Spring Cleaning Yard & Flower Bed-Flower Fairies Garden Ornaments – A Poem About Spring Cleaning

Fairies stand round
giggle with glee

tis a poem about spring cleaning.
I’ll post in on my fridge.
I’ll use a magnet of tin
now shiny after my buffing it.
A magnet of a daisy
green leaves, yellow center
and wonderful white petals.
He loves me
he loves me not.

Flower fairies
garden ornaments
spring break
set in place.
Spring cleaning
yard and flower bed
everything ready for summer.
Fairies come out to feel the freshness
smiles are everywhere.

Simple and clean
it did not take as long as I thought
and oh!
I am rewarded by the calmness it brings.
I feel freer somehow
just knowing things are in their place
closer to what ornaments looked like
when first bought.

Leaves of fall taken away
the ones that were left over
green is invited to sing here once again.

My garden is ready for new plantings
zucchini, lettuce and string beans
fresh corn from its husk
my garden is clean for my labor
smile
HUGE smile.
A flower fairy
and garden ornaments
of well cared for sentiments.

Spring cleaning
yard and flower bed
tis such a lovely delicate site.
Fantasy fairies sing
honeybees are ready to do their job
as i just finished mine.

Tis fitting
a poem about spring cleaning
when the day knows dusk
all the flowers will sing a song
in the morning
and I will feel the freshness
not felt as brightly yesterday.

Sing my little fantasy fairies
bring granny cookies
ice tea and your sun bonnet
tis spring alas today
I write you a letter
with a poem about spring cleaning.

ABOUT Kathy Ostman-Magnusen

I paint and sculpt female fantasy art and map faery tale adventures. I dream of beautiful women on canvas and art of exotic women.

I have illustrated for Hay House Inc.,”Women Who Do Too Much” CARDS taken from Anne Wilson Schaef’s book. I also illustrated for Neil Davidson, who was considered for the Pulitzer Prize in feature writing, and several other publications. My paintings are collected worldwide.

Giclee canvas art work, greeting cards & posters are available for sale on my website:

kathysart.com kathysart.com

Sign up for my mailing list FREE ART GIFTS: Drawings of whimsical angel pictures, legends of mermaids & fairies in art. Tiny angels & mermaids for shrink art, or coloring pages. Also a “Letter From the Tooth Fairy”. Ya just never know when you might need one!

ACEO’s: Art Cards Editions Originals or ATC’s: Art Trading Cards are highly collectable. My new Squidoo site gives you a preview of mind before they are put on Ebay.

squidoo.com/kathysaceo squidoo.com/kathysaceo

Lower Back Tattoos

For decades Tattoo Art was a predominantly male club, but not any longer. Now it’s the Women who stand out in a crowd with The Lower Back Tattoo.

Since it’s seemingly “over night” appearance the late 1990’s the Lower Back Tattoo has now become a mark of distinction, a signature if you like. With more and more women opting for real ink rather than the traditional Henna (which until quite recently was all the rage) the Lower Back Tattoo has now taken its place in the annals of history.

Women are wearing tattoos with confidence; these markings in ink are leaving men slack jawed in awe. The designs are tasteful; some are absolutely beautiful and complement both the person wearing them and the artist who created them.

I believe women all over the world must be commended on this sheer blatant, outspoken, expressive art form which adorns their female figure so well.

It has been said that the Lower Back Tattoo is empowering for women, I personally wouldn’t know if this is true or not. What I will comment on is the fact that any woman with a nicely inked tattoo drawn into the base of her back and wearing a top which reveals it, always seems to walk with more confidence.

Designs for the lower back and any other parts of your anatomy you wish to be tattooed can be found all over the internet. If you are thinking of a tattoo in any way, shape or form then spend some time finding the right one for you. Under no circumstances should you “settle for” any tattoo, this is going to be with you for the rest of your life (unless you count laser removal).

When you have decided upon a design which you absolutely must have (and you’re sure) then either hit the internet or your local phone directory.

Hold that thought a minute.

There may be dozens of tattoo parlours listed in your area, so how do you know which one to choose? Well that’s the easy part, you ask someone with a tattoo where they had it done! That’s right, this is the only sure fire way of finding the best in the area. You can ask them whether the tattooist premises is clean, what the aftercare advice is like, is there anyone else they know who had a tattoo at the same place. All of these questions are important, remember – you are having needles jabbed in and out of your skin and this is going to be for some time (not 5 minutes) and you need to know that the place is sanitary.

Please remember that cleanliness is next to godliness, and a newly inked mistreated tattoo is a playground for disease and infection; always follow the advice of your tattooist and follow the aftercare procedure to the letter.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. If you are serious about having a tattoo then remember that it is for life, do not put yourself through the discomfort just to change your mind later. Always look for a clean studio and a tattoist with a good reputation.

You can find out lots of general information about Tattoos, Designs and Aftercare at tattoo.informationworld.co.uk/ tattoo.informationworld.co.uk/

If you are interested in becoming a tattoo artist then take a look at tattooink4u.blogspot.com/ tattooink4u.blogspot.com/

If you would like to read more about The History of the Tattoo, Hygiene and Aftercare then visit theartofink.weebly.com/ theartofink.weebly.com/

Learning To Play Guitar By The Ear

Learning how to play a guitar can be accomplished through different methods depending on your convenience and aptitude – taking private lessons from an expert teacher, using teach yourself books or videos that demonstrate the instructions to be followed or through websites that offer guitar lessons.

Irrespective of how you learn, the ultimate aim of learning to play the guitar is to play a song that you are fond of or familiar with. The song may be your favorite song from your childhood heard over the radio or CD or TV or in a concert and might have been played by your favorite band.

Whatever be the nature of the song, the usual way of learning to play it is to buy the sheet music and read from it and practice it. But a superior method of learning a song is to learn it by the ear i.e. to learn by keenly listening to the song.

This technique can be applied to practically any type of song and all you need is a CD player to play it. The instrument used to replay the song does not really matter. It is a very useful skill that you need to develop if you are interested in making a career in music. The following paragraph gives a few tips for learning to play the guitar by the ear.

Tips for learning to play guitar by the ear

Training the ears to listen to the music carefully is the first step in learning to play guitar by the ear. Having an ear for music need not be an inborn quality alone but can be developed through practice. You can prepare your ears to pickup different features of the music. You have to learn to identify different chords in the music and the changes in them even as a song is played. You should be able to distinguish between the major and the minor chords.

A deep interest in the type of music that is being played helps in quickly learning its finer points. Tuning the guitar so that it matches with the song you want to play is the next step. This step requires a little practice and patience and individual string may have to be tuned to match each individual note of the song.

With these basic tips, you can learn to play the guitar by the ear through regular practice. It is not as hard as it sounds as.

James D. Thompson has spent his entire life playing guitar, and has helped thousands of people masterandlearnguitar.com learn and master guitar. More on masterandlearnguitar.com masterandlearnguitar.com

Unused Photographic Equipment

Have a look through your photographic equipment. Have a good look. Check through your cameras. Check through your lenses. Now the tripods, filters and flashguns. Check everything.

I’ll bet there’s things there you don’t use. But more – I’ll bet there’s things there that you have never used – apart from when you first bought it.

Or worse – was “given” it. For the equipment we are the least likely to use is the equipment we are given. People mean well, and you should never look a gift horse in the mouth. But they don’t understand photography like you do. And they understand digital photography even less.

This year, I was given a lovely book on landscapes. beautifully illustrated and written by someone that is respected throughout the world in landscape photography. The problem was, it was exactly the same as the copy sitting on my bookshelf. I also got some cheap lens wipes and a few other trinket accessories. I will never use them.

And don’t go thinking that it’s what “others” buy us that goes unused. I have plenty of stuff that has laid pretty much idle since the day I bough it all. Fisheye converters, extension tubes. I own three flashguns, only one of which I ever use. I have several tripods and several cheap lenses. I don’t kniow why I don’t part with them.

I’ll bet you have stuff that you never get out let alone use. Can you part with it? Possibly, but for me, having this equipment tells me something about how I graduated in photography and how I have developed. But like an old favourite teddy bear, some things just have to be kept.

…. apart from my latest gifts from Aunt Audrey.

Eric Hartwell runs the photography resource site theshutter.co.uk theshutter.co.uk and the associated discussion forums as well as the regular weblog at thephotographysite.blogspot.com thephotographysite.blogspot.com

Faith Hill “Fireflies” Country Music CD Review

Country music super star Faith Hill has released her first CD in more than three years on the Warner Bros label entitled Fireflies.

This is her sixth release with each of the previous five being multi-platinum efforts, and nine country music #1’s under her belt. Oh and don’t forget about her being a multi Grammy Award Winner.

With a resume like the one just described Hill is clearly one of the biggest, and brightest stars in all of music. Not just country music.

Fireflies is somewhat of a return effort for Hill as she gets back to her country roots after experimenting outside the boundaries of country music on her last outing, Breathe.

I like Fireflies because of it’s high production value, and the focus of the collection is once again on Faith’s incredible singing voice.

The CD launches with a very vibrant tune in Sunshine & Summertime and from there proceeds to remind us that when Hill is in top form, as she is here, the quality of her voice is second to none.

Overall Fireflies is very easy to listen to and is what I call, must have music. I give it two thumbs up. Even the casual music fan will appreciate and enjoy Hills incredible vocal presentations provided here.

The standout tunes on Fireflies are Sunshine & Summertime [track 1], Like We Never Loved At All [track 7], and Paris [track 14]. My Bonus Pick, and the one that got Sore [...as in "Stuck On REpeat"] is track 5, Stealing Kisses. Very nice!

Release Notes:

Faith Hill originally released Fireflies on August 2, 2005 on the Warner Bros record label.

CD track list follows:

1. Sunshine & Summertime
2. Mississippi Girl
3. Dearly Beloved
4. Ain’t Gonna Take It
5. Stealing Kisses
6. Fireflies
7. Like We Never Loved At All
8. I Want You
9. Lucky One
10. Lucky One
11. We’ve Got Nothing But Love To Prove
12. You Stay With Me
13. Wish For You
14. Paris

Clyde Lee Dennis, a.k.a. SmoothLee is a life long music fanatic on a mission to “Soothe Souls Worldwide through positive messages and peaceful, soothing music”. A mission he accomplishes on a daily basis through his company smoothlee.com
SmoothLee Incorporated which operates the smoothjazz247.com Smooth Jazz Online Radio Network

Prize Ribbon: Hoghood [Neighbors]; A Poem

God knows how my neighbor managed to breed himself to Hoghood.
His great story to tell, being unhumanized and breaded:
Perhaps by luck he will keep his shrewd secret to himself.

In the same way he hopes I’m not like him: rude and self engrossed
Prize Ribbon Hog, I call him (slobbering down all he can)
He forgets: the desert never forgets nor forgives.

The maze of barns he must have lived though to get here
At night he ‘s a nuisance: girlfriend and gluttonies.
An ungrateful hunk of flesh, trying to wear a halo.

#1373 6/21/06, written at EP-Café, Lima, Peru

Note by the Author: I hate to be so harsh with my neighbors, but it seems in the past 35-years, no matter where I live, go, even in hotels and so forth and on, my neighbors are just as rude and engrossed with whatever as one blinded in a storm that they are living this period of time. What will they do when they get old and look back, often makes me think, they will still be blinded in the storm. This lack of consideration for your neighbor is becoming the norm worldwide. They wake you up at any hour and expect you to help them, not because they need help; help on such silly things that are not life threatening: TV antennas, etcetera. Most are users it seems. I even fear to get to know them to well, nowadays, where before it was a nice thing to say: “Good Morning (so and so)” now I try to sneak on by them, the cost to get to know them is to dearly. Now I got to do a computer check, down at the courthouse on them: they never tell you the truth who they are: to shameful I expect; they smile while knowing tomorrow they will rob your house, or pick your pocket, or god knows what.

See Dennis’ web site: dennissiluk.tripod.com dennissiluk.tripod.com

Blank Sheet Music

It is not possible to play or sing through memory for musicians who love to play an instrument or love to sing. Sheet music contains musical notes that are written for musicians to interpret. Musicians can write their scores and play them in an orchestra or band.

A blank music sheet has two formats, on which music can be written. Such music sheets are commonly used for piano and organ music. Two basic formats are treble staff for the right hand side and base staff for the left hand side. Treble staff is for higher notes, and base staff is for lower notes on the keyboard. Treble staff has music according to five lines present and is the base staff. However, both offer different key positions for a player. Notes in between the lines are represented as F A C E on the treble staff. Notes on the five lines are named Every Good Boy Deserves Favor. Notes on the bass staff lines are called A C E G or All Cows Eat Grass, and on the five lines they are represented as Good Boy Deserves Favor Always.

A blank sheet score may also have all kinds of notes, and tones that include sharps, flats and naturals. Flats range from one to seven, and sharps also range from one to seven. Naturals are used to disqualify the music if it has sharp or flat notes and makes it the natural form of music called C Major Scale. Music sheets also have variations that include Major and Minor depending upon the scale of music.

Most musicians use blank music sheets to compose music. Beethoven’s music sheet was recently auctioned for almost $300,000. The most amazing part of music played and revived over and over again is blank sheet of music.

z-SheetMusic.com Sheet Music provides detailed information on Sheet Music, Free Sheet Music, Piano Sheet Music, Guitar Sheet Music and more. Sheet Music is affiliated with e-MusicEducation.com Music Education Theory.

Why Should I Care About My Digital Camera CCD Sensor Size?

Everybody knows to check how many mega pixels their new camera has. Although more mega pixels does not necessarily mean better photos most people understand why mega pixels are important. One characteristic of digital cameras that many ignore is the sensor size.

Digital cameras capture digital photos. A digital photo is a collection of pixels. Each pixel has its color and intensity. When all these pixels are put together the result is an illusion of a photo. Pixels are captured by the camera using an electronic sensor known as a CCD. The CCD sensor is a silicon chip that is built of many tiny light sensors. When taking a photo each such tiny sensor measures the amount of light also known as intensity and some other attributes such as the color. Each such sensor results in one pixel and all the tiny sensors put together represent one digital photon.

This is very interesting to know – but why should you care? The reason is that there is a relationship between the size of that CCD sensor and the number of mega pixels that it supports. This relationship is important and has practical consequences. It is intuitive that for the same CCD sensor size, the more mega pixels the smaller each CCD tiny sensor is. The same is true if the number of mega pixels is fixed: the bigger the CCD sensor the bigger each tiny sensor is. For each CCD sensor size and number of mega pixel we can calculate the pixel sensor size.

The pixel sensor size is important and influences the characteristic of the digital camera especially in marginal light scenarios. Your digital camera sensitivity to light is directly influenced by the pixel sensor size. The bigger the sensor size the more light it can accumulate in a certain period of time. The result is that bigger pixel sensor sizes allow for faster shutter speeds at lower light conditions. In addition bigger pixel sensor sizes result in less noise captured by each such sensor.

In practical terms if you take two digital cameras with the same number of mega pixels but different CCD sensor sizes – the camera with the larger CCD sensor size will be provide digital photos that are sharper and have less noise. It will also be able to take digital photos in scenes that are too dark for the other camera. In normal light scenes the higher light sensitivity allows more range for changing the aperture and shutter speed and more freedom with getting different focus depths.

Bigger CCD sensors are more expensive. There are many reasons for that one of them is the lower manufacturing yield. For that reason cheaper pocket cameras use smaller sensors than high end digital SLR cameras. CCD sensor size also influences other optical attributes of the camera – for example the aperture needed in a specific scene changes as the CCD size changes. The depth of field is directly influenced by such aperture changes. To normalize optical figures many cameras manufacturers choose to normalize their optical attributes to the good old 35mm film (film can be seen as a sensor too, 35mm in size).

Ziv Haparnas is a technology veteran and writes about practical technology and science issues. This article can be reprinted and used as long as the resource box including the backlink is included. You can find more information about photo album printing and photography in general on printrates.com printrates.com – a site dedicated to printrates.com photo printing.

Star Trek: The Next Generation (Season 2) DVD Review

Nominated for 58 Emmys, including one for Outstanding Drama Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation fulfilled all the potential and promise anticipated of a long-awaited successor to the original 1960s series: Star Trek. Created by a former L.A. police officer, Gene Roddenberry, the Star Trek TV series morphed into a franchise famous for the unprecedented fanatical devotion of its audience. Lasting only three seasons during its original network run, Star Trek struck gold with its syndicated reruns, launching a number of motion pictures featuring the original cast as well as novels, comic books, collectibles, and reams of Star Trek-related memorabilia. Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) became the first TV series to follow on the heels of the original, and its success would spark the creation of three additional series – Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993), Star Trek: Voyager (1995), and Star Trek: Enterprise (2001). But The Next Generation remained the most popular spin-off. Despite new characters and new episodes, the mission remained the same as before – “to boldly go where no man has gone before…” And to continue the rich tradition of the Star Trek name – a mission Star Trek: The Next Generation accomplishes with relative ease…

Star Trek: The Next Generation takes place in the 24th Century, almost one-hundred years after Captain Kirk’s crew set out to explore strange new worlds. Capt. Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart – I Claudius) commands the USS Enterprise-D and its diverse crew of humans, cyborgs, and varying life forms. Accompanying him on his voyage is an entirely new cast of passengers and crew including Commander William T. Riker (Jonathan Frakes – North & South), Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner), Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton), Lt. Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby), Lt. Worf (Michael Dorn), Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden), and her son Ensign Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton)… Together, they struggle against numerous obstacles to carry out the mission of the USS Enterprise: “To explore strange new worlds… To seek out new life; new civilizations… To boldly go where no one has gone before!” This pioneering attitude, coupled with imaginative and brilliantly-produced alien worlds, provides Star Trek with its unique allure and special place within American pop culture – especially those episodes from the original series, widely regarded as the most popular of the Star Trek franchise…

The Star Trek: The Next Generation (Season 2) DVD features a number of exciting episodes including the season premiere “The Child” in which Enterprise crewmember Trois experiences an unexplained pregnancy as the Enterprise rushes to escape from a system wrought with a dangerous plague… Other notable episodes from Season 2 include “A Matter of Honor” in which Riker joins an officer exchange program which places him on a Klingon ship while the Enterprise must learn to deal with its own officer exchange participant, and “Pen Pals” in which strange earthquakes and tectonic activity upon the planet where Data’s pen pal lives prompts members of the Enterprise to get to the bottom of the mystery…

Below is a list of episodes included on the Star Trek: The Next Generation (Season 2) DVD:

Episode 27 (The Child) Air Date: 11-21-1988
Episode 28 (Where Silence Has Lease) Air Date: 11-28-1988
Episode 29 (Elementary, Dear Data) Air Date: 12-05-1988
Episode 30 (The Outrageous Okona) Air Date: 12-12-1988
Episode 31 (Loud as a Whisper) Air Date: 01-09-1989
Episode 32 (The Schizoid Man) Air Date: 01-23-1989
Episode 33 (Unnatural Selection) Air Date: 01-30-1989
Episode 34 (A Matter of Honor) Air Date: 02-06-1989
Episode 35 (The Measure of a Man) Air Date: 02-13-1989
Episode 36 (The Dauphin) Air Date: 02-20-1989
Episode 37 (Contagion) Air Date: 03-20-1989
Episode 38 (The Royale) Air Date: 03-27-1989
Episode 39 (Time Squared) Air Date: 04-03-1989
Episode 40 (The Icarus Factor) Air Date: 04-24-1989
Episode 41 (Pen Pals) Air Date: 05-01-1989
Episode 42 (Q Who?) Air Date: 05-08-1989
Episode 43 (Samaritan Snare) Air Date: 05-15-1989
Episode 44 (Up the Long Ladder) Air Date: 05-22-1989
Episode 45 (Manhunt) Air Date: 06-19-1989
Episode 46 (The Emissary) Air Date: 06-29-1989
Episode 47 (Peak Performance) Air Date: 07-10-1989
Episode 48 (Shades of Gray) Air Date: 07-17-1989

About the Author

Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a thedvdreport.blogspot.com movie review site where you can find more reviews like this one of the thedvdreport.blogspot.com/2006/02/star-trek-next-generation-season-2-dvd.html Star Trek: The Next Generation (Season 2) DVD Review.