29, For Real!
Happy Birthday Laura Christine.
On the left, lounging at the beach in Bibione, Italy as a toddler.
Center- A baby blessing/birth stats I cross stitched in 1983. The town is spelled incorrectly- missing the first C- Eschenbach!
Photo on the right and below as a bride are from 6 months after the wedding in Columbus OH with husband James.
Cool Pool and Walk Around the Neighborhood at Sunset
High 80s and no thunderstorms in sight. The pool was practically empty!
We got home for a late supper. Took a walk/ride around the neighborhood. You can see glimpses of the setting sun.
Aunt Linda and Uncle Frank
You remember Uncle Frank and his vintage cars? Aunt Linda and the making of the nut rolls?
Today is Aunt Linda’s birthday and thought I’d surprise her with a birthday greeting on the blog with a photo of the two of them.
I’m still vacationing in Ohio with the family so went into the archives for today’s post.
Born on the Fourth of July, 1952, Brooklyn New York
But I really grew up in New Jersey. New York always sounded better to me and I have held onto that fact all these years. Joisey, the Garden State, just didn’t seem as cool.
Yes, it is my sixtieth birthday today. YIKES! We were supposed to drive to Roanoke VA but power outages from the bad storm last Friday knocked that plan out! You’ve seen a lot of my life these past three years on the blog. The art room adventures, some knitting, my pleasure in the eating and making of food, my family, the city, my travels, and as Arlene says, the ordinary- making it interesting!
I have been talking about turning sixty since I turned fifty-nine last year. Go figure.
My friend Mary Ann told me someone asked her if she was afraid to turn sixty and she told me her response was, “I’m afraid to NOT turn sixty” Many are denied the chance.
If you are born on the Fourth of July you receive a lot of red, white and blue presents. One has to post a little red white and blue on the Fourth of July so here are the two free marzipan macarons you receive when you buy the dozen at Jean-Marc in Millvale*
And here is my mom holding me. My cousin Paul sent me this photo last year at Christmas and it is the only baby photo I really have of myself. Looks like I was bottle fed. How about that wallpaper?
And then there is this prize winner of my wonderful haircut and chubby cheeks, I think I was three, This picture is stuck in one of those “magnetic” photo albums- meaning nasty glue that ruins your photo and you can’t remove it- EVER.
And here is what I looked like last week in the heat at the Pirates Game in Pittsburgh with my three year old granddaughter Maura. A nice woman filling the ketchup dispenser came over and asked it I wanted her to take it of us. She enjoyed seeing Maura enjoy her cone and I had photographed her eating it (of course). I don’t get in many photos which is just as well at this point. But when I think about what makes me happy in my life, my family is at the top of the list. I am fortunate indeed.
Here is a picture a first grader drew of me last year which I photographed on my phone. I am so glad I documented this artwork cause on the rough days and the long days of teaching art in the city, I can read her inscription at the bottom.
Ms. Hendricks is my hero.
It doesn’t get any better than that!
And I found this next photo in New York City when I visited my sister a couple months ago. Once I was visiting a family friend, Naomi, in a home and she said told me how she would think of all she was grateful for in her life and when she focused on a theme of gratitude she just couldn’t feel bad about anything. I remember her words and she died shortly after the visit. It is easy to forget to be grateful. Once I read about thinking three things you are grateful for each day, right before you go to sleep and I try to remember.
I am grateful to my family, friends, fellow bloggers and followers and wonderful commenters who have encouraged me in my photography, blogging and writing.
Today is a very happy birthday! I am surrounded by my family who love me.
Thanks everyone. (And Happy Birthday Suzanne who shares the date!)
*Here is a shot of Millvale,PA taken the day I bought the macarons!
Men at Work on a Water Tower along Orange Road
We were driving back from the store and I was in the third seat of the van with two of the grandchildren.
My DIL said, quick get your camera. There are men painting the water tower. d-e-l-a-w (a- r -e) I think.
Talk about fleeting moment, she was about to fly by and I was stuck in the back of the van.
She said, I’ll slow down ( going about 45mph) Ha. Somehow I shot through the back window’s glass. You can see the reflection of a white fence. I had the 24-70 lens on the camera.
The one we scraped the stickers off the window just recently. Good thing. I can’t imagine working that high off the ground.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Fleeting Moment
Fleeting- lasting for a very short time.
Laura’s 21st birthday.
August 2004.
We stopped in Klavon’s Ice Cream Parlor , originally a Pharmacy in the 1920′s, in the Strip District -Pittsburgh, on Saturday afternoon. (You might remember Laura as a bride last November and then the recent wedding photos 6 months later.)
The proprietor held a candle for her as she blew it out. Aunt Mary looked on. A fleeting moment.
For past challenges I have listed everyone and then some pingbacks were getting sent to their spam.
I will add the ones I have received so far and hopefully none go to their spam.
Fleeting Moments from a few of the fellow bloggers I follow- Weekly Photo Challenge: Fleeting Moment
Daily Post at WordPress to view other interpretations
Jack Runs to First Base AND Guest Blogs
This is Jack. You might remember him as Superman just a few months ago. The red cape is folded up and put away these days. He’s headed for Kindergarten in the fall. How quickly they grow up.
Photo one is Wednesday night T-Ball game between the Mets and the Yankees. Shooting into the sun.
And for the guest blog portion of today’s post………
Photo two- Jack set up the sock monkeys for a photo in his dad’s chair.
He took it with the iPhone with no help from me. He told me “they smiled real good”. The kids see me photographing and it is something they want to do. He took three shots.
What Mark Did With My Camera When I Went to the Concession Stand
Mark, will you hold my camera while I take Maura to the concession stand?
Scroll down and see the Stop Action Video, These are all stills I put into iMovie to make a stop action clip with all the photos Mark shot while he held my camera.
We were disappointed that Mark’s HS friend and daughter and his parents couldn’t make it. A flight cancellation due to thunderstorms in NYC put the squash on the long awaited weekend plan.
It was a hot afternoon
Mark holding Maura and Anna on the Roberto Clemente Bridge approach. Maura had just been awakened in the car when we arrived at the park. I had fun buying team regalia for the family in the Strip District the day before they came to town.
Mark photographed me with my granddaughters by Willie Stargell statue
Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Detroit Tigers.
Headed for the car in the garage.
Without the 3-D Glasses, the Movie’s Blurry
Girls night at the Dollar Theatre (well more than a dollar but weeknights it is 1.75!) Maura on a booster, Erika, Anna and Laura.
Last day of school, two art rooms cleaned and packed up until mid-August. Time to relax and enjoy.
Today is the 999th post so tomorrow it will be one thousand.
Marking summer with a brighter header of the city, taken June 14th.
How to Keep Four Children Entertained at the Motel
Well, three of them.
You know how I love to capture those candids. When electronic devices are involved they’re in another place and pay no attention to me and my camera. Shot in October 2009 but when I found it today it made me chuckle.
39 Years Ago Today
Happy 39th Anniversary Marlene and Donald! Send me a wedding photo to add to the church shot. My DIL’s parents were married here in Swissvale PA on June 2, 39 years ago today!!
What’s in a Name?
We were at the neighbors’ farm in Hardy, VA this past weekend. They graciously allowed the grandchildren to pet the baby pig and the baby turkeys.
Anna asked what the pig’s name was- ”Doesn’t have one.”
The baby mini-mules and their miniature horses don’t have to worry but then again, they have NAMES!
Bob the Mule. Heart the Horse.
The egg-layers are spared.
Oh yes, they have a couple of ducks. And their names? Christmas and New Years.
The second image? Those are a couple of (seven pounds apiece) pork butts that Pap smoked for the Paleo crowd. The veg branch of the family didn’t come this past weekend. I don’t think the meat had names.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Summer
You’ve seen Ice Cream Trucks. How about an Ice Cream Boat?
Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia. 500 miles of shoreline.
We were 35 miles from Roanoke. Celebrating Mark’s 36th birthday today.
Memorial Day Weekend with the family. Rented a pontoon boat and enjoyed a hot summery day on the lake.
Ice Cream Boat
Happy Birthday Mark
Love you, Ma
They Sat on a Davenport
with antimacassars…….
Marian VanSickle married Roy Joseph Hendricks August 1939 in Durand, Illinois
This is not their wedding photo but they look like newlyweds to me.
Meeting of the Sock Monkey Minds /Solving WordPress Email Deluge!
Four sock monkeys I made, set up, waiting for the kids to come home and find them (from Easter visit to grandchildren)
When I looked at the photo, I thought of meetings, meetings, meetings…….table the motion and I move to adjourn-
Do I hear a second?
second part for my blogging friends who experienced a deluge of email in their box. See Chicago John’s public service announcement
or it could be a WordPress meeting!
Monkey 1″Hey, let’s flood people’s inboxes with a ton of emails, every time they write a comment or reply on a post”
Monkey 2 “Yes, let’s check the box for them without their realizing it so they get emails and more emails and more emails. Imagine if a blogger gets twenty comments. And then a commenter replies, or the blogger replies, too. YIKES
Multiply that cause each commenter will now receive an email. Wow, it is like a math problem. Can even get almost to infinity in an inbox!”
Monkey 3 ”We might get a ton a email ourselves over in support!”
Monkey 4 ” We had better fix this problem at WordPress NOW as our loyal bloggers and their readers are not happy!!” : – (
Anna, Her Best Friend, A Special Day
Just before we left for the church, Anna stood with Murphy.
He was sad he didn’t get to go in the car for a ride.
Friends and family gathered in to celebrate Anna making her First Holy Communion at St. Patrick’s, Columbus OH
I’m a proud grandma.
Just before going into the church to line up. Quiet contemplation
Weekly Photo Challenge: Sun
Sunrise, St. George Island, Florida. My friend and her daughter.
Fellow Bloggers responses to the Weekly Photo Challenge
-
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Sun
- Photo Challenge: Sun is Up! | La mandrola de la Mandraka
- Weekly Photo Challenge: SUN « The Other Courtney
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Sun | Because
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Sun « « The Great Escape » Life from behind a lens
- Joakim Knudsen
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Sun « Pathfinder: MotherWifeStudentWorker
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Sun « Changeversations
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Sun « bukaningrat ™
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Sun (2) « e-Me
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Sun « e-Me
- The Sun « Teepe’s weblog
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Sun – Tanzania « Wanderlustress
- Here Comes The Sun « Spirit Lights The Way
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Sun | Beyond the Brush
- Weekly WordPress Challenge: Sun « A year in the Life
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Sun | lizabethlacey photography
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Sun | { a Memory Bliss }
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Sun – Mostly inspirational chit-chat
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Sun | Wind Against Current
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Sun « Mike Hardisty Photography
- Weekly Photo Challenge – Sun | Just Snaps
- Weekly Photo Challenge – Sun | Chittle Chattle
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Sun | mothergrogan
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Sun « The Urge To Wander
- Weekly photo challenge: Sun « Alice through the Macro Lens
- Weekly Photo Challenge: The Sun | Writing Your Destiny
- Connie’s World
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Sun | colderweather
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Sun « Julie Dawn Fox in Portugal
- Weekly Photo Challenge: SUN « Ink.
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Sun « Cee’s Life Photography Blog
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Sun | A Number of Things
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Sun « a hectic life
- Weekly Photochallenge: Sun | Chronicles of Illusions
- Weekly photo challenge: Sun « IsobelandCat’s Blog
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Sun | Ingset’s Blog
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Sun | Perpetual Learner
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Sun « « Wilderness Escapades Wilderness Escapades
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Sun « My Daily Posts
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Sun « Form Your Troika
- sunny spot « primo piano
- Weekly photo challenge: Sun « The (Urban-Wildlife) Interface
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Sun « 3rdculturechildren
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Sun « 3rdculturechildren
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Sun « YSalma
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Sun | Heart Renovation
- Sun – Weekly Photo Challenge « Crows of Arroyos
- Weekly Photo Challenge – SUN! « mudpieville
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Sun « R Shad
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Sun « the birch grove
Breakfast in Louisville, Guest Blog
It always feels good to receive communication from your grown up children. The little ding on the iPhone and it’s a photo message from my son. It wasn’t quite like having breakfast together but I enjoyed receiving this before the start of the school day Thursday morning.
Mark was on business in Louisville and took this shot his breakfast at the Anchorage Cafe. I read about this Farm to Table place and Mark said it is worthy of endorsement, “Mom, they make all of their own stuff from local sources.” When I asked him if I could blog his breakfast shot, he heartily agreed. “The Rwandan medium roast coffee was French pressed to perfection.” he told me. “And the chef makes the scrambled eggs sprinkled with fresh ground pepper, topped with two strips of Benton’s Smoked Bacon. The BEST bacon in the universe.” I asked for more info on the bacon.
He said,” it tastes like smoky smoked smoke”. Hmmmm. Hickory. I liked how he sent me the details on the food items. And how he appreciated the chef’s efforts.
Hearing from him makes for a happy day.
Easter Weekend
You want to shoot a photograph with some life in it!
I learned in a workshop, photography can be exasperating. And one thing I know-
Sometimes you are an observer and sometimes you are a participant.
You can’t capture the sound of bells ringing in the sanctuary and bell tower simultaneously, a Gregorian chant, the trumpet, everyone holding a candle in the darkness and as the lights are turned up in the dark city church, late Saturday night, you long to capture the spirit, the glow .
You can’t whip out a camera and show the three out of four grandchildren racked out in the pew, or the smell of candle wax or incense or the feel of freshly blessed sprinklings. A good place to think. Mechanical limitations. The intrusion of the moment.
You are’t on assignment from a newspaper, illustrating the occasion. The grandparents have to head back home for work early Monday so we drove downtown for the Easter Vigil. It’s an early dinner at noon. Then we’ll load the cars and drive back east and south.
The thoughts of Easters growing up, the new suits, shoes and hats. Remembering those you love and who loved you the best and have gone on before. i said to my friend, “vacation flies by’ and she said
“just like life.”
I think of unconditional love. Thanks Matthew. Missed you.
Breakfast, Snack, Dinner in NYC
Forgot to photograph lunch- apple slices, Irish cheddar, tomato soup, matzoh and LiLac dark chocolate egg
This starts with dessert and goes in reverse order, Still learning how to blog from the phone.
Five- A Great Age To Be- Sir John Patrick “Jack”!
Love to you on your birthday Jack. You make a great knight!
A mom made these knight tunics, helmets and lance and shields for her son's birthday party guests. WOW.
Where’s Noah in the Plateful of Paleo Supper?
The phone rang after six. My eldest son was on business and saw a sign that said Pittsburgh 35 miles, so he cancelled his hotel reservation and drove to the city. (So that is why his wife called earlier to see what I was doing)YIKES! I was boiling a pot of water for some Spinach Ravioli but Mark is on the Paleolithic diet these days. No grain! The tiredness I felt from a school day dissipated as I got in the car and drove the two miles to the Whole Foods Market where I bought some Grass Fed Beef, Organic Garnet Yams, (I had two zucchini at home and a jar of coconut oil which I hadn’t even tried yet) and got back home to fire up the broiler, pronto! Got out the cast iron skillet for the zucchini slices, chopped up some romaine I had already washed and drained. Pulled it together in no time at all. As I set the dining room table he said he would rather eat in the kitchen so we did.And there we were eating in the kitchen and the house came alive again. We used his iPad and Face Time to talk with the kids before they went to bed and we had a happy time together.
VOILA- a quick Paleo approved meal- this is the son who baked the Carrot Cake, Paleo Style.
For dessert we had coconut milk frozen Mint Chip with No Sugar Added.
From the Paleo Food website gluten-free, grain-free, bean-free, potato-free, dairy-free, and sugar-free. (they are eating some dairy still)
Ingredients used: meat, fish, shellfish, eggs, tree nuts, vegetables, roots, fruit, berries, mushrooms, herbs and spice seeds. Oh yes,after dinner he showed me the you tube of Derek Redmond and his father from the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. Tears rolling down my cheeks. Mark said he wants to be that kind of father. And he also played me a couple of Seekers songs as he remembers my cassette tape of them singing Someday, One Day, Right now he is sleeping in the room across the hall, to get up at 5 AM to get to somewhere in Ohio, early. I feel fortunate.
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