Do you want to have a sundial? Here is one example, with Grow Old With Me on the top of it.

I would like to have a sundial.
Maybe to make one? Maybe to buy one? I don't know. I ran across these pictures of a sundial that I liked. Perhaps I will find one like it, or make one like it.

It is from the garden area at the Care Home in Nashville my mother is staying in. It has a poem on it. I looked this up today, and saw that the whole poem is by Robert Browning.

Here is just a portion of it:

"Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made:
Our times are in His hand
Who saith ‘A whole I planned,
Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be afraid!"

 

I see that John Lennon has used the first part of this poem in his song, Grow Old with Me, and has added his own verses to it.

Grow Old With Me - the Sundial Number One

Grow Old with Me - the Sundial Number Two

I would not mind having a sundial like this. It is a classic and would look great at The Garden Spot.

To me, having the image of Death on the sundial gives me pause though, and it is, in its way, sad, because for some people who are living here, their lives are not the best ever. Maybe the poem means that Heaven is in view the older people get.

Do you have a sundial? Do you have an idea for one?

Write a comment here and let me know. I hope you are having a great summer, too, and staying cool for at least part of the time.

And here is the entire, much longer poem: Rabbi Ben Ezra by Robert Browning.

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Some of my Grandmother, Helen Hooper's Paintings

Helen Powell Hooper - some more paintings

I took some photos of three of my grandmother's paintings yesterday.

Here they are:

Smaller painting 1 of 2

Smaller painting 2 of 2

A larger painting.

These are some of Grandma Hooper's more painterly paintings. She loved to paint travel scenes, scenes of the woods and nature, and more. She had a great way with color too!

I hope to do some paintings soon and just love hers! I will be lucky if I can do as good a job or even half the job she did.

I have some more of Grandma Hooper's paintings and a little about her at her page here:
About my grandmother, Helen Hooper, and her paintings. It's at my Betsyanne site. (I will redo this page this year hopefully!)

Let me know what you think of these paintings. And have a wonderful, creative day.

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Rolling with the new Post Office flow - Bowling Green to Nashville

Bye-Bye for Now, My Speedy Post Offices!

I guess everyone in Bowling Green saw the writing on the wall. Our Post Offices used to mail to everywhere, and our letters got to their destinations quicker than many places.

Now we've joined the rest of the country in Post Office downsizing. We actually took some mail to Nashville the other day to save time.

Here are a couple of pictures of the "new" choice some Bowling Green people can take to get their mail out faster.

The outside of the Post Office near Donelson

Inside the Nashville Post Office - Donelson

Maybe we'll get more services back in Bowling Green later when the economy picks up.

And in the meantime, send some snail mail, everyone!

An apple blossom from the Garden Spot

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More selected photos from Cheekwood

Hi, all! I hope all my readers are well and happy today.

I recently posted some train photos of the current outside train exhibit at Cheekwood in Nashville, Tennessee.

The same day, I took some more photos. I have posted them at Facebook here.

Here are just a few more selected photos (3):

Looking out the window gate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is one of my favorite places at Cheekwood. It is by the old pickup entrance.

A beautiful meandering stream on the way up to the museum and gallery.

You can also see the first photos I took the same day: Photos from the Train Exhibit at Cheekwood.

Keep dry and cool, people.




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Photos from the Model Train exhibit at Cheekwood

Tennessee in G: A fun exhibit!

This exhibit of model trains at Cheekwood in Nashville, Tennessee is wonderful! They have a whole train set built complete with historical houses and overhead trestles. It's so fun to look at.

I took some photos too. Here are some of them:

Cheekwood Trains on the track

 

 

 

Some great scenery at the Cheekwood Train exhibit

Coming 'round the bend...

Chessie train cars

Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends coming out of the tunnel.

I hope to get back and see this train exhibit again.

It rates an A+++ with me!

Here are more links to explore about it:

See the rest of the Cheekwood Train Exhibit photos on Flickr!

Trains! Tennessee In G: Cheekwood Botanical Garden
Current Exhibits at Cheekwood
Tennessee in G: a 5-star rating by the NowPlayingNashville website
Tennessee in G: a review by the See Middle Tennessee blog (more good pictures too!)

 

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Free stuff - - free stuff - - I think I'll make a page about it.

Hi readers!

I had a great idea (again) today.  It is something I have been thinking about a very long time. I love free things, like free reports about making money online, free reports about how to get traffic to your websites, etc. etc.

Some of these articles let you share them.

I have quite a collection. I think I will make a page with these all on them to download, and include some of my own too.

Do you like this idea? Let me know. I will list my page on my blogs as soon as I get it done. It might be a membership site, with some free things for everyone, even those who are not members.

In the meantime, how is everyone doing? Are there people who read my blog who would be interested in learning how to make money online and who are some non-ripoff teachers who have lots of free stuff to give away?

Let me know with a comment if you are interested.

More of my news: I got a baby pool for my daughter and her husband. They like it! The birds moved out of my garage (yay), and I cooked some delicious black beans and rice yesterday along with some corn cakes. I have made headway on some writing jobs, and organizing too.

So how is YOUR summer going?

All for now,




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Attention Stephen King Fans - new intros tell more about his journey

 Oh Yeah!

This is a posting for Stephen King fans. Do you have the LATEST edition of The Stand book by Stephen King? I don't (YET). But I just read a new introduction to a semi-new edition of the first book of the Gunslinger series, The Gunslinger. In it, Mr. King (I keep wanting to put "Dr." there as his name prefix...) says that he has updated the book. Improved it. I mean, what?? Now every fan will need to read the new version. For sure.

And I would not be surprised to find another new forward there in the new Stand book too.

Stephen King says that what he is writing about there on the new intro (Gunslinger - book one of the series) is truthful and he likes it! The introduction is a really great read. It is not like normal, boring intros. I really liked it a lot. So, as a fan, I was of course SO happy to discover that and share that information here.

Of course, I've read "On Writing"... but this is even better than that, in some ways. There is a lot of new information about how he thinks.

Next I will be looking for "newer" versions of all of these books. I first experienced them in audio book format. Now I will be reading them, and I think I'll like them even better.

I wanted to put a Stephen King portrait on here, but all I could find (at least on Flickr) was a cartoon, which isn't bad, but doesn't do him justice. I'll keep looking, and add one later. For now, feast your eyes on some books by one of the best writers of our time.

Cry pardon, Mr. King, but I had to share this news on my blog today, so more fans can read your new intros.

It's back to doing more blogs now, and finishing the watching of the really cool vampire and lyken movie, Underworld. I didn't like this movie before but now that I have seen more of it, I can't wait to see what happens next.

And I must list this site for all Stephen King fans. I swear he at least used to go to his message boards there sometimes and answers some of the questions. The others are answered by somebody else, he SAYS. I have my own theories...

So... here it is:

The Official Stephen King fan site.

He's changed the design some. I liked the other one too. It had some cool flash buttons. Though I am sure this site is full of neat things too.

Later!

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Bar-B-Cutie - what a neat place!

Not Bar-B-Cutie - but interesting!*

Bar-B-Cutie - I like it!

Love Bar-B-Que? I do.

Next time you are in Nashville, Tennessee, and you want to try something different, check out Bar-B-Cutie barbeque restaurant. We ordered a pork barbeque plate. It came with two sides, which were also good!

We tried this restaurant on Saturday, after wondering about it for a long time.

Just saying! You get to spice up your barbeque with a choice of several sauces too. They have several locations, and have been in business since 1950. Oh - and they have booths to sit in, which I love.

Later!

 
Here are some more Bar-B-Cutie links:
Bar-B-Cutie locations
The Bar-B-Cutie store

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The neat barbeque photo is by Robert Scoble on Flickr.

Kittens, kittens everywhere - - kittie pictures from Flickr.

 Here are some kitten pictures from Flickr. These are so cute!

Tiger kitties! From mathias-erhart on Flickr.

This photo is by E3000 on Flickr.

Twirled sleeping cats by denizen24 on Flickr.

This super cute kittie photo is by nicsuzor on Flickr.

I just love kitten photos, don't you? And if you haven't checked out The Daily Kitten, now's the time.

Later!

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Some fun Etsy stores - what a fun place to shop.

 I have been checking out various Etsy stores now for over a year. 

Etsy stores online are fun because many of the things there are handmade and original. They are not the usual things you see every day.

If you have not explored the many stores here, I suggest that you go there right away -- because it's a lot of fun.

My Aunt has an Etsy store. She collects beautiful pieces of glass and driftwood, on the beach. She also makes very cute things with them.

You can see her shop, On the Beach, here:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/OffTheBeach

Do you love pretty and colorful hand-dyed yarn? The Wooly Wench has some unique things:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/WoolyWench

I love these wonderful handmade leather bags too from Copper River Bags:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/theipadtraveler

Here is some Victorian button jewelry:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/AlliesAdornments

And here are more gorgeous leather bags - with ruffles!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/jolavdesigns

These canvas bags from Christy's studio are a lot less money
http://www.etsy.com/shop/christystudio?ref=top_trail

Go here to check out all of my favorites so far: (including hats)

http://www.etsy.com/people/betsyanne77/favorites?ref=si_fav

I wish I could put some pictures here of what they have. But all you have to do to see some of their products is to go to a link and see everything they have in their stores.

So... Tell me, do you love Etsy as much as I do?

Go to Etsy and browse around.

Have fun! And leave a comment if you have a store, or have some favorites you would like to share.

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Trouble in River City - Blogger is back, and so is Twitter.

Blogger is finally back! (and Twitter is too).

First off, don't hackers have better things to do than wreck websites and waste time for people? I mean, seriously. But I guess some are trying to get personal information and make money a la Moriarty.

Blogger blog users have been winging it and complaining at @blogger (Blogger on Twitter)  for at least a day. I think personally a hacker took the site down but you never know. It could have been a maintenance error.

The scariest part for me was to go to my Blogger blogs and look at the funny status bar at the top and bottom (a strange photo of another page) and wonder if another Blogger blog (also mine) was gone forever. I'm glad it wasn't!

But on the good side: Hurray! Now I can update my blogger blogs.

I quickly went to Twitter to tweet about it and guess what? No page at Twitter! Which is also annoying. But I tried again in a little while and it is working fine.

If it IS a single hacker going around taking sites down or even messing with them, I wish people knew who it was so they could put them in jail.

Seriously... some people are making it VERY hard for bloggers by hacking around. Don't they have anything better to do??

But on the good side again, it COULD be worse... right? Have you had problems with hackers? Tell your story below as a comment. Or vent about your not being able to access your pages sometimes. It's frustrating...

PS As I publish this blog today, the front page of Twitter has opened up for me. Now to get inside to my Twitter page.

Join me! I am @betsyanne, @nontrads, and @scholarsgrants on Twitter. If you can't get in to the site, I'm sure it will be fixed soon.

Read more:

Why Hackers Hack Websites (from the Website Geeks site)
How Hackers Hack, the tricks hackers use, and what you can do to foil them. (via PC World)
Blogger status page
Related stories: (Huffington Post) Blogger down due to maintenance


And of course, here are some of my pages and blogs:

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The vegetable garden at the Garden Spot is finally in - most of it!

 I did it! Well, it was me AND my daughter this year, so really - - we did it!

We planted tomatoes (5 kinds), peppers (2 kinds), and spinach, plus some snapdragons. I hope to add more things soon.

The back yard is starting to jungle out - - and there is much to do to tame it. But getting some plants in the garden area feels great.

Here are a couple of pictures.

The left side of the garden, just inside the gate.

Basil, curly parsley, and marigolds.

This chair sure felt nice after a lot of digging and planting.

I have some more room... so what more will I plant? Maybe some pumpkins, zucchini, and onions.

I will be heading outside to get my Vitamin D and more exercise at least every other day this summer. It will be all about trimming, fixing the tomato rounds, cutting back the apple tree, and planting some flowers too.

Inside the garden area, I will hopefully have a tiny pool to cool off with too. That part sounds fun. Or I will relax with my hat on the chair after pouring water on my head.

Are you having a garden this year? I think it will help a LOT with the grocery bills, plus it will be fun to see the plants grow.

Later!

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So how many posts should a blogger do per week?

That's a good question.  

Ready to post... enter!

How often should a serious blogger post?

I've heard and read many answers. Some say if you are a serious blogger, you must blog every day. Wow. To me that is a lot, but maybe just because I posted about once every two weeks when I started. Then I increased my postings to once a week, then twice a week.

Other serious bloggers say every other day is enough. Still others say that they just can't swing the every other day routine, and post once or twice a week.

Today I experimented with posting on just two blogs - my most popular ones - - This one, The Moon and the Willow Tree, and the Nontraditional Student blog too. I added photos or pictures (as usual) then went ahead and pinged each one.

So far, it has been a tremendously great experience because I have more traffic so far. We'll see what happens as I continue.

Are you a blogger? Do you post every day? Or maybe once a week? Leave a comment and let me know.

Thanks!

(I plan to try to post every day for awhile and see what happens.)

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A happy Mother's Day to everyone!

A very happy Mother's Day to everyone, even those who have lost their mothers or who do not have a mother figure to honor.

Today is a day we celebrate our mothers.  People are talking about taking their mothers out for dinner, or going over to visit. Some people call their mothers today to check in on them or just have a nice conversation about their day.

Some people have mothers who were absent. Some people have Aunts who care for them as a mother would. Still others have been adopted and celebrate their relationship with their adoptive mother. I'm sure there are other combinations I am missing. Add yours as a comment.

I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day.

One of my friends on Facebook wrote about wearing a white rose, a pink top, and pink jewelry today. She also made some pink snoball cakes today, which was her Mom's favorite. I think that is a great idea - - to honor her mother by remembering her this way. She also put a photo of her mother there as her profile picture.

I did too. Here is my photo of Mom. It was taken when she had me.

I hope you had a terrific day, readers.

My Mom XOXOXOXOXOXO

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Thoughts on the brief honeymoon of William and Kate

Observers and confetti on the Royal Wedding Day.

I love the confetti! You can see it in the photo here to the left*. I somehow missed this when watching the Royal Wedding coverage on TV.

Then, after hearing about a royal honeymoon (and also some rumors of where the William and Kate would travel, such as an island, Canada, and flying out from Los Angeles), it turns out the honeymoon will be brief.

I have also heard from some people and read stories online about how much the royal wedding cost, and who (really) paid for it.

But I think the Royal Wedding was a great and fun event anyway. It sure made my day.

About the honeymoon (or lack of it), not having a big honeymoon right now could be because:

1. William is a workaholic.
2. The security concerns are too huge.
3. Some reason I have no clue about. (leave a comment with your theory...)

My wish is for a big and fun honeymoon ASAP, Princess Kate. Or should I say Countess?

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*The great confetti photo is by Paul Simpson on Flickr, who thankfully did not charge for it. :-)