Christmas reduced to a 4 minute imovie! Stop Action Movie Animation example!

I have heard that time passes for an individual in relationship to our size. If you are a small child you need to nap more because the morning seems like eight or ten hours. A grown adult, on the other hand, can go for 12 hours without sleep. Christmas past is forgotten when you are young because it is such a long time between the holidays. Grown-ups feel that gifts need to be purchased in January because "Christmas is just around the corner!" No explanation...it is just the way it is!

I feel that acceleration of time mostly with my technology toys. Things change so fast it is hard to keep up. Year before last we started the tradition of taking pictures of our family adding one person at a time...we called it "Build a Hug!" The lead up to the final photo was as fun to look at as the final picture. The first year we even had to crop one grandchild in because he was not in the photo frame! Sigh!

Final Xmas Video

2009

This year we set the computer up and videoed the whole process from beginning to end. Little grandchildren passed out packages, each family member stepped into the middle of the floor to be the center of attention and then we all voted to rip open our present ALL AT THE SAME TIME! We knew that we were going to be able to see the video over and over and watch different people with their prizes. Then we took a video of the "Build a Hug", this year starting with my husband and I.

Below is a video my daughter-in-law put together of the family putting up their Christmas tree in their home in China. In this case they set up their Mac laptop and let it run the whole time then edited out my son taking down the lights to rehang them and other oops incidents.

We could have used a website SAM Animation (create stop action movies) if we had chosen to and the computer would have taken a picture every 10 seconds for the whole evening. Either way the 3 hour party is reduced to about 4 minutes! Here is a movie of Maddie making cookies using the SAM Animation application. The video was posted on vimeo because You Tube is often blocked in China. For me it is just a world blogophere reality check!!!

Maddie Makes a Cake from Andrew Torris on Vimeo.

I occasionally have trouble wrapping my mind around what we can do today if we own a computer. The very fact that I am here talking to you out there in the blogosphere still gives me chills.

This grandma will go take a nap now...Christmas makes me feel like a child again!

Smile!

b

Five Little Ducks...stories played out!

The children's song about the little ducks leaving the nest to fly away has always been one of my favorites. Every mother has seen their babies fly away and rejoiced. Life comes full circle. Animals live that same cycle. Babies grow up. Birds leave the nest. Life goes on. So when the three ducks show up every year near my patio I am not surprised. But I am puzzled that it always seems to be the same three. Something just doesn't seem right. It appears the one did not fly away at all. Five little ducks Went out to play Over the hills and far away. The mommy duck went "quack, quack quack," Four little ducks came swimming back... And then Three Two and One. A drake, a female duck (a hen) and a not quite a drake but still not a hen gather here on the 5th green of the golf course. She leads and the other two follow along obediently. They eat, sleep, and guard each other. Each and every day this time of year they come. I have not named them. Jinxing them would be very pos...

How to be a 12 Month Snow Bird

Vacation Rental in Mexico I live around snowbirds 6 months of the year. I have heard those people say that they all want to live the "snowbird" lifestyle when they go home. But it just is not possible. They are isolated and cold. Social activities with friends and beautiful weather are greatly missed when they return to the realities of their "real" life. One couple I visited with lately returned to Florida this morning where they own a home. The woman is a nurse and works in the summer. They are not going home until May this year. It is too cold in Michigan in the spring so they are hoping to extend their good weather season by simply staying away. Besides that they love their Florida lifestyle a lot. Last week I visited with a woman that lives the snowbird lifestyle year around. No going home to the Midwest in the spring. They essentially vacation 12 month out of the year. And I thought their solution for avoiding unpleasant weather and keeping their lifestyle in...

If You Build It, They Will Come...Maybe!

It all began with a antique window in front of a local shop. It had been painted yellow, the glass was loose and all of the hinges and latches were gone. My old friend Betty would have approved...she would tell me it was just broken enough and damaged enough for me to drag it home. When my dear husband saw it, he wondered what he was meant to do with it. Imagine his surprise when he was presented with the plan to build a small neighborhood library exchange. It wasn't the first time he had heard me ask "How hard could it be?" Now it is six weeks later and we mounted the darling little library exchange on two posts in our front yard. I love it. Now the question is, will they come or has the time passed when people actually read something made of paper? Our association president stopped by and admired the box but left after telling me that he only read books on his Kindle. We will see. Would you bring a book and take a book? b+

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