Happy Mother’s Day to all the wonderful moms in my life. That means you!
It’s a tough job to take a blooming life and make it a flower…
Much love to mine on this wonderful day!
Cherry Blossoms And Teenagers
April 9, 2009 at 5:00 am (Family, Friends, Holidays, Signatures, travel)
Cherry blossom time in DC is one of the most gorgeous times of year here. It brings people from all over the world to sit and have an intimate picnic lunch with their family and three million of their closest friends.
It is also the start of spring break - and the girl and Christine; they had plans. Big plans – sleep overs, shopping, manicures…
But Miss Shannon wanted to go see the cherry blossoms and so did I. This is the most flattering picture I had of myself, the wind was brutal that day. Miss Shannon on the other hand looked cool and beautiful.
It started out innocently enough, after the cherry blossoms we were going to shop! At least that was the promised plan. So the girls relented to my pleas and agreed to go with Miss Shannon and me downtown.
I think they sort of had fun. But the mall was calling…yes the mall…
But first, the Jefferson Memorial. It was a wind tunnel there. I didn’t notice this guy was staring until I edited this photo. Back off buster.
Miss Shannon and I wanted to take a bus tour around Hains Island because we hadn’t seen it before. It’s getting late and the girls thought we were taking the bus to go back to the metro stop. When they found out we weren’t, the girls started to protest and editorialize.
“Why are we looking at more flowers?”
“It’s getting late, we won’t have time to shop.”
“What was the point of that?”
This little puppy loved the bus tour.
I then decided that if there was to be any peace, we would have to ditch Miss Shannon somewhere in downtown DC because she wanted to see more flowers. And we wanted to shop.
We were weaving through hundreds of people. I said “Look at that cute bus girls!”
Uh huh.
“Look! The Bureau of Printing and Engraving!”
Uh huh.
“The Smithsonian! How beautiful!”
Not even an acknowledgment from the girls. They were on a mission to find the metro stop.
When we got the metro stop, we see this…a thousand people trying to get into the metro…yikes. I turned to the girls and said, “Hang on. Stay with me.” I wanted to sound confident and competent because they can smell fear. I then proceeded to cut in front of 1000 people. The girls were small and fast. And they wanted their manicures. We got through the metro and to our final stop in twenty minutes.
I think those people are still standing in line.
Whew.
And we finally got our manicures.
And after a new pair of shoes, a couple of shirts, and some bracelets later…our fondue. So glad to oblige.
Too bad the boy was in Texas last weekend. I know he would have loved to look at the cherry blossoms with Miss Shannon and me.
Happy International St. Patty’s Day
March 17, 2009 at 4:44 pm (Family, Holidays, Signatures)
These hands represent the spirit of St. Patrick.
They belong to Nanna, who is neither Catholic or Irish.
I was visiting the sister today and Nanna was there with her dolled-up nails. The girl also has on green nail polish today in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day.
I just got home and I said to the girl, “Hey! You should have seen your Nanna’s nails!” She was reading so she did her best to accommodate my request for a picture and ignore me at the same time.
And last night, I made sushi for dinner in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. The wasabi is green, that counts.
AAAaaachie!
December 26, 2008 at 6:00 am (Christmas, Holidays)
Tags: Christmas
I spent all day at our church on Christmas Eve. All day.
We had a hilarious Christmas skit this year. It was based on the tv sitcom “All in the Family”.
I was transformed into a child of the 70’s again.
You got Meathead and the Magi. Yup.
Our church as a reputation for edgy, cutting edge, pushing the edge Christmas pageants.
Our drama ministry is called “The Edge”. Ha. People find it funny and entertaining and touching all at once.
My favorite character is Miss Beth here doing a killer Edith Bunker. I am totally missing the acting gene. I can’t even pretend to feel well if I don’t. I wear my feelings on my sleeve and I process situations openly. And sometimes, I’ll say things that are just a little too honest. I am also missing the diplomacy gene. It’s a curse.
I love this picture of Elder Gary with a cigar in his mouth and the children’s choir behind him. He (Archie) reminds me a lot of my Uncle Jim who I adored as a child. It was only after he passed away and I became an adult that I realized his world view was Archie-like. He was a product of his time and environment and I still love him even so.
I hope your Christmas was truly a time of peace and joy.
Silent Night
December 25, 2008 at 9:45 am (Christmas, Holidays, Photography)
Tags: Christmas
Silent night…
Holy night…
All is calm…all is bright…
Have a wonderful, blessed Christmas.
Desperate Housewives, December Edition
December 22, 2008 at 6:00 am (Bunco, Christmas, Holidays)
Tags: Bunco, animal photos
Nothing gets me in the holiday spirit more than a good game of bunco.
And all the goodies you can eat.
Neighbor Kay has the most beautiful home. I think this will be House and Garden week on Life Signatures.
Neighbor Kay thought of everything, right down to the Christmas cactus.
We also love the Christmas wine.
Not even Boone can look ridiculous in a pink boa.
When are you leaving my house? I want to take this off, pink’s not my color.
Please don’t put anything else on me. You can leave now…really.
December PP, Dec 19
December 19, 2008 at 8:57 pm (Christmas, Holidays, Restaurants)
Tags: Photography
Why hello handsome, take me to lunch?
And shopping?
The husband takes me Christmas shopping and as we were wandering around, we came across one of my very very very favorite stores, Anthropologie. I didn’t even know it was there!
For those of you who know me well, know I have a weakness, or perhaps a fetish for plates, china, and pottery. It’s bad…sometimes I can’t control myself. I have – ahem – a lot of plates. I hope to find this little plate under my tree.
I snap two pictures when the saleslady comes over and says, “Sorry no pictures.” I said, “But it’s so pretty!”
Well here we go again. What is it with people and cameras? I’m just taking pictures of plates, of all things.
We had lunch at PF Chang’s.
It’s a picture of the horse’s butt…well now…
Hey you! Why you takin’ a picture of my butt (point of buttocks in equestrian terms)?
At least he had a legitimate complaint.
Don’t Eat Me!
December 16, 2008 at 6:00 am (Christmas, Holidays, Photography)
Tags: Christmas, Photography
Once upon a time a little old woman and a little old man lived in a cottage. One day the little old woman made a gingerbread man. She gave him currants for eyes and cherries for buttons. She put him in the oven to bake.
I’m not sure if she put a bathing suit top and lipstick on him or not.
This display was at the mall in Binghamton NY. The theme was, obviously, how creative can you be with a cut-out gingerbread man.
It’s opposite day. This is called “Man as Gingerbread”. Really creative.
This one was done by a famous B.C cartoonist Johnny Hart’s son or grandson, I can’t remember. Johnny Hart died while working at his storyboard…a romantic way to die, if one can die romantically. Wait, Tony in West Side Story died romantically, in the arms of Maria…sigh.
I love this one. It’s my favorite. It’s called “Jimmy Ginger” and it’s an ode to the fine art of photography. Gingerbread man is photographed at various places, doing various things and collaged onto himself. Cool. I love the pink tongue.
It’s nice to see creativity at it’s best without making mockery of or demeaning the Christmas holiday. ‘Tis the season for bashing Christianity it seems…too bad. We could use a little more civility and tolerance in this season, yes?
Praise ‘N Thunder – The Boy
December 9, 2008 at 6:00 am (Christmas, Family, Holidays)
Tags: Christmas, praise and thunder
Last week, while trolling for a good photo subject, I took pictures of the boy taking his guitar lesson from Music Man Nick.
I startled them through the window and they laughed at my audacity.
The boy then began to tell Music Man Nick about my unfortunate incident with a homeless man and my camera.
The reaction from Nick was pretty different from the jocularity of the moment before.
Last Saturday the boy went to the same Praise ‘N Thunder event that I went to a couple of months ago. I did not go with him. I had to do some great soul searching and decided that if he wanted to go, and he did, I would give him the freedom to serve the homeless without the interference of his over-protective mom. The fact that he is much more cautious and smarter than his mom gave me some comfort. This season can become so commercial that giving our kids the opportunity to give of themselves and learn about the unfortunate plight of others is a gift in itself.
As I left him, I fought the urge to go back and embarrass him in front of his friends and say, “You’re not going. You’re going to stay warm and safe with me. I don’t want anything to happen to you, you’re my first born, my son, my heart, so come back home with me and play Yahtzee and eat cookies.”
But I didn’t. I kept driving and prayed that God would protect him and almost crashed into the car in front of me because of the tears in my eyes.
When I picked up the boy and his friend after the event, I heard things like, “That was cool.” “It was an enriching experience.” “It was neat.”
And they named the homeless people they met by name. They told the people they met they would be back next month. It was an experience I know they will never forget. It was a lesson for me too. A lesson in trust and letting go.
The story prompted Music Man Nick to put this sign up in the window. I’m sorry but the sign doesn’t pertain to moms.
December Photo Project, Dec 4
December 4, 2008 at 9:50 pm (Holidays, Photography)
Tags: Christmas, Yoga
I will spare you the picture of the copier today…
But before work, I taught a yoga class. It’s interesting to see how bright these pictures came out. I had my flash off because we were supposed to be focused and I didn’t want to disturb people by flashing in yoga…It’s a no no.
The overhead lights are normally off and only the ambient lights were on. It really was quite dark, but it looks so bright. My camera is really good in low light, I have to admit.
I had everyone in the knot pose. They look relaxed don’t they? ummmm…I don’t ummmmm in class…it’s just an illustration.
Here’s Danny. I’ll post his weight on Fit Signatures in a couple of days. He was sick and but still worked hard.
And here’s Santa delivering presents on his snowboard…before snowboards were popular with the “I like speed more than my life” crowd.
