COFFEE KLATCH FRIDAY

Welcome to the first COFFEE KLATCH FRIDAY!
                                                                       ~The Goal ~ 

To have a community of bloggers that are friends, that can come together once a week with ideas and support for one another. We all blog for different reasons. For some, it is to be heard, for some it is to share, and for some it may be acknowledgement. After all, many blogs are just your thoughts, feelings, and experiences ... that you share  ... and here it is easier. 

                                                                  ~The Format~

Each Sunday night I will post a couple of "get to know you" questions. After all, we look forward to having coffee with our best friends more than anyone else. 

I will also post a subject for that week, which could take any form. It could be a recipe, a craft, a tradition, a photograph ( I am a photographer), or just your thoughts on a subject. The reason to post on Sunday. I want to give you time to think about what you want to share. Many times I want to post on a meme and don't really have the time to say what I want ... the result... I don't post.

So, please join me! 

                                           This weeks questions:

(The first is not really a question, but a request)

Please tells us a little about your self ~ where you live, about your family, about your job, what you enjoying doing ... share what your best friend might know about you.

THEN

                      1. What is one thing you enjoy about where you live?

      2. What is one thing that you don't enjoy about where you live?

This week's subject:

Please share a recipe that you would bring to a COFFEE KLATCH at a friend's house.

Please remember to grab the COFFEE KLATCH FRIDAY button!

If you don't already know, My name is Vicki. I live in the Northern , Mid-Western part of the U.S., also known as the Great Lakes Region. I live between a medium size city and a medium size town ... kind of out in the country.  I have lived here for 7 years.  Before that I live outside a Major city in an area 125 miles south of where I live now.  My husband and I met when we were Senior's in high school. We have been married for 33 years and have 3 grown children. Our youngest, who will be 20 next month , moved into her own duplex  (renting with friends) last week-end. So, I guess that means we are "empty nester's" now,  The only one left at home is our 13 year old Rottweiler/ German Shepard, Tillie.I have worked for a Nationally known Photography Company or over 4 years. I am a School Photographer. Besides photography, I enjoy, cooking, traveling and life!
1. What is one thing you enjoy about where you live?
I love all the wildlife that we see on a daily basis. We have Deer and Wild Turkey going through our yard daily. On occasion,  we see Red Fox , Coyotes, Eagles, Owls, and Hawks. Of course we have plenty of squirrels, rabbits, and birds.

2. What is one thing that you don't enjoy about where you live?
We live in a small community. I miss the variety of shopping and restaurants  that we had when we live in a larger community. Here, if something you want goes on sale, you better get to the store and get it ... cuz it won't be there for long.
RECIPE:HASH BROWN CHEESY POTATOES
1- LG. BAG FROZEN HASH BROWNS1/4 C. DICED ONION1 tsp salt1 tsp pepper2 tsp garlic powder2- 8oz. cans of Cream of Chicken soup1- 16 oz. tub Sour Cream1 stick of butter (8 TBS), melted4 C. Shredded Cheddar Cheese
Mix the first 8 ingredients together in a bowl.Add 2 c. of Shredded Cheese, mix well.Spoon into a well greased baking dish.Top with remaining cheese and bake at 350 until cheese is golden and bubbly, about 40 minutes.

~ COFFEE KLATCH FRIDAY~

Are you ready?? Have you spread the news to your friend's? I sure hope so!

WELCOME  to the 1st COFFEE KLATCH FRIDAY!

~The Goal ~ 

To have a community of bloggers that are friends, that can come together once a week with ideas and support for one another. We all blog for different reasons. For some, it is to be heard, for some it is to share, and for some it may be acknowledgement. After all, many blogs are just your thoughts, feelings, and experiences ... that you share  ... and here it is easier. 

~The Format~

Each Sunday night I will post a couple of "get to know you" questions. After all, we look forward to having coffee with our best friends more than anyone else. 

I will also post a subject for that week, which could take any form. It could be a recipe, a craft, a tradition, a photograph ( I am a photographer), or just your thoughts on a subject. The reason to post on Sunday. I want to give you time to think about what you want to share. Many times I want to post on a meme and don't really have the time to say what I want ... the result... I don't post.

So, please join me! 

 This weeks questions:

(The first is not really a question, but a request)

Please tells us a little about your self ~ where you live, about your family, about your job, what you enjoying doing ... share what your best friend might know about you.

THEN

1. What is one thing you enjoy about where you live?

          2. What is one thing that you don't enjoy about where you live?

This week's subject:

Please share a recipe that you would bring to a COFFEE KLATCH at a friend's house.

Please remember to grab the COFFEE KLATCH FRIDAY button!

Looking forward to your post on Friday!

Adding a Button from another blog

This Friday I will be posting a new meme. To link up to my page I am asking that you grab the COFFEE KLATCH FRIDAY  button on my side bar. To do this all you have to do is highlight and copy the code in the box under the button.
Start in the upper left hand corner of the box, left click on your mouse, and drag your cursor over the code. It should turn blue. Then press the CTRL and C keys on your keyboard at the same time. Go to your post and change the format from Compose to Edit HTML, just above this box, upper right hand corner. At the end of everything that is written there, right click and paste. Click back to Compose and the button should be at the end of your post. Click on it to make sure that it brings you to COFFEE KLATCH FRIDAY.

~It's in the details ~Thematic Photographic 164

It's been awhile since I have been able to participate in Carmi's Thematic Photographic meme. My choice for this theme is something we see so often, but never really up close. It's a part of our daily lives and  for the most part, we basically take for granted that it is there. How often do we stop to really observe it's shape ... it's phase?

For more "It's in the detail's" examples  click on over to Written, Inc. 

~ COFFEE KLATCH FRIDAY ~

A casual social gathering for coffee and conversation.

I'm trying something new again and I hope you will join me! I have been thinking about this for a few months and have decided it's worth a try.

I know many of us participate in memes. For me, it is an easy way to post something and to get to know other bloggers. I hope this "want to be" meme will become more. 

~The Goal ~ 

To have a community of bloggers that are friends that can come together once a week with ideas and support for one another. We all blog for different reasons. For some, it is to be heard, for some it is to share, and for some it may be acknowledgement. After all, many blogs are just your thoughts, feelings, and experiences ... that you share  ... and here it is easier. 

~The Format~

Each Sunday night I will post a couple of "get to know you" questions. After all, we look forward to having coffee with our best friends more than anyone else. 

I will also post a subject for that week. Which could take any form. It could be a recipe, a craft, a tradition, a photograph ( I am a photographer), or just your thoughts on a subject. The reason to post on Sunday. I want to give you time to think about what you want to share. Many times I want to post on a meme and don't really have the time to say what I want ... the result... I don't post.

So, please join me! 

The first Coffee Klatch Friday will meet on Friday, Oct. 7th.

Remember to add the button from the sidebar to link up.

Good Morning Blog-land....

I feel like I have been away forever! Because of my job (school photographer) I have had very little time to post anything since the middle of July. However, I do peek in a few times a week to see what you all are up to. Normally, about this time in the season, things are starting to slow down a bit, but this year, the company that I work for bought out a competing company, so there is still plenty of work to go around. Even though some of my days will still be rather long, I am going to try to re-enter blog-land and get the posts going again. There have been so many times that I wanted to post things but lack of energy and need of sleep has prevailed.

Not only am I ready to start blogging again, but I'm also ready to re-connect with you... my blogging friends!
Hope to hear from you soon!

~ Vicki ~

You is Kind ... You is Smart ... You is Important ...

Have you seen the movie or read the book " The Help"? "The Help" is a story about life in the 60's in Jackson, Mississippi. A Story about "colored" maids who are  employed by white families. It's about a young woman, (Eugenia) Skeeter, who wants to become a novelist and takes a bold step, convincing  a colored maid, Aiblieen, to help her write a book.

At first, Aibileen is reluctant, after all this IS Mississippi, in the HEAT of racial tension.  No white person asks a maid what they feel or think ... they mostly expect a maid to do what they are told. The questions can be hard to face. EXAMPLE: What does it feel like to raise white children when someone else is raising your child?

I do applaud this movie for showing the differing attitudes of the white families that employed the maids. Some viewed their maids as possessions. One such person in the movie is Hilly. Of course, Hilly thinks she is superior to EVERYONE. But it just seems strange to me that you would employ someone to take care of your children, clean your house, fix your meals and then try to ban them from using the same washroom (wc) you use.  (Go see the movie ... you'll understand what I mean.)

Then there is Skeeter, who LOVED her maid. Cicely Tyson plays Constantine( I love this choice as Cicely has played many rolls as strong, black women in American history), the maid who raised Skeeter. The adult Skeeter sees the value and love that the maids provide to the families they work for. To Skeeter, Constantine is family.

Minny is another maid who decides to help Skeeter with her book after Hilly fires her for using the inside bathroom during a rain storm. Minny is the maid you just want to love! She is feisty, outspoken, bubbling with personality ... but knows her place. 

Another important character, at least to me, is Celia. She is not a colored maid. She is not from Mississippi, but she IS an outsider and is treated so. Poor Celia ... all she wants is to be accepted by her Southern neighbors. She thinks that the best way to do this is have a maid. Her relationship with her maid is one of friendship ... appreciation ... she also sees the value that is added to her life through her "Help".

I must interject, that I am glad that in the end ... Hilly gets what she deserves. I am glad that Minny made her a pie. I will tell you right now... I was thinking something else was in that pie ... but not what Minny put in it. In Hilly's case ... I believe in revenge.

I also am glad that Aibileen stood up to Hilly. There are way too many Hilly's in the world... pushing people around.

" The Help" will make you laugh ... "The Help" will bring tears to your eyes. It will give you a VERY small gimps of what life was in Jackson, Mississippi, USA in the 1960's. Hopefully, it will make you think of how to treat others ... of how people, regardless  of race or creed effect our lives ... just by being there.