I love my work on the Web because it gives me something satisfying and meaningful to do every day while also connecting me to both old and new friends around the world. I especially love knowing that I will never run out of things I want to write about. (And I hope I will never run out of readers, either.)

  After being mostly an indoor person all my life, I spent the summer of 2007 designing new landscaping for my back and front yard and found I loved yard work and gardening far more than I thought. Now I look forward to many hours of enjoyment each spring and summer as I plant and care for new flower beds and watch my perennials grow. I also look forward to spending more relaxing time on the little patio I designed and helped build.

Slices of Barbara Brabec's colorful and interesting life . . . Nostalgic memories from her lifetime collection of journals, articles, photo albums and scrapbooks.

Barbara's unique art/craft "memory projects," featuring personal photos and and nostalgic keepsakes. Years after Barbara created some of these projects for her own enjoyment, some were published in her "Making Memories" column for Crafts 'N Things magazine.

Faith-building Christian articles and encouragement . . . (on Shawn Smith's Knight for Christ Ministry site).

When I decided this page needed to be redone for 2008, I got to thinking about all the things I love or have a passionate interest in, and surprised myself when I saw how long my list was getting to be. While many of us may complain about our lives at times, if we really sit down and make a list of all the things we care about, or love about our life, we might discover that we have been taking some pleasures in life for granted.

Below, you will find more about me than you care to know, but this is, after all, what makes me "ME." (The really nice thing about having your own Web site is that you can publish whatever you want on it, whether anyone reads it or not.)

I Love my family (both immediate and adopted), my friends, and my memories--especially of my life with Harry.

  I love my cat, Charlee, who has made all the difference in my ability to be content as a widow. I also love dogs, wolves, Bengal tigers, polar bears, teddy bears, and the resident chipmunk in my back yard.

 Like Harry, I love carousels and circus wagons, old-time circuses, lion tamers, a parade of elephants in a circus ring, and calliope music.

 After business hours, I love to cook and entertain friends or curl up with a good book or a movie that excites my senses, makes me cry, or gives me something to think about. I especially love the old Gene Kelly musicals and classic Westerns featuring the great stars who are long gone. (And how I treasure the personal note Jimmy Stewart sent me after I sent him a fan letter in his old age.)