9/30/08

What stories does your jewelry tell?

I realized tonight as I was placing some of my favorite pieces of jewelry on this beautiful marble tray that my boss gave me for my birthday that there are some great memories behind some of these pieces. I have a jewelry box full of memories...these are just a few. And as you can see, my preference is silver.

The large pink crystal earrings were purchased in Innsbruck Austria on my honeymoon 23 years ago. And while the marriage didn't last, the memories of that amazing trip will last me a lifetime. I can still remember the little jewelry store I bought them in.

The fused glass pendant was a Christmas gift from my son last year. He was so proud to give that beautiful gift to me because he won it at a raffle from the holiday fair at the church at the end of my road. I told him its my lucky necklace & I wear it anytime I feel I need a little luck.

Below those are 3 rings made by native Americans that are from my favorite store, The Silver Buffalo. The amethyst ring and the green quartz rings were gifts to myself for Christmas ( 2 separate years) and the other is just a ring I liked & purchased for no particular reason. But the amethyst has a special meaning because when my daughter (who was 17 at the time) heard me come home raving about the gorgeous ring I passed on buying she had her dad take her there & she put it on layaway to give to me for valentines day. I decided to go back for the ring & when it wasn't there was told I could special order another one to be made for me. When I told my daughter it had sold but that I ordered one...she was forced to tell me that she had purchased it (on layaway) Since her job was just as a cashier at a grocery store I refused to let her spend all her earnings for weeks on end for a gift for me.... but that fact that she was willing to do that for me will always make this ring one of my most prized possessions.

The small citrine earrings below that & the citrine pendant at the bottom of the photo were also given to me by my boss for my birthday.

Below the citrine earrings are a pair of dangly blue & green earrings that I bought in Seattle. It was the last day of our trip & the last family vacation that Jake, Amanda & I took together...so that memory is both a sweet & bittersweet memory all in one.

That gorgeous Caribbean quartz necklace was a birthday gift from my sister. You can't tell in this picture but it is the most beautiful tropical shades of blue & green (depending on how the light is hitting it)

The brown tiger eye hoops at the bottom right were just a random purchase because I didn't have any brown earrings....so not much of a memory there I guess...but I do like them.

I'm thinking maybe I should do a scrapbook page about the memories lurking in my jewelry box. I'll bet you have some great memories lurking in yours too don't you?

9/29/08

Free puppy to a good home

Nah...just kidding. We love the little bugger. Tomorrow will be a better day for this dog owner I'm sure. But today? Well today was one of those days I asked myself " what was I thinking deciding to bring a dog into this house?" I guess it didn't help that I had a really long day going over floor plans trying to plan seating arrangements in the building we are moving to for 160 people in my dept. I came home with a headache...my son tried my patience with his back talk & the puppy just about sent me over the edge with his wilder than usual playful streak. Some days I swear this dog will never stop biting & jumping...and then there's the chewing up of anything he can get his little fangs on...whether its shoes, potholders, Jake's video games,...the list goes on & on...ugh. I need this day to end. They're both finally sleeping but its too late...I'm super cranky.

Ah well ...enough ranting. I'll end this post with a share of a non layout project I did last winter that is hanging on my living room wall.
When I saw these paper mache letters at Michaels I knew I wanted to do something with them. So I painted them a dark brown then printed a bunch of my favorite photos of my kids & I (after converting them to sepia toned black & whites) and I adhered them to the fronts of the letters along with some vine/flower accents I cut from parchment paper. And they were done. Then I had no idea how to display them. Placing them on a shelf would have been ok except that the "Y" wouldn't keep balanced without falling over. Luckily I found this black fabric backed shadowbox frame that worked perfectly. It even came with the velcro that is holding the letters to the fabric backing. And now it sits on my living room wall so I can enjoy my favorite photos anytime. This was a fun project to do for a change of pace.

9/28/08

Seven for Sunday

Seven random photos from today.....


Shopping for pumpkins & produce at the local farm stand.



Scenery while stopped for a quick ice cream. I love this beautiful old barn. It doesn't look like much from this distance put passing it each morning on my way to work its a welcome sight that I never tire of seeing.

How sad is it that this price gets me excited enough to photograph it. I think I'm probably not the only scrapbooker who gets funny looks for the things I choose to photograph.


Changing colors on the trees growing around my deck. I hate these invasive things but they sure are vibrant when fall arrives.

My birthday present from my son. A dinner he cooked for me from scratch all by himself. And it turned out very very good. What a sweetie huh?


And my birthday cake. He didn't make this but he was thoughtful enough to add it to his grocery list he made for me of things he needed me to pick up for him.

Lastly...this photo that makes me smile. One tired doggy. Love this little guy so much.


Have a great week everyone.

9/27/08

Up for a challenge?

Is anyone else out there inspired by Ali Edwards? Her style is so different than mine but yet I am so inspired by her creativity and her philosophy on scrapbooking & life in general. This week she is doing a "week in the life" project and has asked if anyone else wants to do it also. I have always wanted to do a day in the life, week in the life , year in the life type of project so I'm really going to try to be good about gathering notes, photos and everyday stuff to put together my own week in the life album.

I plan on starting tomorrow the 28th and doing a Sunday through Saturday book. This will be a fun week for me to try this as tomorrow is my birthday so what better day to start my week in the life projects than on the day I turn 47.

If you're interesting in learning more about Ali's process for gathering & compiling info etc the link to her blog is in the right hand column of my blog. Hopefully I'll follow through with this & have something to share with you all at a later date.

Have a great weekend.

9/26/08

Can Tanner come out & play?

Meet Rasta. Tanner's favorite buddy to play with. My lovely neighbor with the fabulous gardens dog sits him when his family goes away. And when that happens Tanner is one super happy pup. Rasta is 2 so he's still full of puppy himself & these 2 chase each other around for hours playing together. Rasta is an awesome dog. He's got the cutest conehead and his eyes slant at the same angle as the slope of the top of his head giving him a silly endearing look. And he's huge !!! His head is as big as mine. But he's super gentle & sweet.


When they finally lose some steam after chasing each other around they like nothing better than to just hang out chewing up sticks together.

Tanner loves his buddy Rasta!!!

Its quiet here at my house tonight....Tanner is sleeping & Jake is away for the weekend in Vermont with his Dad. He'll be home mid day Sunday though and before he left he made me a grocery list of things to buy because he says he wants to cook me dinner when he gets home. I love that he enjoys cooking so much and thinking up new ideas for recipes & seasonings etc. Sometimes I wonder if his future will have something to do with culinary arts in some way. Time will tell I guess...
My Mom is coming down for an overnight stay tomorrow so I won't be too lonely. Looks to be a pretty rainy weekend here though...at least through tomorrow. Hopefully Sunday will clear up . Have a great weekend everyone.

9/24/08

Quick layout share

I finally finished & photographed that layout I was working on...and I have to say I'm not really loving this one. There's lots I love about it...the colors, my kids smiling faces, the new Creative Imagination circular die cut paper. But all together the layout just isn't one of my favorites. I've learned that anytime I struggle with a page & spend days going back to it & just not "feeling" it....it usually ends up being a not so favorite page for me. I'll still share it with you anyway though.
American Crafts vinyl thickers for the title, the scalloped chipboard accent that the heart is inside of is from Maya road ( painted & inked ), a little glitter glue type stuff ( I think it was called stickles) along the edges of the green patterned paper (Crate Paper) to add a little sparkle and photos of my 2 favorite people on earth. I like the page because of them..but otherwise it is just "ok" for me.

Have a nice night everyone.

9/22/08

Quick post ....

Because a lot of the new shows are starting tonight. Now I just have to decide which to watch now and which to record for later. Funny how much I look forward to the start of new shows & the continuation of ones I've come to love. A few years ago I went almost a whole year without watching a bit of TV....it wasn't planned that way I just did lots of reading & scrapbooking that year. I still love to read books & magazines but usually save the books for when I crawl into bed to lull me to sleep. And the magazines I flip through as I watch tv. My favorite book this year......Water for Elephants. This book was soooooooo good. If you think a book about circus life might not be for you...think again & give this book a try it was so good. One of those books that months later you are still thinking about. (Brenda...if you try this book be prepared not to get much done...but still read it....you won't be sorry....but you will be surprised at the ending)

TV shows I'm looking forward to this year???

Returning Favorites:

Grays Anatomy
Private Practice
Lost - later in the year I hear
Dirty Sexy Money
Desperate Housewives
Brothers & Sisters
CSI

New this year (or returning shows I'd like to check out)

Fringe
Privileged
Heroes
The Mentalist
Kath & Kim
Eleventh Hour
Crusoe

I'm excited to see Crusoe start because I think it will be a great Friday night show for Jake & I to curl up & enjoy together. When my daughter was about Jakes age Dr Quinn Medicine Woman was on every Friday night & we would make homemade pizza together & then sit down & enjoy the show together. (remember that Mand?) I'm hoping that with Crusoe, Jake & I will be able to share those same type of cozy Friday nights together.

Off to try to finish that page that is stumping me before the 9pm shows start. Have a nice night everyone.

9/20/08

Random rambling

First another quick layout share. Like many people I am one of those who doesn't do pages about myself or with myself in them often enough. Part of that is because I am so critical about photos of myself. I'm trying to change my mentality on that though and do more pages with me in them regardless of how I may feel about the photo....because my children, grandchildren (when I have them) etc won't care about how I look in my photos...they'll care that I'm in them.

So the layout below is one of me "mid life without the crisis" The pattern paper is Basic Grey & the chipboard letters are K & Co...but they go perfectly together don't they?

And to totally change the subject...I am so loving this little guy !!! He is just the sweetest dog ever.

I had a really frustrating day today. The pup had a vet appt this morning for his follow up booster shot for his Lyme disease vaccination. We gave him a half of a dramamine (as the vet instructed us last time) in hopes that the carsickness wouldn't be a problem and we could take him to Petco after the vet. But got halfway to the vet & he vomited in a huge way (so much for the dramamine idea) Decided to bring him home & go out & do errands. And he vomited again on the way home...ugh!!! I hope this passes eventually. I was not very patient with Jake today which I feel bad about...but he definitely was trying my patience so I know it wasn't just my crankiness that was the issue. So by the time we got home from errands etc Jake's Dad was here to pick him up and I was tired, cranky & just wanted to relax....but I had an excited puppy on my hands that was raring to go. So off we went....for an almost 4 mile walk...and you know what...it really improved my mood in a huge way. Hes great company for me & going for walks in not nearly as boring as when I was going it alone. I love his company & his antics along the way. And hey...I'm getting a great shoulder workout too because I swear every time he sees a chipmunk, squirrel or rabbit he just about pulls my arm out of the socket. He's definitely got hunting dog in his blood...but he's really good to walk with...I just have to brace myself when the chipmunks race across the road in front of us.
Its only 9pm & I'm so tired already...Tanner is sound asleep so I think I'll go read a magazine for a bit before heading to bed. Thanks for letting me ramble on....

9/19/08

TGIF

Phew...what a long week. I found out recently that my job is moving 20 minutes further away from my house to our main home office building. I am soooo not happy about that. I already have a 45-50 minute commute to work and this will make it more than an hour....and with the price of gas thats not a good thing at all for my budget. Ah well...I'm working on getting something that will hopefully get me back to the building I'm in now sooner rather than later.

I picked up a few of Creative Imaginations new circular die cut papers recently. They look like a doily to me....but in nicer colors. Usually I end up cutting these papers up rather that use them whole....so I cut one in half last night & now don't know what to do with it...lol. I'll have to play around with it & hopefully will have some time over the weekend for that so I can share the end result soon. Have to get ready for work...hope you all have a great weekend.

9/17/08

More to share

A little while back I shared a few layouts of my daughter that made me smile so tonight I'll share a few favorites of my son. I apologize if I have shared any of these on here already...I'm just too tired right now to look back to see if I have.

This picture was taken of my son a couple of years back looking down the stairway of a very old boat in Mystic Ct seaport. Love the angle of the photo. And theres my fav color...orange and my favorite sweet smiling boy !!!

This page was created as part of my entry to Creating Keepsakes Hall of fame requesting a layout using multiple photos.
Ok...this one really makes me smile. I'll bet you're smiling too looking at this silly boy hamming it up for the camera. And no thats not his hat he's wearing. To his left is a woman spinning sheep wool into yarn (we were at a sheep shearing demo at the Audobon Center near our home) and she let Jake pose with one of the hats she had created with her home spun yarn.
This was taken at the same location (Wachusett Meadows Audobon Center)as the picture above but on a different visit there.


Thats it for tonight....I'm tired so I'm off to my cozy warm bed.

9/16/08

Layout share

A layout about me for a change. I love the teal, brown & green together on this. The black pieces of lacey looking transparency at the top & bottom of the page & the partial circular design at the left of the page are Hambly Screen Prints.....so fun to find something new to play with on my pages. The teal & green papers are from Daisy's D's...one of my favorite paper lines.


From this angle you can see that the journaling strips are dimensional because I mounted my patterned paper on top of strips of Tim Holtz grungeboard before adding them to my page. I love grungeboard because unlike traditional chipboard grungeboard is easy to cut into whatever shape you may need. Fun stuff !!!

The scalloped oval chipboard is from Maya Road (with paper glued to the top side of it) these came in a little tin lunch box type container & there are about 30 of them in all shapes & sizes. Love them !!! And there's those "thickers" I love so much in the title. The "me" part of the title are the vinyl thickers. I had not used them before...and boy do they smell bad when you open the package!!! Yuck.


That's it for tonight. I'm off to watch some of the new shows that are starting this week that I've recorded. Hope you are all having a good week.

9/15/08

100 things I love

Kandice Matsler's blog (see link at right) had 100 of her favorite things listed & it was interesting to see what some of them were (the smell of sweaty horses?? lol) So thanks Kandice...you've inspired me to make my own list. Here goes....

1) The smell of bread baking in the oven

2) Office supply stores

3) Antique photos

4) Coffee Coolatta's

5) My family...above all else

6) Perfect fall weather

7) Honest, real people

8) Travel

9) Cameras & photography

10) Books by Greg Iles

11) Chocolate

12) Gardening

13) Daylilies

14) My jeep (yes Kandice I love my Jeep too...just wish it wasn't such a gas hog)

15) Being able to sleep in on Saturdays

16) Being able to sleep in on Sundays

17) Shopping

18) Scrapbooking magazines & idea books

19) Frozen Mudslides

20) The smell just after it rains

21) Having my arms tickled

22) Being creative

23) Wyoming

24) Long road trips

25) Maps

26) going to a Rodeo (but this is rare since we don't have real rodeos in New England)

27) Going to the movies

28) or just curling up at home to watch a movie

29) Being appreciated

30) Diet Coke

31) Cooking

32) candlelight Christmas Eve dinner with my kids

33) Movie marathons on New Years Eve (miss doing this with my daughter though)

34) Mexican food

35) Collecting native american jewelry

36) The smell and feel of fresh sheets on my bed

37) Eating out for breakfast

38) Being inspired by and meeting fellow scrap artists

39) The color orange

40) Watching my son play baseball

41) Maine coon cats (especially my sweet big boy Romeo)

42) Being a dog owner again

43) Country Music

44) Baking on days when we are snowed in

45) Watching Greys Anatomy

46) Knowing my daughter is happy & thriving

47) Getting to see her when she is on leave

48) Friday at 5pm ...let the weekend begin

49) Cozy sweaters in the fall

50) Taking walks with my son & Tanner

51) Sunsets

52) Sunrises (on the rare occasions I am up early enough to see them)

53) re-decorating

54) Antique glass x-mas ornaments

55) Mac makeup

56) Shopping at Coldwater Creek

57) Thunderstorms

58) Hiking

59) Being barefoot (but not while hiking)

60) Corvettes ( my dream car)

61) Blueberries

62) Fresh corn on the cob with real butter , salt & pepper

63) Old buildings

64) Colorful fall foliage

65) How a perfect spring day makes you feel after a long hard winter

66) Getting a new hairstyle ( this may happen soon for me)

67) Buying new shoes

68) Having a girls day of shopping & dining out with my daughter

69) Having great neighbors

70) Living in a small country town

71) Walking on the beach at the ocean

72) San Fransisco ( fun, fun city...even for this country girl)

72) Van Morrison music ( I hear the man himself can be pretty difficult)

73) Patterned paper

74) Bookstores

75) Philosophy skincare products

76) Scented candles burning on crisp fall days

77) Old barns

78) Tomatoes fresh from the vine

79) Cookbooks ( I have about a hundred of them )

80) Upbeat happy people

81) Feeling healthy & alive

82) Memories of my Dad

83) The sound of a baby's laughter

84) Waterfalls

85) Driving

86) My super comfy bed

87) Old books

88) Puppy's bedtime !!!

89) Home made lemonaide

90) Getting a raise

91) Feeling loved

92) My son's interest in learning to cook

93) Playing with scissors & paper

94) Getting gift cards as presents

95) Rocks

96) Buying new furniture

97) Writing

98) Taking a vacation

99) Time to myself

100) Hearing heartwarming stories that remind me there is more good in this world than bad.

Hey thanks Kandice...that was fun. If anyone wants to do one of their own I'd love to read your's too.

9/13/08

Jenni Bowlin & Basic Grey

I snuck away to my scrap space last night & finished a couple of layouts with the new Basic Grey lines that I have been waiting so long to get my hands on. So much fun !!

But first I wanted to share the layout I created with the Jenni Bowlin papers I showed on here last week. It was fun to make a layout with a full one of these die cut papers ( usually I cut them up & use the edges or sections of them.) Actually the green & brown scalloped paper on this layout is a piece I cut from the edge of a Pink Paislee die cut paper. I really liked the soft colors on this Jenni Bowlin line...and as promised I did cover up that silly un-needed #74 that was on the top left of the die cut paper.


In the close up below you can see detail a bit better. This was a bretty basic & simple page to do but I liked the end result. Ane yes...there's those Thickers that I love so much. They were a lighter shade of ivory that got a little lost on the page so I swiped a light brown ink pad across them to give them a slight tint of color.

On to Basic Grey....my favorite product line to work with. First from the Ambrosia line. Oh how I love these papers...the colors are sooooo gorgeous and vibrant. And I adore anything orange (as you can see from my shirt in the photo) so this line from Basic Grey is destined to be my all time favorite. The only thing on this page not from the Ambrosia line are the journaling pen, the gold pen used to outline the page & to add details & antenae to the butterflies and the rub on's with the gemstone centers. The ironic thing about this layout is that this photo of my son & I was actually taken at spot called The Butterfly Place. We were in a room full of butterflies....so even though the subject of the layout is not about that...the butterflies fit. For some reason I seem to be having trouble with the photos on my layouts sometimes looking hazy when I photograph the layouts...not sure why but it bugs me because the actual photos are clear & sharp.

In the photo below you can see that I adhered the butterflies with some 3D glue dots behind the wings to geve them more dimension. These were cut from the beautiful butterfly patterned paper in this set.

The title is made with the stickers that came included in the set. I had decided to make the first word upper case & the second in lower case letters. After I placed the NEV on my page I realized there was only 1 letter e in the orange stickers so I had to use the e from the cream colored stickers. I did the same thing with the second word just to make it look more intentional and you know what...I really like it. Gives the title a bit more interest don't you think?


Ok...next layout from the Offbeat line. I love this one !!! I'm not usually one who cares for cutsie type papers much but I love these. The colors are so happy & fun. And this page was a breeze to put together. I don't usually plan pages at all. I just gather my photo(s), some papers I want to use & I just start cutting & placing stuff on my page. This page took about 20 minutes to make ...love that because it gives me more time to start other projects.
And remember this photo from my blog earlier in the week? Notice anything missing? No green leash hanging down Tanner's back. Gotta love photoshop huh? This probably took me longer to do than making the whole layout did, but the picture definitely looks better without it.


A couple of detail pictures below so you can see how fun & colorful these papers and coordinating stickers are. The only thing on this layout not from the offbeat line is the "sweet" sticker to the right of Tanner's head, the title & the journaling pen.



Journaling reads: "waiting and wishing for that dog around the corner to come play with me"

9/11/08

Never forget....

Today is a sad day for me as I'm sure it is for so many people. A day I will never forget. I cried on my way to work today like I have every year since this fateful day 7 years ago. I remember so clearly being on the highway just a few minutes away from work and hearing the news flash saying there was a hole in the side of the world trade center and it was unclear what had happened but that possibly a small plane had crashed into the building. What I didn't know at that moment was that just a few minutes after arriving at work the second plane would crash into the other tower making it very clear that this was very likely a terrorist attack. I didn't know that a little more than an hour later as many of us sat crowded into a conference room at work watching the coverage that we would receive a call from our main office building confirming that 7 of our associates were on that first plane. My heart still aches when I recall that announcement and how I felt at that moment. Stunned, angry, confused, afraid and such a deep deep sadness....so many feelings rushing through me. All I wanted to do was be home hugging my children.

We've all seen this photo below so many times...too many times maybe. When I look at that cloud of smoke I see the 7 vibrant women whose smiling faces look back at me every morning from the memorial plaque in the lobby of my building. One who was from my systems division, one who was one of my boss' closest friends and one who was a mentor to me for a short while in my prior job when I was struggling to understand my training track without having a breakdown. Her beautiful smile haunts me the most. Although I really appreciated her help with my job confusion...I really didn't know her all that well. But when I see that smile I think of her son who was in the company daycare the same time as my son...he was a beautiful child and he lost him mom when he was only 4 years old. That is just so wrong. And much as I dislike this photo, I still look at it every year (at least once) because I feel that it helps me to remember that huge tragedy and to never forget how many people lost their lives or their loved ones that day. It also serves to remind me how much I love this country and the people who serve it to try to make it a safer free country for us. Not just our military, but our firefighters, police officers, red cross volunteers..the list goes on & on.


One person I'm especially very proud of is this beautiful sailor in the layout below.(of course I'm also very proud of the handsome boy at her side too) Thankfully she has not been to Iraq....but she tells me it is very likely that she will have to spend some time in that area eventually. I dread the day I get that news from her...my heart sinks just thinking about it.

I'll end this rambling post with this beautiful photo below. I didn't take it but it is too beautiful not to share.

9/10/08

My favorite season

It's definitely feeling like fall today in my part of the world. It was a beautiful day here. About 70 degrees and sunny. But its very cool & crisp tonight. About 52 degrees right now but due to get down into the mid 40's. Brrrrr.

Time to break out the fall clothes. I love how cozy it feels the first time you put on that favorite sweater. Getting away from sandals again and wearing socks...that's different. I fight having to confine my feet to socks as long as possible. Which usually means I spend the first part of fall in cozy clothes...and open toe shoes. I do love fall so much though.....its a time for country fairs, pumpkin & apple picking, beautiful fall foliage & raking leaves. Ok so that last one is not an enjoyable part of fall.....especially with all the trees around here. But fall is still my favorite season.


The one truly bad thing about fall??? Winter comes next !! Ugh. The farmers almanac is predicting this year that rather than a global warming...that the next 50 year will get colder. Oh joy !!!!


I did finish that layout last night...but failed to get it photographed in natural light today before it got dark out . I'll get it on here soon....promise. For now I'll leave you with this simple layout I created a while back with my daughter's senior year photo.
This layout for me is just ok.....but the photo I totally adore. Sometimes it just amazes me how gorgeous this girl is. I spoke to her yesterday & she says she is going to try to come home for Thanksgiving & Chistmas. How sweet would that be to see her a month earlier than planned? Keeping my fingers crossed !!!

9/9/08

Hello my name is Donna...

and I'm a scrapbooking addict !!!

Is this not the best hobby ever? I love everything about it...the photos, the writing from the heart & the creative process. But the shopping is pretty fun too isn't it?

I went to a scrapbook store about an hour west of me recently because they sent me a $10 coupon for my birthday that I just couldn't let go to waste. I don't get to this particular store often because its not very close by but they always have such great stuff when I do get there. I picked up some of my favorite things.....

American Crafts Thickers. Love these....especially the foam ones. This time in addition to a new foam alphabet I got some vinyl & chipboard ones to add to my collection too.


I just had to buy these papers from Jenny Bowlin....love these soft colors so much !! I have a page in process right now using some of these so hopefully I'll be able to share that soon. My only complaint here is I have no idea what the reasoning is to put that #74 on the paper on the right. I guess if I was creating a page with a photo from 1974 I'd be all set...but I'm not...so I covered it up.

These beautiful papers are from October Afternoon. I don't think I have ever used their papers before....but these I just couldn't resist. The coordinating prints on the reverse side are just as yummy.

I'm off to sneak in some creative time while the little ones (the boy & the puppy) are sleeping. Have a nice night everyone.

9/7/08

Care to join me for a sunday stroll?

I'll warn you though...its a long one (the walk & this post) But I think when we're done you'll understand perfectly why I love living in this quaint little New England town.

Ready?

Ok..heading out from my house. One thing in this town...you can't be afraid of walking uphill (a lot). Princeton sits at the base of Mount Wachusett and it is very hilly here....but I think you'll see it's well worth the effort. My new companion is raring to go and full of energy after a good night sleep.



This is the Protestant church at the center of town. Beyond it lies the town common, complete with a white gazebo & surrounded by beautiful old homes. I'll show you that photo on the way home though.

On the north side of the town common is the library & the town hall beyond that. This library is gorgeous. Behind the tree is a clock tower with a bell in it built by Paul Revere. I hear that beautiful sound from my home every hour, on the hour letting me know what time it is. The woodwork inside the building is quite a sight to see as well. The bell is chiming 11 times now as I type this. Must get to bed soon...


There are many beautiful old stone walls along the way. Love that about New England ! Stone walls are everywhere.

And this very old graveyard.....I've been wanting to go in explore here for a long time and lucky you get to join me...



Complete with underground tombs. Kind of creepy huh? I took this picture quickly & moved on.



I'm really glad that the town continues to recognize these veterans all these years later.



Even poor Humphry Moore who died 218 years ago at the age of 49 (which was probably considered old age back then). I'm facinated by old graveyards....I love reading the names and dates on the headstones.


Moving on we took a little detour off the road onto this piece of property (which is for sale if you are interested)...the house is to the right of this scene in the clearing ahead. I love this photo. Some pictures don't come out nearly as good as they look to your eyes...but some....like this one come out better.


And the scene above opened up to this scene. Well worth trespassing for don't you think? The tallest part of the horizon that you see is Mt Wachusett. A small but very pretty mountain complete with a ski area and lots of trails to explore on your way to the top. On the far right of this horizon way of in the distance you can see New Hampshire. From the top of the mountain, on a clear day, you can see all 5 surrounding states (ME, NH, VT, CT & RI)



Lots of beautiful homes and barns as well in Princeton.



The picture below is not clear because I was trying to zoom in from a distance before he flew away. But if you look closely you can see the long legged, long necked Blue Heron standing on the waters edge.


Tanner just saw a dog go around the bend ahead that he really wanted to go play with. But we are turning around here and crossing back in the other direction....



to walk down this pretty country road...



Now back into the center of town..this is the Catholic church. It doesn't show up in this photo, but to the left of that flag I could see the skyline of Boston (45 or so miles southeast of Princeton). The town common is to the left of me when I took this.



Here is a panoramic shot of the common. To the right of the gazebo you can see the steeple of the church that I showed you at the beginning of the walk. The red building to the left of the gazebo is the town hall. The library is directly behind that gazebo at the top of the hill. This is the center of town...population 3500. And protected by the town not to let business move in and spoil its beauty. There is no gas station in town, only one small convenience store, one pizza parlor, 2 other restaraunts, and 1 country inn...and thats about it. I used to have a dear friend in Cheyenne Wyoming who was a real outdoorsman. He thought I was very citified (is that a word?) being from the Boston area and all. And I used to joke with him that he was the one who lived in the city not me. I called him "city boy"...he called me "country girl". I think he always thought I was really the city person though. I don't think he ever realized just how "country & outdoors" my life was. Ah well...we lost touch years ago. But I think of that "city boy" often hoping that life has been good to him. He was a good
man & he deserved more happiness than he had when I knew him. Anyway...back to our walk...enough reminicing....



Back near where we started. I'm not a religious person but the doors of the church were open for worship as we walked by & we could hear the sounds of the organ & parishioners singing as we walked by...its was a nice sound on this gorgeous Sunday morning. And while I may not enter churches all that often...this one sure is fun to photograph.


It actually used to be across the street but when the library was built it was moved to its current location.



And here we are back home again. Hope you enjoyed taking that stroll with me. After 3 & 1/2 miles Tanner was very tired & asleep in a matter of minutes. Thanks for coming along with us & letting me share my little corner of the world with you.