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Topsy-Turvy

February 24, 2012 at 9:25 am by Claudia

We took a little walk on the Rail Trail on Wednesday. This one was longer – about 3 miles. It was a sunny, spring-like day. Very quickly, we shed our coats, happily basking in the warmth of the sun. We marveled that all this was happening on a day in February. In the northeast.

The sky was gorgeous. If you look in the upper-right hand corner of the photo, there is an opening in the clouds. I keep seeing the shape of a bird. What do you see?

Our mountain ridge is in the background. I call it ‘ours.’ I suppose everyone around here does. This is the same ridge that we can see from our house. Whenever we take these walks, we are reminded once again that we live in a beautiful part of the country.

So on we walked, talking about the warm weather, thinking that, most assuredly, spring is around the corner. Yes, it can only be a week or so away.

I woke up this morning to this:

What????

I went to bed last night with not a flake in sight. A few short hours later, there is heavy, wet snow everywhere. Look how our chicken wire corral fence is sagging under the wet snow. There’s not a whole lot of it and I suspect it will melt rather quickly.

What a strange winter this has been. Everything is topsy-turvy. (Another old fashioned word that I love.)

I wrote the other day about being in my fifties and feeling young and vital.

I’ve suddenly begun getting emails from the Scooter Store.

Back off, Scooter Store. I’m not ready for you yet.

The willow tree is coming down on Tuesday. Can’t think about it. I will be somewhere else that day, trying to forget what is happening to my favorite tree. I’m sorry, willow. I love you. But your beauty comes with a price. You are too destructive. We have to let you go.

I’ll have some shop updates over the weekend, so be sure to check in!

Have a wonderful Friday.

Thrifty Living 2012 – Daycations

February 23, 2012 at 9:24 am by Claudia

This week’s edition of Thrifty Living 2012 concerns an alternative to expensive vacations – daycations. Hey, we all love the thought of taking a week or two and jetting off to some wonderful destination. It’s a terrific idea. However, those vacations can cost a lot of money.

I’ve mentioned before that Don and I don’t take vacations. They are too expensive for us right now. We sometimes get the opportunity to visit a new place as part of a job and we grab the chance to do a little sightseeing. But those jaunts are work related and usually only one of us is doing the traveling.

Daycations, however are a wonderful alternative to the expensive vacation. We can leave our house in the morning and be back in our little cottage by nightfall. New York is an obvious destination for us as we live about 75 miles north of Manhattan. There’s so much to see and do there. We can drive in or take the train or the bus and we are instantly transported to a thriving metropolitan area with museums, plays, shopping and endless things to do.

Or how about taking a train ride to some new-to-you destination? You can sit back, read a book and let someone else do the driving. I did this frequently when I lived in Boston. I didn’t have a car. But I’d hop on the train and travel to Philadelphia or New York. Sometimes I’d rent a car and drive to Maine or New Hampshire or out to Cape Cod. There’s nothing like a day away to put life in perspective.

Don and I will sometimes drive to the Berkshires for the day. This gorgeous area of Massachusetts is full of wonderful sightseeing opportunities and it’s only a few hours away. Last fall, we took a daycation to Boston. I got to show Don a bit of the city I used to live in and love and we went to a Red Sox game that night.

When we lived in California, we could drive to the beach, the mountains or the desert in the course of a day. We had lots of opportunities to explore that beautiful state.

Daycations are a viable alternative to expensive vacations. And if you have pets and don’t want to leave them for too long, a day away is just the ticket. In our case, one of our dogs is ill and frail. A daycation is a way for us to travel….but not too far.

If the thought of saving up enough money for the annual vacation is overwhelming you, consider a series of day-long trips. You save the cost of a hotel. You save the cost of plane fare. I bet there are plenty of wonderful places to discover within a couple of hours drive.

Please visit the rest of the Frugal Five, Brenda, Elaine, Jen and Diane for their tips on daycations.

‘Seasoned’ Bloggers, Monetization & Comments

February 22, 2012 at 12:34 pm by Claudia

Sunrise. I’ve learned you have to quickly get the camera or all the gorgeous colors will fade in the blink of an eye.

The same goes for pretty cloud formations.

Everything changes, minute by minute, second by second. A camera gives you the chance to capture a moment in time before it’s gone forever. It’s a reminder to live in the moment. Something so simple but so hard to do, don’t you agree?

Thank you for all your wonderful comments on my most recent posts. Well, thank you for your comments on every post. But lately, there have been some wonderful, thought provoking ideas shared on this old blog and I’m extremely grateful for them. Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts, your experiences, your views. Sometimes, all it takes is reading about another point of view to turn my perceptions around in a different direction. I may not always agree with you, you may not always agree with me, but the dialogue is the important thing. I love the conversation. I’ll go even further: I thrive on it. So thanks and thanks again, my friends.

Monetizing with BlogHer

Every once in a while I get an email asking about BlogHer ads and the process of applying for them. You have to go to this link and fill out an application. It’s not enough to register on BlogHer’s site.

As far as the approval process, I’ve heard about some bloggers waiting for up to two years for approval, some are approved in a few days and others, like me, wait for about a month and a half. BlogHer has a finite number of blogs that are part of the Advertising Network. I imagine, though I don’t know this for sure, if they are full up, you might not hear anything for a long while. If there are openings, things might move more quickly. I do know that BlogHer chooses all kinds of blogs; big, small and in-between.

If you are interested, I urge you to apply. But prepare yourself for a wait. I think BlogHer is fantastic and their customer service is the best. They have been nothing but supportive and there for me when I’ve had a question. And they really do a great job of highlighting our posts and our blogs.

BlogHer Conference Disappointment

Do you know that BlogHer has their conference in NYC this year? Since I live so close to the city, it would be wonderful to take part in it. But I can’t really afford the registration fee. So when they issued a call for volunteers I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to attend the conference, help out wherever needed, and save money on the fees. I applied. To my disappointment, I got an email yesterday saying I wasn’t chosen. There were a lot of applicants. I’m bummed.

I also submitted an idea for a panel discussion. I thought there should be a panel about bloggers who are 45+ years of age. There’s a whole lot of us out there. We are consumers. We have life experience. We know a lot. And I think we’re sometimes a tad marginalized in the blogging world, just like in the real world. 30-something bloggers and mommy bloggers are everywhere. And I say, good for them! But we’re here, too. And we have much to contribute. It would be nice to take part in something that spotlights us – our challenges, our blogging audience. I often look at photos from these conferences and see a sea of young faces. Here and there, I might see a ‘seasoned’ blogger, but for the most part, I don’t. Maybe it depends on whose taking the pictures.

Anyway. I heard back from BlogHer. They passed.

Who knows? There may already be a panel scheduled to discuss this topic. Maybe there has been a panel about just this thing at previous conferences. Most likely, my presentation wasn’t strong enough. That’s my fault.

Do you remember being younger and looking at people who were in their forties or fifties, thinking they must be dull and old? I do. I now realize what my parents and elders felt when they were my age. I may be in my fifties, but I’m smart, savvy and still very hip, if I do say so myself. I have a lot to contribute. I’ve learned a lot in my lifetime. In fact, I’m full of ideas and am more vital than ever.

Take heed, world. We’re out there and we’re creative, smart and strong.

And now for a little Etsy advertising:

This is the latest scarf. The yarn is made of silk and bamboo. I think these are perfect for the warmer months because they are so soft and silky to the touch and they aren’t made out of wool. I wear these scarves with a T-shirt and jeans all year round. I’ve already decided to make another one in this color for me. Update: Sold.

Love to you all on this Wednesday morning.

Topsy-Turvy

Thrifty Living 2012 – Daycations

‘Seasoned’ Bloggers, Monetization & Comments

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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