Trying again -- Just a few views of our wonderful snow. . .

Definitely surprised to see the snow all the way down to the river AND ice on the Columbia River too! The snow was so deep over to the fence by the Columbia that I could hardly walk through it.
This is another bench on my way down to the river and the LAND BRIDGE. Now only if that snow were a soft cushion, it might be a nice place for a rest!
As I was taking a photo of the icy branches, a Starling flew into the picture. . .


I have been talking almost daily photos of this bench since it started snowing. . . it is two blocks from my home and seems to be in a strange place near the curb facing the house. Besides it being a beautiful bench, it is "frosted" with all that snow!

This picnic table is in my neighborhood near the Kiggins House. It was kinda tough walking through the park because of all the snow.

I want to wish all my friends a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year too!

Note

I have been trying for over 13 hours to post my blessing but blogger won't let me add even one photo. Sorry! My blessing was the snow we got.

Snow Dusting -- third try to be winter--sigh

Since there wasn't much snow, I looked for oddities to photograph and liked this pattern.
Light snow covering on bush leaves.
Just thought I was taking a photo of the snow dusting on leaves that hadn't been raked up and discovered red berries on another plant also! CLICK to enlarge and see for yourself!
Thought this one just had some red berries contrasting in the snow BUT look near the top near the 2nd red berry and see a water bubble I also captured. . .
Side by side, two different shoe prints. Neither were mine.


It got very dark fast after my little stroll following the brief snowfall so I headed home but decided to see if a bench on a trail was still there. . . then I re-traced my walk near apartment building to see if I could capture the things I tried to yesterday in the dark. I was a bit more successful although I don't know what I did differently. Yesterday, the photos were mostly black.

This was the most snow I could find in one place. . . pretty sad huh?
This weed was taken by turning the camera. It uploaded sideways but I decided to leave it. . . kinda odd huh?
I was going to catch the bus and head home but decided to hunt out this bench along part of the Discovery Trail. It was too dark to walk the trail even tho it was heading in the direction of home. The bus arrived a few minutes later and I went home, hoping that the snow expected this weekend is more than a dusting. . . I guess I will go move the snowflake on my calendar to 3 snow days this winter so far.

Old man Winter portrait

Well, we have had sprinklings of snow three days now but there is none to photograph. I was crossing a street to catch a bus today and saw this oil spot. IF you look closely, you will see OLD MAN WINTER's portrait in the oil stain. CLICK to enlarge.His hair is blowing to the east. His face is cold and blue; can you see his eyes and nose? His mouth is steaming yellow from all that blowing. . . and still we have no snow sticking to the ground. :o(

It is supposed to snow more tonight. We will see. . . sigh

A special personal award from Malyss

These are the words she wrote to go with the award:

For PAULIE,
I liked our encounter along a trail with a lot of benches where we could sit and chat...For her,I wanted something really special; so special that I had to make it myself..I mean, I made the snowman, AND the award myself ! So, this award is not perfect, but it is ABSOLUTELY unique, for a unique person.

My internet friend in France made this award for me personally!!!!!!!! She knows how much I love snow and collect snowmen -- the stuffed kind and more . . . we both blog about benches and visit each other's bench blogs almost daily. She made it for Christmas for me -- yes, that's right. . . she made the snowman first, then took a photo and made it into an award just for me!
What a blessing! Thank you, Malyss! You are so thoughtful!

To my internet friends who drop by . . .

I am having a miserable time learning how to use my new camera and all the shots come out dark as night. Hoping to learn how to use it before it snows again. The snow on Sunday all blew away-- probably across the river because Oregon had tons of snow.

Blog Your Blessings Sunday

If you care to join us acknowledging our blessings go here: Blue Panther


My blessing this week is the same as seen on the faces of these children in this sculpture. . . JOY! I am happy to have a camera again even tho I am still learning how to use it and don't have a photo to post from it this week. Took this photo back in November. It's how I feel right now. Much joy in my heart that I was able to get an inexpensive camera to use. . .Much joy that I can take photos during the Christmas season. . . Much joy that we are expecting snow this weekend . . . Much joy that one day soon, I will be able to know how to use my camera well enough that I can get some good photos instead of deleting more than I keep!

Christmas deco

It's an overcast day so the red ribbons didn't show up as well as I would have liked. . . This was in front of a Nursery where they sell plants. I thought it was kinda of odd. If you CLICK on, you will see the red ribbons better.

Sun on cold morning before the predicted snow hits

Took this photo when I got off the bus this morning. It's trying its best to shine while it can. . . We are supposed to get snow this weekend. I hope the weatherman is right!

Photos from my new camera. . . snowmen, of course!

These four are new this year. Got the first two from my blog friend, Sami and the other two in an ornament exchange at our church ladies Xmas party.
Poor little guy -- melting so fast, it looks like it is sliding down a cold blue hill!
This angel ornament is also from Sami. Took a photo of it on my little blue quilt -- there's snowmen on the other side of the quilt! You can't see its wings on the tree so thought it would photograph better on this but it is dark too. It is like little gold leaves/branches for wings. . .CLICK on to make bigger to see wings.

Thanks, Sami, for being so thoughtful and knowing how much I love snow. . .

This ceramic snowman has a hole star in it and is quite heavy. To the left of it is my oldest ornament. I made the angel from pink felt for our first Christmas tree after I was married back in '67.
This one, I got with the star ceramic snowman above for our Christmas exchange at church. We wrapped an ornament (or two in my case) and were given numbers from a basket. We got to pick a package from under the tree , lowest number first. I was number 18 out 20!!!!! We could "steal" an ornament from someone else who had opened a gift before us or choose something under the tree. Of course, I stole it but I was the third one that "owned it" so no one could take it away from me. The snowman's body is made from a large bell on the bottom. To the left of it is a little white wooden church given to me from a child in Sunday School in '92 -- he and his dad made them. Just to the top left of the snowman is a gingerbread man made from cinnamon applesauce recipe and it still smells great after 14 years!

It is good to be back with new photos from my new camera!

Blog Your Blessings Sunday

Thanks to everyone for your kind words on the "loss" of my old camera. It served me well and I have a less expensive one -- still an Olympus -- now. I will learn to use it and then be blogging regularly again.

******************************

If you care to join us acknowledging our blessings go here: Blue Panther



Maybe you recognize this photo from my old blog, PostcardsfromPaulie -- it was one of the "postcards" in the header. It is one of my favorite photos. In fact, it is the only dragonfly I caught with my camera. It was on a tree when I took my Kindergarten class out for recess. I lined them all back up and we went to the room to get my camera. The dragonfly didn't move an inch and I was able to capture it with my camera. The kids each got their picture taken with it for the memory books I made for each also.

I use it here today to represent MEMORIES being my blessing this week.

When I got the bad news that they couldn't get the parts anymore to fix my camera, I cried many tears. It had served me well and I missed my old/first digital camera even tho it was big and clunky. Friday was a long day for me after I got the bad news. That camera was my "baby." It went everywhere I did. It served me well and I can't dispose of it because it gives me many memories -- yes, the photos do that too. Maybe one day . . .

I bought myself another Olympus Friday night. I got it at a place where they don't give you a free class so I am learning how to use it by myself. It is really different and you don't even need a photo card for it if you don't want to use one. That means I can take photos on the camera and then transfer them to my computer later and if I need a little more room that day, I can insert the card and take more. I think I am going to like it. Maybe by this time next week, I will be comfortable using it and can use a new photo for my blessing. In the meantime, I thank God for giving me the joy of taking over 40,000 photos with my first Olympus but especially for this dragonfly. Ahhhhhhhh memories!

RIP

I got the news today at 11:07 AM. . . my digital camera has passed on. They tried to schedule surgery for it but there were no available parts for a transplant. I am so sad. The funeral will be tomorrow; instead of taking photos of the Christmas ships on the Columbia River, I will be in mourning.

Olympus was adopted by me on June 14th, 2002 in Portland, Oregon. It came to live with me across the Columbia River in Vancouver, Washington. It was a walker, like me and went everywhere I did for 6 and a half years in all kinds of weather. It enjoyed all seasons but most of all. winter with its white blanket of snow. It traveled to several cities in Oregon with me to retreats and bell choir festivals. In Washington, Vancouver was its joy, collecting memories of beautiful flowers, buildings, murals, historical buildings, benches, odd shots and memories along the many trails and city blocks/neighborhoods here. It visited Mt. St Helens a few years back with a friend from Vancouver. It rode a ferry to Seattle with grandkids. It also traveled with me to Mount Rainier with friends from Yakima Valley. . . twice -- once for my birthday last January in the snow and again in August for a camping trip .

It will be missed dearly by me but the photos it left behind (over 40,000 of them) will bring back memories of the good times we had together.
I will never forget the joy it gave me. Thank you, my friend.

Camera Hospital . . .

Well, it is in the hospital and I should know the news by Saturday. Hope it is something they can fix and not cost me a fortune.

Think my camera is dead. . .

I went to press on the button to open up the zoom lens today and I accidently touched another button I don't know what it is for. The lens would not come out. I asked at a camera shop and they couldn't get it to work -- I had bought new batteries that were charged. . . they told me to go to another camera repair place. It is too late tonight but I will go there tomorrow. I feel so lost without my camera. Found 4 different benches to photograph today and couldn't. It was a "to die for" sunset tonight and no camera. sigh I was going to get a new camera but nothing is as good as my old one. I want to stay with Olympus tho. Maybe the camera guy can fix it tomorrow. Until then, no posts from me.

It may be December but the Daisies are still blooming!!!!!!!!!

Took this photo last Sunday at our church flower bed.

Rainbow Trout?

I was walking across a parking lot when I spotted this oil stain and of course I had to take a photo. . . I think it looks like a fish. If you enlarge it by CLICKING on it, you will see the rainbow colors better.

Bridges Between - December 2008

RuneE is sponsoring this monthly challenge on the first Monday of every month. Bridges Between is subject to open interpretation.


We have this wonderful bell tower in our downtown Esther Short Park. It rings the bells automatically three times a day -- 9:00 AM, 12:00 noon and 3:00 PM.

It not only rings the bells -- but tells the story through means of a recording of the local Chinook Indians and the salmon runs before Vancouver became an incorporated city.

The doors open and a recording begins the story.
The picture rotates and another scene is displayed until the whole story is completed.
There are three scenes.

Then the doors begin to close. . .

The story is finished until the next scheduled time.

It is good to remember our city's roots and the importance that the Chinook Indians played when white men first settled here. Thus my "bridges between" this month. The Chinook Indians were a valuable resource to our city's founders and early settlers from many nations.
(Because of the bright sunshine that day, I had to take the photos at an angle.)

Blog Your Blessings Sunday

If you care to join us acknowledging our blessings go here: Blue Panther

I made this bulletin board for our church hallway because I felt it appropriate for this season. CLICK on to enlarge and read the words. . .

Sunday is the first day of Advent, a time of preparation for Jesus' birthday that we celebrate on Christmas. By reading and studying my Bible, I am enlightened more daily. Jesus is known as the LIGHT of the world. We are indeed blessed to know of the love of Jesus for us. Thus, as Advent begins, I celebrate the blessing of Jesus' birth that we are preparing our hearts for during this coming month. Happy birthday, Jesus. Just as Jesus gave us the gift (Life in eternity) I try to reach out to someone that is more needy than myself. This year, I chose two children's name from our Giving Tree. I got a big sack full of arts and crafts for the 7 year old and had so much fun deciding which items would bring a little joy to her life. I am still hunting for the perfect baby doll for the 4 year old. Maybe my next shopping trip will be the one where I find it.

Making Christmas wreaths

Each year, some of us ladies from my church gather greens and make our own Christmas wreaths. One of the guys from our church has a huge lot he owns next door to his home and it has many pine and cedar trees. He lets us trim trees for our project. We haul the greens back to church and then get busy wiring the cut pieces to a round wire frame. Sometimes we just add a bow and sometimes we put on ornaments or pine cones or holly, etc.

This time, I got a friend to make the bow for the one I gave away
but I couldn't get my snowflake ribbon to work and gave up on using it this time. I finally made a simple red velvet bow and added small ornaments. It looks okay and I am glad to have something for my apartment door since it is inside the building.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!

I am thankful to have internet friends whose blogs and comments give a lift to my day. Please click on to read my message on photo.

Trying Scrapblog again with more snow themes. . .

This is a new scrapblog I made here




I know it takes awhile to upload the scrapblog but if you are patient you can see three more winter theme pages and three new poems also. Of course, you can always go directly there with the link at the top of page and see how scrapin' makes my photos interesting. I am learning to add more features now also. Click on the arrows of the scrapblog to see all three pages.

The first page poems and photos:

Snow Blanket

As far as my eyes could see,
God had covered the earth
with white snow.

For me -- pure joy!





The second page poem and photos:

Winter Coats

Although they don their winter coats now,
it won't be long
before the garments of winter are shed
and summer activities
transform fishing piers, flowering bushes and swimming sprinkler benches
Enjoy God's white treasure now like it is the last!




The third page poem and photos:

Winter Wonders

Snow capped posts line up like penguins
marching to the North Pole.
A blanket of snowflakes covers the bench
where
I'd paused to rest in the warmth of summers past.
Evergreen branches are frosted with snow
like sugar cookies at Christmastime.
With views like these ,we don't need to wonder why
God said, "Let there be snow upon the earth."

Paper clothes

I know awhile back, they tried to sell us disposable clothes but this paper skirt has gone too far. Are times really that bad? I know the price of a daily newspaper went up 50 cents recently so maybe this outfit isn't as cheap as I thought. . . OOPS took another look at the original photos and it is sheet music that was torn from an old music book. The name of the store is Urban Eccentric. . .

Blog Your Blessings Sunday --Internet friends

If you care to join us acknowledging our blessings go here: Blue Panther

My interent friend, Jenny McB, told me about this SCRAPBLOG site. For some time now, Sandy Carlson has inspited me to write my own poetry but I never tried until this week when I had this new forum to use both photography and words called poetry. These two people are my blessing this week because now I have a way to show off my special photos and try my hand with poetry. Thank you Jenny for sharing this site url with me and to Sandy for inspiring me to try my hand at poetry that doesn't have to rhyme. I hope I can learn to use the widgets better to make my scrapblog pages even more appealing.

my scrapblog



White Fashions

Leaves disappear
when Autumn shows
its face.


Nothing remains
but bare branches


UNTIL


Snowflakes
dress each twig
with
a new outfit.

Well, I guess I did something wrong to link the scrapbook photo page graphic here but you can see it by clicking on the link. I am still new at this but you can see some in the previous posts below also. I have included the poem and photo here, exclusive of the scrapblog for those who don't want to take the time to go see it with scrapblogs "touches" there.

Happy Thanksgiving on Thursday to all my American internet friends!