Today is Friend’s Day

…or so says Facebook. There is always some sort of DAY, but this is one that Facebook can latch on to since most of us on Facebook post enormous numbers of photos that show us with our friends. Facebook just collects a bunch of those photos and makes a video. It’s fun to see your own and your friends’. Here is mine.

A former student lamented that she did not have enough content on her Facebook page to make a video yet she has been on the site for five years. She is a self-proclaimed introvert who rarely posts any photos so I could understand the lack of material with which to work. When I pointed out to her that she needed to post more pictures of her friends, she replied that she has let her friendships slide.

As I tell everyone, you are never too old to make new friends. It’s important to stay in touch with old friends, but many of them do float away. A woman whom I considered my best friend just a few years ago has done that. No matter how I tried to stay in contact, she has drifted away. Our monthly contacts have become yearly. It makes me sad, but it is the way the world works. So, keep making new friends.

To make new friends, one must be engaged in the world. There must be a connection. Funny thing about social media, people complain about it yet it’s a good way to make connections and stay connected to people we might not otherwise see. Like that old friend of mine. We could be more connected if she would join Facebook, but she refuses to do so. My blog friends know more about my life than she does.

Back to my former student, I advised her to make new friends. She’s going to college and has small children so there should be a few places to meet new friends who have similar interests. My daughter has made new friends through her children’s schools.

There is also the old adage, to have a friend, you must be a friend. Show yourself friendly to others.

 

Fabulous example of aging

Humans of New York is a favorite of mine. I love all the people this young man photographs on the streets of New York City for this terrific site. I follow the Facebook page so I get my daily fix along with my friend’s news and trivia.

One of today’s pictures is this lady who tells us she didn’t get married until she was 50 years old. I love her style:

Makes me think I need new glasses.

 

 

 

 

 

It’s not mine to give

If you are like me, you have come to think of these blogs we write and read like a back fence, an office break room, a neighborhood coffee klatch, but they are not. We are not all sitting, or standing, around, seeing each other face to face. These posts go all over the world, and unless we take down the post or the whole blog, they are here for anyone and everyone to see, forever. Speak and your words disappear into the air; write a blog and your words can be retrieved. I am well aware that I cannot say just anything like I would if you, dear Reader, were sitting here beside me, in my office today, as I write. I cannot give you the recipe, or write down the quote, or tell you the story I just made, read, or heard from some other source. That’s called PLAGIARISM.

Last week, and again this week, I wrote posts about cookie recipes I am trying. Someone asked me to share, and since the recipes aren’t mine, I contacted CRISCO for permission to print, in my blog, the recipe for brown sugar cookies. This morning I received their answer-NO. They cannot allow me to use what they have copyrighted. I understand. It’s not like I’m passing on a recipe across the table to my friend or coworker. Instead, I would be publishing it.

So, as you, dear Reader, travel around Blogland, be aware of constraints put on the published, printed word. I sometimes wonder about those recipes that people share, as if we were talking over the back fence. If the recipe is your own creation, and you are willing to share with the world, go ahead, but if you got the recipe from another source, you need to seek permission to print it. And be prepared; the owner of the recipe, story, photo, etc., may say NO.

 

That George Orwell quote again

“At age 50, everyone has the face he deserves.” George Orwell

I posted a photo of Terry and me, way past 50, the other day. I kept thinking about what I looked like at 50 so went hunting for a photo. Fifty one was the best I could do.

This was taken at the beginning to the school year, after a summer’s rest, by our school photographer, a professional who really knows how to take good photos.

Backyard “painting”

This is the time of the year that I love to be in my backyard.  Here is a photo I took awhile back:

And this is how I redid it in PhotoShop:

Being artistic

Last fall I showed you a photo I had PhotoShopped so as to make it a more attractive picture to give to a friend.  Today I took a recent photo of the Bay Bridge and just played in PhotoShop.

This was what I started with:

And this is what I made:

I may just have the time to play with this program this summer since I don’t have to be prepping to return to school.

What a great photo op

The freshmen academy put on a little end of the year celebration yesterday afternoon.  As I was walking across the lawn, heading to the parking lot, weighed down with my three black bags–computer, book, and purse–I saw the freshmen teachers scooping ice cream for a line of kids who were listening to a DJ while awaiting their treat.  My immediate thought was, “what a great photo op.”

Last year I would have stopped immediately, dropped all the bags, dug out the camera I carry at all times, and started shooting.  Photos, that is, for next year’s yearbook.  Gotta cover end of the year activities at the start of the book because it is a YEAR book and we finish the previous year’s book in MARCH.  I’m always on the lookout for photos to go in at the beginning of the book that have nonseniors in them.  This freshmen activity would be perfect.

But, wait, I’m done with yearbook.  We aren’t even too sure who will be doing the yearbook next year.  It will not be my responsibility and just because I like this photo op doesn’t mean the next adviser will.  So, I keep walking towards the parking lot, without looking back.

I did the driving, Terry did the shooting

No, dear Reader, I have not joined one of the many gangs in Fresno and become a gun moll.

Last Saturday Terry volunteered as a photographer for Rebuilding Together, San Francisco, and was assigned three locations at which to shoot photos.  He knew he wanted to get in-progress pictures as well as the finished project so he would be making a series of visits.  Parking, in San Francisco, is at a premium.  That is nicely saying, there ain’t any.  So it was decided, I would drive by, drop Terry, park somewhere and wait for him to call me to drive back by to make the trek to the next site.  I got pretty good at maneuvering through those narrow streets, up and down hills.

I had to amuse myself during the waiting periods so I took my own photos and I did a lot of Facebook updates.  Thought I would share a few of the photos with you, dear Reader.  San Francisco is such an amazing place.  These photos, except the last ones, are in an area called Silver Terrace, which butts up to Bayview/Hunters Point.

These houses are down the hill from Thurgood Marshall High School.  Here is the back of the school which overlooks downtown and the bay:

That grass is astroturf, by the way.  Holds up well to high school feet trampling it all day.

There is also a great overlook from the school.  I just know these kids don’t appreciate the views they have at this school.

My Subaru Forester handled the steep hills and narrow roads very well.  However, I kept wishing I had a smart car to fit in tight places.

This steep street made me nervous. After I had parked I noticed all these little old ladies walking up and down the sidewalks.  Must be the best exercise around.

And this was the view from our apartment window that greeted us when we finally returned.

Terry noticed a wedding party down on the grassy area so ran down and shot a few more photos.  This last one is his.

I have since realized that this is my 500th post.  Just want to put a celebratory note on this piece.

Playing with PhotoShop

I am not a PhotoShop pro even though I attempt to teach it.  Layers and masks were my lessons this month.  After finding an old photo that I had wanted to give a friend, I realized I needed to put some of my PhotoShop skills to use to make it a better photo.

Before PhotoShop

After

This blog post will be boring, written on a PC

All of my photos are on my MAC (which is still in the Apple hospital), and I have no idea how to download photos on this, my husband’s desktop PC.  Oh, as a multimedia and yearbook teacher I’m sure I could figure it out if I wanted to, but I don’t.  It will be 107 degrees here today and I am saving all my energies (physical and mental) to just do the basic chores.  So, dear Reader, you don’t get a photo of my darling granddaughter today.  And I have a really cute one, too.

I will be seeing my darling granddaughter every day next week as I will be working at my daughter’s church, helping with Vacation Bible School.  Although she is only two months old, Leeya is brilliant, and I want to start reading to her.  I went this morning to one of my favorite places, Barnes & Noble, (they don’t pay me to say that, but I wish they would) and bought three books for her.  Two are cloth books, very soft, and the third is a softcover paper book that she will probably rip to pieces when she’s about nine months old.  Or chew to pieces.  All three have rabbits in them.  Seems like a theme I have going there.

I found a book on my shelf this morning that tells stories about familes, with the most wonderful pictures (gosh, I wish I could take a picture and show you) and it’s in English and Spanish.  Leeya’s parents speak Spanish and I hope they are going to teach her to be bilingual.  I’m going to read the Spanish parts to her.  By the end of next week, the child should be ready for school.