Photo 365 #127

December 12, 2014December 10, 2014Leave a comment

Time to visit Ye Olde Archives again, because I’m still a bit groggy:

family

This is one of the first pictures of Seymour and me together with the kids. We were out getting into the Christmas spirit at Miracle on Main, and we were just over a month away from being engaged when this picture was taken. It was a magical time, and one I’ll always treasure.

And look how tiny the kids are! It’s hard to believe that next year, Cricket will be the same age as Bubbles and Miss Tadpole are in this picture. If anyone would like to donate some bricks to my “Keep the Kids Little Forever” campaign, please direct them to my email.

Cinder blocks are also welcome. 🙂

Photo 365 #126

December 11, 2014December 10, 20147 Comments

I’ve been digging through my archives. Today I’m having surgery, and ever since Cricket was born, I think of this picture when I have surgery:

fingerprints

I don’t do needles, you see. And the nurse I had when Cricket was born was less than gentle with the IV needle. This is Seymour’s hand five minutes after the nurse got done inserting the IV line in my left hand. That imprint there? That’s my right hand.

Seymour: When did you suddenly get strength in your hand?!

Me: About the time they stuck a needle in my other one!

I was telling the lab nurses this story last week at my pre-op appointment because I had to distract myself somehow. They were all very nice nurses, but it took three of them to find my veins and get the necessary blood samples, and now I have two lovely bruises on my forearms.

But now I’m going to go. I’ve got things to dream, see, so I’ll see you back here sometime over the weekend. Have a great Thursday!

Photo 365 #105: Swarm

November 20, 2014November 21, 201414 Comments

The first time I met Seymour’s extended family was at his annual family reunion. He has a big family. I know people always think they have a big family (I sure thought so, even though I was including my grandma’s brother’s family in my head count), but Seymour really does – his dad was one of 13 kids. Reunions always used to be held at a nearby state park due to the number of people who’d come and, while it seems like fewer people have come the last couple of years, there’s still quite a crowd.

So we pull into this park and start looking around. There are people everywhere, but he can’t see anyone he recognizes, and the only people there that I know aside from him and our kids are his parents. Finally, he turns to me and says, “Are we in the right place?”

I looked at him like, Really? You’re asking me?

Photo 365 #104: Moment

November 19, 20148 Comments

Life is but a series of moments. Each day I find myself recording moments for posterity, though sometimes my recordings are strictly internal (which means they usually disappear within 24 hours, as my memory is terrible). Still, those little moments are what make life worth living, are they not?

“Peek-a-boo!”

“Raaaaaar!”

These two images are from the first night we spent in our new house. We had no furniture, other than a collapsible picnic table and an air mattress. What we did have were great friends and happy kids, and we made a boatload of memories that night. We’ve made more memories in our new house in the year since these pictures were taken, and the thought of all the memories we’ve yet to make thrills me to pieces.

Photo 365 #98: Warmth

November 13, 2014November 14, 20142 Comments

I used to go to a lot of horseshoe tournaments. My ex-husband played in as many tournaments as he could get to (still does), which meant I spent the summer baking in the heat at tournaments all over the state. It was a lot of fun, if you don’t mind the heat and the humidity, and sometimes I miss going. It was fun sitting around chatting with the other horseshoe wives (the ones who didn’t also pitch), and sometimes I’d go exploring whichever town we happened to be in.

The tournaments that were probably the most fun were at the state fair. They hosted tournaments everyday, with the state championships on the weekends. The horseshoe courts there used to be in a high-traffic area right across from the nicest bathrooms on the fairgrounds and close to food, so it was about as perfect a location as you can get.

One Last Conversation on the Courts

But eventually, the fair board decided something else should occupy the space next to Little Hands on the Farm, something more farm-related than an old farmers’ game, and the horseshoe courts were relocated, making way for an animal nursery. It’s a very nice nursery, but I do miss the courts being centrally located.

As we were leaving the fairgrounds after the last tournament at the old courts, I snapped this picture of the scoreboards. The way they were all out there in the middle, I had the feeling they were a bunch of old friends, standing around discussing all they’d seen in the past ten days: all the ringers, the near-misses, the celebrations and heartbreaks. Despite its bittersweet quality, this is one of my favorite pictures ever; it just feels so dynamic, as if the scoreboards had really come to life.

Photo 365 #93

November 8, 20142 Comments

Alas, poor pencil, you’ve served me well:

sadpencil

I’ve had this pencil for at least a decade (perhaps slightly longer). I’ve written more stories with it than I can count, and a fair few books, too. Sadly, it cannot be replaced – while they still make this particular model, the grip is no longer smooth, but patterned, and it irritates my fingers after a while. Luckily, I’ve got a backup, but one day it, too, will go the way of its brother, and then I’ll be forced to replace it with the patterned grip pencil that I don’t like.

Of course, the patterned grip is still better than the dozens of other mechanical pencil styles available.

Rest in peace, oh pencil mine. You’ve earned it.

Photo 365 #92: Solitude

November 7, 20142 Comments

solitary Living in the country can be a lonely thing, which is why I was initially worried about living out in the middle of nowhere again (okay, I had other concerns, too, but isolation was a biggie). This fence post (and the barbed wire wrapped around it) marks the end of our yard and the beginning of the field next door.

It’s a solitary place, our little farm, but I find it relaxing, and peaceful. Sometimes a little solitude is all you really need to soothe your inner demons and gain perspective on things.

Photo Friday: Halloween!

October 31, 2014Leave a comment

That’s right, it’s All Hallows’ Eve. For the first time in a very long time, we didn’t hand out candy tonight. Not that we ever had many kids stop at our house before, but since we’re in the country now, it seemed rather pointless to buy candy for trick-or-treaters who will never stop.

This is also the first year we took Cricket and Thumper trick-or-treating. I found a Scooby Doo costume for Thumper at a local secondhand shop, and Cricket went as his best pal, Shaggy. Miss Tadpole was a goddess, and Bubbles wore his football uniform, a Rebel football player one last time (this year, anyway). He went trick-or-treating with his dad, though, so I’ll have to wait a year to get a picture of all four of them together in their costumes.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The boys were disappointed this morning when I wouldn’t let them wear their costumes to daycare, but while my stitching was good enough to hold up through this evening’s candy hunt, I didn’t trust it to hold out all day, especially the way Thumper likes to romp around (his costume required a bit of sewing (by which I mean about four hours’ worth because I had to hand sew it all) to make it wearable). I needn’t have worried, though – he faceplanted while tearing down a darkened street on the final leg of tonight’s journey and split a seam in his shoulder, but my stitching held up perfectly. 🙂

What do you do for Halloween? Do you hand out candy, or take the kids around, or both, or neither? Don’t forget to check out Charnele’s blog and see what she’s up to on this spooky holiday. Happy Halloween! 🙂

Photo 365 #72

October 18, 2014Leave a comment

Yesterday was rather a rough day. It started early, ended late, and grew steadily worse as the day wore on. But at least I have some pretty flowers to show for it:

Today has been so much better, despite getting off to a rough start. Hope your Saturday has been filled with fun! 🙂

Photo Friday: Endings!

October 17, 20146 Comments

endcorn Who doesn’t love endings? Well, okay, if it’s the end of a fantastic book, or if it’s the end of a particularly beloved character (still bitter), or if a relationship is ending, then I don’t like them. As the great Jane Austen once said, “If a book is well-written, I always find it too short.”

But today’s ending is more in tune with the circle of life. While it’s true that a circle really has no beginning and has no ending, life does (which makes “the circle of life” something of an oxymoron, doesn’t it?), and now that we’re well into fall, you can see endings everywhere.

Over the summer, my aunt took a picture of the kids standing in front of the corn that grows at the edge of our yard. She wanted me to get another picture of the boys in front of the corn this fall, but I kept putting it off, and the weather recently didn’t help.

I came home from work one day and discovered that…