Photographing My Life

an Honorable Life...

2011-07-30T08:50:00.003-04:00

"Her flowers still bloom, and the sun it still shines,

But the rain is like tear drops, for the ones left behind,

The weeds lay waiting to take the beauty away,

But the memories of its keeper are in our hearts to stay."

Barbara Bailey

I have been away from my blog for a very long time. After the passing of my mama, I felt like I couldn't come here to share without writing a tribute to her, and no tribute seemed worthy. After almost two years, I think I can finally come back home to my blog. I could drag on and on about her virtues, and she had many. But I still believe with all my heart, that the three words I selected to put on the case of her memorial slide show sums her up in the very best possible way. She absolutely lived an honorable life.

Mama, I miss your voice...

Congrats Girard High School

2009-11-12T12:22:00.002-05:00

Congratulations Girard High School Football

Making history with every game.

Girard quarterback Adam Charles

Girard issues a Royal beating - Local Sports, High School Football - Vindy.com, The Vindicator

The 2009/2010 Girard High School football team has made a place for themselves in local history. For the first time ever, Girard had an undefeated regular season.

I took these photos simply for fun and practice (as stated in a previous post, I am NOT a sports photographer) at a summer morning practice. Ha, If you could see the complete group of photos from the practice, you would think I was stalking Adam. HMMM, maybe I was. Adam and his brother spent a lot of time at our house when they were very young, so naturally my camera gravitated to him. Actually, I have many photos of many players, but I promised the coach I wouldn't post them publicly. We can't give away the team's secrets. Coach, I even blurred the type on the little wrist thingies. (technical term)

Congrats to you Adam and to the amazing Girard football team and coaching staff for a job well done.

Sweet Ella Lou

2009-10-18T13:10:00.005-04:00

Foggy Morning

2009-08-03T00:35:00.000-04:00

Rainy Day and Kitty Baby

2009-07-30T11:00:00.002-04:00

Yesterday, I spent most of the day out in the country at my pseudo-daughter's house. We sat on the front porch of her farm house, drank a coke and watched time pass and rain fall. It was lovely. We also trekked thorough the rain searching for new photography locations for me. Jenny was a very good sport about it. When we were done, we both looked like wet rats or at least felt like them. We found some great locations. SHHH, I have to keep them secret so some other snoopy photographer doesn't snap them up. LOL

In the midst of the rain, I managed to grab a few quick photos of a cemetery and beautiful gothic style church.

However, the star of the day was Jenny's new baby-kitty. She has the most precious little face and the funniest fur. When my hubby was looking at the photos, he asked me if the kitty was wet. LOL Nope, she just looks like that! Isn't she adorable?

God Speed Donald

2009-07-07T20:14:00.003-04:00

I found out today, that my first love, my first kiss, died on June 30. Donald loved music and loved to sing and actually, he was quite good at it. He used to sing the song Last Kiss all the time. That is my BFF-Vicky's sweet mother in the photo with Donald. He had both our mothers wrapped around his little finger! I stole this photo from Vicky's Facebook page. I don't think she will be too upset with me. We sure had some fun together, the three of us.

Here's to you Donald! I hope you had a beautiful life!

Summer Morning Rain

2009-07-03T13:32:00.008-04:00

Rest in Peace Squash Blossom

2009-07-03T09:25:00.007-04:00

"Give me a sunny spot to sleep in when morning dawns and I will warm your lap on cold evenings." Phylis Feiner Johnson

Our lives are often touched by the unexpected. Such was our story with Squash Blossom. Last summer, my adult daughter spent a great deal of time at home with us, needing to escape for a short while, her small apartment and the small town in which she goes to school. She also stayed with us to provide company and an extra set of hands after I had surgery last summer. Many of our summer mornings were spent on our breezy front porch with a cup of coffee in hand and a magazine in our laps. It was our morning ritual, one we will both always hold close in our hearts.

On one such morning, as we sat on the porch chatting, reading and sipping our coffee, we heard not so much a meow, as a "mew". When we peeked down the driveway to find the source, we saw a dreadfully skinny orange cat walking toward us. We gave it a cheerful salutation and then continued our morning ritual. Within a few short minutes, appearing as quietly as a butterfly landing, seemingly out of thin air, the orange kitty was on the porch. He climbed onto the iron sofa and then straight into my daughter's lap. He curled up on her as if they had been long time buddies, all the while purring like a motorboat. While his friendliness entertained us, his dirtiness worried us, as did the fact that he was so very thin.

He hung out with us all morning and we jokingly came up with names for him. We weren't claiming him, I did not want another cat. We were simply amusing ourselves. He was such a friendly little guy that it was hard to shoo him away. Several names came up and eventually we decided that his color reminded us of the inside of a butternut squash, or the color of a squash blossom. Somehow "Squash Blossom" just seemed to stick. Eventually we found out he officially belonged to neighbors who had moved in a few short days before he appeared on our porch. Obviously hungry and uncared for, he soaked up our attention like a wet sponge. For the rest of the summer, if we were outside, he was with us.

Squash had an odd condition. One that made him even more adorable. He would purr so loudly and with such vigor that he would drool. Big droplets of slobber would drizzle down his chin while he was sitting in your lap. As for our laps, he never waited for an invitation. If you were stationary, he found you and sprawled out in your lap.

Although horribly undernourished and thin, Squash had massive paws and very lengthy whiskers, whiskers that somehow over the late summer, simply disappeared. They were pulled out or cut off by someone he trusted enough to let them get that close. That person should have every single hair on their body pulled out one at a time for the pain they caused that precious cat. Eventually his whiskers grew back, longer and stronger, but not even that abuse dampened his sweet spirit.

As winter came, we feared for his safety. By now he was basically homeless, and feeding off the kindness of the neighborhood, excluding the people who brought him into it in the first place.

Ohio winters can be brutal and I feared he would not make it through. I created a small sheltered area on our back porch, so he would at least have it as a last resort. Already having one cat, an old grouchy guy, we knew trying to bring Squash into our home would be disastrous! Another kind neighbor let him come into her house on the bitterest of nights, Squash having won over her heart and the hearts of her young children. Thankful for the warmth, he was simply an alley cat at heart and needed his freedom as soon as daylight emerged. I greeted him each cold morning with a bowl of heated milk to warm his tummy after the chilly night and before he set out to explore the freshly fallen snow. He began to expect it and even after being in the warmth and safety of the neighbor's house overnight, he would fuss to get out and run to my back porch for his morning bowl of warm milk. During the winter, there were tracks in the snow that led between our house and theirs, a path Squash had worn between them, fighting to survive.

When the sun began to warm the earth in the spring, Squash could be found lying directly under my platform bird feeder, nestled in among the growing daylilies, his fur speckled with discarded sunflower seed shells.

He was the sweetest of cats, always with a purr for you, sweeping in and out of your ankles or curling up in your lap the moment you sat down.

Who would've thought that the cat that almost starved to death, the cat with nine lives, who lived through the bitterest of winters would meet his end in the warmth of summer.

My house was full of company, my children home, my son's 6 month old German Shepherd/Husky mix puppy visiting and my sister here from out of state. Amidst all this bustle, I mentioned that I hadn't seen Squash in a few days, which was unusual since even with the dog here, he would still come calling and curl up on our back porch bench in the morning sunlight, both to the puppy's delight and aggravation. She wanted to play with Squash in the worst way. We would often have to shoo Squash off the back porch before we could bring Prudence out for her walk or we would have been flapping in the breeze like a flag on the end of Pru's leash as she tried her best to play with that cat!

A couple evenings later, Squash Blossom came to us for help, battered and in pain. We wrapped him in a towel, my sweet sister holding him like a baby in her arms as my husband drove us all to the vet. Squash was very brave and still just as sweet as ever. I unashamedly wept for him, my hand vibrating on his back as he lay on the cold stainless of the vet's table. He purred all the way till the end. My sister stayed with him in his last moments. My heart could not endure it.

Below is my last photo of Squash Blossom, taken just a few days before his accident, as he came trotting toward me out of the middle of my flower garden. Whenever out in the garden, if I stood still for more than a few seconds, Squash would lie across my feet, or if I squatted down to do something in the garden, he would curl up in my "shade". I will miss his sweet spirit and his constant company as I pull the weeds from my flowers.

"And when I am old and the time comes to say farewell, hold me gently in your arms and I will go without a whimper." Phylis Feiner Johnson

The warm days of summer brought you, the warm days of summer took you away.

Rest in Peace Squash Blossom.

You brought a bit more sunshine to our lives.

After the Rain

2009-06-18T07:52:00.000-04:00

We had a beautiful day-long summer rain yesterday here in Ohio. My sister and I spent part of the morning on the front porch listening to the rain fall around us, rain misting our faces as we ate our toasted bagels and drank cups of hot coffee. I was delighted to see that my first daylily of the season had bloomed. They are always such a cheerful addition to the yard. When the rain let up, I decided to grab my camera and head out to take a few photos of the rain-soaked flowers. These are a few of my favorites.

Sunny Day, Keeping the Clouds Away...

2009-04-19T08:54:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was a gorgeous, warm and sunny day. Sometime before noon, I decided to grab a Kashi Blackberry snack bar, a cup of coffee and my journal and head out to the back yard to my cedar swing. That was the last second the day belonged to me, until late afternoon. Should I have been working? Yes. Am I glad I didn't? Yes.

As I turned toward the neighbor's house to reply to a greeting, the little toddler (he is probably pushing 1 3/4 now) started smiling from ear to ear and toddling towards me on newly found running legs, with freedom in his eyes. All was lost. By the time I rounded the corner of my wooden fence, little Lyndy was heading my way as well. She is such a lover, that one. Always in your lap, cuddling and wrapping her love around you. What idiot walks away from that?

Cheyanne and Lyndy ended up coming back home with me and the three of us sat in the swing and shared my granola bar. Then after chatting for a while, I dug out my bucket of sidewalk chalk (I'm not even sure how old that sidewalk chalk is) and the girls proceeded to draw on the patio beside the swing. Lyndy, in her infinite wisdom for a mere four year old, looks up at me with big blue eyes and says "I am going to draw my future". In her future, she must be an exterminator because she kept crushing ants with the chalk! Lyndy drew her future, Cheyanne drew a stop sign and a police officer (which I hope isn't part of her future) and the three of us drew a geometric design, taking turns coloring in the shapes.

As we retreated back to the swing, chatting about this and that, sometime amidst the conversation, Lyndy says to me "This is the face I make when I want to make a bumblebee laugh". I cracked up! (Just a warning...If you choose to enlarge the view of this photo, she has a nasty nose. She is a kid, being a kid, out in the yard on a warm sunny day, playing kick ball, playing in the dirt and drinking in the sunshine, so if nasty noses make you squirm, don't enlarge this photo!)

Lyndy spent most of the afternoon with my husband and me. As we sat in the swing, the three of us, eating apples with peanut butter on them, Lyndy decided she needed to take a piece of apple to her brother Connor. The next thing I knew, all four of them were with me, sitting in the swing chatting, chattering and giggling about all things, while eating popcorn and peanut butter covered apple slices.

They brought Easter candy to share, with Lyndy picking a pretty pink foil covered Hershey kiss to take to my husband as he polished the wheels on his car.

They always enjoy my binoculars and the bird book that sit on the back window ledge of my kitchen, so I let them bring the binoculars outside and gathered up two other bird books for them to use as a reference. We looked up photos of birds we often see in the yard and as if on que, a round robin dropped in for a splash in the bird bath. Connor asked me to take photos of the evidence of the splish-splashing robin.

Through the fence, on his way back to their yard, Connor found more evidence of the birds that visit our yards.

After spending most of the afternoon sleeping among the daylilies UNDER the bird feeder, Squash Blossom found another place to rest.

A cleaned up, piggy-tailed Lyndy.

Xie Xie Chey

2009-04-15T09:40:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, Cheyanne had her very first experience with Chinese take-out. (READ: We frolicked too long at the mall, watching the eels and sharks, so it was too late to cook by the time we got home.) Cheyanne enjoyed her chicken lo mein and even tried an egg roll. She ate her entire meal with chopsticks. At the Girard Wok, she showed off her language skills by telling the girl at the checkout counter "thank you (xie xie)" in Chinese. I enjoyed our afternoon out Cheyanne.

Below are cell phone photos from our afternoon adventure.

Easter Play

2009-04-13T17:09:00.005-04:00

Late afternoon, on Easter Sunday, I found these little ones hard at play with their new Easter goodies. They were having such a good time. Christian was putting his heart and soul into his beautiful art work. I think he may have found his calling. Lyndy was hard at work smearing her new bubbles all all over her chalk drawings and Connor was playing with his football and blowing bubbles. I grabbed a few quick snaps of them at play, capturing a few simple childhood moments.

Someone who shall remain nameless decided to use the blue chalk as lipstick!

Yes, those are coats on Easter Sunday. It was only mid 40's to low 50's .

Happy Easter my little friends!

(Sorry Cheyanne, you weren't outside)

Prudence

2009-04-05T13:56:00.003-04:00

Pru's First Spring

2009-04-05T11:10:00.000-04:00

Prudence spent spring break at our house with my son. Or did my son spend spring break at our house with Prudence? Hmmm....

This is Pru's very first spring! Isn't she adorable?

Welcome Spring

2009-04-05T10:45:00.002-04:00

Sometimes, spring seems to take forever to arrive here in NE Ohio. This year, it arrived at my back door with a smile on its face.

I'm a little late posting this, life has been busy.

Not one to lie around during the day, or even turn on the television, I had a day a few weeks ago when I wasn't feeling well. I spent the afternoon lying in my anti-gravity chair trying to give my back some relief and watching movies. A rare afternoon for me indeed!

I have become accustomed to tiny raps on my back door, accompanied by neighboring children's smiling faces. On that afternoon, as I was lying in my chair watching Maid of Honor (whatever, lol) I heard a tiny tap at my door. Since I was laid out in my anti-gravity chair, I didn't answer the door immediately. When I eventually got up, I could still hear the children outside playing. I peered through my side kitchen window and saw a precious little figure sitting on the neighbor's steps. bundled up against the chill, holding a sunny daffodil. I opened my door and playfully called out "Who was knocking on my door". A sweet little voice replied "me" and came running towards my back porch. He ran up the porch steps, smile on his face, daffodil in hand. He told me he had picked it for me. Already knowing the answer, I smiled as I softly asked him where he got the flower. He openly replied "In the front yard". My heart smiled as I told him that I loved my flower and I thanked him for bringing it to me, although...And I told him with a hug and a smile that he probably shouldn't pick the flowers from my yard. It was a precious gesture, from a precious child. He brought a little bit of spring and sunlight to me on a day when I could definitely use it!

It sat in my kitchen window as a reminder of the arrival of spring and of my good fortune to have such a precious bunch of children living close by. They make my heart sing.

Thank you sweet Christian, for delivering spring right to my doorstep!

Toddlers and Tiaras?

2009-03-21T17:16:00.001-04:00

DISCLAIMER: Sometimes the words I need just are not available in the English language, so I make them up. Such is the case with several words in the following post. I know they are wrong. I knew it before spellcheck told me.

So one night last week, as I curled up in bed with my remote control, trying to fill my never ending thought train with something other than my own soundtrack, I stumbled across this TLC Network show called Toddlers and Tiaras. Have you people seen this thing? I sat in shock and awe as they paraded little girls out onto a stage with full makeup (not just dance recital type makeup, full-on Tammy Faye Baker makeup) and hairpieces and nothing short of 1960's Grand Ole Opry, Tammy Wynette/Loretta Lynn hairdos. We are talking about toddlers and tiny tots here, kids that can barely, if at all, tie their own shoes. I watched as a mother counted to THREE in an intimidating... "One, don't make me count to THREE, Two...You know what happens if I get to Three!" voice because the child didn't want to get all ~~street walker'd~~ prettied up and parade across a stage while having her innocent beauty judged by a bunch of strangers. "Why are you being so contrary?" the mother asks. Well maybe because she would rather be barefoot, with a dirty face and messy hair, chasing butterflies out in her back yard!!!! I admit, for about ten minutes I was sucked into this vortex of crazy motherdom.

I watched in horror, as the stagiest of stage moms stood behind the judges making 3 year old faces and flailing her arms in cutesy poses in an effort to get the three year old who was on stage, to do the same for the judges. Have you ever seen a 35 year old overweight woman making cutesy three year old faces? It AIN'T PRETTY! (I can say overweight, because I am overweight too. It would still be just as unattractive if she were a size 5. I'm just trying to paint a picture for you, albeit not a pretty one.)

"You need to get ready NOW" says one mom forcefully! But I'm HUNGRY cries the toddler. I wince and change the channel.

Now you might think my disgust at this, slightly or largely (you choose) hypocritical, since I take photographs of children wrapped up in tulle. Just to let you know, we are having fun! We are laughing and giggling and singing silly songs and the second it stops being fun, we are done! Then we grab our bubbles and butterfly nets and head out into the yard to get just as stinkin' dirty as we possibly can. And no one is judging us!

No matter how hard I try, I can't for the life of me see a three or four year old saying to their parents, "You know, I was thinking I might want to spend all my weekends having my hair done and having to sit still while someone puts makeup on me, especially the stuff you put on your eyelashes that occasionally gets you poked in the eye, and then put on some really uncomfortable scratchy clothing before walking out onto a stage to have other adults judge whether or not I posses enough beauty and charm to deserve a crown, instead of playing outside in the warm fresh air...And even if I don't win, even if I never win, I will be so honored to have had this experience of rejection and heartbreak at such a tender age, that I promise I will never be scarred or insecure for a moment in my entire life."

Whatever...

Dear Prudence

2009-03-01T13:05:00.002-05:00

Meet the newest member of our family, Miss Pru. Isn't she a beauty?

Priceless

2009-02-27T16:01:00.000-05:00

I was given a very precious gift this week. My little friend Connor made a beautiful St. Patrick's day card for me. He also made and gave to me a beautiful green bird. The joy with which he delivered my present was priceless.

Thank you so much Connor, for the joy you brought to my day.

Icicles of Gold

2009-02-25T09:26:00.000-05:00

Late yesterday afternoon, I was on the phone with one of my sisters doing what sisters do. We were chatting about this and chatting about that. As I walked through the house, I noticed that each west facing window had a golden glow. I peeked out the front curtain and saw a beautiful icicle clinging onto a wire. It had started out earlier in the day, several feet away, much closer to the neighbor's house, but as the day got longer and warmer, the icicle drifted down the slope of the wire and was in the perfect position to catch the late afternoon sunlight.

Once again, (thank goodness my sister is so understanding) I abruptly said "I've got to go. I've got to take a picture." If there is one thing I know and she has learned, it is that evening sunlight is fleeting. If you wait even three minutes, it may be gone. So I threw down the phone, grabbed my camera and headed out to the porch. This is what I saw.

The Musician (POTD)

2009-02-22T11:46:00.000-05:00

The Musician

Shutterbugs.biz Photo of the Day

February.08.2009

Category: Photo Art

This photo was taken at the Great Lakes Medieval Faire. If you have never been, don't miss it when it comes around this year. It is a crazy fun time for all.

Still Holding On (Shutterbugs POTD)

2009-02-17T12:12:00.000-05:00

Shutterbugs.biz Photo of the day

February 16, 2009

Category: Theme (Ropes and Strings)

RIP or How Long Has That Sucker Been There?

2009-02-08T17:52:00.201-05:00

[AIN'T Disclaimer: There are a couple instances of the word AIN'T in this post. I do not use the word AIN'T in my daily speech. Sometimes when writing, the only word that will do is AIN'T. So for creative purposes, I occasionally throw it in for good measure. The grammar police can get back to their donuts now! LOL]

We are city people. There is just no way around it. We enjoy a good walk outdoors and smelling the fall leaves crunching beneath our feet as much as the next person. We enjoy feeding the birds, as long as they are outside and we are inside. Sometimes, people assume that because I have a southern accent, I grew up on a farm. Well Atlanta is in the south and it AIN'T NO FARM! I don't "do" furry creatures unless I named it and paid the vet to neuter it. Let me just re-emphasize, we are city people!

Two years ago, I posted Squirrels in the Attic on my blog. If you don't want to take the time to read it, this is the abridged version. There was some kind of critter that left nasty footprints on the inside of our white attic door and poop droppings on the floor of the attic. We never knew what happened to it.

Fast forward to this weekend...

We had perfect attic cleaning weather. It was warm enough not to be cold, cool enough not to be hot! So I, in my moment of cleaning insanity decided to dig my way through all the crap that has accumulated in the non-decoration side of the attic. I am a hanger-on, and I still have baby clothes and Halloween costumes even though my children are 27 AND 23. In my defense, they aren't Wal-mart costumes. They are costumes sewn by my own hands. There are garbage bags filled with the childhood of my babies. For several hours yesterday I dug through box after box of memorabilia. There were notes to the Easter bunny, and report cards and band t-shirt and drawings of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on any scrap of paper my baby could find. There were things that made me laugh, like a note from a teacher saying how "creative" my son was but how that creativity and sense of humor was sometimes distracting to the other students. Some things never change! There were things that made me cry, like love notes from my little girl, who will always BE my little girl and the little purple glass slipper she bought for me from Santa's Workshop one Christmas when she was in elementary school.

I made it through yesterday unscathed, with only the scare of something crunching under my hand as I crawled through the dark side of the attic. Something like "OH MY GOSH, what was that?" came flying out of my mouth in a voice reminiscent or Reagan from the Exorcist, but it was a false alarm, only a piece of packing tape that wiggled and crunched under my hand. No laughing! I said it was dark in there!

This afternoon, I decided to tackle it once again. I crawled into the attic, sitting among the boxes of our lives. To my right was uncharted territory, things that hadn't been moved in several years. I pulled bag after bag out of the corner, sorting baby clothes and costumes and trying to convince myself to get rid of some of it. Just a tip for you young mothers...It is easier to get rid of juniors 'stuff" while junior is still junior. When junior or junior-ette becomes an adult, everything they ever drew, wore or touched will become of sentimental value. "Oh look, it's the shirt she wore to sleep in that one night when the stars were out". Seriously, unless you want to be digging through mountains of memorabilia when they are 23 and 27, get rid of the stuff when you are thankful you are no longer having to wipe their noses, or it will be with you FOREVER!

Back to the story. While I lovingly fondled baby booties and Beatrix Potter blankets, I somehow managed to avoid seeing the hairy hind end that was poking out of one of the bags a few feet away. As I sat there among the ruins of childhoods, something furry caught my eye off to the right. There was a bag of clothing or cloth or bedding or something made of fabric torn open and there was some brown furry thing poking out of it. It wasn't moving and it wasn't raring back and hissing at me or jumping on me like the squirrel from the Griswold's Christmas tree, so my first thought was "Hmmm, What did my kids have with brown fur on it? " Well, let me answer that for you. NOTHING! As soon as that occurred to me, I started to slowly back out of the attic, saying as calmly as I could, "Honey, can you come here please?"

Well, Honey came, and let me tell you, he ain't no country boy either! We stood there and looked at that squirrel's hind end poking out of that bag, right next to Britt's Lili'uokalani shirt from her 3rd grade book report for Mrs. Setz's class, trying to figure out what in the heck to do about it now that I had uncovered the dang thing! I suggested we get the eight year old boy up the street. He would have looked upon it as an adventure.

Odds were it was dead. I mean, we have had brutally cold weather, below zero and there is no heat in that attic and no food, save the two year old peanuts that were in the tripped HAVAHART trap. We assumed he was dead, but since we couldn't be sure, we just closed the door. There was no guarantee and all we needed was a wild squirrel running through our house while the cat lay in his wicker basket by the heating vent on his furry red robe making fun of us while we tried to catch the squirrel.

Honey wandered out to the garage and pretty soon he came back looking like we were going into battle. There was a cardboard box, a garbage bag, a pair of fireplace log tongs, an axe and a long-handled garden tool that has prongs on one side and a hoe on the other. I thought we were going to skewer him and then cook him in the fireplace.

I closed off the doors to all the other bedrooms upstairs and then we prepared to extract the rodent. I mean, surely he was dead. Or maybe he was just smart enough to play dead and was going to leap right up on Honey's chest the minute he let his guard down. I got the tough job of holding the halogen work lamp so Honey could at least SEE the thing when it jumped up on his chest. Let me just say, all of this was happening on a 4 foot by 3 foot landing at the top of some very steep and very hard stairs! We got the box ready, we got the tools ready and then honey began dragging the bag o'rodent towards us. I probably wasn't helping much because I kept squealing, every time he would pull it a little closer. Once he moved the bag about a foot, we were fairly certain the little intruder was dead.

Now, the logical thing would be to just throw out the whole bag of stuff he died in, right? But wait a minute, (see above paragraphs) I saw Britt's Girl Scout vest and Brownie sash, and wait...That is Joey's little yellow hat, the one he wore all summer long to keep the sun off of his little blonde head. No squirrel is going to take Britt's Girl Scout badges away from me!

We boxed up "Frosty the squirrel" and his bag full of clothes and carried them out into the yard. I'm thinkin', Frosty must have a had a bit of a flamboyant side. The bag in which he chose to die was filled with dance recital costumes covered in shimmering sequins and fringe. We methodically dug through the bag full of clothing with the fireplace tongs, picking and choosing what I absolutely couldn't part with. That is why they make washing machines, right? The neighborhood children came over to see what we were doing, and ever willing to share, I let them see the dead Frosty and then taught them how to use the fireplace tongs to help us sort the clothes.

When all was sorted, we had a snowball fight in Frosty's honor.

Of course I took pictures. So if you're squeamish, you might not want to look further. I will say, upon further inspection of the photos, I may be throwing away everything that was in the bag with Frosty! I'm pretty sure I saw some maggot "remains" in the photos. I can handle a little squirrel dying drool, but I can not do maggots!

I have been trying to get this to stay formatted for an hour! It won't do it in IE and it won't stay formatted in Firefox. Sorry if it is a mess! I am tired of trying!

A Photo Tribute To North Avenue School

2009-02-04T09:44:00.027-05:00

Each of these photos were taken at the now demolished North Avenue school. Once seen, you will understand my sadness at the school's demolition. I jokingly referred to it as my pseudo-studio. I have many many more, but decided I needed to stop. It was just making me too sad.

I am aware of the wording era in the photo above. I didn't care enough to go back and rebuild it! LOL

Sometimes life gives you something you need, just at the moment you need it. As I was prowling around the remains of the demolition, I found this piece of graffiti. I pretend it is the school telling me everything is okay, she was ready to go. Maybe she was tired of having pigeons pooping on her.

North Avenue School...You were loved!

For My Broken Heart: Goodbye North Avenue School

2009-02-04T07:45:00.201-05:00

"In 1905, the North Avenue School was built on what was then the edge of town. Designed by the well-known Youngstown architect, Charles H. Owsley, it was built in a Beaux-Arts style with Classic details. It served as the grade school, while the Wilson Avenue School served as the high school." (Quoted from History of Girard, Girard Free Library, Girard, Ohio)

On Monday, a wrecking ball knocked down what was left of North Avenue School in Girard, Ohio. For months, crews had been stripping the inside, leaving nothing but the bare brick framework and roof. As I drove by it on Saturday, I could see through the building. I knew it didn't have long. My heart was heavy.

When my son was 2, I worked in this building at the last business that occupied it, The Good Ship Lollipop Preschool and Daycare. When my daughter was young, I was a Girl Scout leader and we met in one of the classrooms of the school. Huge classrooms, wooden floor, oak banisters, basement gymnasiums and glass block windows...It had a lifetime of grandness. My head understands that it needed to go. It was time. My heart, on the other hand is broken.

In the fall of 2003, after the school had been closed for many years, I was taking a walk and noticed the back of the school, overgrown with ivy. Fall colors bursting from every inch, reds and golds brilliant in the sunlight.

Having been a photography hobbyist for most of my adult life, I ran home and grabbed a camera. It was the beginning of the digital age, and my digital camera was a mere 2 megapixels. I regret that I didn't take film photographs. I explored the perimeter of this old building, sighing at its unseen beauty. To me, it was perfect. I worked to detach myself from it over the last year, knowing the day would soon come when it would no longer be there.

There was an article in the Youngstown Vindicator yesterday (Feb 03, 2009), praising the demolition. They referred to the beautiful old school as an eyesore. When I read that, I was like a mama who was just told her child is ugly. I wanted to smack someone! It also said it had been empty for three decades. I worked there in 1988. Do the math folks. That is not three decades ago! I haven't yet lived in Girard for three decades.

An architect spent hours designing the building. Men without the sophisticated tools of today, built it with their hands. A man's hands touched every single brick as it was put into place. Someone polished the banister, someone arranged the desks or benches into perfect rows. The flag was raised on the flagpole and the bell rang for the very first time. Snow-covered little boots trudged up the steps, eager to learn. Rosy cheeked children rose from their seats, placed their hands over their hearts and together recited the Pledge to the Flag. It was filled with the sounds of learning.

I understand that it was time for it to go. It was too expensive to try to restore. No one wanted to take on that daunting task. However, let's give it the dignity it deserves in its goodbye. Although just a building, it will be missed.

Yesterday, I stood behind the orange mesh barrier, looking at the pile of rubble that was once a magnificent school. I swear I could hear the sounds of children playing..."Red rover, red rover, send Mary right over."

Pieces of the archway over the entrance doors and a glass block from the vertical glass block windows over the porches. The glass block windows brought light into the stairway.

Take a look at North Avenue school through my eyes.

North Avenue School

Girard, Ohio

1905-2009

Ever since talk of tearing down the school first began, I have set about as a goal to acquire one of the bricks from the school building, a brick that was put into place some 104 years ago. My husband sent an email to me from work yesterday morning to let me know the school was down. I put on my coat, boots and my crazy keep-snow-off-my-camera-controls hat, grabbed my camera and tore off down the street. My timing was perfect. One of the drivers of the big-yellow-knock-the-school-down pieces of machinery (hey, I am not a demolition expert, I don't know what they are called) had stopped and stepped out of the machinery to speak to a man in a long black coat who was at the edge of the orange mesh barrier. I was on the other side of the lot. I trudged through the 12 inch snow to the other side, as fast as my short legs would let me travel in that deep snow. The man and the demolition guy seemingly started to part ways and I started hollerin" "WAIT"! As I approached the coated gentleman, I realized it was our mayor. I asked, well, probably begged him for a brick. I told him of my love for this old building and he actually handed me one of the old bricks from a stack that was handed to him.

Thank you Mayor Melfi. It means a lot to me.

Puddle of Sunset

2009-02-03T20:10:00.006-05:00

Our winter sunsets are some of the most beautiful all year long. This is what we were graced with this cold February evening. I was cooking dinner and happened to notice a rosy glow coming through my south facing dining room window. I grabbed my camera and went onto our front porch and took this photo looking down our street. within 6 minutes of the time I walked out onto the porch, apron on, camera in hand (yes I wear an apron when I cook, or I wear what I am cooking) the sunset was complete.

Winter Storm

2009-01-31T10:43:00.051-05:00

It lifts existence on a plane of snow

One level higher than the earth below,

One level nearer heaven overhead,

And last year's berries shining scarlet red.

From: A Winter Eden

by Robert Frost

We don't often get ice. We get snow. Right now, we have both. The ice of several days ago, is still sparkling beneath the snow. Too cold for it to melt, it will be with us another day. It crackles on branches, like pieces of leaded glass windows. It hold last years berries captive from the wildlife that depend on it for nourishment. The ice of the morning, gave way to a foot of snow later in the day. Mounds and mounds of snow gather along sidewalks and roadways. Too cold to melt and no where else to go. A foot of new snow on top of an already frozen foot of old snow. It is a magical place. Blinding white, with diamonds that sparkle in the sunlight. Snow scratches! This I found out when my booted foot crunched through a seemingly solid mound.

Before we know it, all will be green and lush again. So for now, I will delight in my icy playground. Shimmering, twinkling, sparkling winter storm.

2009-01-24T16:49:00.001-05:00

Perhaps imagination is only intelligence having fun.

George Scalabba

My New Friend

2009-01-22T10:41:00.001-05:00

During yesterday's 15 minute outing in the snow, this blue jay decided that although I was only about 8 feet away, he needed to eat to stay warm, so he braved my intrusion and darted in and out snatching seeds from the ground.

Blue jays get a bad rap. We have never seen a blue jay be mean to the other birds as others always claim. They eat alongside the smaller birds with no obvious aggravation. The cardinals however, will run a sparrow off each and every time it approaches the feeder while he is in there. Blue jays also act as an alarm for the smaller birds when there is impending danger, such as a huge hawk circling to find his lunch.

And, they are pretty darn cute!

Afternoon Blues

2009-01-22T08:52:00.003-05:00

Yesterday afternoon, I decided to bundle up and stroll the nighborhood to take a few photos. I only got as far as the end of my driveway. LOL It was COLD! Although it was 20 degrees, there was something in the air that made it feel colder than it did last week when it was only 5 degrees. Weather is odd that way. My bare fingertips were painful after only a few short minutes in the cold. I buy cheap black gloves and snip off the ends of the fingers so that I can adjust my camera. They manufacture gloves that have the fingertips missing and have a flip-up mitten type cover for when you want to cover your fingers. However, they never have the thumb exposed. Any photographer will tell you, you really need your thumb and forefinger to adjust all the bells & whistles on a 35mm camera.

We are supposed to have a warm up over the weekend, into the thirties, so I wanted to take photos of the massive icicles dripping off of all the neighborhood houses before they melt away. We have had a hard freeze for almost two weeks now, so the icicles are huge. TIP: If you have giant icicles hanging off of your house, it is as much a sign that you need better attic insulation as having the gorgeous frost patterns on our storm windows is a sign that we need new windows.

Maybe I'll try again today, but yesterday I was just too cold!

Diamond Dust

2009-01-15T14:56:00.001-05:00

I was on the phone with my sister this morning, when in spite of the 0 fahrenheit temperature, I decided to raise my dining room blind to let in some of the brilliant sunlight that was peeking in around the edges of the window. I grabbed the strings and started to pull. As I raised the blind, what lay before me took my breath away. A fresh blanket of snow had fallen on top of the already large amount we had last weekend, making our neighborhood look like it was coated with a layer of fondant icing, then sprinkled with cake decorator's glitter. It was glorious. Little diamond sparkles winked up from the snow, as the sun was still low enough to cast long shadows and highlight the flakes of snow.

I hung up on my sister, (well I actually said, "OH MY GOSH, I have to go"), tossed the cell phone on the counter top and grabbed my camera.

I tried photographing through my dining room window. (Give me a break! It was only 0 degrees outside.) but it just wasn't working, so I, in sweatshirt and sweat pants flew out onto my front porch to try and capture the light. It was magical. There was twinkly fairy dust sprinkled everywhere.

It was zero. I was cold, so I didn't really do it justice. I wasn't about to leave the porch. If I went in the house to put on a coat, scarf, hat and gloves the light might be gone. It changes swiftly!

So although not masterpieces, I wanted to share with you, my morning light.

If you click on the photos you can see the diamond dust.

Twilight (Photo of the day)

2009-01-14T09:01:00.000-05:00

Photo of the day

Shutterbugs.biz

01-14-2009

I haven't entered any contests in a very long time, so I was thrilled when "Twilight" was chosen as Photo of the Day at Shutterbugs in the SCENIC category. I have missed the joy of having one of my photos be honored, even if in a small way. I plan to get back to the joy of snapping the shutter, taking photos of the things that make me smile. Thanks Shutterbugs for the encouragement!

My Favorite Sitcom

2009-01-10T10:25:00.000-05:00

The New Adventures of Old Christine

I am a laugher. I don't think there has been a television series in a very long time that makes me laugh out loud as much as The New Adventures of Old Christine. If you haven't tuned in yet, it is on CBS Wednesday nights at 8:00. For those of you with young children...As much as I love this show, it is not written for children and should probably be a 9:00 show rather than an 8:00. You should probably Tivo it and watch it after the kiddies are in bed. Some of the subject matter is a bit well, not child friendly. It is a hilarious show with a perfect cast. Check it out!

Bad, Bad Martha

2009-01-08T08:40:00.007-05:00

If there is one thing I expect from Martha Stewart Living, it is that the recipes will taste good. They aren't always quick or easy, so they had better be worth the effort.

In the December 2008 issue, the Cookie of the Month recipe was for Chocolate-Peppermint Cookies. Being a huge fan of Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies and Keebler Grasshoppers, I decided to give this recipe a try.

Some tools I can't live without:

A pastry cloth, which can be as simple as a piece of canvas from the fabric store. You can either bind it to preserve it, or let it ravel. You will occasionally have to wash it, so if you let it ravel, you may need to replace it periodically.
A cloth cover for my rolling pin. This thing is a life-saver when you are rolling soft dough. You flour the cloth on the rolling pin, and no more stuck dough!
A flour shaker. The one shown above is from Pampered Chef, but I have several that are large vintage salt or pepper shakers. I also use them for cocoa and powdered sugar.

Baking cookies gives me the opportunity to use my much loved vintage cookie/biscuit cutters.

This recipe was a lot of work! The dough has to be made, then refrigerated. Then rolled out to 1/8 inch and placed in the freezer to firm up before cutting. (For the novice, they don't really tell you how to get that extremely thin dough from the floured surface on which you rolled it, to your freezer in one piece!)

Once the cookies are baked and cooled, you have to melt white chocolate for dipping them. But first, you need to unwrap and crush peppermint candies. Then you have to sift the large pieces of crushed candy from the peppermint dust to use to sprinkle the cookie. (Seriously, what was I thinking?)

Once the chocolate is melted, you dip the cookies and sprinkle with peppermint. After coating about eight or nine cookies with the white chocolate, for two reasons, I decided I should taste one before continuing to dip them. First of all, it was a pain to dip them. You have to put the pot of chocolate in a bowl of hot water to keep it from setting up. You have to dip the CHOCOLATE cookies without leaving flotsam and jetsam in the white chocolate. It is messy and tedious! Secondly, I thought that was a lot of white chocolate on a thin little cookie! I was right. I took a bite of a coated cookie and I swear I almost went into a sugar coma! They were pretty, but they were far too sweet for me.

I decided to improvise so as not to make them entirely inedible, so I lightly coated the bottom of each cookie with chocolate and then loaded a pastry bag with the chocolate and drizzled it on the cookies.(Yes, I have pastry bags and tips. Some of you don't know me at all. You think all I do is drag a camera around. LOL) The result is shown below. Honestly, I think they are prettier than Martha's version and thankfully, not nearly as sweet.

I bagged up the chocolate coated ones and about half of the others and gave them to the neighborhood children as they got off the school bus. They thought they were beautiful and delicious, so it wasn't all for nothing.

By the time I was done with these cookies, my kitchen was a disaster! I had parchment paper and cookie sheets and cooling racks and a pot with melted chocolate and crunched up peppermint and flour and ...Well you get the idea.

I would certainly have been better off buying a box of Keebler Grasshoppers and decorating them. A box of Grasshoppers would have been less than just the parchment paper for these bad bad Martha cookies and they taste really good!

In short, tee hee or long, these cookies are not worth the trouble.

Doo-Dads, a joy from my childhood.

When I was growing up, my favorite part of my mama making biscuits or teacakes were the "doo-dads" that were left over after all the dough had been cut and re-rolled and cut again. We were allowed to eat these, even before the others had been set out for consumption.

Morning Sunlight

2009-01-03T10:03:00.001-05:00

It is rare that I get to see the sunlight beaming through the frosted windows. Either I am up too early, and the sun isn't high enough in the sky to illuminate the frost, or the sunlight has already melted the frost before I get to see it. The morning of this frost, my timing was perfect. It was cold enough to allow the frost to cling to the window, even after the sun was high over the rooftop of my neighbor's house and far enough south to wash this window in light. (I should probably clarify the fact that this frost is not on the inside of my windos. We aren't freezing to death. LOL The frost is on the inside of the storm window, between the inside window and the cold outdoors.)

This photo is straight out of my camera. The only thing I did in Photoshop is resize it for the web. Being a person who takes a lot of photos, I know this looks as if it has been sharpened in Photoshop. It has not. The angle of the sunlight illuminating the frost is what caused the "sharpening" effect.

Click on the top photo and look closely at the little bubbles of condensation on the bottom right. I decided not to crop it, but show it just as I saw it on a cold winter's morning in North East Ohio.

Another view is below. I am not sure what I did to this one, so I can't say I didn't play with it. You can see the raised screen in the top half of the window.

Fascinating Frost

2009-01-02T12:27:00.005-05:00

I confess. I have a new fascination. I live in a 100 year old house. It still has its original windows upstairs. The glass is wavy and bubbly and bumpy and obviously lets out far too much heat. I know we should get new windows, but the thought of replacing these windows with windows that would not frost is a sad thought for me. It is the very bumpy and wavy characteristic of this old glass that creates such intricate frost patterns. Well, that and they need to be washed. The more dust on the window, the more intricate the pattern.

I can absolutely visualize little Jack Frost shimmying down the curtain, paintbrush in hand, dipping his brush in an icy pot of silver, swirling and swishing it all over the window pane, creating the most beautiful of designs. Then, leaning back to admire the beauty of his work. Each and every day that I awake to frost, I know it will be different from the time before. Just like snowflakes, it will never be exactly the same. If a dust speck moves, then so does the squiggle of the way the frost crawls all over the window pane.

They are magical, these artistic masterpieces of nature. In them I find faerie wings, and fireflies, dragons and unicorns. There are angel feathers and acanthus leaves and a gentleman in a top hat wearing a long coat, leaping off a cliff, his hat rising off his head as he leaps. There are castles and caverns with gargoyles and eagles, and a wise old owl overlooking the kingdom.

For those of you who doubt my sanity, who think I must be off my meds, lol, click on the photo above and dive into my magical kingdom of frost and see what you can find.

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T19:37:00.000-05:00

~~*~.2009.~*~~

May your new year be filled with much luck and good fortune!

Ode To A Happy Tree

2009-01-01T14:37:00.022-05:00

The vintage star atop my happy tree, in all its cheesy glory.

O Happy Tree! O Happy Tree!

Much pleasure thou can'st give me;

O Happy Tree! O HappyTree!

Much pleasure thou can'st give me;

How often has the Happy tree

Afforded me the greatest glee!

O Happy Tree! O Happy Tree!

Much pleasure thou can'st give me.

Yes, my kitchen table is really that piled with junk.

Yes, that is a basket of gloves. We do live in Ohio.

Yes, those are shoes on a rug by the back door. See line above!

No, I don't have curtains on my kitchen windows. I like the light. I am solar-powered.

Yes, that is really bad 80's wallpaper.

Yes, that is a cow bell on the window sash.

Each year, my treasure chest of happy tree ornaments has new additions given to me by family and friends.

The football player was a gift from a photographer friend who just happens to live in Michigan, the rival state of Ohio State football. She almost got me killed for hanging that guy on my tree!

Joe, Britt and I saw this adorable little guy hanging in Starbucks and I fell in love. Britt surprised me with it for the happy tree a few days later. I heart Britt!

My sister Jackie and my neice Shaun came to visit us for Thanksgiving and upon arrival they gifted me with the snowman, the Christmas tree and candy cane,

They also brought the beautiful spiral ribbon candy ornament.

The pink bell is part of a set of Radko Vintage Shiny Brite reproductions that were given to me by my two precious offspring. There was a set of four: a green, a blue, and two pink. Aren't they beautiful and don't they make you feel nostalgic, like you need to watch the movie A Christmas story?

The vintage reproductions came in a special vintage reproduction box, that I love every bit as much as I love the ornaments. Even the tissue paper has Shiny Brite printed on it.

Another thing that made me happy this Christmas were these tasty bites of joy from Ghirardelli Chocolate. They are a limited edition Peppermint Bark that is to die for! If you love Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies, this is your new best friend! Britt introduced me to these. I don't know whether to thank her or smack her. LOL

I have had this sign hanging by my back door entrance at Christmas for a few years now. This year it has taken a beating! We have had to chase it down three different times due to high winds. I believe the wind wizard has just been naughty! No Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark for you!

Thanks for allowing me to share a little bit of my Christmas with you!

Merry Christmas

2008-12-27T15:49:00.004-05:00

My offspring, even as adults, indulge their mother on Christmas morning by sitting on the steps just as they did 20 years ago, waiting for us to light the tree and make the coffee (torture them) before allowing them to pounce upon the gifts left by Santa. They are such good sports! However, twenty years ago Britt wasn't holding a cup of coffee.

Our other baby.

A Little More Christmas...

2008-12-27T15:48:00.000-05:00

Britt's tree in the dining room.

A Christmas Carol

Decorating

Rudolph with Your Nose So Bright!

Christmas Eve

2008-12-27T15:40:00.002-05:00

Cooking is something I truly enjoy. Not so much the task of "What's for dinner?" every night, but planning a fun feast, a holiday meal, a party or celebration. That kind of planning, I enjoy! I love to try new things in the kitchen and as my daughter is getting older, it is becoming a shared joy for the two of us.

This year, due to our schedules, as of Christmas Eve Eve we still hadn't planned our holiday meals. We grabbed the December Martha Stewart Living and another of Martha's holiday publications and started planning.

We decided on the following menu for our Christmas Eve dinner.

APPETIZERS:

COCKTAIL SHRIMP

HOMEMADE HUMMUS with LEMON & GARLIC

TOASTED WHOLE GRAIN BREAD SQUARES DRIZZLED WITH EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL for dipping in the hummus

MAIN COURSE:

CRUSTY BREAD with SHAVED PECORINO ROMANO and ROASTED GARLIC

BRAISED ESCAROLE
TOMATO VERMICELLI SOUP with CANNELLINI BEANS and FRESH BASIL

ESCAROLE, BLOOD ORANGE AND WALNUT SALAD

DESSERT:

FRUIT & CHEESE PLATTER

(grapes, tangerines, pears, apples, goat cheese, asiago and pecorino romano)
OLIVE OIL-ANISE CAKES

Of course, the meal was finished off with a steaming hot cup of Starbucks Christmas blend.

The braised escarole was a wonderful surprise addition to the meal. After peeling the outer leaves from the escarole to get to the tender, less bitter leaves for the salad, I couldn't bring myself to discard the outer leaves, so I braised them in my enamel-coated cast iron dutch oven with extra virgin olive oil and freshly ground salt & pepper. For the braising liquid, I used chicken broth. Although I am a lover of greens, I had only eaten escarole one other time and it was bitter. Some people use escarole in their wedding soup, but I prefer the lacy leaves of curly endive. The braised escarole was wonderful piled on top of the crusty bread with romano cheese and roasted garlic.

What We Woke Up To This Morning in Ohio

2008-11-18T10:50:00.000-05:00

Eight Minutes in Ohio

2008-11-18T10:06:00.000-05:00

There is a joke often made here in Ohio, that if you don't like the weather, hang around for 10 minutes. It will change. The following photos are a testament to the truth in that statement. I was sitting in my office, talking to my sister on the phone when I noticed some amazing golden light going on in my yard. I grabbed my camera and headed out to the yard. In a perfect world, I would have been at a beautiful scenic location, but I was just at my house, that sits in my yard, so you take what you can get.

From photo number 1 through photo number 7 there was just eight minutes difference.

If you click on the photos, they should enlarge. Even in the darker spots of the sky in the first ones you can see a few tiny snowflakes fluttering about. At the end of the eight minutes, the sky was flinging tiny little snowballs at us, as if we were in a snowball fight with the angels! If you enlarge the photo of the garage, you can see streaks of the snowballs falling as they rolled off od the roof. I slowed down my shutter speed to try and capture their motion.

These are pretty much straight out of camera. I didn't want to mess with them and change the lightness and darkness that nature had changed for me.

Ocarina

2008-07-28T08:58:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, Britt and I spent the day at the Great Lakes Medieval Faire. What a treat and a feast for the eyes. I love when I see something or experience something wonderful and know that I can always recall it in my memory. I will never be without the Medieval Faire again. Pirates and faeries and King Arthur. Jesters and wenches and trees filled with faerie wings. It was a true joy. I can't wait to go again next year.

At one booth/kiosk...(What do you call them at a Medieval Faire?)...There was an adorable young man selling ocarinas. I personally didn't know what an ocarina was. It is a beautiful little musical instrument made from clay.

Here is a YouTube video of a young man playing an ocarina.

Proud Parents

2008-06-28T07:30:00.004-04:00

From the time my son Joe was a wee-tiny thing, he has been an artist. Somewhere around the age of three, when The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arrived on the Saturday Morning cartoon scene, Joe would sit down and draw ninja turtles, weapons and all and they were recognizable.

In the margins of all his school notebooks there were drawings. On napkins in restaurants, on the back of anything paper, he would draw. It was apparent at a very young age that he had talent.

Joe is a student at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Adobe, the king of digital editing software had a contest this spring for students at all the Art Institutes in the United States. Guess who won? Yep, our little Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle drawing kid won first place.

As the first place winner, Joe gets an all expenses paid trip to SIGGRAPH 2008 in Los Angeles. We are beaming with pride and can't wait to see what the future will bring.

You can view Joe's winning video HERE.

A Happy Life

2008-06-22T14:45:00.007-04:00

This past week, I underwent a little bit of surgery. I'm fine and recuperating nicely, although the trauma of the general anesthesia has caused some of my MS issues to flare up. Hopefully, in a short while, they will run off and hide never to be seen again.

I have met some incredible friends through the web and as always, they have come through for me, lifting my spirit when I need it most. Yesterday, a beautiful bouquet of perfect pink peonies arrived at my door, spreading a little extra sunshine throughout my day. They couldn't have picked a more perfect flower to cheer me.

Through the years, flowers have developed meanings, representing an emotion in our lives. Peonies represent a happy life. My wonderful photography friends have certainly helped make my life happier with their sweet gift of peonies. Hugs to you all.

The Roses Are Blooming

2008-06-10T22:11:00.006-04:00

I love my humble garden. It will always be a work in progress. Last year as the earth warmed and the flowers started to bloom, so did my spirit, but the energy just wasn't yet there. It was a tough winter in 2006 and I was not up to the task of gardening. Slowly, as the cool days of spring turned into the warm days of summer, I finally found the strength and desire to once again enjoy the pleasures of my yard.

This year my health is stronger and I am thankful for every weed I have been able to pull, every hole I was capable of digging and every new plant I have stolen from a neighbor's garden. I have been rewarded. As one plant bids farewell, a new one springs forth with beauty, beckoning the butterflies, birds and the bees. This week, as my last irises of the season withered and fell to the ground, my old-fashioned rose has burst into glory...Another plant I did not plant. Several years ago, it just "rose" up out of the earth at the corner of my porch. The reward of someone else's gardening skills, a long past resident of this 100 year old house. A rose with a root that vanished for many years, coming back from the soil to shower me with color and joy. Thank you to whomever planted this beauty.

I greet each morning, sitting and rocking back and forth on my front porch, coffee in hand, often chatting on the phone with one of my dear sisters. The goldfinches, once again familiar with me, (they have to "learn" me each spring) squeak a good morning to me as they cling to the tree branches, headed in for a snack at the thistle sock I keep for them under the dry shelter of my porch awning.

The roses are blooming. Life is good.

The Mystery Iris

2008-06-09T21:21:00.002-04:00

Maybe I am forgetful...Maybe I am just plain old crazy, but this beautiful iris just popped up in my yard. I don't know where it came from. Maybe we have elves, gnomes, plant fairies or maybe it was one of those crazy farming squirrels that plant buckeyes , peanuts and sunflower seeds in all my pots. However it got there, I am just thankful for this beautiful ray of sunshine to brighten my days.

Just Chillin'

2008-06-09T20:54:00.003-04:00

Today was a very hot day here in Ohio. We have had several days in the 90s and even the squirrels are worn out. This little guy was stretched out on a branch like roadkill, enjoying the breeze. He stayed there for at least 30 minutes after I realized he was there. I have no idea how long he was there before I found him. His head popped up when I got close. Before I disturbed him, he had been lying with his head hanging down. It was hysterical!

My Special Angel

2008-06-07T08:09:00.000-04:00

When I was a little girl, I was blessed with much love. The youngest of seven children, I was surrounded by people who loved me. To add to the already large number of "us" there were eventually brother-in-laws and sister-in-laws and nieces and nephews out the wazoo! A family get-together wasn't just a get - together. With that many people, it was always a party!

When I was around seven years old, my older sister Jackie met Michael. She was only 18, he was 17. (I could be off a year here. She might have been 17, him 16...What do you want from me? I was pretty much still a toddler! LOL) After dating for only a few short months...Maybe three, they married. Nope, no one was pregnant. They actually wanted to get married.

Having Michael in our lives and in our hearts was a true gift and our family was all the better for his presence. He had a wicked sense of humor and a wicked temper. He was a red-headed Irishman with a heart of gold. He became fast friends with my brothers and a source of much love for we younger siblings. It was as if he were born into our family, at least to me, who was so young when he became a part of us, I scarcely remember life without him.

He let me use his legs as a sliding board. He taught me to laugh. He probably taught me to swear too! He was a defender, beating the tar out of a guy who tried to rough up one of my brothers, the one closest in age to me. He also taught me how to fly and then run home squealing. He used to lie on his back on the floor, bend his knees and let me sit on the bottom of his feet. Then he would toss me through the air with his feet. Hey, before Atari, this was fun stuff! Once, he decided not to hold back and he shot me across the room like a rock in a slingshot! Looking back, it is very funny. At the moment, not so much. LOL I probably pestered him to death to do it, and he cured me! I don't know if I ever again let him launch me!

He loved to dance and could jitterbug with the best of them! He had a heart of gold and always helped anyone who was in need. He liked to sing, not in a fancy, trained sort of way, but in a singing-for-the-joy of it sort of way.

My son was born on Mike's birthday and each year he would call my son on the anniversary of their birth and ask him how old they were that year, as if they were the same age. His sense of humor and his generosity were gifts he gave to each of us. mike, this year you were 23! Forever young.

The grace and strength he showed as his illness worsened was a lesson I will always remember. No matter how bad things were, no matter how bad he felt, when asked how he was doing, he always answered "fine'. As I travel my journey with MS, I always keep Mike in the back of my mind. If he could be "fine' with all he had to endure, I can sure as heck be "fine" too!

Though not of our blood, he was as much a part of our family as those of us who were born into it. He was my brother. The hearts of many were broken when he left us. My brothers openly wept for him, as did we sisters.

On this, the fifth anniversary of his passing, I want to remind the world that he was a special light, a safe place, a comfort and a joy. He is greatly missed by all who knew and loved him. We will each carry a part of him in our hearts always.

Jackie, You DONE GOOD!

All my love to you and Shaun on this hardest of days.

Grey's Grievance

2008-06-05T12:05:00.006-04:00

I have been a Grey's Anatomy fan since the very first episode. McDreamy, McSteamy, Mer-Der, Georgie, Crazy Christina, Richard, Izzy...Fans of them all. The first episode after the writer's strike was a very good episode, reminiscent of the good old days on Grey's Anatomy. The second show after the writer's strike...Not so much. A "less than Grey's" Grey's "sort of dropped it down the DVR food chain for me and there it sat until this week. With most shows in summer repeats, we decided to finish off the season of Grey's. We had one regular episode and the finale left to view.

They were good. Actually, very good, until the last Mer-Der scene. By the way...I am becoming more and more attached to Mer's sister Lexi. She is actually more likable than Meredith.

I have this thing about shows/movies that are supposed to be based on reality, doing something that is soooooooo totally unrealistic.

Seriously? In the words of Meredith...Seriously? The luminary scene at the end was so far fetched that it made me want to scream at the TV. Do the writers not know Meredith? First of all, the luminary floor plan looked like an architect did it using a laser straight line. Meredith probably doesn't own one of those. AND the luminaries were glass. I guess Meredith had about 300 glass luminaries just hanging around in her car or maybe McDreamy had them in his little travel trailer, not to mention all the large candles in the luminaries.

If they "knew" Meredith, they would realize she is not really a neat person. Her hair is messy, her life is messy. She would never have had those things lined up so perfectly. In the real world, the floor plan wouldn't have been so perfect. It would have been flawed, like Meredith and Derek's relationship. The lines would of been a little crooked, the scale, not so precise. The luminaries would have been paper lunch bags with tea lights in them. Who can get their hands on THAT many glass candle holders on such short notice? She would have been driving around to all the party supply or home decorating stores in Seattle all afternoon trying to collect that many identical luminaries and candles. SERIOUSLY!!!

Grey's writers...Don't insult us. I know it is only a TV show, but it would have been so much more touching if she had used plain old paper bags, maybe even with a few candles burned out. Meredith NEVER would have been able to put that together with such perfection. Dang, even Martha Stewart couldn't have put that together with such perfection.

A Day in the Park

2008-06-01T23:40:00.000-04:00

Last week my daughter and I spent an afternoon in a park communing with nature. Upon our arrival to the lily pond we were greeted by this cute, but determined little fellow. He was looking for free snacks. The photo below was shot through my car windshield. Soon after the raccoon began terrorizing us, there was a "rising" of geese from the pond. Seriously, it looked like a a scene from a horror movie, them slowly floating to the water's edge and then emerging all dripping with pond water while occasionally making a deep low throaty sound like a beast from the deep. We honestly didn't think we were going to be able to leave the safety of the car. I had to honk the car horn to get the raccoon away from the doors so we could see where the little stinker was before we could get out of the car. We braved the hungry creatures, distracting them with a $3.00 box of Reese's Pieces left over from a night at the movies. There is a sign at the pond that reads, PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE WILD ANIMALS. Yeah...whatever. So many people feed them, if you show up without food, you are a victim of not just a "rising", but an ANGRY RISING. They are like little feathered protestors shouting "We Want Food. We Want Food! Rather than be honked and hissed at...We had Reeses's Pieces...we fed Reeses's Pieces!

I sent my daughter off on a trek to the edge of the woods to find a stick for us to use for protection in the event the geese decided that Reese's Pieces weren't special enough to have them spare our lives. Ever the city girl, she came back with a twig. You gotta love her!

Soon after the candy was gone, my daughter spotted a blue heron standing on a log in the pond. Let the photos commence.

A Day in the Park ...Wait for Me!

2008-06-01T22:55:00.001-04:00

A Day in the Park ...A Bundle of Babies

2008-06-01T22:54:00.002-04:00

A Day in the Park ...A Family Portrait

2008-06-01T22:53:00.002-04:00

A Day in the Park ...Blue Heron

2008-06-01T22:52:00.002-04:00

A Day in the Park ...Reflections

2008-06-01T22:51:00.002-04:00

A Day in the Park...The Adorable Stalker 2

2008-06-01T22:50:00.002-04:00

A Day in the Park...The Adorable Stalker 1

2008-06-01T22:45:00.003-04:00

A Day in the Park ...The Lily Pond

2008-06-01T19:26:00.000-04:00

Friendship Iris

2008-05-19T19:23:00.004-04:00

A couple years ago, a friend of mine had a few bags of irises that someone had given to her. I stopped at her house while they were still bagged and lying in the driveway. She sent a bag home with me. On blind faith, I planted them...Not even knowing what color they would be. This year, they bloomed for the first time and they are absolutely beautiful. I can't wait until they multiply and I can pay it forward, by sharing their beauty with someone else.

Rachel Ray is My New Best Friend!

2008-05-06T20:02:00.004-04:00

I have been responsible for meal planning for 30 years! My first marriage was in 1978. I worked full time and still planned the meals. Even before I married, I did a great deal of the cooking at "home". Now, thirty years later, I am TIRED TIRED TIRED of planning meals.

Enter Rachel Ray...

She used to get on my nerves a little bit...that whole talking like she was on speed all the time thing (turns out its caffeine, LOL) and her silly little giggle that used to border on nails on a chalkboard for me and that scratchy voice.... Then I watched the Chefography about her on the Food Network and gained a whole new respect for her. She earned her way to this spot of popularity, one step at a time.

After being diagnosed with MS, planning meals became even more of a challenge. The shopping, the hours of cooking...It seriously made me start to hate cooking. Then I found Rachel's 365: No Repeats book.

What I love most about the book, is that I can sit down, poke around the book for a few minutes and have a whole weeks worth of meals planned and a shopping list prepared in a matter of minutes.

Although the meals are supposed to be cooked in 30 minutes, I will admit it takes me longer than thirty minutes, but I don't buy as much pre-prepped food as she does. I slice my own cabbage for slaw instead of buying a bag already cut up etc. Even though it may take me longer than thirty minutes, it still doesn't take nearly as long as the food I used to cook. I can easily start cooking and be ready to eat in less than an hour. I am a clean-up-as-you-go cook, so that slows me down a bit. Rachel has someone who does THAT for her. For that, I still have an attitude about her!

Her food combos, although I feel the need to question them sometimes, are actually always a prefect compliment to each other. Fresh dill on oven fries...I'm not a huge fan of dill, so I hesitated on this one but decided to make it just as she said and I was so glad I did. They were incredible!

So, KUDOS to you Rachel Ray for saving dinner. I am still cooking, but it so much easier now that I know I can likely get in and out of that kitchen in an hour.

NOTE: These aren't the most child-friendly recipes. If you are cooking for children, you might want to look for another cookbook. For us, since we are empty-nesters, it is a perfect book!

The Lilacs Are Blooming!

2008-05-06T09:49:00.002-04:00

Every year, I impatiently wait for the lilacs to bloom. The weathered fence which borders the left boundary of our yard is the perfect backdrop for this welcome burst of spring. In the late afternoon sun, the scent of the gorgeous flowering bush meanders through our backyard, whispering to me that spring has arrived. These lilacs, whose arrival I so eagerly await, don't actually belong to us. They belong to the neighboring home, which was once owned by a family who planted hydrangeas and tulips and this magnificent lilac bush which has given me hours of pleasure each and every spring for 22 years.

I am the keeper of the lilac bush. When we first moved into our home 22 years ago, the elderly woman who had so lovingly tended the lilacs and hydrangeas was still living in the neighboring house. Not long after, she passed away and since her death, many families have come and gone. We remain a constant. The same eyes to view the lilac as the low morning sunlight spreads over it each morning... The same gentle brush of my hand on the blossoms to stir up that sweet scent...The same heart to delight in its glory.

I would like to think it knows how much I love it and how I await its arrival each spring. And in spite of all the people who have come and gone, the idiots who trimmed it back beyond recognition one year, the bouts of powdery mildew it has had to endure, each and every year it blooms.

It may not be in my yard, but it IS my lilac!

Duck, Duck, Goose

2008-04-30T19:38:00.003-04:00

A Walk in the Park

2008-04-30T19:30:00.002-04:00

Sunday was a beautiful day in Ohio. Spring has sprung! This couple was taking a stroll through our beautiful Mill Creek Park under the cover of this gorgeous magnolia.

Blue Leaf

2008-04-17T10:00:00.007-04:00

I love leaves. Weathered, deteriorating, anything but green. I don't hate green leaves, but they are my least favorite. Spring has sprung here in Ohio and any day now my hubby will be out there cleaning up the leaves that hid under a blanket of snow all winter. So before the weathered and worn are all bagged away to the landfill, I decided to go exploring in my yard and this was the hidden beauty I discovered.

Random Thoughts

2008-04-16T13:49:00.003-04:00

I love avocado. In an "I will smack you if you touch my avocado" kind of way. A sprinkle of sea salt and freshly ground pepper and a little splash of fresh lime juice. Yum! Just in case you didn't know, they are very good for you!

Why do shoe manufacturers think that just because I am a woman, I want pink or baby blue on my athletic shoes?

Speaking of pink and baby blue...Why do all the clothes look like maternity clothes right now? I'm fluffy enough that if I wore them, people might really think I was with child. I am not, I am just "with fat" and I don't need anyone thinking "Wow did you see how OLD that pregnant woman was".

David Archuletta should be a gospel singer. He has a choice, Disney or Gospel. He would be great at either. Pop? Not so much!

Check Them Out!

2008-04-14T09:38:00.005-04:00

This new group of young girls, Carter's Chord has an incredible sound. Go to their site and give a listen to their music. Young Love is beautiful. Their harmony is smooth like silk!

(Sorry if I confused some of you. I didn't take this photo. This is from their website. I was just trying to drum up some listeners for them. They are really a talented group of young women who I don't feel are getting enough recognition)

I'm a Loser!

2008-04-08T12:38:00.001-04:00

Just when you think maybe you have done something fairly well, an elephant comes along and does THIS! I am in awe!!! Thanks for sending this to me "B".

Just thoughts...

2008-03-29T21:19:00.002-04:00

I hate when people who are sick DON'T stay home and then they make the rest of us sick. Hubby has been sick for a few days. Now it is my turn. After only one day, I already feel this stuff moving to my chest.

My cat is crazy. Certifiable! Over Christmas break, my daughter "B" turned him on to Asiago cheese. Two nights ago, I was eating a snack of fresh pear and Asiago cheese and that crazy cat tried to steal the cheese right off my plate. Thanks B!

He also loves to lick gum wrappers. If we open a piece of gum and put the paper down on the coffee table or some other flat surface, he holds it down with his paw and licks it until he has destroyed it.

Miss Daisy WUZ Here!

2008-03-11T15:30:00.007-04:00

Today has been a lazy day for me. Occasionally, the MS slows me down and I have to have a day filled with nothing. Not much of a daytime TV watcher, I reached for the remote in hopes that I would find something to keep me lying still for a while. After flipping through a hundred different movies, I settled on Driving Miss Daisy. There are only a few movies that I will watch more than once. I know people who can watch movies over and over and over and over. I am not one of those people. Driving Miss Daisy, A League of Their Own, Fried Green Tomatoes and Gone With the Wind are titles in a very limited catalogue of movies I will watch more than once. (As I am typing this, I am trying to listen to Out of Africa. Meryl Streep's voice with that accent is like nails on a chalkboard! I know...Oscar nominee etc etc etc, but they also nominated Chariots of Fire, so what do they know? I do really like Meryl Streep, just not with THAT accent.)

Back to my lazy day with Miss Daisy...

I first saw Driving Miss Daisy at the movie theater. I was stunned when the scene below showed the bridge I had walked over hundreds and hundreds of times in my youth, the Sixth Street bridge. By that time I had moved away from my childhood town of Griffin, Georgia and had no idea Driving Miss Daisy was filmed there.

On either side of the paved part of the Sixth Street bridge was a walkway for pedestrians to use for crossing. If I remember correctly, you could see the ground far below through the walkway. I can't remember what it was constructed of, but I remember being slightly afraid of being up so high. There was a "shelf" of sorts on the sides of the bridge, a part of the construction. The shelf was higher than the walkway. When we were feeling especially brave, we would walk on the shelf. My gosh, we were idiots!

I walked across that bridge to go to the Imperial Theater to see the very first Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and to see my very first theater viewing of Gone With the Wind. I was a teenager and even though it was an old movie, every time they showed it, the theater was packed. I actually sat in the aisle. Can you say FIRE HAZZARD? I made a lot of memories crossing that bridge.

The old McClellan's Department store was my second shock in the movie. I bought many a 45 black vinyl record in that store.Red labels with the RCA dog and the funky blue Motown labels. ABC, easy as 1 2 3 , I'm saying now, Do Re Mi. ABC, 123 baby you and me, girl.....I bought many a Teen magazine with Donny Osmond or David Cassidy flashing their million dollar smiles on the cover. Be still my heart. I bought a furry foot shaped throw rug and more than one yellow happy face sticker. The little rolled up horoscope scrolls by the cash register were always an enticement. Pink, purple, unrolled gently to find out what my Virgo future would hold.

Next door to McClellan's was Woolworth. It is the tall, arched blue building in the photo below. I used to go to the snack bar in Woolworth with my mama when we would go "uptown" to shop. We would have a plate of steaming hot french fries with ketchup and ice cold coke in a bell-shaped glass with the coke logo on the side. We visited Butler's shoes, Easterwood Shoes, The Bonnie Shop, Crouch's and JC Penney. As a teenager, I has a pair of denim shoes from Crouch's. The denim was fringed and the heels were huge wooden wedges. They were open-toed and the denim had orange and yellow glitter butterflies on it. They peeked out from under my huge orange bell bottoms, which were very low slung on my tiny little 17 year old hips. I was stylin'. Go Seventies!!!Thanks for the trip down memory lane Miss Daisy. Vintage postcard with Woolworth on the right.

Today...

2008-03-06T18:12:00.004-05:00

I am working on a senior storyboard/collage thing for beautiful young Elizabeth, while watching The Crucible and Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee on the Super Tube. I do enjoy Daniel Day Lewis!

I am eating a FEW Cadbury Mini Eggs. I can get stupid with those things.
I am dealing with a stupid left leg.
I called my mama early, before anyone had much time to make her cranky. LOL

Idol Thoughts

2008-03-06T09:09:00.004-05:00

I am so over that young kid. His "Oh my gosh, I can't believe you like me" attitude has about sent me over the edge. He won some kid Star Search thing. Can he really be all that shocked that the judges on Idol like him too? In my almost humble opinion, he just needs to go sing Disney theme songs for the next few years and come back when he quits that silly giggling. ......A Whole new World...........

I adore Jason Castro, dreads and all. Someone commented on the web, that he looks like the love child of John Travolta and Bob Marley. Tee Hee, at least he got the good parts of both. Love him, love his voice.

David Cook is also a favorite. I'm not crazy about his personality, but he oozes talent and I have been a fan of his voice since the first time I heard him sing. His version of Hello by Lionel Richie was FABULOUS!

I love Danny Noriega for his entertainment value, if for nothing else. He is a hoot! When he takes his leave, he will be missed. The kid needs his own TV show when Idol is over.

I feel like Michael Johns sings the same song every week. Talented? Yes, but becoming a bit boring.

David Hernandez...He has a good voice but I would not likely ever buy anything he recorded. He is too cruise-shippy for me. He could also sing Disney theme songs.

Chikezie...I think his voice is nice, but he is just lacking the "it" factor.

Oh, I forgot about Luke...enough said.......

As for the girls...

Carly Hennesy/Smithson ...yada yada yada...screams too much...yada yada...doesn't want to be the Diva, LOL. What makes her think she could be if she wanted to?

Amanda Overmyer is cute, but she looks like she is hating this. Had she never watched the show? It is what it is...Be careful what you wish for!

Asia'h Epperson has a different voice, not suited for everything. But this week, I think her song was very well suited to her voice and she was one of the women who stood out.

Brooke White is very talented, but maybe a little too one-dimensional. We'll see...I did vote for her last night.

Ramiele Malubay...cute, cute, cute and has a great voice. I think she may be one to watch.

I can sum up Syesha Mercado and Kristy Lee Cook in the same sentence...Who?

I really like Kady Malloy. If she doesn't go home tonight, and there is a very good chance she will, I think we will actually get to watch her talent develop on the show. She has a wonderful voice, she just needs some direction. Simon doesn't like her, which only makes me want to vote for her. LOL

I missed Alaina and Alexandrea this week. They both added something to the show. I never expected either of them to be the ones to go...I should've voted!

Today...

2008-03-04T15:43:00.003-05:00

I miss my sisters.
John McCain must be really tired from all those phone calls he is making for the election.
I hate wallpaper. Especially wallpaper that has been on for 17 years and refuses to let go.
I love Cadbury Mini Eggs.
I really like the voice of the lead vocalist for Lady Antebellum. (Love Don't Live Here)
I wish I called my mama every day.
I wish my mama was a happier person, so that I would want to call her every day.

Snow Day...Snow Week!

2008-03-04T12:57:00.006-05:00

My two sisters from Georgia spent the past week with me and wouldn't you know...We had the best snow of our entire winter while they were here with us. It was a wonderful week, filled with laughter and love.

My sisters got a few "firsts" under their belts. Sled riding and actually driving around or in their case riding around as the snow falls. In the south, if a snow storm is predicted, you go to the grocery store and then you go HOME. They don't have the equipment to clear their roads as we do here in Ohio. They wore snow boots all week long; another first and got to watch a group of teenage boys having a blast sledding down a hill. They listened to water trickling through a snow-covered, partially frozen creek and saw neighborhood snowmen with sunglasses and a Mohawk. We couldn't have timed it more perfectly.

Welcome to my world!

Green Construction Paper

2008-02-22T13:31:00.014-05:00

In life and in parenting we go through stages. My "children" are grown up now, ages 26 and 22. They are no longer children, although they will always be my babies. We have gone through many changes over the years. A house that was once filled with crayons, construction paper and TAPE for the Amazing Tape Boy, is now filled with herbal teas, coffee mugs, cell phone chargers and half-stack guitar amps.

One of my oldest and dearest friends got a much later start at motherhood than I. We were cheerleaders together in high school and our friendship carried over into adulthood, where we were roommates for a while(well, we were sort-of-almost adults, LOL). How in the world did the two of us scrawny young women ever get that huge sofa down that flight of stairs? We were Wonder Woman, we were Charlie's Angels. We WERE the Bionic Woman! We danced to Michael Jackson's Don't Stop Till You Get Enough, skated through Stone Mountain State Park and drank wayyyyyy too much at Cowboys by the airport. We rode the airport tran back & forth just for the fun of it and climbed up the down escalator. We sang "Rugged but Right" more times than I can count, always with a little swagger and sway in the line "I've got the hips to sink the ships of England, France and Peru". We were performers, making up our lives as we went along. Once, her grandma even had a vasectomy. I'll just let you figure that one out for yourself.

We were smooth criminals, learning how to temporarily disconnect the odometer on her baby blue 1965 convertible Mustang so as not to have to account for the extra 120 miles we would travel on any given Saturday. Her father thought he was smooth by keeping up with the number of miles we traveled in a week. We were smoother!

Today I received a letter from her with photographs of her three beautiful girls, each one with her grin. The letter was written with a magic marker, probably Crayola, on a piece of green construction paper! It made me smile.

We are in very different places in our lives. I have adult children, she has wee ones, dressed in tutus, holding dance recital bouquets.

Seeing her precious little ones brings to mind the song by Trace Adkins, You're Gonna Miss This.

Take it all in, enjoy every single second. One day...You're gonna miss this!

She was starin' out the window of that SUV
Complainin' sayin' I can't wait to turn 18
She said I'll make my own money and I'll make my own roots
Mama put the car in park out there in front of the school
and she kissed her head and said I was just like you

You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this

Before she knows it she's a brand new bride
In her one bedroom apartment and her daddy stops by
He tells her it's a nice place, she says it'll do for now
Starts talkin' about babies and buyin' a house
Daddy shakes his face and says Baby just slow down

Cuz you're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times so take a good look around
You may not know it now but you're gonna miss this

Five years later there's a plumber workin' on the water heater,
Dogs barkin' phones ringin' one kid's cryin' one kid's screamin',
And she keeps apologizing, he says they don't bother me
I got 2 babies of my own one's 36 one's 23
it's hard to believe

But you're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days
hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
so take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this
You're gonna miss this
Yeah, you're gonna miss this

The Austin Dam Disaster

2008-02-04T16:10:00.000-05:00

I gasp as the weathered concrete dam comes into view.

It stands, just as it stood, 96 years ago, wounded and broken. Unable to complete the task it was given. The mistakes of man haunting it with every sunrise and sunset. The voices of 78 lost souls whisper through the bare trees. The voices of men, women and children. The youngest, Antonio Donofrio, a tiny babe of only four months. The eldest, 77 year old, Mrs Roxa Beebe. The feeling of loss, is all consuming. Snowflakes fall silently in reverance, capturing the winter light as they fall. Fragments of a million prayers float through the air. I am glad it is gray and snowy. A sunny day would seem a mockery.

I am overwhelmed, holding my camera in hand, knowing there is no possible way to capture this emotion on film. The heaviness in my heart and the chill of the 9 degree air does not hold me back. The iced surface of the snow crunches under my feet as I struggle to find the best angle, knowing from the height of the road, I can not capture the overwhelming size of the dam and without a true sense of its size, I fear I can't document the vastness of my emotion.

It is too cold and far too dangerous to trek through the fallen snow to the base of the dam below. We aren't clothed warm enough for this level of cold and the blanket of snow on the ground camouflages possible dangers underfoot. Today, on this cold day in January, I must be satisfied with the photos I can get, thankful for this experience my dear husband has shared with me.

In September 1911, the failure of the Austin Dam in Potter County, Pennsylvania was a heartbreaking, life-changing disaster. News of the failed dam was published in newspapers as far away as New York City and California. The failure of the concrete dam in Austin was the second most devastating dam failure in Pennsylvania history, following the horrific flood of 1889 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

There is no point in reinventing the wheel. I can not add any historic details of the dam that haven't already been covered at the links listed below. I can only share with you the impact that visiting the dam had on me.

Below is a list of links to learn more about the Austin Dam disaster.

Austin, Pennsylvania Flood Sept 30, 1911

Nine Miles of Treasure

Austin, PA 1911 Flood Photos

Austin Flood Information

The Austin Flood Remembered

Squirrel's Holler

2008-01-23T08:37:00.000-05:00

This past weekend, my hubby and I set out on an adventure to North Central, Pennsylvania, and a little town along the Allegheny River named Coudersport. Twice a year, my hubby and a group of his friends go trout fishing in a town a little more than three hours away. A town almost lost to time, save for the McDonald's and Sheetz. I nicknamed the place Squirrel's Holler, as Coudersport just does not do the town justice.

The entire point of our journey was to pick up a large brook trout that my hubby caught back in the fall. The trout has spent the last few months in the hands of a taxidermist, being mounted and spray painted. I don't know much about taxidermy. I'm glad. When we went to pick up the trout, my husband, the man who has loved me for 27 years thought I needed to go in and see all the dead animals. I didn't have the heart to refuse him, he was so excited. That my friends, is an image I will never be able to get out of my head again! There were bear, bear cubs, raccoons peeping out of trees and a little teeny tiny spotted fawn curled up to look as if it were sitting in the grass...ALL DEAD. There was something in the wolf/coyote/fox family...I don't know which. After the baby deer, I was trying to blur my eyes so my brain could not totally register this nightmare. There was also a big-huge creatures with wings (again, the blurred eyes). The things we do for love!

After retrieving his beautiful spray-painted fish, that had somehow managed to get himself hot glue-gunned to a piece of wood, we set out to find a place to have what turned out to be a leaky tire, fixed. My husband's car hollers (tee hee, I got to use the word holler again) at him when a tire is low. CHECK TIRE PRESSURE flashes red on the dashboard and the car beeps annoyingly at you. His car has a smooth and delightful ride, but apparently, you get that smooth and delightful ride at the expense of soft tires which need air more frequently than hard tires. I am not making this stuff up, I swear. The Check Tire Pressure situation has sort of become a game of The Boy Who Cried Wolf, but in this case, it is the Tire Who Cried Wolf and meant it.

Just a little side note...This trip we took was on one of the coldest weekends we have had this winter. Light snow flurries danced around our car for almost the entire three hour drive. Had we had a flat tire on the way to Squirrels Holler, we would have been COLD. But then again, we might have been able to find a Walmart or a service station that could repair a tire before we time-traveled to Squirrel's Holler.

Once in Squirrel's Holler, we checked into our hotel. It was situated right along the banks of the Allegheny River. The river was beautiful, surrounded by a blanket of snow.

Turns out, in Squirrel's Holler, they roll up the sidewalks at noon on Saturday and don't unroll them again until Monday morning. Thank goodness for the free supply of air at Sheetz, their big red building shining like a beacon through the gray snow flurries. We filled the tire with air and made our way to dinner, which is also no easy feat in Squirrel's Holler. We went to a little out of the way place called The Sweden Valley Inn. I had something called Ice Mine Wedges, whose name made absolutely no sense at all until my husband told me the story of the "Ice Mine" in Coudersport. I also had French Onion Soup and apple cake. The food was very good. The decor was exactly what you would expect in Squirrel's Holler, stone and wood walls, low ceilings and laminate table tops. The only negative thing I will say about the Sweden Valley Inn, is it was COLD in that place. When I took my coat off of my chair to put it on as we were leaving, it felt chilled, like I had pulled it out of a refrigerator. I expected the zipper pull to stick to my fingers.

Luck was on our side. After dinner, our tire was still full enough to get us back to Sheetz to fill it up again. Our luck would not hold out. By bedtime, the tire was entirely flat. We spent the next few hours trying to figure out what to do about it. We called the number in our Road Hazard pamphlet and they basically told us to put on the spare and find a Walmart. Seems simple, right? Wrong! First of all, it was only 7 degrees outside. Second, there was snow. Third, it was only 7 degrees outside. Where we live, if you do a search for Walmart locations, within 20 miles there are SIX Walmarts. SIX!!! Three of those are less than ten miles away. I'm not saying this is a good thing, I'm just saying.

The desk clerk at the hotel told us the nearest Walmart was about 45 minutes away, in the opposite direction from home. Turns out, once I got home and curiosity got the best of me, the nearest Walmart was 32.5 miles away in Olean, NY. Still too far, but at least closer than we thought.

The desk clerk gave us the phone number for Kightlinger Motors, a car dealership almost directly across from the hotel. Of course they were closed. After all, it was Sunday. I took my chances and dialed the phone number, hoping there might be an emergency number to call or even an answering machine. Just as I was about to hang up, the heavens opened up and a bright light shone down in our hotel room. There was a voice on the other end of the line! Turns out, Kathy was there to clean and although she never answers the phone, this morning, something told her she should. Thank goodness for Kathy! She made a few calls and within twenty minutes or so a wrecker pulled up to our hotel. I swear, there was an eerie glow around that wrecker, sort of like the glow of a halo. I guess it could of been the headlights reflecting off of the falling snowflakes, but I choose to believe it was a halo.

The tire was fixed. It didn't cry wolf this time. There was a nail in it. We checked out of the hotel ten minutes before checkout time and tried to salvage the rest of our day.

We headed downtown, where all roads lead to Sheetz. We had breakfast in a cute little cafe and bakery across from the Potter County Courthouse, the 2nd Street Roost, where they bake their own bread and pastries. The toast was to-die-for!

The town is filled with beautiful old Victorian homes. Some restored, some not. I would love to return when it is not 7 degrees and photograph some of the old Victorians.

After breakfast, my husband took me to see the Austin Dam. Seeing the Austin Dam is one of those moments in your life, after which you will never be exactly the same. I will dedicate an entire post to the Austin Dam.

All in all, in spite of our tire misadventures, it was a fun trip. We always enjoy our little road trips together. They are good for a marriage. If you and your hubby haven't been on a weekend road trip lately, take a weekend and go. Just be sure to check your tires first!

Christmas at Our House

2008-01-23T08:31:00.000-05:00

I decided it was time to put Christmas behind me. Some of you are saying, it's about time. I love Christmas. I have always loved Christmas and it is very hard for me to tuck it away into boxes for an entire year. Nonetheless, it is time to move on. Here is a link to my Christmas Slide Show, for those who would still like access to it.

365 Days (Jan 12) My Indulgence

2008-01-12T12:48:00.000-05:00

There was a time when I didn't even drink coffee. It was an acquired taste for me, from years of sitting around watching others enjoy it. However, I am a coffee snob and a coffee sissy! It has to be good coffee, so far Starbucks is leading the pack. I like Verona and I really enjoyed their anniversary blend as well as their holiday blend in the blue bag with snowflakes. I also like coffee with FLUFF! Fortunately for my health, I usually limit myself to one beautifully luscious cup. It has to have half 'n half (preferably Land O'Lakes), a spray of lite whipped creme (also Land O'Lakes) and a squirt of caramel on the top (Smuckers Sundae Syrup). I don't put sugar in my coffee (ha, there's enough on top), but I do enjoy a splash of DaVinci sugar free flavored syrup, especially caramel. The DaVinci Raspberry is also delicious with several Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips melted in your coffee. Starbucks gingerbread flavored syrup is also delicious! Yep I am a coffee snob.

Life Lessons

2008-01-12T12:18:00.000-05:00

Children should be taught the joy of giving. My niece Stephanie is instilling in her new daughter Savannah, the joy of sharing something that we all take for granted. Yet by sharing, we could make an amazing difference in the life of another. This isn't Stephanie's first time giving her long hair to Locks of Love, but for Savannah it was a brand new experience. I am very proud of my niece and of sweet little Savannah for sharing the gift of their beautiful hair with others.

Congrats Savannah!!!

2008-01-11T12:18:00.000-05:00

Savannah and Her Academic Progress AwardMy great-niece Savannah is a very precious, very special little girl. We are very proud of her for working so hard and accomplishing so very much. (Photo taken by Savannah's Proud Parents)

365 Days (Jan 11) Oy, Enough with the Poodle Already

2008-01-11T09:36:00.000-05:00

Unless you watch Gilmore Girls, you won't likely get the title reference. I am guessing my readers will pretty much feel that way about my Christmas photographs. Substitute Christmas for poodle, then the title might just make sense.

I know, enough already, but last night, after I finally started taking the decorations off the happy tree, which truly DOES NOT make me happy, I looked at the pile of ornaments, all shiny and colorful and I just had to grab my camera (which DOES make me happy). I promise, this is the last you will see of the Christmas tree this year.I mean really, where else could you find a cone-headed snowman cavorting with a magenta bird and a teddy bear wearing antlers while fishing?

Britney Spears

2008-01-10T11:36:00.001-05:00

I know that some of you will think me a lunatic fan. Some will think I am crazy for caring. I will probably lose credibility with some, but I just have to say...The whole thing with this child just breaks my heart. I have watched her grow up at the same time I have watched my own daughter grow up.

We can all second guess as to why she has ended up in such a mess. I can scarcely imagine the life this young woman leads. She can't even go to the store without 100 cameras flashing in her face. The price of fame. Be careful what you wish for...

Her drama is like a snowball that just keeps rolling down a hill, gathering snow and momentum as it rolls. I am horrified that we are going to wake up one day to find out that she, like a snowball has slammed into the wall at the bottom of the hill and flown away into the wind in a million little pieces.

Will SOMEONE who loves this girl PLEASE do something to help her before she becomes another total tragedy?

I seriously want to bring her home with me and wrap my cozy, simple peaceful little house around her for a while and take her away from everything her life has become. She needs all of our prayers as do her parents and those sweet precious little boys. No matter what mistakes they may have made as parents, she is still their child and I am sure their hearts are breaking. Pray for all of them.

My Sweet Sisters

2008-01-10T09:51:00.000-05:00

My mother has been in a nursing home in Georgia for two years. She has had the same roommate, Mrs. "T" the entire time. It couldn't have always been easy, being my mother's roommate, as she had a very difficult time adjusting to the nursing home.

This past Christmas my sister went to the nursing home to help decorate my mother's room for Christmas. After decorating my mother's section of the room, it broke her heart how sparse the decorations were on Mrs. T's side of the room. So being always of generous heart, she went out and found a small tree for Mrs. T, then shopped for ornaments. On another day both my sisters returned to the nursing home and decorated a beautiful little tree for Mrs. T while she was out of the room. When she returned, she was greeted by a beautifully decorated little Christmas tree and a brightly lit little snow scene on her desktop/dresser.

Two days ago we learned that Mrs. T's family has been called in to share her last days. It warms my heart and fills me with pride to know that me sweet sisters helped to make her last Christmas more bright and beautiful. I can't even begin to tell you how much they mean to me. My heart is overflowing!!!!

365 Days (Jan 09, 2008)

2008-01-10T09:47:00.001-05:00

My neighbor's cat Buddy, enjoying a spot of sunshine in my cedar swing on a chilly afternoon.

365 Days (Jan 08, 2008)

2008-01-09T12:57:00.000-05:00

Twilight

Today I began to take down Christmas. It was unseasonably warm here in NE Ohio, so it seemed the perfect opportunity to take down the outdoor lights. It was too easy! There is just absolutely no challenge when taking down outside lights in 70 degree weather. It is not right! Your hands should be freezing and strings from your gloves should get tangled in the lights. Your nose should be red and running and you should have to run inside to sip at coffee and warm your hands by the fire. Not so today! In fact, I was hot. I was sweating by the time I finished. After cooking dinner tonight, I had to go outside and sit in my cedar swing for a while to cool off! There is no such thing as global warming...There is no such thing as global warming...There is no such thing as global warming...There is no such thing as global warming...There is no such thing as global warming...

I decided to take a few "last hurrah" pictures of our Christmas trees since tonight is probably their last nights to shine.

"Where Are You Christmas"

Where are you Christmas

Why can't I find you

Why have you gone away

Where is the laughter

You used to bring me

Why can't I hear music play

My world is changing

I'm rearranging

Does that mean Christmas changes too

Where are you Christmas

Do you remember

The one you used to know

I'm not the same one

See what the time's done

Is that why you have let me go

Christmas is here

Everywhere, oh

Christmas is here

If you care, oh

If there is love in your heart and your mind

You will feel like Christmas all the time

I feel you Christmas

I know I've found you

You never fade away

The joy of Christmas

Stays here inside us

Fills each and every heart with love

Where are you Christmas

Fill your heart with love

365 Days (Jan 07, 2008)

2008-01-09T12:29:00.000-05:00

Today was a busy day. I had a doctor's appointment this morning. After the doctor's appointment, it was time to return my daughter to school. We first shopped to fill her pantry then made the drive back to the little college town in which she lives.

With the kids gone, the house is very quiet now and soon it will no longer be filled with twinkly lights. Christmas is behind us now. We stretch it out for as long as we can, but eventually we have to return to the real world. The kids are both back at school and it is time to start taking down Christmas.

I only took a few snapshots with my cell phone today, since it was such a busy day. A picture is a picture, right?

The sun was beginning to set as I got in the car for the return trip home. I drove the few blocks from my daughter's apartment to the heart of the little town.

The old train station in Kent has been transformed into a wonderful restaurant, Pufferbelly's. It has a vegetarian sandwich to die for. It also has a black cherry ice cream dessert that puts a twinkle in my daughter's eyes.

There is also a great little Mexican restaurant in town by the name of Taco Tontos. Everything there is very fresh and their guacamole is some of the best I have ever had. They also feature a lot of colorful local artwork on their walls.

My daughter and I have had many a conversation sitting in one of these two restaurants.

The Forgotten Lady

2008-01-07T19:02:00.000-05:00

There are things that I love, for which I have absolutely no explanation. Coca-cola, I can explain that one. The smell of fresh saw dust...I can even explain that one. I can not explain why I am enormously drawn to old architecture. It calls me, begs me to acknowledge it. I want to rub my hands over it, peeling back the layers of its past. I feel the stirrings in my heart of the ones who lived their lives there. I feel the soul of the woodcarvers and brickmasons. I feel the very mortar run through my veins.

I hear the whispers and giggles of little girls in long white flannel gowns as they snuggle up together under a hand sewn quilt, daring their toes to escape the patch of heat left by the bed warmer. I hear first cries of newborn babies, pink and wrinkled. I see little boys in knickers rolling metal barrel rings down the brick pavers of the street, laughing and falling to the ground in a heap when they discover the barrel-ring has taken on a life of its own and will not be caught on this day. I see ladies in gloriously long dresses carrying lace parasols to block out the midday sun. I hear the clop-clopping of horse hooves as a wagon stops to deliver ice. I hear the hiss and moan of steam as it pushes its way through the ornate radiator coils.

When my husband and I went to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to collect our son from college for Christmas break, I found myself drawn to the perfect beauty of a neighboring old Victorian home. We had to park a few doors down from the rental Victorian that my son shares with several college friends, as parking space is always scarce. It was just past dusk and as I looked to my right I was totally and completely mesmerized by a beautiful old Victorian. The haunting color of night blanketed by the misty gray of soft rain transformed the old house into a scene straight out of a movie. Soft light from a streetlamp shone like moonlight falling on the years of peeling paint. It was completely beautiful. I stepped out of the car to take a closer look. It is obvious that the house has not felt love in many years.

Fall in love with her beauty, through my eyes. I swear, I can hear her tears.

She valued the considerate neglect
I mean by the world's having passed it by--
As we almost got by this afternoon.
Why not sit down if you are in no haste?
These doorsteps seldom have a visitor.
The warping boards pull out their own old nails
With none to tread and put them in their place.
She had her own idea of things, the old lady.
And she liked talk. She had seen Garrison
And Whittier, and had her story of them.
Robert Frost...The Black Cottage

365 Days (Jan 06, 2008) The City Grill

2008-01-06T21:49:00.000-05:00

We returned our son to college in Pittsburgh on the 6th, so we took the opportunity to eat at our favorite little bar & grill. The men-folk say they have THE best burgers! The eggplant parmesan is to die for. I have eaten eggplant parm from many restaurants and The City Grill's is by far the best. To read more about The City Grill Click Here.

I didn't take the following photo. I made my son sneak a photo of the inside of the restaurant. Most businesses frown upon you taking photographs, so he just pretended to be messing with the camera. The brick wall is the original brick structure of the building. It is on E. Carson Street, in the neighborhood called Southside in Pittsburgh, just south of the Monongahela River. East Carson Street in Pittsburgh is one of our nations longest stretches of Victorian architecture. It is filled with shops and restaurants of every type you can imagine.

Each and every time we have been to The City Grill, we have been seated in this same spot.

Night falls in Pittsburgh.

365 Days (Jan 05, 2008) Home for the Holidays

2008-01-05T11:56:00.001-05:00

The tree and the shoes sit next to our back entrance, a doorway that leads straight into our kitchen. Not the wisest plan for a home built where there are snowy winters. Once the snow starts to fall, we keep a rug for wet shoes beside the door. Next week, the shoes will be gone as will their owners, the happy tree will come down and my heart will be filled with less light for a while.

Comment Regarding Frosted Window Panes...Jan 04/08

2008-01-05T10:43:00.000-05:00

As I found out last night, while talking to my own sister (Benedict) on the phone, there will be questions as to the "reality" of my frost photographs. If you don't live in an area where it gets cold enough to make the kind of frost that was on my windows, or if you don't live in a 100 year old house with the original windows, you might not truly believe that those beautiful white icy flourishes were made by Mother Nature. I assure you, they were. It has to get really really cold and the humidity has to be just right. The frost grows and swirls in the most fascinating designs. You have to grab your camera quickly to photograph them because not long after the sun and temperature begin to rise, it disappears more quickly than it appeared. I am posting an image straight out of my camera. No adjustments were made to it at all.

The black edge is the window frame. The bottom, where the frame seems to be jagged, is actually the top of closed wooden shutters which cover the bottom half of my bathroom window. You can make the photo larger by clicking on it. It seems to be in black & white. It isn't. That is just the gray of a cold Ohio morning. The beginning sunrise is hidden behind the house next door. I am told that the more imperfections there are in the glass, or the dirtier the window, the more intricate the design. I guess that explains why mine are so lovely. I knew there was a reason I don't do windows!

365 Days (Jan 04, 2008) Frosted window Panes...

2008-01-04T11:56:00.000-05:00

These photos were taken as soon as my feet hit the floor this cold winter's morning. We have had several very cold days here in Ohio and dear old Jack Frost has painted our windows with magical swirls.

The first was taken through a window glass and screen. If you look closely, you can see the blue sky and clouds on the upper left. You can also make out the chimney and roof line of my neighbor's house. The lighter area at the bottom is where the roofline stops and the white siding of his house begins.

My favorites were taken through the glass of my bedroom window. You can see the gold of a winter sunrise, my street and the white of the fallen snow through the beautiful frosted window pane.

365 Days (Jan 3, 2008) Black Vinyl and Birthdays

2008-01-03T11:05:00.000-05:00

My daughter has always loved music. I realize that almost everyone loves music, but she loves it on a level all her own. Each and every time we go to the thrift store she looks longingly at the stacks of old record albums, tossed aside for the more convenient, more perfect CDs of today...Henry Mancini, The Soundtrack from South Pacific, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. This year I decided to give her a record player for her birthday.

The excitement swirled through the air as we unwrapped the record player and turned it on for the first time. Her young hands were a bit skeptical at lifting and placing a needle onto a record. And even more hesitant at lifting the needle to take it off of the shiny black vinyl. Afterall, she is in a generation of mouse-clickers and button-pushers.

We spent some time listening to a collector's album, Remember How Great...?, Custom-pressed for Lucky Strike Cigarettes by Columbia Records. We listened to Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington and Mary Martin, music to be shared by generations. Listening to the records, hearing the gentle scrape of the needle on the old, slightly scratched records took me back to another place and time.

Happy Birthday my Sweet Brittany Blue Eyes... May you receive as much joy from these old records as I did in my youth, lifting that needle and placing it down again to listen to the same, favorite song again and again and again, driving my mother to the brink of insanity. (Hey, maybe that's my fault) May your life and your record rack be filled with The Beatles, CCR, The Rolling Stones, Santana, Led Zeppelin, Elton John, Pink Floyd, Queen, Van Morrison, Joan Baez, The Who, The Eagles...Hotel Califonia, Bohemian Rhapsody, Free Bird and Stairway to Heaven.

...And she's buying a stairway to heaven...

Bon Jour Gracie

2008-01-03T10:34:00.000-05:00

Is there anything more adorable than a kitten? I think not! I have explored the gardens

a defender of my territory;

wire whisker, air leaper,

a watcher from the trees.

Low crouch, quick pounce,

a chaser of butterflies.

Straight stretch, curved purr,

a lover of the hearth.

Vivien Steels

While on our trip to Georgia, I took the opportunity to photograph beautiful little Gracie, my sister's new baby. Not necessarily a lover of cats, my sister rescued this little one from starvation or a savage death out in the wild. There is a real love affair going on between those two. Gracie curls up in my sister's lap while she sits at the computer, and guards her while she sleeps at night. She has given my sister a new reason, a fresh purpose. Some things are put in our lives for a reason. I think my sister needed Gracie, as much as Gracie needed her. May they spend many a windy winter day curled up in each other's comfort.