Grandpa Kennedy’s Barn #WW

Good-morning, Kittens & Dawgs! Yesterday I learned of more sad mews. The 66-year old rock n’ roller, Tom Petty suffered cardiac arrest and passed away late Monday afternoon in Santa Monica, California. This morning’s mewsic dedication is a tribute to his memory. My prayers are with the Petty family, friends, and fans.

A new month is here, can you believe it? I’m ready for all things associated with autumn, aren’t you? Last month, I began sharing a series on barns and I’m continuing through this month. My father-in-law’s dad built this barn. The below photo, DH’s oldest brother shared with us many years ago.

The cool thing is this barn still stands on my in-laws’ property. My FIL celebrated his 94th day this year, so this barn is easily more than a 100-years old.

I took this picture in 2011 with my Canon SD880 point n’ shoot camera. All I did with my first image is to use Pixelmator to crop and add my copyright. I love this old barn!

Next, I took it through my iPad app Distressed FX to create a vintage style photo by using these layer options: “Lily” and “Juje” before adding a bird “Scattered” overlay.

In Brushstroke, another iPad app, I used “Washed W1”, Orange Paper, and bumped the Exposure creating a very warm, Autumn tone to the picture which I very much like.

The last photo-art project, I opened the Waterlogue app on my iPad using the very first picture once again selecting these presents: “Luminous”, “#10 format”, and paint lightness “Auto”. My copyright pretty much disappeared, so I uploaded the new image to my Mac to use Pixelmator for this final edition.

Each program offers something new to the picture and giving the viewer a different experience. Do you like one more than another?

I’m messaging my posts tenderly to find the right way to bring together daily memes in one spot. Joyce From Across the Pond hosts the mid-week Q&A session, Wednesday Hodgepodge and here are my responses.

1. Have you ever spent time on a farm? Tell us a little bit about it. Have you ever grown your own pumpkin? Been on a hayride? Driven a tractor? Milked a cow?

My grandparents had a small farm – garden, chickens, hogs, and a cow. I never milked a cow. It do recall watching my great-grandma mild their ole cow who spooked me. She was a hateful thing or so it seemed in my once child mind. No, I never grew a pumpkin but we accidentally grew some one year the bank side of our property where I always tossed the old pumpkins to decompass. This happened one year when I threw out a small uncarved pumpkin. The seeds planted itself, a plant sprung up, and flowers appeared but no pumpkins formed. It was kind of exciting. Oh yeah, I’ve been on a few hay rides back in the day before I realized I was allergic to hay. I always was sick after and I didn’t figure out until years later after being tested for allergies. lol

2. What’s something younger you would like about you now?

Everything. In my younger years, my self-esteem was low. I didn’t think I was pretty or smart, always living in the shadows of other gals. I wasn’t jealous or envious of these girls but I always measured myself to what I saw or thought I was seeing. In a young person’s eye the grass is always greener on the other side, right? By the time I moved into my late 20s to early 30s I grew into my skin purrfectly, liking things more and more about myself and these days I’m empowered with confidence and acceptance of who I am. I know my limitations but I also know I can do many things if I set my mind on it. I wish I could tell a younger me these things to speed this process up but there’s no such thing as time travel and if there was, would I really listen?

3. What are three things you’d like to do more often? Three things you’d like to do less often?

I need to do more often photograph, sketch, and create. Things I need to do less often are worry, caving, and trying too hard.

4. What’s on your nachos?

If I had nachos, then I’d throw caution to the wind and have the works – refried beans, spicy ground beef, sour cream, chives, tomatoes, cheese, and sour cream or guacamole. Yum, doesn’t that sound good?

5. What’s the most random thing in your purse or wallet? Does it need to stay there?

Everything in my purse is there by design. I hate large, over stuffed purses and only keep the necessities. Years ago, you might find just about anything in my purse but when it got so heavy to cause back pain I knew I had to do something to change this and shrunk my purse size and its contents drastically. Usually, when DH and I are running around town I do not even carry my purse. That’s so liberating, too!

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Years and years ago, I made lip balm with my daughters which was a lot of fun and the balm turned out really nice. In recent years I wanted to redo that same DIY project but I don’t know what became of my instructions so when I stumbled on a fellow blogger sharing her Burt’s Bees imitation Peppermint Lip Balm, I did a quick screen grab of the instructions and this summer I made my own. Are you interested? Check it out!

*I used Lorran Peppermint Oil I had on hand for candy making. The essential oil may have a stronger scent but I couldn't find an American made peppermint essential oil. It may be available but manufacturers aren't always forth coming with these details and it's not my job to the manufacturing country origin is the USA. Proudly list on your product - AMERICAN MADE!

Instructions

Melt beeswax, shea butter, and coconut oil in a double boiler or small glass bowl over a small pot of boiling water, stirring constantly until melted.

Remove pan from heat but keep over the still-hot water to keep the mixture melted.

Add essential oils, I started with 30 drops and increased the amount until I suspected it could be strong enough even though my it didn't smell too strong. I'm guessing I stopped after 40 drops but I think it could go higher. It's your call.

Use a pipette or a dropper to fill the lip balm tubes. Do this quickly because the mixture begins to hardened almost immediately after removing from heat.

Let tubes sit at room temperature for several hours (I cheated and placed in the freezer for 5 minutes that wasn't long enough but it gave it a good head start) until cooled and completely hardened before capping tubes. The final touch, I added a colorful, handwritten label noting the flavor of the lip balm.

Notes

Use an extra teaspoon or two of beeswax if you prefer a thicker, longer-lasting lip balm or slightly less if you want a smoother, softer lip balm. I opted for the extra beeswax with the hopes it would withstand the warmer temperatures should it get left in the car, which my tube has and it did quite well. It got a little soft but did not liquify.

The Amazon product links are NOT affiliates listed in the recipe but I did uses these items and I wanted to share what I found worked well for me.

To stay totally connected and in the loop of things on Curious as a Cathy, I hope you’ll join my email subscription service to get instant notification for new post additions. Tell your friends to join the fun and I’ll see ya around the cyber block. Keep your camera nearby coz there’s always a photo-op waiting to happen. I hope you’ll step back in time with me tomorrow with Throw Back Thursday!

Have a fototastic day!

Disclaimer: This is NOT a sponsored post. Pixelmator is my photo-editing software of choice and these others are fun cool apps I use on occasions with my iPad/iPhone. I have not been compensated in expressing my opinion or use of these products. I’m just telling you as one friend to another, so if you buy these or even click on the link then I won’t make one red cent. This is just one friend telling another.Save

Hi Cathy, love all parts of this post, but especially that the old barn is still standing – must have been built very strongly. I’ve made body scrubs, and bath salts before and have always wanted to try lip balm so thanks for sharing that recipe.
Have a good day.

I’m not sure what Grandpa Kennedy built the barn from but my FIL built their house primarily out of oak trees from their property which is solid! I’d like to make body scrubs and bath salts but I don’t have a good comfy tube for soaking in so until such time I’ll have to wait to indulge in thes DIY projects. Thanks for stopping by!

Thanks for stopping by Deborah. I’m just now seeing your comment because WP marked it as “Spam” and I almost mistaken it for junk until I noticed your email addy. I added your blog URL for others to find you easier. Thanks for visiting! 😉

That’s one of my top Petty songs as well. So sad to lose him so young. The barns are cool but I think I like the original best. Nachos without the guacamole or refried beans but everything else you list. Thanks for sharing it all!

I love those old scenic barns. My sister had one on her property that she and her ex had torn down. I hated to see it go, but they had no use for it and it was probably a breeding ground for vermin like rats.

The nachos with the works sounds okay if I’m really hungry and order nachos as a meal, but otherwise I’m a purist and prefer my nachos with only nacho cheese and jalapenos–preferably fresh sliced jalapenos.

Ok…that first photo is perfect for October becausea while story could be written about it. I find it spooky, mesmerizing and beautiful. The horses running out of the barn, the stuff in the foreground…really cool. Your picture of the same barn is great and I love all 3 but my fav is the second as it reminds me an impressionist painting. I grew up on a sawmill but we were surrounded by farms and I was good friends with the neighbour girl. I rode on a hay wagon and I milked a cow. I never grew a pumpkin though. I love the works on tacos except for the beans and halepino peppers. I love my strength and determination from when I was younger since I had to overcome a lot. I think I still have that:) it is a shock about Tom Petty…so many are passing away too young and I wonder if it’s due to their hard living when they were younger. I have no idea if Tom Petty was into drugs etc… when he was young.

Every time I hear about a celebrity death then I wonder if lifestyle is a factor. Some experienced rough beginning before they get it under control and others never get their lives under control. I don’t know if Petty was wild in his youth or not. I watched a clip where he spoke of wanting to spend time with his granddaughter. How sad that he can’t do that now.

Hi Cathy – I normally are pulled more to original shots with just a bit of adjusting with focus and brightness. I don’t do a lot of playing with the photos so I have to say I like the first one. But for fun…I love the others. I have never spent time on a farm until I dated a guy a few years ago. Although his was not a working farm I have to say I loved the pigs! Pot belly, 5 of them and they just wandered around the property! Haha

I do the typical touch ups from time-to-time, too. However, this year has been limited on photo-taking, so playing with archived photos has been a wonderful alternative. Pot belly pigs are kinda cute. It’s funny how some people keep these as pets.

Grandpa Kennedy’s barn is a beauty! It’s been more than a year since we’ve been home for a visit. We sure do miss the ole place but with DH’s eye problem then we don’t want to go that far from home. It’s too much stress for him since his poor vision makes him extremely nervous.

I haven’t heard of anyone in recent years doing hayrides but I know Cades Cove in the Smoky’s used to have one. Those were really fun but boy, it drove my allergies crazy and me insane until I figured out I shouldn’t do that. It’s sad to hear of legends in the entertainment industry passing. Tom Petty gave us some great mewsic! Thanks for stopping in for a visit and feel free to join my anytime!