Author: Lynn Severson

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Memorial Day Celebrates our Freedoms with our Soldiers’ Valor and Bravery

Memorial Day Celebrates our Freedoms with our Soldiers’ Valor and Bravery as they have worked to protect the very freedoms we enjoy every day.

This weekend, we honor our men and women, who are active or retired in the United States Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard and other military units; as well as all of the Veterans who live and those who have sacrificed their lives to protect our freedom with our Memorial Day Holiday.In an ever changing world, the United States has come to rely on our Military men and women to protect us to live in a free country. Since the Boston Tea Party about 250 years ago, we have defended our shores and I am grateful that we are able to do that.

Both my Grandfather, who was a WWI  Veteran, and my Father, who was in the Army in WWII, helped fight for our rights and freedoms. I am very proud that they were willing to step up and protect USA citizens for the freedoms we enjoy.  This soldier, Earl Dibbles Jr., holding our flag in support of our beliefs, was in the Middle Eastern desert in 2014, helping us maintain our freedom.

Some of those freedoms we enjoy are being able to choose what we do, where we live and have the freedom to speak our thoughts. Many people don’t realize what that really means for us in the USA. It means we can get educations, work in fields where we are passionate about serving others, have our own beliefs, and live where we choose to live.

We’ve grown to enjoy the fruits of our labors, when we decide where we will live: in a bustling city, or along shorelines, in the mountains or on the plains. In Colorado Springs, where I live, many of us have gorgeous mountain views of America’s Mountain – Pikes Peak.  We have the freedom to view these beautiful sights from our homes and we are able to save precious energy by using beautiful Hunter Douglas window shadings, like Silhouettes®, allowing us to have a view, energy protection and partial privacy all at the same time.

I use my Silhouettes® effectively to maximize my view of Pikes Peak, efficiently monitoring whether the vanes are open or closed to save energy and enjoy the privacy. When the fabric vanes are open, little pesky gnats and various insects become trapped inside the openings as they are attracted to the light. They need to be removed as soon as possible so they won’t damage the fabric. We at Camily, LLC invented and patented a solution, our CamilyWand™ Sticky Bug Removal Tool™ to easily and safely remove the bugs. That protects the owners’ investment and preserves their beautiful views, while saving energy as well. Our CamilyTip is sticky, so the pests may be easily removed without damage to the shadings. There are many blinds on the market that benefit from our CamilyWand™, both for bug removal and for other “cleaning tasks”.

As you prepare to celebrate Memorial Day Weekend, Camily, LLC wishes you a very safe and happy holiday!

 

 

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Loves Kindness, Energy, Sweetness Conquers All

Loves Kindness, Energy, Sweetness Conquers All in life: Friends, Spouses, Family, and Relationships that share love in many ways.

Valentine’s day is traditionally one of the most popular days to celebrate love. Often it is the romantic love that is celebrated then, but other love is important to remember: love of friends, family other than spouses, people who have influenced you during your life, and others who make an impression on you. Universal love is something kind to share.

We’re seeing heart inspired gifts in the stores, magazines, and on television to help us express kindness and love to our friends. The caring, loving, kindness and compassion is just as important to share with your favorite people. We’re able to do that every day besides February 14th. We’re able to give much to our loved ones during the year in all sorts of ways: little things, treats of needs in your homes or travel for a break from your work life are some loving gifts we can share.

At Camily, LLC, we give our readers and friends the gift of unobstructed views through our window shadings like Silhouettes® and similar shadings by offering an easy solution to remove bugs and debris that lodge in between the vanes. They are some of the most prestigious products on the market which disperse light throughout the room when they are covering the window in the open position. Debris and small bugs often find their way into those openings, and should be removed as soon as possible. We invented a tool to just that: our CamilyWand™ Sticky Bug Removal Tool™. Readers are safely and easily able to remove the offending pests when they find them in their shadings.

Hunter Douglas makes many styles of blinds and shadings, (such as the Silhouettes)® like Nantuckets™, Pirouettes®, Luminettes®, Vignettes®, Soleras™ where our tool is helpful. Other companies have similar offerings where our CamilyWand™ is perfect for use. Should you be fortunate enough to have some of these types of shadings or are planning on purchasing some of them, you will enjoy having our CamilyWand on hand for the shadings and retrieving light weight items and debris from inaccessible places.

We at CamilyWand™  hope you enjoy your friends, Valentines Day and parties over the coming weekend.

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Cranberries, Turkeys, Pilgrims Gratefully Feast at Thanksgiving

Cranberries, Turkeys, Pilgrims Gratefully Feast at Thanksgiving, as we celebrate the holiday next week.

Our celebrations begin next week as many of us plan and may travel to visit friends and relatives as we gratefully count our blessings on Thanksgiving.

A Cranberry Harvest photo shown here was taken when my Mom and I visited the Glacial Lake Cranberries marsh in October 2010. We took a tour on the Berry Bus to go to the reservoirs during the harvest. This photo shows them moving the berries towards the conveyor belts, and loading them into the trucks for the beginning of their journey to our tables. The President of Glacial Lake Cranberries is a girlhood friend of mine, who lived not far from me in Wisconsin Rapids, Mary Brazeau Brown. She and her husband Phil are very active in the community and have a wonderful operation growing delicious cranberries. It was a treat to learn the history, how the fruit grows and is then harvested.

Cranberries are grown in sandy soil, and have been a staple of our country since before the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock in the 1600’s . Their springtime blossom reminds of us of the sand cranes which live near this marsh. The name cranberry comes from the word ibimi – or bitter berry, later changed to crane berry (because of the blossom shape), and then cranberry. As they grow, they are a green plant with the berries. When it is time for harvest, the areas are flooded with water, the berries are carefully harvested with machines in the water, then shipped to processors on their journey to our tables. Many growers supply the Ocean Spray cranberries, which are available in many forms. Cranberries are a unique fruit, with unusual harvest processes, giving us wonderful berries to enjoy year round.

As we watch the fall harvest of cranberries, with the cooling temperatures, many of our readers are thinking of their holiday entertaining. We’re preparing our homes for Thanksgiving, organizing, cleaning, preparing a festive table and getting ready for our holiday time to gratefully celebrate our blessings.

Many readers have Hunter Douglas Silhouette®, Nantucket™ and similar window shadings and blinds in their homes, that have collected bugs and debris between the vanes over time that need to be removed. For that chore, we have developed and market CamilyWand™ Sticky Bug Removal Tool™. It is a simple extendable tube with a perpetually sticky tip which attaches to the pesky debris, easily removing it from the Silhouettes® or other blinds. It is an all purpose tool that will remove light weight objects form inaccessible places, such as ceilings, behind furniture, between tight places and many other places.

When the offending bugs and debris are removed, our readers will have a preserved view through their shadings. Their rooms will be ready for families and friends to enjoy the holidays with bug free views.

We at CamilyWand™ are gratefully wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving!

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Ghosts, Goblins, Bonfires Scare us on Halloween!

Ghosts, Goblins, Bonfires Scare us on Halloween, with our annual tradition of Trick or Treat time.

Children go to homes, door to door, ringing doorbells, asking for treats. The homeowners will give them a little treat, or as tradition has it, the children would play a trick on the homeowner.

A Bonfire with flames looking like a witch riding on a broom was at the Annual Fyr Bal Celebration in Ephraim, WI on the Shores of Green Bay, during this past Summer Solstice in June. My friend Diane Peissig-Elquist, proprietor of Wilson’s, an ice cream parlor and restaurant across the street, graciously shared her image with me – while we had our usual burgers, cherry pie and cherry shakes there.

It’s a sight to behold. Many bonfires line the shores of Eagle Harbor in a traditional Scandinavian celebration to drive away the “wicked winter witch.” It happens in mid June to celebrate the beginning of summer – and is known as the Fyr Bal. June 21, 2014 was the 50th Anniversary of the annual gathering.

Readers and clients who live there are able to watch the celebrations from their homes at sunset. Many of them have homes overlooking Green Bay, and see the bonfires through their Silhouette® window shadings by Hunter Douglas. They are blinds which allow a view through the sheer front and back of the blind, when the vanes between the sheers are in the open position. So they see the bonfires lining the shores at sunset while being in the comfort of their homes. The Silhouettes®, Nantuckets™ and Pirouettes® are some of the offerings which allow insulation, partial privacy and a preserved view at the same time.

Preserving that view and enjoying the gorgeous views Mother Nature offers us daily, is why so many readers have them in their homes. The side openings do attract pesky bugs and debris, as the light draws them into the shadings. After many years or being asked “how to remove the bugs”, we invented our CamilyWand™ Sticky Bug Removal Tool.™

Our CamilyWands’™ perpetually sticky CamilyTip, when kept dust free and clean, easily grabs the insects, allowing for safe easy removal. So many readers love our tool and are so grateful that we offer them our CamilyWand™ and CamilyTips.

We at Camily, LLC wish you a safe and fun filled Halloween this weekend!

 

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Brilliant Fall Colors Warm our Hearts

Brilliant Fall Colors Warm our Hearts during late summer and early autumn. The changes in the air when our temperatures fall, the leaves putting on their most brilliant colorful show prepare us for the cooler temperatures and cuddly warmth during fall days.

How fortunate we all are to live in places where we are able to enjoy such beauty and fall bounty as we move from summer to winter. The changing colors in our landscapes, wherever you live, are an awe inspiring gift from Mother Nature, which we treasure as we move through our daily activities. So many scenes are so beautiful, I feel that fall is a glorious season to enjoy.

Many of our readers are preparing for cooler temperatures. We are having a balmy fall in Colorado this year, but we also remember blizzards in October in past years! I hope to move some plants to other, more appropriate areas in the garden this weekend, as we will enjoy temperatures in the high 70’s. Unheard of summer like weather here in late October.

As we prepare for the coming cooler temperatures, we are spending more times in our homes. One friend was preparing for a nor’easter storm in her New England home this week with a beautiful fire in her fireplace. I enjoy that feeling, too. In my home I have Silhouette® Window Shadings from Hunter Douglas on 2 large windows flanking my fireplace. The wood is stacked and ready to light for that first fire of the fall. It will happen soon here, even though we’ll have summer-like temperatures this weekend.

Having some warm days will allow me to keep the windows open and get some last minute fall cleaning chores completed. The Silhouettes® tend to collect bugs and debris in the open spaces between the vanes, and I plan to take time to remove them with our invention, the CamilyWand™ Sticky Bug Removal Tool™. Because our CamilyTip is perpetually tacky when kept clean, it will be wonderful to use our CamilyWand™ to get the pesky insects out of the Silhouettes® ( or Nantuckets™), so I’ll be able to preserve my view while enjoying fires and snowfalls to come.

We hope you will be able to catch up on those fall tidying up chores in your homes and offer our CamilyWand™ tool to help you reach inaccessible places, to remove debris and light weight objects. You’ll find it wonderful to have in your home improvement selection of tools.

At Camily, LLC, we wish your a wonderful fall season, feeling gratitude for the upcoming bounty we’ll enjoy.

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Beautiful Hot Air Balloons – Up & Away

Beautiful Hot Air Balloons – Up and Away at our Colorado Balloon Festival on Labor Day weekend 2013.  Annually balloonists from all over the world ascend from Memorial Park in Colorado Springs, and make a splash and dash into Prospect Lake with the Rocky Mountains in the Background!

It is a thrilling sight to see the crews fill the balloons, turn on the propane and ascend to the skies in front of Pikes Peak and Cheyenne Mountain. My children were young when the festival began; I recall getting up at dawn, taking a picnic breakfast and visiting the festival many, many times. So many eager pilots brought their balloons to attempt the splash and dash into Prospect Lake before they headed off on their adventure. This past year, I was invited to casually join a chase team to meet the balloon when it landed. We didn’t get to fly because it was too windy at 10 mph. I never realized it needed to be so calm for the balloons to fly successfully.

Sometimes the wind blows to the north and they fly over my home. It is so still in the morning, you can hear them turning on the propane burner, to keep the balloon up in their air. The styles and designs we’ve seen over the years are phenomenal. The Energizer Bunny comes to mind and recently a Happy Face flew the skies over Colorado Springs.

Being at Memorial Park is a thrill, but it is also nice to be at home and check them out through the windows in the warmth of the house. It’s pretty cold that early in the day – blankets, jackets and hats were a must when we went to the park.

To get a good view, it’s great to have your windows clean …. and many readers have Silhouette® shadings on their windows. It allows a filtered view and insulation simultaneously. Viewing balloons through the sheers is a special way to enjoy the outside and be warm inside. Because the light is so attractive, bugs tend to make their way into the side openings of shadings like Silhouettes®, Nantuckets™ and similar types of blinds. Our readers have requested a solution for the bug issue. So we invented our CamilyWand™ Sticky Bug Removal Tool™ to easily  and safely remove debris and bugs from the blinds, as well as removing lightweight items from other inaccessible places. Your shadings and homes will be more beautiful when you have and use our CamilyWand™.

We at Camily, LLC wish you a wonderful fall season, being safe and enjoying nature!

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SCHOOL DAYS, SCHOOL DAYS

School Days, School Days, Dear old Golden Rule days~~~ announcing the beginning of fall to come! Late summer and early fall are always exciting times for children and young adults who are heading back to school.

 

It’s a time to get new school supplies, maybe some new clothes and to begin registering for classes, sports and other extracurricular activities. Parents are taking their children to the bus or to schools or driving them to campuses for orientation as we all seek to learn more. It is an exciting time for learning and social activities. As young children, my brothers, sister and I used to buy one new “outfit” that we would possibly wear the first day of school, maybe new shoes and of course all of the new supplies we needed. We went “down town” in Wisconsin Rapids and later Madison to buy our clothes and shoes in anticipation of all the great things that would be happening as we entered a new grade.

At our homes, our parents would be making  necessary transitions  from the summer time laziness and outdoor activities, to more structured schedules and preparing for the fall and winter holidays to come. Organizing our homes from the casualness of summer to the entertaining times of the fall is renewing and refreshing. We’ll have football parties, Halloween preparations and all of the decorating we enjoy at Thanksgiving and the Holidays.

Our readers are tidying their rooms and homes as the seasons move towards fall and winter. We are updating our interiors and the outsides of our homes in preparations for celebrations, the fall and holidays. This interior “tidying” includes our window treatments, blinds and window shadings. Many readers have Silhouette® Window Shading and similar products dressing their windows. They give you 3 options for viewing – a clear view when they are in the headrail, a closed position and an open position when they are covering the glass. In the open position, there is a slightly filtered view of the outside along with insulation and some privacy. An amazing option.

I have directed many clients to the Silhouette® and similar shading options and they love them, as they have so many options and the light coming through the sheers is so iridescent. The light occasionally draws bugs and debris into the vane openings. So we invented and manufacture our CamilyWand™ Sticky Bug Removal Tool™ to easily and safely remove the pests without hurting the shadings. With our tool, the views through the shadings are preserved, pristine and beautiful. As you prepare for your fall entertaining, our CamilyWand™ is a great tool to have handy for your shadings or to remove light weight particles from any inaccessible places in your home.

We at Camily, LLC wish you a very enjoyable and safe start to school and fall.

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I See the Moon, The Moon Sees Me

I See the Moon, the Moon Sees Me. Shining through the leaves of the old oak tree –  are lyrics to an old favorite song some of us know.

The rest of the first verse is “Oh let the light that shines on me, shine on the one that I love.” We used to sing our parents’ old favorites when we were traveling in the car on family vacations. She’ll be Comin’ round the Mountain when she Comes is another favorite about a train ride. Recently I sang that to my Grandchildren when they were driving their little cars around the family room. Had to come up with a lot of interesting verses to keep them entertained!

Summer and early Fall is my favorite time of year, and part of that is because of the beautiful Super Moon or Perigree Full Moon (shown in the image here) that we see for 3 months in the summer. The first was on July 9th, and the second one was August 10th. The last Super Moon this year is September 9th. I love the light, day or night, and these moons appear to be 30% brighter as the moons’ orbit comes closest to the earth then. The resulting largest apparent size happens when the elliptical orbit has it’s narrow sides nearer to our planet, from our viewpoint. The Moonrises from the East and the Moonsets over Pikes Peak are even more impressive when we have the Super Moon.

I’m enjoying the views of the Super Moon this summer while driving through town and when I’m relaxing in my home. The moon appears so large as I look at it through my Silhouette® shadings. The window shadings give me a filtered view when the vanes are open as they cover the glass. So at night, I can see the moon with the shades down, as they give me insulation. It is a great way to have partial privacy and see outdoor lights during the evening and spectacular views during the day.

The light opportunities are definitely an attraction for me. They also attract bugs and allow debris to be “caught” in the vane openings. We invented our CamilyWand™ Sticky Bug Removal Tool™ to solve that problem. It easily and safely grabs pesky insects with its sticky CamilyTip, lifting them easily from the fabric, so our readers are able to keep their shades like new. It works on many Hunter Douglas and other companies’ blinds, protecting views and investments. In addition, using our tool for reaching other inaccessible places is a valuable option for removing debris during your home cleaning chores. We know you will find our CamilyWand™ to be a useful tool to have on hand.

We at CamilyWand™ wish you a safe enjoyable end to the summer days!

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Rainbows Beautifully Color, Light Stormy Summer Skies

Rainbows Beautifully Color, Light Stormy Summer Skies, merging with a tornado on the horizon during a summer storm. This amazing image captures light in the rainbow and the wind energy of the storm in this stunning photo.

We all have opportunities to see beauty in nature: the amazing prism effect of light and rain mixing together to form rainbows, or the raging wind forming the funnel clouds of tornados during hot summer months. This image with the rainbow starting to join the funnel cloud at the bottom, is especially unique. Mother Nature provides us with these wonderful views, which we should treasure as we move through each day.

Many of our readers have discovered a way to enjoy these gorgeous happenings from inside their homes when their window shadings are covering the glass, and they can see outside with the filtered views through Silhouette® Window Shadings by Hunter Douglas. These products give insulation when covering the glass, yet the sheers with the horizontal vanes allow the outside views to be preserved at the same time. These qualities are wonderful for bringing the outside into our homes and at the same time saving energy.

As we enjoy the light and the views through the Silhouettes®, we often find little gnats and bugs who have made their way into the vane openings from the side. Clients and readers both need a solution to remove the offending insects. We invented the CamilyWand™ Sticky Bug Removal Tool™ to remove the bugs and debris easily and safely, to protect the shadings and preserve inspiring views from homes and offices. It’s extension pole with our perpetually sticky CamilyTip does the trick , keeping your Silhouettes®, Nantuckets™, Shangri- Las™ and many other shadings in great shape.

Our CamilyWand™ has other interesting uses as well. It will retrieve items and debris from a myriad of inaccessible places, and is helpful for bug removal in the garden. One reader successfully removed aphids from her delicate rose petals with our tool – so it is very useful to have in your home when the need for it arises.

Camily, LLC hopes you have a wonderful summer, enjoying the longer sunlight hours!

 

 

 

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Summer Time to Enjoy Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days

Summer Time to Enjoy Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days gives us time to do relaxing things by balancing our work and breaks in school times with outside recreation and vacations.

Relaxing times are in order for everyone as summer is here. In the US, we’ve ended our school year, families are going on trips and vacations and taking a break from school days. Our schedules allow more flexibility and temperatures make it fun to enjoy the outdoors. We’re enjoying our sporting events, either with our children or those ball games and practices.

The garden always calls me, especially in the summer. We hear the birds and see wildlife here, our flower and vegetable gardens are growing and providing us with beauty in our homes, and the outdoors is calling us to be active. Water fun is in store for the rest of the summer, whether it be swimming, boating, canoeing, rafting or fishing, it is always refreshing and invigorating.  Many of our readers have back yard ponds, brooks and waterfalls. It’s wonderful to enjoy them from our homes with all the summery greenery surrounding them.

As we look through our windows to see our landscapes or seascapes, our readers are able to maintain UV protection in our homes and see their views at the same time by seeing outdoors though our Silhouette® shadings as they cover the glass. If the shadings have managed to collect bugs and debris in the openings, our views become unsightly.

Because there is a need for keeping our shadings, we have developed and patented our CamilyWand™ Sticky Bug Removal Tool™. It is an extension pole with a perpetually sticky tip, when kept clean, that grabs anything in it’s path. It reaches inaccessible and hard to reach spaces: high, behind furniture, and other odd places, picking up debris and insects. Hunter Douglas makes several products where our CamilyWand™ is helpful in removing the pesky critters.

Our goal is to help you get rid of the problem before it ruins your shadings, in case the bugs or moths get crushed during the operation of opening and closing the Silhouettes® or Nantuckets™. Keeping them free of bugs and debris is easy with our tool.

Camily, LLC wishes you a fun and carefree summer, enjoying your friends and families.

 

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Patriotism Sparkles in The Skies on July 4th

Patriotism Sparkles in The Skies on July 4th, for awesome, heartfelt celebrations of the United States Independence Day. Grilling brats and hot dogs for a picnic is an all time American tradition to celebrate the 4th of July!

We are blessed and grateful to live in a free country and use this day to share time with friends showing our patriotism. So many people have wonderful parties, cities put on amazing fireworks displays – some add music from their symphonies and philharmonics.

Whether we spend the holiday at our homes or go out with friends to celebrations in our communities, we like to see firework displays. Enjoying them through our windows at night is a thrill – and shouldn’t be marred by bugs in debris in your window shadings that allow you to see through them while covering the glass. Some window shadings like Silhouettes® tend to collect bugs and debris inbetween the vanes, which  need to be removed. We have developed a tool to do exactly that, our CamilyWand™ Sticky Bug Removal Tool for that purpose™.

At CamilyWand, we are enjoying our summer and wish you your happiest, safe 4th of July Holiday!

 

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You Scream, I Scream, We all Scream for Ice Cream

You Scream, I Scream, We all Scream for Ice Cream! On hot summer days, ice cream cones, shakes and sundaes are such a refreshing treat at home or on vacation.

On our summer vacation we ate lunch at this very ice cream parlor, Wilsons, in Ephraim, Door County, Wisconsin. Last Sunday I was enjoying a Cherry Shake and Cheeseburger at this ever popular ice cream shop, established in 1906, on my vacation there. We spent time with relatives enjoying the good life on the Green Bay shores – and even spent some time on the Lake Michigan shore beaches too. Great extended family time!

Often homes and the life style in Door County are published in shelter and vacation magazines. It is a life where time moves more slowly, people enjoy water sports, hiking, biking, boating and other fun summer activities. Many have vacation homes there, allowing escape from the hustle and bustle of city and business life. Even delivery companies move slower on this magical Northeast Wisconsin peninsula north of the city of Green Bay.

Since there are beautiful homes, there are also wonderful interiors with upscale furnishings. Many readers have installed the popular Silhouette® window shadings to capture all the glory of amazing sunsets over Green Bay. Or the gardens and unique quality of the Door Peninsula. They enjoy their views through the shadings while gaining insulation and UV protection simultaneously.

Because the light is so attractive to people and insects alike, bugs and flies find their way into the shadings through the side openings and get caught in the vane/sheers of the Silhouettes®, Nantuckets™ and other Hunter Douglas products that offer similar characteristics. We realized that many clients and readers struggle with that phenomenon and invented a tool to remove bugs and debris from inaccessible places like the vane openings in the blinds the CamilyWand™ Sticky Bug Removal Tool™. It’s perpetually sticky tip (when clean) grabs onto bugs and lightweight objects, allowing for safe retrieval. We answered the “why” of the problem and have a creative solution to preserve beautiful views from homes and offices.

As you move through summer and vacations, CamilyWand™ hopes you have a relaxing and safe time!

 

 

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Eiffel Tower Looks Like Sparkling Jewel over Paris

Eiffel Tower Looks Like Sparkling Jewel over Paris.

France and Paris are on the scene this month as we have just remembered D-Day, a pivotal battle in World War II, and celebrated Tennis’ French Open over the weekend. What a wonderful time of celebration and insight to both of our nations’ past and present! We’ve shared D-Day, where our troops landed at Normandy beach, France, observing the protection of freedom last week. On Saturday and Sunday, the French Open at Roland Garros announced Sharapova and Nadal as Women’s and Men’s Singles Champions.

Our Paris Image highlights the nighttime sky of the Eiffel Tower and the City of Paris with it’s jewel of Sacre Coeur in the background. A stunning view and scene to witness!

Those who live in Paris enjoy views like this, and others in the rest of the world see beautiful and gorgeous landscapes and seascapes from our homes and offices. The Earth is filled with Natures’ beauty  where we live – magical!

Here in Colorado Springs, I have the privilege of enjoying views of Pikes Peak from my home. My Silhouette® window shadings allow me to see my view through the sheers, while having UV protection from the sun and enjoying the iridescent feelings in my rooms, somewhat like the jewel tones in Paris. The light is a draw for me, and also attracts critters and bugs into the Silhouette® type shadings’ side openings. They are unattractive and can harm the Window shadings if left inside the shade.

We developed a solution for that problem with our CamilyWand™ Sticky Bug Removal Tool™. It is an extension pole with a perpetually sticky tip, when kept clean, that “grabs” the offending insect and easily allows for removal. It is an invaluable tool to have in your home cleaning supplies for reaching inaccessible places. I use mine often to protect my Silhouettes and reach offending spider webs, pick up light weight papers or jewelry which has dropped behind furniture, and many other creative uses.

As we enjoy our summer outside fun, it’s important to keep up on our home maintenance projects. At CamilyWand™, we hope you’ll have wonderful times this summer, enjoying good, safe fun with your family and friends!

 

 

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Memorial Day Remembers Military Soldiers’ Sacrifices

Memorial Day Remembers Military Soldiers’ Sacrifices as we finish our long weekend celebrations and ceremonies.

One of the most poignant monuments to me is the statue on Iwo Jima, where 5 US Marine and 1 Navy Hospital Corpsman planted the American Flag during the World War II Battle for the Pacific Island. As a tribute to all of our military soldiers, I’m posting this the day after Memorial Day, so we may continue to be grateful for the freedoms and rights we enjoy in the United States everyday.

We visited many monuments as my Late Pops, who loved history, enjoyed seeing them on family vacations. We probably could have moved into the Smithsonian Institute and he would have been happy. I remember my brothers playing around cannons at Gettysburg, watching glass blowing in Williamsburg, visiting the White House and most of the Washington DC MMonuments and many other historic places. Pops was able to visit the WWII Monument, a big thrill for him.

Maybe those travels led me to loving the mountains where I live now. For a Midwesterner, Pikes Peak and the Rockies were and are still glorious to me. Seeing the woods and the mountains every day from my home and workplace is wonderful and I’m very grateful to have that opportunity. The views when I have my Silhouette® window shadings drawn over the glass in the open position and slightly filtered by the sheers, are marvelous. I can see that snow on Pikes Peak, even in the summer if we get rain at our lower altitudes. Those views plus the added insulation, UV protection and partial privacy are winning qualities for owning Silhouette® shadings by Hunter Douglas.

The shadings are gorgeous; they light living spaces with a diffused aura, providing energy for us. We love it and so do bugs, moths and insects, who enter the blind’s vane openings from the sides. Because my clients wanted an easy, safe way to remove the offending pests, we invented the CamilyWand™ Sticky Bug Removal Tool™. It’s an all purpose tool that uniquely grabs anything it touches with the sticky tip. It removes debris and bugs from other places and shadings like Nantuckets, Luminettes®, Pirouettes®, Vignettes®, Soleras™ and others made by different manufacturers. It is available on the shop page of our CamilyWand™ website or by phoning Lynn.

We at CamilyWand™ hope you enjoy your last days of school, your graduations and the start of a safe summer!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Beautiful Snow Frosting the Rocky Mountains

Beautiful Snow Frosting the Rocky Mountains was our Mothers Day gift this year in Colorado! It was a wet snowman kind of snow – just what we need in the springtime!

What a Mothers Day Gift from Mother Nature herself! I couldn’t resist sharing this photo from my friend Linda, as my tulips in Colorado Springs haven’t quite woken up yet! We have such a gorgeous frosting of snow in the mountains and on the front range, providing us with much needed moisture. May flowers love it; we wait to plant or cover our vegetation during our occasional frosty evenings.

This past weekend I’ve was a homebody, like I used to be when growing up in Wisconsin during the cold months. We would put together jigsaw puzzles, knit or sew, work on scrapbooks, have fires in the fireplace, roast marshmallows, bake cookies, and in general hunker down during those times. It’s strange to do that in May in Colorado, however it happens often here at odd times. Many years we have had blizzards that can and do leave feet of snow along the front range of the Rocky Mountains. This snow had enough moisture to make great snowmen!

In my home, I keep my Silhouette® window shadings covering the glass for insulation and enjoy the view through the sheers. It helps with energy savings and I still see the budding bulbs and perennial flowers that can withstand the frosts. Many of the Hunter Douglas Shadings have similar properties where readers may enjoy views, insulation and partial privacy at the same time. They have side openings, which allows for part of their energy efficiency.

Those same side openings allow bugs and debris to enter the shading, because they love the sunlight and warmth. Those pesky insects often die in those openings and need to be removed. That is WHY we developed our CamilyWand™ Sticky Bug Removal Tool™ to preserve your views and investment in your shadings. It is an easy to use, safe tool, made of an extension pole and a sticky CamilyTip on the end. It “grabs” the insects from the spaces between the vanes to easily keep your shades clear of debris. One Silhouette® owner commented that it “is a brilliant” tool. What a nice compliment~~~

We at CamilyWand™ hope you’re enjoying your Springtime fun and are safe!

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Sweet Mothers Day Honors Moms, Sharing Love, Appreciation

Sweet Mothers Day Honors Moms, Sharing Love, Appreciation for our lives and relationships with our Moms! It’s a wonderful springtime celebration to share remembrances of our childhoods and happy memories.

Flowers are always nice to enjoy that day, or maybe a trip to a beautiful garden like Monet’s Giverny Garden near Paris shown here! There are so many gardens in Europe; it seems as though the weather is very conducive to growing colorful plants there. Springtime is beautiful with all the parks and gardens starting to blossom and grow.

Our Colorado weather brings hard frosts well into May, so we are patient if we want our plants to make it through those freezing nights. I do miss being able to have more spring plants, and truly enjoy the bulbs and perennials that will make it through the cold temperatures. It will be good to remember that next fall when bulb planting time arrives. Lilies of the Valley are a favorite of mine, remembering them from my childhood in Wisconsin Rapids. For decades, I’ve babied some here in a garden and now have a nice planting. The challenge is to keep the wildlife away – I have tricks that usually work. The lilies are about to bloom; so far the bell shaped flowers are where they belong!

I enjoy seeing all of the gardens through my windows  during the year. For heat, light control and view through, I have put Silhouette®, Pirouette®, Nantucket™ and Luminette® window shadings by Hunter Douglas throughout my home as my window treatments. Having those protections, especially while being able to see through the shadings is wonderful for me. The flowering crabs, lilacs, and forsythia are beautiful to see from inside my rooms as they put on their spring flowering show. And I’m able to have those other protections for my home while enjoying the views.

The long days of light draws to our views outside, providing us with energy – it does the same for little gnats and bugs too. They find their way into the side openings of the sheer fabrics and vanes, staying there until we remove them. We at Camily, LLC have invented and market  the CamilyWand™ Sticky Bug Removal Tool™ for that purpose, and have it available at our website or by phone from Lynn. It does a great job, as well as other removal or retrieval needs from inaccessible or hard to reach places in our homes or vehicles. Check it out, you’d be surprised with it’s versatility!

We at CamilyWand™ hope you enjoy your springtime and Mothers Day weekend as much as we will!

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Party On with May Day Dancing, Maybaskets

Party On with May Day Dancing, Maybaskets to mark the first day of May. May Poles, a tradition in Europe, are the center of celebrations there and in the United States on the 1st day of May.

The beautiful image of women dancing around the European May Pole, by Lisa Racz, is symbolic of the celebrations in Germany, England and Austria. They celebrate this holiday, similar to our present Earth Day, by bringing trees from the forest, cutting off branches, then decorating them or poles with flowers and ribbons in preparation for people to hold ribbons as they dance around the pole. The ancient ritual has evolved into various celebrations to honor the rite of spring. A friend in the Bavarian area of Germany calls the Maibaum.

As children, we would hand make little baskets from construction paper, adding handles and fill them with spring goodies. Then the best part came:  delivering them to friends. We would run to the front doors of our friends homes, set the May Basket on the porch, ring the doorbell, then run away so they would be surprised when they answered the doors. We did this when we were in grade school in our small town of Wisconsin Rapids, a very safe, secure community. I can picture it today, as I share this fun tradition for you on May Day.

In Europe, the celebration happens on the weekend of Pentacost, a religious tradition that happens the first weekend in May. As I look out my window this morning, through my Window Shadings  in Colorado Springs, I’m looking at an inch of snow, with the mountains covered like frosting on a cake. I have the insulation I need from the Silhouette® blinds, yet can watch the storm as it moves through our area. We will often get a quick dusting of snow (or sometimes blizzards) in Colorado, to enjoy Springtime in the Rockies. This is Wednesday and by the weekend our temperatures will reach 70 or 80 degrees. Never a dull moment in the weather pattern here~~~

Enjoying a clear, preserved view is one of the reasons I have Hunter Douglas’ Silhouette® window shadings in my home. The 3 criteria for selecting Silhouettes® to cover my windows are filtered views, where I see my gardens and landscape while having insulation, and partial privacy simultaneously. I love the light in my home, it is cheerful and brings me energy, so want to enjoy the outside as much as possible. Little gnats, bugs and debris are also attracted to the light. So they fly inside the vane openings of many shadings like Nantuckets™ and Silhouettes®, they die inside the shadings and need to be removed.

We invented the CamilyWand™ Sticky Bug Removal Tool™ to reach inaccessible places like the shade openings. It works for many other tasks wherever something needs to be picked up or removed. It’s sticky CamilyTip  on the end of an extension pole will safely “grab” the offensive object and then easily remove it from the blind or other areas. It’s an invaluable tool to have in your home for a variety of removal needs.

We at Camily, LLC hope you have wonderful May Day celebrations and a safe weekend!

 

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Spring Skiing, Budding Flowers Evoke Nature’s Beauty

Spring Skiing, Budding Flowers evoke Nature’s Beauty in the mountains and on the plains. Our gardens are waking up, bulbs blooming and trees blossoming.

On any given day in April, these blooming daffodil bulbs could have snow on them in Colorado, possibly into May, as well. The beauty of living in the Rockies is the ever changing weather, especially in spring!

I love spring skiing too – the weather is balmier, the snow amazingly beautiful as we schuss down the mountain ski runs or cross country ski in the woods. Skiing is a favorite sport of mine, as I’ve been skiing somewhere since I was a teenager. Our family skied in Northern Wisconsin, where I chipped a kneecap on one trip. We also went to places like Rib Mountain, Cascade, Mt. Horeb and other nearby hills.  Our family came to Breckenridge, CO one spring break with another Madison family, taking a week of morning lessons and then enjoying the beauty during practice afternoon skiing. People today wouldn’t believe the old skis we used back then!

But now, with the warming temperatures and longer daylight hours, I’m ready to get in the garden. Greenhouses are tempting us with beautiful flowers and bushes, even though we will still get hard frosts until at least the middle of May. So our planting time happens quickly here nearer Memorial Day than now.

To enjoy my garden during the evening, I have outdoor lighting, where I can see my garden through my Silhouette® window shadings. I get sun protection, insulation and partial privacy when I have the shadings covering the glass and in the open position. So I can see the garden, the mountains, and the recent eclipse through the blinds. It is wonderful to have so many choices of window coverings and view through ability of shadings like the Silhouettes®, Nantuckets™, Pirouettes®, Vignettes®, Luminettes®, Soleras™ and many other Hunter Douglas products. The view through is especially enjoyable during the day you have your shadings protecting your furnishings with great UV protection and you want to see your gorgeous view outside.

Seeing the views is such a plus with the shades covering the glass, that we always want to preserve the light giving views. We are attracted to light and so are bugs, gnats and other pesky things. As a long time interior designer, my readers and clients would want answers to that problem. So I invented our CamilyWand™ Sticky Bug Removal Tool™for that purpose, as well as to retrieve items from inaccessible and difficult to reach places. It has proven to be a unique, very popular tool throughout the world. We are in Australia and Europe as well as North America.

We are looking forward to enjoying the views of our gardens and landscapes or our snowcapped mountains.

CamilyWand™ hopes you’ll enjoy your surroundings and views this spring.

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Easter, Passover, Celebrating Beliefs this Week

Easter, Passover, Celebrating Beliefs this Week is a time to reaffirm our traditional ways of living and being.

As we celebrate Passover, Easter and other religious holidays we reflect on our lives and our new paths to come.

My recollections go back to our church in Wisconsin Rapids, across the street from the Wisconsin River. At the time it was an old stone Congregational Church, where I was baptized and confirmed, as is our tradition. One year the church basement flooded and I am still able to picture us teenagers in our high rubber boots bucketing water out of our classrooms during a spring river flood.

Later after our family moved to Madison, the church was remodeled.  Our Barker family donated a Carillon tower and music to the church in honor of and Grandmother, an avid supporter of our church and faith. All of us Grandchildren and our parents contributed to that memorial, which provides peaceful music as it plays in Wisconsin Rapids. It is a multi – generational gift, reminding us of our impact on society.

As I composed this blog post I saw a butterfly in my garden, through my sheer window shadings; then saw a couple of birds on the deck railing, further reminding me of the circle of life and what we are celebrating this week. The butterflies on flowers are truly an amazing universal sign of hope, I enjoy sharing the image of a butterfly on a flower blossom.

My Silhouette® window shadings allow my excellent filtered views to the outside, which I enjoy. They allow me to see mother nature in action with birds and animals. Many of my blog post readers share my love of having the ability to insulate my home, receive some privacy and see all that nature offers us outside our homes.

The Silhouettes® and many other products manufactured my Hunter Douglas provide similar attributes and functionality. The side openings in the shadings allow bugs and debris to enter the vane openings, and need to be removed. We at CamilyWand™ saw this problem, invented a solution and offer it to those who want to remove little critters or other light weight objects from inaccessible places – the middle of their shadings, behind furniture, high ceiling corners, near appliances and many other places. One reader removed aphids from her roses using her CamilyWand™ Sticky Bug Removal Tool™ ( with its perpetually sticky tip) for this delicate task – worked like a charm.

As we move through our Holiday week, we at CamilyWand™ wish you happiness and peace, always being safe.

 

 

 

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Spring Beauty Evokes Peaceful Loving Thoughts

Spring beauty evokes peaceful, loving thoughts as we celebrate new beginnings in our lives and new growth outside.

The sky is blue, the grass is green, birds are chirping and in North America it is becoming warmer – all signs of wonderful new beginnings. Flowers that grow in ponds, like lotus blossoms and water lilies have always held fascination for me. The gorgeous blossoms reflected in the water are doubly beautiful.

During my college years at the University of Wisconsin, in my interior design curriculum, I studied textile design, where we created designs and then printed them on fabrics. Our focus was on design ideas from Greco-Roman times in the Mediterranean area of the world. We used many themes, and my favorite ones were the Lotus and Pomegranate blossoms. We would pick portions of the plants flowers and use them as inspiration to make our textile designs – possibly using the lotus blossom centers repetitively in creative ways, forming a design.

I always enjoy gardens and especially those with ponds. In the Midwest, water lilies are almost wild in some areas. In Colorado, we have some in private ponds and have beautiful water displays at the Denver Botanical Gardens. This lotus image is from a Denver friend, Dick Gentry, taken at Krabi on his recent Bali and Thailand trip.

Some readers are able to see their flowering water plants through their windows of their homes. If they have certain window shadings, such as Hunter Douglas Silhouettes® and Nantuckets™, they are able to see their gardens and views through the sheers of the products, while maintaining good insulation and partial privacy. Many other products on the market offer similar attributes. I hope to have a water garden one day, and know I’ll enjoy it throughout the day, preserving my view with my Silhouette® shadings while protecting my heating and cooling at the same time.

The gorgeous Silhouette® and Nanucket™ Hunter Douglas shadings  have open sides, helping create their wonderful insulation. Lucky owners of these products find that debris and bugs collect in between the sheers, in the vane openings, over time. Many other window shading products have the same issue. To solve that problem, we invented and market CamilyWand™Sticky Bug Removal Tool™. It simply, easily and safely removes the pesky critters with its sticky CamilyTip on the end of the extension pole. Our readers rave about it and are so pleased they own a product that helps preserve their investments and views of their ponds, landscapes, gardens, golf courses, mountains and many other special vistas.

Camily, LLC wishes you a wonderful spring and the holiday, enjoying the outdoors!