Unwelcome shopping spree

These two boys with Clark are his cousins on Bill's side. Their father died Sunday and we took them shopping for coats, shirts, pants, and shoes appropriate for kids to wear to a funeral. I haven't posted in awhile because we've been hosting relatives and trying to be there for Bill's sister. Clark is great with younger kids....he fills the shoes of "big brother" well, and with his help we successfully navigated the shopping trip.

Common view

Though this was taken at the beach in October, I figure it's an accurate enough, and a common view of me...just replace the background with this, and you'll have me in the dining room:

Stay away

Yellow Adirondacks

Fanciful light fixture

Kingfishers

I'm pulling some photos out of cold storage (well, from a month ago) because photo ops have been a bit lean lately!

Road trip

Tia is on a road trip and stopped with her kiddos chez moi. We took one 'normal' and one 'silly', so of course you know which one is more interesting!

Christmas doorway

Not exactly your typical wreath, but I liked my thanksgiving wreath so much I decided to make it work for Christmas too!


Close-up:

Today's task

Planting pansies. I'm very late getting around to this, thanks to school, but I have a beautiful day for planting.

Natural and artificial

What's wrong with this picture?

It's 80 degrees out and nary a snowman in sight....except for these under my bare feet.

Lonely job

77 degrees

Everyone's trying to stay cool, peeling off clothes, opening the windows, going barefoot, or In the case of these cows, even going for a swim!

Kissin' cousins?

Yesterday we spent part of the afternoon at the hospital, visiting Uncle John (http://beth365.blogspot.com/2007/06/brother-john.html). He has a son, Johnny, who was trying to crack Bill's back for him, so although this LOOKS like it could be a little sketchy, it's all on the up and up! :-)



This is John's grandson (Gail's son...remember Gail? http://beth365.blogspot.com/2007/06/cobb-reunion.html), who doesn't at all look like he could be exactly twice the age of Mackenzie, sitting next to him! I think they share some family resemblance....if nothing else they're both tall. Mackenzie is 6'4" (at age 16) and Chuck is 6'7".


John's kids (and grandkids) have a special place in my heart. They're a close-knit family of really fun people.

PS Sorry, I still haven't been able to grasp how to embed a URL in the text!

At the gala

It's not the greatest picture of me (I'm beginning to wonder if there ever IS a great picture of myself!) but I'm posting it anyway. I didn't take it, but just for the sake of remembering the evening (and since I've been negligent at taking shots lately) I'm posting it. We went to the annual gala at the kids' school. This is where two years ago we bid on and ended up buying a week in St. Petersburg, Russia. This year, however, there weren't any prizes at the auction that we wanted bad enough to bid on so we came home emptyhanded.

Oh, and now that I think about it, I remember back in 1997 having a picture taken I really liked of myself!

Master Scholar

Yesterday we went to Columbia for Clark's graduation from the Master Scholar's Program. We were amazed to learn that of those who are recognized as Master Scholars (by USC) and end up going there to college, all of them have been accepted into the Honors College. He's talking about going to the Naval Academy though, but it can't hurt his chances of getting in there either! And of course, it's a long time before he commits to college; he's only in 9th grade. Plans can change weekly at this point. But I'm really proud of him for being a curous thinker, a good student, and an all-around great kid.

HELLO, I'm Cocky!

Slow decorating

This year I've been slower than usual getting around to Christmas decorating. Hopefully this will be the weekend for that. Part of it, I think, is that I'm tired and busy, and the last thing I want is to take on another project right now! Part of it, too, is that I am weary of being the one this job falls to: everyone enjoys having a decorated house, but I'm the one driving the train of getting the tree, I'm the only one who shows any interest in decorating it, I'm the one who does shopping and wrapping and baking, etc. So I've gotten to a point where it wouldn't kill me if we didn't have all the trappings; that's not what Christmas is about anyway. I guess I wish the kids and Bill would have a little more Christmas spirit so I wouldn't feel the responsibility for generating it. The last reason I'm talking myself out of decorating is that we leave for the beach on Christmas afternoon and stay there till after the New Year, so we don't really get a lot of enjoyment of the ambiance anyway, unless we get it up right after Thanksgiving.

But....I do have my fireplaces dressed up.

Tis the season to be ... garish

Me 'n Posh Spice

I got a new haircut (and a bit more blonde) today, and someone later pointed out to me that it's a similar cut to Posh Spice, of Spice Girls' fame. I was happy with this shot because often my halo doesn't come through in photos. As with most of my self-portraits, this was taken while driving, and drinking coffee, which explains the odd angle.