Weblog 228
June 20, 2010~ 12:00 am
This past week went by in a blur. I stayed home from work on both Monday and Thursday, fighting whatever bug had gotten hold of me. I needed to get better pronto because my son Matt and his family were passing through on their caravan west, moving from West Point, N.Y. to a stopover family reunion in Michigan for wife Nicky's family.....then finally settling in for 2 to 3 years at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. ( I believe the marathon sleeping on Thursday kicked sickness right out of my system, because I felt in fine fettle around all the grandkids on Friday evening and Saturday.)
Every time that crew passes through, the focal point is the wonderful MR. TREE in Holly's front yard....
(that shot was taken by none other than BILL) who was amusing himself with my digital camera while we waited for 'the COUSINS'.....(always an interminable space of time when get-togethers are only a couple times a year.) It's amazing to me how interesting the photos were that Bill and Kay took on Friday evening. Kay turned the camera on herself
for this charming capture of the bluest eyes in the world. I see all the sweet softness in her nature in that one shot.
Bill however, tried it....
and managed to appear sinister and BUG-LIKE! LOL!!! He even caught one of his fingers in there. LOL!! He had some Monet-like blurry shots of his mother's butterfly garden which he considered less than successful, but I liked them. I told them they were 'impressionistic', and he LIKED the sound of that. Thereafter, every out-of-focus photo was pronounced 'impressioned'- and Bill was pleased. (Success is what you make it, after all. :) Bill did snap a remarkable picture of his sister, caught in the waning sun, golden as can be, looking gorgeous!
He was very proud of that shot, and had a right to be. I just loved watching them get so serious, selecting photo subjects, then looking with delight at what they'd caught. Bill insisted that I pose with a foam sword and a pirate pistol, so I did....
and he was able to make me look pretty good. LOL!! (Tired and wilted as I was at the time, it's a fine effort.)
Yes, Bill, Kay and I waited for the cousins after PapPap Wayne left for the evening (and after we amused ourselves by telling stories of 'the cousins'. Somehow they were transformed into cannibals, which made Bill and Kay HOWL with laughter.) Holly had to work, husband Gary was sleeping at his mother's house to get ready for their long drive starting at midnight to Hilton Head. (It seems the summer pass-through of Matt's family coincided with Bill and Kay's summer vacation at the shore.) It all worked out, though. Matt and Nicky and family made themselves at home, and the kiddoes loved the big yard, the mass of toys and kid's stuff, and Matt and Nicky got a 2 day breather from the road.
Here's a typical kitchen scene, Gabe and Eli monkeyshining, pizza boxes stacked on the table, and little Shiloh (who's TALKING NOW) looking pretty serious about the eating business about to begin.
That girl LOVES her pizza!
She even ate the CRUST! Three pieces! (The one picture I wish I had snapped, was the sight of Shiloh with a GREEN GOATEE on her chin! Yes, the girl loves magic markers.) That green one was PERMANENT though, and they had a heck of a time scrubbing it off her face. Her mom said "Shiloh is the artist. She knows she's not supposed to draw on surfaces other than paper, but if Shiloh comes into a room and says, "COLORS! NO NO!"- we know to begin looking around for what she may have scribbled on. She knows it's wrong, and she can't help confessing." LOL!!
Outside, a thunderstorm was rolling through, but everyone dug in and ate (and ate...and ATE) Papa John's delicious pizza pies......
and it looks like Eli is planning on keeping Orange CRUSH in business all by himself!! (Friday night I'd stopped and picked up Frisch's Broasted Chicken, some macaroni salad, pasta salad and fruit salad, as well as a loaf of fresh baked bread. I thought that'd be a good choice- something that's easy to throw on the table, and everyone dug in and enjoyed.)
Here's a look at the oldest grandson, Isaac (who's turning 11 in October!)
amusing his 4 and a half month old baby brother, Asher. Isaac mostly disappeared into books...that's where you can find him whenever you wonder where he is: he's curled up somewhere and reading. I believe Isaac's brain is going to be a national treasure someday, but he's just as sweet-natured as he is brilliant.
And HERE IS THE NEWEST grandchild.....one who loves my 'pattycake, pattycake baker man' every bit as much as Bill did when he was tiny. Here's ASHER....
WHAT A FACE!! Just LOOK at those new, clear eyes! He's got dimples and bubbles over with giggles so often, he lives up to the meaning of his name.... which is 'happy'. Indeed.
It's been a wonderful two days. My 'grandma fix' has been deeply satisfied. These guys are the future....and I'm always to tickled to follow them around with a camera. Life presents special moments and these are surely some of the sweetest. 'Amen' to the beauty of progeny....it quite takes the breath away.
June 22, 2010~ 10:00 pm
Gees o man....THE GIFTS! (Oh, not the wrapped kind, the ones with bows) but the moments when life opens its arms, holds what it's hiding behind its back and SHOWS IT. Like a bouquet!
First, I want to say that I forgot to add in here that not only chickadees did I see (and host) this year in my backyard- last week I saw, for the first time in my life -a TUFTED TITMOUSE! Oh, what a great little guy he is! Came to the feeding area twice, his 'cardinal-like' tuft ruffed up and meaning business, nervous and flighty as can be. It thrilled me to see him... just a bitty guy, soft gray and white, big black eyes..but wonder of wonders....
today I saw something moving in the gravel of the carport. It looked as big as a cat and I thought, "ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod, Margaret is right, we have RATS!"....but when I looked closer....
it was gray and sweet-looking, no pointy ears or pink, long tail....and then it scurried into Lou's hedges, looking like a fat little piggy thing....lol. When he poked himself out of the OPPOSITE side of the hedges and steps....
I saw he was a GROUNDHOG!! I decided to call him Phil.
I opened the door and ventured out, and he IMMEDIATELY went deeper into the bushes again, but camera in hand, talking to him, walking slowly toward the top of the yard and giggling, OUT HE POPPED
cute as a button! I was able to snap a better picture of him, the flash making him hide again-- and every so often, out that nose would come, those shoe-button eyes visible, just like he was playing PEEK-A-BOO WITH ME. lol!!! I stood out there a long while but he wouldn't come all the way out onto the steps again. However, as soon I got back to the house, there Phil lay... the 85 degree weather and the humidity and excitement
flattening him like a deflated balloon...oh, GEES he's cute! (I guess he was trying to figure out how to get down into my yard and enjoy some of what the birds were eating.) Chippy the chipmunk was out there too, eating alternately from the THREE PILES of peanuts in different places, charging the stump to scare the birds, acting like a jarhead Marine on maneuvers... and I just LOVE these guys. Every sweet one of 'em. (I can't wait to tell Margaret that the 'big rat' she was moaning about last year was probably none other than PHIL......my newest friend.)
Oh... and Mr. Crow was out on the fence and honest to God, he was LISTENING as long as I was whistling Sam Cooke's 'You Send Me'....loudly. LOL!! I swear to Pete he'd cock his head, stare right at me and caw-- and I'd start up whistling that again. He finally flew off when I stopped. (One thing I know... the boy has fine musical taste. Nothing like a croony Cooke song.)
***
(Return To Weekly Archives)
This past week went by in a blur. I stayed home from work on both Monday and Thursday, fighting whatever bug had gotten hold of me. I needed to get better pronto because my son Matt and his family were passing through on their caravan west, moving from West Point, N.Y. to a stopover family reunion in Michigan for wife Nicky's family.....then finally settling in for 2 to 3 years at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. ( I believe the marathon sleeping on Thursday kicked sickness right out of my system, because I felt in fine fettle around all the grandkids on Friday evening and Saturday.)
Every time that crew passes through, the focal point is the wonderful MR. TREE in Holly's front yard....
(that shot was taken by none other than BILL) who was amusing himself with my digital camera while we waited for 'the COUSINS'.....(always an interminable space of time when get-togethers are only a couple times a year.) It's amazing to me how interesting the photos were that Bill and Kay took on Friday evening. Kay turned the camera on herself
for this charming capture of the bluest eyes in the world. I see all the sweet softness in her nature in that one shot.
Bill however, tried it....
and managed to appear sinister and BUG-LIKE! LOL!!! He even caught one of his fingers in there. LOL!! He had some Monet-like blurry shots of his mother's butterfly garden which he considered less than successful, but I liked them. I told them they were 'impressionistic', and he LIKED the sound of that. Thereafter, every out-of-focus photo was pronounced 'impressioned'- and Bill was pleased. (Success is what you make it, after all. :) Bill did snap a remarkable picture of his sister, caught in the waning sun, golden as can be, looking gorgeous!
He was very proud of that shot, and had a right to be. I just loved watching them get so serious, selecting photo subjects, then looking with delight at what they'd caught. Bill insisted that I pose with a foam sword and a pirate pistol, so I did....
and he was able to make me look pretty good. LOL!! (Tired and wilted as I was at the time, it's a fine effort.)
Yes, Bill, Kay and I waited for the cousins after PapPap Wayne left for the evening (and after we amused ourselves by telling stories of 'the cousins'. Somehow they were transformed into cannibals, which made Bill and Kay HOWL with laughter.) Holly had to work, husband Gary was sleeping at his mother's house to get ready for their long drive starting at midnight to Hilton Head. (It seems the summer pass-through of Matt's family coincided with Bill and Kay's summer vacation at the shore.) It all worked out, though. Matt and Nicky and family made themselves at home, and the kiddoes loved the big yard, the mass of toys and kid's stuff, and Matt and Nicky got a 2 day breather from the road.
Here's a typical kitchen scene, Gabe and Eli monkeyshining, pizza boxes stacked on the table, and little Shiloh (who's TALKING NOW) looking pretty serious about the eating business about to begin.
That girl LOVES her pizza!
She even ate the CRUST! Three pieces! (The one picture I wish I had snapped, was the sight of Shiloh with a GREEN GOATEE on her chin! Yes, the girl loves magic markers.) That green one was PERMANENT though, and they had a heck of a time scrubbing it off her face. Her mom said "Shiloh is the artist. She knows she's not supposed to draw on surfaces other than paper, but if Shiloh comes into a room and says, "COLORS! NO NO!"- we know to begin looking around for what she may have scribbled on. She knows it's wrong, and she can't help confessing." LOL!!
Outside, a thunderstorm was rolling through, but everyone dug in and ate (and ate...and ATE) Papa John's delicious pizza pies......
and it looks like Eli is planning on keeping Orange CRUSH in business all by himself!! (Friday night I'd stopped and picked up Frisch's Broasted Chicken, some macaroni salad, pasta salad and fruit salad, as well as a loaf of fresh baked bread. I thought that'd be a good choice- something that's easy to throw on the table, and everyone dug in and enjoyed.)
Here's a look at the oldest grandson, Isaac (who's turning 11 in October!)
amusing his 4 and a half month old baby brother, Asher. Isaac mostly disappeared into books...that's where you can find him whenever you wonder where he is: he's curled up somewhere and reading. I believe Isaac's brain is going to be a national treasure someday, but he's just as sweet-natured as he is brilliant.
And HERE IS THE NEWEST grandchild.....one who loves my 'pattycake, pattycake baker man' every bit as much as Bill did when he was tiny. Here's ASHER....
WHAT A FACE!! Just LOOK at those new, clear eyes! He's got dimples and bubbles over with giggles so often, he lives up to the meaning of his name.... which is 'happy'. Indeed.
It's been a wonderful two days. My 'grandma fix' has been deeply satisfied. These guys are the future....and I'm always to tickled to follow them around with a camera. Life presents special moments and these are surely some of the sweetest. 'Amen' to the beauty of progeny....it quite takes the breath away.
June 22, 2010~ 10:00 pm
Gees o man....THE GIFTS! (Oh, not the wrapped kind, the ones with bows) but the moments when life opens its arms, holds what it's hiding behind its back and SHOWS IT. Like a bouquet!
First, I want to say that I forgot to add in here that not only chickadees did I see (and host) this year in my backyard- last week I saw, for the first time in my life -a TUFTED TITMOUSE! Oh, what a great little guy he is! Came to the feeding area twice, his 'cardinal-like' tuft ruffed up and meaning business, nervous and flighty as can be. It thrilled me to see him... just a bitty guy, soft gray and white, big black eyes..but wonder of wonders....
today I saw something moving in the gravel of the carport. It looked as big as a cat and I thought, "ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod, Margaret is right, we have RATS!"....but when I looked closer....
it was gray and sweet-looking, no pointy ears or pink, long tail....and then it scurried into Lou's hedges, looking like a fat little piggy thing....lol. When he poked himself out of the OPPOSITE side of the hedges and steps....
I saw he was a GROUNDHOG!! I decided to call him Phil.
I opened the door and ventured out, and he IMMEDIATELY went deeper into the bushes again, but camera in hand, talking to him, walking slowly toward the top of the yard and giggling, OUT HE POPPED
cute as a button! I was able to snap a better picture of him, the flash making him hide again-- and every so often, out that nose would come, those shoe-button eyes visible, just like he was playing PEEK-A-BOO WITH ME. lol!!! I stood out there a long while but he wouldn't come all the way out onto the steps again. However, as soon I got back to the house, there Phil lay... the 85 degree weather and the humidity and excitement
flattening him like a deflated balloon...oh, GEES he's cute! (I guess he was trying to figure out how to get down into my yard and enjoy some of what the birds were eating.) Chippy the chipmunk was out there too, eating alternately from the THREE PILES of peanuts in different places, charging the stump to scare the birds, acting like a jarhead Marine on maneuvers... and I just LOVE these guys. Every sweet one of 'em. (I can't wait to tell Margaret that the 'big rat' she was moaning about last year was probably none other than PHIL......my newest friend.)
Oh... and Mr. Crow was out on the fence and honest to God, he was LISTENING as long as I was whistling Sam Cooke's 'You Send Me'....loudly. LOL!! I swear to Pete he'd cock his head, stare right at me and caw-- and I'd start up whistling that again. He finally flew off when I stopped. (One thing I know... the boy has fine musical taste. Nothing like a croony Cooke song.)
(Return To Weekly Archives)
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