J.R.

Tonight at dinner the kids created a "replacement" for J who is in Hawaii with my parents for the next ten days or so. So this balloon dude, complete with paper hands holding paper utensils to eat paper pizza and drink from a paper cup, has been christened J.R. -- J's Replacement.

I guess the kids miss J more than they've been letting on, even B who is enjoying the top bunk while J is away....

The Bite of an Angry Lizard

One of T's favorite activities is catching various local reptiles, keeping them for a short time to observe them, and then letting them go back to their native habitat (whether that is in the meadow, under the house, beneath a rock, or in my flower beds). He discovered this fine alligator lizard in my vinca beds under the boys' bedroom window and kept him in a large Red Vines container (bedded with dirt and grass) for a couple of hours. Upon release, the lizard definitely had payback on his mind.



Did he ever! I think this instance of "payback" requires Neosporin and a band aid. But will it stop T from catching and observing them? Never.

Ocean Views....

After Class Day yesterday (Thursday), we drove down to my parents' place at the beach to drop J off as the three of them took off for Hawaii early this morning. When each of the grandkids turns 11, they get to go on a special trip to Hawaii with Granny and Papa. My parents spend the month of May (and usually several weeks in the fall as well) in Hawaii and when they take one of the eight grandkids, they fly over with the grandchild, spend five days on Maui then five or more days on Oahu in their little studio-sized condo with its view of Diamondhead. So it's J's turn this spring.

But before saying goodbye to him, we walked down to the end of the street to look at the beach, and I took a few photos of the ocean from Pacific Beach, San Diego -- enjoy!




We really enjoyed watching the kitesurfers. J will see many more on the islands as well.



The Pacific Beach Pier

E's Sweet 16 Party

We had a total of 30 people at out home on Sunday evening to celebrate E's "Sweet 16." I was so busy that I just didn't take many photos. Here's one of her showing off a gift -- and in a later post, I'll show off her two big gifts that follow a generations-old family tradition for our "Sweet 16" celebrations, both of which came from my parents and belonged to my mother.

Happy Sweet 16 to my lovely girl -- beautiful in so many ways!!!!

The Art of Grapes

This week Keith has been working on the grapes for the upper part of the stained glass window:



He's picked the smallest grapes from the purple globs he purchased. Then he has to wrap the edges of each one with copper foil, then solder each one into place. Some grapes he leaves whole and others he slices to fit in better amongst surrounding grapes. These were the smallest purple globs he could find online; ideally, they would have been a bit smaller in size to me more in balance with the size of everything else, but they work.



He carefully places the grapes into place.



Here the grapes are from the back, with the globbly part face down and a blue piece in back to make the grapes a deeper shade. The back of the window must be soldered first, then the front. So right now Keith is working on the window backwards. It will look very strange to us when he turns it over to work on the front after seeing it from this side for so many weeks....



He holds up the grapes for us to see against the window light. The blue piece of glass on the back deepens the purple beautifully.



He couldn't resist making one grape very happy amongst all the others. See it? Little fun "Easter eggs" in the window will be one of its features, and we're not telling Dr. A. about them; he gets to discover them on his own.... :)

How Can He Sleep Like That????

Keith went in to check on the boys before heading to bed the other night, and he called me in to see how T was sleeping. His face is planted firmly INTO the pillow, and he is balancing with his foot on the floor. Keith pulled his leg back onto the bed, and T didn't move, but his face was still burrowed into the pillow -- Keith wondered if T was breathing through his ears -- so Keith moved his head carefully. T never shifted his body or even flickered an eyeball while Keith settled him properly in bed. Teens sleep deeply, I guess -- and rather strangely, too.

Birthday Girl -- Sweet 16

We had a lovely "girls' day out" to celebrate E's 16th birthday this week -- details on Meditative Meanderings -- culminating with Keith's special Boston Cream Pie and E blowing out her candle. A family party will followin a couple of weeks.

Happy Birthday, Sweet 16!

I DID IT!!!!

Yesterday, April 6, marked the 367th day of this blog -- with one extra day for the leap year. I have now posted a photo a day (not always taken right on that day but at least within a day or two) for a full year.

I started off knowing almost nothing about photography. I listened carefully to Keith (after his years at Brooks Institute of Photography, he has much wisdom and a great eye) and observed what my fellow 365'ers posted. I've learned a great deal about noticing and truly seeing the little things -- the curls of budding apple leaves, the hushed light of early morning and late afternoon, the detail in a pansy "face," the joy of taking photo after photo in gorgeous places around San Diego like Summerspast Farms, Balboa Park, Pacific Beach, Mount Laguna, and San Diego Bay. Besides the fun of taking photos in beautiful places, I've come to enjoy the more subdued delight of taking photos of my small town and especially of my family. I've watched our four kids grow in amazing ways this year, and it's a year well-documented, thanks to this blog. The kids also became interested in photography, wanting to borrow my camera to capture a photo of this or that, whether it be a great art project, a very large toad they found, a particularly funny face, or an especially cute pose of our dachshund. I've also been able to document the progress of this year's big project: the stained glass window Keith is working on.

So I shall keep posting quite often -- it's nice to have the daily pressure off in a way, but I'll still keep my camera handy and post often. I still have much to learn about photography, and I'm eager to keep on learning by doing.

Special thanks to my 365 cohorts -- I never would have started this rewarding project without your examples and your beautiful shots spurring me on to greater daring and creativity. For a woman of words (sorry for all the wordiness -- I can never let a picture say a thousand words by itself; I must add my couple of hundred to it, of course), learning to communicate visually rather than verbally was a challenge, one that sometimes left me frustrated, but much more often than not, gave me great joy and a feeling of freedom and accomplishment. So thanks so much for the blessed opportunity to start and FINISH a project -- something we writers are not always particularly good at.

I'll post my favorite photo of the last year here -- I have many photos I've realy liked, but this one immediately came to mind when I thought of my single favorite photo of the past 365 days:



Coronado Bridge from a sailboat on San Diego Bay

So here's to learning more about the art of photography and to learning more from the wonderful women and from my husband, all of whom spurred me to become a slightly more accomplished photographer than I was 367 days ago when I first received my little pocket camera.

Retreat: Sunday

Julie was one of the four speakers, or as she prefers, "sharers," this weekend. Her testimony is one of God's saving grace and merciful protection -- so inspirational to hear how He has worked in each life.



This weekend was a wonderful time in the Word as well as a blessed gathering of friends for fun and prayer.



Sunday worship rocked! I loved all of the hymns sprinkled in amongst the GOOD praise music -- the stuff that goes far beyond 7/11 songs (7 lines sung 11 times).

Retreat: Saturday

A group of friends came over to our house (as we're only two miles from the camp) to see Keith's stained glass window. When they saw the treehouse, they were up the ladder and leaning over the railing in a trice -- including May, who will keep on climbing trees until her 90's, I'm sure.... (L 2 R: Susan, Diana, Julie, May, Linda -- and four of the group stayed on the ground, taking photos of the brave conquerors of the treehouse.)



A first-time group photo of 46/50 of us, I believe. A few weren't here for the photo, but the vast majority were. We had such gorgeous weather for our retreat -- spring in our town just doesn't get better than this.



My two best pals at church, Kitty and Diana, and myself, after lunch in the dining hall. We're all laughing at Kitty's joke about trying to stick our small chests out for the photo.... :)

Retreat: Friday

This weekend was my 14th retreat with the women of Lake Murray, a time I look forward to each year with much anticipation. This year was another wonderful time with some great memories:



In our dorm, I left Diana a path to the bathroom so she can locate it easily in the night; each heart is a handwritten note of encouragement that she'll get to the toilet without, um, incident.



The camp is gorgeous in the late afternoon sunlight.



My two friends from here in town, Teri and Sheri, enjoy our retreat as well -- Teri's first year with us, and Sheri's third year. They were part of our group this weekend, and I really enjoyed having them here.

It's such a great weekend ... the only downside is that time passes so quickly when we're all together at camp.

Flowers after the Rain

We received a light rain overnight, and my flowers, including my purple irises and miniature white daffodils.

Stained Glass Progress

This is where Keith is in the window, six weeks into the actual glasswork part. He's hoping to finish it by the end of June, and he's just about on schedule. The sunset sky will be layered behind this yellow with oranges, reds, and even blue near the top. He also used the double-layer technique with the hummingbird.

It's the complex areas, like the hollyhocks at the right, that take so doggone much time. His patience amazes me, as does his sense of detail. Newer tools that weren't available seventeen years ago when he was last productive allows for much tighter cutting of the glass and much less grinding. But then it's not easy to place the copper foil on such tight curves, but it does come out lovely.

Lots of work done, and lots more to do.

Nothin' Like Pansies...

... to cheer me up when life is just a little more challenging than usual.