tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65892629724827854182024-02-07T19:21:36.157-08:00NIFTY THINGS - Postcards, Paintings, and ImagesDrop me a line or leave a comment!Cathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13168451164937577069noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6589262972482785418.post-7209345581075246142010-05-01T21:57:00.000-07:002010-05-02T12:09:14.912-07:00Travel Journal - Trip to CA and Camera reviewMy sweet hubby and I have just returned from a week-long trip to visit friends and flowers in California. Mostly, only a few of the the pictures of the flowers came out well enough to post, but we did get a few that please us. (See our public album at picasaweb.google.com/cathy.hoaglund for bigger and better images.)~In February my Canon Powershot SD 690IS decided it would no longer focus, for Cathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13168451164937577069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6589262972482785418.post-74074813451504929212010-05-01T20:58:00.001-07:002010-05-01T21:44:51.829-07:00A Long Time passed ... My hubby and I have one complaint about Arizona - the moon goes through her cycle much quicker now that we have moved here. How does that work? It used to take nearly a 12th of a year to make it though a cycle, but now it takes only a few days. For example - it simply cannot be true that we have had 2 full moons since I last published something to this blog, (Or can it?) I have a lot I Cathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13168451164937577069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6589262972482785418.post-42182719976614529922010-02-06T09:15:00.000-08:002010-02-06T09:42:43.292-08:00Good news about Granny J!For those who have been faithful reader's of "Granny J"'s excellent blog, Walking Prescott there is some good news. It looks like she is beating the pneumonia and will be getting out of the nursing home. Walking Prescott: Woohoo! My Camera's Well!Cathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13168451164937577069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6589262972482785418.post-66200839140149279902010-01-18T21:31:00.000-08:002010-01-18T21:38:30.976-08:00The OutcomeI took my painting in to the wonderful people at the Friday morning Water Media Group at Mountain Artist's Guild. We decided it wasn't quite done, and I punched up the shadows and water a bit. Does it look better??Cathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13168451164937577069noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6589262972482785418.post-20256908705962986242010-01-13T20:41:00.000-08:002010-01-13T21:45:40.929-08:00Reality wins over Watercolor .. AgainOne of my enduring passions is trying to capture some of the incredible colors and shapes that we see at our two neighborhood lakes. So far I have pretty much failed to get the effect I want in any attempt so far, but I think I am getting a bit closer lately. Here is my latest attempt, barely dry, along with a couple of photos of the area that I used as reference. I seem to be getting the best Cathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13168451164937577069noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6589262972482785418.post-36751667145437056042010-01-08T21:04:00.000-08:002010-01-08T22:53:33.033-08:00Things that stay with youWelcome to the new year ... how do you like living here in the future? There has been a theme to many of the conversations and email lately - everyone I know seems baffled by the question "How did it get to be 2010 already!" Connecting with old friends on the social networking sites is apt to bring this on, since a high school buddy can say things like "40th High School Reunion" or "my Cathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13168451164937577069noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6589262972482785418.post-20591947108211059692009-11-16T08:46:00.000-08:002009-11-16T09:35:57.323-08:00Sonoran Desert Camping and SunsetWe recently went camping at Pichaco State Park, about 40 miles north of Tucson. The lower altitude are part of the unique Sonoran Desert. It is a lush desert, with saguaro, cholla, barrel and pad cactus, palo verde and mesquite trees, creosote bush, and ocatillo. The campsite had all of these and some great lava rock outcrops. A trip highlight was seeing the Arizona Sonora Desert Cathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13168451164937577069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6589262972482785418.post-24846493757011911192009-10-23T22:01:00.000-07:002009-10-23T23:14:41.512-07:00Amazing Travel AccomplishmentI gotta brag: I just finished paying the credit card bills from the trip and was rather amazed that the vacation sub-account is far from being empty. When we planned the trip I established a Not-To-Exceed Budget and a fairly detailed Target Budget that was about $500 less.The bills are in now and for the first time, we have come in under the Target Budget by about $200. We were not doing the tripCathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13168451164937577069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6589262972482785418.post-9049419651462356962009-10-20T17:07:00.000-07:002009-10-23T23:14:08.296-07:00Milverton Idyll The village of Milverton, in Somerset, on the border of Devon, feels like a home place to us. Pauline, intrepid soul, knew of us through a number of common Sierra pack trip friends, though we had never met. She invited us to stay sight unseen back in 1992, and has never been rid of us since.Her peaceful house and wonderful garden are where we have the rest and relaxation parts of our vacations Cathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13168451164937577069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6589262972482785418.post-34220567499450661322009-10-19T12:05:00.000-07:002009-10-20T17:03:13.658-07:00Pictures, Pictures, Pictures!Whew! The pictures from the trip have all been through the basic post-processing routine and the ones we feel others might like to see are posted on the Picasa web site: http://picasaweb.google.com/cathy.hoaglund They are in the public folders. This is another attempt to balance the preferences of many people. We feel compelled to tell people about the interesting things we saw and to show off Cathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13168451164937577069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6589262972482785418.post-58766635523444534392009-10-01T02:21:00.000-07:002010-02-06T10:02:31.656-08:00The Trinity Capital Hotel, DublinThe Trinity Capital Hotel was bundled with the airfare, and was a pleasant surprise. It is right around the corner from Trinity College's College Green entrance, a very busy intersection and handy for the busses. The decor fascinated me - so many very large things of very diverse style but all working very well. The restaurant - Cafe Cairo - also had very good food. But it was very noisy - it hasCathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13168451164937577069noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6589262972482785418.post-36362663497183871842009-10-01T02:13:00.000-07:002009-10-06T22:08:25.348-07:00Arthur's Day and Night, GalwayWe were in Galway for what turned out to be a major Irish holiday - Arthur's Day. In 1759 Arthur Guiness signed a 9000 year lease - yes, nine-thousand years!) for his new brewery. In honor of the 250th anniversary the Irish threw an enormous party, with pints either free or 2.50 Euros. The streets were packed and there was music everywhere. Made me kinda sorry I can't stand the stuff!There was a Cathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13168451164937577069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6589262972482785418.post-14244531711521387522009-09-30T14:54:00.000-07:002009-10-06T22:32:44.130-07:00Dublin DetailsDublin is not a pretty city, like San Francisco or San Diego. It is not as overwheming as London or New York, and it lacks the dour, handsome dignity of Edinburgh. But what it does have is an abundance of interesting architectural details. In this respect, it reminds me a bit of Boston. Here are just a few such details - although they were photographed on a gray day, I think the interesting bits Cathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13168451164937577069noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6589262972482785418.post-40046665707865442562009-09-30T11:18:00.000-07:002009-10-17T13:13:52.836-07:00Travelling Once moreWe are on our way again after a long gap.I don't propose to post exquistly detailed and exquisitely boring chronological accounts of what we did each day during our trip to Ireland, Wales, and England - that goes in the travel journal files. (Well, it is boring to most folks, anyway.) But there are so many little things and pictures to share. The logo above will identify such postings which may Cathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13168451164937577069noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6589262972482785418.post-87073801092846074212009-09-10T12:10:00.000-07:002009-10-20T17:04:33.201-07:00Fun Places to Take Visitors in the Prescott area:My aunt, who is herself new to the area has some visitors coming at a time that we cannot be around to share. She asked me for a list of places that we might want to take them.There are all the big places on the tourist maps - and there are plenty of them! There are also the music, theater and art events listed in the Daily Courier. But this recent post from Walking Prescott reminds me that thereCathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13168451164937577069noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6589262972482785418.post-30763773737727361322009-09-08T21:50:00.001-07:002009-09-08T23:03:41.510-07:00A Century Ago Facebook Was Named The Penny PostcardsElizabeth Bernstein wrote an August Wall Street Journal column titled “How Facebook Ruins Friendships”. She writes about the way Facebook and Twitter and their kin have reduced the actual time spent for friendship maintenance by using it for an obsessive urge to share the utter minutia of life. We don’t really need to know what all of our friends did for lunch or what their video game scores wereCathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13168451164937577069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6589262972482785418.post-24586654129053713802009-08-21T23:43:00.000-07:002009-08-21T23:44:04.974-07:00I have returned to High School - in my mind. I found my yearbook and began wondering how everyone turned out. I have joined Facebook, and found a few of my good buddies, and a few with whom I had nothing in common then and nothing now. I was not part of the "IN" clique, but I was lucky to have a good set of friends with brains, people who also found this to be an interesting world, worth learningCathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13168451164937577069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6589262972482785418.post-7736073797629748502009-07-21T17:44:00.000-07:002009-09-10T12:13:26.727-07:00ArcoSanti and Montezuma's CastleGranny J just posted some interesting shots of her trip to Cordes. which occurred at about the same time we did a interesting two-place trip to that area. We took the New England ladies and some good friends and went to see Montezuma's Castle in the morning, and ArcoSanti in the morning. I find it interesting to compare our day to her observations : Walking Prescott: Which Cordes has the Cathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13168451164937577069noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6589262972482785418.post-31388825654817919212009-07-04T11:27:00.000-07:002009-07-04T12:42:18.176-07:00Pets live on ... in my screensaverI have been using my new toy, an Epson Perfection scanner, to turn some dusty boxes of memories into handy digital images. I would like to share a couple of my favorite pictures of Dandy - Our Australian Shepherd that - the very best of dogs. I found his baby picture, and a couple more that remind me how much fun he was.Dandy 1983With Rich at the Devil's Punchbowl, . CA at Joshua Tree National Cathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13168451164937577069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6589262972482785418.post-55016417374898746332009-06-21T22:23:00.000-07:002009-06-21T23:23:12.244-07:00First Postcards to ShareHere are two early cards of people in canoes. The first one is depicts a large number of people attending a band concert in Detroit in canoes. It is fun to lo0k at the young men with their bowties and the young women with their parasols and wonder if they everknew they were put on a postcard.And what are the guys in the bottom center handing off from one canoe to the next? The card is postmarkedCathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13168451164937577069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6589262972482785418.post-15399158094540043632009-06-17T06:03:00.000-07:002009-06-21T22:22:42.443-07:00IntroductionHello Out There This blog probably should be called "Cathy's Latest Folly", because I certainly don't have the time to do right by something like this. But I can't resist starting to play around with this technology. I have been inspired by some of the excellent local bloggers, and want to get in on the conversation. Another thing that has gotten me started is that we have been getting ready for Cathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13168451164937577069noreply@blogger.com0