Note and Gift to Self....

How is it that I seem to purchase myself gifts at Christmas time?? Happens... every year... each time I set-out to shop for others. I'll give myself a little break this time...hhhaa - I've seen the writing on the wall, knowing that this old (by Silicon Valley standards - ANCIENT) computer of mine that I tap away on for this blog was set to collapse any moment. It needed to be done - computer shopping - the "pulling of teeth" of the technology world. I detest this sort of shopping.. yet, here I am doing my first post on a beauty of a new laptop... NOTE TO SELF: computer shopping has some benefits!!


This is one gift that won't make it under the Christmas tree.... gifts to self are best used immediately!

I have plenty to learn on this new gadget. Time to play. Well, actually time to get ready for the next round of Christmas parties. So, I hope to get back here soon.....

Thanksgiving & Three....

Abundant Life...

Abundant Love...


Thankful for all that I am blessed to have, and all that I work for ~


ABUNDANT PICNIC...  on this Thanksgiving day, my words here have reached their 3 year Anniversary!

Three years ago on my first post {click link here} I spoke of having three Thanksgiving festivities to attend. This year I am sitting in my parents warm ( a tad too much so) house in the pines. Hubby & I have walked through the pinecone and needle laden streets. We've watched the New York parade, and now the television is tuned to football. The four of us will join a few of my parents friends for turkey dinner out. A whole new experience - and just such the sort of thing I consider the filling of an ABUNDANT PICNIC!

As time passes it is easy to reflect and wish for more time with our loved ones, many more hours on this earth, and in this beautiful life. How very thankful I am that my parents are still here.  How sad it makes me feel that my other Pops has left a wistful feeling in our hearts, as we near the one year anniversary of his passing.


Blessings of abundance and wishes of joy to all....


Shari

To Do or Not To Do.... That is the Question!

Tonight while flipping back the calendar pages, I realize just how much I haven't written. Many photos of beauty and pleasure, laughs, and faces I love sit in computer memory never to be seen. These are memories so current, yet seemingly many months ago.

While keeping up a quick pace with my life, as it whisks along each day... well, then I drop the ball on keeping time with journaling here. Something, somewhere has to give. I've noticed this is how life seems to go - two steps forward, one step back. I'll feel so productive and energetic - happy with all the accomplishments of a day, or a week. Then .. WHAM! on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday morning (or whichever day one may choose)  I 've lost the momentum and the need to drop one item from the daily to-do list is a necessity.

The beauty you haven't seen lately? ... here's some of it ~

There ya have it... a full life; a full calendar - keeping me busy, and happily so. Thinking that possibly when the calendar says it's winter and days end much more quickly.. possibly then I'll sit on the sofa with a little less to do, and I'll drop gardening from the daily to-do and spend more time here posting on the blog!

In a Nutshell

Here's a glimpse into the life of a harried-gardener-essentially-summer-goodtime-gal, non-blog-posting writer at Abundant Picnic....

Where have I been? Where HAVEN'T I been?....



Trawling fish shops in beach towns...

Hanging in hen houses...

Wine tasting... thus the blurriness (nah, not really)...

 

 

Photo shooting in hot & humid towns with girlfriends....  (isn't she cute?)

 

 

 

 

Picking fruit anywhere and everywhere - at home and the nearest Mexican market too...

 

 

 

Slurping 7-11 Slurpees on July 11th (7-11) because they were free for the corporation's Anniversary -

AND!! also because that was a special date in our family too - our Great Niece Madison was born!

 

 

Traipsing through the fields along oceanside bluffs....

 

 

 

Brushing coats of primer to our new outdoor shed - attempts at making it MORE THAN just a shed..

still in the works...

In a nutshell - this summer has been fast paced, filled with goodness, over punctuated with PARTY-TIME and is still on a roll. Family camping coming up. An unexpected and welcome visitor from Japan filling some days. An all-girls annual event just over. My Goat Hill work with fun & challenges too.

My, my stories to tell.....    wide open writing spaces, and beauty as far as the eye can see... camera in tow and beaches aplenty; sunshine sparkling and an abundant picnic spread before me - I will be back to share it all....

Blog Reader Announcement..-Follow my blog with Bloglovin...

Read more than one, maybe two, and most assuredly 3 or more blogs on a frequent basis? I count myself in this category. It has been in the past that if one wanted to follow many blogs that they could sign-up and get a feed from Google Reader. Today is the last day for that. If you are interested in following Abundant Picnic in that way - you now will have to go to Bloglovin



I'll still be here, same place, same channel - you can find me and this picnic the same old way... {don't worry if you don't want to change}.  I'm just signing my blog up so that if someone {my dear niece that reads Abundant Picnic}wants to follow, I'll be on the Bloglovin list!

A big thank you to all that do read here! I appreciate the few of you very much!!  :-)

I Had No Intention Of...

No forethought. No intention of my journaling slowing down to a trickle. Writing seems to be out of sight, and out of my mind.  There aren't reasons. No excuses to make up.

Even tonight, I'm comfortably ensconced in my comfy little place. Pretty reading lamps lit, and background TV noise grating at me somewhat. Should probably turn it off. Still, I'm not in the mood for making merry with vocabulary. I've had weeks of adventures, emotions, experiences... there should be something I can say!

I'll get back to it... sometime soon.

Dreaming of Longer Days

Still much more of winter to go. The Christmas holiday season only barely over. I don't mean to search beyond the days that are here and now. As we're told - LIVE IN THE PRESENT... but, once the glitter is packed away to the garage rafters, my thoughts turn to spring and it's freshness.

Icy mornings and sunny cool days are still settled upon my garden for now. I shall bask in what is lovely about that. Make good with this present time.


It's taken at least a week to get back to the journaling of my life. Now it seems that I'll only be able to write and not attach photos. Blogger has some major new year revamping to do, it seems. The lovely photos that I would share can only sit on my computer and wait for another time... seems I cannot live in the present for this either. :-)


** found a way around the problem - solely for one pretty image! **

Lots of pretty to share from the last couple of holiday weeks... hoping to get to it soon! Fingers crossed that Blogger gets repaired!

Not Nearly Enough

from the West coast to your coast - Connecticut...
~ a light still shining, amidst it all ~
~ a flag half-staff ~
~ a gorgeous sunset; there is still beauty in the world ~

Words... there are NO words...
Bloggers the world over, will not be posting words....
This is an email I received today:

A large group of bloggers throughout the U.S. will be observing a day of silence for those in Connecticut on Monday, December 17th. We will be posting the attached image on our sites, rather than any planned blog posts to show solidarity with the families and victims.

I'd like to invite you to join us.

   **

A second email came from this same lovely blogger. In it she mentions that she's unsure really what to do. What is the right thing? Will any of it matter?


At first I was in the camp to join-in as a comrade in force with my fellow writers. Apparently, I've crossed that boundary and followed my heart instead. I've now written words.


Still, these words are not nearly enough!

 

Ghostwriter

Shall I contemplate a nom-de-plume? A fun little alias maybe?

You may never see it, or know that it's me, but I've just started penning - Hey!.. do you call it "penning" when in reality there is not a writing implement in my hand, only fingers on keys at a computer? just wondering...   Back to subject - I'm now composing posts for another blog. One that is not my own.

Putting thoughts to paper, stories to screen, pictures to posts...

Note: Drusilla will not be my nom de plume!



Taking direction from the Boss-n-boots of Goat Hill, I've started "ghostwriting" on the shows web site! A new adventure. An offer that I was happy to accept. This job - instead of manning a tent, and selling vintage wares at Goat Hill. I do believe I will miss the creativity and collecting, but my sanity and house will be much happier for this new position!

My first short blurb is this ~

Welcome Back Y’all !

January 15, 2012 by sharinicsevic | Edit

Work is under way! The May edition of Goat Hill has lots of lovely surprises in store for our fellow flea marketing sisters {and brothers too}

Be sure to check back here often, as one of the new editions will be frequent blogging posts and updates!

 Mark your new 2012 calendars!  You won’t want to miss the creativity, the camaraderie, the herd or the Farm site!

May 19th & 20th

Here's hoping my talking  blabbering-incessantly skills problem give me a leg up at this new endeavor. HA!
No writer's block, please. I'll now have an actual following. Not my following, oh no, much more important. Now I'll be concerned that all of the Junk-collecting-world reading the website for Goat Hill might comment on my grammar and silliness. For the love of adjectives - HELP ME!! 

One Of My Better Ideas..

A place of my own. A window onto the world... with a view all my own.....

a tattered window with many stories to tell


November 28th.
 In 2010 the blank screen seemed to loom - I had started Abundant Picnic. I became a blogger. Today, same November 28th, just one year later. It's my Anniversary. There have been 229 journal entries. From the get-go, there was no intention of becoming the most popular, or making money from my blog. I write about anything that sings to me; some subjects where the song is more likely a weepy melody. Intending this place to be my personal journal that I share with just a few. I'm generally more at ease when I write now. There is a certain cadence to the clicking keyboard, and my thoughts as well. I'm hoping to keep that rhythm and pace.

A TOAST...    ~ BRING ON 2012 !! ~
There's plenty of abundance in this life !  ....


Shall I celebrate with a glass of champagne? More likely that I'll be hunkered down, my vintage yellow woolen blanket warming my feet. The very same computer that kept this writing idea alive will surely be in it's usual spot upon my lap. How The Grinch Stole Christmas will be Cindy-Loo-Whoing. {ahhhh - deep sigh} Much is the same night after night.

here's part of my very first post ~
***********************************************************

Out with the Old - In with the New

This isn't a post for the New Year as Glamour mag may do for the most current WHAT'S IN/WHAT'S OUT.
Just a good title for this day. The NEW happens to be my first post on this finally realized blog! hooray!! Also more new.. as in new decor to come.... because I'm setting OUT the old, and tired looking Autumnal bits. It's time for Christmas. This here gal doesn't like to change the guards until after the turkey has been made into soup! Thanksgiving should have it's time. A lovely time it was too. In fact Hubster & I had 3 Thanksgiving events to attend.

***********************************************************************

That's how it all began ^.  Thanksgiving just passed again. When looking through the many stories I've journaled - my, so much has changed in this one year!

Feeling glad that I've kept at this blogging experience. I'm looking forward to the next year of

Abundant Picnic !

I've crossed a bridge and there's plenty of beauty and open space beyond it.... just waiting to be found!

Rainy Days & Thursdays...

La, la la la . Da, da da da da da ... Always get me down... 
I know the words are really rainy days and MONDAYS always get me down.... here's a glimpse of that ~

 But, I'm sorta blue today - on a Thursday! Just a slight bit tired of our inclement weather. I'll get over it though... just a minor blip! Some worries that the very few starter annuals I've put in the ground may very well drown! Their tiny roots are probably clogged with our clay dirt and the puddles all around them.

With vintage umbrella and galoshes I went to survey some of the scene ~

Lady Banks roses just starting to bloom

Purposely left a corner of the umbrella in each of those shots...still playing around with my new toy!

I'm anxiously awaiting a true blue-skyed, sun filled, yet cool day to get going on my raised beds of vegetables. What shall I plant this year? I might give pumpkins a go. If I only had more sunny spots! Gourds and squash of all kinds would be a great item to decorate my booth at Goat Hill.

Speaking of Goat Hill - I've had some fun treasure hunting!  I'm going to post a story about some of my adventures through the years on  my decor and vintage blog: http://www.abundantfinds.blogspot.com/. See ya over there!