17!

My baby is 17! The 44th day of summer was Sarah’s 17th birthday. In a few short weeks my youngest daughter begins her senior year of high school. How the @#%* did that happen?

Sarah blows out the candles while her boyfriend and besties from school look on.

All the kiddos in our lives are of course growing up, no matter how much we don’t want them to. At the party yesterday, I got to photograph a picture I’ve been wanting to recreate for a couple years now. Twelve years ago, at Sarah’s 5th birthday party, I took this picture of my daughters along with the daughters of great friends of ours. The girls have grown up as friends, getting together with our “gang” of friends as often as possible.

In this photo (from left to right) Eva is 6, Meghan is 7, Sarah is 5 and Brianna is 9.

The tiaras were part of the party favors for a 5-year-old who was into dolls and dress-up at the time (my how times have changed!)

I’ve had the idea to take a picture of the girls all together, all grown up, with tiaras on their heads for a while now. I got my chance yesteday when they were here for the party and I remembered earlier in the week to get the tiaras at the party store.

Eva 18, Meghan 19, Sarah 17, Brianna 21
(I couldn’t take the photo in the exact same spot the original was taken because my hot tub now occupies that space.)

The girls patiently complied with my request and I was happy with the result. I hope these are shots that will become favorites of theirs some day, as they are favorites of mine now.

“What, Again?” and “Happy Birthday”

Yesterday, day 27 of summer, was one of those one-day-blends-into-the-others kind of days.  Errands, dishes, laundry, exercise etc.  Went outside to sit and read for a bit and cranked up the umbrella on my deck so I could use my Kindle.  Take a wild guess what fell out of the umbrella!  I bet you know!

Seriously?  Really, frogs and toads don’t bother me but I’m starting to wonder…

Did I ever tell you that story of my 3- or 4-year-old self with the little toad? Probably not, it’s kind of gross.  My parents moved out of the city and into the suburbs when I was about 3 years old.  I remember being delighted with my new bedroom, all my own, and my yard and all the wonderful things it contained.  Apparently one day in my excitement to show my mother the little toad I’d just found, I squeezed it just a little too hard.  Poor thing’s guts squeezed right out of its mouth in my grip.  Maybe “frog karma” is finding its way around to me!

 

Today, day 28 of summer – 4 weeks out of school and hubby’s birthday.  Bought this fabulous looking cake at our local Big Y supermarket:

This is for dessert tonight and we are having slow-cooked brisket (this link will take you to a guest post I did about our recipe over at my sister’s old blog) and “loaded” baked potato salad for dinner. I used ranch dressing to mix up with the potatoes and added in red onions, bacon, chives, and shredded cheese for the “loaded” part.

This picture has absolutely nothing to do with what I am blogging about today, but here it is anyway:

Cedric took my spot here at the computer this morning when I got up to let the dogs in. Looks like he’d like my cup of coffee as well.

20×2+9-4=?

Did you solve my little math problem? 😉 Today is the day I find myself smack in the middle of my 40’s! Perhaps a day of a little reflection? I think it is a good place to be. My birthday finds me in good health and feeling fit. People around me are noticing the changes in me and my energy is good. A new horizon approaches in my future, and a goal that I’m going to do my very best to achieve. I will share the news of how that goes when the time is appropriate.

Spring, as most of us in northern climates know, has been slow to arrive this year. Last year on my birthday, it was a warm and sunny day, and magnolia trees were in bloom all over town. I took this shot last year:

Things are a bit behind this year – those buds are out, but I haven’t seen a tree in full bloom yet. This morning there are buds on my famous weather-telling rhodo-azaelea bush:

(sorry for the slight blur, it is quite windy here this morning)

I’m on school vacation this week, but it hasn’t felt overly vacation-y. I’ve been doing lots of driving and I’m a bit weary from the road. The driving is worthwhile, however. As I mentioned in my last post, I drove to Worcester for the Sleeping Beauty ballet with my daughters last Friday. It was lovely. It reminded me of a springtime version of “The Nutcracker” – probably no surprise since the music for both was composed by Tchaikovsky. Then I drove Meghan back to school Easter night, after a great day of food and visiting with family. I made brunch for my family that morning:

Then the girls and I were off to dinner at my sister’s. I contributed this cheesecake dessert of which I’m quite proud:

I wish I had a better picture for you. I took this quickly with my phone. It has a brownie bottom and was delicious!

Monday was a warm, sunny day which I spent doing some much needed spring clean-up:

The work is not all done around my yard – lots more to go – but at least my front yard is more respectable looking now!

Sarah and I have begun college visits this week as well. We drove to a school in New Hampshire on Tuesday – we were underwhelmed – and have a visit planned to Hampshire College in Amherst tomorrow. The drive tomorrow is at least a bit shorter.

The weekend brings a visit to the Cape. The forecast is in the mid-50’s and windy, so we will have to bundle up. Hopefully the sun will shine and there will be time for a walk on the beach without it being too blustery to enjoy.

Dawn and I think it could be time for a new photo hunt soon. What do you think? Spring is here and our cameras are just waiting for a little challenge, right? I’ll be giving it some thought and I’ll be sure to let you know if I come up with something.

Even though it’s my birthday, I don’t get to take the day off from some of the things I must get done, so I will be wrapping up this meandering post now!

Hey Nineteen

Thinking of you today, pretty girl:

Happy 19th Birthday Meghan!

Just for fun, 10 years ago:

As Summer Wears On

Hard to believe it is nearly August.  Summer is passing too quickly!  A friend posted this on Facebook recently and I couldn’t agree more:

Four weeks from today I will be back in school, so I’m trying to remind myself to enjoy every moment.  Here are some moments I’ve recently enjoyed:

We celebrated my younger daughter’s 15th birthday with family and friends.  Her actual birthday is this Thursday, so I can’t help thinking about how 15 years ago at this time I was so huge and uncomfortable.  It was a nasty hot summer – kind of like how it has been around here recently – and nothing I did seemed to feel better.  15 years ago!  Wow!

Then:

And now:

We got some much needed rain this past weekend – unfortunately during Sarah’s birthday party.  I think the absolute heaviest was exactly when my husband was cooking at the grill:

Police department issued rain gear came in really handy!  Photo credit to Meghan and her iPod – she was more on the ball that I was.

In the quiet moments between shopping and cleaning and otherwise preparing for the party, the butterfly bushes provided more photography opportunities.  A couple of yellow tiger swallowtails have been happily cavorting:

I found this species very interesting too:

I think its Latin name is “collius buddlejollius”  😉 (okay who remembers that obscure reference from an earlier post?)

July has been pretty full of good summer fun – check my archives if you’d like to see what I’ve been up to – and August has plenty more to offer.  Meghan is going to have her senior portraits taken next week (YIKES!  I’m having a really hard time wrapping my head around the fact that my older daughter will be a senior in high school in 4 weeks!  How the heck did that happen?) and our family vacation to Maine comes up in less than 2 weeks.  And don’t forget – the “Ends of the Earth” photo hunt is in August too.

An Unusual Day

Yesterday was an unusual day.  An enjoyable day, but different for sure.  As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, it was Meghan’s birthday.  My day started out as it usually does on a day when I am to play hostess:  completing the house-cleaning and food prep.  It was sunny and about 40°.  I went outside to sweep off the front step, when I was distracted by a large flock of some type of blackbirds in a tree across the street.  Abandoning my step-sweeping temporarily, I ran inside to grab my camera in hopes that the 55-250mm lens could see the birds better than I could.

Alas, it could not.  Even when I zoomed in, the birds were still undistinguished birds of a black color.  I continued about my business.  While cleaning the glass of the sliding glass door out to the deck, I noticed the sunny sky had strange, tiny, white flecks blowing around in it.  “Is it snowing?” I asked dear hubby.  “Yep, it’s snowing,” came the reply.

But it was really nothing – tiny little things, barely visible, the air too warm for it to stick.  I continued moseying about the house, taking care of my chores in my highly distractable manner.

Did I ever tell you that about me?  Maybe that should have been one of my 7 things.  When I start cleaning the house I am highly distractable.  I rarely finish one chore or one room of the house without starting another chore or room, but somehow it all gets done.  I have no idea what causes me to move about from dishes to floors to dusting to sweeping steps and back again, but that is how I do it.  My sister once wrote about having RDD, or recipe distraction disorder; perhaps I am a victim of HCDD: household chore distraction disorder!

Anyway, I digress.  Early afternoon, before the arrival of our expected guests, look what it was doing outside!

My mother, travelling up from Cape Cod, texted me: what the heck is with the weather? It was sunny and 42 degrees when I left the Cape!

I had no explanation.  I couldn’t help but be reminded of the last party I had and what happened that night!  But then the snow stopped almost as quickly as it began.

The birthday girl and I found ourselves peering out the front window as we waited for guests to arrive, looking into a beautiful blue and sunny sky.  Again I wondered what type of birds were filling the trees.  I took another shot with my camera and I was thrilled to make this discovery:

at least a few of the blackbirds, which had flitted from my sycamore tree to the trees across the street were red-winged blackbirds!  I’ve been trying to get half-way decent shot of one of these birds for quite a while now.  It looks like I’ve also got a shiny grackle in the lower right side of the photo.

Teddy and Daphne were less thrilled with my discovery.  They would’ve rather been taken for a walk.

The strange weather of the day continued – alternating sunny, blue skies with windy, side-ways blowing snow that never stuck to the ground.  Our guests safely arrived and our power stayed on.

Meghan’s birthday party was a success.  Can anyone spot a little mistake with the photo above?  I just realized it myself when I was reviewing pictures today.  Think it over a bit before you scroll down.

I told you how old Meghan is yesterday.  Did you figure it out?  Dear hubby gave her an extra candle to blow out by accident!  Yup, there are 18 candles on that cake!  Don’t rush our daughter’s adulthood, silly husband!

I’ve been sitting here for the last few minutes trying to think of a witty way to wind up this blog post, but I can’t seem to do it…. seems I am distracted…… 😉

 

Happy Birthday to me

I was treated to a lovely, relaxing day for my birthday today.  April 24th, in my memory, has generally been a typical, rainy, April sort of day, an “Eeyore” sort of a day, if you will.  Perhaps Tracy of Milkay Photography would be able to let us know if she agrees since it is a special day for her as well!  However, here in Western Mass, the day was about as beautiful as you could ask for in April: sunny and in the low 70’s. 

After walking the dogs this morning, our friend Sherry came over with her dog Angel for a little doggie play date.  This was a cute picture of all 3 dogs that I managed to get with my older daughter looking on:
 

I received some fun things for gifts as well.  Some of the things included:

Special new sneaks

A new charm for my Pandora bracelet – the sneaks and this charm are from mom, who lives on Cape Cod.  This neat square charm actually has interesting designs on all 4 sides.

Hubby gave me this one, for my “bullish” Taurean ways!  Also from dear hubby, although not a surprise was this:

Its one of those “anti-gravity” recliners.  I spend a good amount of my summer sitting on my deck and reading, so this is the perfect spot for that!  I began my summer activities a bit early today and enjoyed the bountiful sunshine while seated here.

Right now, that same wonderful hubby, is cooking me a delicious steak dinner on the grill you see in the background of the first shot of this post.  See what I mean about not be able to ask for a much nicer day?