End of the Blogging Season of My Life

My first blog was called 'Seasons of Violet'. The intent was to write about the different seasons of my life as they happened, like an online diary.

Then I discovered knitting blogs and started 'Stitches of Violet'. It was wonderful. I 'met' so many like minded, friendly people and enjoyed almost a decade of posting about knitting, dogs, granddaughters, and birds.

Now I have moved into a new 'Season'. There is little time for knitting, all my dogs are waiting at the Rainbow Bridge, one granddaughter is now an adult, and the birds I enjoyed are left behind for someone else to feed in Paw Paw/Almena, Michigan.

This is a happy, busy season with my new husband. We have places to go, things to do while we're still able and I have no desire to blog them.

The blogging 'Season' of my life is over.

Blessings to everyone who reads this.

Marguerite Hammond

An Experiment

As the days go by without writing a blog post, I find myself writing blog posts in my head. I am too busy, which then results in being too tired, to sit at my laptop and do the writing.

This is being written on my phone. It's an experiment to find out if I can write blog thoughts on my phone and edit them later  and add pictures before publishing.

What kind of picture goes in a post about writing a post?

How about a picture of Jay, my husband?  Because sometimes I act like a teenager in love.

The above picture was loaded in from my phone. Even thought it's a small picture, Blogger has it looking huge. I am not sure how to deal with this.

Now I'm on my laptop finishing up this experiment, and will add another picture just to make sure it can be done.

That worked much better.

Nest step: Google ways to add pictures with my phone after looking to see if the picture of Jay's head looks better after I publish. I have no reason to think it will even though he's not at fault.

Empty Boxes

This past week we worked in the basement. Jay did even more than I did. I don't know how he's still standing, because I have crashed and burned.

But how many people can say they have put away everything in their basement? I know that I have never been able to say that before.

The picture below is the lineup of EMPTY boxes and containers that we decided to keep.

These are the boxes that are going to get cut up and recycled.

We've been Living Together 8 Months

Last Tuesday we put together an assemble-it-yourself TV table for our cacti. We put it together backward, inside out, and with great patience and determination as it flopped all over and pieces didn't fit right.

I admit by mid afternoon I would have happily carried it out to the trash, but Jay insisted he was having fun so we kept dissembling and reassembling until it was functional. We did eventually throw out three major pieces that we're never going to miss.

The cacti are happy, Jay's happy, and I'm happy that Tuesday is over.

While we were making a mess of the cacti table, the UPS man brought the next day's project - a tall cabinet for the deck.

This had way better instructions and went together much quicker. We got the entire project done right the first time.

The sorting and organizing continues.

Jay is working on tools now. It appears we have a few. This picture only includes tools from the main level. There's a workroom in the basement that also has a few tools to be sorted.

I didn't bother moving any of my tools from my previous house. That means we can leave out all the discussions about whose to keep and whose to give away.

For the record, this table of tool stuff was empty in half a day. We're getting very good at sorting and culling.

Last winter during the months I wasn't blogging, we got shades for our condo. After several false starts with businesses that didn't respond, we went through Costco. (What kind of business that sells window coverings wouldn't be happy to outfit a new condo for non-cranky customers?)

Costco sent us to a large showroom that has been in business thirty-five years, had an excellent selection, and was a pleasure to do business with. They educated us, answered all our questions, helped us select the right thing, came to the condo and measured, and installed the entire condo in two hours. Plus we got a great Costco discount.

Last week we got notified that the furniture we bought in Arcola, Illinois from Countryside Amish Furniture has been built and only needs 7 to 21 days for the finish to cure and the odor to dissipate before delivering.

This is very exciting and delivery will be a huge step in making our condo into our home.

The picture below is my current dresser. It ranks a D = better than nothing.

Test Picture Post

My previous program for reducing the size of pictures to make them blog worthy does not work on Windows 8.1.

Fortunately the updated Canon software I use to edit my photos will reduce their size. Just needed time to play around with it a while and this post is hopefully the proof that I finally got it right.

As always, readers can double click on blog photos to see more detail.

Windows 8.1 and I are slowly becoming friends. It's different, for sure. The learning curve has been a time suck, and so have many other things I'm/we're working on getting done.

My new laptop is much faster and the display screen much sharper, so I can make and correct mistakes quicker. That's nice. The new laptop and I are friends and almost in love.

New Laptop Learning Curve

A little over a week ago my step-son Jeff arrived with a new laptop for me.

It was not a surprise. It was purchased with my approval and my money. I so appreciate that he went shopping for me, because he knows what he's doing in a computer store and I don't.

He helped me with the initial set-up, did all the file transfers, and installed some of the software that I use. I probably could have done this, but he did it much faster and with 100% less muttering and groaning.

Thank you, Jeff!!

I now have a touchscreen, Windows 8.1, and a new version of photo managing software. They are all requiring a learning curve when I'm not distracted by personalizing the laptop so I am functional and happy. It's like getting a new puppy - one forgets how much time this takes.

Also, I need to mention that I have a new car, a new house, and a new marriage which all require a learning curve.

It's all good, especially the new marriage. I wouldn't give any of it back. I am so glad to be retired so I have time for all this learning.

Why am I writing this?

• A diary for me of this time period.
• An excuse for not blogging.
• A declaration that I will be blogging again when I get done figuring out how to do it Windows 8.1 style.

P.S. I just spent over an hour trying to add a picture to this blog post. There will be no picture today.

Snapshot of My Life on May 30, 2015

Weather in SW Michigan ...
It's a nice, rainy late spring day. Temperature in the low seventies.

Tuesday we bought our contribution to the exterior of the condo, two hanging baskets. The rest is and will be maintained by landscapers. I'm still getting used to that, but my body appreciates it.

Really? ...
Today I got a text message from son John asking if I'd like to come to Idaho the week before Labor Day to 'babysit' granddaughter Sydney. Haven't bought the plane tickets yet, but I'm pretty sure the answer is YES!!!!

What We've Been Doing...
We've been working on merging household stuff, arranging and organizing the condo, buying things we need, and getting rid of things that we don't need and can bear to give up.

Does that sound like the same thing we were doing six months ago? It is. And it's likely we will be doing it six months in the future. Getting married when you're seventy plus is not like getting married when you're young.

The encouraging news is that we are happy with what we've done and we work well together.

New at Our House ...
We finally hung this beautiful needlepoint stitched by new daughter/Jay's daughter Joni. Her work is meticulous - tiny, perfect stitches. I can feel the love crafted into it, her love for her Heavenly Father and her love for her earthly father.

It's hanging in the heart of the house. The front hallway is to the right and the great room is to the left and to the front.

I am procrastinating ...
Buying a new laptop. The one I have is wimpy, which was OK when I bought it and lived in the country with whimy wi-fi. Now it's frustratingly slow and I've been ready to replace it for six months. What I haven't been ready to do is to take the time to set up a new laptop.

Jay's answer to almost all my problems is a trip, usually to Cincinnati. The middle of June we're going to Cincinnati because they have a Microsoft store there. We will be returning with something new and different - a fast laptop with Windows 8 touchscreen.

Seen anything good on Facebook lately? ...
Granddaughter Sydney's new braces.

Giving thanks for ...
Having a laundry room near the bedroom and master closet. I have always had laundry in the basement. Now there is hardly a load of wash that happens when I don't mentally appreciate the luxury of same floor laundry.

A few plans for the next few days
Sister Doris and her husband John from Virginia will be here Monday for brunch in Kalamazoo and dinner at Schuler's in Marshall.

Mid week I pick up a new pair of glasses. After that I will no longer be able to pass off pictures of a younger me because the glasses will be out of date.

And ...
The new condo they're finishing across the circle from us is going to be in the Parade of Homes starting June 12. It will be interesting to see how much traffic that brings to our quiet court.