Mess and Happiness

All State

2012-01-14T23:43:00.000-05:00

For the second year in a row, Andrew was nominated for the All State Honors Band. It's such a privilege - such an inspiring experience for kids to play with other high musical achievers. It means a weekend in Tampa for us, at a hotel, amid the annual conference of our state's music educators. There are instruments to try and clinics for educators and concerts. So many great concerts.Music. Everywhere.Here's a look at how our weekend went:

Grandma and Grampy came to hear the music.

Emma really enjoyed checking out the exhibits and all the cool instruments at the convention.

Of course, Andrew had a concert and that was the whole point of the weekend. He played so well and we are so proud of him.

Cocky

2012-01-10T06:57:00.001-05:00

A short while before Christmas, we had a visitor show up in our yard.Now, for those of you who don't know, I should clarify that my house is in the middle of our city's historic district.Downtown.One of my neighbors keeps bees, though, and raises pineapples, and the other keeps chickens. The lady down the street keeps cats, but that's a story for a different post. And so, it is not entirely unsurprising to find elements of country life in our little urban-ish neighborhood.Our Christmas vacation schedule had us staying up very late and sleeping in rather long. But one morning, our morning rest was cut short by a foreign sound. My mind was having trouble placing it. But it repeated, endlessly, until my sleepy brain fog dissipated enough to recognize the crowing of a rooster.This was new.My neighbor has heretofore only kept hens and not a one of them can muster that sort of noise.So, I shook Chris out of his slumber and jumped out of bed, dashing to the window to confirm my suspicion and I really did find a rooster, crowing away in our back yard! This proud bachelor was checking out the fine lady chickens in the coop next door.Of course, I sent Chris inside to grab my camera while I sweet-talked my new friend into hanging out a little longer. We woke up the kids who were just as amused as I was - which is to say that we were all slightly more amused than Chris, who had been sleeping through the commotion just fine until I felt compelled to share the experience with him.This handsome gent, with glossy, richly-colored feathers, has been strolling through the neighborhood every morning since then, crowing away at street lights and full moons and sunrises. He has recently been joined by a lovely hen of equally-unknown provenance. She has black and white speckles and remains very quiet so far. They are truly free-range chickens, pecking about the urban jungle, scratching a living out of whatever they find, making their way down the street every morning, moving from one yard to the next in a now-predictable succession, presumably enjoying the unique delicacies each one has to offer for breakfast. In my particular yard, they are partial to my ferns. I know for a fact that my chicken-keeping neighbor has put out some feed for them (I may or may not have begged him to do so). There is one neighbor whose citrus trees are dropping unwanted fruit all over the yard (what a shame!) and I can only guess at what other treats they have found. And he struts, showing his new lady friend how important he is to the neighborhood, telling everybody what's what and that it's time to wake up.

Donuts

2012-01-07T14:58:00.001-05:00

Honestly, I have begun many drafts of posts, hoping to jump back into blogging and catching up my friends on all the changes and events that have come my way recently, and it was really daunting. My fingers have hovered over my keyboard more times than I can count and there are so many words trying to get out that they get all jammed up and I can't really seem to sort them out. And this morning, I thought that maybe - just maybe - that is the problem. An update sort of post would take a really long time and I keep quitting before I start it because it just makes me tired.So I think that I will post now, as though I have been posting all along - as though all of you already know everything that has happened this whole time (I suspect that, over time, most of the details will come out in the wash anyway).Deal?So, this morning, I made donuts.And not even the kind where you fry donut-shaped cut-outs of biscuits-in-a-tube either. I mean honest-to-goodness, homemade donuts. They were sweet potato donuts and I used a vegan recipe, only I used real sour cream and Greek yogurt since I kind of like dairy products a little bit. Or a lot. Whatever.

The thing is, since I am allergic to eggs, I haven't had a donut in years. Let me tell you, I definitely ate more than my fair share of these. Also, I was definitely not sorry about it. Not even one little bit.Because, you know...it has sweet potato in it, so it can't be all bad, right?

A Tiny Gentleman

2011-10-30T22:32:00.009-04:00

In case you haven't heard, let me announce that I'm getting another nephew for Christmas. I really can't think of a better present. So, naturally, I had to throw a party to celebrate!
I made gentleman-ly bow ties for all of our cups and mustaches to go on absolutely everything.

There were all sorts of delicious treats on the table - some made by me and some made by Mindy's mom & sister (who helped a great deal with all of the details of the party), I made rock candy to stir into the iced tea, and there were even pralines to take home as an extra treat for all the guests.

We made up a few silly games too. I don't generally like baby shower games, so I always try to think of something a little bit different to do. An air-pipe relay race? Nope. Don't think I've seen that one done before.

It was such a fun afternoon, celebrating the impending arrival of the newest tiny gentleman to join our family.

Papaw's Roses

2011-10-20T21:03:00.004-04:00

Chris and I are with his family right now. His Papaw is under Hospice care and is not expected to make it much longer. We went over to his grandparents' house today to take care of a few things and I saw his gorgeous roses blooming. I snipped a few, put them in a mason jar and brought them up to the hospital for Mamaw and the rest of the family to enjoy. And you know what? He still has beautiful tomatoes on the vine with tiny yellow blossoms popping out everywhere. So I tucked a few of those in there too.

Tomato blossoms and roses? Somehow, it works beautifully.

Textures

2011-10-07T12:10:00.007-04:00

We have been studying the way light affects textures in my class.
Here's my homework:

Lighting Class

2011-09-13T00:07:00.009-04:00

Hello friends! Here's a peek at what we've been doing in my lighting class:
HDR photography, but not the weird-looking kind, has been our assignment over the last few weeks.

Some I like, some I love, and all were a lot of work!

Hey

2011-09-01T22:35:00.002-04:00

Hey friends. I suppose that, by now, it's obvious that I'm not blogging much. My life is overly full at the moment and, rather than being an outlet, it's turned into just an additional pressure for me - something else I need to check off a list.
I'm not saying I'm leaving or anything, but posting will be nearly non-existent for a bit while I slog through the fall. I am taking a photography lighting class, though, so chances are good I'll be sharing some of my work with you.
Thanks for reading all my stories.
I hope you'll check back now and again to see what I'm up to, I just thought notifying you that there is no need to check daily or probably even weekly was the polite thing to do.

<3 me

Today

2011-08-13T23:11:00.002-04:00

Today, we brought this girl home from a shelter. They named her Molly and we think it suits her nicely. We think that's what we'll call her too.

We don't know much about her story before she met us, but we plan to write a much better one for her from this point forward. We had only sort of been thinking about a dog for Emma (though, really, if it's a dog, it's for the whole family, right?) when we met her and it was just, well, fate.

We spent some time sky-gazing too, by the light of this amazing full moon.

Trees

2011-08-11T22:32:00.008-04:00

For whatever reason, I came away from our retreat with more pictures of trees than anything else (except for sunsets)! Here are some of my favorites:

I love the twisty shapes all over this tree. There seemed to be lots of ways you could climb into it and hide.

This tree was so pretty - its feathery leaves such a bright green and its branches criss-crossing in such a pleasing way!

During one of our beach visits, my friend took us to see this cluster of long-dead, bleached tree trunks. I was so taken in by their shapes - roots that reached out for a drink some time ago and were left hanging in mid-air as the sand eroded away...

One of the trees is completely up-ended and its roots have been decorated with shells by beach-goers. It reminded me of a shoe tree, only it was so much prettier.

Be sure to click on this one so you can see it bigger. The shells are so much cooler when you see them up close!

Artists' Retreat 2011: Day 3

2011-08-11T08:41:00.006-04:00

By the start of our last full day in South Florida, we were all pretty relaxed. We got to the beach later than we'd planned, but just at the right time anyhow. Clouds were rolling across the water, but we didn't mind.

There were conchs everywhere. Broken shells, yes - but real, live ones too, just off shore. Oh - and sand dollars too! Did you know they aren't really white at all? They were all so beautiful, but of course, we let them stay in their homes. Some treasures are not meant to be taken as trophies.

The sky cleared up a bit and we thought this parasailer looked really great in the blue sky.

We left for shelter in the peak hours of heat and sun, because nobody really wants to paint and write while they're all sweaty, do they? Of course not.
We returned to the shore for one last sunset. The surf had turned very rough, but the view was stunning. Emma covered herself up, feeling a little pitiful about her sunburn.

The clouds were gorgeous,

and the sunset was too.

Artists' Retreat 2011: Day 2

2011-08-09T19:46:00.006-04:00

After the excitement of our first day, we settled into a nice, deep bliss. We slept quite a bit and spent more hours than we'd planned to at the beach. There were paints, but we hardly used them. There were cameras, but only a handful of photos were taken. The beaches were so empty - I guess it must have been because of Tropical Storm Emily in the vicinity. Whatever the reason, it was wonderfully peaceful. We all got more sun than we'd planned and Emma got way too much sun.
Here are some of the things we saw:

We ended the day at Lovers Key State Park. It really was one of the most beautiful beaches I've been to, and I'd highly recommend it. The only problem is that we were rounded up and ushered out of the park as soon as the sun sank below the horizon. I usually like to linger a while - that's when the sky's colors really become amazing! But, even with the security guard following us up the boardwalk (we were the last ones out of the park and the chatter over his radio was definitely about our "one last car" in the parking lot), I stopped to take one last picture.

Artists' Retreat 2011: Day 1

2011-08-08T23:10:00.008-04:00

This past weekend, Emma and I embarked on our annual artists' retreat. In short, it's really a sabbatical - a chance to rest and refresh our minds, which usually leads to some nicely creative thinking! We really had such a lovely time, experiencing new places & trying new things.
On Friday, we wandered around Naples on foot and took in the European atmosphere. Balconies and lovely flowers everywhere! So nice.

We stopped in a local coffee shop for a drink (it was so incredibly hot that day!) and visited a fun vintage store. We had seen its proprietress, uh, sloshing down the street a bit earlier. She was a hoot. Loooots of black eye makeup, really big hair and slurred speech that matched her gait, if-you-know-what-I-mean. But her store was darling.
We kept meandering down the sidewalk because it led to the beach and we just had to see the beach as soon as we could. Everything feels better once you know for sure that the beach is there.

Friday night, we went to Ft. Myers' Art Walk festivities. It's a little bit like our First Friday here in Lakeland. There were galleries and a bead shop, live music and hipsters everywhere. I was asked about my tattoos more than once and got to talk to a sweet older gent about lenses and such, once he saw my camera.
We walked up to see this great building, lit up so colorfully,

and stumbled on this great art project! There was a live model in striped tights, posed in front of tables filled with paper and pencils. Emma had been shy about participating in activities that night, but when I asked her if she wanted to sit down and sketch the girl, she immediately accepted the offer!

I think she did a great job, don't you?

Once we had thoroughly explored the area, we stood by the river for a bit. That's what rivers always seem to want - some quiet company - and we were all too happy to oblige.

Birthday

2011-07-25T22:32:00.006-04:00

Well, I turned 35 a bit ago.
This post is a little late, but I promised details and a promise is a promise.
It was truly a wonderful day - from all the greetings on facebook to wonderful presents and, quite frankly, the cake.
I had a lovely breakfast with my family and lunch with my mom and middle brother in a nearby town's best local spot. My baby brother and his lovely wife Mindy hosted us for dinner. So, of course, we got to visit with my little nephew.

My brother really knows how to cook a mean steak.
Birthday dinner? Oh yes. Incredible.

We had to wait a while after dinner before we could handle the cake.
S'mores cake-in-a-jar.
Uh-mazing.
Lots of people were a little incredulous that I made my own birthday cake. But the truth is, I knew what I wanted and I hated to ask somebody to do all the work. Since I have food allergies, this cake meant that I had to make the marshmallows from scratch and use a vegan cake recipe and...well...I already know how to do those things pretty well. It was totally worth the work. Plus, we all know that I like doing that kind of work, so...I didn't mind making my own birthday cake at all.
We brewed up some French press coffee (which my kids also love) and played a couple hands of rummy.

I like being 35. It's going to be a good year.

Spoiler

2011-07-25T21:27:00.003-04:00

This will totally spoil the Two for Joy post I'm working on, but it isn't finished yet and these images are and...I just felt like posting them here.
My alternates for this week:

The theme? Summer.

35

2011-07-22T10:54:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was my birthday.
But you all knew that, didn't you?
I've said before that numbers don't mean much to me - they really don't. I usually can't tell you how old I am without doing the math. I didn't even realize which birthday was sneaking up until somebody mentioned it was kind of a big one. And I though about it and decided that yes, maybe it was a big one.
It was a wonderful day.
I hope to post more details soon.
(And yes - that is some new ink peeking out of my shirt. It's not finished yet, so, I'm not showing it off yet.)

Rough

2011-07-20T13:33:00.002-04:00

This day has already been long and it's only 1:30.
Let's begin with the fact that I could not eat breakfast today.
I have a fitness agreement with my chiropractor and today was my BMI check-in, which meant I had to come in with an empty stomach. I don't know why that really matters, but I wasn't about to argue. Did I make progress? I don't know. I don't remember what it was last time, since numbers hold very little meaning to me.
Seriously.

But I got a call, a text, and an email from my college warning me that there had been a bomb threat. This is the second bomb threat in the last month. But I am not in classes, so it should be of no consequence.

Except that my children are both in summer camps at the college.

On separate campuses.

No matter. Arrangements were quickly made for retrievals and rescheduling of other things, but it was still a nuisance.

I received a phone call from my husband with information about a kitten. This kitten had showed up under our carport a couple of days ago, hungry and mewing. It was tiny and obviously not well and also obviously not part of the out-of-control feral cat population in my neighborhood. My heart had gone completely to mush for this hungry baby and I bought a little cat food, but we couldn't find her after we got home. Cut to this morning, when she reappeared under some bushes. Her condition had definitely worsened. We broke out the food and she didn't know what to do with it. I couldn't let this poor dear suffer and, although we really shouldn't have a cat (allergies, pet birds, etc...), I absolutely wanted to take Her Royal Sweetness into our home.
Fortunately, I have a friend with connections to our local SPCA and she agreed to take the tiny kitters in to see their vet.
I was still a little hopeful, even though my friend confirmed that she was very sick, but we got the sad news a couple hours later that the vet had determined it was better for her to be put down. We are heartbroken in this house today. Of course, we know that it was a much better end for this kitten than being left in the dirt to starve for who-knows-how-much longer, but still - we are heartbroken.

So, having handled bomb threats and the death of a kitten on an empty stomach and only one cup of coffee, all before noon, I have decided to take the rest of the day off from disaster. I just sat down with more coffee and a piece of chocolate birthday pie and, though I don't know what I will do with my afternoon, I know that I will not be setting foot outside my front door, lest the sky begin to fall.

Also, is it just me or does it seem like my carport is turning into a wildlife rescue shelter?

Hm.

2011-07-15T10:25:00.002-04:00

I love that my posting is so sparse and I am so hurried and unfocused that I totally didn't realize I posted the 4th of July pictures twice!
Oh, my. I hope you all still love me :)

Woooo! 14!

2011-07-13T22:34:00.021-04:00

Last weekend - what a weekend! A holiday, a birthday and a Big Event.
The 4th of July was a quiet one for us this year. We used to make a big hullaballoo and have a giant cookout and take the kids out in the mosquitoes and humidity to see the city's fireworks. We have been toning things down a bit these last couple of years and this year's quiet celebration was just right. We went to my brother's house and definitely ate well! My little nephew was so utterly pleased to have so much of his family at the dinner table - he was beside himself with silliness and laughter all night. We had a little package of sparkly fire things that we played with in the back yard too, which was of particular interest to Andrew!

Nolan watched warily from the porch. Pretty soon, though, he was loving the explosions.

Right after the fourth was Andrew's birthday. I mean, it's not like it moves around on the calendar or anything, but I'm always surprised to have one party so quickly followed by another! Now that he's a bit big for the giant theme parties we used to have, we have a tradition of taking him out for his birthday dinner to the restaurant of his choice. And I must say, our wallets and palates were all pleased with his choice of Chipotle this year.

After dinner came birthday cake (root beer float cake, no less!), homemade ice cream, and presents at Grandma's.

Aaaannnnnd after that? Well, our little family went on an adventure. As everyone-who's-anyone knows, the last space shuttle launched on Friday morning of last week. We took our kids to see it up close. Immediately following the Thursday night birthday festivities, we drove over to the coast, where a special parking space right by the water was waiting for us. Upon arrival, we could tell that we definitely had a great vantage point. The launch platform was so beautiful, lit up at night!

There were already so many people camped out, of course. We had intended to try and sleep a bit in our car, but it was so hot and humid and generally uncomfortable. We got out to stretch and walk a bit and stumbled on a perfectly-sized-for-a-family-of-four patch of grass. That's when we decided it would be better to just nab a great spot than to sleep. So we set out chairs and blankets and waited. The kids were able to sleep a little on the blanket and I had a chance to knit a little - something I haven't had nearly enough time for this year.

The crowds began to swell as the sun began to rise and I suffered from lens envy at every turn, feeling a little sheepish about my old tripod and 50mm lens. I borrowed a zoom from a friend, but it just wasn't behaving with my camera and, frankly, it still looked puny next to some of the other ones out there!

We managed to hold on to our precious bit of real estate comfortably enough. You could feel the excitement building as the launch drew near. We could see the ignition from where we were and the feeling of watching that shuttle lift off, bright and fiery into the sky - it was amazing. Emma and I both cried and cried. There was shouting and cheering like at the best of sports matches - fists pumping in the air and cameras snap-snap-snapping away. Andrew had observed a little patch of low clouds and had mentioned how cool it would be if the shuttle flew through it. We only realized after we were home and sifting through my photos of the day that it had done exactly that.

See? Beautiful.
Because of our great parking space, we were able to get out of town so much more quickly than most people and we dragged ourselves home, trying desperately to stay alert. It took the whole weekend for Chris and me to feel rested up again, but it was so worth it!
And now we find ourselves in the thick of summer camps and such. Busy? Eh, not really. Just having some fun and doing some cool things. Summer. I like it.

Space Playlist

2011-07-09T12:38:00.003-04:00

As we were driving yesterday to see the final shuttle launch up close, we were listening through a playlist of my favorite songs and it struck me how many of them were space/star related! So, I decided to make up a little space playlist and I thought I'd share. Some of these were afterthoughts, but once the idea caught hold, I couldn't let it go (you know how that goes, don't you?).

Across the Universe - The Beatles

Northern Lights - Bowerbirds

Pink Moon - Nick Drake

Moon Dance - Van Morrison

My Moon My Man - Feist

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds - The Beatles

Surfing on a Rocket - Air

Stars - Switchfoot

Stars - Hum

Supermassive Black Hole - Muse

Starlight - Muse

What are your favorite starry space adventure songs?

Summer

2011-07-05T10:37:00.010-04:00

We are having such a nice summer so far.
Chris took me to lunch at my favorite spot. It's a bit of a drive, but he was working in that town, which worked out to my benefit!

The kids and I took their annual trek to the M&Ms store with Miss Denise, who was always their summer supervisor when I was working stuffy old office jobs.

And of course, we celebrated the Fourth of July with family, food and fireworks!

This week holds big things. My son turns 14 on Thursday. It's kind of unbelievable - he will be in high school in a matter of weeks.
Sigh.
We have lots of fun planned for the remainder of the week, and I'll be sure to check in with pictures and stories to spare!

A Rescue

2011-06-30T21:57:00.003-04:00

Andrew and I were minding our own business in the living room today when I heard some noises in the carport. The ensuing kerfluffle was only enough to be a nuisance to me at first, but once I tuned into it, I realized that there were thumps out there and a cardinal chip-chip-chipping in the front yard.
I sent Drew outside, thinking it was probably nothing, but within a moment, he was tapping on the window, motioning for me to come out and help.
There was a confused baby cardinal floundering around in the carport, slamming into the side of the house and falling short of the safe roost in the rafters. He was, of course, even more frightened to see two big people out there with him and skittered under our car.
His mama was making all kinds of alarm calls in the front and, with our neighborhood's out-of-control feral cat population, I knew this little guy was in serious trouble. It goes without saying that we dropped our own agenda and patiently waited for things to calm down so we could help him out. Eventually, he made a break for it, zooming out and trying to take flight again, only to land in our recycling bin, getting trapped between cans and bottles. As unfortunate as that sounds, it actually gave me an opportunity to scoop him up into my hands and carry him out to safety.
He sat very still in my grip, breathing hard, heart fluttering wildly. He felt so tiny and precious in my hands - silky feathers and tiny, sharp claws all bundled up in an impossibly light frame. I took him to the back of a chair in a more open area of the yard and he gratefully disembarked, pausing for a moment to catch his breath and listen for his mama.
We were still a little worried, so we waited quietly on the back porch, standing guard against The Cats.
He managed to fly long enough to make it into a tree and we watched long enough to see his frantic mama rush to his side. Once we knew he was as safe as he could be, we went back about our usual business, but I can now say from experience that, once you've held a baby bird in your hand, nothing can ruin your day - nothing.

Death of an Orange Grove

2011-06-28T21:04:00.004-04:00

I drove by this on my quest for a black and white photo this week. I already had what I needed, but thought this needed to be captured too.

Summer Solstice 2011

2011-06-22T00:34:00.007-04:00

My dear friends and long-time readers will already know exactly what we did today. Today was the Summer Solstice and our family always goes to the beach to celebrate. Usually, it's just for the sunset and a nice picnic dinner - especially if it falls on a weekday.

Last year, we were nearly washed out by a storm, but this year was lovely.
I spent a lot of time in the kitchen this morning, baking bread and making ricotta cheese to go along with some blueberry jam I made a few weeks ago. We picked up some lemonade (summer's official drink, right?) and - OH! I nearly forgot. We picked some fresh figs from a local tree.

Yes. It was just as decadent as it looks!

The kids had fun and I got to stick my toes in the sand while Chris hunted for shells.

And, of course, the sunset was stunning.

This year, I have been struck by how big my kids are getting. We didn't have to chase anybody to keep them out of the deep water and Emma got far less sand stuck in her swimming suit. The conversation was delightful, and my whole family watched quietly as the sun melted into the ocean.

I want to remember just how funny my kids were today. We drove in the car and they laughed so much in the back seat, making fun of business names and signs, throwing sarcasm around like it was nothing. I know that rough, teenage stuff may lie shortly ahead for us and I hope that I can look back on happy days like this and take heart, remembering what amazing people these two really are.

Dad

2011-06-19T22:26:00.002-04:00

We can build stuff at my dad's house.

New

2011-06-16T21:03:00.002-04:00

Here is something novel: I'm going to write about my day.
I mean, I know that's what my blog used to be, but, let's be honest. It's gotten away from me a bit, yes?
OK.
So.
I have to remember eventually that having an open and free couple of weeks does not suddenly give me the right to say yes to new things. This should have been the start of our relaxing summer break and it just hasn't been. The kids are in a couple of camps this week that I hadn't planned on initially, but am really grateful that they are able to attend. But, I had planned my week and my work around not having that, so, I have been spending my days in my car, taking my kids to places and taking me to appointments and such.
My very, very hot car.
The air conditioner isn't broken, per se, it's just squeaking so we are trying not to use it until we can get it looked at.
Let me tell you - I am very cranky when I'm hot and sweaty and running late.
It all worked out, of course, but I am very happily curled up in my air conditioned living room sofa, not even feeling interested in doing anything else for the rest of the day. Things got done. Appointments were kept. I started a couple of new piano students. And my own kids got to make some music.

All in all, a hot, cranky, productive day that I'm so glad is over.

Daily Bliss: the giant watermelon in my kitchen that I grew!

Today

2011-06-15T16:20:00.002-04:00

Today, I'm letting the thunder
upstage
any drama that comes my way -
from external or internal sources.

ISS

2011-06-14T23:29:00.002-04:00

Do you see that streak in the middle of this otherwise-yawn-ish picture? No?
Click on it to make it bigger, then come back.
I'll wait.

Yeah, it's only the International Space Station streaking across the sky. No big deal.

We knew that there would be a good viewing opportunity tonight and headed out to a spot with fewer street lights and we were almost late. I had dreams of shooting a lovely time-lapse movie or at least some lovely star trail photos or something. But we were almost late, you see. There's only a small window of time to see it and we pulled up, literally, the minute before.
You should have seen me fiddling with my tripod as it first appeared in the South West corner of the sky. In the dark.
So, I didn't get the shot of my dreams, but it was really cool anyway and this little long exposure photo is the proof that I saw it.
Oh. Also, the kids really enjoyed seeing it cross the sky.

Gardening

2011-06-07T23:58:00.002-04:00

I did a bit of gardening this morning. It's getting to be so awfully hot outside and it's still so dry - our rains haven't kicked in yet. The aphids are running amok and sucking the life out of my tomatoes.
I pulled all the cucumbers and pumpkins out. They were pretty much gone anyway. And I mercilessly trimmed all the tomatoes of dead or diseased growth. We have eaten, probably, the last big haul of tomatoes, but there are still a surprising number of green ones out there. I think I'll call this year a success for tomatoes!
We have counted and re-counted and my pink lemon tree has 11 lemons on it. I am so excited about it! Also, I've managed to grow some fine-looking watermelons.
The sweet potato slips all got into the dirt today and our bell peppers are blooming fiercely.
I have learned that there are some things I am just not good at growing (squash and cukes) and some things I do well with (watermelon, peppers, sweet potatoes). And then there are the tomatoes. They are a category unto themselves. They take a lot of work, but I really like them.
I'm pleased with how much we've eaten from our garden this spring and with how our harvest dictated our menus a bit. I hope this trend will only grow from here.

Daily Bliss: hearing Andrew's teachers express how sad they are to see him graduate and how proud they are of his middle school career
Wake-up Playlist: I Feel it All, Feist

Greenhouse

2011-06-05T21:31:00.006-04:00

This greenhouse is part of an abandoned nursery in my neighborhood. I drive by it all the time and have been just dying to get in there and take some pictures!
I didn't actually go into it this time (because I was wearing flip flops and there was lots of broken glass), but I hope to go back and trespass a little more boldly.
I have always been drawn to worn and decaying things - especially buildings. I think that what I like best about them is to see Nature reclaiming space that had been taken from her.
In this greenhouse, that is especially true as the cultivated plants - all the ones that were carefully planted in pots with good dirt and fertilizer - have long since died and the wild ones are running up and down the walls with abandon.

Daily Bliss: driving with the windows down, peeping at the giant, crescent moon

More Alternates

2011-05-29T15:45:00.004-04:00

Here are a couple of photos that were alternates for my Two for Joy posts lately:

New

2011-05-24T00:26:00.002-04:00

I don't think I've officially mentioned here that we will have something new happening next fall. I will be homeschooling Emma!
Certainly, it's not a decision we took lightly. I was homeschooled for part of my school career and I started out homeschooling both of my little ones when they were small.
But it's been a while.
And I'm a full time student with a job too. Not to mention all the other stuff we do.
I'm a little concerned about time,
but I know it's the right thing for her.

There was nothing bad happening - I just sensed she needed a little building-up time with Mom and circumstances aligned with that gut feeling, undeniably leading us into our next adventure.

I don't know how it will be done, but it is right, it is in God's hands and it will work out. And I could not be more excited (and a little bit nervous). So, the search for curriculum begins and I have to notify the school board and all that good stuff. Ugh. I like the actual learning and teaching, but the prep part? Bleah.

She has already been fully welcomed into the music department at my school, has been adopted by a fabulous soprano and will sing with the choir. It's looking like a really good year ahead for Emma!

I am so looking forward to sharing all of our adventures with you.
There is certainly never a dull season here.

Blueberry Picking!

2011-05-17T23:22:00.006-04:00

Re-Post

2011-05-13T22:42:00.002-04:00

For some reason, Blogger's maintenance shut-down last night wiped out this last post, so I'm sticking (at least the photos) it back up here.
I did a presentation tonight at our local museum that had lots of my pictures in it and lots of pictures that I took specifically for the presentation. It's been a fun camera week! First up is my piano in the afternoon - with Emma's little hands and with mine. Then, just some scenes around my house and my two vintage cameras.

Kids on Film

2011-05-11T13:18:00.002-04:00

I had this old image of my kids scanned today. It's one of my favorites. I took this in a historic church at one of those living museum places. Emma is wearing a dress that was my grandma's when she was small. There are lots of things that aren't "technically" perfect about this picture, but that doesn't always matter.
I love it.

Pictures

2011-05-09T23:02:00.002-04:00

These are a couple of diptychs I made for a presentation. I think they're pretty.
I hope you do too!

Garden Update

2011-05-06T09:06:00.007-04:00

Some time ago, a photo of my striped lemons was requested. I didn't forget or anything, I was just a little...distracted. Or whatever.
Isn't it cute?

And while we're at it, would you look at all the other backyard growing that's going on? I thought so.

Some cucumbers - an heirloom variety that was a Christmas present from my brother & his lovely wife:

A few sugar pumpkin vines, though I've never had any luck with those. Hopefully, I got them out early enough this year that we'll avoid the squash bugs and vine borers.

I tried out a watermelon patch for the first time this year and look! I have a tiny, baby watermelon!

A few tomatoes. Oh yes. A few. Here's a yellow pear & a chocolate cherry tomato:

All in all, it's not a wildly successful garden yet, but we've learned so much and it is our most successful garden yet.

My classes are done now and it looks like I'm maintaining all A's, so I'm glad of that. I'm also glad that summer is around the corner and I'll have my kids with me for long, quiet days and video games and board games and also bored games. We have a few things we've signed up to do to keep our days interesting, but nothing like what we've done in the past. I'm looking for us all to rest up a bit and accomplish very little.

Wedding Schmedding

2011-04-30T13:55:00.010-04:00

So, I'm not super into weddings.
There. I've said it.
I never really was, in fact.
As a little girl, I definitely played house and I definitely pretended to be a mommy, but I never really dreamed about, planned or pretended about my wedding. I guess I don't like the drama and hoopla and such. I worked in the wedding business for a few years and that only worsened my opinion of them.
It may surprise you, then, to know that Emma and I watched the royal wedding.
Let me explain.
For Christmas, my sister-in-law gave Emma a darling vintage snack set - plates and cups that fit together - and some special tea, specifically for having tea while we watched the Royal Wedding. Before that? I scarcely knew anything like that was going on across the pond.
However, if you know me at all by now (and it's likely you do), you know I love parties and baking. Who am I to neglect a reason to make scones?
Life has been busy and the wedding broadcast started at 4 AM here on a school day, so we had to record it, which was fine. That gave us a chance to pack up our goodies and head to my brother's house to have tea and breakfast with my sister-in-law, Sarah. Emma texted her early this morning to see pajamas fell within the appropriate dress code.
They did.
So, we went out and about in our pajamas.
Take a look at how much fun we had!

Scones and jam and lemon curd and cream and tea and...wonderfulness!

A closer look at Emma's dishes:

Earl Gray tea lattes with steamed milk!

Our tray of accoutrements:

Huckleberry wants to know if puppies can have scones too.

It was a decadent and lovely morning! We lingered far too long over the footage of all those hats and dresses and, of course, the radiant bride. Then it was time to go home. I realized that I was still in my pajamas and would not make it home without pumping some gas into the car.
Oh well.
Generally, I don't go out in public in my pajamas, but there was no choice now. Emma, however, was unsurprised by this development. When I worried out loud about what people might think, she offered that it sounded perfectly like something I would do anyway and she didn't see what the big deal was.
I see.
Well.
Since I made it home unscathed, in my pajamas, I believe I'll stay in them for the rest of the day. I have a paper due tomorrow that I have scarcely even begun. But there are only a few days left in this semester! I am nearly there!

Panna Cotta

2011-04-30T13:36:00.003-04:00

This is how the girls eat while the boys are away:

Lemon & Greek yogurt panna cotta with delicious blueberries.

Blue (Alternate)

2011-04-25T22:32:00.001-04:00

Here's my alternate for this week's Two for Joy post.

One More Week

2011-04-23T11:52:00.002-04:00

This semester will be done in one more week(ish).

I have some really big things weighing on my mind and I am trying so hard to really focus on school work for this last week. The problem is that those big things keep squeezing my school work into a tiny corner of my brain. The problem with that is that the school work has an actual deadline.
As in, an actual, week-away deadline.

As in, I have a giant research paper due in a week that I've barely even begun.

I keep meaning to.
I have very good intentions.
When it comes down to it, though, it's been the thing whose deadline was furthest away and I am honestly just treading water here as this semester winds down, finishing the things that are due tomorrow.

In spite of my persistent state of denial, Tomorrow keeps popping up as Today with every sunrise.

I am accomplishing the bare minimum in all areas. It's not just the paper, mind you. It's finals in all classes and juries in front of the music faculty and work too. Who knew that accompanists were needed in so many different ways around here? I have the option to turn down some of that work, but, let's be honest - I like to eat. I also like to be able to buy underwear for my kids. I can only turn down so much work.

I don't like that.

I would prefer to achieve and conquer and surprise everyone with my greatness!

Alas.

Priorities have become difficult to juggle. How do you really choose between educational responsibilities and church responsibilities? How do you really choose between studying for a test and your daughter's science fair project?

Greatness will have to wait.

Ahem

2011-04-20T22:11:00.002-04:00

I'd like to make an announcement.

I have discovered that there are at least five teeny lemons on my pink lemon tree! They are beautiful and stripe-y (yellow and green stripes on the outside, pink fruit on the inside) and I hope they hang on until they are ripe!

Daily Bliss: laughing with the boys at school

Alternate-Alternate

2011-04-18T22:46:00.002-04:00

This was my "plan B" photo for this week. I took it. I liked it. But I didn't love it.
Jasmine flowers are blooming everywhere right now. They smell amazing.

Alternate

2011-04-18T18:22:00.003-04:00

So, I was totally late getting my picture finished for this week's Two for Joy post.
Every week, it comes down to a couple of photos and I always have a hard time choosing just one. This week was no exception and, well, I thought I'd share the alternate photo with you.

I found this nest in the front yard quite a while ago and left it there. I left my house this morning, having been granted an unexpected morning to myself, determined to find a picture to take. Nothing seemed to fit right. I walked around parks and lakes and downtown and...nothing.
But when I really got to thinking about this week's theme ("Delicate"), I suddenly remembered the nest. I sped back home, really hoping it would still be there. And, of course, there it was. Right underneath the Spanish bayonet.
Hooray!

Daily Bliss: coffee downtown - all by myself
Wake-up Playlist: choir songs from yesterday's concert. all of them. jumbled up together.

Another

2011-04-17T21:56:00.001-04:00

Just another picture I took recently.

What's This?

2011-04-16T22:17:00.003-04:00

Oh, it's just a picture that I took.
I wanted to put something here so you know I haven't forgotten you.

In the Garden

2011-04-15T12:43:00.002-04:00

I took my coffee this morning on my front porch.
It felt as extravagant and lazy as it sounds.
It was only five minutes, really, but it was so nice.
I got to watch our neighborhood birds go about their morning business and you all know how much I love birds. There was a woodpecker pair pounding away at the tree across the street, a mockingbird changing guard at the nest and bringing food in for the little ones, a cardinal pair ruffled up on top of a fence and a blue jay pair making all sorts of loud ruckus.

I went outside this afternoon to water my fledgling garden. It's mostly tomatoes and I mostly haven't had much success with them so far. But this year, I went all out. We have tomatoes everywhere, trellised up in the most odd ways. I also have a watermelon patch, lots of bell peppers, beets, pumpkins and cucumbers.

It's been a really warm spring so far. The warm weather plus our recent storms have brought pests and disease out a little early into the gardens. I am ready. I bought myself an organic pest and disease controller to try out this year. We have had a mild outbreak of tomato worms and I was planning to take charge of them this weekend. But the damage so far - it hasn't been as bad as I've suspected it should be.

As I turned my back to the yard, a flash of red caught my eye. It was our Papa Cardinal. He swooped down into one of the freshly-watered tomato patches. Then a mockingbird fluttered into place by the still-wet blueberries. I realized, as I watched them for a minute, that they must be the reasons the worms have seemed to disappear.

We have added birdhouses to our yard and worked hard to keep it free of the feral cats that roam our neighborhood. Maybe the birds know it. They didn't mind my presence there and seemed grateful for the easy meal, and I certainly didn't mind having such beautiful and effective pest control!

So far, so good. And if we hold on to most of those little green tomatoes long enough for them to ripen, we may finally have a harvest big enough to justify calling ourselves gardeners.

This Week

2011-04-10T23:18:00.005-04:00

We did a few things.
Poor Emma was in another spelling bee.

They really are things that she faces with dread.

Andrew's jazz band played a set on Saturday at the (sweltering) downtown ampitheater.

These days are busy as usual. I'm in the final month of this semester with a paper to write and finals and recitals to face.

I think I can...

Scenes

2011-04-10T23:11:00.004-04:00

Scenes from around my house this weekend:
Gifts - treasures, really - from a friend's trip across Europe and a miniature paper scene (with a fabulous back story) made by Emma.

Pies

2011-04-02T22:42:00.003-04:00

Chris' birthday is coming up and, as usual, we had a little family party. I asked him what kind of cake he wanted and he wasn't really sure he wanted a cake. I asked him if he wanted a pie and he wasn't really sure he wanted one of those either. But he did conclude he wanted some sort of birthday treat.
We settled on the idea of hand pies. Strawberry hand pies.
I put them each in a convenient little sleeve and brought them to my mom's in cute, vintage boxes.

Yum.

Cleaning Out

2011-03-22T09:30:00.002-04:00

I already miss spring break.
It was here last week and it was marvelous.
I didn't get to sleep in much, but that's okay. I got a lot done.

Like some cleaning out.

My life has changed so much in the last year and, truthfully, I've been having a hard time maintaining my old life and my new one at the same time. I decided that my free time last week needed to be spent sorting through both lives and deciding what to keep from each.

I threw out (and donated) lots of yarn, fabric, ingredients, instructions and patterns. Also lots of magazine clippings.
That means I threw away lots of hopes and plans too.

It was surprisingly emotional.

I'm not finished by any stretch of the imagination. I have lots more to do. But I can see the top of my desk now and most of my bedroom floor and that feels pretty good. It's almost like being able to take a deep breath for the first time in a while.

It's hard for me to let go of things. When I have an idea, when I decide to do something, I always mean to follow through. But ideas and supplies accumulate simultaneously and after a while, I start to suffocate under the weight of all of it.

This doesn't mean I'm through with making stuff and I'm taking off into some kind of program to create a New Me. No - nothing silly like that. I'm just going to be a bit more selective about what I decide to do. And I'm hoping to avoid taking on more projects until I've finished the ones that I held on to this time around.

And maybe this will all make room for different sorts of good things to come into my life.

Supermoon

2011-03-20T00:40:00.002-04:00

It was breathtaking.

Just Visiting

2011-03-15T16:54:00.012-04:00

My little nephew came for a visit this afternoon.
He loves his big cousins so much!
We made lots of noise and played some fun games inside and outside.

S'more

2011-03-14T23:48:00.002-04:00

I had some girls over tonight to make s'mores.
The marshmallows were my own homemade ones and they were so good.
Know what else was so good?
The company.

Perfect

2011-03-10T21:50:00.004-05:00

It was rainy today and I liked it.
My bathroom is my favorite room in the house and I especially like how the light in there looks when it's rainy outside. So I treated myself to a nice, long bath and an extended gaze through this window.

Different

2011-03-10T08:55:00.002-05:00

I have played the piano for as long as I can remember. I was seven or so when my dad's buddy gave me a piano and my parents got me some lessons right away. I loved it. I've always loved it. But I love it for myself. When it comes time to play for others, I just lock up and forget everything and I hate it.
My relationship with the piano has always been tempestuous. It's the thing I love and the thing I fear, all at once. I'm drawn into it and I'm always terrified by it. I suppose that's because it has the potential to conquer me, or at least be the one thing I never really conquer.
That push and pull has resulted in years away from the piano at a time. I always come back to it, but usually for a few months and then I push it away again. I am determined that this time, I will stay.
But that has brought some interesting changes.
My younger self was far more timid than my today self. "Christy - play out!" was something I heard from every instructor on every instrument. I just wasn't confident enough that I was going to do it right - do it mistake-free - to really play out loud. It never mattered where I played or what kind of music I played. I just was never playing loud enough.
Something is different.
Maybe the changes that life has brought to me have brought my emotions closer to the surface. I know I'm bolder and more confident in many areas of my life. Somehow, without any effort on my part, my touch at the piano has changed. I am asked, more often than not, to reign it in.
"Scale it back a little, Christy."
"Play this a little more gently."
When I played at the end of last semester for the music faculty, the first thing someone said to my professor was, "She's a fiery one, isn't she?"
And I think that's interesting.
Because I am a fiery one.
I've just always kept it to myself.

Pretty

2011-03-08T14:38:00.002-05:00

This handsome gentleman cardinal has been singing his lovely songs in my backyard this season. I'm so happy he's made himself at home! (click on the photo to see him a little bigger)

Vignette

2011-03-04T23:10:00.005-05:00

Some of the true joys of raising creative children are the surprises that you stumble upon here and there.
This is especially true when the provider of such surprises is my Emma. Everywhere in my overly-cluttered house, I find little vignettes that offer glimpses into tiny moments that passed through her imagination.
Here is today's:

I walked into her room to put something in a drawer and found, on her bed, an open picnic basket.

In it was a tiny bird on a rubber band nest.

Charming!

Something Really Scary

2011-03-02T22:17:00.001-05:00

This Might Be The Year!

2011-03-01T09:42:00.003-05:00

Oh, my citrus trees are in full bloom and my yard smells wonderful! I just can't get enough of it! I was exploring my garden, checking in on things this morning and I am so excited to report that my pink lemon tree is finally blooming!
We've had it for two years now and it has grown some nice foliage, but never really bloomed. I was about to give up on it.
I am so excited about the blooms, but I'll be even more excited if we get a couple of pink lemons this year! That means next year, as in December 2012, we might actually have enough lemons to make pink lemonade.

Dang.

I am not a patient girl.

The waiting is so. hard.
But,
I think it will be worth it.

Sweetness

2011-02-27T00:41:00.004-05:00

New Lens!

2011-02-26T15:55:00.008-05:00

My new lens is finally here! I have been waiting so long to try it out! Of course, I don't have time to take some kind of photo excursion with it right away, but I am not a patient girl, so I stuck that lens on my camera and just carried it around all day.
But that's just the thing - I wanted a nice lens that would take everyday pictures. So, here's what my day looked like:

We went to a farmers' market this morning. I usually go a little crazy at those things. Chris paid the nice lady who sold us way more fruit than we'd planned to buy (ahem).

Emma hugged the beets.

And, uh, here are some weeds.

We bought a honey murcott tangerine tree, so I took a picture of it.

And this is just some laundry drying by the window.

Just a day. A lovely day with a new toy.

Snippets

2011-02-22T22:04:00.005-05:00

Here are a few bits from recent days:

The moon was full last week. I know that it happens every 28 days or so, but every time it happens, it's my favorite. This time, I was sitting in the back yard for the better portion of the evening, peeping at the moon through trees and clouds.

We had a birthday party for Mindy. It was a small group of the best girls around. We roasted hot dogs around a fire and made s'mores. Also? The marshmallows for the s'mores were my homemade ones.

Let it be known that I have finally perfected that recipe. Let it also be known that my pants are a little snugger than they were before I perfected that recipe.
(Just kidding. But that made for a nicer transition...)

Consequently, today's lunch consisted almost entirely of tomatoes from my garden.

What's that? Oh. Why, yes. I did grow those tomatoes. Through three freezes and an abnormally wet winter that is giving way to a very warm, very dry spring. Ideal tomato-growing conditions? I think not. And it's been a record harvest.

2011-02-16T22:18:00.002-05:00

Oh, hello friends.
How are you?
I know I've been a bad blogger.
I've tried keeping up with your stories and letting you know that I'm still alive here and there, but this whole life-school-work thing is almost more than I can do.
I've just sprinted through a particularly grueling season, if I do say so myself and tonight, I've given myself a few hours off, just to do absolutely nothing. My body knows that some rest is around the corner and has started to give out. I have definitely learned that being in college doesn't mean I can treat my body like it's 20! Busting it like I have lately, though, has earned me a bit of mad money and I am so excited to announce that I've ordered a big girl camera lens! I absolutely can't wait till it gets here!
We have lots going on, as always, but it's all just bits of news - little items that don't, in themselves, make a good story.
Without rambling further, I just want to say that I've missed you. We'll catch up soon, even if it's brief, but sleep is calling out to me. That's a bit unusual. We're not usually on speaking terms, sleep and I. I think I'll answer that call.

Truck Love

2011-02-05T15:38:00.003-05:00

I saw this wonderful truck while I was out & about the other day. It's just the sort of thing that I like - able and rough, definitely gets the job done, even if it's gotten a little dirty and dented in the process.

It was a warm and cheery spot in my day!

Oranges

2011-01-31T23:58:00.002-05:00

This is the first year we've gotten any measure of oranges from our baby tree in the back yard. It's been really fun to pick them. Chris observed this evening that oranges you grow yourself taste so much better than oranges you buy somewhere else.

I think he's right.
I have been sucking down these babies, trying to fend off all the nasty viruses being passed around here with a giant dose of Vitamin C.
Hope it works!

Daily Bliss: Checking stuff off my list
Wake-up Playlist: My Morning Jacket, Off the Record

He Made It!

2011-01-28T19:21:00.007-05:00

Andrew made this at school and I think it's pretty fantastic.

You should always know a hero's back story, and this is time is no exception.

He comes in his own cool box.

He's made out of computer parts.
So cool, right?

Finished

2011-01-27T10:31:00.005-05:00

I finished up this little sweater for my nephew this week. It's the Baby Sophisticate pattern that I made for him last year. Of course, he needed a new one this year because he's growing so big!

I Win!

2011-01-25T07:08:00.003-05:00

My friend over at Mindful Ramblings gave me a Stylish Blogger award! She's a homeschooling mama whose kids take all kinds of instrument lessons at the studio where I work. Seriously. They're amazing kids. A real testament to all that she's pouring into them!

Now, I will say this: typically, I am not very good at these memes. I'm, uh, not going to follow all the rules. I always feel a little weird asking people to do these things. Most of the blogs I read aren't people I know and, well, to be honest, I'm a lurker. I never comment! Aaaak! Now you know the ugly truth! And when I started counting up the number of bloggers I actually know? There weren't many. But I still want you to play along. Would you please?

So, here are my friends, are seven things you may not know about me:

1) I like to eat cold hot dogs.
2) One of my hips is double jointed. It bends in all sorts of wrong ways.
3) Burberry Brit is my favorite perfume. I feel all sorts of lucky when I get some as a present.
4) I usually don't remember my own age. I have to do the math when you ask me.
5) If I weren't studying music in school, I'd probably study physics.
6) I don't like roller coasters. It's not that I haven't tried, I just don't like.
7) Also, I don't like playing games at parties.

Now I want to know seven things about you. The weirder those things are, the better, I say. If you're a lurker, now's a prime time to jump in on the conversation. I'd love to meet you.

1, 2, 3, GO!

A Farewell

2011-01-22T23:13:00.004-05:00

We said goodbye to our faithful Caddy this week.
It was time.

This car has been with us longer than I've had...well, almost anything. Even longer than almost any house I've lived in.
This car was free. It was given to us and I loved it so much because of that.
Not having a car payment meant that my kids could go to an amazing private school. It meant that our life was more comfortable. It meant a certain amount of freedom - especially the kind of freedom that meant I could quit my awful office job and teach piano, a pay cut of more than half.

It hasn't been a beautiful car in a very long time, but that crooked bumper on the back of it is a reminder that my giant, free car protected me well when I was hit by a careless driver.

Little things and big things alike have gone wrong with it for quite a while, but they have started to add up lately and we have been entertaining the idea of finding something else. But, since we're friends, I can be honest with you, right?

I didn't want something else.

I wanted my free car.

I don't care that it isn't pretty. I don't care that the leather seats have rips in them. I don't care that the bumper has made embarrassing noises while driving since my accident. I really don't. Because it's free and it gave me freedom to do something I love.

My husband has been dutifully shopping for cars. I have been pretending we weren't getting anything else. I have been, secretly, afraid that I will have to be a secretary again. I don't have time to think about a car either. I am sprinting through the next four weeks or so, due to some serious over-scheduling and I just don't have the emotional and mental capacity to face what shopping for a new car might mean.

But something happened that changed everything. We found somebody who needed my free car more than I did. And, you know what? Suddenly, I felt better about losing my free car. Everything it has meant to me, it can mean for someone else now.

We didn't get a fancy car, but we got a solid workhorse that should be less expensive to repair than the Cadillac. We are working on naming it, because we name everything in our family. My husband and my parents took care of me in this thing. I couldn't handle it and they did - beautifully. And, you know, I think it was a God thing too. Our needs have been provided for without straining our budget beyond what we can bear and somebody else gets to drive a free car.

I will miss those eight cylinders rumbling under my gas-pedal foot. I like to drive fast and Caddies go fast. But my new car is rear-wheel drive. Taking corners in that thing? Pretty fun.

All State

2011-01-15T18:13:00.013-05:00

This weekend was all about my boy. I already told you where we were and why we were there, so, how about telling you what we did?

I took him out for pizza, 'cause that's what you do with boys.

He made a little music too.

We had breakfast at a cereal bar. Seriously. It was so cool!

This is the delicious mess he ordered up.

Now, I am definitely not a city girl. I like taking pictures of trees and, well, natural things. I also didn't have much time to explore and think about picture-taking. But still, I had my camera everywhere and saw some things that I liked.

Then I found something a little bit more to my picture-taking liking.

I ran into my junior high band director.

This man so greatly influenced my musical life. He made sure I went to see the Nutcracker so I could see a real orchestra. He's the one that put a bassoon in my hand. He taught both of my brothers and myself. He even played a song for my wedding. It was such a pleasure to introduce him to my son, who plays the same instrument he does, and to tell him that I'm a music teacher now.

But most of all, there was a concert. An awesome concert. And my boy was in it.

Psst

2011-01-13T13:51:00.002-05:00

Alright. So.
In a smallish, sideways manner, I wanted to go ahead and tell you about my new project.

But wait!
Before you visit it, I want to tell you that it is still under construction. I mean, really completely under construction.

Mindy (my sister-in-law) and I have decided to do a photography project - a 52 project, to be exact. We both love to take pictures and I think committing to taking one picture every week this year is a really good way to make sure I'm still taking pictures when life gets too busy.

Who am I kidding? My life is always too busy.

I've already decided that I won't be doing any "photo shoots" this semester. I don't have a passion for portrait photography (unless I know you, then I really love to take your picture!) and I just have too many irons in the fire. But I was afraid I'd put my camera down and forget about it for a while. Having a project like this helps me remember to do what I really love to do with a camera - just take pictures of what's around me and what I love.

Some of you have asked me in the past about whether I would ever sell prints. My answer has always been something like, "Maybe someday. But I'm not really a photographer, see?" But my answer to that may be changing. I think that could grow out of this project. Eventually.

We are calling ourselves Two for Joy, and for now, it's just a fun blog (that is totally not all-the-way set up but I couldn't wait any longer to show you).

Just two girls. Two girls who love to take pictures. And that's enough.

Broadcasting Live From...

2011-01-13T13:40:00.003-05:00

Hello friends! I'm writing to you today from a hotel room in Tampa, Florida. That is not very far from where I actually live. In case you were wondering, no - I don't just sometimes stay in a hotel instead of in my house.
My son is in the All State Honors Band (for middle schoolers). This sort of makes me proud.
Okay.
It makes me so proud I could just burst.
It also makes for a very fun weekend. The All State bands and choruses all come together during the Florida Music Educators Association's annual conference. That means I get to spend my weekend around music teachers, listen to fantastically talented kids making music, attend a few classes (if I want), shop for all the music I could want and eat pizza downtown.
Also, I could just stay in a quiet hotel room with no dishes to wash while Andrew has band practice.
Guess which one I picked?
Yeah. I'm not always an exciting person.

I'm going to get a ton of homework done, though. That's exciting in my book.

It's freezing cold here today. We've had such roller coaster weather - more so than a usual Florida winter. I didn't even really know what to pack for the weekend, but I knew I wanted to wear one of those darling cowls that all the girls seem to be wearing.
So I made one.
Wanna see?

I know you can't see it very well, so I will tell you that one side is a lovely gray linen and the other side is a light weight, dark-ish taupe cotton with gray, flowery vines. I like it a lot and it's really warm, which is good. At least my neck is not covered in goosebumps.

My toes are a little jealous of that.

If I Only Had a Brain

2011-01-10T07:13:00.004-05:00

I came home to discover that the pinto beans I had carefully soaked last night, then rinsed and placed in the crock pot under the prescribed two inches of water, were actually still cold.

I forgot to turn the crock pot on.

So, I figured I still had time to just boil them. They'd soaked for about 20 hours by then and they should boil up just fine.

I poured the whole mess into a big pot, turned it on and went about my afternoon business. I started to smell the beans and thought I'd better go turn the heat down, but once I walked into the kitchen I realized that my stove top had basically become a bean juice hot tub.

The pot boiled over and then some. I have one of those flat-surface stove tops, and the sides rise up neatly around it, about like the lip of a cookie pan.

I think I should just order a pizza.

Daily Bliss: girls' movie night tonight! on the agenda? Johnny Depp.
Wakeup Playlist: Mumford & Sons, The Cave

New

2011-01-09T16:15:00.002-05:00

So, it's a new year.
I have begun a new semester,
still a little unsure.
And I have a new project.

It's a big one, but not so burdensome as that might sound.
The trouble comes in naming a project and then in just starting it up.
I'm nearly there and you'll all be the first to know!

I am looking for new ways to simplify.
The old ones didn't work so well.
Is it possible to simplify without compromising?
I mean to find out, if it's the last thing I do.

Daily Bliss: Grande Americano. Black. I really do love coffee.

2011-01-04T10:35:00.007-05:00

Our Technology Tzars gave us a super-cool present this year for Christmas. They set us up to go geocaching. In case you don't want to click on the link to find out what it is, I'll just briefly explain that it's kind of like a treasure hunt. People bury little boxes of fun treasure and hunters use GPS receivers to find them. We decided to look for a bit of treasure while we were in Georgia and our hunt led us to an incredibly old cemetery, hidden in the woods.

We did find the cache, but that had very little to do with the amount of fun we had. Mostly, we had so much fun going on an adventure - just the four of us.

Second Christmas

2011-01-04T09:53:00.013-05:00

We met Chris' family halfway for Second Christmas at a Georgia lake house. It's always a little tough to travel during the holidays. I know some people do it every year and it's just what they do and, well, good for them. But it was oh-so-nice to see my darling nephews and visit with Chris' family.

There were some half-attempts made at fishing. Mostly it was fun to be out on the dock.

And beautiful views were to be found everywhere.

2011-01-01T20:21:00.011-05:00

Christmas cookies were made. In a big way.
I'm not even kidding.
Christmas Eve, girls gathered at my mom's house to make some good stuff and we over-made some good stuff. But that doesn't matter so much. I have cookies in my freezer now. That's a really good feeling.
I'm making a weird face in this picture because I am trying to boss my little brother about how to use my camera. I decided to post it anyway, since there are four generations of girls in it.

We went to the candlelight Christmas Eve service at my grandma's church. That's a tradition we hold to every year and it's my absolute favorite part of the entire season. The quiet worship and the peace of hearing the Word, familiar and true, calm me when I need it most - at the end of the frantic preparations for the next morning. So, yeah. I brought my camera into church. I'm not entirely certain it was the right thing to do, but every year, I wish I could capture those moments of worshiping with my family, so this year I did it. I will never be sorry. Most of what my stealthy snapping gave me will be just for me. It's too precious to share. But here's a bit of what Christmas is to me:

We tucked all the presents under the tree and weren't even up too late. I mean, it was late, but I didn't pull another all-nighter or anything, which was a really nice change.

And, oh yeah. Emma got an electric guitar.

I made loads of stuff for Christmas too. I know I promised I wouldn't. At least most of it was sewn and not knitted. Knitting takes forever. Sadly, I neglected to photograph any of it. I plan to spend a bit of time this week visiting my creations at their new homes and taking pictures of them so I can show them all to you.

Family Christmas Fun

2011-01-01T16:52:00.010-05:00

We kicked off our Christmas break with a trip to the Disney Marketplace for some much-needed family fun. The Lego Store is definitely our favorite.

We did a little bit of other shopping too.

Then we took the kids to Disney's Wilderness Lodge for a super yummy dinner and some giant Christmas tree gawking.

Performances

2011-01-01T09:47:00.011-05:00

There were lots of performances. Andrew's school band, Emma's school play, my school recital (!) and a recital for the studio where I teach and the kids take lessons. Whew! It was a lot of dressing up and performing! But I will say that I loved every minute of that part. I had forgotten how wonderful it is to be surrounded by Christmas music from October to December - how music had been central to my Christmas spirit for many of my growing-up years. It was like remembering an old friend.

Lights

2010-12-31T18:51:00.009-05:00

I'm going to take a stab at a series of catch-up posts, cause, whoa. A lot has happened in the last month. Loads of fun, Christmas-y things were on the agenda and a couple of weeks ago, we bundled up Nolan and pulled him in a wagon to look at some nearby Christmas lights. Then we headed to Starbucks, of course, for some warm yummies and ended the evening at our city's downtown park to take in the pretty lights there.

It was pretty dark, so this picture is rough, but I think this face says it all:

16

2010-12-31T15:12:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was my wedding anniversary.
Every year, I post a sweet picture of my honey and me all dressed up and heading out for dinner. Or smooching. And I usually sum up our year a little bit in that same post.
This year held something a little different for us.
We already knew it would be kind of a bummer day because we would be driving back from a holiday visit with Chris' family, but they brought us such a lovely present which made it even more miserable.
The stomach flu.

The kids both got hit with it on the way home and, well, I'll spare you most of the details. If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you probably already got more details than you wanted. So far, Chris and I are fine, but I don't feel very confident we'll escape. A tiny car and sick kiddos doesn't bode well for our health.

As for the year, there have been many happy changes. Perhaps too many happy changes. We are feeling a overwhelmed by the fullness of our life at the moment. I have found myself keeping the sort of schedule for my family that I have always silently judged other mothers for keeping. You know the one - it's the only-time-for-fast-foot, homework-in-the-car, not-right-now-sweetie-I'm-too-busy schedule. Reassessments will happen. Changes will be made. Just not right now. I'm too busy.

2010-12-24T21:38:00.004-05:00

I'm wishing all of you, my friends, a happy Christmas.

May the Light of the World be your peace and rest.

Funday

2010-12-16T23:10:00.021-05:00

Last Sunday, we packed up the kids and went to Busch Gardens with Joe and Mindy and, of course, Nolan too. It was a windy, rainy, chilly day, but it was perfect. There were no crowds and that meant there were also no lines for the rides!

Oh heavens. There's my husband holding that baby. Swoon.

There were lots of fun rides.

The train ride around the park was a little more my speed, though.

Drew made friends with a sweet Lorikeet.

Nolan saw his first elephant.

He was pretty impressed!

The meerkats and flamingos were my favorites, though.

It was just a seriously fun day with my favorite people - my family.

Phew

2010-12-15T08:33:00.003-05:00

Okay. I'm done.
I feel like I've just limped across the finish line.
My first semester back in school is done and I am...

What am I?

Exhausted, relieved, proud, disappointed...

I'm all sorts of things, all at once.

I wish I could say I finished strong, but my commitments all started to muddle together there at the end and I know I dropped a few balls in this Great Juggling Act. But I finished.

And now.

Now for Christmas.

One More Something

2010-12-12T23:42:00.005-05:00

Andrew had a concert.

Check out that super awesome bass player!

If you grew up here and were ever in band, you remember this auditorium and its giant Christmas decorations very well. It's really fun to attend his concerts in the very same place so many of mine were held.
I also had a concert a couple of weeks ago. And Emma has one this week. And everybody has a recital on Saturday.
Sigh.
All good things, they are, it's just that there are so many!

Something

2010-12-11T22:45:00.006-05:00

Hi there. I'm sorry it's been so long. I really am. Now, I have so much to say that it's just hard to pick a spot to start. I think I'm going to start with the parade, which is always a fun way to start anything at all.

Andrew was in the city's Christmas parade again this year. We had some friends who typically put chairs out the night before the parade and we put some chairs out with theirs. That meant we had awesome seats!

Joe and Mindy and little Mr. Nolan joined us too, and we all had a really great time. I don't really have the time to tell stories yet, so how about a few pictures?

This semester is almost over and I'm looking forward to catching up a bit after that.

2010-12-06T13:19:00.001-05:00

Dear Blog,
I haven't left for good or anything. I promise I'm coming back soon.

<3,
me

Pie Party!

2010-11-26T18:39:00.015-05:00

Just before Thanksgiving, my sister-in-law, Sarah, hosted a pie party. Isn't that just a great idea? All the girls brought their ingredients and crusts and we put together our pies in her ginormous kitchen.

Emma and I made a pear & plum pie.

She helped me cut up the fruit. I showed her how,

Then I let her try it by herself.

We added our sugar, corn starch & spices and piled it all high in the pie plate.

I decided to try a new crust recipe, and though the dough was a little unwieldy, I have to say that I was very impressed with the texture and flavor.

See that perfectly golden pie? The tall one? Oh yeah. That's my pie.

Lots of other girls also made pretty pies.

Once the pies were well under way, we stopped for a delicious dinner of homemade soup & grilled cheese sandwiches.

It was a super fun night.
Thanks Sarah!

Thanks

2010-11-25T22:49:00.006-05:00

I have so much to be thankful for this year. We gathered with our family today to seriously feast (we know how to eat around here) and to remember all of our blessings.
I could list so many things I am grateful for, but right now, this year, it almost feels trite to make a list. There would certainly be things I'd forget and the things I would add are bigger than I can measure in a list.
I do find that I'm just all-around thankful - deeply, inexpressibly so.

My sister-in-law, Mindy, decorated our table this year. It was beautiful.

Belly Shots

2010-11-22T22:24:00.007-05:00

I know some of you might not be interested in some other person's lovely baby bump, but some of you are. I generally try not to put faces of people on my blog without permission and since these photos are special and are for a real family that most of you don't know, I'm going to only show you my favorite belly shots.

Again, this was really a fun shoot. It was only my second maternity session and, while it may not be my last, I don't get to do this sort of thing very often. I had a great time and I love, love, love these pictures. In the interest of full disclosure, you should all know that part of the reason I enjoyed taking these pictures was the simple fact that I never looked that good when I was pregnant. I am not even kidding. It was awful, people. So there may have been just a teensy bit of jealousy behind these shots too.
Just a little.

A Little Fun

2010-11-20T19:35:00.004-05:00

I got to do a maternity shoot today! I certainly don't get asked very often, but then again, I don't tend to tell people that I do that sort of thing. But when I do get asked, I am always quick to say yes, because I really do love taking pictures.
You know that already, didn't you?

Here's a quick little peek at the session from this afternoon:

Of course, booking a window light photo shoot is exactly how you special-order a cloudy afternoon. As disappointing as the lack of light was, I couldn't be happier with the tone and feel of these images. I've only just begun looking at them, really, but I'm pretty excited about them. Thanks, Leslie, for calling me up and asking. I had so much fun!

Reprieve

2010-11-17T11:30:00.014-05:00

My classes this morning were canceled and I couldn't have been more relieved. To say that I'm tired is an understatement. Chris is gone on the last leg of his business travel for this fall and the pressures are mounting as my semester comes to a close - a research paper here, a recital there, etc. Couple that with the busy family life we have and my professional life too and I am simply overwhelmed and underslept.
On our route to Andrew's school every morning, we drive past a lake. It isn't much to see, really. There are lots of lakes in town. But this morning, it was shrouded in thick fog. All I could see across its still water was a buoy and its own reflection and I instantly regretted the fact that I didn't have my camera. Once in a while (or slightly more often), I get an overwhelming need to take a picture of something. Not being prepared when the moment hits is rather devastating. But you know what?
My classes were canceled.
I dropped off both of my kids and picked up my camera from home, returning to the lake, intent on snatching up the morning for myself before the rest of my life grabbed it away. Do you want to see what I saw?
I thought maybe you would.

I've been feeling, sort of, feeling-ish lately, if you know what I mean (and I know you do, or you would have long since stopped reading my nonsense). Those moments that I stole for myself this morning did more to shore me up for the next few weeks than nearly anything else I can imagine.
I hope that you, my dear ones, can look for a few moments to capture for yourself before the insanity of the holiday season takes over. I promise it will be just the thing.

Observation

2010-11-12T13:00:00.003-05:00

I have noticed that nobody seems to make the stuff that exists in my head.
When I have a project in mind, my first inclination is to make every last bit of it from the most raw ingredients and supplies I can find.
Unfortunately, I have a life.
I have a busy life.
I have to cut corners and eventually concede that I will have to buy some of the parts that I need from a store.
This is always the sticky part for me. Stores don't have what my mind wants them to have. For instance, today I discovered that nobody makes red, glittered chipboard numbers. They just don't. Oh, there are aqua ones and black ones, but you have to buy a whole expensive package with letters in it too. I'd probably have to buy five packages to get all the numbers I'd need.
Also, nobody makes tiny envelopes with button and string closures. Do you know how much Googling it took to even find out that that's what they're called? It seemed to me that I should be able to just walk into Staples and buy those.
But by this point in the process, I am already so far gone into the project that I'm unwilling to compromise my vision and must, alas, return to square one and make everything myself.
I'm sure that I'm not alone in this clarity-of-vision-induced, caught-in-the-abyss-of-retail-land, not-enough-time-to-do-it-all crafting.
Right?

The Dirt

2010-11-11T08:24:00.002-05:00

I got caught up in my garden this morning.
I mean, I didn't have time for it - that's for sure.
My back is barking at me for bending over so long.
My nail beds are caked with black dirt.

And it was wonderful.

There isn't much going on in my garden right now. I haven't had time to invest in it since I started school. I have some fall tomatoes going because I'm dying to see if they work better than the spring ones. I also have sweet potatoes everywhere - everywhere - and one surviving bell pepper plant. The peppers are purple. I love them. The sweet potatoes didn't have a stellar season this year. I kept the vines under control, but they were simply overrun with weeds. That's hard to do to sweet potatoes because they grow like weeds here in the south, so I'm chalking it up to the hot, dry summer we had. Nonetheless, there are definitely little orange taters poking their heads up out of the sand. Suddenly, I'm very excited to see just how many there are down there! I'll pull them up in a couple of weeks, just in time to serve some on Thanksgiving. I tried several experiments to see which growing method works best for me, and I can't wait to see the results.

I can't wait!

Continuing

2010-11-08T14:14:00.009-05:00

Where was I? Oh yes. Way back in October I started telling you about our Halloween weekend.
We spent Saturday morning at an outdoor event called Water, Wings and Wild Things. We got to meet all sorts of wonderful critters. Like this guy:

The Audubon Society was there with these sweet birds:

Have I mentioned that I love birds? Maybe once or twice? Hm. Okay. Well, I do.

Later that night, we went to a fall party at the home of some friends.

Of course, there was a bonfire for roasting marshmallows & hot dogs too.

It was a wonderful weekend, even if it does seem like it was quite a while ago already. Life has a way of interrupting, don't you think? By the time you realize you've been interrupted, things have already moved on from where you thought you were.
Ah, well.
Onward and upward.

An Interruption

2010-11-05T00:50:00.002-04:00

Life was going on at a good clip as of last night - busy and nearly unmanageable, but things were getting done. But my phone rang very early this morning.
It was my mom.
My dad was in an ambulance on his way to the ER.

Instantly, life-as-I-live-it was interrupted.

It was very scary and not much detail was available, but as the day continued, it became clear he'd suffered a grand mal seizure. He was "postictal" from 6:00 AM to nearly 1:00 PM, which means that he was in an altered, post-seizure state of consciousness for that long. That's very long. He had a really big, really bad seizure. The thing is, test after test has failed to uncover the cause of this seizure.
In some respects, that's very good news. There is no tumor, no stroke, no aneurysm. At the same time, the fear of a recurrence is pretty strong without any definable, underlying reason.

He is doing well, but is still in the hospital for observation and, I believe, a neurological consultation tomorrow, and for those things (especially the first), I am grateful.

But I am tired.

I am so, so very tired.

I still have homework and deadlines and students to teach and somewhere in here, I must find some sleep. I haven't had enough of that sleep stuff to be able to deal with the emotional stress of today.

I don't suppose there is much else to say about all of it. Mostly, I just wanted to take a minute to tell all of you thanks for your thoughts and prayers. Most of this blog's little circle of people have been in touch with me throughout today and the support has been so vital to me and my family. I love you all and I don't think it would be possible to do life without you.

Pumpkin Massacre 2010

2010-11-03T23:28:00.018-04:00

We really did have a wonderful weekend and I want to share it with you all! There will be a couple more posts after this, but this is a start.
Friday night, we held our annual Pumpkin Massacre. We had just a few friends come by with their pumpkins, played the Edward Scissorhands sound track & Harry Potter's too, and gathered under our lantern-lit carport to carve some pumpkins.

Of course, I made treats - giant ginger cookies & caramel apples.

I have finally found a recipe for caramel that uses honey instead of corn syrup and I love it. I have made lost of caramel in the last week, because it's been several years since I've had any. Oh my. Next week, I may not even wear the same dress size if this keeps up.
I'm not even kidding.

A good time was had by all, I think - friends and family alike.

And also, there was that baby nephew of mine.

He's so cute. Obviously, his Uncle Chris thinks so too.

We lined up the best, most gruesome tools we could find.

The carnage was incredible.

The results? Probably the best pumpkins ever.

Avast, Mateys

2010-10-31T22:31:00.007-04:00

Here's our petite but powerful pirate:

And then there was this guy:

I have lots more pictures and some nice stories too. They're coming soon!

2010-10-25T20:33:00.002-04:00

Dear Muscle Spasms in My Neck,
I need you to stop screaming and calm down. Listen, I know you need some attention - we all do sometimes - but right now, I just can't address your needs, okay? You're going to have to get in line and I will take care of you when it's your turn.
Yes. The back of the line.
Way back there behind the Titanium costume for Andrew's science class Element Day (Titanium? Seriously. How do you dress like Titanium?) and Emma's Halloween costume. Oh yes, and you'll have to also wait behind Emma's Florida history project that's due this week - all three parts of it that require me to make something - and my own English paper and math project.
I'd like to spend a little time at the piano too, so you can stand right behind Mr. Brahms.
Mmhmmm. That's it.
Good.
Now, hold steady. The giant molasses cookies, caramel apples and pumpkin carving party for Friday and the Saturday fundraiser and cookout are shoving to take your spot. If you're not careful, you'll wind up behind them too.
Thanks for your patience.

Sincerely,
me

Daily Bliss: a bag of chocolate on sale - thank you Halloween candy time
Wake-up Playlist: Band of Horses, No One's Gonna Love You (more than I do)