July in Northern Michigan!

A snippet of my day yesterday and some photos taken throughout the month of July. 

"Love is to the heart what the summer is to the farmer's year - it brings to harvest all the loveliest flowers of the soul." ~author unknown

Harbor Springs, MI, Saturday Farmers Market

Prep work at Chandler's Restaurant, Petoskey, MI

Antique cash register on display at Chandler's Restaurant.

Art in the Park, July 21st, 2012, in Petoskey, MI

Wright Cycle Company, Petoskey, MI

Petoskey State Park

Flowers at Birchwood Farms Golf and Country Club

Alpena County Regional Airport. The smallest airport I have ever been in. Good news...it is not a far walk to your gate!

Sunset at Alepna (MI) Airport

Flowers in downtown Harbor Springs, MI

Harbor Springs street scene

Fields off of Hughston Rd., Harbor Springs, MI

I was driving down the road listening to Odetta sing "All the Pretty Little Horses" and she finished singing, I turned the corner and saw these beauties! Their owners consented to my taking their photo.

The houses are open for summer visitors along Little Traverse Bay on Lake Michigan, in Harbor Springs.

View of Harbor Springs from hills above.

Lobsterfest at Birchwood.

With my mother at Methodist Church, Harbor Springs. The church was founded in 1875. I liked these windows.

View of Little Traverse Bay from the Bay View Memorial Garden, behind Bay View Inn. My mother and I sat on a swing and I also went to the water's edge and collected rocks.

This mother deer and two fawns were seen at a neighbor's house. Unfortunately, I did not have my good camera with me.

One of the happiest flowers of all, methinks. I love petunias!

This wonderful produce place is located near Charlevoix, and I can personally attest to the deliciousness of their cherry pies! The National Cherry Festival was held in Traverse City this month.

Jackie is doing well on her heart failure medication. Here she is sleeping until it is time for breakfast.

Yesterday, my mother and I went to the local farmer's market. The produce was bountiful, the colors vibrant, the conversation amongst vendors and customers lively. The sun was shining and it was not too hot. There were dogs, there were kids, and I now know how tasty cherry mustard can be. ...Later in the day, my mother, son and I went to an art fair. I bought a recorder at a local music store. ... We had fresh green beans on our table last night and raspberries, cherries, and blueberries as the ending of a meal that was eaten on our deck and included Mark's delicious bbq ribs. ...Then, my mother and I waged canasta war over the kitchen table until it was late and I fell into bed with a Pekingese at my feet and a happy summer feeling.

I hope you have time to enjoy the wonderful foods and activities that epitomize "SUMMER" to you!

All photos © 2012 by Janice Phelps Williams. All rights reserved.

Videos, Photos, and Poems...Oh My!

Dear Friends,


Beginning with our move to Harbor Springs, Michigan in April to my road trip to Philadelphia in May to a bevy of creative activities both personal and professional this spring...I've barely had time to catch my breath, but catch it I have. Breath after breath of "Pure Michigan" air...and it is so good for me! 

Mark's poems and my photographs are paired in a book that will be out soon via MagCloud. The title is A Season of Industry and the ISBN is 978-0-9855870-5-5. We chose MagCloud's site because they offer color printing and also ebook versions; their price was right, and I don't want all of my eggs in Amazon's basket. Others have reported good results with MagCloud. A Season of Industry will be available July 1, 2012. $14.99 for color book and $2.99 for ebook. 


I not only love taking photographs, but shooting video as well. It's just a hobby, but when you live a creative life and are willing to try new avenues of expression, it can only benefit your primary areas of endeavor. Taking photos, making videos, working on altered book projects...all help me to think creatively with fresh ideas and approaches to book design projects.

In May 2012, I drove from our new home in Northern Michigan to Philadelphia. I propped a Flip videocamera in front of the small triangular window at the dash of my Honda Fit. It was fascinating to see what the camera recorded as the miles sped by! I then paired the video with photographs and asked my son Jesse, who is a DJ in Philly, if he'd write some music for it as I didn't want to step on anyone's copyrighted music. When Jesse's music was paired with my video, it was amazing to me to see my interest in the repetitive flashing of construction cones, vertical road signs and barriers, tall Northern Michigan trees, and yellow/white dash signs on concrete barriers matched with house music with a sweet beat. I was entranced, and I hope you will be too!

Here is a link in case the embedded video does not show up in your browser: http://youtu.be/EexmX_0-AZ4

Shortly after we arrived in Michigan a newly printed picture book showed up at my doorstep. If you have small children or grandchildren, consider purchasing a copy of Two True Blue Dragons by David Boyce. I had a great time creating the colored pencil drawings for this book!


In 2011, I participated in a poetry group on Facebook called Poetry Pact. It was started by poet and novelist (and musician!) Jessica Bell. Angela Felsted took on the big job of producing the book, using one of my drawings on the front cover. I had four poems within as well. Paperback: $4.50  Kindle: $2.99   (All proceeds go to Direct Relief International.)




I hope YOUR summer is off to a great start!  

My Memories Scrapbooking Software -- and a chance to help The Art of Autism!

INTRODUCTION:

Recently, I received an email from My Memories asking if I would like their digital scrapbooking software for free in exchange for blogging about their product one time. It was the first time I have ever been offered anything for free in exchange for a blog post. I thought about it for 10 seconds and said yes, here's why: I switched from a PC to a Mac last June and haven't yet installed a good Mac-friendly scrapbook program on my laptop yet. And I've got over 8,800 photos in this little baby. They want to be organized. They want to be remembered.


So, I said yes and downloaded the software. Then decided I would do a "Year in Review" book and see how it worked.


MY PAST EXPERIENCE WITH DIGITAL SCRAPBOOKING SOFTWARE:
But first, a look back at software I've used to date.


CREATIVE MEMORIES: I regularly attend Creative Memories workshops and LOVE them and their products. Creative Memories makes products for traditional scrapbooking and digital scrapbooking. I love their colors, designs, choices, and catalogs. As a graphic designer, I find their designs and presentations the most pleasing and professional. So, I haven't been inclined to switch teams, until a problem happened last summer…


Having created a wonderful 72-page scrapbook of for my mother's birthday in 2010 using Creative Memories StoryBook (for PC) software (click on this LINK for a free trial download), I had some experience with the process.  I had it printed as a hardcover book by Creative Memories and it was beautiful! My mom was thrilled. Here are some sample pages:

A DISAPPOINTING TURN OF EVENTS: When I switched to a Mac last June, I went back to Creative Memories to get the Mac version of StoryBook Plus, aka sbcStudio. I started on a project using a trial version, then when I was almost done, I found my 30-days had passed and I tried to sign on to purchase the software and could not! Alas, Creative Memories had decided to discontinue their Mac-version digital software program until further notice. (Today, I have gone to their site and it seems they still do not offer it for sale and have no notice about that on the product's page, so that if you click on "start" to learn more, nothing happens.)


I could not output my newly created sbcStorybook "Restaurant" scrapbook to PDF even to print at home. I was very irritated at the way this was handled and felt those with the trial version should have been given the opportunity to have anything they had in progress "unlocked" and able to be printed out at home or converted to PDF. I wanted this for Mark for Christmas, and ended up creating a traditional 8 x 8 book for him. Mark loved it, but I would have preferred it be in digital format so I could easily add it and customize it in the future.


ANCESTRY.COM: I went to THIS LINK and looked at comparison shopping of Mac-version scrapbooking software. But, instead, I got busy with Ancestry.com and finding out all about my family history and then found within Ancestry.com there is scrapbooking software. (Pros and cons with that, of course, but it was the best I had.) I made a 115-page scrapbook on our family history. (Here are two pages to give you an idea. It was more of a photo book with text explaining family history and history in general, rather than a scrapbook with fancy do-dads (though Ancestry.com does offer the do-dads. They have all sorts of papers and embellishments and such, but some of the elements (the embellishments, for instance) will only show up in lower resolution if printed out at home. You have to have Ancestry.com print out your "book" to have all of their graphic elements show up in high resolution. A definite business-attitude mistake, in my opinion.

iPHOTO: Then, I wanted to make a small scrapbook in memory of my friend who died. I made that one in iPhoto and it was not really a scrapbook, but a photo book. I had it printed as a paperback book and it came out really great. I gave a copy to my sister in December and she was pleased with the quality. It was printed by Apple, so I knew it would be top-knotch.

A NEW SOLUTION FROM MY MEMORIES:


I was still hoping Creative Memories would come back with their software for Macs. Then I received the email from My Memories's person, Liz:

My name is Liz and I work for a company called My Memories. We have an award winning digital scrapbook software that is extremely easy and fun to use. My Memories Suite is rated #1 by Amazon and TopTen Reviews. Using this software, anyone can create digital scrapbooks, photobooks, cards, calendars and gifts without having to buy expensive and complicated software programs.

I just ran into your blog and absolutely love it!  I was wondering if you would like to host a My Memories Suite giveaway on your blog? We would love to give you 2 copies of our software ($80 value) for free! One copy is for your personal use and to review. The other is to give away on your site. Additionally, we will give you a personal $10 off promo code to share with followers and friends. Every time this code is used for our software, we will deposit $20 in your PayPal account! It is really that simple! Everyone could use an extra $100-$500 per month, right?

Well, of course everyone can. However, I've never really liked the idea of suggesting friends buy something when I'm going to get money for recommending a product.


But, I wanted the free software… (If you're interested in buying the software after reading my review, see the link, promo code, and my donation commitment, below.)


I downloaded the software and decided to try making a Year in Review book, 8 x 8 inches, with approximately 2 pages per month. Downloading the software was a breeze. Then I ran into a snafu: My Memories will not import photos directly from iPhoto. Liz said I could just copy the photos I wanted to use to a folder and then pull them from there into my scrapbook and then delete the duplicate photos when done, but I am one of those people who hate to do things twice or waste time. I didn't like this extra step…


But, I did what she suggested. One thing I noticed right off is that My Memories had more features (embellishments, patterns, etc.) available included with the software than Creative Memories seemed to back when I bought Storybook Plus for the PC. It also can include music, narration, and video… see this description from their site:

With over 1,500 papers, over 1,000 page elements, and over 30 album templates (including 10 new for v3), MyMemories Suite lets you hit the ground running with your very own scrapbook or photo album in a matter of minutes. It’s easy-to-use and affordable—and compatible with both Windows and Mac computers. 

Personally, I prefer the designs and choices with Creative Memories, and will continue to use their products for my traditional scrapbooking, because I think they really are wonderful. But My Memories software is something all scrapbookers can try for quick easy projects at an affordable price.


Once I got into the software and found out my ability to work with what they offered (as far as papers and embellishments), I knew the My Memories Suite was a good value for scrapbooking customers. I found the software easy to use. I'd say within a few hours you'll be using it like an old pro. It had lots of cool options and I liked the way I could see all the pages running along the bottom of the screen, underneath the main page I was working on. Here is a screenshot:

There are a lot of good things about My Memories software:

• It is easy to use.
• It is affordable at $29.97.
• It works on a Mac or a PC.
• Liz Gardner offers great customer service.
• There are many templates, papers, embellishments, etc. available in the basic software.

The only downsides I found were:

• Not importing from iPhoto.
• No ability to "print" as a PDF! I could only print to my home printer. 
• I could not save the pages as jpgs or PDFs.* 

Here are a few of my pages for the Year in Review scrapbook (8 x 8) created with My Memories software.

LINK TO BUY, PROMO CODE, AND DONATION ON MY PART:
I figured out a way to ease my conscience. Here's what I'll do… My Memories Suite Version 3 costs $39.97. You also get $10 off using this promo code, making it $29.97. Here is the code:  

STMMMS83551

When you purchase the software, MyMemories will pay me $20 commission.


When My Memories deposits commission money into my PayPal account (as Liz said), I will take said money and donate it to The Art of Autism's Campaign to help a project for artists with autism. I will do this with funds donated between today and June 2, 2012, my son Bryce Merlin's 31st birthday (he is one of the artists in the program and last October had his artwork in a gallery in SoHo thanks to The Art of Autism).  Here is a LINK to the show in SoHo.


Here's a LINK for more about the fundraising campaign. (Since their campaign ends on 1/19, I will donate funds that come in between 1/19/2010 and 6/2/2012 directly to Debra Hosseini, founder, toward the program.)


ABOUT THE ART OF AUTISM:

The ART of AUTISM is a project that incorporates The ART of AUTISM book, art shows, live theatrical entertainment events, workshops, and films to shift consciousness and awareness regarding autism. We are committed to promoting talented artists on the autism spectrum and educating the general public. We support artists through mentorship, building resumes, portfolios, and direct work experience. Participants in past events report an improvement in self-esteem, executive functioning skills, media exposure and often a sense of community that they have never experienced before. Most importantly, they make friends and lifelong connections. The majority of money raised from the Art of Autism art sales goes directly to the artist. A portion also goes to a local nonprofit who hosts the show.

WANT A FREE COPY OF MY MEMORIES SOFTWARE?


Now, the astute among you will realize that Liz offered to give me TWO free copies of the software, one for myself and one as a giveaway. So, here goes… the first person to email me (art at janicephelps dot com) with their PayPal receipt for $20 to The Art of Autism's IndieGoGo Campaign between today and JANUARY 19th will be the one who gets the code for the free MyMemories Suite software. 


Only one person can get the software for the $20 donation, but the rest of you, who might want the PC or MAC software from MyMemories.com can feel satisfied knowing that $20 of your $29.97 purchase ($39.97 minus the $10 discount, be sure to use the promo code above) will be donated to The Art of Autism (between today and June 2, 2012). Let's help these deserving artists reach their goals, just as we reach our "memory-keeping" goals. They'll have some help, you'll have some cool software for PC and/or Mac!


Here is more information on The Art of Autism:
Website: http://www.the-art-of-autism.com/
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheArtofAutism




Here are more tips from Liz at My Memories:

-If you’d like to link your followers to our Facebook, Twitter or blog, that would be great as well! They could even follow us for extra entries to the contest.
Blog- http://blog.mymemories.com/
Facebook- http://www.facebook.com/pages/MyMemories/140359372717593
Twitter- http://twitter.com/#!/mymemoriessuite 

http://www.youtube.com/user/MyMemoriesSuite.

----
* You might be wondering how, then, I managed to save jpgs for this blogpost. Well, I took screenshots, then cropped to the size of the page, then saved as jpgs and PDFs. I knew how to get around their system, but it was time-consuming!

Dancing after September 11th

This will be an unusually short post for me today because I have to go out and about and do a lot of things, some responsible things, a few fun things, and along with those activities will come the process of remembering and giving thanks for life.

It is important to honor those who died on September 11th; to remember them, to mourn them, to celebrate them. I did not lose a loved one on 9/11. I can only muse on our family's luck that day, the thankfulness I feel for the decade since, and the empathy I feel for those who must think 9/11 was both "last week" and a lifetime ago.

I was in NYC on 9/11 with my sister, Joan Phelps, and my son, Bryce. You can read a post I wrote about that day AT THIS LINK.

When Osama bin Laden was found and killed this year, I thought more about those who died on 9/11. The blogpost I wrote this past May on that event "Justice on May 1" is AT THIS LINK.

The photo above was taken on Sept. 9, 2001. Bryce is looking at a souvenir he's just bought and Joan is in the photo too. We had gone to NYC to meet with Publisher's Weekly and to see Michael Jackson's 30th anniversary concert on 9/10. The concert was incredible and you can get a sense of the sounds and excitement at this YouTube clip.

Here is Bryce earlier in the day, on 9/10/01 in Central Park.

A week after 9/11, we were back in Ohio and the nursing home where Bryce lives has an annual Sept. family cook-out with an Elvis impersonator. Joan and I were there and in 10 days we'd gone from Michael Jackson in Madison Square Garden to the sorrow and shock of 9/11 to a week of nonstop terror attack coverage to a small parking lot in Ohio where we were invited to dance. We did and this photo captures that moment.



This week a wonderful opportunity arose for Bryce; 4 of his drawings have been accepted into a show on The Art of Autism in the Soho Gallery of Digital Arts in NYC on October 27, 2011 and running for 3 weeks. We are taking him there, his second trip to NYC, and so different than our first. I'm going to visit him today and tell him about the show, about our upcoming trip, about how life holds suffering and sadness but also joy and surprise and love. (I will post more about this event soon.)

As you move through the coming days, if sorrow wraps itself around your heart, I hope you will be able to come through the other side of that sorrow and find a sprout of happiness that can grow within you to become a future that will honor life and those who now exist only through our choices and memories.

Pets and Language

Jackie, December 2009

The following post originally appeared online in 2004. I'm pairing it now with some photographs of the wonderful dogs (and birds) in my family's life. Enjoy!

The media is all abuzz about new science findings regarding dogs who "are much smarter than scientists have thought." Thousands of dollars of research might have been saved, had they spent anytime at my home, or observing the lives of many of my friends who also have dogs. Here's what I could have told scientists, for free:

1. Dogs know when you are happy, sad, busy, angry, worried, ill, and in love.
2. They know when you mean it, don't mean it, aren't sure if you mean it, and are consulting dog behavior books to find out if you should mean it.
3. Dogs know that exercise is good for you.
4. Dogs know that high-protein diets make them happier.
5. They can find their way around the neighborhood and communicate with the neighbors.
6. They understand that mail comes six days a week and sometimes what's in the mail is worth yelling about it.
7. Dogs realize that fashion isn't important.
8. Dogs are comfortable with all their body parts and the body parts of those they love.
9. Dogs are not afraid of other dogs bigger than themselves. In fact, the smaller the dog, I've found, the more emphatic they are to express their bravery.
10. Dogs can tell who is naughty and who is nice.

Those of us who love animals are glad they are finally getting the respect they deserve.

My sister Joyce with Susie, circa 1974. Susie was my wonderful pet through junior high and high school. She died when I was in college. (Photo by Woodrow Phelps)

My mother with her dog, Brownie, circa 1936.

"The Best Dog in the World," Buster. Buster was a rescued dog from the Bishop Animal Shelter in Bradenton, Florida. He was the dog my sons grew up with. 1991 - 2003

Tyler, 2011.

My sister, Joan, has two very smart African grey parrots. Koby, 2008.

Beautiful Maximillian pionus Gracie, 2010.

Note: You can view a rather silly video on YouTube of Gracie taking a shower at THIS LINK.

Pretty Girl Farley, was Mark's dog until we married. Now she's mine too. She is so cuddly and soft, fast and smart as can be. This past year she had major knee surgery, but she's doing well now. Farley was a rescued dog and a real gem! Below, is a drawing I did of Farley shortly after we met.

Goffins cockatoo, Bailey. Sadly, she died in 2006, a few weeks after I received a contract to write "Open Your Heart with Pets: Mastering Life through Love of Animals" (Dreamtime Publishing, 2007).

Bailey helping my son Bryce with a puzzle.

This handsome 30-something Amazon parrot is Jake. Jake was a rescued parrot who now lives a happy life of retirement in North Carolina. Jake was the parrot with a dozen "Hellos!" (Bored "hello" for when the phone rang. Friendly "hello" for when someone new visited. Seductive, think Joey on "Friends", "helllloooo..." for if I ever walked up to his cage half-dressed.)

Here I am with my first dog, Joey, in the early 1960s. (Photo by Woodrow Phelps)

Do not dismiss the humble teddy bear hamster as a pet. Timmy spent most of his life in a cage, but loved to sit on my knee and watch television. His short life ended in 2001. (Photo by Sonja Beal)

Above is the last photo taken of our Pomeranian Sable who died in 2004 at age 13. Before she became ill, Sable had long fur and looked like a little black bear. She drew curious glances when riding around town in my car.

Dogs with dark faces are difficult to photograph. This photo was taken by my sister Joyce and is of her dog Oscar. Oscar died not too long ago and Joyce rescued Hayley, a big dog who now enjoys a good home and keeps our mother company during the day. (See photo below by Joyce Phelps).

Animals are not just a part of my personal life, but of my work life as well…

From Still Her Spirit Sings by Robert W. Kurkela. Bob's loving dog Spirit was mostly black, but I altered his appearance a bit to fit the format of the book. I came to love the character of Spirit after working with Bob and Kidzpoetz Publishing on this book.

Above and below are drawings from They Called Me Beautiful. (I self-published the retelling of the classic story Beautiful Joe with illustrations under a pen name.) Above, you can see the children who rescued Joe from the hands of a cruel master. Below is Joe's friend, Dandy.

All photos on this page, unless otherwise noted, copyright by Janice Phelps Williams. All rights reserved.