Seattle Spring Break

A picture really is worth a thousand words. What else is there to say?

We took the ferry across the sound to visit my friend, Lisa, and her family. Lana was so cute and fun on the ride across. Here she is hanging out with her Grandpa. They have really taken to each other. I wish we didn't live so far apart....but what do you do? This is going to be a lovely week.

Photo Tag

Brianne! You are the 6th folder, 6th picture. You and Daniel and Lana (not born yet but with you none-the-less! :) were home for Christmas. We were just getting home from shopping. We must have made a stop at Wal-Mart since you have evidence in your hands. That was a great vacation! We had so much fun having you here.

I tag anyone who reads this which will be interesting because I think you are the only one who does.

1. Go to your photos.

2. Go to your 6th folder

3. Go to your 6th photo

4. Post it and blog about it.

5. Tag 6 other people to do the same.

It's a Wintery Day in the Neighborhood

It is strange to have a winter storm today with the sort of beautiful week we just finished. Not only did I see daffodills blooming in comfy sunshine on Thursday, I saw two pretty orange-red butterflies while working in the yard on Wednesday. I hauled a pickup load of compost and piled

it next to my other 'lovely' piles and now it is all covered in snow. But no matter. I have seen spring and can enjoy what I am sure is one of the last winter days of the season. I spent the day in many-layered-clothing out in my garage constructing a palace for the ducklings that will arrive in March. Now that I have conquered the mystery of how to cut the angles I needed, it is coming along nicely. I am very proud.

Sisters

Sisters....one minute they are pesky little twerps who are just plain 'in your way' and the next minute you are all grown up and they are your best friends. Sometimes you even call them up for advice on a subject you recognize they know more about than you do. I did that yesterday. I wish I had a picture to post of Janae, she helped me a lot. But! I do have this picture that I love of my sister, Trisha, and I rock-hunting together. It was a perfect way to spend an afternoon. Here we are....two moms who you would have thought would have outgrown a childish pasttime, enjoying 'the find' just like we used to. When I was growing up, I was enough older than Trish that I did not 'hunt' with her. I went with my Aunt Janet who was closer to my age. We never tired of it. Sometimes we fought over who found it first when we would both see the same rock. Though I still suffer from rock-selfishness, on this day with my sister, I wanted her to find the prettiest rocks so she would smile like she is in the picture, because I love her so much.

And I really miss Kimi. She makes makes me laugh. We went rockhunting a few years ago on vacation. Her daughter, Sarah came along with Janae's little boys,and I think we may have another generation of rock-hounds started. Something is wrong with the way we are scattered accross the country like this. Who thought that up? Even though we don't see each other very often anymore, just knowing they care is enough.....and it makes me happy. Just to keep their heads from swelling from the praise, I have no doubt that they are still perky little twerps at heart! And I am still the oldest. Wait! .... That is not something to brag about anymore is it? I will have to think of something else..........

The Winter Face

This is how I feel about how cold it is today. I love spring so much and am counting the days until I see a daffodill. They always start blooming sometime during the last week in February and to me, when I see the first one, winter is automatically over. I don't care if it snows 3 feet after that....winter is still over, because I have seen my flower. 5 more weeks!

Where I don't want to be.........and........Where I would rather be! Honeymoon Island, Florida

Bon Appetit

My dog eats dirt. Actually, Lucy will eat just about anything, sometimes with disgusting and aromatic results. When I carted home a pickup load of horse manure for my compost pile, she thought it was a giant pile of doggie treats. In the picture, who know what she is licking off the plate. It can reasonably be assumed it was food someone left sitting around, but that I can understand. What I don't get is this. The last few months when I let her outside, she heads for the lawn (such as it is) yanks off small pieces of sod and eats them...dirt and all. At first I thought the cat had a favorite spot on the lawn and that she was, shall we say,... opening gifts. But on closer inspection, it is clear she is simply consuming what meager topsoil I have in my front yard little by little. Today I had to listen to her whine all day with what I can only assume is a painful stomach, judging from the rumblings I heard emitting from her midsection. I tried to explain to her that she might consider cutting down on the dirt, but she just looked at me with mournful brown eyes. Although dirt is at the top of her current list, if anyone is looking to get rid of tinfoil, plastic, corn cobs, litter-box scraps, heck, any kind of scraps, or needs their horse stall emptied....Lucy is your dog. Seriously, we can arrange that. I can say this for her; she does not eat the bathroom garbage can contents or underwear. My other dog, Daisy takes care of that department.

"Who, me?"

Magic...

It is rare thing to end up with the perfect person for you. Or could it be, in the cases that seem perfect, that they have, individually, tried to be that perfect person for the other one, and that that is what makes the magic? I have pleasantly fascinated watching my daughter Brianne and her husband, Daniel make what I consider to be an amazing marraige. (that's them holding hands in the picture....awwwww) I have noticed a few things. They talk to each other about every decision and are great about coming up with something that works for both of them. They go out of their way to do nice things for each other; especially surprises, sometimes it is very simple, sometimes it is more elaborate. They are willing to look at things from the others' point of view, forgive each other, appreciate each others' differences and have a great sense of humor. Another thing I love is that seem to treat every little thing they do as this great adventure. I can see the strengths in each of them being blended into something wonderful. I stayed with them for 3 weeks after the birth of their first child. This is a little unimportant exchange that spoke volumes to me and is a favorite. One evening Brianne was assembling a fan. Daniel and I were just quietly visiting at the kitchen table while she sat on the living room floor surrounded by fan-parts. She became frustrated when it was not coming together like it should. As she became more and more agitated, getting herself worked up into a snit, Daniel watched her, smiling. Then he turned to me and said "I love when she gets like this....she's so... cute!" He really meant it. He continued to watch her bluster with a happy, content look on his face. ( She always drove me crazy and, frankly, scared me slightly when she was in that state growing up.) She did get the fan together and was quite proud of herself. I have thought about it and decided our God-given agency to choose how we react to life's events is a blessing we often don't use wisely. I chose to let her draw me into her frustration, he chose to simply enjoy her and let her work it out. Anyway, my whole point it that they make each other more important than themselves and the result is magic.

You're buggin' me

This is possibly the coolest bug ever created. I saw it on my deck and wanted to take a picture of it so I slipped a postcard under it and transferred it to a geranium. He smiled pretty for the pictures and stayed there for the better part of the day. I miss summer. I have never seen this kind of bug before. The pattern on it looks like white daisies to me. It made my day. I am easily entertained. Samantha took some pictures of it too and later used it in her digital art class to make a mock advertisement for 'The Discovery Channel'. It looked really great.

"I'm Here"

I think there are messages from God everyday if we pay attention. I listened to the radio and heard someone relate a story of how he was attacked by a shark, managed to make it go away after having his leg bitten, struggled toward the shore as he grew weaker and weaker, and called for help. Someone did hear him and swam out to help. As the rescuer reached the man, he said the words "I'm here" and the man knew everything was going to be alright. The words "I'm here" were welcome relief and he was able to calm down and trust he would be helped. The radio host was struck by those two words as they related to something that had happened in his own life recently. He related his story to the audience and then connected it to the 'Miricle on the Hudson' that happened the other day where a pilot was able to land a crippled airplane on the Hudson River with no human casualty; something that, given the traffic usually on the river and the history of crash landings, was indeed a miricle. The whole country was able to witness this miricle as it was reported on the news. It was the top story of the day. He chose to look at it as a message from God to us; assuring us that "I'm here." Some will choose to dismiss it as luck or just the amazing skill of the pilot, but I choose to believe it was more than that; simply for the reason I stated in the beginning. I believe miricles happen everyday. I believe God uses us to answer each others' prayers and we are angels in ways big and small, every day. If we can feel such incredible relief and trust when a fellow human being comes to our aid saying "I'm here", how much more trust can we place in a God who can do so much more than they, as He is constantly tells us, whether it is through a beautiful sunrise or a miricle on the Hudson...."I'm here."

Drama, drama, drama

What I want to know is...Why is it when I cook a grilled cheese sandwich, our fire alarm blares at top volume, but when there are 5 fire trucks sitting in front of my house putting out our chimney fire, it doesn't make a peep? I miss using our fireplace, especially since tonight is our coldest night of the season so far. On Friday as I was talking on the phone, I started to hear very loud banging noises coming from the stairwell area. Thinking the cat was either getting violent or Russ decided our bedroom upstairs needed swept and was banging the broom around with his enthusiasm; a thing that actually does happen, I checked it out. Nothing, and yet the noise continued. I got off the phone, went downstairs and told Russ something was really wrong and I didn't know what. We took the flashlight outside, shone it up to the top of our 3 story A-frame and discovered smoke oozing through the mortar of the stones. We called the fire department which ordered us out of the house immediately. By then the smoke had been joined by a large glowing ball at the top which occasionally shot out sparks on our very old, fire hazard, cedar shake roof. Not good. The first trucks to arrive could not access the chimney since it was up so high and they could not climb the roof since the pitch was so steep. They ended up sending for the Joplin ladder truck, which had a difficult time backing itself down our narrow windey driveway. When they were able to extend the ladder and climb up, they dropped a dry-chemical pack down the chimney to extinguish the fire. The firemen who arrived earlier had emptied the firebox, which had already helped a lot. I bet it was an hour before they dropped the dry-chemical. So...now we have to have the chimney cleaned and inspected before we can have any more fires and we are very sad.....and cold. The whole time, the fire alarm never said a word. Go figure. Perhaps I can coax it into action by serving grilled cheese tonight?