Category Archives: photos

friday fill-ins

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1. I remember, I remember when my kids were younger. That’s a photo I took of Andy and Lizzi for our Christmas card one year, they were so cute!

2. Dear Mom I want you to know I can’t believe it will be a year next month since you died.

3. Is that my freakin’ age!!???

4. I’m trying to resist the temptation of buying more camera lenses.

5. I’m saving a hug just for you!

6. If I made a birthday list spending a day with my new granddaughter would definitely be on it!!!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to a birthday dinner for Andy, tomorrow my plans include errands and lunch out with my hubby and Sunday, I want to go for a drive and try out my new wide angle camera lens!

Click on the pic to see more Friday Fill-ins! FridayFillIn-Graphic2

teaser tuesdays

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Teaser Tuesdays asks you to : Grab your current read, Open to a random page, Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page. I finally finished the Pulitzer Prize winning Olive Kitteridge. I had started it in April but set it aside unable to get into it, this time it took however, and I thoroughly enjoyed the read. Each chapter is a short story and they are all linked by the main character of Olive, a stern (and not always likable!) retired schoolteacher in the small town of Crosby, Maine. Themes of aging, marriage, and the always messy expectations of how we relate to our friends, spouses, and children are explored through the brutally honest eyes of Olive Kitteridge.

Today I’ve picked up something a bit lighter from my TBR pile, The Next Thing on my List by Jill Smolinski. The reviews say it is a charming summer read and when I opened to my teaser quote I liked what I saw!  This was catching a wave, and – my suspicions had been correct – I’d never done anything like it before. It felt as if the water beneath me had turned into a sea of hands that kept spiriting my board up and forward – gliding and skipping and lifting until I was shrieking with the unexpected thrill of it and wishing that this amazing rush would never, ever have to end.

Surfer girl photo is by Casch52 on Flickr. I tweaked it a little in my photo program:)

photo friday: young and old

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This week’s Photo Friday challenge is Young and Old. Okay, I know my son Andy isn’t exactly old, although compared to his newborn daughter he is! In this photo I caught Brooklyn giving her old man a perfect little pout:)

Fathers, be good to your daughters…You are the god and the weight of her world. ~ John Mayor

dog’s life

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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.

PhotoHunt Saturday: Low

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Just about every morning when I wake up, I find I’ve been dreaming about my mom. The dreams are disjointed and stressful because she’s always sick and I’m always trying to help her get better. I often start the day feeling a little blue, a little low. I’d like to stop those dreams and rewind my memories to happier days, but I don’t know how. Maybe after I’ve worked through things in my conscious mind, made peace with everything that happened if that’s possible, my dreams will bring my old, healthy mom back. I hope so. I miss her.

When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight. ~Kahlil Gibran

See more PhotoHunt Saturday pics here!

friday fill-in

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1. Frozen yogurt is my favorite summertime treat.

2. My favorite John Hughes movies is Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.

3. My granddaughter’s sweet little head is something I love to touch.

4. The full moon looked really cool last night, very Twilight!

5. I am looking down at my poofy tummy and thinking maybe I should lay off that frozen yogurt right now.

6. When daylight fades I usually fade too.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to music in the park, tomorrow my plans include getting a new DVR box for the TV and Sunday, I want to have lunch at the Penn Grill then watch Jake (our friend’s black lab) go for an enthusiastic swim in our pool!

Click on the pic to see more Friday Fill-ins! FridayFillIn-Graphic2

teaser tuesdays

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Teaser Tuesday asks you to : Grab your current read, Open to a random page, Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page. Do you ever fall into a non-reading rut? I’ve been having a hard time getting into any books for quite awhile. I pick up a novel and start it but nothing really grabs and holds my attention. I know it’s not the fault of the books, my brain just feels “burned out”, if that makes any sense. When I thought about participating in Teaser Tuesday I looked around and saw my Frommer’s Montana & Wyoming tour book sitting next to my computer so that’s where I got my teaser from today. We’re thinking about going somewhere for my 50th birthday and I’ve decided that we need a vacation that is more about nature and renewal than a big city adventure like the one in Paris I was trying to plan. We’ve never been to Europe, and while we still plan to go someday, neither one of us feels like we have the energy (or the cash) to take that kind of trip right now so we may grab our cameras and head for the wide open spaces of America’s west instead!

Here’s my teaser: Grand Teton brags of its soaring mountain scenery; Arizona’s Grand Canyon flaunts its imposing expanses. But Yellowstone enchants with a more subtle beauty, hinting through its very diversity the changes undergone during a volatile, explosive past. As I was typing those two sentences it struck me that maybe I’m a little like Yellowstone. Maybe we all are. Life can be very challenging at times. Nobody gets through it without “stuff”, and some of that stuff is volatile and explosive and it changes us along with the simple passage of time itself. Our bodies get older, they sag a little here, ache a little there and as our past grows longer our list of sorrows grows too. Of course, so does our list of joys. The diversity of our experiences, the ups as well as the downs, truly are the stuff of life that make our lives both bountiful and beautiful.

Yellowstone Photo is by fellow iStocker Wallentine at iStockphoto.com🙂

skywatch friday

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Went out in my backyard, pointed the camera up, and took a pic of today’s bright blue summery sky. I love the orbs coming out of the sun. I know they’re just light reflecting in the lens, but I prefer to think of them as angels on their way down to pay us a visit. Perspective is everything. Have a great weekend!

The golden moments in the stream of life rush past us and we see nothing but sand; the angels come to visit us, and we only know them when they are gone. ~George Elliot