Life Support for This Blog

children's play stack best shot
Originally uploaded by DallanQuilts

(If I don't post once in a while, the blog will disappear. So, I'm posting.)

Closing Up the Cottage

Just torches
Originally uploaded by abrinsky

To celebrate my 450th blog post here, I am closing up shop. I have four spin-off blogs now, and they suit me better. So Cloudcover Cottage is hereby officially boarded up. I have emptied the fridge, swept off the porch, and snuffed out the lights. Feel free to pick up a torch and poke around here all you like. When you are finished, come on over to Seven Ways Simple.

Hope to see you soon.

Thank you to abrinsky for sharing this photo on flickr.

Litla Kirkjan

Litla kirkjan
Originally uploaded by omarrun

A church for your Sunday.

Thank you to omarrun for sharing this picture on flickr.

By Popular Request: Posting How-To's

To post a video from YouTube:

Part One: (1) Double click on the video wherever you find it. This will take you to the video as posted on the YouTube website. (2) To the right of the video there will be two boxes with HTML text in them. One will be labeled "embed." (3) Right click on your mouse while holding the cursor over the embed text. Choose "select all" in the drop down box. The embed code will then be highlighted. (3) Right click again over the highlighted embed code and choose "copy" from the drop down box.

Part Two: (1) Go to your blog. (2) Go to where you make a new post. (3) Click on the tab at the top of the new post screen which says "Edit HTML." (4) Right click and when the drop down box appears choose "paste." The video should now appear on your blog. (5) Do a little dance.

To create a link to other places:

(1) Go to the blog or website where the item you want to link to appears. If it is at a blog, double click on the title of the specific post you want so that you get a page for just that post. If you don't do this, you will send your readers to the home page of the blog with its latest post, rather than the specific item you want them to see. (2) Right click on the address in the box at the top of the page and choose "copy." (3) Go back to your blog and compose your new post. Note that the new post page has an icon in the tool bar which looks like a green blob with horns. Don't try to figure out what this represents. This is fruitless. (4) Type your post as usual and then highlight the text you choose for a link by holding the left mouse button down while you drag it over the text. (5) Once it is highlighted, click on the green monster with horns and a box will appear. Delete the highlighted "http://" which appears in the box. (6) Right click over this box and choose "copy." Your link will now be in action when you publish your post. (7) Sing a happy song.


Of course, you need not dance or sing if these instructions don't work for you. In that case, please let me know, and I will try to do a better job of explaining. :0)

Sally wanted to say hello...
Originally uploaded by sally_monster

Thank you to sally monster for this picture. Take from it whatever meaning you come up with to make it applicable to this post. I just thought it was cool, so I used it.

Vintage Tacoma Garage

A big thank you to Stephen Cysewski for suggesting this lovely Tacoma garage to accompany the lovely cottage seen below. Be sure to check out his pictures here. They are also available at the Tacoma Public Library for you locals.

(You rock, Tacoma.)

Cottage FAIL

Simple is good, but let's not overdo it!

See more fascinating photographs of the 1970's Tacoma we have all tried to forget here. Thank you to Stephen Cysewski for putting his work online. (And thank you to Joseph for the lead.)

From 1978--Neal A. Maxwell Saw Our Day

The Cruise Ship Trombonist's Blog

Cabo San Lucas (Google Inter-Grouplet Offsite) - 348.jpg
Originally uploaded by Ian McFarland

Our favorite trombone player will love it if you visit his blog. He likes comments, too. Read all about his adventures at Scott's Happy Blog of Cruising and Awesome.



(Thank you to Ian McFarland for sharing this picture from Cabo San Lucas on flickr.)

Pictures from Home

As requested, here are some snapshots of the living and dining rooms at Cloudcover Cottage. I did not stage these in any way( as you will be able to tell). Now that I learned about some of what photographers go through to get good pictures of homes, I feel less bad about how pictures of my own home look. Not good, but less bad. So, here they are.

The old dresser is now in the living room. CD's are inside, toys underneath, Brio in the box on top with quilts to warm us while watching television. All of the toys are in the dining room, with cards and board games in the lower part of the corner cupboard.


We are ready to snuggle. We are ready to play.

Ilam

Ilam
Originally uploaded by kev747

A church for your Sunday.

Thank you to kev747 for sharing this photo on flickr.

Chatsworth House Gardens

Chatsworth House Gardens
Originally uploaded by kev747

Thank you to kev747 for sharing yet another beautiful photograph on flickr.

Castle Gardens

Castle gardens
Originally uploaded by kev747

Thank you to kev747 for sharing this photograph on flickr.

We Will Remember Them......

We will Remember them......
Originally uploaded by law_keven

Thank you to law_keven for sharing this photograph for Veterans Day.

Clean Kitchen

thrift score: the view from the window
Originally uploaded by jek in the box

The only thing I hate more than getting up to a dirty kitchen is . . .

cleaning up the kitchen before I go to bed!

How about you?

Thank you to jek in the box for sharing this picture on flickr.

Ross Chapin

Did I tell you that Ross Chapin is my favorite architect? Has been for years. His website is beee you ti ful. Here is a sampling of one of my favorite houses. I love the detailing in the woodwork in each of his cottages. I particularly love the decor in this one, as well.

I'm glad that more than one person at a time can visit a site. I don't mind the crowd. Let's all spend a few hours over there looking around, shall we?

Welcome, Christia

Thank you for following!

Dunchurch, Warwickshire

dunchurch 18102008-48
Originally uploaded by Walwyn

Thank you to Walwyn for sharing this picture on flickr.

Bradgate Park

Bradgate Park
Originally uploaded by kev747

Thank you to kev747 for sharing this picture on flickr.

A Photograph and a Silver Locket

A Photograph and a Silver Locket
Originally uploaded by Lightchaser

Thank you to Lightchaser for sharing this photograph on Flickr.

Joy in Kenya

A Kiva worker shares what Obama's election means to Kenyans.

Thank you to Boyznberry for sharing this photograph on flickr.

Caring and Sharing

If you have ever had the impulse to share of your bounty with a mother who has barely the means to care for her children, you will want to see this new website. Amanda Soule has added one more beautiful creation to the world. This time it's a place for caring and sharing.

Thank you to Prato9x for making this photograph available on flickr.

Foxton Locks

Foxton locks
Originally uploaded by Robert Silverwood

Thank you to Robert Silverwood for sharing this photograph on flickr.

Quilts Piled On

These were my bed covers this morning. One good thing about cold and cloudy November: I get to pile on the quilts.

Elder Marlin Jensen on Political Affiliations Among the Latter-day Saints

For your consideration . . .
I paid some money yesterday and got an official copy of the following from the archives of The Salt Lake Tribune:

THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE GOP Dominance Troubles Church; It hurts Utah, says general authority, disavowing any perceived Republican-LDS Link; LDS Official Calls for More Political Diversity

Author(s): DAN HARRIE THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Salt Lake Tribune Date: May 3, 1998 Page: A1 Section:

COPYRIGHT 1998, THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE The LDS Church, through a high-ranking leader, is making its strongest public statement to date about the need for political diversity among members, while expressing concerns the Republican Party is becoming the "church party."

" There is sort of a division along Mormon/non-Mormon, Republican/Democratic lines, " says Elder Marlin Jensen, a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. "We regret that more than anything--that there would become a church party and a non-church party. That would be the last thing that we would want to have happen."

Jensen said major national political parties may take stands that do not coincide with teachings of the 10 million-member Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but that should not put them out of bounds for members. . . .

Jensen . . . was designated by church officials to respond to The Salt Lake Tribune's request for an interview on the topic of partisan imbalance in Utah and among LDS members. . . .

In an hour long interview at the church's worldwide headquarters in downtown Salt Lake City arranged and overseen by LDS media-relations director Mike Otterson, Jensen discussed leaders' views about the seeming demise of two-party politics among members. Among the concerns he aired:

--The LDS Church's reputation as a one-party monolith is damaging in the long run because of the seesaw fortunes of the national political parties.

--The overwhelming Republican bent of LDS members in Utah and the Intermountain West undermines the checks-and-balances principle of democratic government.

--Any notion that it is impossible to be a Democrat and a good Mormon is wrongheaded and should be "obliterated." . . .

Jensen, who was called as a general authority in 1989, said high church officials lament the near-extinction of the Democratic Party in Utah and the perception--incorrect though it is--that the GOP enjoys official sanction of the church. . . .

"One of the things that prompted this discussion in the first place was the regret that's felt about the decline of the Democratic Party [in Utah] and the notion that may prevail in some areas that you can't be a good Mormon and a good Democrat at the same time," Jensen said.

"There have been some awfully good men and women who have been both and are both today. So I think it would be a very healthy thing for the church--particualrly the Utah church--if that notion could be obliterated." . . .

"There is a feeling that even nationally as a church, it's not in our best interest to be known as a one-party church," Jensen said. "The national fortunes of the parties ebb and flow. Whereas the Republicans may clearly have the upper hand today[1998], in another 10 years [2008] they may not." [!] . . .

Jensen said it is time for LDS members to take a broader view of political affiliation.
"We would probably hope that they wouldn't abandon a party necessarily because it has a philosophy or two that may not square with Mormonism. Because, as I say, [parties] in their philosophies ebb and flow," Jensen said.

"You know, the Republicans came very close last time to bringing a pro-abortion plank into their platform. That was maybe the biggest battle of their [1996 national] convention," he said. "Which shows that if you're a pure ideologue, eventually you're going to have trouble in either party."

"Everyone who is a good Latter-day Saint is going to have to pick and choose a little bit regardless of the party that they're in and that may be required a lot more in the future than it has been in the past. But I think there's room for that and the gospel leaves us lots of latitude."

(Italicized portions of the above were added by me.)

Wolff Patch Quilt

I love Nancy Wolff's fabrics. This quilt's colors were drawn from one of her works, which makes up the binding and part of the back. Thank you Ms Wolff.