Lessons in What Not to Do: Bippity-Bubbly-Goo

 

 

 

So I had the opportunity to click away last week and my more-than-willing victims belonged to the P family.  I tried thinking of something fun because heaven knows that even the most well-mannered kids can only say “cheese” and hold a pose so much.  Besides, I personally like capturing them as they are and not so much as I want them to be. 

 

I brought a few bottles of bubbles that I didn’t hide as well as I should have and before I got my index finger warmed up, the sticky suds were spilled down khaki pants, dress shirts and lovely ties.  Lesson learned, bubbles are better in the bottle until the very, very end.  All’s well that ends well, right? It was a lot of fun and I think there was some success.  Thanks P’s!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wilson Ponds

 

 

 

Sunday we took a mini-adventure to Wilson Ponds.  There are four ponds and a creek running through the middle. 

Wetlands for foul and big fish.  Above is Trophy pond, a strictly catch and release pond.

 

The Water was really murky in due to all the scum.  It wasn’t very pleasant to watch it bubble up off the floor.

 

 

A foot trail through the grass, splitting the marsh area on the left and Trophy pond on the right.

It felt a bit like going on a safari, that is as close to going on safari as I ever want to be.

 

 

These red-winged blackbirds were everywhere, diving and scuffling with each other among the cattails. 

There were geese, several varieties of ducks and other songbirds too shy to reveal themselves.

 

 

 

Three of us brought cameras.  D.J. the budding photog, Dad and his Fugifilm and me toting my Nikon. 

The first two ended up with dead batteries halfway through the trip.

 

Towards the end of our loop there was a bridge to cross the creek. 

Below were these bright green water plants that I thought looked pretty neat, especially from underneath the water. 

We saw a handful of fish, but none of the pictures really turned out that well.

 

It was a fun trip, next time we’ll toss in our lines and hope for the best.

Spring-Sprung

 

A quick trip around the Chaos yard and garden.

 

 

Last years Cilantro made it through the winter and is thriving! 

 

 

We found a sweet deal on strawberry starts from my boyfriend, Craig.  $3.00 a dozen – we bought three.

 

 

Another deal.  Raspberries!  Two rows fifteen-ish feet long.  One red razz’s and the other golden.

 

 

Know what these are?  All those buds…

 

 

Blueberries!  We found these beauties at our local Home Depot for a whopping $28.98 a piece. 

I started salivating as the memories of picking, cleaning and devouring those little round bits of heaven

as a young farmer so I wasn’t going to pass them up.  I think they might have come from a nursery/grower that went under. 

Either way, F.H.E. consisted of carefully digging out two burning bushes and relocating them, ripping out a slow maple,

four out-of-control junipers and two dead barberry bushes.  Just F.Y.I. those aren’t weeds covering the ground…

okay, maybe I have a few weeds, but it’s mostly Evening Primrose gone amok. 

 

 

Cheap labor.  Notice two more blueberry bushes on either side.  I can see my purple stained fingers already! 

 

 

 

A blurry picture of my Lobelia; this was the first dash of color.

 

 

Our thrice revised water feature.  I think we got a keeper this time out.  Sweet Marjorie, Vinca and Irish Moss is doing very well.

The bird feeders the Farmers made will be set to the left and I already have the red and white clematis to climb the pole.

 

 

When Costco had their fruit trees in stock, we picked up a four-variety apple

(Fuji, Honey Crisp, Honey something else I can’t remember and Golden - can’t remember that either.)  and a cherry tree.

These are the apple buds ready to burst. 

 

 

Spike likes to loaf about when were outside; always near by, flicking his tail as he’s laying on the cool concrete of the back porch.

Spike is as canine as a feline can be.

 

 

 

Our hedge blooms.

 

 

Lots of blossoms.

 

 

In delicate whites and pinks.

 

 

My yellow tulips.

 

 

“Green” tulips that look more yellow than green.

 

 

Left is straight out of the camera - naked, untouched and rather boring.  Right is glorified black and white.

 

 

I think this is my favorite shot.  Same as above, just cropped.  I like how the black and white bring out the ridgelines/veining of the pedals.

 

Sprung-Spring!  How’s it going in your neck of the woods?

Birthday Pictures

 

 

 

 

I was able to catch Miss Is and D.J. for some quick pictures.  There was a break in the rain, so I took advantage of what blue there was as fast a possible.

 

My D.J. all business; serious to the core when it comes to taking pictures. 

 

 

Okay, so he isn’t serious all the time!

 

Miss Is was more than willing to be in front of the camera, she even does her own poses.  Maybe I should be worried about that.

 

All the shots I took in the wheat field were under exposed - darn it, so I have to retake them.  I’ve been making these foofy skirts for the past several weeks when I get a chance to sew to use a props in photography.  They’re fairly simple to make, you just need a lot of tulle and slightly more patience.  More on the skirts in a later post.  I love the pop of red, the fresh green of spring wheat and puffy, moisture laden skies.  It really was just a break in the weather.  Try, try, try some more again.

 

 

Miss Is afraid that the bees in the trees will sting her.  It took a whole lot of bribery to convince her otherwise.

 

 

This picture would have been a lot better had I not cut off her legs.  If you can’t tell, she’s worried about falling off the fence. 

Just like her mother, she worries too much!

 

 

 

Now all I need to do is get Devin to cleaned up and in the mood to have his picture taken.  Teenagers – the saga begins.

Tennis Year Two

 

 

Devin is playing tennis again this year for his middle school.  Here he is in action, serving up some tasty defeat for the opposing team.

 

 

 

 

 

“Yes!”

Alien Blood in the Bathroom and the Agony of Defeet

 

 

Out damn’d spot, out I say. 

 

Last night, around two-thirtyish I heard the shuffled footsteps of one of the kids.  Too comfy to sit up, I took an auditory guess based off of our cheap poly-nylon carpet. “What’s wrong, D.J.?”

 

“I feel sick. I think I’m going to throw up.”  The statement every mother loves to hear.

 

Why is it that they come to you first and not the bathroom?  I flew out of bed and practically carried him by the shoulders to the potty under the stairs, hoping that he would at least hold it in until we hit the hardwood.  We made it.

 

D.J. did his business while I fetched the dreaded barf bowl. “Go lay down on the couch.”  The last thing I want to do is clean up goo hurled off the top of his bunk.

 

So he’s shuffling his way in the dark, forgetting as always to turn the light off so I did it for him.  That’s when I saw it.  Glowing green alien blood on the floor.  It would not come up however hard I scrubbed with a crumpled wad of t.p.  Water just turned the stuff to mush of course and yet it the drops gleamed a little brighter.  Oh well.  I give up.  It’s 2:43 and the lingering stench won’t help me drift back out to placid dreams.  I’ll try to think of it as a runway to the commode; heaven knows anything to help the boys land on target can’t be all that bad, out of this world of not.

 

So I’m in my P.J.’s, on the floor of the bathroom playing Lady McBeth in the dark and I hear D.J. coil back in pain, his silhouette looks remarkably like one of those giant pretzels you see at the mall.  “What happened?”

 

“I stepped on the ship.”  It was a tad whiny, but given the recent spiffing and the earlier hour, I’ll let it pass without parental lecture #25,351 about putting your toys away.  Oddly enough, Miss Is suffered a similar fate earlier that night when an army of Legos, highly trained in guerilla warfare, ambushed her in the great room.  “I’m your mother, not your maid.  I’m your mother, not your maid.  I’m your mother….”  I know the only one I’m brainwashing here is myself, but at this point I really don’t care.

 

Yes, I’ve been away.  No green-bleeding alien abductions to planet Zortog nor great and heroic battles fought and lost in the name of all that is good and right in the world.  Just life.   Just busy.  Just making more excuses.  Maybe I’ll get my act together, then again maybe I won’t.  lol