Sherry & SLR8 thanks for that nice comment... My cats love the Butterflies, they are trying to chase after them, but no success.. I was outside again today without my camera and of course the Monarch and 2 Zebra SWT's had to show up..I will def. take my camera with me again after work tomorrow afternoon. :) Greetings Susanne(SUE) I am the glad the slideshow is working...

Somehow my review of the Astors Beechwood Mansion Victorian Christmas tour (Newport RI) we went on a few weeks ago wasn't posted here. I'll try again (I do remember writing it!): See link below for details of the tour. No advanced tickets are required just show up 15 mins before the time to buy your tickets. The tour consisted of 20 minutes that you can tour the various rooms on your own. In each room was a costumed guide that recounted information about the people, furniture, history, etc. Each person kept in character as they answered questions. The various guides in each room had fascinating stories but we felt rushed to see all the rooms as it had been quite a long time since we visited the mansion. Each room was decorated with Christmas related decorations. Next all were invited to the ballroom where the costumed guides put on a show for 40 minutes. The show consisted of piano playing, singing Christmas carols, dancing, playing popular parlor games of the time, etc. (all keeping with the time period of the house). Various audience members participated in all the events except the initial Christmas carols. So if you are shy avoid sitting in the front rows and you won't be asked to participate! Some comments: The Christmas decorations were much simplier than the Newport Mansions decorated for XMas. We did feel rushed touring the rooms in the initial 20 minutes portion. I think if we had more time for this it would have been better. The Xmas songs and performances by the guides were very good (voices/music etc.) The price of an adult ticket was $20 for this hour long event (so kind of steep for a for-profit enterprise!). I would say if you are more interested in decorations touring the 3 Newport Mansions for $25 total (Breakers, Marble House and Elms) would be the thing to do. So while the tour wasn't totally bad, it wasn't the best either (average). Here is a link that might be useful: Astors Beecwood Christmas Tour - Newport RI

Jane I checked Photobucket to see what you were doing when you said you "put" photos in Slideshow and Organize. I've never done either. When I open one of my albums, there is the link right on it (upper right side I think) that says organize and you just click and drag your photos around IN your album till you have them the way you want. They automatically save themselves when you return to your album. When I post the link to an album, folks can choose to view it picture by picture or click the slideshow link instead. So that's why I never the checked any other way to do things. From what you are going thru, I'm glad I didn't. LOL. hugs and hang in there, Karen

Sandi...oh your candycane table is sooooooo pretty. I love the candycane candle holders, you are so creative. It looks great...all the little touches that you coordinated are really neat. For all the comments on my table - Thank you so much. I'm working on several more for December and I will share another one next week. dd-yes the christmas duck sits on a cake pedestal I found at Traget. It is supposed to mimic a tree stump but I thought the rings that usually signify the age of a tree could pass for pond ripples too...lol twomonths - please don't hesitate to post. It's all about sharing and learning from each other. I think soon I'll do a post about my decorations just a couple of years ago. I've learned sooooo much from everyone here. bourbon-you are too kind...to be honest it doesn't come easy too me and it takes me MANY shots to come up with something I like. I'm still learning to play with all of the different settings on my camera.