Day 31: Work-related

My youngest, Rio, on the ladder dictating. No one works harder to keep the bigger kids in line. The funniest part is that they all do what she says. The curly girly, the middle on the left, is also mine. Yes, she also marches to her youngest sibling's demands (sometimes... Ok, very often). The other two girls belong to the neighbor.

Day 30: Strong

Two of my bambinis showing off their acrobatic rope swing skill.

Day 29: home

I couldn't pick just one home. In my mind I have three homes in varying stages of my life. Each one claims a piece of my heart forever.

This is where I grew up. At the time this arial postcard was painted it was called Faraway Farms and was owned by the heir to the Maxwell House empire. Look it up - its interesting!  When I grew up there it was, and still is, King's Estate. This is where my grandparents lived with bears, mountain lions, snakes, deer, horses and tons of other wildlife. And I was there all the time absorbing it all. They lived there until I was sixteen, and it was traumatic for me when they left it behind. I know every inch of those mountains - blindfolded and backward. Oh the stories I could tell!

This is where I lived through out my teenage existence into early adulthood. My mother still owns this little house and we love it. It has changed a lot through the years. Now my own 3 children are busy forming their own memories and misadventures here as I did with my grandparents - they never want to come home!

Third, this is our first family house. It is already full of loads of memories with so many more to come! All I really want now is more trees!

Last, this is the little house I found under a small tree in our front yard.  I had to put it back. It was begging to be added here!

Day 28: Pattern

Priceless...

I wasn't going to post any of these here, because I thought you would all think I was nuts. (But, then again, what girl doesn't like to wear wedding gowns around the house while children climb on it.) However, I have obviously changed my mind. Mostly because my kids are so damn cute. But, also because my husband stole one and put up on Facebook with this message:


One marriage - $500.00
Three kids - Thousands and thousands of dollars
Still fitting into your wedding dress ten years and three kids later - Priceless ….

A Spot of Orange Amidst the Green

August Photo Challenge List

Come join our group The Bokeh Life on Facebook! It's fun, rewarding and is full of great and interesting people.  It is a daily challenge, but you aren't required to post daily - it's just more fun when you do! We are a relaxed little group with no pressure where we are all learning and evolving.

Day 27: Signage

I'm posting mine super early because A) I got a good one on our way into Charlotte today and B) I am not sure if I'll get much time. This was taken at a stop light as we were turning onto Monroe Rd. It was rather funny; I still wouldn't live here even if their rent is free!

Day 26: Fashion

My daughter, Rio, when she was around 1 year-old, wearing a dress I had made for her. She's 4 now and this really does seem like yesterday.  I just remembered I had made a sky blue one for her big sister, too. I had drawn big sunflowers along the bottom. My girls loved them and wore them proudly. If I can find the blue one I'll post it, too.

Pale Blues

Hummingbird Moth

I have loved watching these guys since I was a little girl running through the dense forests at my grandparents.  I had not seen any in years; then today this guy came whizzing by me as I was leaving my mom's house. I snapped these off as quickly as I could (because I ALWAYS, have my camera and it drives my family nuts.  But, they have quirks to so I think I'm allowed.) Anyway, here he is.  Cute, eh?

Day 25: Warning!

This is a Velvet Ant we found at a friends house yesterday. Nothing screams warning like a flaming red insect. She was huge and despite her name, she is a wingless wasp. We didn't know anything about this bug - none of us ha ever seen one. So off we went to our favorite entomology site What's that bug? and were not very surprised to see she is very dangerous, but pretty. Here she is in all her warning glory. And go check out the What's that but site!

Cherry Bomb

Throb

Day 24: Water

Cascading water

Day 23: Sport

I love the look on this young pitchers face. Very intense. It makes me think of a female warrior going into battle. And I guess in a way she is.

Day 22: Culture

My beautiful and talented Italian mommy-in-law's most famous Eggplant Parmesan. I didn't even like eggplant till she made it for me the first time. I was being a gabbadost and looked at it very fearfully... then took that first bite. The rest is history.

Day 21: Movement

Sylvester & Tweety

This crazy mocking bird has decided to torture our oldest cat, Oscar. He's lucky that Oscar doesn't feel like going for him… he's snacked on more birds than any cat I have ever seen. However, Oscar also happens to be the most patient cat I have ever seen, and this bird dive-bombs Oscar daily. I hope he doesn't get too close...

Backyard light

Day 20: Door

A flower door that leads to nectar for a bumble bee. Bumble bees are a favorite insect for me.  These guys were really fun and hard to catch as they quickly shot from flower  to flower.

Day 19: Animal

The Rhinoceros Beatle my son and daughter found. He's pretty cool.

Day 18: Asymmetrical

My love and I… we never get pictures together and I happen to love this one (even if I am in it), especially with the backdrop.  The color changes this sunset went through were simply gorgeous. So, that being said, check this out…

Day 17: Symmetric

The mirror and sconces in our living room.

Day 16: Orange

This is the orange bucket that helped my youngest daughter and I to build this sand sea turtle. It also held the shells she gathered to decorate his back. I think he is a very handsome turtle indeed. His name is Franklin.

Day 15: Gear

My stepfather passed away this past December. One of his favorite hobbies was working on cars. Though for me, it always seemed out of place for someone so deeply philosophical. Somehow, since he died, it doesn't seem so very strange. All those hours out there alone gave him time to think, or maybe even not think. To turn it off and think only of the task at hand. I can't look at the garage at my mother's and not think of him and how excited he would get at the thought of changing the brake pads on our family van. Or for that matter, rewiring our house for wi-fi. The simplest things now remind me of Richard, or Poppy, as the kids and I called him. So, this is simply a gear that he loved because it belonged to his hydraulic lift.

Day 12: Portrait

Day 11: Landscape

Day 9: Pop-culture

Jump rope

Day 8: Filthy

My mother will kill me for this picture. She is remodeling her house, this is the product of it. Love you, Mommy :)

Day 7: Clean

I try!

I'll eventually get that lightening shot. Tonight we had a big storm with tons of lightening! Most of the shots I was able to get came from inside our house through an open window due to the fact there was a monsoon out there, and the lightening was INTENSE. The lightening was flashing almost directly overhead so it was nearly impossible to get anything. However, I was able to capture several indirect flashes which is better than I was able to get before - my camera settings are getting better.

Okay, babbling aside, here's what I captured:

Day 6: texture

The other two...

You met Oscar in the last post.  Now meet the 1 year-old brothers, Sam and Mako. The only real way you can tell they are brothers is by looking at their eyes. Sam is the big white fluffy one; Mako is grey, white and brown. Though you don't see Mako's eyes here, they look exactly like Sam's. Sam's picture is hard to get because he's always moving. And when he sees me, he is attached to my feet... so I count myself lucky that I got this picture of him!

Photo Challenge - day 5: dark

One of our cats, Oscar. He's the old man of three male cats at 17 years and the sweetest animal I've ever known.

Brilliant

Sometimes

Sometimes he's not quite so big. Sometimes he's not loud and energetic. Sometimes he still snuggles with his mommy...