where have we been?

White Sulphur Springs. In and around this nineteenth century hotel, now a conference center for OCF (Officer's Christian Fellowship)...
we played...

explored...

marvelled...

...and so much more! It was relaxing, peaceful and rich in fellowship with other families. Even the weather was perfect. More pictures will be on the Picasa gallery soon.

a week of wild blooms: saturday

cosmos 'bright lights'

a week of wild blooms: friday

zinnia

a week of wild blooms: thursday

black-eyed susans

a week of wild blooms: wednesday

a week of wild blooms: tuesday

a week of wild blooms: monday

a week of wild blooms: sunday

firewheel

wild things

"And now, cried Max, let the wild rumpus start!"
(Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak)

Summer has officially arrived and we’re taking our wild ones into the mountains of Pennsylvania for a week. I'm sure I'll have plenty of photos to share when we get back. In the mean time, my wildflower patch is heralding the season. Enjoy the upcoming week of wild blooms.

books and blooms

If the rabbits are going to continue to destroy my garden, I will just have to cut as many lovely blooms as I can before they get to them. Besides, it has been so hot lately I'd rather be inside reading or trying to convince myself to start a new sewing project. Better to enjoy the flowers in vases near all my favorite reading and crafting corners.
I recently finished a hilarious book, The $64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden. Gardener or not, you will laugh all the way through this book. I am still laughing at it. It almost allows me to laugh at my rabbit troubles. Almost.

garden frustration

My Lily mix was trying to bloom...

And beginning to do a lovely job of it...

And then the wild rabbits discovered them...

THIS is frustrating.

blue for boy

I have been working on a blue, crochet edged blanket for several months now in preparation for my new niece or nephew to-be. I already had that pink rosebud blanket tucked away. It looked so lovely sitting there today in my blue striped work-in-progress bowl next to the blue hydrangeas. Blue, blue, blue.

And then my sister called to say it's a boy! More blue!
Congratulations Lisa and Brian!

meet bucky

He lives in the woods around Grams and Pappy's house. He likes Corn Pops. He comes to visit when he hears the laughter of children. He ate Grams' Sweet Potato Vine. He is sweet as can be.

happy father's day

(Photos by Tristan)

daddy bear

He has been home for a whole month now but it only took about five minutes for the kids to become completely enamored with their Dad. On that precious day in May, before he had even changed out of his dusty cammies and boots, he was on the floor surrounded by Legos, taking in all the newness and changes, giving horseback rides and kisses. Kenna’s face lights up daily at the site of him. “Datty!” she exclaims with a toothy smile. At bedtime, we have difficulty prying her little arms from around his neck. And my heart melted the day I heard Tristan say, “Hey Dad, let’s have some guy time!” I love to hear them all giggling together. I love the way he calls them his baby bears. I love that with dad, our kids will always know they are loved and safe and cherished. I love that we haven't felt a need to "adjust" to dad being home...life has simply gone back to normal. Our little world feels right once again.
Yes, it’s good to have Dad home.

growing things

Everywhere I go, I notice what's growing. I love to see what people have chosen to plant in their gardens, on their porches and on their windowsills. I love that flowers are universally enjoyed. Green thumbs or brown, we all love them.
Here are a few of the flowers I enjoyed on our trip. I think my favorites were these gorgeous Calla Lilies on GG's (Great Grandma's) front porch...

Petunias always strike me as old fashioned (in a good way) and did you know that they smell heavenly at dusk? These look perfect with Grams' vintage metal porch chairs...

Sara's pink Roses and giant Lily of the Nile are simply picture perfect...

What's in your garden? Or perhaps, what would you like to see in those empty pots laying around? There must be something, after all, we all love flowers.

fun with the Griffins

I am finally (maybe) getting somewhere with these photos. So here's a few from our fun time at the Griffin house. I still can't believe this was the first time in nearly eight years that we have all been together, and back then, "all" was just the four of us adults. We've doubled in size!

Ryan and Sara have a beautiful home - warm and inviting and cozy. Just the place to kick back in the grass, watch the kids and dads play in the sprinklers, eat some Blue Bell and basically just revel in the good feeling of being around friends and babies...

Oh, and we did get one picture of just us girls!

a home for wayward photos

Kelli's Photos have a new home...HERE.
Well, some photos will have a home there. Actually, I'm not sure why I started another photo project but it seemed like a good idea at the time. Check in when you can, see what’s happening, and feel free to put in your two cents. Feedback is good.
Trying to find the best method organizing photos seems to be a never-ever-ever-ending battle for me. I want to have all my files organized, backed up, loaded and printed, but with hundreds of them to wade through you can imagine the mess. Have you ever tried to get a bunch of toddlers to sit down and participate in the same activity? Shawn would say it's like herding cats. Sometimes I feel like that with my computer files.
I want all the fun of taking and enjoying photos. It's the work in between that I can't keep up with!
Even as I am staring this new project I am finding a whole new set of problems. At the moment I can't upload anything to Shutterfly. I know the glitch is with my computer but since I usually run away screaming from computer troubles I'm not sure when I'll have it sorted out.
In the mean time, I'll share some past favorites as I work on getting more recent shots online.

texas so far

Enjoying crawfish, kids being kids together, Aggies, Shiner Bock, humidity and Blue Bell...most importantly, friends and family. Memories, memories, memories. The words of little cousin Aidan's prayer sum it up well, "We just thank you, Lord, that we're a family."

dear grandad and yiayia,

thank you for coming to play with us! kenna and i especially liked the big mud puddle -you guys are so cool! mom and dad say they were glad to have someone else here to play candyland with me...i don't know why, they love candyland. we play at least 27 times a day. can we do this again soon? next time with more pancakes? and more candyland? or maybe just candy?

love, tristan

(mud photo by yiayia)

watering holes...good and bad

Shawn and I survived our first near sinking on Friday. Apparently, the last person to take out the Sunfish had a run-in with an alligator or something capable of leaving a very large hole in the hull, but we probably should have noticed that before we put it in the water. Oops. Another lesson learned.
Once we were sufficiently tired out, we drove north to Oriental, the "Sailing Capital of North Carolina". Somehow, in all our coastal exploring we have missed this little gem. We had a great dinner outdoors by the Marina and drove around gawking at the beautiful, historic, waterfront homes. It was dark when we came upon one particular house, a dream house, wrap-around porch, giant hydrangeas and all. I didn't want to look like a stalker pointing my zoom lens at it but then I noticed the historical marker on a nearby tree and quickly snapped a photo...

My camera continues to surprise me. I was in a hurry, in a car, it was very dark and I hate flash so I quickly spun the ISO setting up to see if I could get something to register clearly. Maybe you had to be there to see just how dark it was to really appreciate the bright, weirdness of this picture. That little concrete bench is perched over an artesian well under a hundred year old Willow Oak. Zoomed in, you can even read the marker...

Pretty cool! I have a feeling there are a lot more of these in Oriental and I'm looking forward to going back for more exploring. Maybe next time we'll even get there in a boat...that we will first carefully inspect for holes.