And June Is Over!

Here is what my June looked like in a picture a day...

June is a few hours from being over.  We are now halfway through 2017.  And we are also closer to Christmas 2017 than Christmas 2016.  You have 177 shopping days.

The word that comes to mind when I look back at my daily photos from the month and I think about all the experiences that June brought with it is growth.  

The biggest event during this month is that Weber celebrated his 60th birthday.  There was no fanfare or big shindig, just barbecue and friends at our house.  It was a fun evening and a perfect opportunity to give thanks for the many, many blessing that we have been given.

One of the most obvious images of growth at our house was our Tower Garden.  It was filled with lettuce, celery, zucchini, peppers, cucumbers, and tomatoes.  We have enjoyed everything but the tomatoes.  When we started to see the first fruits of the vine reach a good size, we checked them every day, watching for them to start turning from green to red.  The first one grew and grew and then disappeared.  As did the second one and the third one and... After finding what we are fairly sure were green tomato remnants, we assumed that some kind of wildlife, maybe squirrels?, were stealing the almost ripe tomatoes, so we covered the plants with a wide mesh net.  Along came more tomatoes.  They lasted longer making us think that we had solved our problem.  Nope.  The next batch of nearly ripe tomatoes are now gone too.  Our only option now is to get a finer mesh net.  We don't want to spray anything on the tomatoes because I'm not a fan of chemicals and our dogs are in the yard where the tomatoes are.  So, we'll see.  Maybe July will bring with it some tomatoes that we are able to protect from our neighborhood wildlife.  And keep your fingers crossed...so far nothing has touched the almost ready watermelon!

Thanks to our friend Paul, our library was finished this month.  Our number of books has not grown (yet), but the level of neatness and organization of the books that we have grew tenfold thanks to much more shelf space than we had previously.

I seem to have several food photos this month as well.  Perhaps this is why that word growth applies to me as well as the tomatoes! Actually, for the last ten days, I have been working to grow an exercise routine that will help me shrink a little...well, hopefully a lot.  Weber and I have made time for the gym an everyday thing.  I'm hoping that between now and when I go back to school in August that it will have become a habit that being back at work will not break.

And, most importantly, relationships with friends and family continue to grow.  I am thankful that I was able to spend both Weber's birthday and Fathers Day with my entire family.  I am blessed and honored that my friend Joni came to celebrate Weber's birthday with us and that her arrival coincided with Best Friends Day and her departure International Albinism Awareness Day.  We did our best to celebrate each of these occasions appropriately...with knitting and good conversation   and maybe a little food!

I am happy to say that June was a good month.  I am grateful for that since our spring was a little tough.  The unstructured days and freedom to do things that feed my soul almost anytime that I want to is such an amazing feeling!  Needless to say, I am enjoying having the summer off.  For the last 8-10 years, I have taught summer school.  I could definitely get used to this not working routine.  But, that will have to wait for awhile.

So for now...farewell June.  Welcome, July.  

All In A Decade

Today is my 55th birthday.

Exactly ten years ago, on a whim, I decided to start writing a blog.  At that point I had no idea why and was fairly sure that no one really wanted to read what I was writing.  But, I did it.  The title perfectly summed up what I wrote about, all the things that happened in my day.  I was faithful to the process for quite awhile.  And then I became unfaithful.  And then faithful again.  And then unfaithful.  It was like the the plucking of the flower petals...he loves me, he loves me not, faithful to blog posting, not faithful to blog posting...and there I ran out of petals.  Realizing that this was the tenth anniversary of beginning All In A Day and that I have done a terrible job keeping up makes me sad.  So much has happened in my life during these ten years, some of it I have written about and lots of other parts I have not.  Here is the condesnsed version.

• I have lost both of my parents.  My mom died three days after my first post in 2006 and my dad in 2014.
• Both of my girls have graduated from high school and college.  
• I have gotten divorced and remarried.  A new flower with enough petals to end with "He loves me." 
• I've moved about fifty miles away from where I lived for 25 years, from the country to the city.
• I've lost a few friends and made a whole lot more.
• I succumbed to Facebook.
• I've reconnected with friends from high school and college.
• I've lost some weight.  Gained some weight.  Lost some weight.  Gained some weight.  I need another petal on this one too!
• I've traveled to many U.S. cities that I have never before visited.
• I've been to Europe three times - once to Italy and twice to England.
• I've had some stitches, just a few and it was the fig's fault for not being still, not my mediocre knife skills!
• My hair has gone from really short to really long.
• I have discovered my love of photography.
• I broke my leg.  It was a sacrifice I made for my art.  I NEEDED to be in THAT spot.  They shouldn't have put that big drop off there, especially when it was dark when I needed to be there.
• I have gained two dogs and a cat and lost three cats.
• I have read lots of books, but not as many as I would like.
• I have written lots of haiku but not as many as I would like.
• I have knitted lots of things but I still have lots of "unknitted" yarn.
• I have become part of NOAH (National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation) and now have lots of cool pale pals.
• I still don't like mushrooms, olives, peas, or fish.  I've tried.  I really have!   It hasn't worked.
• I have become part of the online community Capture Your 365 and have taken at least one photo every single day for the last four years.
• I have learned to drink coffee, lots of coffee.
• I am writing two other blogs: Pixels, Plates, and LOLs with Tracey, a new friend, and Blueper B's Blueprints with Weber and our furry blue and orange monster, Blueper B.
• I have had lots of thoughts that have not made it to written words.
• I have learned to relax.
• I have learned to love myself.
• I have learned how to be happy, really happy...not just on the outside, but on the inside too.
• I have remembered how much I love to write.

As I reflect on 2016 and look forward to my desires for 2017, reviving my relationship with my blog is at the top of the list.  I miss it.  I want it.  I need it.  It doesn't matter to me one way or the other if other people read it.  If you do and some of my words speak to you, make you think, make you feel, make you act, that's great.  But if not, that's OK too.  I will have written for me.  I will have acknowledged in words what is in my head and on my heart.  THAT is what I want.  THAT is what I need.  THAT is what I miss.

A stray petal...be faithful to blogging...has been found!

This is the best birthday gift!

Beginning on January 1, I will also post my daily photos along with my musings of the day.

Birthday Traditions

Yesterday was my 54th birthday.  In the last week we have celebrated both of my daughters' birthdays and Christmas.  It goes without saying that this is a busy time in our family!  Interestingly, all of the men in our family--husband, ex-husband, daughter's boyfriend--all have summer birthdays, an they are months apart rather than days.

Despite being packed in around Christmas, I have always made a point to keep my girls' birthdays separate from Christmas and separate from each other.  Everyone gets her own birthday dinner of choice.  Sometimes it a home cooked meal and sometimes it is a meal out.  This year everyone chose to eat out.  We had an evening of Ethiopian, Upscale Americana, and Thai cuisine.  Good food and good company made for happy celebrations!

When the girls were eight and eleven, we gave them a one dollar lottery ticket for each year of their ages just for something fun and a little different.  At that point it was an under twenty dollar investment, my limit on spending when it comes to gambling.  Little did I know that the lottery tickets would become a tradition that has lasted fifteen years!  At ages 23 and 26 this year, the cost now exceeds my $20 rule, but we continue to play on.  And if that's not bad enough, the tradition has expanded to include the adults as well!

As silly as it is, we all look forward to scratching off all of our tickets and seeing who gets the most bang for their buck...literally.  It used to be that Offspring No. 1 always did quite well.  Her winnings would exceed those of us who had MANY more tickets.  This year, however, that was not the case.  With her 26 tickets, she won $10.  Offspring No. 2 won $16 with her 23 tickets.  For once, I was the big winner with $69 from my 54 tickets.  That is a 24% gain.  Pretty good for the most unlucky member of the family!  Maybe I should reconsider my investment strategies for 2016. :-)

Another December tradition that started three years ago when I began taking a photo a day is that Offspring No. 2 has collected my photos and organized them into a printed book.  The past two years I received the book as a Christmas gift.  This year I didn't.  I started thinking about putting the book together myself, but thankfully that was not necessary.  I received the book for my birthday!

There is something satisfying about seeing the year's photos in print.  And an added bonus for me is that I now know which photos are Erin's favorites.  They get more room on the page.  Yeah, the book doesn't include quite the whole year, but that is perfectly OK.  Having 2015''s book done and printed before January 1st is exactly the motivation that I need to commit to a photo a day again in 2016.  That right there is a huge gift!

So here I ago...another year of fun and photos!  I am grateful to my entire family for all of their support as models, assistants,  lens cap finders, and most importantly, for their unconditional love!

Ironically, these are all unedited phone photos. :-)

Christmas 2015

Christmas has come and gone.  In Texas, at least for us, it was the calm before the storm.  The Dallas area had devastating tornadoes last night, one of which contained 200 mph winds, that left eleven people dead and massive property damage that has not yet been fully assessed.  Though the tornado sirens sounded for us and we had a plan for taking shelter, we never moved from our positions  in front of the TV where we were watching the storm's movement, to our secure place in the hall.   Many people in DFW were not as fortunate as we were.  This kind of  loss is heartbreaking anytime, but perhaps even more so at this time of year when happiness and joy should prevail.

Christmas Day in Dallas was marked by temperatures in the high 70's.  There was no cozy family gathering around the fire for us.  In fact, we spent almost the entire day outside on the patio.  It was beautiful...and stress free!  We did not have a formal sit-down-at-the-table meal this year.  Brooke made her traditional Christmas morning cinnamon rolls and the coffee was free flowing.  We all grabbed a mug of coffee and paper plate with a cinnamon roll (or two) and made our way outside.  This was followed by self serve line that included an egg casserole and bacon.  We ate what we wanted when we wanted it.  I loved the relaxed, unstructured nature of our day.  Everyone could read their instruction manuals, program their electronics, play their games, and finish their chapters without being interrupted by a formal "dinner bell."

I need to remember this low stress approach to Christmas Day for next year...and pray again for the unseasonably warm temperatures.  Don't get me wrong, I love a white Christmas, but the out of the ordinary weather helped make our out of the ordinary celebration feel right this year.

Once my semester ended on December 17th, I was able to truly relax.  I knew that I was stressed at the end of the semester, but I don't think that I realized just how much.  A huge weight was lifted.  With some truly "free" time I was able to enjoy wrapping gifts, some last minute decorating, a little cooking, and fun with my two and four-legged family members...and our "bestest" friends.

I love this ornament given to us by one of the members of our "tribe."

A few images leading up to Christmas.

Oh, and did I mention between school ending on the 17th and Christmas we also celebrated the birthdays of Offsprings No. 1 and No.2?  Good times!

Offspring No. 1 - age 26

Offspring No. 2 - age 23

After singing the late night Christmas Eve service, we have this crazy tradition of going to Waffle House just down the road from our house.  I'm not sure how or why this tradition got started, but we've done it for at least five years and I look forward to it no matter how tired I may be at 1am on Christmas morning.  It is interesting to people watch at a sit down restaurant that is open in the middle of the night on Christmas.  There are travelers trying to get to family before morning, families for whom this may be their Christmas meal, and people who are a party of one who may be lonely and want to be among others.  In addition to scrambled eggs with cheese and hash browns, part of our Waffle House tradition is to share the love and hospitality of Christmas with our fellow patrons and the staff at our local Waffle House.  This is one of my favorite family traditions.

Christmas morning began with the littlest among us, all decked out in her Christmas PJ's, opening her gifts first.  Piper's four-legged brother and sister followed right along.  They all played while we waited for all of the humans to gather.

I put my camera down during the gift exchange.  You'll just have to believe me when I say that everyone did great both in the giving and receiving!

Here are a few shots of our relaxed Christmas afternoon.

Holiday cheers to each of you from each of us!

THE END!

364/365-2 Cozy Indulgence

"Birthday Indulgence"

Today I could either get cozy or indulgence, but they didn't both happen at the same time.  I decided to go with just indulgence because it made for a much better picture!

Having a birthday so close to Christmas, like anything, has advantages and disadvantages.  This year the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages because I got a new lens on both occasions - not a joint gift, but actually two lenses!  I freely admit that this is a major indulgence and that I am quite spoiled.

This lens was delivered today.  We knew that it had to be signed for when it arrived so we planned to be home most of the day.  I could have dug out from beneath the Christmas mayhem that still blankets most of the den and dining room, but instead Weber and I watched the movie August Rush.  It is not a new movie but for some reason it has never been available on either Netflix or Amazon and I have wanted to see it for quite a while now.  Brooke brought it home from the library for me; having a librarian in the family makes it easy to get the movies that you want,  especially when that librarian is the one whose job responsibilities include developing the movie collection for the library.  This movie, however, they already had so I did not abuse my connections.

August Rush is a sweet movie about the power of music, just a feel good sort of story.  And yes, Erin, I stayed awake for the whole thing!  I suppose that watching a movie in the middle of the day is an indulgence of sorts for us as we do this so rarely.  And the dog, who snoozed curled up in the afghan on my lap was definitely cozy.  I guess this scene could have worked for today's prompt, but my head didn't go there at the time.

The other potential for cozy was not an image that I wanted to preserve in a photo.  I had to have an MRI on my leg today.  I am seriously claustrophobic; if the injury had been any further up on my leg we would have had serious issues or needed serious drugs!  As it was, the tube stopped right level with my shoulders and I talked myself out of freaking out.

Almost two weeks ago I misjudged a step while out taking photos of Christmas lights one night.  When I did it, I heard a pop in my leg followed by intense sharp pain, but I did not actually fall.  I immediately sat down and let the pain subside a little and was able to hobble back to the car.  I stayed off of my leg for about twenty four hours during which time I also iced it.  The next day it felt a little better, the sharp pain had dissolved to a nagging ache. On the third day, their was bruising.  I thought to myself that that explained the ache and all would be well once the bruises healed.  Not the case.

It still hurts.  I finally decided that I needed to seek a medical professional when I saw a video (taken by my beloved husband with his new Polaroid Cube) of how weirdly I was walking.  

I went to the doctor late yesterday.  Based on the symptoms that I was presenting, the doctor seemed convinced that I had broken my fibula, but the X-ray was apparently inconclusive so her ordered the MRI.  It was scheduled for 5:30 this afternoon.  I did not leave the imaging center until nearly 7:30 tonight and I don't know what, if anything, the MRI showed.  They did send me on my way after their doctor looked at the images saying that there was nothing that needed immediate attention so I am figuring that I just need to take it easy on that leg for awhile.  I assume I will get an official report from the doctor tomorrow.

All of this to say that the whole MRI experience was cozy in its own unappealing way and I was not going to take a picture of it!  The new lens makes me much happier!

362/365-2 In the Air

"Birthday Bubbles"

I had a nice birthday day - church followed by lunch with my favorite friends, a little bit of time blowing bubbles in the afternoon sun, and Latin American cuisine for dinner with my family.

Happy 22nd Birthday, Erin!

Today was day two of our marathon week of birthdays - four in six days if you count Jesus.  My baby turned twenty two today.  Where has the time gone?  

Both the birthday girl and her sister had to work all day so our celebration consisted of dinner in Fort Worth at Yucatan Taco.  (I am including the name of the restaurant because neither Brooke or me could remember where we went last year for Erin's birthday.  Though I mentioned in her birthday blog of 2013 that we had gone out for dinner, I failed to give the name of the restaurant.  Fortunately, Erin remembered.)  Erin had been there before, but it was new to the rest of us.  The food was excellent; Yucatan Taco will definitely stay on the "will visit again" list.  The only negative was that it was dark inside so the birthday pictures did not turn out great.  Oh well...they are enough to spark good memories in the years to come, I hope.

Brooke wrapped her gift to Erin in black and white paper.  This fueled my current fondness for black and white photographs.

It should come as no surprise to anyone that Brooke gave her sister a book for her birthday.

"The Birthday Girl"

She also received bracelets and a watch.  She has never had a "grown-up lady" watch so, despite her college education, she had trouble figuring out how the clasp worked.

Edgar gave Erin a nice framed collage of pictures from their recent trip to Portland.

It is nice to get together with the whole family two nights in a row.

"Same Girls, Different Birthday"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ERIN!! 

356/365-2 Ready

"Naughty? Maybe. 25? Definitely."

These two are ready to party.  The "naughty" one celebrated her 25th birthday today.  She and her "nice" sister spent the day shopping and eating (and maybe drinking a little, too.)  All that was followed by a family dinner and sharing of gifts tonight.

Neither one of them was really dressed for a portrait.  The naughty one had on ridiculously high heels making her way taller than her sister and thus making it impossible, in terrible light, for me to focus on both of them.  The nice one's hat was casting a weird shadow on her face.  Oh well, this is what they looked like today.

Happy birthday, Brooke!

178/365-2 In the Shade

"Shades"

Happy National Sunglasses Day!

I have said it here before - I am not a fan of hats and sunglasses because they make me claustrophobic.  The only sunglasses I will where at all are the amber tinted ones and they seem to be the most difficult to find.  And hats are even more elusive, at least hats that don't look ridiculously dorky.  I will wear baseball caps, but they don't do much to keep the sun off of my neck.

Having had several pre-cancerous spots frozen off of my arms yesterday I am trying to be more willing to wear the hats and sunglasses to prevent such spots on my head and neck.  Now I am good about wearing sunscreen and long sleeves when I know that I will be outside.  Unfortunately, the damage to arms was done when I was much younger.

There is always something to worry about...

161/365-2 Staycation

"Birthday Boy"

Today was Weber's birthday.  I'd like to say that it was an exciting day of celebration, but that would be a lie.  We ran some errands this morning - Walgreens for prescriptions,  Sams for cases of green beans for the dog and Target for something that I can't even remember.  Then it was a quiet afternoon at home.  Weber spent some time reading his "birthday book."  I looked back at his birthday photo from last year in which he is also reading a birthday book.  Does that represent tradition or lack of creativity on my part?

I knew that Weber would be the subject of my photo today no matter the given prompt.  When I looked at this photo in light of "staycation" I had to chuckle a little.  He is reading Humans of New York and wearing his Vermont (from our honeymoon) T-shirt.  His body was in Dallas but I'm not sure where his mind was:-)

In an effort to eat a little more healthily,  we had birthday watermelon instead of cake.  Fortunately it was a nice sweet one thus making it a reasonable stand-in for birthday cake.

This guy also stopped by this afternoon with birthday wishes.

Happy birthday to the love of my life!

362/365 A Potrait

"My Two Lensbabies"

 Today is my 52nd birthday.  I'm not sure why disclosing one's age has always been on the socially unacceptable list.  It is what it is.  There are days when I look and feel far beyond my years; then there are those days when I feel much younger.  The truth is, no matter how young or old you look or feel,  where you are is where you are and it is much better than the alternative.

This is the first birthday that I have celebrated after having finally succumbed to Facebook.  I'm glad that a friend convinced me back in July that I needed to join.  It was a great feeling to wake up this morning to a number of birthday wishes on my timeline.  As the day progressed, the birthday wishes kept coming.  What a blessing to know that for at least a little bit of time today, so many people thought of me.  I am honored to be surrounded by so many friends both old and new and near and far.  

My own birthday wish was for a simple celebration with my family.  My beloved husband took me out for breakfast this morning.  This afternoon Erin and I did a little shopping while Brooke and Weber prepared the birthday meal that I requested - cauliflower macaroni and cheese with green chili sauce and cole slaw.  I know; it sounds strange.  Just consider the source.  It all makes sense now, right?  It was an awesome meal.  Rather than a birthday cake, I also asked for oatmeal, peanut butter and chocolate chip scones.  There is definitely an advantage to having a live-in baker.  (There are also some disadvantages, but we won't go there right now.)  Weber made the coffee to go with the scones.  It was an absolutely perfect birthday meal!

Those in my family are also great gift givers.  I received several books - some that I specifically asked for and others chosen "especially for me."  Brooke reads many literary blogs and keeps an eye out for things that she thinks that others might like.  She gave me two such things.  She did the same for Erin for Christmas.  Erin was thrilled because she has a hard time choosing what book to read next.  She suggested that her sister might start a "personal reader" service.  Always the mind of an entrepreneur.

For those who aren't as sure what to give, there were Amazon gift cards.   I suppose I could just turn them over to Brooke so that she can keep my bookshelf current.  Weber got me a jacket that I had asked for and, as it turns out, a new microwave.  The latter was neither requested or intended but as we were preparing for dinner and Brooke was trying to melt some chocolate, she chimed in with, "Um...chocolate melts at 88 degrees and this stuff has been in there for five minutes and nothing is happening."  Bad sign!  Weber did a little research and discovered that although we are not sure of the nature of the exact ailment from which the microwave is suffering, it is clear that it is going to be more expensive to fix it than replace it.  Hello....Amazon.com  Being the nice guy that he is, Weber didn't even ask for my Amazon gift card.

Erin went through my blog posts from the last year and collected her favorite pictures and had a photo book made for me.   She arranged the pictures into various categories: Capture Your Surroundings, Capture Nourishment, Capture Your Adventures, Capture Your Fellow Man, Capture the Everyday, Capture Family, Capture the Beauty of the Earth, Capture Your Love, Capture Whimsy and Capture Yourself.  Seeing the images from the past year collected in one place is an awesome way to reflect on all of the blessings that I received during 2013.

As a final gift, Erin and Weber both helped with the daily prompt.  They have both been such good sports when it comes to being in front of the camera.  Each has bailed me out many times over the year when I have needed a smiling face to accomplish the daily photo prompt.  You guys are awesome!

I had a great day!  Thank you to everyone who had a part in making that happen!

357/365 Jolly Ol' St. Nick

"Welcome to Adulthood"

My baby turned 21 today.  I have successfully raised all of the offspring to adulthood. Is it time for retirement now?

It is hilarious to me that the day's prompt is St. Nick.  Erin despises Santa Claus, always has.  We have zero pictures of her on Santa's lap.  And, we have zero ornaments or decorations depicting Santa.  Erin has always said that she believes Santa to be kind of creepy.

Erin made her way into adulthood today with not a lot of pomp and circumstance.  We planned a girl's day at the mall, but it was less than fruitful.  The birthday girl found nothing.  But she is still smiling because we managed to avoid going anywhere near Santa's cottage.

"Happy 21st!"

We then went out for dinner.  Her dad wanted her to order a drink - just because she could.  She finally did, but I don't think that it was the highlight of her day.

After dinner we headed home so gifts could be opened and cake could be eaten.  Brooke made her a brown butter cake with apple butter between the layers and a thin coating of butter cream frosting.  It was delicious!

"Birthday Cake No. 21"

We'll all have a quiet day tomorrow  before I sing for two services tomorrow night and Erin does her duty in the church nursery.  Christmas morning will be here before we know it;  hopefully we'll not be too exhausted to enjoy the day.