dog’s life

This is Jake. A couple of times each summer, Jake comes over with our friends Ann and Shirley and he goes for a swim in our pool. He has trained us humans to throw a ball into the water and he swims out after it – we repeat this drill over and over again. We love to watch Jake chase his yellow tennis ball because he does it with such complete joy and abandon. When I go in the pool it has to be warm enough. I try not to get my hair wet because I don’t want it to get frizzy and I’m afraid the chlorine will turn my expensive highlights green. I don’t really have a bathing suit I like, you know, that elusive swim suit that makes me look ten pounds slimmer and ten years younger? I want to be like Jake. I want to jump into the pool and enjoy the feeling of the cold refreshing water as it washes over me. I don’t want to worry about my hair or what I’m wearing or how my body looks. I guess what I’m saying is I want to live like a dog, content with the simple delights that each moment brings, unaware of the past and unafraid of the future. Hmm, maybe the next time we’re sitting out by the pool I’ll have Mr. bookbabie toss a jar of Sanders Hot Fudge Topping into the deep end and we’ll see what happens;)

I think we are drawn to dogs because they are the uninhibited creatures we might be if we weren’t certain we knew better. ~George Bird Evans
See other (not quite) Wordless Wednesday participants here.

teaser tuesdays

Teaser Tuesday asks you to : Grab your current read, Open to a random page, Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page. Since I’m too lazy to go upstairs and get one of the books on my nightstand, I grabbed The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver from the shelf above my desk. It’s about a woman who is given a toddler outside a bar and the emotional journey of abandonment and belonging that follows. I’ve enjoyed reading everything Ms. Kingsolver has written over the years, but this was one of my favorites. On page 17, as the main character first meets the child, she writes…She wrapped her blanket around and around it until it became a round bundle with a head. Then she set this bundle down on the seat of my car. A good read. Still no baby news here. After losing her first baby girl at five months gestation last April, Meagan feels like she’s been pregnant and waiting for over a year for this baby, which is true. That’s my niece’s little daughter, Aryielle, in the photo. I took her outside for pictures the other day and she immediately pulled a bloom off one of great-grandpa’s flowers so she could smell it. I then proceeded to chase her and her flower around for over thirty minutes, taking a two year old’s picture is not easy! I did get a few good ones though that I might post tomorrow for Wordless Wednesday:)

PhotoHunt Saturday: Creamy

This is the creamy white clematis, Henryi. I moved him last fall from the back of the yard to an arbor that gets more sun up by the deck. So far he seems much happier in his new home, not only does he get more light, but he’s also protected from the harsh winds that can blow through my yard. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about gardening over the years, it’s that you have to be willing to be flexible and change your plans, things don’t always work out quite the way you want them to in a garden.

A garden is always a series of losses set against a few triumphs, like life itself. ~ May Sarton

See more PhotoHunt Saturday pics here!

thursday challenge: sweet

At Thursday Challenge a theme is announced each week. You may either take a new photograph related in some way to the theme, or select one that you have taken previously. This week the theme is sweet. I thought about using one of my iStock pics of strawberries, but decided to go back in time and post a photo of my kids when they were little and oh so sweet! This is one of my favorite pics of them. They were playing in the backyard on a hot summer day, naked as can be, filling buckets with water and turning their sandbox into a lake. I suppose I have babies on the brain lately. Meagan is doing well and due in just two weeks. I bought a really cool little stroller to keep here at the house yesterday and the Fed Ex guy brought the Noah’s Ark toy box I ordered (which came in a million pieces so Mr. bookbabie will have to put it together this weekend!). I know Meagan is ready over at her house and the two grandmas-to-be are definitely ready too…now we just need us a baby to spoil:)

Sweet memories remind us of the roads we have traveled and the people we have loved. ~Flavia

baby bump

Did some more baby bump portraits this weekend of Meagan. She’s feeling good but getting to the point where you start to get uncomfortable and wonder just how big the baby is going to get before it comes out! We tried using a window as our backdrop on some of the pics and I’m pretty happy with how they turned out. Still learning the ropes with my camera though, and now I have a new flash too, I do wish I was a bit more technically proficient sometimes:)

See more Weekend Snapshots here!