Wintry Skies from the Beach in Southern California

Make Time for Small Reflections

Mostly
13 Photographs to Share

thirteen cloudy skies
from the beach & neighborhood
with a few Palm trees ;-)

Click to embiggen for better viewing
normally I leave
pics alone as I create
mosaics ... today

I played just a bit ...
not sure which I like the best
what's your opinion?

below two versions ...
'straight out of the camera
or 'tweaked' with 'smartfix' ?

Straight out of the camera

... same view after 'smartfix' in PSE6

Click for others participating in Midweek Blues,
(Almost) Wordless Wednesday
and Thursday Thirteen, Sky Watch and Haiku Friday
I've shared Blue Skies & 13 Random Reflections - 2009
at Sacred Ruminations too

Small Reflections ... Smile Back

Thought for Today
"What is important is to keep learning, to enjoy challenge, and to tolerate ambiguity. In the end there are no certain answers." Martina Horner

2009 in Review ... courtesy of Jib Jab

Make Time for Small Reflections

Small Reflections ... Smile Back

Thought for Today
"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense." Ralph Waldo Emerson

Naturally 'decorated' for the holidays

Make Time for Small Reflections

Photographed last week
walking in a local park
right here near the beach

Click to embiggen for better viewing

Click for others participating in Ruby Tuesday this week
Small Reflections ... Smile Back

Thought for Today
"One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this: To rise above the little things." John Burroughs

Weekend Reflections at South Coast Plaza

Make Time for Small Reflections
Camera Critters & Pet Pride are at
Happily Retired Gal this week
Click for Sky Watch

Peace filled reflections
captured as I walked around
South Coast Plaza mall

Click to embiggen for better viewing
and for others participating in Weekend Reflections

Small Reflections ... Smile Back

Thought for Today
"Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man." Benjamin Franklin

Merry Christmas to All

Make Time for Small Reflections

Thursday Thirteen and Haiku Sky Watch Friday

are in the next post, but I want to wish
all who celebrate a very ...

Hope Santa visited

while you were sleeping

and left you presents ...

drank 'tea' that was steeping

munching on cookies

you left just for him

(he has all year to

'weigh in' & get thin)

but had a schedule

last night to go
around the world

with 'gifts' don't you know!

This Christmas morning

I hope you'll remember

the reason we celebrate

every December.

Happy Birthday Jesus

As I did last year, I've shared another version of this song
at Happily Retired Gal with precious Anne Geddes baby photos
and one of my newer favorite Christmas songs
at Sacred Ruminations.

Small Reflections, Smile Back!

"May the spirit of Christmas bring you peace,
the gladness of Christmas give you hope, and
the warmth of Christmas give you love."
Anonymous

Thought for Today

"I sometimes think we expect too much of Christmas Day. We try to crowd into it the long arrears of kindliness and humanity of the whole year. As for me, I like to take my Christmas a little at a time, all through the year. And thus I drift along into the holidays - let them overtake me unexpectedly - waking up some fine morning and suddenly saying to myself: 'Why, this is Christmas Day!'" David Grayson

Multi-tasking with more recent photographs ...

Make Time for Small Reflections
Scroll down for Haiku Friday & Sky Watch
Mostly
13 Photographs to Share

The 3-story tree at Crystal Court
in South Coast Plaza is always delightful!

Click to embiggen & for others participating in
Midweek Blues, (Almost) Wordless Wednesday
and Thursday Thirteen (the other 7 photos are below)


walking across the
long connecting bridge I snapped
a few sky vistas

Click to embiggen for better viewing
and for others participating in Sky Watch and Haiku Friday
and to see 'watery fountains' inside South Coast Plaza

Small Reflections ... Smile Back
Wishing all who celebrate
a safe & joyous
Christmas!

Thought for Today

Oh! lovely voices of the sky
Which hymned the Saviour's birth,
Are ye not singing still on high,
Ye that sang, "Peace on earth"?
Felicia Hemans

Requesting HELP while sharing Christmas Cheer

Make Time for Small Reflections

I hope you're enjoying the holiday season!

If you're caught up with everything and have time to play, I'm just a little jealous. I've encountered a frustrating 'snag' with my HP Photosmart 6180 'all-on-one' printer and haven't been able to print the Christmas Cards I created to send to family & friends this year.

After successfully reconfiguring it to access my newly 'encrypted' router, I encountered messages to replace two ink cartridges (yellow & magenta) which I did, but now when I try to print I'm told I need to replace the yellow cartridge or print in black only. I've tried three new yellow cartridges ... all to no avail.

When I print a 'test page' all the colors including yellow print just fine so there's obviously a 'glitch' in the messaging system or between the printer & computer.

I've talked with Staples 'tech support' ... discovered my printer is 5 days out of the extended warranty I purchased 3 years ago but the technician did his best to help me trouble shoot ... then referred me to HP's web support where I get an HP Chat error message that I've tried to copy & paste here, but some of the HTML codes aren't accepted by the Blogger editor so I've deleted the message in order to publish the post.

At the HP Support Forum I found I was not alone ... apparently a number of folks have experienced the same issue but I see no answers there, and I'm at my wits end. If anyone out
there has experienced similar issues, I'm open to suggestions about what to try next (short of buying a new printer or buying cards to send this year).

At the moment, I'm thinking New Year's cards may replace Christmas Greetings from me since I've missed the Monday deadline to get them in the mail in time for delivery before the 25th.

... and now on to happier thoughts!

I received this in email and decided to pass it along
with a reminder to have a safe celebration
on Christmas Eve ...
IF YOU SEE A FAT MAN ...

Who's jolly and cute,

Wearing a beard and

a red flannel suit,

And if he is chuckling

and laughing away,

While flying around

in a miniature sleigh,

With eight tiny reindeer

to pull him along,

Then let's face it...

Your eggnog's too strong!

Click for others participating in Ruby Tuesday this week

Small Reflections ... Smile Back

I've created this award because
finding comments when I log on does
'Make My Day' ... I know activities
of the season take our time, so these
comments left the last few weeks deserve
special recognition! It's reserved
for YOU who have commented in the
last three weeks. Feel free
to enjoy and pass the gift along
to those who create in you 'a song'

Addendum - 3:45pm Tuesday, 12-22-09

I appreciate all your suggestions and figured I'd add an update ... just because. I plan to send email once the problem is resolved ... one way or another.

FYI - before posting my plea I had tried a number of things including 'Powering Down, Disconnecting, Waiting for 30 seconds then Reconnecting' ... after which I was again able to print a test page that shows everything is working properly (including the Yellow cartridge), however the error message appeared immediately following the test print ... sigh!

I suppose replacing the printer (as Ron W & others suggested) is the simplest fix and I may wind up doing just that because it's still giving me the same error message about needing to replace the Yellow cartridge even though it's new and it will no longer allow me the option of printing in Black only. The frustrating thing is that it's just 3 years old and was working fine until this happened, others who experienced the problem were able to resolve it w/o replacing the printer, and it just seems WASTEFUL on so many levels to this 'Dutch' gal raised to be prudent with money & resources not to mention sensitive to environmental issues.

Initially I was heartened to learn that others who experienced this problem were able to resolve the issue by following the steps below found after a Google search:

"Hold the * down while pressing & releasing the # key to reveal a prompt to 'Enter Special Key Combo' which is the numbers 1, 2, and 3 pressed sequentially ... yielding a support screen R0631M. From there I pressed the right arrow key a few times until I reached the System Configuration Menu where I pressed OK and got a 'Hardware failure status' message ... pressed OK to CLEAR then Cancel to continue."

Alas ... for me the error persisted ... so unfortunately this did NOT resolve my printer problem and I continued to seek a solution.

Next I spoke on the phone with Katie at HP Tech Support who was quick to inform me my printer is out of warranty and suggested I buy a new one, but when I pressed the issue assertively but politely ... she finally emailed me instructions identical to information in the Owner's Manual. Following them made no difference.

After trying each of the steps suggested by visitors learning more than I ever wanted to know about various HP printer menus ... I uninstalled the HP software ... downloaded the newest drivers from HP.com ... reinstalled the drivers & my Photosmart C6180 printer all-in-one ... but am still getting the same message and the printer won't turn off until I unplug it.

Sheesh! What a wasted day ... sigh. Methinks I'll take Molly for a walk to clear my head ... but thanks again for dropping by to offer suggestions and/or commiserate. Hope you all enjoyed the rest of the holiday humor & graphics.

Thought for Today
"In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christians called it 'Christmas' and went to church; the Jews called it 'Hanukkah' and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank. People passing each other on the street would say 'Merry Christmas!' or 'Happy Hanukkah!' or (to the atheists) 'Look out for the wall!'"
Dave Barry, "Christmas Shopping: A Survivor's Guide"

Merry RUBY Mosaic of Christmas Critters

Make Time for Small Reflections

Happy Holidays
from Molly, Ms Kitty and
me ... they will return

hopefully next week
but today have consented
to take a back seat

to these neighborhood
holiday critters ... don't they
all look quite festive ;-)

Straight out of the camera above
and Poster Edges below

Click to embiggen for better viewing
... for others participating in
Camera Critters
Mosaic Monday
and Ruby Tuesday too
If you've already seen THIS Ruby Tuesday post
I've shared another at Happily Retired Gal ... just because ;-)
This week I've also shared Blue Monday Mosaics at
Happily Retired Gal and Sacred Ruminations

Belated addendum
Reading comments I've
noticed many visitors
are 'confused' by the

'tumbleweed' critter
representing a 'snowman'
(pictured on the left)

... on the ledge at right
is Humpty Dumpty sitting
high up on a ledge

Christmas at the beach
here in California
isn't ever 'white'

so we improvise ...
I forget sometimes that folks
need explanations ;-)

Small Reflections ... Smile Back

Thought for Today
"And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more." Dr. Seuss

Reviving one of my earliest T-13s for the holiday

Make Time for Small Reflections
Still dealing with some
connectivity issues
described yesterday

... doing what I can ;-)

Two You Tube Clips
and Eleven Links to Videoclips
of Performances by Straight No Chaser
(and a few more for good measure)

If you've not heard this group, you'll want to. SNC is an all male A'capella group that creates & shares unique performances. Enjoy!

For slow or choppy online videos,
try the following tips from Melissa:

• Click the "play" button.
• Once the video starts to load, click the "pause" button and let the rest of the video load.
• If you watch the status bar at the bottom of the video, (the bar with the pointer that tells you how far into the video you are) you can see the bar filling up.
• Once the status bar is full and the video is loaded, click "play" again and the video will usually play through much better.

This will work for most online videos regardless of how old or slow a computer is. The key is to wait until the video has fully loaded before attempting to view it. Try it!

1. 12 Days of Christmas


2. Carol of the Bells


3. Hi-De-Ho (the original 1996 group)

4. Any Dream Will Do

5. Stand By Me

6. Love the One You're With

7. Allentown

8. I Don't Want to Be

9. Insomniac

10. Bless the Broken Road

11. Superhero

12. This is How We Do It

13. Sings Africa

And if you haven't had enough yet, here are 6 more followed by general information about the group!

14. at the Cubs

15. I'm Coming Home

16. Worlds Apart

17. Comedic Concert

18. This Love

19. Don't Stop Believin'

About Straight No Chaser
Official Website with Member Lists by year
Photos and Video Montage of the original members
In the Studio recording Last Call

Facts about Straight No Chaser from their My Space Blog:
"In October 1996, SNC began by performing at charity events and sorority functions on the Indiana University campus. In less than two years, they were touring nationally, opening for acts like Lou Rawls and Aretha Franklin, performing at Chicago Cubs and Sox games, the Brickyard 500, and even New York's Carnegie Hall. They have released seven CDs in their ten years together, and have sold over 40,000 albums. You can read more about them at their website."

If you enjoyed these songs ... you might like the rest:

Straight No Chaser Links (Set 2)
Click for others participating in Thursday Thirteen
If it's cold where YOU are, you might also enjoy
13 new Sunsets at the Beach at Sacred Ruminations

Small Reflections ... Smile Back

Thought for Today
"I don't sing because I'm happy; I'm happy because I sing."
William James

Bolsa Chica Wetlands after the Rain

Make Time for Small Reflections

12:35pm addendum on Wednesday, 12-16-09
I've been dealing with
connectivity issues
this morning ... Vista

will not recognize
my 'encrypted' wireless
signal ... dunno why

or how to correct
the problem and so I have
logged on with the old

ancient Dell laptop ...
slower than thick molasses
visiting will be

limited for now
until I can figure out
just what has gone wrong

ALMOST

Today I backed up
all my photographs on a
WD Passport Drive!

Outdoor Watery
We'nesday mosaic at last ...
photos from My World

I'm headed to class
so will visit tomorrow
rather than tonight ;-)

Straight out of the camera above
Poster Edges below

Click to embiggen & for others participating in
Watery Wednesday, Outdoor Wednesday, My World
Midweek Blues and (Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Small Reflections ... Smile Back

Thought for Today
"There is nothing like a dream to create the future." Victor Hugo