AJC 2011 Week 7 - Itinerary: Simply Started: I KNOW

I KNOW..(what you are thinking...)

"How could she possibly give up 25 years of Corporate Life, go live on an Island, rescue earthworms from rain puddles, wear yellow Gumbers with a skirt to go DownTown shopping and also to garden in, as well as travel with a Sassy Camel named Sophie who Insisted that I buy her 2 pairs of yellow Gumbers as well?”
Answer: Quite Easily.
Credits:
Background paper: Tangie Baxter: AJC11 Beginning Parcel 01
Photos: me in my Gumbers and Skirt taken by Mr Bear
(Nameless) Corporate Building where I served My Time (I'm actually perched on the
16th floor where I spent 10 years: Image: c/r free the net)
Sophie's yellow Gumbers: c/r free the net
Sophie’s Silhouette (now dressed by me): Tangie Baxter

AJC 2011 Adventure Quest: February: Adjectives Week 2 - G-L

or There Went Another Week That Was..in which our intrepid Heroine turned the page on yet another year and bravely faced the mirror in the morning BEFORE BEAN! (gasp)
Since she was 100 % accurate on the Week That Was and Sophie wanted to try her Spongecake with Marmalade this time, we went back to that cottage at the Edge of the Forest, to have a visit with that Wise Woman and her unique deck of cards.
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7G – I am so GRATEFUL for Mr Bear’s Crochet Skills – he made me this nifty Turtle Hat for my birthday. Of course, Sophie had to make sure it fit!

8H – I was very HAPPY for today at my local nursery, HELPFUL Cathy had discovered another HARD-TO-FIND “Diane” Witch Hazel! Sophie:”If I can’t EAT IT, what GOOD is it?”

9I – Today was an INCANDESCENT Day! Holly and John braved the INFAMOUS BC Ferries and traveled here to take me out for my Pre-Birthday Lunch.
Sophie: “OK, ..where did the Black Forest Cake you bought go?”

10J – Today I was JAZZED and JOYOUS! I got to celebrate my birthday with Mr Bear and my good friend Dayle in Victoria – always a Special Treat! Sophie: “Ooo..My Favourite – Peach and Blackberry Crumble with ice cream!

11K – KIND does not even begin to describe my good friend Ms P! She has painted and planted alongside me and today made me special Birthday cupcakes. Sophie: “Never mind the cupcakes, those Tulips look delicious.!”

12L – On a LOVELY Blustery day like today, Spring Tulips bring their LONGING for the Sun to my table. Sophie: “This is simply Not Fair – A gorgeous tulip and I can’t Eat It?”

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Credits and Kits:
Tangie Baxter Tribalations Font and Papers
Queen of Cupcakes Paper
Parcel 01 AJC 11
Photos: mine
Sophie's comments: her own (trust me)
Additional Fonts: Apple Boy BTN

AJC 2011 Adventure Quest: February: Adjectives: Week 1 - A-F

(or There Goes the Week That Was...)
Off the beaten track, In a little cottage on the edge of the Forest, lives a very Wise Woman who is Never Wrong! Her unique deck of cards tell only your Past - never your Future; hence she is always right and gifted with 20/20 hindsight.
(Sophie liked her spongecake which is why I think we went there in the first place.)

Here is my First Week laid out on top of the Wise Woman's Multi-hued quilted table cloth.
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(Since I realize that those cards are tiny: I made them ATC size: here are the words so you don't have to hunt for your specs.)
1A -AMAZING - how things work out when Acceptance is allowed to happen. (we tried to arrange to meet up with cousins - 'nuf said)
2B - BRIGHTLY glowed the candles lit at Brighid's Well Ireland (My friend Carmel and friends trudged through the Rath Lugh Forest and lit tea lights in the trees and around the well head to honour Brighid and Her Day)
3C - Today I am CREATIVE, CRABBY, CRANKY and CONFUSED photo linking SBG Threads.
4D - I am DETERMINED to conquer SBG photo linking threads. DIZZY with excitement, I think I did it!
5E - Today I feel EARTHY and EXULTANT! My seeds and beans successfully sprouted and have 'bean' green housed.
6F - My cousins and I were FESTIVE at our FLAKY Un-Birthday Party!
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Credits and Kits used:
Tangie Baxter: Parcel AJC11 Beginning, Parcel 48, Parcel 51, Tribalations elements.
Background: Quickity Split paper and border
Fonts: Tangie's Mad Hatter from Tribalations and Apple Boy BTN
Photos: mine except for Brighid's Day (Brighid's Well candle lit taken by Carmel Diviney (Ireland)

AJC 2011 Week 6 - Itinerary: Simple Starts: I Decided...to Become a Defiant Seed Saver!

I Decided ..to become a Defiant Seed Saver
(Charlene would be so proud!)

It all started innocently enough (don't they always?) with last year's Seedy Saturday at a local community hall and once inside the door..well it was a slippery slope..So many wonderful heirloom seeds to choose from and all GMO FREE. I came home with 17th Century Italian Heirloom Fava Beans, Blue Jay Snap Beans (rare Canadian variety) and a brown paper bag containing 8 Mason Bee cocoons (which promptly went into the fridge).
While wandering around from table to table, I came across Seeds of Diversity Canda and joined up. Today I have successfully put out into that tiny greenhouse (the one in the corner guarded by the broken shovel) last summer's harvest of fava beans, blue jay beans and sunflowers. The Mason bee population increased and I have close to around 30 cocoons asleep in my fridge awaiting spring bloom.
The background is today's macro shot of my blooming Diane Witch Hazel. I had purchased it last Fall immediately upon hearing that it bloomed in February (my birthday month).

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Credits:
Kits used: Tangie Baxter: AJC11 Parcel 01, Spring Field Notes Paper 3, Paper 6, Elements 3, Dictionary Cuts Parcel 06 Tape.
Font: Courier new and Candy Buzz BTN
Photos: greenhouse, witch hazel, seed packets, blue jay feather - mine.

AJC 2011 Week 6 - Itinerary: Verb : Live! She Certainly Did!

"In the End, All That Really Matters Is:
How Well did I Live?
How Well did I Love?
How Well did I Learn to Let go?
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This is my friend Charlene, Master Gardener and dear dear wise friend.
I say 'is' even though she left us last November 2010.
I still feel her around, especially when I have dirt under my fingernails from grubbing in the garden. It was through her that we were introduced to our first Apple Tasting and they were Heirloom Russets - hence the basket in the corner. When she was diagnosed Non Hodgkins Lymphoma and realizing that she had a shorter time than most, she filled that Unforgiving Minute with 60 Seconds Worth of Distance Run.
She immediatly quit the corporate world (at that time she was my manager when we both worked at BCTel)
She ran a 1/2 Marathon in Arizona,
Skydived,
Got her Batchelor of Science Degree

Went to Africa for a semester,
Taught University students (Her most memorable course? The Sex Life of A Barnacle!),
Mountain Climbed,
Skied fearlessly attacking the steepest and wildest trails,
and most precious of all, spent a day and night with us April 20-21 2010.
Her thank you gift which arrived in the mail a few days later (true to form) contained a Gardening catalogue (with 2 seed packets inserted between the pages - Love in the Mist and Night Scented Stock) and 3 large foolscap pages of her hand-written and sketched out Garden Design for our property.
We have already started putting some of her ideas into practice.
Blessings to all Gardeners out there.
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Credits:
Kits used: Background papers and elements:
Tangie Baxter: KMF, & Dictionary Cuts
Butterflies, Hydrangea: Dover Publications c/r free
Photo: Charlene and basket of apples - mine