My Grandchild

Well sort of my grandchild. You see my son is taking a family consumer science class, formerly referrred to as home ec, or home economics. This particular project made me laugh a little. Each student was assigned a plant for a week, a few lucky chaps got twins. The students were to care for the plant as if it was their child, taking it where ever they went, watering it and basically being its parent. My son made sure his plant got plenty of sun and water and he kept the plant with him at all times except when he had to attend a campout in freezing temperatures, he made arrangements for a responsible party to "sit" his plant during his brief absence. The part of this project that made me laugh is that some of the plants were boys and some were girls. The girls had not budded while the boys were in full bloom with magenta petals. That in itself confused me and I believe my son's poor little plant to have left our home with serious sexual identity issues as I referred to him as Priscilla, seriously between the multiple blooms and their color she was totally a Priscilla. By weeks end my son had admonished me multiple times for referring to his boy as Priscilla and then he made the slip, referrring to her as Priscilla, catching himself he smiled and quickly corrected his statement with a "HIM" instead of a "her". So I would like you to take a look at my grandchild and see if you think it is a her or a him.

A Different View

I came across this window the other day and loved the look it created with the morning light.

R and R

As you can read from my previous post my week was a bit hectic, the reason being I was on my way to a little R and R. Not the best traveler in the world but here I am on a sunny beach. The last time I went south to the beautiful beaches of Central America, I was much younger and much cuter and I lived on coca cola and tried to not get sick. This time the food is more edible and I am still trying to hit my vacation stride but I did spend the first seven hours today on the beach, the first few under the shade of this wonderful tree.

Deep Breath

What a week it has been! I have to tell you I have done some self discovery this week only to find I live a very disorganized life. Being disorganized takes it toll on you too! I think if I was only responsible for myself, I would be fine, it is all of these other folks that seem to think I have it all together. I have come to a decision that it is time to get off of the crazy merry go round and get my act together. I haven't always been a mess, but I find it easier to be a mess, no one really counts on you to be responsible. Some where in the last ten years I changed gears and forgot to really worry about the small details. Give me a project and I am terribly organized, it has a place and a time line and I know where every part of it is. Give me a life and whoa, it takes a lot more time to keep all of the pieces in place. My March resolution is to limp through the spring while trying to get my act together so when summer comes and time is more free I will have a head start. Hopefully by next fall when the wheels come off again I will have it all together. Only time will tell. Today I am taking a deep breath as I seem to have caught up on current projects and have a brief window before the pace quickens again.

I leave you with one of my favorite flower images, it is of milk thistle, the plant looks like a weed and yet the flower that blooms is beautiful. Just a friendly reminder to be careful and not discount something before you see its true beauty.

Out of Control

Have you ever had one of those days, weeks or months when you sense you have lost total control of everything going on around you? This week is my out of control week, it isn't that I am terribly busy but things have spun out of control. I got a phone call today that I was being picked up in ten minutes and be ready we were flying to another town to take care of some business. Small detail that was actually a huge detail was not renewed so I would have to do the renewal in person. I spent the day flying across the state, sitting in a room with a lot of other people that basically were in the same boat as me, only to be told be back here tomorrow at 2:30. Well considering I flew (no pun intended) out of the house with only my ID, Ipod, phone, reading glasses(sad but true), two magazines and some cash I wasn't sure how I would manage spending the night and coming back. It all sort of worked out and in a few days if all of the loose ends come together it might be taken care of , if not I will jump in the car and try again. I left a few things undone today but in reality was not given a choice and I apologize to those I let down. I will make it up to you some how. I have my fingers crossed that this has been resolved and I will never let this happen again. Some how this photo has always spoken to me in a chaotic sense and today totally represents my current state of affairs.

People

I found myself the other day taking the time to stop and notice the world around me, what I saw once I slowed down was some real life people interaction. It was very interesting to witness how people watch over each other and genuinely enjoy each other's company. I first noticed a parent driving their teenage son to school, they were sitting at a red light as I turned past them. What a great time to catch up with a teenager when they are almost held captive in the car. I use to gather maximum information from my teenager during an hour drive to and fro soccer practice. Inside the car I saw at the traffic light the young man was smiling back at the parent, seriously that is big time for a teenager, they usually just grunt and shrug. I then noticed two women at the grocery store, they were either sisters or good friends. They were making joint decisions on their choices of groceries and generally having a great time just going through the mundane task of grocery shopping. Another moment I watched unfold was between some high school kids, one is a player on the varsity basketball team and one is the manager. The manager has overcome the challenges of down syndrome, all of the kids are very protective of him and in this case the team had just lost a playoff game, ending their season. The player protectively placed his arm over the disappointed manager's shoulder. It is refreshing in a world of over eager, negative often down right mean spirited people that there are actually nice folks out there who watch out for each other. With the "E" (can't bring myself to say the actual word) in the tank, maybe we as a culture will get back to what is truly important in life and that is people instead of things. I challenge you to take the time to brighten someone's day or just listen to them and give them a smile every once in a while. You would be amazed what a simple smile can do to brighten their day.

Break

Not that anyone noticed but I took a few days off figuring a few days of silence from me would do you all good. A quick review, we celebrated my baby girl's 18th birthday, watched a lot of sports with one underdog winning a big game and only went to one meeting.

I also had an interesting thing happen, not sure that is the best way to try to explain it but something came to me over the weekend but here it is. I had another epiphany! Life is a funny thing and what goes around really does come around. What am I trying to say?? Well it came to my attention that when my daughter goes on a weekend trip I am counting on her emergency contact, should she need anything, being a boy who is a close family friend that I use to step in and help with when his mother needed help. For example, the day his mother was making arrangements for her mother's funeral he had driver's ed class. Anyone who has ever dealt with driver's ed class knows to miss a class complicates the whole license process so I stepped in and picked him up. Flash forward how many tens of years and he is now my safety net when any of us go to the town in which he now lives. Really weird but he is all grown up, responsible and has a job, that in its self is quite an accomplishment these days. As much as I hate to admit it but I am coming to understand that it really does take a village to raise kids and having friends and family you can count on to help you along the way is amazing.

I leave you with this photo I snapped over the weekend. Please know that despite the nice warm looking image the temperatures were near freezing, at least a fountain I drove by was frozen which was enough proof to me it was cold.

Spring Stopped by Today

81 degrees outside today. My winter legs made a brief appearance, I can tell you it wasn't pretty. Much motivation to get back in shape. I was inspired by the weather and created a little photo combination.

Tea Time

I have been meaning to photograph this tea set that belongs to my daughter. She recently re-arranged her room and the tea set is no longer a fit for the look. What is really special about this set is that it is tiny, ceramic and personalized. One tea cup has my daughter's name and the other reads, friend. (To give you a size reference the radius of top of the tea cups is only about two inches.)

I will carefully pack it up in hopes of seeing a granddaughter play with it down the road, of course that is dependent on my recollection of where I actually stored it. Go find a friend and have a spot of tea just to keep life interesting today. While sipping on your tea don't forget to take in the moment because time is truly fleeting and swim suit season is almost upon us. Sorry to break up the moment there but the guilt over eating pound cake the last two days is weighing heavily on me, or maybe around my mid section.

Lacrosse Season -Yea!

I love lacrosse! It is finally lacrosse season and that usually means nice weather, fast paced action and games that have a running clock. I enjoy a lot of different sports but lacrosse is still fresh. I had never seen a lacrosse game until about seven years ago. I was asked to be one of the team moms for my son's seventh grade team. Sure I figured I could line up families to bring the gatorade for after the game. I had no idea what I was getting into. First off the internet was standard in most homes by then, not fast and not terribly reliable but would speed up communication. That was the smallest part of the job. There were two of us that served as team mom and we were responsible for paying the refs, keeping track of the stats, the penalties, the time, the penalty time and blowing the horn which doesn't happen except for specific times in the game or specific calls by the refs. One game I found myself painting the field which was never intended for lacrosse and was really a field of mounds of grass, try to paint a straight line going up and down clumps of grass. One of the kids asked what idiot had painted the field and when I responded I would be that idiot, they quickly changed their tune and told me what a fine job I had done. I learned a lot about the game in its simplest form, most of the kids on our team were first year players so play was a bit slow and predictable but the rules were different and the sidelines were quiet since most parents didn't have a clue what was going on, they couldn't yell instructions to their kids or insults to the refs. Those were the days. Any how I have moved on to having the distinct priviledge of trying to catch an amazing move or play with my camera. I love it, every game is different and every kid has a different style. On top of all of that the jerseys are usually colorful and the sticks and heads can add to the photo. I enjoy girls lacrosse too and they have really colorful sticks but not as much brain crunching action. Tonight I share with you my excitement over the fact that it is finally lacrosse season and that means delightful evenings at the stadium are not far behind.

Sitting Around

This was not a weekend to sit around. For some reason this weekend was packed with activities and time with friends. Off to prepare for a new week.

Ready Set 123 4

Don't know why I took this but I did so you are now subjected to it. I was standing in the cold wind, but nestled up against the side of the stands to avoid as much wind as possible and this photo presented itself to me. Once you stepped out on the four I swear the temperature dropped thirty degrees not to mention the wind knocked the camera around pretty good to.

A Real Artist at Work

I had the opportunity to help out a friend today by taking photos of some of her paintings and drawings. She is very talented and I was in awe of her work. The coolest thing was her studio behind her house. Wonderful daylight streams in through two high windows, one east and one west. The walls are all white but not pristine white, workable white. She has artwork she has created all over the walls, just taped up. No fancy frames, very accessible and all over the place. While she was putting a piece of her work on the wall I snapped a photo of her making a last minute adjustment to get it straight so the photo would work. Using available light and a slower shutter the photo was happy surprise.

Parenting 101

Anyone who has every been a parent or a very involved aunt or uncle or family friend knows that parenting you very own child or one close to you has its ups and downs. That said the last week has been a roller coaster as to parenting. A trip to the orthopod confirmed we may or may not have a fractured wrist. Of course rather than get a full fledged cast, a partial cast was placed on our arm all the way past the elbow. With the arm in a cast, hanging in a sling we instantly become one handed. Fast forward five days and the ordinary morning wake up became not so ordinary when my one handed child couldn't move his neck. After a day of watching him writhe in pain and his neck lean more to one side we headed out the door to the pediatrician. Did I mention we just started going to this pediatrician this summer and haven't seen him since a basic check up. Oh and he can't put a shirt on because the arm in the cast can't bend and the other arm couldn't move due to the muscle spasm preventing him from lifting his arm or moving it all for that matter. I wrapped a coat around him and off we headed for the doctor's office with his head all bent over to one side. We got a lot of strange looks but ultimately we discovered he was suffereing from a really bad muscle spasm. So you are wondering what the photo means. Well today we got up, after a dose of muscle relaxers he could hold his head somewhat upright and we sat on the couch eating chocolate kisses and watching tv when he was comfortable or just sat when he wasn't . To me this photo says so much, a day with my youngest, eating chocolate and being a mom.

Mud Scrapers

Raise your hand if you remember mud scrapers! Seriously, we all had them outside our door growing up, you were suppose to scrape the mud off the bottom of your shoes before you came into the house. One of the two things I love about our house is that we have mudscrapers at the front and the back door. My kids wouldn't know what to do with them but they remind me of a simpler time, a time when kids actually played outside and a little mud wasn't the end of the world. The mudscraper in the photo sits just outside my back porch door. The dog runs past it regularly and I might just actually scrape my shoes for fun every once in a while. I dare you to locate and then place a mudscraper by your door.

Are you curious as to my other favorite thing about our house? (the two mudscrapers count as one item since they are basically same category.)

On a random note, I was retrieving a burger, fries and a shake for my Wednesday patient who was laid up by a muscle spasm in the neck when I glanced into the window of a new gifty type shop next to the best burger joint in this part of the state. There were a number of items with little thoughts on them. One particular one jumped out at me. At the risk of totally ruining it, it went something like, In today's world you can be anything you want, why not be yourself.

hmmmm, deep thought.