Rich, I take all of my pictures in high resolution then use the free program Irfanview (http://www.irfanview.com/) to resize my pictures and save them as a reduced version (usually 640x480 size which results in files of about 140 KB. This is the perfect computer screen size. Then I upload these to my photobucket account and cut and paste the tags into my email. Hope this helps. Adam: We live in Wilmington NC and I am lucky to have a well so irrigation has not been a problem. The back of the house has a raised, very large patio --was cement aggregate that I have laboriously handpainted to look like brick (see separate album on that adventure!) Finished it finally last week too. It is such a large area, it was just too visible and the painted bricks help it to stay down viaually. We have been here for 8 years and I started the garden from scratch 7 years ago, but since I throw everything I have at each new adventure, I tend to overdo things as you can see. Thank you for all the kind words about my garden, etc. (you can tell I love it can't you?) The vine around the porch (both front and back) is Confederate Jasmine an evergreen for us with the most intoxicating scent when in bloom during May. I do have lab lab on the white garden screen in some of the photos. Love Daffodils, do not enter any just love having them. Thanks for all the comments on my photography too, if you take enough pictures, you are bound to get some good ones and with digital photography I take thousands! Instant gratification and no film to buy/develop. I am on my third camera now. I have so many more great photos, not all of them are on the photo site. I love to make CD slide shows with music and send them to my sister in Massachusetts (New Bedford) since she is not able to visit and can tour the garden too. Glad to share it with you. Pauline

Movie Maker has a 60 transitions, 28 video effects. You can add titles before, during, or after a video clip or still picture. It is VERY easy to add music and narration. You can do both if you want. It is super easy to edit the lenght of the song to your pictures by dragging the line on the "timeline". My best advice is to add the pictures, then titles. Then add the transitions/effects. Add your music and/or narration last. If you start moving things around - you can mess up your transitions, etc. Also - it is a good idea to decide how long you want each still image to be shown before you start. It is easier to have it like you want it from the beginning. Go to TOOLS->OPTIONS and set the length of time to show a picture, and the time for a transition. I set mine at 10 seconds per picture and 1.75 for a transition. You can always lenghten the time you want to show a certain picture by dragging it longer in the timeline. I don't know of any other programs that are this easy to change the lenght of images - usually it is only one time for all. Have fun - these are a blast to make. But give yourself some time to work on it :)

Looks like retro modernist is making a full comeback. 20's-30's Art Deco, 50's-60's MCM and 70's Disco. Love the way the decorators re-interpreted the styles and made them look fresh. Nice to see that English Traditional still has its place. Love the wallpapers!

When my mother died, I had a slide show made of pictures that started with one of her and her mother when mother was only a few months old. Others, as she grew up, married, had us kids, and several events with friends, were all put in chronological order. The show was set up in the entry of the church...and there was no music. Didn't need it. Her cousins, friends, and their children all enjoyed seeing pictures of themselves much younger and having fun. Music would have drowned out their remarks that celebrated mom's life.