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10 years ago
Friday, July 31, 2009
Saturday, July 25, 2009
How To Sell A House
It strikes me as odd the concept of "staging" a house to sell it. I see real estate ads in the classified section identifying a real estate agent or broker as having taken a course in "staging" a house for sale. I read about it in magazines and I hear people tossing the term around.
So, I googled it and found an article on how to "stage" a house to sell it.
Well, I was selling houses in Ontario for several years and I can assure you that if I had made some of the suggestions from this article, I would have been turfed out the owner's front door. Getting listings to sell was extremely competitive and I am sure the vendor could have located another sales person.
I think people have forgotten - if they knew at one time - what sells houses!
People definitely buy on location. Yes, it's true about: Location, location, location!
But I can tell you from my own experiences in the Toronto and Barrie, Ontario markets - a huge market and a small market, that there are some very odd reasons you would never think of that put a person in a mood to purchase a particular house.
I love to watch the program on the Home & Gardening channel where they show three houses and then tell you which one they pick. I can guess it every time. Why?
Well, people purchase houses for some very emotional and mundane reasons. They will completely overlook something they totally dislike because something else takes their fancy.
People buy houses that are like their Grandmother's house. People buy places with flowers just like they knew when they were kids.
More than once, I have had prospective buyers comment on colors that were hideous to them and still buy the house. One gal commented on the terrible mauve bathroom (which made me feel bad because I had one just like it). Then, she and her husband gave an offer on the house. When I called to tell them their offer had been accepted, do you know what she asked me? Oh, I bet you are ahead of me on this one . . .
"What color was that main bathroom?"
You gotta love that!
Another couple I remember well complained vigorously about the vivid red basement in the split level home. Each year when I visited them in December with their new calendar, that basement was still very red!
When I was selling real estate, I took every course offered by the company I worked with and by TREB - The Toronto Real Estate Board.
The whole principle behind "closing a sale" is to listen very carefully to what your customer is saying and know when to comment and when to say nothing. So, for the red basement and the purple bathroom, if it is only mentioned once, you say nothing.
If it comes up a second time, you could respond with,
"Well, other than that purple bathroom, is the rest of the place to your liking?"
Buyers often "close" the sale themselves and the real estate agent needs to know this. He or she needs to know when to say absolutely nothing.
The worst think I can recall happening to me when showing a house where a grandson was living with the grandmother, was hearing a tiny voice from up in a tree in the backyard:
"You bought it; you got it!"
What a rotten little kid, that was. I wonder where he heard that from? Also, I wonder if the prospective owners heard it? After all, they DID buy it!
So, in selling houses, a lot of the time, it is often when you are quiet that you do your best work!
People say little things like,
"This is just like my Grandmother's."
"Is that tree on my property?"
"Oh, they must have baked a batch of cookies."
"Hmm . . . I love that depression glass on that shelf."
Actually the article I read said that books should be removed from bookcases. Hello? Our house has built-in bookcases on either side of the fireplace and I would never think of taking the books or the knickknacks off them!
Above everything, above all the little things people buy location and price. I sincerely believe that your photos on the side table will never ruin a sale.
Do you know the main selling feature that made us want the house we are in? The Jack and Jill bathroom . . . yup, two doors off the master with a full counter on each side with a full closet on each side. The garden tub is between the closets and the enclosed shower and commode (as they call it in Texas) are opposite.
We had seen the same design before but it cost less in a subdivision that I actually preferred, mostly because it was more accessible for me. (I do not like highways and loops.)
So, those are just a few random thoughts for you to use on some agent trying to clear out your house. You can see an empty house in a sub-division of new homes - so open and bare that you cannot even figure out where anything would go.
Ah, yes, I must tell you about the offer. We made our offer for one dollar over the asking price which had been reduced and was very fair.
When we took possession of our home, Hubby was looking through the kitchen drawers - like engineers do - for the booklets for the appliances, etc. and guess what he found? A looney - that's what! Yup, the seller refunded our dollar!
Note: A Canadian One Dollar Coin is called a Looney (because there is a picture of a loon on it. And just to make you really knowledgable, a two dollar Canadian coin is called a Tooney - just because.)
So, I googled it and found an article on how to "stage" a house to sell it.
Well, I was selling houses in Ontario for several years and I can assure you that if I had made some of the suggestions from this article, I would have been turfed out the owner's front door. Getting listings to sell was extremely competitive and I am sure the vendor could have located another sales person.
I think people have forgotten - if they knew at one time - what sells houses!
People definitely buy on location. Yes, it's true about: Location, location, location!
But I can tell you from my own experiences in the Toronto and Barrie, Ontario markets - a huge market and a small market, that there are some very odd reasons you would never think of that put a person in a mood to purchase a particular house.
I love to watch the program on the Home & Gardening channel where they show three houses and then tell you which one they pick. I can guess it every time. Why?
Well, people purchase houses for some very emotional and mundane reasons. They will completely overlook something they totally dislike because something else takes their fancy.
People buy houses that are like their Grandmother's house. People buy places with flowers just like they knew when they were kids.
More than once, I have had prospective buyers comment on colors that were hideous to them and still buy the house. One gal commented on the terrible mauve bathroom (which made me feel bad because I had one just like it). Then, she and her husband gave an offer on the house. When I called to tell them their offer had been accepted, do you know what she asked me? Oh, I bet you are ahead of me on this one . . .
"What color was that main bathroom?"
You gotta love that!
Another couple I remember well complained vigorously about the vivid red basement in the split level home. Each year when I visited them in December with their new calendar, that basement was still very red!
When I was selling real estate, I took every course offered by the company I worked with and by TREB - The Toronto Real Estate Board.
The whole principle behind "closing a sale" is to listen very carefully to what your customer is saying and know when to comment and when to say nothing. So, for the red basement and the purple bathroom, if it is only mentioned once, you say nothing.
If it comes up a second time, you could respond with,
"Well, other than that purple bathroom, is the rest of the place to your liking?"
Buyers often "close" the sale themselves and the real estate agent needs to know this. He or she needs to know when to say absolutely nothing.
The worst think I can recall happening to me when showing a house where a grandson was living with the grandmother, was hearing a tiny voice from up in a tree in the backyard:
"You bought it; you got it!"
What a rotten little kid, that was. I wonder where he heard that from? Also, I wonder if the prospective owners heard it? After all, they DID buy it!
So, in selling houses, a lot of the time, it is often when you are quiet that you do your best work!
People say little things like,
"This is just like my Grandmother's."
"Is that tree on my property?"
"Oh, they must have baked a batch of cookies."
"Hmm . . . I love that depression glass on that shelf."
Actually the article I read said that books should be removed from bookcases. Hello? Our house has built-in bookcases on either side of the fireplace and I would never think of taking the books or the knickknacks off them!
Above everything, above all the little things people buy location and price. I sincerely believe that your photos on the side table will never ruin a sale.
Do you know the main selling feature that made us want the house we are in? The Jack and Jill bathroom . . . yup, two doors off the master with a full counter on each side with a full closet on each side. The garden tub is between the closets and the enclosed shower and commode (as they call it in Texas) are opposite.
We had seen the same design before but it cost less in a subdivision that I actually preferred, mostly because it was more accessible for me. (I do not like highways and loops.)
So, those are just a few random thoughts for you to use on some agent trying to clear out your house. You can see an empty house in a sub-division of new homes - so open and bare that you cannot even figure out where anything would go.
Ah, yes, I must tell you about the offer. We made our offer for one dollar over the asking price which had been reduced and was very fair.
When we took possession of our home, Hubby was looking through the kitchen drawers - like engineers do - for the booklets for the appliances, etc. and guess what he found? A looney - that's what! Yup, the seller refunded our dollar!
Note: A Canadian One Dollar Coin is called a Looney (because there is a picture of a loon on it. And just to make you really knowledgable, a two dollar Canadian coin is called a Tooney - just because.)
Monday, July 20, 2009
Wearing My Astronaut Earrings Today!
It was 40 years ago today and Richard Nixon was president. The vision of President John F. Kennedy had come true: Man had landed on the moon!Today I am wearing a patriotic shirt and my astronaut earrings that I bought at NASA in Houston in the early 90s.
I remember we had just come back from Lake Muskoka in Ontario and we watched the landing on TV. I think all of us remember what we were doing when Neil Armstrong spoke those words:
"One small step for man; One giant leap for mankind!"
. . . and we have never turned back. It just seems natural to us and to younger people, it was just always factual that Captain Kirk was real!
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Away From the Economic News . . .
"No, I am not making this up!" was a standard line for Dave Barry. The renowned comedic writer wrote a column for many years in the Miami Herald. For me, one of the funniest things he ever did - and wrote about - was borrowing the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile to pick up his children at school.
So, of course, I just had to draw to your attention to a news item that yesterday the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile crashed into a house in Mount Pleasant, about 35 miles south of Milwaukee. The driver was attempting to turn in the driveway and the vehicle went forward when the driver thought it was in reverse.
No one was home; no one was injured and the Company says insurance will cover the damage. On a sad note, the report notes the driver was a woman. Uh oh!
Friday, July 17, 2009
Recession 101: How Much For Dinner?
We all know that we are living in tough financial times. We know that the National Debt is the highest ever. We try to get a grasp of what is going on without watching a news channel 24/7.There is one thing happening which needs to be noted and known by every person today.
You know from the news that financial corporations and credit card companies are being watched a little more closely than previously.
Some of them had to "borrow money from the government" or take "bailouts".
There is legislation pending which is going to make it tougher on credit card companies. To put it simply, some of these companies are trying to get their houses well in order before the mother-in-law comes for dinner.
Some companies are jumping the gun on raising interest rates for late payments - allowing no grace period at all. Some companies are arbitrarily boosting the percentage you pay.
Now, everybody knows that all Texans are wealthy, but perhaps not enough to pay $23 quadrillion dollars for a dinner at a Wolfgang Puck Restaurant. Yup! That is what a $65.00 dinner was billed on Jon Seale's credit card statement this month.
The NBC Universal article I saw spelled it out this way:
$23,148,855,308,184, 500.00
That is said: 23 quadrillion, 148 trillion, 855 billion, 308 million, 184,00 and 500 dollars.
Hello?
Machines just spit out whatever and apparently humans do not proof the results before they are sent on to customers.
This goes for increases in interest rates, refusals for credit cards, late charges, etc.
Please review every bill that comes into your home. Keep each credit card or debit card receipt. If there is something that does not seem right, do protest. Find out who is at the top of the company and write a letter to that person.
These are times to monitor everything as carefully as possible. These are not the best of times but there is hope. Yes, we are in a recession. The course RECESSION 101 teaches us this: Recessions do end!
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Thinking About Melba
One of the first people we met when we moved into the Englewood Subdivision, in November, 1997, was a lady named Melba. She was the President of the Neighborhood Association and there was a meeting at her home to organize the display of Christmas decorations.
In Melba's home was a big central area where you could accommodate lots of people. I soon learned how much she enjoyed being President.
We quickly learned that Englewood was known for its Christmas light display. Most people turned their lights on the first Saturday in December and they went off the day after Christmas.
(In Toronto, I used to drive to neighborhoods known for their displays, now I was living in one! Most people installed lights down their paths and across the curbs. At night, it truly was a "sea of lights".)
Melba and her husband Don, had a large carousel on their corner lot, but the real feature was the giant picture window with dolls. There were dolls of every type and size and they were dressed in elegant Christmas finery.
Great numbers of cars filled with families would slowly drive through the neighborhood with more and more cars as it came real close to Christmas.
At Melba's house, there would be a logjam of cars as people stopped to really get a good look at the dolls.
One of the more interesting parts of the Christmas season - for which Hubby and I volunteered - was the Englewood Patrol. This was a patrol of the neighborhood from 10:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. and two cars would cruise the neighborhood ensuring all was safe and no damage done. Melba staffed the base with her home CB and each of us had a CB to talk back and forth to let her know how things were going. We put magnetic signs on each side of the car, "ENGLEWOOD PATROL". Usually, Melba would suggest we pack it in about midnight.
I would take leftover Halloween candy and chips for us to munch on and it was a real fun experience for us, We pretty much memorized not only the displays but the streets.
During the year, Melba would organize events and I served on the executive for one year. Melba truly enjoyed her home and her neighborhood.
Melba's hubby made their corner lot spectacular all year round and it was always pretty to drive past. Melba used to walk through the neighborhood with her dogs and I believe that lady knew every inch of Englewood.
(Englewood was developed by the Bryan Family about 45 years ago and when we moved in, many owners were original. We live in a house built by Michael Bryan in 1995 in what is called the "New Addition". Mr. Bryan Senior, told us of the area before he delveloped it. There was a small lake and a little store and it sure sounded a lot like the Simcoe area in Ontario. I like the area because it is very accessible and inside the Loop. I can easily get everywhere I want to go.)
Melba has been missing from sight for some time now while she battled disease, including cancer.
On Independence Day, Melba died. Today at two we will celebrate the lady who truly loved her home, her dogs, her neighborhood.
Good-bye, gentle friend! Thank you so much for the fond memories!
In Melba's home was a big central area where you could accommodate lots of people. I soon learned how much she enjoyed being President.
We quickly learned that Englewood was known for its Christmas light display. Most people turned their lights on the first Saturday in December and they went off the day after Christmas.
(In Toronto, I used to drive to neighborhoods known for their displays, now I was living in one! Most people installed lights down their paths and across the curbs. At night, it truly was a "sea of lights".)
Melba and her husband Don, had a large carousel on their corner lot, but the real feature was the giant picture window with dolls. There were dolls of every type and size and they were dressed in elegant Christmas finery.
Great numbers of cars filled with families would slowly drive through the neighborhood with more and more cars as it came real close to Christmas.
At Melba's house, there would be a logjam of cars as people stopped to really get a good look at the dolls.
One of the more interesting parts of the Christmas season - for which Hubby and I volunteered - was the Englewood Patrol. This was a patrol of the neighborhood from 10:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. and two cars would cruise the neighborhood ensuring all was safe and no damage done. Melba staffed the base with her home CB and each of us had a CB to talk back and forth to let her know how things were going. We put magnetic signs on each side of the car, "ENGLEWOOD PATROL". Usually, Melba would suggest we pack it in about midnight.
I would take leftover Halloween candy and chips for us to munch on and it was a real fun experience for us, We pretty much memorized not only the displays but the streets.
During the year, Melba would organize events and I served on the executive for one year. Melba truly enjoyed her home and her neighborhood.
Melba's hubby made their corner lot spectacular all year round and it was always pretty to drive past. Melba used to walk through the neighborhood with her dogs and I believe that lady knew every inch of Englewood.
(Englewood was developed by the Bryan Family about 45 years ago and when we moved in, many owners were original. We live in a house built by Michael Bryan in 1995 in what is called the "New Addition". Mr. Bryan Senior, told us of the area before he delveloped it. There was a small lake and a little store and it sure sounded a lot like the Simcoe area in Ontario. I like the area because it is very accessible and inside the Loop. I can easily get everywhere I want to go.)
Melba has been missing from sight for some time now while she battled disease, including cancer.
On Independence Day, Melba died. Today at two we will celebrate the lady who truly loved her home, her dogs, her neighborhood.
Good-bye, gentle friend! Thank you so much for the fond memories!
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Buy It And You Will Learn To Use It!
I finally got a digital camera for my birthday. Actually, I picked it out myself in Ontario at a Wal-Mart. This camera is already saving me money because I have been using one time use digital cameras I was purchasing from a drug store chain. (I would take them back and they would make me a disk to put into my computer along with a set of prints.)
Of course, I had absolutely no clue about operating the new camera. It came with a lot of instructions, gizmos and gadgets.
Hubby (The Engineer) says I learn how to do something by doing it. I have no idea if he meant that to be good or bad. Generally he makes pretty nice comments about me so I have to take it as simply factual: I learn by doing.
We all remember how many times we have learned by doing something wrong. I don't think that is what he meant. No, not at all. I think he just simply sees me sit down, fiddle with something and keep at it until I get it going.
My grandmother used to say I had a lot of patience, and I guess either that is true or I am just plain foolish.
Well, anyway, I am still learning how to take pictures and then link the camera to my computer and upload them. I have a nice program called Picasa3 and my pictures actually end up in that program and I can edit them quite nicely, thank you. I'm certain you recognized one of my favorite subjects up there, Buddy the Lhasa.
I don't really have a strong point to make to my readers today other than if you want to do something, like use a real digital camera, do so. Buy it and you will learn it!
That might be a useful message in a time when there are a lot of new devices and gadgets - all that take time to learn, unless you are a teenager!
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Michael Jackson 1958 - 2009
This is a nice photo I found of Brooke Shields with Michael Jackson, quite a few years ago. Brooke was one of many who spoke or entertained today at the Memorial Service for Michael at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. It ran for over two and a half hours.I am not sure what we were expecting, but what we watched today - and it was on all the major television networks without commercial interruption - was very fine indeed. A fine tribute.
We, at a distance, will never know the torment of this person or others who have been pushed into the limelight by parents and promoters. Rest in Peace.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Happy 100th Birthday, Mabel Miller!
Today, Mabel Miller is 100 years old. That seems like a landmark - and it is - but it would be nice if everyone who reaches the century mark could still be well, healthy and alert. None of us wants to be otherwise.
Mable's daughter and son-in-law are Nina & Will Stambaugh. The picture above is from my Citizenship Party five years ago when Mabel was still enjoying life. She often came to Angel of Joy and is just one of the sweetest ladies we have had the privilege to know!
If you look carefully in the background you can see my good friends, Jo White and Bonnie Larson, part of the Team who made that party such a success!
Mable's daughter and son-in-law are Nina & Will Stambaugh. The picture above is from my Citizenship Party five years ago when Mabel was still enjoying life. She often came to Angel of Joy and is just one of the sweetest ladies we have had the privilege to know!
If you look carefully in the background you can see my good friends, Jo White and Bonnie Larson, part of the Team who made that party such a success!
Sunday, July 5, 2009
One Fine Show for July 4th - Clay Walker and Houston: You Did Yourselves Proud!
Last night at Eleanor Tinsley Park in Houston, Freedom Over Texas was celebrated with country singer Clay Walker. You probably know the temperatures down here are very high 90s and early 100s F., and yesterday - July 4th - was no exception!We watched (on TV) as Clay Walker gave an standing outdoor audience of about 100,000 the show of a lifetime.
There was a tribute to NASA who will celebrate July 20, 1965 - 40 years since Alan Shepherd landed on the moon. Do you recall where you were when you heard those words:
"One Small step for man . . . One giant leap for mankind", voiced by Astronaut Alan Shepherd"? Can it really be 40 years ago?
There was a magnificent fireworks display to music - Big like Texas!
No tax dollars paid for this concert which was underwritten by Shell Windenergy.
Clay Walker just sang and sang - with most of the audience singing along with him - until his shirt was soaked with perspiration and his hair soaking wet.
As an aside, Clay Walker is a Texan himself and his Galveston home was damaged during Hurricane Ike. He is currently living in the Nashville area.
Thanks for some truly fine entertainment!
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Happy Independence Day!
This is a photo of me at my Citizenship Party (at Angel of Joy Lutheran Church) back in October, 2003. I had fulfilled all the requirements to be an American Citizen and had passed the test with 100%. (I was actually sworn in at the beginning of 2004. The procedure was lots of work and we were happy to conclude it. (The great hat was a gift from my friend, Bonnie!)
As I look back on that party now, I think we probably could have made the party even more special if we had realized that Judge Barry Bryan was in attendance and he could have sworn me in.
It was a really super party with about half of the Lufkin Community Band (where Hubby plays clarinet). The played lots of patriotic music and many of their spouses attended as well.
About 150 people came and went that night and parties don't get much better!
God Bless all those American Men and Women who are away from home today serving us around the world to keep our country free. Freedom comes at a price and God Bless all those families who have lost a loved one in this Service.
Hope you have a wonderful celebration and get to hear lots of great patriotic music today.
In our area, we also have Attorney Mike Love & Associates along with Brookshire Brothers providing a mammoth fireworks display at the Ellen Trout Zoo in Lufkin. Thanks for supporting our community, Mike!
God Bless America!
As I look back on that party now, I think we probably could have made the party even more special if we had realized that Judge Barry Bryan was in attendance and he could have sworn me in.
It was a really super party with about half of the Lufkin Community Band (where Hubby plays clarinet). The played lots of patriotic music and many of their spouses attended as well.
About 150 people came and went that night and parties don't get much better!
God Bless all those American Men and Women who are away from home today serving us around the world to keep our country free. Freedom comes at a price and God Bless all those families who have lost a loved one in this Service.
Hope you have a wonderful celebration and get to hear lots of great patriotic music today.
In our area, we also have Attorney Mike Love & Associates along with Brookshire Brothers providing a mammoth fireworks display at the Ellen Trout Zoo in Lufkin. Thanks for supporting our community, Mike!
God Bless America!
Friday, July 3, 2009
What I Write About and Why
There is a blog about The Hardest Part Of Having A Dog which has been getting very kind remarks. Don't forget that you can also send a Comment that can be posted at the actual blog. (In the right sidebar are instructions for leaving a comment.)
There is also a link to my blog about dogs in the right column on this page.
If you would like to read about the Hardest Part . . . , you can also cut and paste or type in this link:
http://fido-and-fifi.blogspot.com
Thank you to those who have taken the time to comment on this article which came straight from my heart and experiences with my own dogs.
I learned a long time ago that a writer needs to be able to write what he knows. I am blessed because I am able to write different types of writing from technical to general business to public relations to news accounts and personal experiences.
I have never had a lot of success with fiction: it is not interesting to me to make up something when I find life itself so full of wonderful events and emotions of all kinds!
Comedy writing is the hardest for me to do with good results and I have never figured I could work for Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien or David Letterman.
Did you know that Conan O'Brien was a comedy writer for The Simpsons, earning something like $30,000 a year when NBC picked him to fill David Letterman's time slot following Jay Leno's Tonight Show? Now, Conan is himself doing the Tonight Show, the longest running late night talk program! This program goes back to the original Steve Allen version, followed by Jack Paar, Johnny Carson and Jay Leno. True, guests have also contributed to the longevity of The Tonight Show, but the hosts have had to do a monologue every night at the top of the program. The monologue has to be topical and current and within the confines of what the Legal Staff can defend. It is no mean feat for each of these comedic personalities to interview literally thousands of guests, some of whom came to the studio in less than best form.
No, I never felt I could write comedy and have always admired those who could. I think it is good to know what you cannot do well!
When I was a child, I used to go off to the recreation room in the basement of our family home in Toronto and write. So, you could say I have always written. I love writing!
If you read Leon Hale . . . and there is a link to Leon's blogs in the right column here . . . you will know that he just loves to write as well. Now, Leon Hale has written for The Houston Chronicle for a long, long time and another publication before that. He . . . or so he makes it seem . . . just rocks on his front porch out in the country, with his laptop, and spins his column or blog as we call it today. I really admire him and know I could never attain the readership this man has.
I hope you will forgive me for writing on such a sad topic as the short lives of our dogs, but I knew it would be something many, many people could relate to and you are commenting to that effect.
(Note: Yes, that is "Buddy" the Lhasa in the picture taken by my dear friend, Nina, when he first came home to us, a rather shy and nervous fellow at ten months. There are plenty of photos posted of him now so you know he quickly adapted to our household which he now runs and I guess it would be fair to say some of his photos present him as a bit cocky, shall we say?)
There is also a link to my blog about dogs in the right column on this page.
If you would like to read about the Hardest Part . . . , you can also cut and paste or type in this link:
http://fido-and-fifi.blogspot.com
Thank you to those who have taken the time to comment on this article which came straight from my heart and experiences with my own dogs.
I learned a long time ago that a writer needs to be able to write what he knows. I am blessed because I am able to write different types of writing from technical to general business to public relations to news accounts and personal experiences.
I have never had a lot of success with fiction: it is not interesting to me to make up something when I find life itself so full of wonderful events and emotions of all kinds!
Comedy writing is the hardest for me to do with good results and I have never figured I could work for Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien or David Letterman.
Did you know that Conan O'Brien was a comedy writer for The Simpsons, earning something like $30,000 a year when NBC picked him to fill David Letterman's time slot following Jay Leno's Tonight Show? Now, Conan is himself doing the Tonight Show, the longest running late night talk program! This program goes back to the original Steve Allen version, followed by Jack Paar, Johnny Carson and Jay Leno. True, guests have also contributed to the longevity of The Tonight Show, but the hosts have had to do a monologue every night at the top of the program. The monologue has to be topical and current and within the confines of what the Legal Staff can defend. It is no mean feat for each of these comedic personalities to interview literally thousands of guests, some of whom came to the studio in less than best form.
No, I never felt I could write comedy and have always admired those who could. I think it is good to know what you cannot do well!
When I was a child, I used to go off to the recreation room in the basement of our family home in Toronto and write. So, you could say I have always written. I love writing!
If you read Leon Hale . . . and there is a link to Leon's blogs in the right column here . . . you will know that he just loves to write as well. Now, Leon Hale has written for The Houston Chronicle for a long, long time and another publication before that. He . . . or so he makes it seem . . . just rocks on his front porch out in the country, with his laptop, and spins his column or blog as we call it today. I really admire him and know I could never attain the readership this man has.
I hope you will forgive me for writing on such a sad topic as the short lives of our dogs, but I knew it would be something many, many people could relate to and you are commenting to that effect.
(Note: Yes, that is "Buddy" the Lhasa in the picture taken by my dear friend, Nina, when he first came home to us, a rather shy and nervous fellow at ten months. There are plenty of photos posted of him now so you know he quickly adapted to our household which he now runs and I guess it would be fair to say some of his photos present him as a bit cocky, shall we say?)
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Precious Little Girl Pondering A Cookie!
Imagine how nifty it will be to take pictures in Iowa of granddaughter Keri's wedding in six weeks? (Of course, I won't know till I get home if I did okay or not, will I?)
Do you recall your first camera? When I was about seven, my aunt and uncle gave me a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye, also for my birthday.
My parents took me to Niagara Falls for a visit and that is where I got to use my camera for the first time. I have already scrapbooked some of those photos. First, they are black and white. Second they are really small and lastly, that is IT. No I do not mean "IT" as in "Information Technology", I mean, that is all there is. (No cropping, no sizing, no lightening it up.)
One of the pictures from Niagara is of my Dad on a huge dock. Man, oh man, is he frowning! Well, I guess he had stood there quite a while as I fiddled with how to actually press the button and click the shutter as they used to say. What is outstanding about that photo is its clarity! Guess he was not expecting me to do so well!
Well, this photo of Precious Ava is not my best photo of her, but it sure does illustrate that you can get some lovely clear shots without the other person even blinking! She was not interrupted at all!
Some of the first photos I took are really nice of her mother and Ava and there is no red eye, no blur, no bad anything. WOW!
Now, Hubby thought I would be a long time learning the camera which was a bit discouraging. I told him of the experience of the really crisp photos with my first camera and tried hard to bolster my own confidence. Once Hubby set up the software on my computer, and I fiddled a little while with it, I had everything from the camera onto the computer. A major plus is that the pictures go into my beloved Picasa3 program.
Thank you, CVS Drug Store for discontinuing your one-time use digital camera. That pretty much forced me to buy a real digital camera. Now I will have more photos than I can ever crop, won't I?
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