Sunrise at My Cottage This Morning

You have to be fast to capture the beautiful color of a sunrise around here. It can change dramatically in the time it takes to find your camera and go outside. It's going to be a nice day getting up to the low 50s. I have some real estate showings this afternoon. Cross your fingers for me and enjoy the weekend.

Webster Likes Winter Too

You can always get warm in the winter if your human throws a wool blanket over you after you arrange the pillows the way you want them. You can't always get cool in the summer. Life is good here at the cottage. Have a great weekend. Goodnight.

Please Use A Bookmark

Folded over pages in books are another of my pet peeves.

WPA poster showing a boy ironing down the page of a book. Chicago, WPA art project circa 1936-40. Artist: Arlington Gregg. From the collection of The Library of Congress via

Are you using all of your crayons?

I need to use more of mine. Some are worn down to little nubs and others haven't been touched. I'm talking about the small box too. Forget the big one!

Bookcase with Dog Painting

I adore dog portraits and bookcases full of books. Do you personalize your home library shelves with other items too? via

Do you fully embrace winter?

I think this is hilarious. I almost never complain about the cold unless the power is off and the furnace doesn't work. But absolutely nothing brings me to my knees like the heat of summer. via

Cleaning Frenzy

I  don't know about you, but I'm feeling an intense cleaning frenzy coming on. I never did get a good job done before Christmas because of Piggy, the little white French bulldog that was my houseguest through the New Year. I pinned a site this morning with 25 DIY Green Cleaning Recipes for the Whole House. Now mind you, I said I could feel it coming on but it hasn't actually started yet. I photographed this pic from one of my books entitled Spring Cleaning, the spirit of keeping home by Monica Nassif. I'm off to do some marketing first remembering to take my own canvas totes with me. I need to pay some bills too. Life really is getting back to normal, isn't it?

A few things that bother or puzzle me . . .

Here are a few things I don't understand:

• Google+
• What am I supposed do when I get a new follower?
• How can I possibly follow back when the new follower has more than one blog? Which one should I use?
• I don't understand Google Friend Connect either. Is it the same thing as following?
• What is the best way to respond to comments?
• Why do my photos look so perfect on my Mac and so awful on my PC? Macs are awesome!
• Screens are getting smaller. Do my photos shrink when viewed on a mobile device?
• Why do I keep getting all the annoying emails from people who want me to say I know them on LinkedIn? I'm not on it.
• I'm not on Facebook either. Should I be?
• Why do people watermark their blog photos? I'm thrilled when people copy mine.
• Why do people publish incomplete posts requiring a 'read more' link? I usually delete these subscriptions from my reader.
• Why am I still in my bathrobe? Leaving now to get my day going. See you later.
• Note: a few of the things on this list were pet peeves.