Winds of Change

To all my fans, I am sorry for being away for so long. Life has been very busy for the Mortensen's. As you guys know I love to talk to little kids and parents in stores. I know that the reason for this is that I miss my two when they were little. I miss the little princess who used to dress up and grace me with her company. And I miss the sweet little boy that was my darling Dusty. I tell parents so often to enjoy every minute of there children's life. In a blink of an eye it will be gone. They will be graduating from high school and turning new pages in their book of life.

They love to move in and out of you house and disrupt your nice calm and peaceful empty nest. Marlee has decided to move to Orange Beach, Al.. She is working there at a magazine and is very happy. She will be moving into a little one bedroom house or in with two girls that she knew at AU.

I have spent the last four days in Savannah helping Dusty get set up in his condo. He is so proud of it and want to do everything right. We were in Target buying cleaning supplies. This is the conversation that followed:
Dusty: how often do I have to clean the bath room.
Mom: at least once a week.
Dusty: But why? It is only me and all I do is take a shower and go to the bathroom.
Mom: you still have to clean the bathroom.
I hope he will want to take care of his stuff . I am sure he will not be a Martha Stewart but somewhere in that range would be nice.

Dusty presented me with a beautiful self portrait for Mothers Day. He was very proud of it. My mom was with me and she loved it. When Fred saw it his comment was "what is this? and it looks just like him."

Freddy and I have gone from having Marlee at home and Dusty part time to empty nester's again. For now it is nice. I will always worry about Marlee and Dusty. My pray every night is "God please keep them safe. Watch over them and protect them. Through you let them find their way in the world and happiness." What more could any Mother wish for.

To all my friends who are Mothers, Happy Mothers Day. Enjoy each moment of your child's life no matter how old they are.

Backyard Tour

Fayetteville is enjoying the most beautiful spring weather ever. The mornings are crisp and clear with a bright blue sky. It is cool and the bugs have not discovered my arms, legs, neck and anything not covered . I love spring mornings. This morning I was out taking pictures again. A bird was singing the most beautiful song. I looked above me at the a charming male red bird. By the time I had my camera focused he was gone. I missed him by a heart beat.

Yesterday I took photos of my Bearded Iris but this morning I toured the whole yard. Please do not misunderstand. Some of these bushes are just blooming and some are new with only a few blooms. This is the first year ever that my iris have bloomed like this. This morning a yellow one was waiting for me. I also enjoyed my snowball bushes, encore azaleas, Camilla, knock-out roses, day lillies, clematis, a small white ground cover and my rhodium's. It was wonderful walking around my back yard. Please click here to enjoy the trip with me.

I am still trying to present this as a slide show. The click here should work. I could not get it to but try and let me know. If not you can still go to Photo Collections and click on Backyard Tour and slide show. I think I need lessons from my scrap book buddy. Hope you enjoy the tour.

Tuesday Morning

Yesterday was such a fabulous morning. The weather we are having is perfect. If only we could have this year round. I have been really excited about the landscaping in our yard. I is finished and the painters are painting away. For the past 10 years I have had two patches of Beard Iris's planted in a flower bed. They have not done well. I will get one or two blooms a seasons. When we re-landscaped they took out several big bushes, giving my Iris's more sun light. You should see them know. They are beautiful. I have at least 20-30 blooms. My ferns and hosta are also waking up from a long winters nap. I am going to try to direct you to my Flicker account. You will find a link at the top of my blog under Photo Collections. Please try to have a look. I also had my assistant gardener with me. That is a leaf in her mouth. Katie is such a sweetheart that I can't get on to her. Happy Spring

Finally

I can not believe that we are on our way to Nashville and Scrap Etc.'s big Event. Debra, Jamie, Judy and I have been planning this since last Oct. 07. We have faithfully read all the home work e-mails and worked on some of it. We have talk about it, planned, scheduled vacation time and it is here. Happy! Happy! This picture was taken by Jamie on our way to Nashville. We had beautiful weather for the trip. Need eye glasses, got sun glasses. Hey, it works and who cares. We have jeans and scrap book t-shirts and ready for a fun week-end of girl time. We all live very different lives but we looked forward and cherish our girl time. This car load of scrap book divas made the trip in Debra's Ford Expedition. If you could see the very back you would see that it is packed not to the top yet. We have mapped and planned several stops along the way. On our trip home it was packed to the top. We did have access to the cooler and snacks. Hey girl friends travel prepared. This trip was perfect. Yes that is a content smile on my face while reading a scrap book magazine. I just love my scrap Divas. Looking forward to our camera trip in October. I will post more pictures.

I have finally up loaded CS3 to my lap top. This is a Photoshop software for modifying pictures. I have no idea what I am doing. The picture on the left is the original. The photo on the right is I added filters. Do not ask who, what when or how? I do not know but it was fun and I love the picture. I can't wait to really learn what I am doing.

We are in Chicago for the Kitchen and Bath show. It is rainy and cold but I love this city. We are off to have a drink and dinner. Let me know what you think of the picture.

This is the new installment of "Lay-out of the week". I know I am behind. I was going to go back and do a count on lay-outs. I am sure it would only add stress to my life so we will just skip that part. Maybe I should have set the goal for Lay-out of the month.

These pictures were taken in Yosemite Park in December. Marlee want to do toe touches. Yes, she is forever the cheerleader. There is something about the sport of cheerleading that gets in the blood of cheerleaders. Ballerinas gone retarded. It was a great day and we had a lot of fun. We always enjoy Yosemite National forest. This is the second December that we have spent there.

You can surly see where my kids get all there talent.

Rainy Day and Saturday

It has been a fabulous day. It has rained all day. A slow steady rain. We are in the process of having our yard re-landscaped and the rain is a blessing. We have had a sprinkler system installed but it is not up and running yet. Our house is almost finished on the outside. The new windows and siding are almost complete. The landscaping is almost done. The painters will be here in a week. Everything should be finished by Mothers Day. I can't wait. I always love to have lunch outside for Mothers Day. Last year I was miserable because of our yard. We had just started the renovation on the pool. It looked like a war in our back yard. We are now seeing light at the end of the tunnel. Our house is getting a total face lift. It is going from a country style house to a craftsman style house. We have put in all new concrete. New side walk, new driveway that now goes out on the side street. It's been a lot of work but worth it.

Sorry I wandered off the subject. It has been a great day to stay home in sweat pants and just be. I have managed to do several loads of laundry, work in my scrap room and watch a couple of movies. I have enjoyed the day.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

As our country stops today and remembers Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I have to stop and think about that day. I was in the 4th grade. My school was only 3 blocks from interstate 85. We all walked up to the bridge that his body would pass under when it was brought back from Tenn. I was only 10 and did not understand what was happening or what it meant. I grew up in an all white neighborhood, went to an all white school. The only black person I ever came in contact with was our beloved maid "Ida". She was as much a part of my life as my parents. She was there when I came home from school. As a child, I did not understand MLK's message. As an adult today I looked at it with different eyes. I believe that MLK's message was for all people of all color. He believed one nation under God. I think he believed that everyone should work to achieve respectability. He was a peaceful man and wanted people to live in peace. His views were God driven. I feel that he would be disappointed in the interruption of his dreams today. Is any one person owned anything? Should things be handed to you because of your race. As a women I do not believe that. This day makes me think of God's simple commandment. "Love thy neighbor as you would love yourself." I do believe that was Martin Luther Kings, Jr message.
It gives me chills to hear his speech the night before he was murdered. He had seen the promise land. MLK was not afraid. He knew his destiny. Did he know? Had God given him a message? One day in heaven we may have a chance to ask him. He had a "Dream". We all have dreams.

As you meet people today smile, say hello. Wave to your neighbor. Tell the cashier in the store to have a good week-end. To me as an adult that was Dr. Martin Luther Kings message and dream. "LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AS YOU WOULD LOVE THYSELF."

Great Week-End

It has been such a great week-end. We left on Thursday on our way to Savannah. We spent the evening and next day with Dusty. We are still looking at places for him to live.

We have narrowed it down to two. One they want to much money for and needs a lot of work. Of course that is the one that Dusty wants. The other one is perfect almost move in ready and an easy resell. That's the one he does not want. His choice is condo number two or live in a dorm. I will take a poll as to which one he chooses.

We left Savannah and are now in Fl. I have enjoyed taking pictures. I am really excited about Photoshop CS3. It is a new program that I am ready to dive into. It is amazing what you can do with a photo with this program. I can't wait.

I saw these weeds while driving back from Tallahassee. What are they? Help. I took the golf cart back up to take these pictures. What I didn't do was spray myself with bug spray. I was snapping pictures and getting eaten alive. I was rushed. Anyway can't wait to see what can be done in Photoshop. These were taken in a portrait mode with a 28-300 lense and a circle polarized lense filter. I wish I had zoomed in a little closer. I may retake these pictures this afternoon with bug spray on.

I have manged to get these pictures posted in a werid formatt. I guess I need help with placement also. Hope everyone has a glorious day. Enjoy that spring is here and have a great day.