My Little Piece of Ireland and Love For Japan.

Happy St. Paddy's Day Everyone!

Well, as some of you know I am a Brit. and proud of it. I was born in England into an Irish Catholic family and have fond childhood memories of large family gatherings, trips to Ireland and many visitors from Eire to visit us.  My life now, living in the PNW of America, is in sharp contrast to my earlier years. So, every year I take out my little brooch I bought in Dublin, Ireland when I was 11. I saved my pocket money for nearly a year as spending money for our trip to visit relatives. As soon as I saw this brooch I was smitten. How could I go wrong with 2 lucky Horseshoes and 2 lucky Shamrocks glistening away.

Every year our relatives in Ireland used to send us a box of fresh Shamrock to wear on St. Patrick's Day with our harp pin and ribbon with the Irish colours. As a child It felt like a very special day, going to Catholic schools, everyone was wearing something in the colours of Ireland. Of course, Mass was a prerequisite but the fun started in the evenings when there would be lots of Shindigs to go to.

Fond memories all brought back to life by a tiny little brooch bought by a little 11 year old Girl, way back when!


Today as we celebrate one Country's heritage we also keep in our Hearts another Country's suffering, it is hard to fathom and harder still to shake the sense of helplessness in this overwhelming crisis. But I believe we can all help in so many ways. Here are a few things I found this week where I have been able to do my small part.

There is a new shop on Etsy Love for Japan where you can buy and donate items to raise funds for Japan. This was set up by Christen Strang at Letter Happy Thank you so much for doing this.

Yesterday, I received an email account statement from United Airlines, I usually delete these straight away but a little caption caught my eye and so I clicked on it and a few seconds later I had donated some of my frequent flyer miles to the Red Cross. I LOVE this programme and other Airlines do it too. You can donate so charitable organizations can fly their personal where they are needed. Here is a link to United (charities page)


One more thing. Ever - Ours and Utterly Engaged have set up fund raising for Japan and asked all Bloggers to have a blogging day of silence tomorrow Friday March 18th as a sign of respect for the suffering in Japan.  

As we watch in numbed sadness at the images coming out of Japan I still hope everyone can

Have a Wonderful Weekend!

 

Happy Painting/Creating! :) T.

An Amazing Giveaway!

Happy Tuesday Everyone!

Guess what, it is pouring with rain here in Oregon again today, so I thought I would brighten our day with a pretty Spring Blossom photo :)

Now to the Amazing Giveaway :)

Super Talented Photographer Elle Moss from fPOE (Female Photographers of Etsy) has created TWO stunningly Beautiful Treasuries full of the amazingly talented Ladies of fPOE's work, for some lucky person to win.

Isn't that wonderful :)

 "If you need some art for your spring decorating, imagine winning either of these. Two winners will be selected to win 16 items each (prize value of each is over $240!)" (from fPOE blog post)

All you have to do is click on the treasury (links below) and leave a comment.


One comment per person and you can comment on both treasuries.


Winners will be announced in 2 weeks (March 28, 2011)

Win Treasury #1: CLICK HERE


Win Treasury #2: CLICK HERE

Good Luck Everyone!
 

Happy Painting/Creating! :) T.

Oh, What a Night!

Happy Friday Everyone! :)

Well, we are truly grateful that the Tsunami that was headed for the Oregon Coast was mild. Our Son is a counsellor at ODS (Outdoor School) right now at the coast and so they have spent a rather disturbed night with Tsunami sirens going off all the time and moving the campers to higher ground. Not much sleep and now, they are just waiting for the All Clear, so they can come home. :)

As I watched the news last night with the live shots of the Tsunami in Japan I was overwhelmed.

We are truly saddened by the tragedy in Japan. We are keeping them in our thoughts and our hearts go out to them :)

As I switched on my Computer this morning I thought maybe some photos of the beautiful Purple Crocus in my Garden would bright our lives a little.

I change the colour on this one photo, which one do you like the best?

1). Original shot, no changes at all.

2). Slight brightness and contrast added.

3). A little Colour Balance

4). Colour Balance and a Little Colour Mix

5). Just Colour Mix.

Leave me a comment and let me know :)

If you are interested to see some lovely SEWIING photos check out my blog post on fPOE (Female Photographers of Etsy)

Have a wonderful Weekend :)

Happy Painting/Creating! :) T.

International Women's Day!

Happy Tuesday Everyone!

International Women's Day is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. In some places like China, Russia, Vietnam and Bulgaria, International Women's Day is a national holiday. (Seems to me like a wonderful reason to have a NATIONAL Holiday, think we could pull that one off here in the USA???)
 
2011 is the Global Centenary Year!


The first International Women's Day event was run in 1911.

For more info. on International Women's Day here is the LINK to their website.


At first I thought I could really think about celebrating the day but then I watched this video;

After watching this video and listening to Dame Judi Dench's dialog I have to admit that I am thoroughly depressed and wonder if we will ever reach true equality.


So what do you think?

Do you feel woman have true equality?

Leave a comment and let me know :)

Join in the Debate at We Are EQUALS

Happy Painting/Creating! :) T.

WooHoo, More Rain :(

Happy Friday Everyone!

First off I really want to say a BIG "THANK YOU" to everyone who sent me such wonderful B.Day wishes. You Guys ROCK!

I had a lovely Day even if it was raining :)

And so, It is too funny, as I was browsing my blog roll before posting today I stopped by my Blogger Buddy Kelli at Bug Miscellany Blog and she has posted about the weather in the PNW this week and that is exactly what I was going to post about today :)

Seriously, it has been raining so much I don't remember the last time I saw the Sun, did it move and not tell me???

This is what I have been looking at all week!

click on images for larger photo (of course you want to see more rain (He! He!)

Rain thru the dining room window, looking towards the West and the coastal range (nope, can't see any Mountains there :)

So, I am so, so grateful for the beautiful flowers my kids had delivered for my B.Day! At least I have some lovely colourful brightness in the house :)

Close up of the lovely miniature Roses :)

Gorgeous guys, thank you, lyl :)

So, thank you everyone, for making my week, extra special :)

Here are the Flowers my Hubby bought for me for my B.Day, if you missed Tuesdays post :)

Hope everyone has a Wonderful Weekend!

Happy Painting/Creating! :) T.

HAPPY B.DAY TO ME! :)

HAPPY TUESDAY EVERYONE! :)

TODAY'S MY B.DAY! YAY ME! :)

Here are the 2 dozen Roses my Darling Hubby bought for me :)

And a lovely Bunch of Daffs :)

I just wanted to wish all of my Blogger Buddies from Wales a very Happy St.David's Day these Daffs are for you :)

Hope everyone has a Wonderful Day!

Happy Painting/Creating! :) T.

Made it to Friday YAY!

Happy Friday Everyone!

I really can't believe it actually snowed here in the N.W. the past few days. We only had an inch of snow (Thankfully) but other places had a lot more.

Hello, up there, it is nearly March, we are done with Winter now!!! ( I know I can't really complain compared to what other people have had to deal with but I want some WARM SUNSHINE, PLEASE!!!!!!!  SOON!!!!!! PRETTY PLEASE!!!!!)

But of course, I did take a couple of photos but thru the window, I wasn't going to go outside, it was way to chilly (He! He!)

So, the other day, we were having dinner with our Son and talking about my incapability to be able to function on Facebook. Jokingly I said, there should be one for Old People like me ('coz, you know wandering around the house in my dressing gown for weeks at a time feeling like crap, has made me feel VERY OLD :)

So, we Googled, of course, and what do you know there is a fun page, someone set up. I had to share it, it just made me giggle and I needed a good giggle. It is obviously written by someone in Britain ( the ref. to tripe, a big give away, yuck! :(

Click on image for larger format

Also, I wanted to share that I blogging on fPOE (Female Photographers of Etsy) yesterday, if you would like to see these talented Ladies' work, here is the link; fPOE Blog

One more thing, Tiffany at Will Write 4 Food Blog wasn't feel too well the other day and just goggled "ugh" she came up with a very cute and funny image and she suggested that we should all do that and share them back at her blog. So, I Goggled "Grumpy" that being my mood a lot of the time right now and this is what I found :)

Grumpy Cookie from Mama Drama Archives

Now this cracked me up :)

Well, My Dears, I hope you all have a Lovely Weekend!

Happy Painting/Creating! :) T.