The Hubby and I were in Palm Desert last week to celebrate my birthday and to use up a Marriott Club vacation week. not in that order
We were able to see the lunar eclipse and even though we hadn't made a box for viewing it, my smart Hubby knew just what to do.
Apparently when he was a boy, he had a father that knew just what to do when you wanted to view to sun as the moon was moving through it. Grandpa Hodgman, as I knew him, was a practical and smart man who was always up on the latest news and events. So … he made a cool box that you could look into and see the reflection of the sun against a white piece of paper that was strategically placed.
This time we had no box. The Hubby just devised another method and put a pinhole in a piece of paper that reflected through to another piece of paper with the image of the eclipse.
Look at this tiny reflection.
Now the moon is moving through to the other side of the sun.
I took this with my iPhone and somehow got a reflection in the lower 1/3 of the picture of the eclipse.
How did that happen??? Very cool!!!
This is from Stephanie's IPhone. She had driven to Moab, Utah to view it with some friends. They were at Arches National Park and got special glasses from the ranger for viewing.
What a beautiful world.
Monday, May 28, 2012
Lunar Eclipse
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activities,
husband,
Life,
photography,
travel
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Monthly Progress Update
There are hundreds of pictures to choose from, and I did want to show the major work and so I FILLED this post with picture after picture for my own documentation. Sorry - you don't have to go all the way through it, you can stop now if this bores you.
This last month was huge in the advancement of our back yard project.The concrete guys were on top of their game as they poured the rough in for the main patio.
This one pour involved 4 sets of stairs,
the lower patio just outside of the main part of the house,
(this is the very definition of playing in the mud)
and the upper patio outside of the cabana house and in front of the shallow end of our pool.
A few days later was the install of the steel roof for the main arbor on the upper patio.In came the crane,
and it lifted the beams up one by one.
All the way over the house to the back yard.
Placed on top of the four posts that had already been bolted, welded, and cemented in place.
We even invited the blimp for our big day.
The "bends" were placed on one by one,
All the while the pool guys were shoring up the top of the pool for a nice even edge for the coping as well as the tiles.
Nice stairs and landing at the top for entrance into the cabana.
Our pool man and The Hubby talking about all the details of the skimmers and bobbers.You can see the welder in the background.
All done with the steel install.
Meanwhile, the masons are starting to border the patio with the "Frontier Tan" rock. There is the drain out 12 inches from the edge of the wall.
The "Amoras" rock is the wall rock and it is more colorful and randomly shaped.
While the Frontier Tan is a rectangular and square pattern.
If you notice the pile of soil to the right of this next picture, it shows that the 2 huge trees roots are still not covered up. I started bugging the contractor and finally got the workers to put the back of wall drainage in so that we could get those roots covered back up. I want my trees to remain healthy. They seem fine and all leafed out, but I was just a little worried about stressing them out too much.
Beautiful!!!! Taking shape, eh?I told you there were a lot of pictures.
Planter outside of garage.
Vents for the crawl space airflow.
The mason cut the rock down 1/8 inch all the way around to accommodate each of the 7 vents that go against the house. Very precise and good job.
Now the concrete guys are setting the coping trim all the way around the pool. We had chosen a brownish concrete, but after the mock up was done, we changed to a little more olive toned concrete. It matches the stone better and we are probably going to have it sandblasted after it is poured.
This is where the basketball standard is going to go. The pipes just slip into these sleeves that are set down into the concrete.
And finally the last fire feature to pour a footing for.
This next month is going to see all the concrete finished, the mason work will also make most of its progress, the pool should get nearly finished and the ceiling/ wood posts done. Hopefully the dirtscapes will also begin taking shape with the irrigation, potting soil, etc.
Friday, May 4, 2012
Bridal Shower
My bowling partners daughter is getting married and my friend Carolyn suggested we throw her a shower. We opted to have it at my house and so I, of course, did the decorations and invitations.
The bride has chosen blue and peach for her wedding colors, so I took the peach and used the analogous colors toward yellow to create a comfortable matched combination.
The yellow paper clip has the couples registry information and the hostesses of the party clipped to the main invite. I added some colorful ribbon and string to the top of the clip.
Even the stamps matched the envelopes. Awesome postal service we had.
I finished the card with a little flower to close up the insert. Then into the envelope goes the invite.
I made a bunch of paper medallions and borrowed a few from Jamie at church, for the decorations.
Put some at the entry door.
Made a funky chalkboard and placed some medallions on it. I used old wood pallets and plywood for the chalkboard. Just painted it with black chalkboard paint in 2 coats.
Entryway in its fullness.
Carolyn made some Canapé's and cute chicken stuffed shells, Barb made cheese and grapes, I made Rosemary Caprese Skewers, Sarah put together some yummy cakes and munchies to go round the room.
The dessert table was in the dining room and I just hung the paper fan medallions from the chandelier. Whatever works, eh?
I made some Macaron Cookies. I'm getting better at them, and these had peach jam in marscapone cheese for the filling.
Also these Orange Meringue Cookies that were pretty easy to make, but one batch of them was a bit sticky the day of the shower, so I stuck them back into the oven on low heat and they crisped right up.
They were so pretty I took a picture and sent it to the other ladies helping with the shower.
A lot of work but it did turn out nice.
Part of the group.
And of course the bride,
who was joined by the groom during the final moments of the shower.
Nice kids. Best wishes to them.
The bride has chosen blue and peach for her wedding colors, so I took the peach and used the analogous colors toward yellow to create a comfortable matched combination.
The yellow paper clip has the couples registry information and the hostesses of the party clipped to the main invite. I added some colorful ribbon and string to the top of the clip.
Even the stamps matched the envelopes. Awesome postal service we had.
I finished the card with a little flower to close up the insert. Then into the envelope goes the invite.
I made a bunch of paper medallions and borrowed a few from Jamie at church, for the decorations.
Put some at the entry door.
Made a funky chalkboard and placed some medallions on it. I used old wood pallets and plywood for the chalkboard. Just painted it with black chalkboard paint in 2 coats.
The dessert table was in the dining room and I just hung the paper fan medallions from the chandelier. Whatever works, eh?
I made some Macaron Cookies. I'm getting better at them, and these had peach jam in marscapone cheese for the filling.
Also these Orange Meringue Cookies that were pretty easy to make, but one batch of them was a bit sticky the day of the shower, so I stuck them back into the oven on low heat and they crisped right up.
They were so pretty I took a picture and sent it to the other ladies helping with the shower.
A lot of work but it did turn out nice.
Part of the group.
And of course the bride,
who was joined by the groom during the final moments of the shower.
Nice kids. Best wishes to them.
Labels:
activities,
cooking,
decorating,
papercraft,
Times
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