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Friday, October 11, 2013

See Beautiful: Memories

Note to my grownup kids: I'm restraining myself, but apologies in advance for sharing a little of your ADORABLENESS as youngsters!
Our infamous Gettysburg camping trip during the monsoon.

It all began several months ago with a paragraph in Parade magazine. A company called ScanMyPhotos.com was recommended for turning those pre-digital photos* into jpegs. This was something I'd been meaning to look into, but was afraid of the expense.


Sunny was our family dog/Houdini for 15 years. 
*Do you remember those days of buying rolls of 24 or 36 exposures? You'd take a picture now and then, spreading the roll out over a few weeks. It cost real money to develop the film - cheaper to get doubles the first time around for sharing - though you also had to pay for doubles of the fuzzy, overexposed, underexposed, or just unthinkably bad photos that went straight into the trash. Then you carefully added the prints to a photo album or the fridge. Maybe on vacation you splurged and took two rolls of film in just one week! Wheeee!

When I googled the company a link to a Groupon came up. I'd never used Groupon but getting 1000 pictures digitized for $29.99 sounded great. It took awhile but finally on July 29 the pics were boxed, numbered, counted. They spanned a period from 1992 to 2000. It was spooky putting them in the mail. Would we ever see them again?
First winter after moving back East from California...
When September came to an end I got nervous. The live chat help at ScanMyPhotos reassured me that my photos would be returned the following week. Several days later they arrived with a DVD. They were in perfect numerical order, with none missing. 

What a nostalgic trip it's been, from removing and then replacing the photographs in their albums to sorting them into iPhoto 'events'.

I believe that we are our memories. The devastating thing about watching my mother-in-law Joan's Alzheimer's disease progress was witnessing the slow, inexorable theft of her memories. Gradually I came to feel that the woman I had grown to love over 34 years was disappearing before my very eyes. 
With my grandmother Helen, many Thanksgivings ago.
Photographs give us a record of who we are, what we've done with the years, who we loved, when and why. If it's true that what we do with our time reveals what is truly of importance to us then leafing through the old pictures can illuminate the search for meaning in our lives.
This may be the only time Lauren and I played music together!
There can be regrets too. In keeping with the theme of See Beautiful I will confess one. I never felt pretty and most especially fretted constantly about my weight. "I don't like that picture," I'd say, "it makes me look too fat." Or, "No give me the camera, I hate having my picture taken." Now, looking at those old images, I wonder, was I crazy? Who did I think I was supposed to look like?


Me with Honest Abe!

If you catch yourself criticizing how you look, just stop. Don't do that to yourself! Nobody likes every picture of themselves. So what? Find what is beautiful in every picture. In thirty years, believe me, you will think you looked pretty darn good. And guess what? You do. You really do.

Disclaimer: I'm not advertising for nor being compensated by ScanMyPhotos.com. I'm just giving my opinion about my personal experience with them.
Posted by at 1:37 PM 15 comments

See Beautiful: Memories

Note to my grownup kids: I'm restraining myself, but apologies in advance for sharing a little of your ADORABLENESS as youngsters!
Our infamous Gettysburg camping trip during the monsoon.

It all began several months ago with a paragraph in Parade magazine. A company called ScanMyPhotos.com was recommended for turning those pre-digital photos* into jpegs. This was something I'd been meaning to look into, but was afraid of the expense.
Sunny was our family dog/Houdini for 15 years. 
*Do you remember those days of buying rolls of 24 or 36 exposures? You'd take a picture now and then, spreading the roll out over a few weeks. It cost real money to develop the film - cheaper to get doubles the first time around for sharing - though you also had to pay for doubles of the fuzzy, overexposed, underexposed, or just unthinkably bad photos that went straight into the trash. Then you carefully added the prints to a photo album or the fridge. Maybe on vacation you splurged and took two rolls of film in just one week! Wheeee!

 When I googled the company a link to a Groupon came up. I'd never used Groupon but getting 1000 pictures digitized for $29.99 sounded great. It took awhile but finally on July 29 the pics were boxed, numbered, counted. They spanned a period from 1992 to 2000. It was spooky putting them in the mail. Would we ever see them again?
First winter after moving back East from California...
When September came to an end I got nervous. The live chat help at ScanMyPhotos reassured me that my photos would be returned the following week. Several days later they arrived with a DVD. They were in perfect numerical order, with none missing. 

What a nostalgic trip it's been, from removing and then replacing the photographs in their albums to sorting them into iPhoto 'events'.

I believe that we are our memories. The devastating thing about watching my mother-in-law Joan's Alzheimer's disease progress was witnessing the slow, inexorable theft of her memories. Gradually I came to feel that the woman I had grown to love over 34 years was disappearing before my very eyes. 
With my grandmother Helen, many Thanksgivings ago.
Photographs give us a record of who we are, what we've done with the years, who we loved, when and why. If it's true that what we do with our time reveals what is truly of importance to us then leafing through the old pictures can illuminate the search for meaning in our lives.
This may be the only time Lauren and I played music together!
There can be regrets too. In keeping with the theme of See Beautiful I will confess one. I never felt pretty and most especially fretted constantly about my weight. "I don't like that picture," I'd say, "it makes me look too fat." Or, "No give me the camera, I hate having my picture taken." Now, looking at those old images, I wonder, was I crazy? Who did I think I was supposed to look like?
Me with Honest Abe!

 If you catch yourself criticizing how you look, just stop. Don't do that to yourself! Nobody likes every picture of themselves. So what? Find what is beautiful in every picture. In thirty years, believe me, you will think you looked pretty darn good. And guess what? You do. You really do.

 Disclaimer: I'm not advertising for nor being compensated by ScanMyPhotos.com. I'm just giving my opinion about my personal experience with them.
Posted by at 1:37 PM 16 comments

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Black and White Sunday: Fall Friends


Posted by at 11:39 AM 15 comments

Black and White Sunday: Fall Friends


Posted by at 11:39 AM 15 comments

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Out To Lunch

It's a beautiful Saturday, and we chose to spend it at the beach. After a very long walk with a couple of swims, we decided to head to a little local place with an outdoor porch. They don't mind if Toby hangs out there with us while we eat.

We've never had other canine company while there but today there were two other dogs bringing their people out to lunch!


Can you find me?
Fortunately all the dogs were friendly and well behaved. 

Sadly though Toby disgraced himself by chugging the bowl of fresh water provided by our server, then...um, divesting himself of a tummy full of salt water he sampled at the beach. Guess it's a good thing the other customers were doggie people!
Posted by at 5:17 PM 2 comments

Out To Lunch

It's a beautiful Saturday, and we chose to spend it at the beach. After a very long walk with a couple of swims, we decided to head to a little local place with an outdoor porch. They don't mind if Toby hangs out there with us while we eat.

 We've never had other canine company while there but today there were two other dogs bringing their people out to lunch!
Can you find me?
Fortunately all the dogs were friendly and well behaved. 

Sadly though Toby disgraced himself by chugging the bowl of fresh water provided by our server, then...um, divesting himself of a tummy full of salt water he sampled at the beach. Guess it's a good thing the other customers were doggie people!
Posted by at 5:17 PM 2 comments

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Service Dog Sunday: Autism Service Dogs of America

Lauren and John have been discussing getting an Autism Service Dog for Mareto. This discussion began with his connection to Toby. (Toby is a Therapy Dog but not a Service Dog. To learn more about the difference, please visit Sugar the Golden Retriever's infographics on the topic). During a recent therapy session Mareto's therapist strongly advised Lauren to look into getting him a service dog. She felt it would help him cope with his anxiety, sleep better, improve his social skills, and help him safely engage with the world as he develops.

One of the organizations that helps connect autistic children and their families with service dogs is Autism Service Dogs of America. Founded in 2002 by Priscilla Taylor, a special education teacher, ASDA raises and trains mostly Golden Retrievers, Labrador Retrievers, Goldendoodles, and Labradoodles. They get their puppies from several reputable breeders and from Project 2 Heal.

While visiting their website I discovered that Jersey,  one of their Golden puppies, had emergency surgery last week. ASDA is accepting donations to help pay for Jersey's surgery. You can click here to help out or help spread the word about Jersey and/or ASDA.

Here's Jersey: A future Autism Service Dog who needs a little Power of the Paw!
Photo is from the ASDA website.
ASDA's mission:

When a child connects to a dog,

 they connect to the world. 

Our mission is 

to make a positive impact on the lives of children

living with autism 

by providing exceptionally well trained service dogs.

A boy tethered to his Service Dog. Photo is from the ASDA website.

 Each family is asked to provide $13,500 to ASDA before their child can be placed on the waiting list, although ASDA estimate their cost to breed, socialize, raise, train, and place a dog at $20,000. The difference is made up by grants and donations from the public. 

If you'd like to learn more about Autism Service Dogs or would like to help them provide a dog to an autistic child, please visit the ASDA website by clicking here. 

One testimonial:
“Milo has made more progress with Chad than anyone ever 

thought was even imaginable. He’s much calmer. He can 

concentrate for much longer periods of time. It’s almost like a

 cloud has lifted and the sun is shining.” 

–Claire V.

Whether Mareto ever gets a service dog, I applaud this organization for the difference they are making in the lives of children with autism.

September is National Service Dog month. I am participating in the Service Dog Sunday blog hop.


Posted by at 12:23 PM 10 comments
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