Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Dawn of September

Sun Moon

We were blessed with wonderful weather again. We haven't had rain in a very long time. And the forest fires and brush fires are burning up acres of trees and grasses. We had gotten the smoke from Canadian forest fires for almost two weeks and now we are getting the smoke from Oregon fires and eastern Washington. The breeze is off the ocean today so should be blowing it to the east for a few days anyway.

We had such a fun week end. We rode down to Olympia with our daughter to visit her kids.  They had bought their first home. I couldn't believe how this house was made for their uses like someone designed it for them. Our granddaughter has a very successful preschool and she has rooms for that. Our grandson makes music with his computer & a bunch of other things...don't ask me how because that is beyond me. But he has his own room for that with soundproofing on the walls, etc. Then our grandson-in-law has a big shop with a room above the shop where he has a music room. He plays guitars and has a studio set up there. Really very, very cool. 

The first day we went to a wine tasting before we started pickling. Our granddaughter bought 70# of cucumbers so we could make dill pickles using my Grandmother's recipe that my Mom and I had used. It was so funny because the winery took a photo of the 3 of us with our wine and I texted it to one of our sons. He texted back and asked if were were pickling or getting pickled! It took us the rest of the day to get them all canned. But it was so much fun. This is our second year of pickling together and are hoping we can make it a family thing. I have to admit when we finally went to bed late that night my knees burnt so bad from the Fibromyalgia that I had a hard time sleeping. And on the way home I had charlie horses and the burning in my legs most of the way home. So that was the not so fun part. But such a good time that the pain will be forgotten!

I spent most of yesterday trying to find extension add-ons for Firefox that will work when the 57 version comes out. So many of my favorites won't work. I found a few that will work but have a long way to go. Luckily the developers have a few months to update their program. 

What is happening in Texas and the other states that are affected by Harvey is so sad. I can't imagine losing everything they own like so many have. Some even losing family members. My heart goes out to them.

I wish you all a great Labor Day weekend. Years ago we would be loading up the camper and dirt bikes and heading for Cle Elum to ride the trails and coal piles. Sitting around a big campfire with family and extended family members telling stories about the trails we rode that day. Oh, getting old is so much fun!

Autumn Morning Seenity

 


Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Feels like Fall!

Watermill Theme

Wow, but it is beginning to feel like fall in the evenings. We sit outside and read for a bit after dinner and we have both noticed the feeling of fall in the air. We have had some really great summer days, though. 

Did you get to see the eclipse? Our daughter & granddaughter drove down to Salem, OR to watch it and I guess it was totally awesome from what they have said. We didn't have the glasses or anything so we didn't "watch" it, but could sure feel it as it got cooler and grayer out. We didn't have the total eclipse here but most of it. I can't believe the hype for it. 

My husband took the 4 wheeler to the back pasture and picked blackberries so I made a pie. They are a little seedy but make a really good pie.

I just updated my Firefox to 55 and got quite a surprise. Most all of my extensions now say Legacy in bright yellow. And that means that those AddOns won't work after November when they update Firefox to 57. So I have been trying to find some that will replace them that will work with 57, BUT there aren't many out there yet. And I don't know if they ever will. I am very disappointed in this. I was reading on their blog and apparently a lot of people and developers are unhappy about it. I don't think there is anything we can do about it except hope that smart developers out there can re-write some of the extensions so we will be able to use Firefox the way we want to. It is kind of funny, in a way because I had just made up my mind to write in my blog about some of them! Guess that won't happen now!

I spent 2 days trying to get rid of an error on my desktop in Windows 10. I did so much research and working on it I started to get frustrated. After working on it all day Monday and half of yesterday I figured it out and got it working all right. I have no idea why it happened but apparently a lot of people have had the same error notice and everyone had a different way of fixing it! Most of them didn't work and I honestly don't know which one finally fixed mine but after the last restart the error notice was gone. So, it seems like all I have done for several days was actual "work" on the computer not have fun making designs. So all is well in MaDonna Land right now. Till  something else goes wrong. With computers there is always something, right?

Fall Light

Well, I really don't know anything new and I am sure you get bored with my "no news" so I will figure out something for dinner. Have a good night.

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Bullying!

 
 
https://blog.mozilla.org/internetcitizen/2017/07/31/a-more-inclusive-world-and-web/?utm_source=mih-08-15-17&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter

This is a great article on bullying and I hope you will take the time to read it.

I was bullied by another theme designer a year or more ago. She made horrible threats to me over quite a period of time. Emails and on the old forum. 

A Netflix original show to watch is "13 Reasons". It was about teenagers and bullying. If you have Netflix I would advise every teenager and parent should watch it.

Have a good day.

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Feels like Fall!

Autumn River Ranch

We were sitting out last night after dinner reading and we both noticed how much it felt like fall. I am not ready for that.

Have been working on some fall themes. I know I have tons made but I love working with fall graphics. The theme I am posting today is one of my favorites. It is from a painting with a lot of work in Photoshop to move things around and blending. Hope everyone likes it.

Had the TV on this afternoon while I was working and saw the Pres stick his foot in his mouth! Wow! 

Will write more next time. Am running out of time today!

Thursday, August 10, 2017

Scary Times!

Orca View

Good afternoon...and it is a good one. Very warm and would be warmer if the smoke from the forest fires in Canada wasn't hiding the sun. It has been smokey now for over a week. Supposed to change a bit tomorrow with some clouds and wind coming from the west. We haven't had any rain for a long time so the forests are tinder dry. Lots of wild fires, etc. We don't water our lawn because it is a waste of water so our front lawn is brown. But it always comes back as soon as it rains.

I had the telephone interview last Thursday with the magazine and I think it went pretty well. I will post when/if it gets on line.

Down the Road

We are living in pretty scary times, aren't we? This goes to show how important it is to vote. When you have two egotistical children running countries...this is what happens. Who is the biggest bully? I had hopes that our country wouldn't have to go through this kind of bellicosity again. I remember when our kids were told to get under their desks in case of a bomb during the Cuban Crisis. I don't think a desk is going to save anyone now. My Dad moved us from Washington to Iowa during WW II and I can remember when he took a shortcut across the Yakima Bombing Range ( which he wasn't supposed to!)  He told us to get under the truck if they started practice bombing.  I was hoping my kids, grankids and great grandkids wouldn't have to be afraid like we were. I remember being afraid of the Japanese and German people when I was very small.  

Pathway to Autumn Light

I am looking forward to my 60th class reunion this fall. Haven't seen any of my classmates for 10 years and I know several have passed away.

We spent Monday morning at the cardiology office as my husband had a nuclear stress test and the call we got yesterday saying it all looked good was a relief. He has been busy making some bird houses for our grand daughter's new home. They just moved to the country a few months ago and are loving it.

I wish you all love and happiness! Have a wonderful week end. Summer is beginning the down days and I sure hate to see the end of it.

Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Heat!

Gerbera Glow Butterflies

Whew, we finally got some hot weather but you can't see the sun. The air is full of smoke from the wildfires in British Columbia. The smoke was up high yesterday but today is clear to the ground. It actually looks foggy out but very warm! There are forest fires all around us actually. At least two in our old stomping grounds in the District we lived in when hubby was in the U.S. Forest Service. Oh, how he would love to be able to fight fire. He loved doing it and since we weren't making tons of money working for the government, we loved the extra pay in the check! The kids say they can still remember what their Dad smelled like when he got home from a fire. There was one summer I didn't even get his fire clothes washed before he got sent out on another one.

I want to thank David from Virginia that sent me a really nice pocket angel to replace the one I lost. It actually has the same saying on the back of it that my old one did. So, thank you, David.

I am so disappointed that the local radio station that I listened to every day changed their format from progressive talk to music. And it isn't even the kind of music I like so I do not listen to it anymore.

I am doing an interview tomorrow with a magazine and I am a bit nervous about it. I hope I will do OK. I will post here when it is on line.

The cataract surgery I had last month is all completed and I picked up my new glasses yesterday so am pleased that is all finished. I had my last appointment with the ophthalmologist last Thursday and I had to start putting the steroid eye drops in for another week because my dry eyes made the healing a bit slower. 

One of our grandson's and his family spent most of Sunday with us and we had such a good time. The weather was really nice so we got to sit outside and the boys could use up some of their energy. They rode the 4 wheeler in the field and picked some of the blackberries that were ripe. If anything happened to this corner of the US...and their were no people....the blackberry bushes would take over. Most people think they are a nuisance but personally I love the blackberries. You do have to control them but the County likes to mow them all down every year. At least they can't get to our back field!

Washington DC is certainly in turmoil! You don't get bored and it is hard to keep up with who is in what position because the man in the white house might tweet something and pow...someone has been replaced. I just hope he doesn't get in so much trouble he decides he wants to blow North Korea off the map. Oh, how I look back to the last 8 years and wish the news was not quite so scary.

I am going to get back to work and wish me luck with the interview tomorrow. Have a great week.....

Fox & Butterfly

💚Marching on to Spring💚

                                            Spring Tulip Farm https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/spring-tulip-farm-by-m-donna/  ...