Fourth day home

Gratitude is what a good life contains.

I'm very thankful for all the help I have had.  I don't need much help, and organizing it is taxing.

So on this the fouth day, my neighbor Jules came to help me out.

I made a grocery shopping list for her, she got the mail, and took out the trash.

With her doing those errands - I got the freezer cleaned out of food I could no long eat.

Ordered the new blender that should help making my new restricted diet easier.

What is great --- the trach remains closed.  I'll see what the doc will say at the Monday appointment.

Making only one human in-person appointment helps the energy and then phone calls are less strenuous.

One volunteer item was to post two shows for the public - felt good.

I used the tips I learned from friend Dana to make hot dogs and placed on my mashed califlower - very yummy.

To end the day --- kitchen was cleaned and I washed the kitchen floor, it looked great and I feel better.

Another day to full healing.

Extravaganza - 37th Year

Kick off the 37th Extravaganza was last night.  I have been volunteering for NCTV, Newington Community TV to host this show,  making this 
my fifth year.

It is a great event.  It began last night with helicopter rides, the carnival, ice cream sundaes tie dye tee shirts, and a great band!

We have to be thankful as the weather last night was perfect and the citizens came out for the evening's festivities.  We were able to get some video of the folks waiting for their ride on the helicopters, we saw the carnival, listen to the band, missed the ice cream, and watched the kids make their tie dyed tee shirts.

It is so much fun to interview the kids that come to visit.  They get excited that they may be on TV.  The P&R staff are thankful that we cover the event as capture the fun and stories of what makes this event so memorable.

At the end of the event, Sandy and I, got our ride in the helicopter.  The end of the day ride, in my opinion, is the best.  There it was, the sun setting on the horizon and painting the sky.  What a lovely way to end the day.  

Feeling very fortunate...

Living My 60th Year - Film Making

A couple of years ago, I began to volunteer at our local Community Access Television station.   Let me say, it is fun and sometimes frustrating.

I started out make a program, subject - lace, making it, some history, interesting tidbits and the such.  I made up a list of programs, who could I invite to be a guest on the program and such.  

On a show that is produced at the studio, Common Sense CT - I did an interview on lace.  With a bit of social media, blew it out across the globe to lacemakers everywhere.  It received the most views for a show ever.  I was laughing as the host, Gary Byron, said we couldn't talk about lace for an hour show.

Fast forward to this summer.  Sometimes, despite the 'gang', you need to take the camera by the lens and go out an film an event.  I did, my first one was a meeting and I had all sorts of difficulties.  The second one, pictured here came off pretty good.  It took so long to edit it.  Find an opening and closing, then find royalty free, fee free music for the beginning and the end.  Learn to make graphics, called the bottom thirds.  Oh did I say of course learn the editing software?  

I'm glad to say that last week, it was finally done and approved to be shown on TV (you need to live in Newington to watch on TV) and at our website where you can watch on-demand at http://www.nctv.org/specials/ .

My third had to do with the Town Hall Renovation project.  It was a hearing  to get feedback.  Let's say, the majority of the residents that spoke out, were not in favor of the plan the then current (now ousted) Town Council.

The last one I was able to do was the Kiwanis Speaker Meeting.  I was there to only watch and enjoy myself.  Low and behold the guy from the studio was nowhere to be found.  Our MC was not happy, and not having any time to get back to the studio to get a camera, I took out my phone and began filming.   I could only film about 15 minutes on my device and graciously the MC gave me his phone to continue filming another 45 minutes - all without a tripod to steady the camera.  November 30, 2015 show if you are interested.

So back to the studio and attempted to join two different videos (matching the audio), add the beginning and end, make and add the graphics and even a slide for "technical difficulties" as the speaker had begun before I could hit record button.  

This program is Scott's baby and he usually does the editing.  He's an expert when it comes to editing!  So we finished and as we sat back to send the video through encoding, he said, paraphrasing, despite using the phone to video the event, I did a pretty dang good job on editing.  He had written me a review on them with items I had to correct.  I'm going to keep them and actually write up some suggestions to "newbies" like me, to make it easier to learn the edit side.

Am I ready for Sundance or Hollywood?  Not yet, though debuting my work is pretty dang special !

PS - the lace program hasn't happened yet.  The studio has made progress in getting techy stuff in order so folks like myself can make movies!  I did make a movie on my snowflakes which you can watch here on my YouTube channel.

Here's to a year of catching the dreams you chase,

doing what makes you smile,

and loving the life you live.

Living My 60th Year - A Pot of Gold

Fun is... when you come out of a long meeting to be able to see a rainbow end on the roof of Lucy Robbins Welles Library.  The pot of gold lies within this very place here in Newington.   Somewhere in the universe, the rainbow said to me that we will be able to continue to create one of the best libraries in the area.  

I've been focusing on the library and its expansion plans.  While a trustee, I'm not on the facility committee, though I would attend the committee meeting as a 'guest' had I know when it met.  One of my pet peeves with this group is lack of communication.  

The Town Council finally got around to formally starting a building committee. The LIBRARY RENOVATIONS/ADDITION PROJECT BUILDING COMMITTEE (LRAPBC) (that's a mouthful) was formed back in April, five of seven members approved in short time, and the last two members approved at in July.  They finally had their first meeting on July 27th.  I was there and taped the meeting.  I'm planning on being their to video tape their meetings.  I did request, to the Director, after the meeting, that the LRAPBC hold their meetings in the meeting rooms that have mic's as the audio was a very, very poor quality. 

I did say I video taped the meeting!  Yeah, I signed out a camera and tripod from NCTV (our community TV station) and will start to do live shoots.  The only way to learn, in some cases, is just to get out there and do it.  It is a very boring shoot.  The room was to small, so I couldn't focus in on the individuals speaking.  I did the Library meeting on Monday night and the Parks & Rec Informational meeting on Wed night.  The P&R went better as they met in a bigger room and allow me to focus on the speakers.   

Now I need studio time to transfer the files up to the edit machine.  That took a really long time.  Note to self - need to find a better way to transfer the files.  So while I was waiting the transfer, I began to make the graphics for the bottom third.  Our expert, Scott, was there and he was able in a quick few minutes to instruct me what to do, some good points about software we use, and how to work the layers.  Great start.  Unfortunate part, I need to be at the studio to work the editing at this moment.  The studio has limited access at this time.  We shall see how that changes in the near future.  This opportunity to video is like a kid in the candy store to me.  It's only the beginning - maybe some gold dust will fall on me.

The Shelby - I've been working on this blanket for just too long.  Having had the opportunity to visit with Shelby (niece), she was able to try it on for size.  She was so excited.  Ahhh - it needed to be expanded in length.  Maybe one more row or two?  We settled on two more rows.  Over the other weekend, I had almost an entire day to work on the blanket.  

What a joy to work on this blanket especially since Shelby was here.   It's tying in so many of the rows, adding the balance of the squares and really see it take shape.  What was really nice - was working outside and having the sun as my light source.  Looking forward to getting this completed by the end of August!

These two weeks have been filling my pot of gold - helping in my community, learning a new discipline, and seeing my work appreciated.  Cha ching!

Here's to a year of catching the dreams you chase,

doing what makes you smile,

and loving the life you live.

Living My 60th Year - NCTV ...

It was Extravaganza here all week.  My volunteering surrounded the events and the station.  We, NCTV,  are awaiting a large grant to arrive any day now, once the state of CT gets going.  This organization is funded primarily with government grants.  Anyone that knows grants, let alone from the government, are at the whim of political powers to be.

The group has been anticipating this grant that would allow us to upgrade to HD production.  All the avenues that we are pushing the content to are all switching to HD.  In the business, we can not snooze!

While it is really techie, I'm learning lots about the station that I can help with.    I've had the chance to edit part of a program we filmed with adding the graphics to the "bottom third".  Watch the TV news, did you notice the bottom third the screen?  Then we gave me some 'permissions' to update the website with writing some code to link our programs to the website. That takes me back to the days I used to do some programing.  A simply misplaced comma and it won't work.  

What is amazing with this group - they are amazingly bright individuals.  Each of them with their speciality - audio, editing, filming, content, and the list goes on.  

Anyway - Extravaganza - this was my second year as the on-air talent.  Mike G was my cameraman  once again.  It is amazing how much the talent and camera guy work to get the best.  Besides interviewing people at random, we sought out certain folks that were in charge of the event, other notable individuals from the community.  

Then we separated to obtain additional footage close ups that help will help fill out and transition during the film.   Great experience for me to "see" what the camera can pick up.   He picked up footage from Wednesday night, we teamed up for Friday night footage and interviews, and then all day on Saturday doing pretty much the same.  

I'm having fun with this, even with the learning curve and learning and earning the trust of the group.  Most of the background work is helping make up processes so that we have less time in the admin side of the station and therefore having more time to work on content.  

One idea came as I interviewed various people and organizations - we need a show on the station that highlights these organizations.  So I guess I'm going to be writing up a proposal in the middle of the HD upgrade.  

Great week - lots of stimulus, other areas were equally good.  More on the minimization of 'stuff', and clearing up items.  Thanks for stopping by and see you next week!

Here's to a year of catching the dreams you chase,

doing what makes you smile,

and loving the life you live.

Living my 60th Year - little things

Little Things that give us pleasure.

Little things can give us so much satisfaction and pleasure.  I'm sure each of you have a host of items, no matter the size or frequency that really make your day.  This past week there was lots of little pleasures.

Cleaning pleasures -   First of all, the week had the big cleaning day I do once a month.  From one month to the next, my minimalist measures continue to make a difference in how my place feels around me.   A bit more accomplished, few more items disposed of by some manner, my space stays in better shape as I can keep it up to date  - everything in it's place or at least, has a place!

Teaching pleasures - My girlfriend's son, Ian, was over for a bit.  Great kid and he's learning about making choices, at ten years old.  He's getting to determine what he would want or like to do and the costs $$'s.  Beginning to get grounded in learning how his choice make consequences.  Love seeing the light go on, or  an aha look.

Working pleasures - Solid work time scheduled without any interruptions.  This is like heaven as I am so much more productive.  

Craft time pleasures - Whether it be making lace and crochet, or pinning pictures, a little bit of time everyday puts the beauty of creation higher on the conscious level.   Over the last few weeks, I've finished up a bunch of little projects.  I was able to give away a scarf I just finished to a friend of mine.  She was so excited as she is going to a patriotic event in a couple of weeks and will be wearing it.  That pleasure of making it was doubled when  I was able to give it to someone who would enjoy it.  

Garden time pleasures - Pull weeds and some more weeds and lots and lots of peas and squash!  It is so quiet at the garden, a peaceful place to get away from the rush of the day.

Volunteering pleasures - seeing work come together, working with other folks that truly share the same desires to more an organization forward.  TV gang is getting the files up that we serve to the town here.   I'm doing some website coding, kinda fun yet frustrating - a little learn as you go.  I do the simple stuff and the complicated stuff goes to the experts in the group.

What are your little things?  

Photo Courtesy of Pixabay.com

Here's to a year of catching the dreams you chase,

doing what makes you smile,

and loving the life you live.

Living My 60th Year - A Step Forward and Giving Thanks

It was a great week... some changes and some fun.

This picture - I was impressed how it came out.  The storm clouds were rushing in as it blocked out the sun.  I was driving and finally found a place I could pull over and take this picture - with my phone.  It was truly impressive how mother nature painted the sky.  The storm that came later, did just that came and went.


I had a nice surprise to attend my niece's fashion show that her class and all the classes at her high school puts on at the end of school term.  It was fun.  Very interesting how the same pattern was used by many students, yet the students chose  different fabrics and colors.  As long as she is interested in fashion and design, I'll be going to three more of these annual events!

Saturday was our Memorial Day Parade and I volunteered with the local community TV station to help video tape it.  It's an early crew call, 7 am,  to get it all set-up to begin filming at 11am.  It was a grand day, lots of folks coming out to honor those military men and women that have  given so much to our country and it's freedom.

In between all of this was the GARDEN - got to get it in.  Pam and I got the new plot - just squash - all finished!  Yeah!!   Green and yellow summer squash and some winter squashes - acorn, butternut and spaghetti.  Then we were back to the prior two plots - we are rotating the planting between the two plots.  Got about one half planted between the two.  


We are still missing a couple of solutions as to how to trellis up the peas and cucumbers and mulch to keep the weeds back.   I've done more research - should pan out this week!  Our seedlings didn't do so well, so we are out buying plants to take care of getting the garden underway.  I'm a bit disappointed, this too shall pass.  

Work was a little slow in the garden on Monday as the temperature and humidity rose.  Even with #30 sunscreen, I got really red and felt pretty sick.  Maybe I need a new tube of the stuff - ya think?

I expect to plant a little more each day for this coming week.  Pam is reworking the plan some more so that we can get them all in by the weekend - That's the plan!

Back on the home front, I've been all over the place - scattered - and not getting anything accomplished.  It's beginning to make me crazy. I finished resigning last week from the executive board of a group I was involved.  Nice to remove all the 'stuff' from my place.  Now I need to reclaim that time for me.  

I made up a list for my home....  floor by floor and space by space.  It's not a perfect plan - yet it is a plan with sufficient flexibility that should allow me to get going.   I bet there are even more items that didn't make this draft.  That is why they call them drafts!  When it is done - I expect to see the "list" empty!   I even begun a "what I have done" page in my notebook.  Helping me see progress.

Another week - it is coming together - slowly - I know, I know, it didn't happen overnight, so give me some slack!

Enjoy!  Remember to give your service people a nod of thanks!

Here's to a year of catching the dreams you chase,

doing what makes you smile,

and loving the life you live.