good and bad and everything in between

Last week kicked my butt. Not to rehash it...cuz I'd really like to just
forget it and move on, but...suffice it to say...car towed - $800 to get it
back, two funerals, and an unexpected road trip. On the bright side, I saw an
old dear friend for the first time in many years and he looks much happier than
he's been in a long time, I got to spend a little unexpected time with my
daughter, and a new event at the school where I work was a smashing success. So
- the good equaled the bad, I'd say, but overall it was exhausting. And what I
wish for this week is Nothing Out of The Ordinary! Just to get back to work,
catch up on some sleep, do some fun things.

Tonight when I walked the dog I grabbed the camera and the 50mm lens even
though it was dark out...so this is just A Walk Around My Block in the Dark.


































home again. home again.

this week's goodies...and a sale!

We've got some really cute things at auction this week in the shop...and, to celebrate Cyber-Monday, all Fixed Price items are 25% off through Dec 1 (can you believe it's December already??)

































Visit The Dragonfly Shop to see all these items and more!

what I'm most thankful for...

Not a very glamorous photo for the day, but...my daughter is with me for the holiday, and last night, after doing some baking (two batches of chocolate-chip banana bread, one of which I'm going to turn into banana bread pudding with a vanilla creme anglaise, a la Pioneer Woman (ish) for dessert tonight), we were watching a movie...at one point I got up to check how the banana bread was doing, and as I returned, I saw this sight. And I realized that everything I love the most, all the things I am most thankful for, were right there in front of me.

So, a quick post today just to say Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends, family, followers, fellow bloggers, fellow photographers, and even just nice folks whose paths might cross mine...I wish you all a peaceful day filled with the joy of loved ones and pleasing comforts.

xoxo
Bettye

books are our friends...

(all photos by me)

I love books. Have always loved books. Over the years had amassed a collection of literally thousands of books. At my house, they were everywhere - bookshelves, stairs, chairs, floor, everywhere. When I moved, I had to get rid of a lot of books. A LOT of books. A lot. It was sad. They were my friends. At any time I could go...there's a picture...of an aqua slat-back chair in a garden...and I knew just where the book was that had that picture...or that recipe...or that quote.

A few years back I was inspired (by some blog photo, I'm sure!) to sort my books on shelves by color. People thought it was crazy, how would I ever find anything. But I'm a very visual person, and very quickly I knew books by spine color as well as by title, author, or subject, and had no problem finding anything.

It was a little disconcerting to move to this apartment and set up my new lovely bookshelves...and find that the books I had kept in the move just BARELY filled the shelves. My apartment feels a little...vacant...with so few books.

I'm slowly restocking. And each new book is like a new friend - telling new stories, taking me to new places, teaching me new things, inspiring me in new ways.

So imagine my pleasure in learning of this amazing giveaway by Chronicle Books - list up to $500 worth of Chronicle books you'd like to win...and you're entered to win them! AND, if you're a reader of Dragonfly and comment on this post, you can win, too!



Here's my list of Chronicle books I'd love to win - a mix of photography, decorating, cooking, and fiction:

• Mick Rock Exposed: The Faces of Rock 'n' Roll by Mick Rock
• Photobooth Dogs by Cameron Woo
• Life on the Lower East Side by Rebecca Lepkoff, Peter Dans, and Suzanne Wasserman
• Taking Aim by Graham Nash
• Subway Art by Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfan
• Hot Shots by Kevin Meredith
• Desert Realty by Ed Freeman
• To Each His Home by Bilyana Dimitrova
• Handmade Weddings by Sabrina Moyle, Eunice Moyle, and Shana Faust
• Indie Craft by Jo Waterhouse
• French General: Treasured Notions by Kaari Men
• French General: Handmade Soirées by Kaari Meng
• French General: Party Paperie by Kaari Meng
• French General: Home Sewn by Kaari Meng
• Porch Parties by Denise Gee
• Swimming With Strangers by Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum
• Fairy Parties by Colleen Mullaney
• All Cakes Considered by Melissa Gray

Make sure you enter, too!

sneak peek at this week's auctions

oooh ahhhhh





















they all start tonight and tomorrow night, and run through next Saturday and Sunday nights...

blast from the past...

Remember this song?? It came out in the mid-60s...I can remember me and my
cousins begging my aunt and uncle to drive us up and down Hollywood Boulevard
and Sunset Strip the summer it was out on the radio to look for "hippies." hee
hee. We would literally point and collapse into hysterics in the back seat when
we saw a group of long-hairs with their peace beads and suede fringed vests and
striped bellbottoms.

Now I wish I'd been one of them.

Do you ever wish you'd done something really differently in your past?

the train whistle melody wove through the trees....

Still looking for that hard drive disc with all my photos from the past couple years on it...but I did find some more pictures I'd squirreled away on my computer at work (thank goodness!)

here's a little photo shoot I did with my daughter at an old train station on Long Island...