The STUFF Sisters
S. Sloane Simmons and Casey Simmons
Sisters and business partners sharing life's stuff....
Shortly after Christmas my daughter and I went camping in coastal California. It was peaceful. It was also nice to be outside (although a bit colder than we had wanted) all day, every day. We spent most of one day on this beach.
It was the perfect way to spend a day.
A couple of days ago I posted this blog. When I came across this image today, I thought it was a great addition to the stacking stones images.
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This past November, I found myself unexpectedly and briefly on the beach…
This past November, I found myself unexpectedly and briefly on the beach in Montauk, New York, for a couple hours. My friend and I came across some stacked stones. I think stacked stones are magical. And I have played with stacking myself.
These unexpected temporary sculptures are the combination of an artist’s desire to create something beautiful and some gifts of nature. Which makes them magical to me.
I took these photos with my phone with the Instagram app. I dig Instagram and would love to see your photos, too. So…find me…caseysimmonsloveswaves and let’s become Instagram buddies.
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Just two or three days ago, I moved the geraniums from their roost outdoors to their winter home indoors. I never thought I would be one of those people who harbor plants indoors, but I can’t break myself of this color.
Just two or three days ago, I moved the geraniums from their roost outdoors to their winter home indoors. I never thought I would be one of those people who harbor plants indoors, but I can’t break myself of this color.
I can’t imagine why.
They spent the winter with us indoors last year and brightened the days. Especially the days I spent in the kitchen at the table near them. Slippers on. Magazines at the ready. Child and husband still sleeping. The light flooded in from the south and made the pinks pinker. Or maybe that was just my mood adjusting.
These photos were taken in June before the summer battled them into not blooming much until late August. Both of us tired and fatigued, I watered them and waited. They gave me a grand fall, and I look forward to a bright winter.
If you have a summer favorite you bring indoors, I’d love to hea
In a few of these anecdotes, the telescope saw limited initial use and then it was simply incorporated into the home’s décor—gathering dust in a corner. It became obvious to me that what the family could have benefited from more would have been a spotting scope. And, in all of the cases, the spotting scope wasn’t even on the purchase radar. By default, everyone thinks the telescope is the best way to explore the heavens and it truly is, but the spotting scope presents a great and versatile alternative. Let’s look at the buying choices between spotting scopes and telescopes so that, if you are in the market for yourself, the family, or a space-exploring enthusiastic youngster, you can get something that everyone will enjoy and something from which all will enjoy a great deal of use.
Before we dive in: if you arrived here knowing you want a telescope, but are unsure what type to get, click on over to our telescope buying guide and enjoy the view!
TL;DR
Spotting scopes offer unmatched versatility and durability for primarily terrestrial viewing (think birding) and some astronomical viewing, here you can get the best spotting scope under 500. Telescopes give you a superior view of the heavens, but are less portable, less durable, and slightly more difficult to use than a spotting scope.
Portability
While there are certainly small and portable telescopes, the spotting scope is relatively lightweight and designed for use in the field. Many come with “C-thru” cases (or they are available separately) that protect the scope’s body from wear and scratches while allowing you to use the scope, try the best spotting scope under 300. Larger telescopes can be boxed up and taken out into a dark sky area—often the big telescopes will be transported in two or three separate boxes—they are definitely not designed around portability in the same way a spotting scope is designed.
r about it.
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I wrote recently that I am pretty smitten with Instagram. Here is my second Instagram photo blog. These images are from our summer vacation to the beach in Florida. Sorry it took a while. My life kind of ran amok recently.
I wrote recently that I am pretty smitten with Instagram. Here is my second Instagram photo blog. These images are from our summer vacation to the beach in Florida. Sorry it took a while. My life kind of ran amok recently.
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I am totally hooked on Instagram. I am a visual person. I guess that is pretty obvious to anyone who has been to STUFF or has ever met me. So, I believe Instagram was made for…
I am totally hooked on Instagram. I am a visual person. I guess that is pretty obvious to anyone who has been to STUFF or has ever met me. So, I believe Instagram was made for ME. And all my visual friends…which is pretty much everyone I know.
Earlier today I was experiencing the Friday blahs, and I thought, “I don’t feel like working. I just want to sit around and play with Instagram.” Here is where the big fat idea bulb went off….
This is my first Instagram image blog. I have this ingenius plan to post them anytime I feel like being inspired at my own store. Enjoy.
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I tore this image from a magazine last week. Sadly, I don’t remember which magazine, so I can’t give credit to them for featuring this nifty room.
I tore this image from a magazine last week. Sadly, I don’t remember which magazine, so I can’t give credit to them for featuring this nifty room. I pulled it because I really like the wave painting.
I would have wanted the bench to face the painting, but often that doesn’t work in homes. I often have that challenge in my home.
I would like to own a piece of this artist’s work. Maybe I will come across the artist one day.
Meanwhile, I will just have to enjoy having this in one of my many scrapbooks.
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As part of our spring break and in honor of the lovely spring weather we have in Kansas City right now, my daughter and I planted a handful of seeds.
As part of our spring break and in honor of the lovely spring weather we have in Kansas City right now, my daughter and I planted a handful of seeds.
We were on an outing to get a gasket for our stove – which they didn’t have – and found ourselves shopping the spring seed displays. I picked up three packets. She picked up two.
When it was time to check out, she said she wanted to buy the two packets she picked with her own spring break money.
While driving home, I explained that the seeds would grow perennial plants and explained what that meant. Her response was, “That is amazing. I bought more than one plant that will come back every year for only two dollars and thirty seven cents. Now, that was a good way to spend my money.”
I think we planted more than a handful of seeds.
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The holiday season brings out the best in me. Well, in my ability to handle many, many things.
The holiday season brings out the best in me. Well, in my ability to handle many, many things. As a self diagnosed “Type A Control Freak”, I enjoy this time of year. My only regret is that, with so many places to be and things to get done, I feel like I need more arms to hold it all together.
Which brings me to this photo:
I have very little time to read when my day ends, and reading is one of my favorite things in the world. My husband will account for the fact that, right now, there are very few minutes between the shower, me hitting the sheets, and me closing my eyes. Like everyone I know, my days in December are long, multi-faceted and demanding.
Two days ago, I found time to look through one of my favorite monthly treasures – National Geographic – and found this photo. It left me mesmerized and silent. Look at all the subtle colors. Look at the peacefulness.
I hope to feel like this in January. Contained. With all my tentacles in tact.
p.s. This photo must be credited to Jeffrey de Guzman. He captured it on a nightime dive in the Philippines. The octopus has found a place of rest inside a broken bottle. This little bit of magic was not part of an article but merely a favorite of the editors from photos received from readers. Check out December’s National Geographic Magazine here.
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For well over 30 years, I have driven past Bothwell Lodge and told myself – and my occasional fellow passenger – that I would visit some day.
For well over 30 years, I have driven past Bothwell Lodge and told myself – and my occasional fellow passenger – that I would visit some day. There was never time to stop on my mad dashes to my father’s lake house and its peaceful embrace. My return home on the Sunday nights of my past found me looking at it from the highway knowing it was locked up tight and holding firmly to its visitor hours.
Today was the day, however. We have had an amazingly lovely fall in Missouri, and a destination is always a good thing when you take off on a day trip with the ones you love. Even after sleeping in, the Bothwell Lodge was in our sights by 12:30 pm.
A friend of mine commented on Facebook, when I posted a few pictures, that he always imagined the King and Queen of Missouri lived there during his trips through this region in Mid-Missouri. The lodge does make that impression from the highway, but, when you get around to the other side, it looks like a large but quaint home. We took the tour from a young and informed tour guide who didn’t have to tell us that Mr. Bothwell wasn’t big on interior decoration. The furnishings were spare and ran to the utilitarian in most rooms. There were things to ooh and aah over – like the scale of the rooms, the wood used throughout the house, and the breathtaking views. The details in the home were what constantly caught my eye.
The best thing about today was being with the two people who love a road trip as much as I do: my son and my husband. We all needed a quick trip out of the city, and this fall day was perfection.
p.s. The Bothwell Lodge is a State Historic Site, and the grounds are even sparser than the interiors. Today the trees and their colorful bounty provided all the pomp and circumstance. We, however, provided the circus acts on the lawn.
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I have called myself a Summer Girl for many, many, many years. I always loved the heat. But I think age, wisdom and my outrageous power bills have brought me to me knees. I am now re-inventing myself as a Spring-Fall Girl. This is your offical notice. Please update all of your beliefs about me accordingly.
PS…This does not preclude my being a Beach Girl in any season. Weather and geography are two very different things.
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