Poor Ruby

A knitted dog hat was donated for the silent auction at our Greyhounds Rock fundraiser event a few weeks ago.  I took a quick look at it to see how it was made, and I designed and made my own version of it as a Santa hat to fit Ruby.

She doesn't appreciate it one bit.

It was a struggle to get her to stand still so I could take these few photos of her in the hat.  All she wanted to do was to rub her head on me to try to scrape it off.

It's a shame that the hat makes her so unhappy, because she sure was cute wearing it. 

Next Stop ... Florida!

My program is finished, saved to a flash drive as a back-up in case of a laptop emergency.  My bag is packed, and I'm ready to head to the airport to leave for the Heritage Rose Foundation conference in Florida.

Alice tried to stowaway in my suitcase while I was packing yesterday.

What a great morning this is to be heading to the Sunshine State ... 20 degrees outside here in Hartwood, according to the Weather Widget on the sidebar to your right.  Weather.com says that Lakeland is 49 degrees this morning, with a predicted high temperature of 77 ... it should be even warmer tomorrow ... aaahhhh.

This morning, she's camped out on my computer bag.

I am so excited ... looking forward to the next four days.  I will be catching up with old friends, making new friends, and totally overdosing on all sorts of rose stuff.  (not looking forward to the plane ride, though.  I actually like flying ... it's the other passengers on the plane that spoil it for me.)

Wasting Time

Sometimes, when I need to give my brain a rest and do something fun, I spend a few minutes with online jigsaw puzzles. 

Here are a few that caught my eye earlier today.

Door Handle Paint


Telephone Boxes and Bike


What a Face!!


Fruit Tart



Click the arrow in the lower left corner of the puzzle to try it for yourself.

Sunday Snapshot: A Great Find!

Ruby and I went out for a little while on Friday afternoon.  I have been dedicating most of my time to finishing my program for the Heritage Rose Foundation conference in Florida next week, and I needed a little break and a change of scenery.

At one of my favorite places, I bought this sign:

I'm not sure where I will put it, but I knew that I had to have it.

Happy Sunday, Everyone!!

The Home Stretch

If you are looking for me today, you can find me curled up on the couch with my laptop, under a down throw, with a couple of critters snuggled up with me ... as I work on the final details of the program that I am giving at the Heritage Rose Foundation conference in Lakeland, Florida next weekend.

Because of everything else that I have had to attend to for the past few weeks, I got what I think is a late start on the actual mechanical part of writing and organizing and putting photos and text into PowerPoint.  Fortunately, this thing has been writing itself in my head for months and this last part of the process is going really smoothly. 

I try to do flowers on Fridays ... so here is another slide from my program, with one of my favorite roses in Hollywood Cemetery.

Time for me to get back to work!

Happy Friday, Everyone!!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is my mother's birthday.

This is a photo of her as a two-year-old with her grandmother.  It's one of my favorites ... such a sweet moment!

Happy Birthday, Mom!!

I love you!

(edited to add:  I posted this picture to FB.  My mother added the following reply:  " the lady on the right is my Grandmother Vida Floyd. She is my Dad's mom. I was the first and only grandchild when that photo was taken. I'd bet that 'candid shot' was taken with a box Brownie (to you young folks that was a camera not a flat cake!)."

Election Day

This is my Election Day sweatshirt:

It perfectly captures my philosophy about voting.  Too many people stay home, don't vote, and whine about government.

Get out there and be heard!

(Break time is over now, and it's time for me to get back to work.  I'm furiously gathering photos and writing the program I will be delivering at the Heritage Rose Foundation conference in Florida next week.  I fly out of here in nine days, and I'm just now getting this thing halfway organized.  I know I will get it done in plenty of time, and I know that it will be entertaining and informative when I'm finished, but it may kill me in the process.)