Mid October already?

My goodness, where has the month gone? All in one sudden burst of speed the leaves have changed from green to yellow to red, and now with the latest breezes are falling in mass to the ground. If they would only linger on those last autumn branches for a few more weeks. I need a few more weeks to complete all the postponed summer projects before the cold temperatures arrive in earnest. Suddenly the hills of Alpine appear as patchwork quilts on the mountainside covered in yellow, reds and oranges. I was gone to Las Vegas for five days and they changed so dramatically while I was gone I just had to go on a photo shoot with my camera before all the leaves were blown away.

Just a couple thoughts to share -

This blog thing has really captured my attention. I'm discovering how much fun it is to peruse each others postings and photos and catch up on all my family members and friends scattered across the country. One could easily spend their life (and nonexistant free time) reading everyone's latest blog entries. So I hope I can keep my site on the positive side of the board and provide at least some hope and inspiration, and perhaps a little humor from time to time. Don't want you all wasting your precious time here unless you can come away with something positive.

I have really appreciate all the many fun, artistic and outright beautiful blogspots that I've visited during my quest to figure out how this all works. So I thought I'd post some links to all the spots that have been particularly helpful for me - maybe to save someone else some time in their quest for creating the perfect blogspot.

This site is infinitely helpful
http://www.sjhblogdesign.blogspot.com/
Great spot for backgrounds and custom banners
http://www.thecutestblogontheblock.com/
General information for getting started
http://www.wikihow.com/Start-a-Blog
Also really helpful information about how blogs work
http://michaelhyatt.blogs.com/workingsmart/2005/04/how_to_start_a_.html
Another one of my favorites
http://pennyfoolish.blogspot.com/2006/07/how-to-start-blog.html
Free and easy to install templates
http://onecuteblog.blogspot.com/
My favorite-ist (is that a word?) of all, because they have fantastic Adobe Photoshop tutorials
http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/

Lots of people put much time and effort into their sites and provide many resources for free. Be sure to credit them in some way if you use their information and layouts on your blogspot. Be sure to leave comments when you visit helpful sites. Everyone loves for their work to be recognised - right!? Good luck - and happy blogspot creating!

Second thoughts - In all my discovering, I discovered my talented daughter-in-law, Cami has a really cute and outstanding blogspot entitled "Crochet Cami". I always knew she was talented, but now I get to see all the really outstanding creations she is working on. It is soooo much fun. Thought I would just point you in her direction if you really like quilting, crocheting, knitting etc. Most of all I love her because she takes such good care of her "handsome husband"!!

Last of all - couldn't resist taking a photo of my new favorite fall bowl, a gift from a good friend. You can barely see the graphics of the hot peppers on the the bowl, but it looks perfect on my kitchen counter and holds all my 'peck of not pickled peppers' fresh out of the garden. Thank you so much my friend - I love it!