And the Winner Is!

I went through the comments and wrote down a list of all the names who entered in the order they left their comments — giving them numbers.  There ended up being eleven different people.  Thank you all so much for entering my little silly contest!  I’ve enjoyed it so much.  I wish I could send you all one of my postcards with the bluebonnets stamp on it.  Maybe one day!   Then I went to random. org to put in the numbers 1 and 11 for it to pick for me since I don’t have the grandchildren here today.  (I thought I’d be with them today, but not just yet.)

The random number generator picked number three, as you can clearly see (click on the photo)!   Congratulations Sharon Z!  I’ll be contacting you to see which postcard  you want — one of mine or one of B’s!  Then it will be put in the mail on Tuesday to you!  I hope you like the postcard and the stamp!

Update on the Art Postcards

I cut the cards apart on Friday.  I loved the over all look of the whole piece of painted page, but cutting them apart into individual postcards sure changes the look of each one.  So, I had the urge to work on some of them a bit more.  So, I did!  I played and played — with paint pens and collage.  I didn’t do as much collage as I might normally do because I do like the way the original paint came out.  I really liked the paint pens.  They were fun and added shine to the cards.  I’ll have to look for more of them.

The Silly Contest to win one of the postcards mailed to you with my bluebonnets zazzle postage stamp ends in just a couple of hours (2 PM central today), but there is still time to enter!  Good luck!

Time with Wonderful Women

L to R: Aunt Joan, Momma and Uncle Billy picking plums. Aunt Brenda pretty much hid from the camera.

Yesterday, I got to spend time with three of my favorite women on earth — my momma, my Aunt Joan and my Aunt Brenda!  Nothing would make me happier than to get to see these women on a daily basis, but that is not to happen.   We all live pretty close to each other now, at least by Texas standards!  So, I should be able to see them more often.  These lovely ladies have been the most influential women in my life.  Everything in me that is good, I believe I owe to them, mostly to my momma, but to all of them.

just about all of the plum tree branches were this loaded!

Aunt Joan and her son lived with us for a while when daddy was overseas working  and Aunt Joan was newly divorced, in the mid ’60′s, I think.  I loved having her in the house with us!  She and I would stay up late on Saturday night to watch Medical Center with Chad Everett.  He was yummy!  This was a big deal for me because I was a little kid (but still the oldest of the three kids now in the house!) and would not have been allowed to stay up without Aunt Joan doing it too.  I made up nick-names for her and my momma and they were always good sports about them.  I wasn’t too used to being around boys, so I usually thought my cousin was pretty gross.  He always stuck his finger in the chip dip!  Probably so my sister and I would just let him have it.  The little stinker.

figs, the tree had quite a lot of them

Aunt Brenda is just about ten years older than me, so I always felt really close to her growing up.  She’d give me all kinds of tips about clothes when I was a teenager and she would sometimes come by to take Teresa and I places.  That was a big deal to us at that age.  One time she took us out to meet the Dallas Cowboys as they came back in to the airport after an away game.  I may have been 14 or 15, so I thought she was about the coolest aunt alive for that!

 

The owl they have fashioned to scare the birds away from their figs!

Yesterday, we talked and visited for quite a bit longer than we had planned to.  Uncle Billy joined us for most of the visiting, but decided not to go to lunch with us.  We went to a popular little Mexican food place in Canton, then back to Aunt Joan’s house to see all of the flowers, plums and figs!  The sun was so bright that most of my photos of the plum tree didn’t turn out as well as I would have liked them too.  That’s when a digital camera can be a disadvantage over a film camera.  At least in my hands.  I had to tweak this shot of the owl, quite a bit!

 

oleander — beautiful!

The oleander was just beautiful!  It was taller than me.  I’m about five foot two inches.  I didn’t realize they got that tall.   I always think of oleander as white, probably because of the book and movie by that title — White Oleander.  I loved this wonderful deep, hot pink!  It is just gorgeous!

 

gardenia

My favorite flowers in my aunts yard was her gardenia!  I’ve loved gardenia since I was a very small child.  I even tried to grow one once, but I didn’t have any luck.  When I spotted that plant and those beautiful, perfumed blooms, my heart melted.  It was a nice touch to a wonderful day.   I hope we can do it again soon.

More Postcrossing Postcards Catching Up

I have a few more postcrossing cards to share with you today in an effort to catch up on what I have not shared with you yet.  I’m trying not to share more than five or so at a time so as not to overwhelm or bore you.

# 1 from Rixt in the Netherlands, look closely — there are two little sharks swimming under the turtle!

The first one is from Rixt in De Meem, the Netherlands.  She says that she is a jewelry designer (here is her website www.rixtsieraden.nl).  She is also “the mother of two teenage sons, has a lovely husband and a big brown Labrador dog”!  I didn’t take photos of the postage stamps, they seemed fairly common, although they are really nice.  One is a light bulb that has things written inside the lightbulb.  I can make out the first word, which is “europa”.  I can’t make out the second word because of postal marks.  The third word is “goen”.  The word ”licht” written on the bulb where the glass meets the metal to screw it into a lamp would start. Along the outer edges of the stamp are Europa and Nederland.  The other has birds that look like what we might call sandpipers here in the States with the word “grutto” on it along with “Nederland”.  I believe this is my first National Geographic postcard and I really like it.  I love sea turtles.  I’ve always wished I could see the babies hatching and fighting their way to the sea.  Magnificent creatures!

# 2 lovely postcard from Inge in the Netherlands

The second card shows four beautiful birds of the area of the Netherlands that Inge lives in!  The word on the front is the” name of a big forest” according to Inge.  She sent this link for us to see more about it if we do desired.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veluwe.  Inge is 23 and likes photography, especially concert photography!  She likes to play with the lights and smoke on stage!  Her postcard was sent with a Nederland Postcrossing 2011 postage stamp!  I don’t know how many styles were made, but they numbered each style and mine is numbered 1.  I tried taking a photo of it, but I don’t think it turned out very good.  They have a group of postcards on each stamp.  Mine has the word “wereld” on it.  I don’t know if the same word is on each style or not.

# 3 from Elena in Moldova

The third postcard is my first from Moldova!  It comes from Elena.  The postcard shows Chisinau, the capital of Moldova.  She says it is the largest (can’t make out her first word), economic, scientific and cultural center of the country.  It’s situated in a picturesque place and has about one million inhabitants.  I like the postage stamp she used on this card too.  I should do another post on the stamps soon.  This one has tools on it!  Really cool.

Beautiful owl on postcard # 4 from Belarus

The fourth card comes from Belarus and has a fabulous owl on it!  What a great shot!  It comes from two sisters, Nadia and Eugenia  who are 23 and 13 years old.  Isn’t that wonderful?  They “are big fans for postcrossing because it’s really interesting to send someone a card and receive cards from all over the world!”  They live with their granny and mom in a small city near Minsk with all of their pets.  They have 3 dogs and 3 cats.  The stamp on their postcard looks like there is a buffalo on it!  I didn’t realize there were buffalo in other parts of the world.  I am truly ignorant of so many things.  Sometimes a postage stamp can be a teaching tool.  So, as I started to write all of this, I went to ask.com to see if there were buffalo in Belarus.  This is what I found.  “Belarus is a traditional and charmingly unique country which is sadly often overlooked by tourists. Travel into landlocked Belarus through sweeping marshy areas and thick forests where deer, wild boar and buffalo reside and you’ll find crystal-clear lakes as well as warm hospitality from the locals.”  Amazing!

The address and message area of the postcard from Germany

I have two photos for postcard number five.  The first of them is of the address area.  I have to show you the calligraphy that just delighted me when I saw it!  I was so very thrilled by this when I got it out of my PO Box!  There are a couple of rubber stamped images that I didn’t even really notice at first.  One is upside down under the calligraphy address and it has and airplane.  The other is round and has words also, but I can’t make out the words on either image.  I’m guessing they are both in German.  I have his return address covered, but I sure wish I didn’t have to.  It is a very cute, round return address with a cat in the center and his address in a circle.

# 5 from Germany

His message is on top of the rubber stamped images, the round one which is also upside down.  It says “Hi Sharon with this lovely Robin I send you all my best wishes.  Have a nice day.  Lothar from Germany”  He had also let me know that the art work was by Marjolein Bastin.  I love her work.  So, I emailed him to ask if he had made the postcard or if he’d bought it.  If he’d bought it, I sure wanted to know where because I’d never seen any.  He said he made it out of an old calendar!  I’ve been holding on to my old calendars to do something like that with, but I haven’t done it yet.  I may have to soon.  So, unique.

That’s all the postcards for today friends.  I hope you’ll enter my Silly Contest.  You do not have to have a blog, just an email address and a mailbox.  Don’t know about my Silly Contest?  Click on the highlighted Silly Contest words to read more about it.  Have a great week!

Jewelry Contest Coming Soon!

We have a guest Blogger today!

Hello, Chaos Ranch readers! I’m B, Sharon’s niece. I make jewelry, and sell it on Etsy. I’m going to be holding a contest on my Facebook fan page in the very near future. I’m in the midst of getting everything set up. This will be a fan referral contest, and you have to be a fan of the page before the contest starts. So, I figured I would give people a chance to become new fans before I start the contest, and give them the ability to participate. The prize will be either a one-of-a-kind bracelet or necklace that I will make. I will gladly ship the prize to anyone out of city or state.

Here’s the link to my Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/brittanisbaubles

Here’s the link to my fan page: https://www.facebook.com/brittanisbaubles

Also, feel free to pass the word on to any friends or family so that they have a chance to participate if they want to as well.

I hope you enjoy what you see, and I wanted to thank my aunt for letting me write a little blurb to her readers. Thanks, Aunt Sharon!

Nearly Perfect Travel Music

I can remember when I was a teenager, going to the mall (around 1976 when I had not been driving long and did not have much extra money) and looking at the vinyl albums with a great deal of longing.  There was often one song I loved on an album full of music I did not want.  Who wanted to spend all of their money on an album for one song?  Back then there was no internet, no iTunes or any other such thing.  I can vividly remember wishing for the option of being able to buy just one song from several different albums.  I can even remember saying that someday, we’d be able to do that.  Although I honestly thought we’d be ordering it in a store and waiting, possibly weeks, while they made it up somehow.  I never envisioned anything like the internet.

When iTunes came into my life, I was pretty much on cloud nine!  My fantasy dream had come true and in my lifetime!  Ever since then, I’ve been trying to come up with my perfect travel music CD.  If I ever get it right, I’ll go on to the perfect exercise CD, but first things first.  The perfect travel CD has to keep you awake if you’re traveling alone.  It has to keep you company.  It has to keep you singing and possibly even dancing a little in the car, not too much because you might actually be driving and you do want to live to doe-see-doe another day.  Or would that be dough-see-dough?

This is the CD I listen to the most on my drives to and from Oklahoma (or Colorado or even Tennessee if I’m lucky enough to go to either of those places).  I also listen to it to and from Houston when I travel down there alone.  I listen to it when I’m out of radio range or I am sick of the same 10 songs they seem to play on the radio stations.  I never get tired of this one.  I listen to it over and over.  I’ve made other CDs thinking they might be closer to perfect and I’ve set them aside to seldom listen to them at all.  This one, I come back to again and again.  I found links to youtube videos for all of them.  Although some are so old that it just has the song and maybe a shot of the album cover.  Some of them had concert videos and I decided to get another one that sounded more like the one on my CD.  Hope you enjoy them.   I’ll write notes about some of the songs beside them.

1. When God-Fearin’ Women Get The Blues by Martina McBride (makes me want to party!)
2. Something To Talk About by Bonnie Raitt (gets me movin’)
3. Whatever It Is by Zac Brown Band (I like a whole lot of their music)
4. Making Memories Of Us by Keith Urban (the most romantic song I’ve ever heard.  I wish a man would say all of this to me!)
5. I Feel Lucky by Mary Chapin Carpenter (Oh Yes!  I feel lucky and I want to sing and dance and just throw caution to the wind!)
6. Mustang Sally by Wilson Pickett (how can you hear this and not want to dance?  Crank it up!)
7. Somewhere Over The Rainbow by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole (I love this.  I sing it to.  I mellow to it and cool off.  I’d also like this played at my funeral many, many years from now)
8. Chain Of Fools by Aretha Franklin (this makes me want to dance — did you ever see the movie Michael?  I might want some pie after I dance too.)
9. Black Water by The Doobie Brothers (this was popular when I was in love with my first love — ahh, memories)
10. Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffett (I could use a Margarita about now!)
11. Banana Pancakes by Jack Johnson (I’m a fairly new fan of Jack’s thanks to my cousin Sundey.  I think I’d like everything he sings.  He is the only singer I have on this CD twice)
12. I’m Gonna Love You Forever by Randy Travis (another song that makes me wish a man was singing it to me)
13. If You’re Gonna Play in Texas by Alabama (party, party, party)
14. Marie Laveau by Bobbie Bare (brings out the adventurer in me — anyone up for a trip to New Orleans?)
15. Some Days You Gotta Dance by Dixie Chicks (yes, indeed — let’s dance!)
16. Sixty Minute Man by The Dominoes (this makes me want to dance)
17. Take It Easy by Eagles (also from my first love era)
18. I’m Alive (with Dave Matthews) by Kenny Chesney  (I really try to live my life by the philosophy of this song — I sometimes listen to it over and over)
19. Alright by Darius Rucker (great voice, handsome man, wouldn’t mind someone singing this to me either)
20. Better Together by Jack Johnson (Jack’s voice is so nice, I love his quirky lyrics and I love this song)
21. Walking In Memphis by Marc Cohn (this man’s voice does things to me that I’ve never said out loud — I sometimes listen to it over and over –sigh)

OK, I hope you’ll listen to these and let me know what you think.  If you listen to nothing else, listen to I’m Alive!  It’s a good one.  I hope  you’re having a good one.

Postcrossing Postcards to Share

postcard # 1 from Tatyana in Belarus

Once again, I’ve gotten very behind on sharing my postcrossing postcards with you.  I’m especially embarrassed about this first one being so late to show up on the blog.  I got it in late April and really thought I had shared it already.  It is from Tatyana in Belarus.  I got rather tickled when I read why she picked this postcard for me.  It was because I had “favorited” someone elses postcard of snails.  The reason I did that was because I was thinking of “snail mail”.  Worked out perfect though because I have a fondness for ladybugs.  When my oldest granddaughter was a toddler, she called all bugs — ladybugs.  Her family lived in Italy at the time and her parents weren’t familiar with all the spiders and possibly posionous bugs there, so when she would squeal “ladybug!” they would have to drop everything and run to see what she was about to try to pick up!  I hope I never forget that story.  Anyway, the front of the postcard says “I love you”.

One of the other postcrossers from Belarus had sent me a link showing me her city.  I forgot to share it with you when I showed you her postcard earlier.  Hers is the one of the three family members.  So, when I came across the link again today, I wanted to be sure and share it.  I watched it a couple of weeks or so ago.  It was very interesting.  I hope you enjoy it.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHy_uUnvkho

# 2 from Angelika in GA, USA

The second card comes from Angelica in Georgia.  She is a native Texan, born in Dallas (just as I was!) and lived in Austin for a while (just as I’ve love to do someday).  She will be moving to Florida sometime this summer.  I’ve been there for a couple of very hot visits and would love to visit the Keys sometime, but can’t say I’d want to live in any of the places I’ve visited so far.  Sorry Florida.  She’s really looking forward to the beaches.  Angelika has a sister who still lives in Austin and loves the bluebonnets as much as I do, so I sent her a couple of photos of the bluebonnets I have for my banner and stamps.  I have another postcard from Angelika to share on another day.  My photo of it didn’t turn out well this time.

number 3 from Calvn in Japan

Postcard number three is from Calvin in Japan and shows the cherry blossoms!  I’ve never been to Japan or even to Washington D.C.  I had three wild cherry trees here on my property that were just lovely, but I think I may have lost them to last year’s drought.  I didn’t see any of them bloom this year.  I can only imagine how beautiful it is to be where hundreds of cherry trees are blooming at once!  The thought makes my soul sing.  Calvin says “I hope this card would represent my current residence.”  Ahhhh.  Even though the blooms only last a few days, he is still a lucky young man.

# 4 from future Attorney Nathalie

Postcard four filled me with delight!  I love art type cards.  I love to make them and I love to receive them.  This may be a journal page that was photographed and then made into a postcard.  It is not orginial artwork, but that does not make it any less lovely or fun to get.  It comes from Nathalie in Orlando.  She says she has just finished law school and an internship at the State Attorney’s Office and that she will be taking the bar exam in July!  Best of luck to you Nathalie!  She’s also just gotten into film photography.  Sounds like a great stress reliever to me!  Love the postcard.  By the way, you may want to click on the photo for this one especially if you like this kind of art.  The page the collage is on is a cookbook!  So fun!  I would have never thought of that, but I will now.

photo postcard # 5 from Alesya in Russia

The fifth, and final, postcard for today is actally a photograph.  It is from Alesya in Russa.  I can’t make out the city because of the postal machine black ink.  Sadly, she wrote very little to me on the card.  I remember emailing her to ask if she had taken a photo of an old Christmas card or something like that.  I can’t find the email, but I’m almost postitive she said that she had. In the bottom right hand corner, it says in English, “Christmas Eve in Kingsport”.  Lovely.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post.  Don’t forgot to leave a comment for the Silly Contest.  If you’re the winner, you’ll get honest to goodness, real handwritten mail in your mailbox and it won’t be a bill for anything!

I am so Very Grateful

The last few days were very busy.  I haven’t had time to finish writing about all B and I did and didn’t even have time to do.  I’m tuckered out and trying to just rest.  I’m writing blog posts and talking on the phone to loved ones.  I have to tell you though that since yesterday, I’ve had this overwhelming feeling of gratitude.  I am filled to the brim and overflowing with it!

• I’m so grateful that B got to come to spend time with momma and me.
• I’m grateful we went on our little adventures
• I’m grateful that my car was in working order to get us back and forth to the general Houston area to get her and take her home
• I’m grateful that my air conditioner, even though it’s acting up, worked for most of our driving around
• I’m grateful that I’ve gotten to talk to my friends B and C recently
• I’m grateful to have my momma here living near me — so very grateful for that one!
• I’m grateful for my hubby and all he does for us and all he puts up with from me through all these long many years we’ve been together
• I’m so very, very grateful for my dear son — just thinking of him make me tear up — he’s such a good man with so much on his plate
• a dear friend of my son’s has had a couple of bad accidents and is now in grave condition, my son is extremely upset, sad, worried and hurt — this situation reminds me of how very lucky we are and makes me even more grateful for his health and for the good health of his children
• his friend’s condition made my son say something that he had not said to me in about two years, something I was so very grateful to hear him say and something he needs to say more often.

I am grateful:

•  for dreams
• for Dove chocolate
• for the Coke I’m trying so hard to give up — a double-edged sword
• for good, clean water
• bird song
• waking without an alarm
• creativity and the time to be creative
• love and friendship and the pain that is sure to come with it at times
• pets
• quiet
• books
• solitude
• The Texas Rangers
• fun
• breathing in and out

Sometimes, that enough.

 

Zazzle Stamps and a Silly Contest

click on the photo so you can enlarge and see Donovan’s zazzle stamp better

I recently showed you this letter that I’d gotten with a zazzle postage stamp on it.  Let me tell you, seeing that stamp — well, it started something!  I wanted that stamp, for one thing!  But I couldn’t find it on the zazzle site.  So I’m going to have to write Donovan and ask if her stamp is for sale.

After giving up on finding Donovan’s stamp, I started looking at all the other stamps and there were some great ones.  I wanted so many of them!  Then I got to thinking that what I really wanted right now was one of my own!  I wanted my bluebonnets.  The same ones that are in my banner at the top of the blog.  I wanted to see the quality of their printing and I wanted to see if they could produce the beautiful color of my bluebonnets and get it right.  I wanted to test them and I wanted to get some zazzle stamps!  So, I ordered some!

just a little taste

I ordered 32 cent and 45 cent in the largest size stamp — the better to see my bluebonnets! — on Wednesday night of last week.  I had the stamps in my hand yesterday — Monday — from California!  To me — that is amazing!  It normally takes a long time to get things to and from CA and Texas, but they not only shipped it in that time, they made it, exceeding my expectations and shipped it here faster than I could have expected.  I’m quite happy.

Here is the link to my Bluebonnet postage stamps.  http://www.zazzle.com/bluebonnets_postage-172521816755117019  This link takes you to the 45 cent largest size, but remember if you are inclined to order some, that  you can get them in up to 13 postal denominations and in 3 different sizes.  Please take a look, even if you have no interest in ordering.  I’d love your feedback on how they look.

I’ve also just decided to have a Silly Contest!  Everyone who leaves a comment here on this post about the stamps is eligible to win.  The prize will be an art  postcard sent to the winner with one of the Bluebonnets stamps on it.  Contest closes at 2 PM central time Sunday May 27th.  Your comment has to link in some way for me to get in touch with you or you need to leave a mailing address  or email in the comment.  Silly Contest is open to everyone!  Also, if you have a preference of the art postcard — mine or B’s — please state it in the comment.  Otherwise it will be a surprise!  I’ll use a random number generator to pick the number or have one of my grandkids pick the number out of a hat.  Good luck!

Friday — Adventures in Art

B’s – stage one – paint only – in the shade

We’ll be hitting the road soon for today’s adventure.  If I have any energy left at all, I’ll tell you about it when I get home.  Until then, let me tell you what we did yesterday.  I was supposed to take over stuff to experiment in carving rubber stamps.  I forgot all about it.  Maybe we can do that on Sunday.

mine — stage one — paint only — in the shade

On Monday, when momma and I went to Dallas, I bought some 140 lb. 12″ x 18″ water color paper to make postcards with.  Today, I took it over to momma’s house, along with my water colors, some ink samples, a couple of syringes I have for fountain pen maintainance, a few paint brushes and a pickle jar for the water.

B was as excited as I was to play with the paint!  So, we got to it pretty quickly.  The first step, was just to paint the paper.  We took our time.  We did whatever we wanted to do — whatever felt right.  When we were done, we let it dry.  Which didn’t take long since it was so hot outside.  It took us longer to cool off than the paints did to dry.

my inks are on the left, B’s inks are on the right

While we were inside cooling off, I went through some of the ink samples that I’d brought with me and picked quite a few that I probably wouldn’t use in my fountain pens.  I put them in a bag and had momma hold the bag while B and I took turns picking one at a time, with our eyes closed!  We picked three each and had to use what we picked.

B’s — stage two — after ink added

We then went back outside and put the syringes together.  There is a long, hollow, dull, “needle” that we sucked the ink up into the syringe with.  Then we each did our own thing.  I just squirted my ink kind of quick and moved my hand back and forth.  I noticed that B kind of pumped her syringe the time I watched her.  I ended up with ink all over my hands, she had very little on her.  We were both happy as clams!

mine — stage two — with ink added

After we finished with the ink part, we had to clean up a bit and then cool off a lot!  Sitting in the house just didn’t cut it.  I suggested that we go to Sonic for a shake to help us cool down.  Believe me, it did indeed help quite a lot!  Then I brought momma and B back home and I gathered all the things up and come on home myself.  B gave me her paper since she doesn’t write many letters or postcards.   I’ll be able to get 9 postcards out of each sheet of paper.  I may add some collage or fabric to some of them.  I’ll have to add something to the sheet B made to be able to use it as something from me, but I want to alter it as little as possible.  We’ll see.  Whatever I end up doing, I’ll show you here.  It was a fun day and I’m excited!  I can’t wait to send them out!