It's The Little Things

The theme for Texture Tuesday this week is "It's The Small Things". While it is hard to tell just how small this little teacup and saucer are, they are almost miniature.  The little cup is 2.5 inches across the the saucer is 4.5 and barely 3" tall overall. I loved it when I spotted it at a flea market sale down the road from my house. I also found an amazing old chair, all painted shabby chic white and suitably worn, just perfect for photos. The little cup is sitting on some of the old barn wood that I was lucky enough to be able to salvage from an old barn being torn down. I have plans for the chair too, hope to do some of my grandsons senior photos this week and I can just see him sitting in a wheat field in that chair or in a field of queen anne's lace out in the country somewhere. So join the gang over at the Cafe`, check out all the amazing photos for the weeks theme and see how we all interpreted "Its the little things".
http://www.kimklassencafe.com/thecafe

Butterfly

French Kiss texture website is giving away some textures. This is my edit for the contest. We were asked to use the texture Purple Prose, which was so generously given as a freebie. Thanks Leslie Nichole. I love the textures with the script on them

The Beach

Anyone who knows me knows that the beach is where I love to be. Listening to the waves crashing and the shore birds calling is just next to Heaven for me. Soothes my soul. Not to say I don't love the solitude of the forest at times also, I do but the beach is where I revive. Living where I do in Oregon I am lucky to say that I have the best of both worlds, the shore or the forest are less than an hour away from home. For the last 8 yrs. or so, when my grandkids were old enough to feel comfortable away from home for an extended stay, we have stayed at the beach for a week. These trips are always such a joy for me. Seeing them just being kids and enjoying time together has been every grandma's dream. The last few yrs. we have only been able to go for a few days but it is still worth it. Now that they are older, 17 & 14 time with Grams is more limited, too many activities but this last week my youngest grandson and I took off on a very warm and sunny day and headed to the beach for one night. We packed as much stuff in that one day as we could. We have traditions that we follow, one is to stop at our favorite clam chowder place, Camp 18, on the way to the beach. Brandon said it was even better this time than last time.  It was sunny but a bit windy at the beach but not uncomfortable. Off to the store for wood to make a fire and sand toys, forks for roasting marshmallows and all the stuff for S'mores later on the beach. One other tradition we have is going to Mo's restaurant in Cannon Beach for steamer clams, and for Brandon more chowder. YUMM YUMM. Spent the evening on the beach, the wind died down and we had a great time. A bit of fog so we didn't see the sunset. The next day was spent looking in shops while we waited for the bumper cars to open. We have to ride them and see who can hit the other more. It was a draw this time. Spent most of the next day, after the bumper cars on the beach playing in the sand and soaking up the sun. My favorite thing to do is fly the kite, usually I can't get the kids to do it but this time Brandon wanted to be the retriever, the wind the first day was blowing pretty good so the kite was doing lots of loops and crashing before I could get it up into the air. Finally got it to really fly, makes my heart soar. We rented one of the pedi-cabs to petal around town, boy let me tell you, they are a lot of work, but we managed to use up almost the whole hour before we were out of steam.

In The Sky

For Texture Tues

Dream

Today is Texture Tuesday at Kim Klassen's Cafe and the theme for this week was "Dream".
My dream of an idyllic life would be to live by the ocean, preferably somewhere warm and sunny like Hawaii. This photo was taken on Kaanappli Beach in Maui. We have been back from there since the first of August and I can honestly say I am not really back yet. I love Hawaii, I love the water and I love the warm sand and sunny weather. I can feel the soft trade winds blowing and hear the rustling of the palm leaves. Waking up in the morning to the sound of the tropical birds singing in the trees is just short of paradise. Seeing the sky turn from a soft pink to blue is magical, and I am NOT a morning person, but being in the warm tropics seems to make one want to not miss any part of the beautiful day. But, this is not my only dream, I would also love to go back to Italy, rent a villa near the Tuscany area and spend time soaking up the atmosphere of the country. The first time I went to Venice it was like coming home, I must of been there in a previous life or something because it was so familiar and reached out and embraced my soul. Dreams keep us going in our every day lives, we may never make them come true or live the fantasy we envision but we need to remember that we are in charge of our destiny and the old saying "If there is a will, there is a way" is so true. We can live our dreams we just have to make it happen.