Category: art

A Perfect Weekend

Posted in art, Family, Friends, Parenting, TeensTagged , , , , , 3 Comments

This past weekend was a prime example of how wondrous home life is. It was filled with laughter, love, creativity and fun work. Often it’s the simple things that tip the scale to completely marvelous.

It all began Friday morning when I joined one of my best friends in attending the middle school play. Her daughter rocked the donkey role in Shrek while the son of another close friend nailed the title role.

The vibe in the auditorium was so fun, and I was sad when the play ended. The kids did a really great job. Here’s a short video of the fun we had:

That evening Chris and I were hiking our dog with other close friends, and they reminded us of a fish fry fundraiser at a local fire department. I love these events because you are assigned seats at long tables based on availability. This means I get seated with people I have never met before, and I get to know more people in my area. This time we sat with some farmers who had interesting thoughts on haylage, silage and the best places to fish for Halibut. We also learned a bit about the impact of the Great Depression on local farmers.

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While I worked on Saturday I got to hear the laughter and conversations of the teens and their friends as they played games and discussed future plans for life. What a great bunch of kids young adults!

Zeb came home for the weekend, and we celebrated his birthday (a few days early) with the Indian Chicken dinner he requested. And I showed the kids how my phone made a gif 🙂

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We topped the night off by watching Inside Out. It was a good way to end the day.

Sunday morning was a treat. Since I’ve been traveling a bunch, I haven’t been to my home church in a while so it was a delight to get to go to church AND Sunday School. I missed my friends there so it was great to catch up and learn some new things. I love how church inspires me to think, challenge my own beliefs and study more.

After that, I went home and listened to another church service online, along with some co-workers. Very cool.

Work Sunday was similar to Saturday. My background music was the sound of happy teens and twenty-somethings hanging out together. We had a brief photo session for the Christmas letter before Zeb left for school, and we wrapped up the day with Dr. Who episodes.

Simple? Yes

Perfect? Totally

#stillfeelingblessed

Catching up to Me – and our Trip to DC (and Surrounding Areas)

Posted in art, Family, Friends, SummerTagged , , , , , , 2 Comments

IMG_20150614_122615884I somehow missed June, and I blame it on my kids. Hudi pretty much finished his school year months ago (he homeschools through a virtual high school), CJ is out of college, and Zeb is in college. No school days were pushing (punishing?) us through the long days of June so we forgot to stress and just enjoyed.

No graduations in our immediate family this year, no exams. We began celebrating summer in May, and I missed June. Work hard, play hard. Life sure is fun.

So here is my attempt at a catch-up. The next few posts will highlight some of our warm-season adventures.

As a summer kick-off (a month or so ago) we traipsed down to West Virginia to drop Zeb off at Camp Sandy Cove, where he is a counselor this summer. On the way, we stopped to visit with Zeb’s godparents and other family members. Such fun!!!! We also spent a day touring in Washington, DC.      (CLICK ANY PIC TO SEE IT BIGGER)

This is all made out of beads. Impressive! Native American Tribe names are on the white lines.
Chris got to check out some Calder sculpture he hadn’t seen before.
Amazing pancakes
This museum blew our minds
Godfather and godson
In which I learn how to open a crab. Yum!

Zeb was a total favorite with this awesome little dude who wanted to be wherever Zeb was.

Even trying to dance like him.

On our way out of the Maryland/DC/Virginia area, we stopped to get Zeb’s girlfriend from the airport (she’s also working at Camp Sandy Cove this summer). We dropped them off at camp with yet another friend (the one who told them about this awesome job) and headed back home.

A whirlwind tour, but lots of fun. And a really cool part was that I used my mi-fi to work while on the road so I only missed one work day, and my awesome co-workers cheerfully covered for me on that day 🙂 Lots of fun and no guilt.

Kinetic Art in Watertown, NY

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The Salmon Run mall in Watertown, NY is deceptive. It looks like an average mall, but inside it holds one of the coolest pieces of artwork I have ever seen. It rings, clacks, taps and makes other wonderful whimsical sounds. I finally recorded it (and in the video below you can see info on the artist). Continue reading “Kinetic Art in Watertown, NY” →

Spring

Posted in art, flowers, Nature, springTagged , , , , 2 Comments

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This Mommy-pot vase was made by the children of one of my dearest friends. And she made the basket behind. God gets the flower credit.

Maybe I’m just getting old, but this winter felt especially brutal temperature-wise here in western New York. I always associate Easter with spring, warmth, flowers, and sunshine. A re-birth that’s refreshing for my soul, my house, my closet, and life in general.

With Easter coming so early, and winter-like temps stretching so late, it felt like the rebirth wouldn’t happen. According to the weather forecasters, it still won’t happen Easter Sunday, but we did get it today.

The holiday, the 65 degree temps, walking my dog with friends (and without a coat) under a blue sky and finding the first flowers of the year for me was such a gift. I’m feeling the love and the hope. May that feeling spread to you all as well.