Outside, Inside

Spring is here! Azaleas and daffodils bloom in our yard.
Inside there's work in progress. The front room, a room we use for hosting groups of internationals and holding classes, is being painted!

Tuesday, February 27

After teaching TOEFL class this morning I walked to a lake nearby to take pictures and saw a sweet gum tree. I'd never noticed their blossoms before. And right now our yard is full of little wild flowers. I posted the pink ones a few days ago. This one is a tiny violet, about the size of the fingernail on my pinky.

There's something about a baby...

I find babies calming. They take me back to the basics of life. They make me happy. Today Juli and I were reading aloud together when Selah woke up. We brought her to the couch beside us and she laid there and kicked and talked. She also enjoyed Juli's fingers! She is 5 months old.

Saturday and Sunday

Sunday we visited friends and Juli had a great time on their zip line.

Umm... Jerry had to show that he could do it, too.

Not such great photos, but I wanted to remember the day. It was perfect weather!

Commander Zim was introduced to our family by our dd's boyfriend, John. This scrap of paper Juli affixed to her wall is something Stephanie drew - her version of Commander Zim.

Friday Night Abstract

I'm Not the Only Bird Watcher!

I've been taking many pictures of birds the last few days and today after I took a few of them I looked over and saw our cat, Froda, at another window. She was doing some serious bird watching!
Can you see the dove?

Chickadee

I have been trying to entice chickadees to our feeder and finally succeeded! This little guy would swoop down for a snack and leave quickly, but I caught him with the camera.

Girls' Day Out...

Dds and I had a day out today... we shopped and ate lunch out together and browsed at B&N and topped it all off with frappucinos. They love to try shoes on, so I got a bit of fun out of that!

Tiny flowers on weeds in our yard...

A Window to Another World

There are several oriental food markets in our city, most owned by Vietnamese. I love the strangeness of them, the alien sights and smells and sounds.

Some friends and I went to P.F. Chang's tonight. Lots of good food and laughter. Afterward we wandered through a nearby Whole Foods Market and topped off the evening with some gelato. Easy, fun evening.

Hands - a self-portrait Laura...
...who took these two of Stephanie with my camera.

If at first you don't succeed...
try ...

try... again!

(I'm ashamed to say how many times I tried. I think I'm not meant for self-portraits.)

Tulips

Just playing around with some tulips I got at the grocery store. They look fake here, but they are real.

Music

We are blessed with lots of music here. Tetsuya, who lived with us for two weeks after Christmas while job hunting, came by to see us

before leaving for his new job in New York. We persuaded him to play for us on John's guitar. Then we heard John.

House Cleaning (Saturday, February 10)

If we want the purple martins to come back we need to make sure their house is ready for them! We worked in the yard, planting azaleas and paperwhites, and we got the bird house ready, too.

Part 1

It's that time of year again. ...Not Valentine's Day. Louisiana is revving up for Mardi Gras . The king cakes are displayed in all the bakeries and grocery stores, and purple, gold, and green are seen everywhere. Here are some cheap Mardi Gras beads that I saw hanging in a store today. Part 2

I have noticed, mostly at times when I'm frustrated, that the very traits that drew me to my husband are also the ones that irritate me. I like that he isn't ostentatious. I like that he is a conservationist. I like that he marches to a mostly different drummer than most men I've met. I like it until it becomes something that inconveniences me. Case in point: his car. To quote my sister, " The kind of car I want is one which comes on when you turn the key. " And I will add: and stays on. This $700 bargain of his didn't seem like much of a bargan to me today. Here it sits where the police car pushed it (and him)... Not a nice part of town to visit.

Here is the picture that most reflects my day. Our sweet kitty, Lucy, died today. I took her to be spayed and she died from a negative reaction to the anesthetic.

She made me happy and I'll miss her.

Taking Care of Business...

At about 10:45 this morning I walked through the house taking pictures. Here's who I found:Ian, working (?) on his computer Stephanie, listening to a violin/piano duet on her computer and writing down the piano notes on scored paper.

Selah, contemplating her jeans.
Juli doing geography.Froda and Lucy doing what cats do best.

My Favorite Things

Chickadees are my favorite birds. I like their cheerfulness and spunk. Last fall Juli and I dropped by a coffee shop in St. Francisville and browsed in back room where we saw this carved chickadee. I'm sure it was clear how much I liked it, but I don't think I said I wanted it. When we opened our gifts for the new year she was particularly anxious that I open one. This was it. She'd told her dad and older sister about the carved chickadee and Jerry went one day after work to buy it. It was a gift from both daughters and my husband.

Morning Moon

As I loaded the car Monday morning for our trip home, I looked up and saw this. So I had to take a picture!

Sunday, February 4

I still have one more post to catch up. I'll do it tomorrow.

Sunday a.m. I woke up and saw this cardinal at the bird feeder. Later that day we were all sitting in the family room and heard a loud bang on the window and looked out to see a cardinal on the ground, stunned. His head was all twisted up and we were afraid he'd broken it. But we let him be for a bit and after an hour or so he flew off. Happy endings are a relief!

My dad has had a stump he's wanted to burn out for awhile, but he saved it for a time when Juli could come. So she built the fire, we all sat around it and talked for awhile, and then we roasted hot dogs (which I still love even though I know they're awful for me). This is not a fuzzy picture of Jerry and Juli. That's the smoke from the fire. I should also note that my dad wore jeans today! I have pictures to prove it. I don't think I've ever seen either of my parents in jeans!

Saturday, February 3

Juli had her meet at WOGA in the morning (2nd overall and in beam and floor in her age group). I had two guys with me taking pictures with some heavy duty cameras so I didn't take any. But I took a couple in the car that evening on our drive back to my parents'. This first one is of Juli drawing her foot. And the sunset was beautiful and changed almost every second. Here's one of its expressions which I caught from the car.

Friday, February 2

We drove to Dallas to stay with my brother, David, the night before Juli's gymnastics meet in Plano. All pictures of him except this one were fuzzy. The elk head is from an elk he shot with a bow and arrow in Arizona. It's huge! It was lying on the floor of his den and everytime I walked into the room and saw it from the corner of my eye I thought there was a big animal over there.And this is Mic... my brother's German pointer. He's a trained hunting dog and a good companion for my bachelor brother. Um... I just realized these should probably be sized differently. It' not getting done, though.

January 31 - February 1 - "The Old Folks at Home"

Good conversation, fires in the fireplace, yummy food, a visit to Barnes and Noble to listen to my dad address a writers' group, a chamber music concert by a visiting Czech nonet... We've done all these things while visiting my parents. They're fun to be with, young at heart, and some of the most godly people I know. My dad wrote his first novel at age 78. My mom grows sweeter with each year. Not only have they been good parents, but they take their jobs as grandparents seriously.

This plaque has been in one of our bathrooms ever since I can remember. I guess my mom figured she had a captive audience! She did and it was read and taken to heart.