Joy Coloring Page

Today's Joy coloring page is an experiment. It's a fairly simple design, but I wanted to see how something like this would look in positive and negative images and to see what you would think of it. Do you like coloring pages with a lot of black in them for a darker look?

Click the images below to print and color larger versions of this coloring page!

Joy Light- Small JPG

Joy Light- Transparent PNG:

Joy Dark- small JPG:

Joy Dark- transparent PNG:

Berry Picking- Photo post

Last night, a friend called, and asked "Do you want to go pick currants tomorrow evening?"

Who could possibly turn down a chance to go berry picking with a friend? A friend of hers had invited her out to her property to pick berries. I asked TG, and she was super enthused about the idea too.

Some of these photos are a little hazy, because at some point, I smudged my camera lens and didn't notice until getting the photos off my camera. Whoops! Probably smudged it with berry juice. Click on the images for larger versions.

Cat's friend lives out in the Palmer area. About an hour from Anchorage. Since Cat got off work at 6, and Michael had to be at work at 11, that did limit our time a bit. The drive, as always, was incredible. The weather was also very cooperative. We all wore pants and long sleeves to help prevent mosquito bites.

When we got there, Cat's friend, Mary Ann was waiting with her dogs. She was a marvelous hostess, she gave us a tour of the paths around her cabin. There were currants, cranberries, watermelon berries and roses gone to rose hips. The currants and watermelon berries were ready to pick. TG and I were there for currants!

Mary Ann walked us to a spot with a log to sit on, surrounded by bushes just dripping, heavy with berries. TG had made berry buckets the night before with empty milk jugs.

We picked and picked and picked.

Michael, who had just woken up, sat on a bench and took photos, soaking in the incredible view of the river and mountains. 

One of the photos he took.

TG had lots of fun! (after the lens got smudged unfortunately)

When it started getting close to time, we walked around a bit more with Mary Ann. She and TG went up ahead, and Mary Ann was showing her berries.

She got along well with the dogs as well.

Check out this amazing view! From left to right, the silhouettes are TG, Mary Ann, and Cat.

Just for fun, this a tree out there, it's a dead tree, with a great, Halloween reaching shape. Mary Ann decided it needed a face.

Yes. It really is that pretty out there. There are also cranberries ripening, and she invited us back out. A really nice lady, a good time with a friend, and a lovely way to spend an evening!

Dreams, possibilities and birthdays

Friday was my daughter's 17th birthday. After considering her options, she decided the best way to spend it was with her family at her favorite fair after I cooked her one of her favorite meals. So we matched up our different schedules, and went to the fair. She had a blast, riding lots of rides. We have a tradition, since we usually wind up buying blocks of tickets and wind up with a few leftover. Instead of buying extra tickets for one more ride, she'll give the extra tickets to a family with small children so they can get just one more ride. Dinner was chicken and bowties alfredo with her smoothies for dessert. She makes truly awesome smoothies. Michael and I gave her a pocket watch (The Master's pocket watch from Doctor Who) and her brother gave her a Doctor Who set she didn't have (2nd Doctor) and her grandfather gave her two Pixar films she didn't yet have. While we were at the fair, we ran into one of my cousins, whose wife is pregnant with twins. She's still very early, glowing and happy about it.

Earlier today, I was looking at a photo one of my oldest and dearest friends posted on FB, it didn't show up though, and there wasn't even a red x. Just what looked like a blank white image. It was captioned "Dare to dream". Before I reloaded, I thought that was the image, that blank canvas, ready for dreams, ready for imagination. The idea tickled me greatly. It's the sort of thing she would have posted because she's a big believer in dreams and she has a quirky sense of humor.
What do you fill your blank page with? What dreams, what possibilities? Until you start filling it in, anything is possible. The possibility is just so vast and wonderful. It was a happy accident, the glitch that kept the image from showing, because until it did show, it could have been anything.
My daughter is all about those blank canvases, she makes so many things. She's willing to dare, and she's a fearless non-conformist. She's a constant inspiration and a blessing.

Joy, Family and Shasta Daisies (with a printable quote)

The small version above will be available at Don't Eat the Paste Quotes for sharing. 

Today I got the results back from my CT scan, it was clean. So whatever the issue is, it's not a tumor or an aneurysm. My husband let out a deep sigh of relief. He's been very scared and very angry the last few days while waiting to find out. Being pretty sure isn't the same thing as being certain and that uncertainty was very hard on all of us, but especially on him. There will be a lot more neurological tests over the next couple of months, but the big, scary things have been ruled out. He's finally sleeping well and soundly. My daughter, who has been jumping every time the phone rings is super happy and said "I don't need anything for my birthday, I got what I wanted." (well, she's still getting The Master's Pocket Watch as well. It's a Who thing)

PNG- click for large version:

Today's quote is from Arthur Dobrin, an ethics professor who served in the Peace Corp in Kenya during the 60s. His specialty is applied ethics with a good amount of philosophy. Check out what he wrote about empathy here. 

When you express your gratitude, you will bring joy to others' lives.When others know joy, your life will be filled with happiness.

Comments recently on various things I've posted, from a lady who uses one of my scrubbie patterns as missionary donations to the very enthusiastic response for the comic book Mod Podge bracelet and the outpouring of support during this challenging week,  I'm grateful. To all of you, my regular readers, the people who find my blog through referrals or searches. Thank you all for the continued encouragement and kindness.

Shasta daisies are the most common types of daisies up here. Instead of fields of field daisies, we have Shasta daisys every where with their spiral button centers and 21 petals each. The printable quote has 21 petals.