♥happy purple tuesday♥

Happy Purple Tuesday all! Exciting news, membership in the flickr ♥happy purple tuesday♥ group is over 350 members, in less than two weeks! If you have flickr contacts that love the purple, invite them to play along with us. Also, we got purple into Explore! There is an Explore discussion thread on the home page of the group if anyone else has a purple photo that makes it to explore, please let us know in the thread.

Below is Pam Martin's photo that made it to Explore.

purple globes by Pam Martin

A few people have asked me about Flickr's Explore and how you know if your photo makes Explore. One way to find out if any of your photos have made it to Explore is by using Scout on the Big Huge Labs website. Also on the Scout page is a link to Scout/Explore FAQs that will answer all your questions about Explore.

Below is a mosaic (that I made using Mosaic Maker on the Big Huge Labs website) of some of the photos added to the Flickr ♥happy purple tuesday♥ group last week. What a fun mix of images last week. Can't wait to see what is added today!

1. Purple converse, 2. Purple haze, 3. Camping in the mountains, 4. happy purple bench bokeh tipsy fence flare tuesday! ♥, 5. Antique poker chips for purple tuesday, 6. dear diary,, 7. Morning, 8. 216/365, 9. Coming Up Pansies, 10. http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryanandphia/3975844636/in/pool-1475112@N25, 11. Where is your focus?, 12. pocket, 13. scoot14. Not available15. Not available16. Not available


♥ maureen



another sunset at the lake

I got a chance to get out to the lake on Friday night to enjoy another sunset. However, this sunset was not as spectacular as previous evenings, without clouds to reflect the evening light. I eventually turned my lens to the shore, to look for the sun’s rosy glow.

 I

And there I found it warming up a piece of driftwood and some rocks by the water's edge.

Don’t forget, tomorrow is ♥happy purple tuesday♥ find your purple and and come share in the flickr pool.
Last week we had at least one photo from the pool make Explore!

Have a great week!
♥ maureen

saturday morning abundance at the market

Saturday dawned a glorious autumn morning in the Midwest. Sunny with a crisp coolness to the air. With a beautiful day stretching out before me,  I was happy that I had finally made plans to enjoy the sights and sounds and smells of Soulard Market in St. Louis. Soulard market is the oldest farmer's market  west of the Mississippi river. Overflowing with vendors inside and out it truly is a feast for the senses.

What a pleasant morning, walking among the stalls, admiring the produce, choosing what treats  to bring home, observing and listening to the diverse residents of the city.

By far my favorite offerings were traditional autumn harvest items. Pumpkins in bright orange, multi-colored gourds and Indian corn, brilliant orange, yellow and copper mums.



Just missed the deadline for the Sunday Creative prompt for abundance. *sigh* Maybe next week . . .

Have a great week.

♥ maureen



autumn welcome

"September days have the warmth of summer in their briefer hours, but in their lengthening evenings a prophetic breath of autumn."  - September Days By Rowland E. Robinson, Vermont.

It's really here isn't it? Autumn, that is. See here's the thing. I love summer. I love the heat, the long days of sunshine. I love how free it feels to wear summer clothes, flip-flops, shorts, breezy summer dresses. In these last days of golden sunshine and warmth, I can feel the change coming, cooler nights, shorter days. And I know it’s time for a change, time to put away those summer things, and prepare for winter which will certainly follow. When I pull a sweater over my head for the first time in the fall, I know that summer is well and truly over.
Undeniably it’s time, time to welcome autumn and the feast of color that lasts for such a brief time. And embrace the light, the light of Autumn that is bright and as crisp as the evening air. Time to celebrate this fleeting time of natures’ last gifts, before the earth is put to bed, tucked into the browns and grays of winter slumber.
Off to the pumpkin patch for a big fat perfect specimen of fall and a bunch of bright copper mums to grace my entryway. Time to put the welcome mat out for autumn. How do you welcome autumn?

Oh how fun! I've been featured! Brenda from Cozy Little House featured me on this weeks Welcome Wagon. Thank you so much Brenda. Brenda has such a darling blog and she's been featured in Romantic Living Magazine. How cool is that! Pop over and give her some bloggy love. And to my visitors from Brenda's place Welcome! Make yourself at home and have a look around.

♥ maureen

♥ happy purple tuesday♥

1. Nach dem Regen, 2. Purple Petals..., 3. Purple beauty, 4. For My Mommy, 5. Clematis and friend, 6. a few of my favorite things, 7. singing, 8. hydrangea, 9. To Look and See, 10. Lavender 2, 11. IMG_6146 Web, 12. purple ♥ love, 13. Purple14. Not available15. Not available16. Not available

I chose the photos in the mosaic above from the submissions to the ♥ happy purple tuesday♥  flickr group. Woo Hoo! We have 328 members in less than one week! How amazing. Today is officially the first Tuesday for the new the group.  If you haven't shared a purple photo in the pool yet, hurry up and do so. And then leave some flickr love in the comment section of your purple neighbors. I know we can create a purple explosion in explore.



Go, enjoy all the purple goodness.

I can also be found musing over at Mortal Muses today.

♥ maureen

the color purple

The idea started with this purple image.



And in less than 24 hours there are over 250 members of the new ♥happy purple tuesday♥ group. Seriously? Who knew purple was so popular. I should have known. *hanging head in shame*



If you are a flickr member, join us! Share your purple images. View & comment & fav those purple shots, lets see how much purple we can get into explore!

If you’re not a flickr member (and why not?) you can still enjoy the purple goodness. Click over and surf the purple flickr pool. There are some amazing photos there. Stop by each Tuesday for a new dose of purple.

Thanks to my muse friends Tammy, Kat, Suki, Mosey, Lucy, Kirsten, April and purple lover extraordinary Michel, for the inspiration.

Purple is the color of love,

Purple is the color I dream of.

Purple is the color of passion,

Purple is the latest fashion.

Purple is the color of glad,

Purple is the best color they had.

Purple is the color of laughs,

Purple is what he said on my behalf.

Purple is the color of me,

Purple is the best, you see.

- Luna Moon

♥ maureen

another happy fence friday edition & giveaway tip

Another one of my shots from my trip to the country.

I have the day off today for a routine doctor’s appointment in the morning. Plan to get some shooting in this afternoon. I’m hopeful that I’ll catch that elusive reflection shot for the Mortal Muses Challenge. Haven’t had much luck this far, and my day to post is Sunday. aaaak

Tell me, what are your plans for the weekend?

Oh, yes! There's a giveaway over on the Where Women Create Blog.

It's a $25 credit to shop at  Priddy Creations.

Amy crafts beautiful camera bags & accessories, you have to have a look.

♥ maureen

butterfly beauty

Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne

Love is like a butterfly: It goes where it pleases and it pleases wherever it goes. ~Author Unknown

The green grass and the happy skies court the fluttering butterflies. ~Astrid Alauda

"Just living is not enough," said the butterfly, "one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower." ~Hans Christian Anderson

Once I read a story about a butterfly in the subway, and today, I saw one. It got on at 42nd, and off at 59th, where, I assume it was going to Bloomingdales to buy a hat that will turn out to be a mistake - as almost all hats are. ~Nikolaus Laszlo, Nora Ephron, and Delia Ephron, You've Got Mail

 

I thought I'd share a few of my butterfly shots from my weekend in the country. The weather here in the Midwest was ideal. Perfect, fall-like weather: sunny, a light breeze, temps in the mid 70s and no humidity. *sigh*  perfect.  And the butterflies, well they were just all over the place, dancing and fluttering from bloom to bloom. I spent quite a bit of time following their merry little dance through the field. And I have the chigger bites to prove it. *grin*

 ♥ maureen

vintage beauty

Today I’m musing over at Mortal Muses, about vintage beauty. The current theme for the MM group is antique, my favorite theme so far.

I have a house full of old things and I use them all as much as possible. Some things are family items for which I am the current caretaker. Many others are things I’ve collected over the years. I only have one piece of furniture what was purchased new, my computer desk (and it has a vintage look). Everything else is either hand-me-down or a vintage treasure new-to-me. When I have a little extra change in my pocket, I don’t head to the mall. My favorite haunts are flea markets, tag sales, thrift stores, auctions and on occasion, I’ve been known to pick up something that’s been abandoned on the side of the road.

The most challenging task of this theme for me was deciding what to photograph.

The antique kitchen clock that my grandfather lovingly, meticulously refinished that adds a lovely soft tic-tock soundtrack to my home?

The vintage cookbook from the 50’s that belonged to my mother, but I most remember my father using it when he made the dinner rolls for our family Thanksgiving dinners?

The pages even sport the drips and spills from so long ago that mark it as a favorite recipe. One of my sons now uses this recipe to prepare the dinner rolls for our holiday gatherings.

Or one of my many handmade quilts I have collected, all  lovingly stitched by generations of women known and unknown?
Dishes, pottery, silver, chairs, tables, lamps, beds, mirrors, photos, baskets, linens, and anything with peeling paint, so many choices. . .

I decided to photograph an item from my newest collection. Hop over to the Muse blog to have a look.

What about you? Do you have a beloved collection, something that you look for when you step into an antique store or flea market, something that makes your heart beat a little faster when you spy it?

♥ maureen

summer bounty

i'm craving a cobbler, warm from the oven, with ice cream. unfortunately i lost all of my recipes in the flood of twenty-ten. anyone have a good cobbler recipe?

♥ maureen