very useful), then I played with some filters (watercolor and stylized-find edges). You should have seen me. At one point I'd run 4 different actions on this photo trying to decide which ones I like the best. Then I just needed to make a different frame for my new creation so I dug into my digital files and pulled out these fun snap frames by Rhonna Farrar ( you can find her things here and here. But I couldn't find these particular frames) Wow, are there ever a lot of really talented people out there! I just love to play with all this digital goodness!


FONTS- Problem Secretary, CK Cursive, BRUSH- KPertiet_LedgerFrames, FRAME- RhonnaFarrer_2ps_SnapShot_Frames, ACTIONS- CoffeeShop Orton

204- Sewing Lessons

I've probably written before about Mary Greiner, my 4-H Sewing Teacher. She was a wonderful little country lady who had a knack for vexing a bunch of 8-year old girls with her terrible pickiness about *How to Sew Properly*. I used to think she was just torturing us but as the years have gone by I have blessed her name many times that she taught me the way to sew! I've learned lots of wonderful shortcuts and trick, but when the chips are down and I needed to get that zipper into a wedding dress (with fabric that was as slippery as snake skin) I knew how to hand baste that puppy and then sew it in like a charm.

So let's fast forward almost 50 years (yikes!) *Little* Ashton, who is nearly as tall as I am, has a hard time finding skirts that are long enough for her long legs. Jessica asked me if I could make her some skirts. And then I had the bright idea... SEWING LESSONS!

Ashton and her new sewing box.

FONTS- Problem Secretary, CK Cursive, BRUSH- KPertiet_LedgerFrames, BA_photomask01a, ACTION- DP Moms Perfect Workflow action

We got off to a slow start. We went shopping for fabric and a pattern about a month ago. I gave her the homework of washing her fabric before we did any cutting. But the pattern we chose was just too difficult for a beginner (what was I thinking?). After our first lesson I realized that we needed to back this sewing truck up a few feet. I offered to finish the *too-difficult* skirt for her and got some different fabric to make a S-I-M-P-L-E skirt (say it, Grammie... simple!)

Today when Ashton arrived for lesson #2 I surprised her with her very own sewing box and the cutest little pink and black sewing kit! I was amazed how much Ashton remembered from our first lesson and how quickly she learns (but I don't know WHY I should be surprised, she's always been so smart!)



I drew her some pictures of the different kinds of skirts we could make and she opted for the full skirt (it was the twirling-feature that got her!!) We took her measurements with her brandy-spankin'-new pink tape measure and got to work with measuring, marking, ciphering (do you know how much math & fractions are involved in sewing?) and cutting. Today's lesson got us as far as pinning the front to the back and sewing one seam. Then we folded it all carefully in her new sewing box to wait for our next lesson.

I wonder if Mary enjoyed teaching us as much as I'm enjoying teaching my sweet granddaughter? I doubt it... we were just kids and, well, Ash is family.

Oh, to the joys of being a grandparent! I love it!

203- Vine Ripened Tomatoes

The time has arrived! It is that special time of summer when my tomatoes are starting to get ripe. I've already eaten 4 (without a photo... can you believe that?) But here they are in all of their sweet-tomatoey-glory! My vines are just loaded this season; all those spring rains have really paid off.

I was talking to my Master Gardener friend about gardening and he asked, "How much do you think the gardener has to do with the success of growing plants? Five Percent!!" Isn't it a wonderful plan? You put seeds in the ground (or in my case, transplant healthy plant) and God does the rest... All they need is water and sunlight (and I am a smart gardener with weed cloth and a drip system. Perhaps I don't even put in my 5%!)

Vine ripened tomatoes are one of my favorite things about summer... it doesn't get much sweeter~


FONTS- Problem Secretary, CK Cursive, BRUSH- KPertiet_LedgerFrames, BA_photomask01a, ACTION- DP Moms Perfect Workflow action, TEXTURES- stoned paper