The Whole Family is Getting in on this Guest Blog Thing
The number of Jelly Beans in the Jar is 528 so Gloria came in as the winner tonight as she guessed 500 and didn’t go over the total amount.
Thanks everyone for looking and guessing.
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This is a team effort. Blogging through a four year olds eyes. Could that be a stylus at the foot of the mat on the left?
I’m on the left and Maura asleep on my iPad on the right. You can see the computer hinged lid. Maybe an iPad, too.
(corrected by Maura, what is really happening in the picture she drew)
Here’s a photo I received from my DIL on Thursday. My youngest granddaughter Maura (4) drew a picture. There is another version where we have ears, and I mean EARS!!! Maybe I’l lost that one, too.
When I visit in Ohio, I sleep on a mat in Maura’s room. She gets her Hello Kitty Sleeping bag and camps out, too.
So she drew herself sleeping on the right, while old Grandma(me) is next to her on the left, BLOGGING on the computer! She always says, “you can do the blog in my room.”
It is cool that everyone wants to contribute to the effort. Thanks supportive Family!!
love,
Ma/Grandma Ruthie
Mini-Celebration in the Midst of Sadness
When we gathered in to Aunt Linda’s and Uncle Frank’s to mourn the passing of Aunt Theresa, there was lots of food to share and it kept pouring in from generous neighbors and friends and relatives.
Anna’s other Grandma, Marlene, sister of Aunt Theresa, Aunt Linda and Aunt Georgeann wanted to acknowledge the excitement and accomplishment of Anna(9) qualifying to swim Freestyle and Breaststroke in the Junior Olympics in Ohio next weekend. Marlene bought a cake- a 3 pound 12 ounce cake! (We read the label, didn’t we Aunt Linda?)
Because the occasion was the gathering in and remembering Theresa who had passed, I never took my camera out of the car.
It didn’t seem like a time to take photos. But of course when the cake came out and Marlene was videoing our singing Happy Junior Olympics to you, I felt compelled to take a photo and slipped out the trusty old iPhone and took one shot. This is it. Of course we are so proud of Anna. On the left standing up and smiling is her Mom, Erika. And cousin Shannon, in the red on the right was very gracious. Lots of love and affection over this past week.
Anna’s Self Portrait at the Swim Meet
You know how Anna (9) likes to borrow her mom’s iPhone and take photos?
She was the photographer of the pick up truck full of legs post in case you missed it.
So I said I would put her photo on the blog but I needed her to explain how she took the photo and I would add that information on the post.
See the second photo. She drew the little symbol- to turn the camera so it faces inward? I photographed her iPhone sketch.
That was how she explained it. Oh yes, she said told me she had mirror goggles. I like how she thinks about composing a photograph.
She enjoyed being guest blogger so much. I think we need to get her a camera!
Camera Flash Must Have Awakened This Doll
Last week when I was in Columbus visiting the family, I noticed my youngest granddaughter Maura’s baby dolls all lined up on the ottoman in the family room.
There wasn’t much available light and the auto flash went off on the iPhone as I shot the picture.
It wasn’t until I looked on the screen, that I noticed the middle doll’s expression on her face! I ‘d just been trying to capture the tidy line-up of little doll bodies. 
Weekly Photo Challenge: Growth
We were in Kiddie Land at Kennywood Amusement Park in West Mifflin, PA. There were several rides my granddaughter Anna couldn’t ride with her brothers and sisters because she’s grown too tall.
She squeaked by into this one.
Here are fellow bloggers posts for the Weekly Photo Challenge: Growth.
Overbought on the Floral Tape- DIY Flower Pens
One roll would suffice. It was on the list of supplies for this crafty kitsch!
Last week in Pittsburgh, granddaughter Anna saw a pot of flower pens that Aunt Lala made years ago. They are corny but cute and definitely appealed to an 8+ year old.
The old pens still wrote after all those years!!
Anna was fascinated with the pens in the pot and asked if we could make them when I came to Ohio. After a fun trip to the Crafts store for the supplies and brief instructions from Laura, we set up shop. Didn’t even use a full roll of floral tape.
There are rolls and rolls left. We made a pot for her mom, her other grandma, for Aunt Lala, for Anna’s desk and a new one for me which I might take to school again for our sign-in counter. Laura made some for me to take to school years ago, too.
If you seriously want to make them for any reason I found instructions just now online here at show
After making them with Anna and looking up instructions, I see people create them as favors and as pens for wedding guest books and such.
You can see her peeking through the finished pots of pens.
So do we buy more fake posies, pens and pots and glass pebbles and make more flower pens? I’ve a ton of floral tape!
That’s What I’m Honking About
This is the second image shown first. Shot from the balcony at the Convention Center (where the garbage was for THROUGH)
And just moments earlier, this was the peaceful scene. Not sure why all the honking and general nastiness from the Canada Goose in the above image..
A grandmother and her granddaughter by the Allegheny River. (Unidentified subjects)
Weekly Photo Challenge: Down
What does down mean to me? It’s something I prefer not to be.
I’m Down by the Beatles is a favorite
Down on the Corner by Creedence Clearwater Revival.
The Stars Look Down by Rush
Lots of songs with direction.
We all know plenty of people who try bring us down. One thing I know- I used to shoot a lot of single gloves and mittens on pavement, a baby shoe in the gutter, scratch-off lottery ticket, manhole covers, sidewalks that are stairs. Brides pushing the down elevator button to the lobby.
I used to hear,” I’m down with that.”
Here’s my response to the weekly photo challenge: down. Looking down at my granddaughter Anna as she’s playing in the grass at Aunt Linda and Uncle Frank’s house. I have her in focus in another image with the feet blurred but I selected this single shot for down. Original file not available so it’s a cropped screen shot from an online photo gallery I don’t use much anymore.
Here are the responses of fellow bloggers for this week’s challenge: down.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Between
Youngest granddaughter Maura Clare dancing between Erika and Mark at cousin Jaclyn's wedding
To see fellow bloggers responses to the challenge click here
* and my photo classmate and new blogger Francine in Retirement posted a classic Pittsburgh image in response to the weekly challenge here
If You Ask Her How Old She’ll Be on her Birthday, She’ll Say “A Hundred!”
The correct answer is THREE! Happy Birthday Maura Clare. 
Flower girls photographed by their Pap- Donald Payer. Maura Clare and her big sister Anna.
Anna and Her Best Friend
Anna is eight years old today. I remember going to the hospital in the dark, and then watching the sunrise over the Monongahela River from the window. Then I went to school after she as born and everyone was so happy for our family. It was a happy day. Here is a portrait of her with Murphy the Airedale when she was one. It hangs in her bedroom.
And a recent photograph of Anna and Murphy….
The artist of the painting , Alison Zapata, is a new mother herself and paints wonderful pet portraits. Her website is here
Maura Plays by Uncle Frank’s Garage-Line Study
From last weekend’s visit to Pittsburgh.
Sharpen Every Pencil in the House for the New Year 1-1-11
A new manual pencil sharpener and left-handed Anna hard at work sharpening every pencil she could find. I thought of the pencils at home that need some new points to write lists, notes and phone numbers. She needed a sharp pencil to complete her homework. Mary suggested the manual as the electric ones break easily or host a crayon. Nothing like a new can of sharpened pencils to represent possibility.
Maura and the Glass Cabinet of Dolls
Putting her fingerprints all over Aunt Linda’s curio cabinet, Maura was so excited. This is from the archives(March) a follow-on to the doll theme from Saturday. I found this series. None a perfect shot but putting them together you can feel her delight.
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