The To Do List, and Other Shortcomings

It's been raining cats and dogs here in Maryland over the past couple of days.  This would normally be a welcome event had it not been for the fact that we just had a hurricane, so more rain wasn't really what any of us want or need right now.  More rain means more flooding, our road was shut down this morning, more trees down, and more mess to clean up!

My to do is list is growing by the minute, and this weather is not helping.  How do you like our pile of debris, I fondly refer to it as Mount Brushmore?  Oh there is plenty more of it that you can't see, stuff too large for us to move from our backyard.  And in case you think that's just a few branches...the stuff on the left side of the photo is an entire pear tree, the stuff on the right is bits of the big dead tree from alongside the water.  We have phoned tree companies to come help us get rid of it, but they have bigger fish to fry, like people with trees on their homes...and did I mention that it's been raining cats and dogs?!  So they are right to service those people first.  The pile is so big that you can't see over it or around it, and it's starting to stink so I would love to have it taken care of before we leave...which is in just 10 days, I can't even think about that right now though or I will go completely insane!

Thanks SO much for the advice you all left me on my last post.  We still haven't made up our minds as to where we will end up.  And today, because I like to torture myself, I threw out the idea of maybe just flying somewhere within Europe, like maybe Scotland!  Mr. Tide just gave me a smile and calmly said, "well, I'm glad you are narrowing things down!"

So let's see, 

I have to help my sister clean out a garage, a shed, and a laundry room so that my parent's house can go to settlement on the 20th, we leave on the 18th!  And she and her husband have already cleaned up 4 trees that came down over there.  We also still need to repair the fence that was damaged by a tree that came down!

I have to get photos sent to a gallery in Vermont that I'm working with, and hopefully get some mattes ordered and signed before we leave. 

I have to go and see if I can rent an international cell phone, I just love going to the Verizon store...not!

I'm trying to tie up loose ends on some writing projects before I go.

I want my house to be clean and tidy so that when I return it will be to a clean house...hmm that's probably not gonna happen.

I ordered some pictures to send to friends and the order got messed up and was never placed, so that needs fixing.

My daughter made it easy on us by asking for cash on her 24th birthday in a week, so thank you Angelfish for not pushing your mother over the edge with an elaborate gift request!

I really need a camera bag for my trip, the backpack I got for Christmas is wonderful but really bulky.

I need to call the credit card company and see if our credit cards will even work over there since some places don't accept our magnetic striped cards now!

We have to take Misty to dog obedience this weekend.  It's her birthday on the 18th...she'll be a big girl then!

I have a photo shoot both days...but may have to bag out if we don't get everything cleaned out in time at my parent's house!

Are you tired yet...because I am exhausted!!!  But I'm excited too, giddy in fact, so it will all work out, just like it always does.  It's that build up that I hate!

And I am working on returning emails, but it's slow going!  To those of you, and you know who you are, who wrote me and said things that brought tears to my eyes over the last few months (YES, I'm that far behind on returning emails), please know that I haven't overlooked you or ignored you.  Quite the opposite in fact, it's because of your words that I'm as sane as I am right now.

And to those of you who have to live in the same house with me right now, God help you!  Thank you for your never ending patience! xoxo

***In an effort to spend less time blogging, comments have been disabled on this blog for the time being, thank you for understanding!***

Dazed and Confused

This week has been a bit of a blur.  We have cleaned up most of the trees and big leaf debris that came down on our property from Hurricane Irene, now there are just piles of things everywhere.  And my sister, brother, and brother in law have cleaned up the trees down at my parents.  It's been a daunting job and there is still more to do, like removing the other half of our big dead tree.  But after driving around our county and seeing the utter devastation to people's homes and property, our tree can wait so that the tree folks can get to the people who really need their help.  Besides, the dogs are liking the obstacle course of huge branches which still litter our backyard.

Besides work stuff, I have also been going a little nutty trying to decide what to do on our upcoming trip to Germany.  I'm not a big planner when it comea to travel, often not even knowing where we will stay or go until we get somewhere, but I would at least like to have some idea so that we can make the most of our trip.

We will spend 4 days in Heidelberg, Germany where Mr. Tide has some training, but the last 4 days will be ours to do with however we like.  I would love to venture south into northern France in the Alsace region, but trying to decide where exactly to go has become a bit overwhelming.  The wonderful thing about Europe is that there is so much, so close by, that you can literally lose your mind trying to figure out where to go!  We could go to Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, France, or stay right in Germany!  I've been looking at the TGV train routes and the world is our oyster, which is both good and bad!  I finally sent Mr. Tide an email this morning telling him my head is spinning and I just might wait until we get there and can talk to the locals to decide where to go.

That's exactly what my daughter and I did a few years ago on a trip to England, and we got to see some of the most beautiful and out of the way places that way.  France appeals to me because we loved our time in the south of France and Paris a few years ago, and I would love a taste of that magical french bread again!  Mr. Tide suggested taking the train back to Paris, which is less than a 4 hour trip.  But I am torn, I know you can never visit Paris too many times, but we've been there, and the thought of going someplace else is weighing on me and sparking my sense of adventure and discovery.

I also looked in to going to Strasbourg, France, which looks amazing, like it fell out of a medieval fairytale book!  But it also looks a bit touristy, which isn't really our style...sigh, so many choices!  A few friends have also made suggestions...thank you Traci, but I am still dazed and confused about where to go.  I know, poor pitiful me right?!

And to top it all off, the budget this month is shot because of college tuition for our son, books, meal plans, and now tree removal!  But I still plan to enjoy myself while I'm over there.

So I will leave the comments open for this post in hopes that one of you, any of you, can tell me where to go...including hell if you like!

I am slowly working through my emails, I have hundreds to return, but made it through about 30 yesterday, so by the end of the year I should be caught up! ;-) 

Heartfelt Thanks

I am weary tonight, but happy to have power and internet back after only a little over 24 hours without both.  Amazing really if you consider the devastation my county suffered at the hands of Irene.  Everywhere we went today, or couldn't go since we were unable to get out of our road until late today, you saw scenes just like this one.  Trees down in numbers that were quite staggering.

My photos don't really do the destruction justice, but you can see that where there were once lush landscapes, there is now open sky and some of these trees were hundreds of years old and had seen more than their fair share of storms throughout the years.  But Irene's killer combo of wind and saturated ground made for a bad combination.

I consider us to be some of the lucky ones, as we suffered no flooding, and no bad damage.  The photo above was taken at my parent's home...yes the one that is due to close next month...sigh!  There were several large oaks (that is a full sized shed, so that is a huge tree) that came down, and one did hit their house, but it was as if my parents gently guided it as it fell and it landed rather softly onto their roof.  I have a photo of it, but I'm just too tired to find it at the moment.

There wasn't much sleeping going on last night as our little house kept us from feeling the damaging blows of the wind and sideways rain, though there were times when I wondered if Andersen windows truly were hurricane rated, like they claimed!  But we've been down this path before and know that it could have been so much worse.  

Our big dead tree finally gave up the ghost, well at least the upper half did.  We knew it was time to get this tree removed but we hated the idea of taking it down since the osprey have called it home for so many years.  Irene made our decision on the matter a little easier and brought it crashing down in the early evening hours, just after dark.  To get some idea of how big this tree really was, just know that the trees pictured around it are not small trees, this tree was huge, and thankfully no one, and nothing was near it when it fell.  We also lost most of a Bradford Pear tree in our front yard and had loads of debris, but as I said, we were lucky.  One of our neighbors can't even see the front of their home anymore after an equally huge live tree fell on their house.

I will share more photos tomorrow, but I had to come on and post to let you know that we are fine, and to thank you for your concern, the emails and text messages were truly appreciated.  And I would be remiss if I didn't thank the wonderful volunteer fire and rescue, our police force, the National Guard, our power and cable companies, friends (thank you Julie and Ken!), and perfect strangers who worked tirelessly to protect us and to get us back up and running so quickly.  

Our son spent 36 hours running with fire and rescue to help ensure our safety and others in our community, and he was one of many who put themselves in harm's way so that we can all sleep soundly tonight.  Next time your volunteer rescue and fire personnel ask for that donation, please remember all  that they do for you!

And to those still in the path of Irene, I hope she bids you farewell quickly and without leaving damage in her wake!

*In an effort to spend less time blogging, comments have been disabled on my blog, at least for now*

Goodnight Irene

As Hurricane Irene whirls her way up the eastern seaboard of the US I've been busy gathering the necessary supplies to help us weather the storm.

A good book is a must, since TV and internet may be scarce for a few days.  I've been down this road before, and though we have a whole house generator for just such an occasion, invariably trees come down and service is disrupted.

Perfume is nice to have on hand, just in case you can't shower for a day or two.  My Lollia "Calm" should do the trick.

And you really need cake, we all know that cake makes everything better!

Along with a good book, it's important to have a few magazines on hand.

Ok, maybe more than just a few!

Bringing in all of the garden veggies is important too, so I've harvested the ripe tomatoes and peppers and I might whip up a yummy sauce or salsa.

And of course we need tea, lots of tea!  You may have noted that no alcohol is included in this "must have" hurricane ready list.  I'm not irresponsible my friends, you have to keep your wits about you in a storm!  I will bet donuts to dollars that someone on my street will host an impromptu hurricane party though! ;-)

If we don't lose internet due to Irene, I will also be taking the next few days to reply to the many wonderful emails I've received in the last few days...thank you to each and every one of you, many of whom brought tears to my eyes and a smile to my heart!

To everyone in Irene's path, let's hope she bids us goodnight and veers off to sea.  But if she insists on stopping by, I hope each of you will be safe and sound!

Dear Earthquake

 

Dear Earthquake, just moments before you visited I was doing this.  I was also outside trying out the video feature on my camera, but had just come in when you made your presence known.  Apparently I was never meant to be an ireporter, and I'm ok with that.

We thought you were a helicopter, they fly low and loud over us often, but when things began to fall and the windows started to shake we knew you were just pretending to be a helicopter.  

We appreciate that you left so quickly, and we knew who you were because we had lived through your wrath once while living in California years ago.  Thank you also for causing so little damage and as of now, no injuries.

I don't, however, appreciate you shutting down Metro, bridges, and making life otherwise difficult for all of the people who have to commute home.  But I will overlook things like that since my family and friends are all safe.

I sincerely hope that you and your siblings, who have done far worse throughout the world, will behave yourselves...I for one am not ready to have the world come to an end...if you'll reference my last post you'll clearly see that I just purchased a plane ticket to Europe next month, and I have lots of other things on my to do list!

If you want to make much of the East Coast into an island, I would be open to that, but please give me a little more advance warning next time, since I will need something much larger than a kayak to get around.

Oh, and one more thing, since you have already visited, would you mind speaking to your cousin Hurricane Irene?  Although we are more accustomed to visits from that side of the weather family, we really don't have room for any more drama...thanks!

Sincerely,

Kat

The Calm After the Storm

Life is funny sometimes, just when you are ready to throw in the towel, something wonderful happens that turns things upside down, or maybe right side up!

For the last week or so, I've been in the midst of a personal storm, sometimes it was just building with low rumblings and flashes of lightning off in the distance.  And other days it was the full on fury of a storm with hurricane force winds and rain blowing sideways.

It wasn't a storm which involved anyone else, it was all internal, deep down the way some storms have to brew before they can gather and rain down on you.  I was bummed that this little haven I call my blog wasn't living up to my expectations.  It all hit me when I decided to enter the Country Living Blog contest and for the first time in a long time I looked at my actual stats on here.

After a little digging, it seemed that my stats were pretty much abysmal for lack of a better word, and I have to say that it bummed me out to the point of not wanting to keep going.  Now I know on a logical level, and for much of the time, that those stats don't amount to a hill of beans, but for whatever reason it hit me like a ton of bricks.

My inner monologue went something like this, "why are you doing this, no one really likes your photos, no one will buy them from this blog of yours, so what the heck are you wasting so much time on anyway?!"  I hate when my usually cheerful inner monologue becomes sullen and pessimistic, but it happens folks, I can't deny it.

At first I thought, hey look, this is a rough time of year for me, it is after all the anniversary of the deaths of two very dear people to me this month.  My mom passed away 7 years ago on the 26th of this month, and just a few days later it is the 1st anniversary of my dear friend Dan's death.  So I wondered if that was weighing on me and making me feel down.

I also haven't been stopping to smell the roses like I should, and the guilt of getting so far behind on correspondence with people I "really" want to reply to has been weighing heavily on my heart too.

I've felt a little like the house pictured above...neglected, overgrown, lost among the vines and weeds.  So Mr. Tide and I had a long talk about this whole blogging thing, and I also sought the advice of some trusted blog friends...you know who you are, thank you!  And it was Mr. Tide who posed several questions that let me really evaluate the situation and put it into perspective, like only someone looking from the outside can.  He said, "Is it the numbers, or lack thereof, that bothers you, or is it something else? What do you enjoy about blogging, and what do you hate?"

Ahh, wise questions, kind of like Yoda only cuter I'd say.  It turns out my answers were fairly simple.  Yes, I do sort of care about the numbers, I feel like if I put something out there, I want it to be well received or why have a public blog to begin with?  This kind of rocked my world a little since I've always thought that I blog for me, when in fact if that was the case I would simply have a private blog.  I blog for those who take the time out of their day to stop by "my" blog when there are a sea to chose from.  So if no one comes, well that means I'm not producing what makes them want to stop, right?

In answer to his other question, what I like and dislike about blogging it was simply...I love taking pictures, seeing the world in a way that I hope translates to my blog.  I find I wander around and look at things and think, wow, I want to share that with others.  This, I feel, is the gift of blogging, the need to share, to connect, to find oneself through the giving of a little piece of me.  What I hate...replying to comments!  Oh I love them dearly, they touch me and make my days bright when someone takes the time to reply.  But there are times when I feel like people are replying not because they really want to, but because they feel they need to.  I know, I know, you are all confused now because on one hand I said I don't care about validation, but on the other hand I said I care about numbers...it's a complicated emotion my friends!

I think that it's like having your play make it to Broadway.  If you create the work and the theater is packed opening night of the show, it means people are curious.  If they keep packing the theater night after night, even if the critics say it's not good, it means you are touching someone, giving them something that brings them back and makes them want their friends to share in the experience.  That's the best analogy I can use to describe the mixed signals I feel on this topic.

I know this all sounds wishy washy and as though I'm down in the dumps, but trust me I'm not, really nothing could be further from the truth.  I've now entered what I like to call the calm "after" the storm.  Sometimes you have to have that storm, the one that tosses you around and rocks the blue skies of everyday life to get you to the other blue skies on the other side.

I have some amazing opportunities coming my way with art and with life.  I have a very bright future as a photographer right now, and I feel so blessed to be very close to having some of my dreams come true!  And I booked a ticket to Germany (reason for the Beck's Beer Pic, the only German thing I had in my house...for shame!) and France just a few days ago, where Mr. Tide and I will spend 8 glorious days drinking in all that those 2 countries have to offer us!  So life is good my friends, very good, but there needs to be some changes around this place...things I realized a long time ago but ignored.

This blog will no longer focus on home stuff.  Now I'm not saying there won't be home stuff on here from time to time, I love my home, but it won't be the focus.  So sadly, if you started reading my blog for my kitchen reno (still my #1 post of all time), or some other home stuff, well you might need to pack your bags and move on down the line to the hundreds and thousands of other wonderful home design blogs...take a look at my sidebar for a few of the best out there!

And I will no long have comments enabled.  I want this blog to be a place where you pop in and read if you want and then move on without feeling the obligation to comment.  I still welcome emails, especially if you have a question or just want to say hi...I love hellos!  But this will eliminate the guilt that plagues me, and that I tried to ignore, but simply could not...it's in my genes!

I want you to feel like you are picking up a magazine...not a very consistent or focused one, or one that features beautiful houses or pretty things, but one that gives you respite, if only for a moment from the daily grind.  Like with a magazine, you take what you want from it and then turn the page...no guilt, no obligation, just something to look at!

And if some of you think I'm unappreciative in doing this, I apologize, but only a little.  Those who know me, know that it's because of my appreciation for you my readers, and also for myself that I'm doing this, so I hope you'll understand.  And I hope that I will never look at my numbers again, but simply create and enjoy the act of creating and sharing even if just 1 of you visits each day!

And if you don't believe that a picture can touch you in ways unimaginable, check out THIS website my daughter sent me a link to today...it made laugh, it made me cry, it made me want to do this!  Now that is what photography is all about!

xoxo Kat

Bad Start, Happy Ending

Today started out on a rough note.  I wasn't feeling well at all...

But by the time Mr. Tide got home this evening, I was feeling better and asked him if he would take me out in the kayak.

We took the tandem out for a spin and while he paddled, I got to ride along like the Queen of the Nile and snap pictures.  It's quite a treat to just glide along while someone else paddles, of course we all know I have the hard job of trying to capture the wildlife *rolls eyes*.

If you are wondering why I'm doing so many textured pictures this month, well I have a little project underway and so I'm working on a portfolio.  I promise, realism will be back soon, but for now I'm having fun creating.

So after a bad start, the day ended happily...thanks to some salt water, fresh air, and a handsome husband I can always count on!!   I hope you each had a good day, even if it started out upside down!

If You Were a Boat

If you were a boat, my darling

A boat, my darling

I'd be the wind at your back...

 As always, thank you for your wonderful comments, and although I don't always reply back, I do read and enjoy each and every one of them!!! xoxo

*** And go toot your own horn, I did (something we all need to learn to do more of, heck, we work hard on these blogs of ours!), and enter your blog in the Country Living Blue Ribbon Blogger Award Contest!  Click HERE for more info...hurry it ends on Monday!! ***