Friday Shoot Out

Friday Shoot Out ~ Yard Objects

I was very excited to get started on my first assignment for the Friday Shoot Out. The theme is yard objects. Normally, I take my dog for a walk in the park in the evenings, as it is much cooler then. Today, an hour ago to be exact, I took my dog and my camera for a walk around the neighborhood. I really didn't expect to find too many interesting objects to shoot, but I was wrong. In fact, I think I got carried away. I took forty four pictures total. Don't worry, I'm not posting them all here, but I did find it hard to choose which ones to leave out. I still posted quite a bit of photos though. Why don't you grab some iced tea or cold lemonade and take a walk around the neighborhood with Sasha and me. Be forewarned though, it's hot outside. I'm just now cooling down. Hope you enjoy. The first picture up above is Sasha. I started with her because, well, she was in the backyard. The picture below shows the stepping stones and rocks in my own backyard.

This is a tree in the south west corner of my backyard. My grass looks green and pretty right now.

Someone else's yard down the street.

Some wood for decoration. I thought it was quite interesting and looked very pretty.

A sitting duck.

The sign says it all.

A rock with the address........looks nice.

This is a picture of a Buddah sitting atop a rock. Do you think they practice buddism or is this just for good luck?

No yard is complete without the security protection sign, especially in Las Vegas where home invasions are quite rampant.

This is a fountain with a statue of a boy and girl angel kissing.

A bear welcoming visitors. Bear hug, anyone?

A rock path between two pine trees. You hardly ever see pine trees in Las Vegas.

Sasha pointed out this find. Yes, it's a dead pigeon. It looks like the head is gone. Cats live here, so I'm sure I know who killed the bird. Sasha wanted to get a closer look but I wouldn't let her.

A table for two shaded by the oleander tree.

A pretty white bench with a golden boy statue. I didn't even notice the boy until I uploaded the pictures. Pretty cool.

Nice steps with a cute little statue, but what's with the empty cement border? It's quite bare.

Another table for two. Quite the opposite of the one pictured above. this is black, with no shade and an ashtray on the table.

I just had to take a picture of this. I love the rustic wheels that I imagine used to carry a wagon.

A trailer in the front yard with Florida tags.

A cute little bridge over desert landscape.

Four huge wooden plant barrels.

I could not end the walk in the neighborhood without shooting a cactus. After all, this is the desert.
I have a whole new appreciation for my neighborhood. I've noticed the various landscaping and yard decorations before, but never with such closeness and with awe. This was a great assignment. I look forward to posting next Friday's shoot out. I hope you all enjoyed taking a walk in my hood.

Friday Fill-Ins

My answers are in brown.


1. Pork Chops and baked beans make a quick and easy dinner.
2. If You Want To Write, by Brenda Ueland is the book I'm reading right now.
3. July brings back memories of beach trips with dad and Donna.
4. My attraction to him was obvious.
5. They say if you tell your dreams to a journal, eventually you will see a pattern emerge.
6. It's wise to think it over.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to pizza and a movie, tomorrow my plans include Dick's wedding and Sunday, I want to relax during endermologie!

Tempted Into Nostalgia

The good ol' days ........
You know how it is when you decide to clean out your closet and you see the boxes of mementos sitting in the back corner. You’ve got them stacked neatly out of the way, knowing you have no reason to go through the box. You’re sorting through your clothes, tossing out that dress you’ve had hanging in there for ten years and all of a sudden you feel a little tug. You turn, but there’s no one there. Nope, no one at all. Just those boxes sitting over there in the dark. You do your best to resist the urge. You know that once you get started in that direction you will be lost for hours.


Ah, temptation!


Don’t give in, you tell yourself. Stay on track. You know what happens when you get lost.

You toss out a few more items for the goodwill store and then you crumble. Damn boxes. the temptation is just too good to resist. One more walk down memory lane won’t hurt, will it?


Here’s what I found tucked away in my closet today: My dad’s high school yearbook from 1958. Check out the lingo back then. I feel like I just stepped into an episode of Ozzie and Harriet. Isn’t it swell?

Apparently, "Cool Head" was a popular slang term back then.

You gotta love this guy's autograph. Short and to the point.

I found this great letter from my first love. He passed away last year, so this was a great find.

You can read his handwriting. Not bad for a guy.

The next page isn't really that clear, but he's telling me that the song, I Think I'm Turning Japanese is being played too much on the radio and he's getting burned out on it. I was grounded for some reason and so he was writing me a letter to tell me how much he loves me and he wished I would have ran away with him and got married. He was always such a romantic. Great memories. Some sad ones too.

This is a picture of me & Tim. We were 16 years old in 1980.

Here's a cool notebook that I wrote all of my poems in. Date range from 1986 to 1988. The expression on her face almost looks like a blow up doll.

This is a drawing I drew of myself, my best friend Jennifer, and my sister, Cheryl. It is really special to me because I'm not an artist, I can't draw worth a crap, and yet I produced this piece of art that actually does look like us.

Ah, to be 21 again. The bar hopping days. This is a flyer announcing an event of a reggae band we used to follow around in Bakersfield. I miss dancing my ass off.

This is an invitation to a party that a guy I dated was throwing. I wasn't able to attend because I lived two hours away.

I thought he was the coolest and cutest new wave guy I ever met.

Well, those are just a few of the items I chose to share. I have letters from friends dating back 30 years. It is amazing how much of it I still have. My husband would love to see me toss it out, but I just can't. The writings are very meaningful to me. Who knows, maybe someday someone will find all of my treasures in an old attic or basement a hundred years from now and be as excited about them as I still am.

I never did finish cleaning out the closet. Maybe tomorrow.

A Bloggin Detour......

So, I signed onto my blog hours ago, armed with lots of things to write about and now, here it is almost one o'clock in the morning. I guess you could say I got a little side tracked. It seems my new obsession entails reading all the new posts in the blogs I'm following, and then clicking on the links to the blogs that they are following and then clicking on the links that those blogs are following. It's a cycle that never ends. And I never tire of reading how other people express their thoughts. I am fascinated by it all. I am hungry for it. I want to devour all I can. I'm feeling a little guilty because I have been doing this all "friggin" day.

I should have been cleaning out my closet and getting rid of accumulated clutter. Instead, I go and create more clutter in my head. I'm addicted. I can't get enough.

If I hadn't taken my blogging detour, I wouldn't have been exposed to the cool things I read about. I got to see a family of armadillo crossing the backyard of one of the blogs I'm following. I also took a trip to West Virginia through the words of another writer. I read a cool poem that described an apple more eloquently than I could ever convey. I got a new recipe from another blog. I kayaked in Alaska and hiked beautiful trails with another blogger. The one minute writer prompted me to write about things I would put into a time capsule. I read about a closet make-over that should have been completed in three days, but now is going on four weeks. I also read an obituary for a woman named Mrs. Mildred Noland Peake.

I had so much fun reading these blogs. I am inspired. I also admire all the writers who posted their thoughts. Their creativity is amazing. I hope that some of it rubs off on me.

Maybe tomorrow I'll write about my crazy friends or my chaotic family.


Until then......................

Sweet dreams my friends. Zzzzz Zzzzz

Name Shortened.

Always changing. Write Place! Write Chick!

See previous post.

Final answer? Maybe.

Blog Trove Is Dead

I killed Blog Trove.

As some of you may know, I only recently started my blog. Ever since I named my blog, I just haven't been satisfied. Blog Trove just sounds so boring and uninviting. Yes, I went through a long process of coming up with clever analogies to name it, but still, it just wasn't me.

Blog Trove. Blah! BOR-ING.

Who would want to click on that link?

I still think all the really cool names have been created. I mean-- there are millions of blogs out there belonging to the most creative, artistic minds on the net. You have to really be a genius to come up with something catchy.

I'm still in the process of creating the perfect name for my blog.

My brilliance will eventually hatch and be born.

But until then......

I bore, The Write Place For The Write Chick.

A Hungry Mind Devours Lots of Information

The books and audiobooks I have read and listened to within the last three months.


My ratings 1 * to 5 *****

Recently completed audiobooks:

1.) The Law Of Attraction: The Science Of Attracting More of What You Want and Less of What You Don't Want by Michael Losier *****

2.) People Are Idiots And I Can Prove It: The 10 Ways You Are Sabotaging Yourself and How You Can Overcome Them by Larry Winget **** 1/2

3.) The UltraMind Solution: Fix Your Broken Brain by Healing Your Body First by Mark Hyman MD ****

4.) How Full Is Your Bucket? Positive Strategies for Work and Life by Tom Rath and Donald O. Clifton, Ph. D. *** 1/2

5.) Eat That Frog: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procarastinating and Get More Done in Less Time by Brian Tracy ****

6.) Confessions of a Serial Entrepreneur: Why I Can't Stop Starting Over by Stuart Skorman
*** 1/2

7.) Success Principals: How to Get From Where You Are To Where You Want To Be by Jack Canfield **** 1/2

Recently Completed Books:

1.) Damaged: The Heartbreaking True Story of a Forgotten Child by Cathy Glass **** 1/2

2.) Ghost Girl: The True Story of a Child in Peril and the Teacher Who Saved Her by Torey L. Hayden ****

3.) Father of the Year: Bill Rundle All American Jekyl and Hyde by Glenn Puit **** 1/2

4.) Cook Yourself Thin: A Delicious Way To Drop a Dress Size-- Skinny Meals You Can Make In Minutes ****

5.) Hungry Girl 200 under 200: 200 Recipes Under 200 Calories by Lisa Lillien ****

6.) Try Again. Fail Again. Fail Better A Silver Linings Book *****


Currently reading:

1.) If You Want To Write: A Book About Art, Independence And Spirit by Brenda Ueland

Currently Listening:

1.) Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abrahan Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Books in line to be read next: (I touch them all the time to let them know I haven't forgotten about them)

1.) No More Mondays by Dan Miller

2.) Enough Already by Peter Walsh