Day Two Hundred Thirty Nine 2013

Backyard Wandering
"Not all those who wander are lost", a line from the poem All that is gold does not glitter, written by J. R. R. Tolkien for The Lord of the Rings.




We know that in September, we will wander through the warm winds of summer's wreckage. We will welcome summer's ghost.
~Henry Rollins

Day Two Hundred Two 2013

Sunday Stuff

Rain Rain

Go Away

Come Again Another Day

Grandson Knox swinging after the rain hoping the skeeters don’t bite

Grandpa Neil took Knox for a walk and this is what Knox brought back home

Coloring at the Cracker Barrel, waiting for carrots and mac and cheese ~ rainy lazy Sunday

Psalm 118:24  King James Version (KJV)

This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Day Two Hundred One 2013

SHELBY’S 12TH BIRTHDAY PARTY

Granddaughter Shelby turned 12 on July 18 and celebrated her birthday today at home with family.

Happy Face. Happy Shelby!

Granddaughter Shelby and grandson Elijah cozy up for a brother/sister portrait.

Having a summertime birthday means dad rents an awesome water slide to enjoy.

Birthday Girl

Blowing out those candles after the Birthday Song

Opening presents may be the best part [the birthday hat makes it even more fun]

Lots of presents

Daughter Holly, grandson Elijah, granddaughter Shelby and son in law Jerry gave a fun party. Happy Birthday, Shelby! Love you so much!

Day Two Hundred 2013

"That beautiful season the Summer!
Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light;
And the landscape
Lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood."
-  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Happy TGIF! Hope your day was filled with magical light.

Day Eighty Seven 2013

Easter Egg Hunt

Peeps! My grand peeps Shelby and Elijah got a half dozen chicks in time for Easter. Daughter Holly brought them to my house today so Elijah’s first grade class could enjoy them during their Easter egg hunt.

Holly and one of the other first grade moms came to the house this morning to set up for the egg hunt and lunch. I love those Easter egg plates and checked napkins.

Elijah has been looking forward to his class egg hunt all month long.

Neil and I enjoy hosting the kids’ egg hunts. Our yard is conveniently across the street from their school. I’m so glad they had a beautiful sunny day for the hunt.

Each egg is numbered, and each child looks for the eggs with his or her number on it. Elijah is number 16. Finding your eggs takes time because you have to look at every egg to see if your number is on it. Makes the egg hunt last longer.

Elijah and his classmates gathered for a group shot. Love those smiles.

They were surprised by the chicks and got a kick out of watching them in the cage. One of the chicks escaped a couple of times. We had to keep a close eye on them. Our neighbor kitty Lily was very interested in the peeps.

Who wants pizza? I do! I do! They had pepperoni pizza and cheese pizza. Most of them chose the cheese. I can tell you it was yummy.

After lunch they played games like egg toss and this game where you try to walk while balancing an egg on a spoon without dropping it. Classic. I think all the kids had a great time at their Easter party. I know I had fun just watching them having fun. The Easter egg hunt is such a wonderful tradition. I’m happy to still get to be a part of it with my grand peeps.

Day Twenty Nine 2013

Daffodils blooming in January in my backyard, It is 67 degrees at lunch time. Storms heading our way tonight and tomorrow. I can't complain about the warmth, however I wouldn't mind at least one good snowfall before winter is done. It is winter, isn't it?

 





Day Eight 2013

My back yard was invaded by giant birds today. I’ve never seen anything like it. I mean, what have these things been eating? Not really. But you already knew that. This is my decorative winter flag that hangs on the fence beside the bird feeders. Neil finally filled them up with seed, but we haven’t had many takers so far. I think the giant birds might be freaking out the real birds. Either that, or the bird word hasn’t gotten around yet about the free food. And heaven help us when the squirrels discover the full feeders. Maybe I should get a giant squirrel flag.

Day Seven 2013

Grandson Elijah and I stopped along the path to the house after school this afternoon long enough to snap a gratuitous self-shadow-portrait. The sky was blue and the sun was bright, stretching our shadows out on what’s left of the grass in the back yard. Not as cold today—another major plus for any winter day, but especially for a winter Monday. The year is already one week old.

Day Three Hundred Twenty 2012

PEEPS ON A TRAMPOLINE








Grandpeeps Shelby and Elijah ventured outside after school this chilly afternoon and spent some time jumping, flipping, whirling, twirling, hand standing, and cartwheeling on the trampoline. My little cell phone camera couldn’t keep up with them.

Day Two Hundred Eighty Three 2012

Grandpeeps Shelby and Elijah are on fall break this week and spent the day with me. The day started out with the first frost in our area, too cold to go outside, so we spent most of the day being slugs, until the sun took some of the chill off this afternoon. And a beautiful blue sky October day it was—perfect for batting the ball around and swinging on the backyard swing.

Day One Hundred 2012

I searched for my lost shaker of salt, as Jimmy Buffett sings, but I couldn't find it anywhere. On Easter Sunday, my family gathered in the back yard and ate hard boiled eggs, passing around the shaker of salt. It never made it back to the kitchen, so this morning I searched all over the back yard and all around the swing where we were gathered, and I never could find it. This afternoon, I was sitting on the swing with grandson Knox, watching my two other grandpeeps Shelby and Elijah throw a Frisbee. I looked down and there it sat--my lost shaker of salt--on the swing where someone set it after all the hard boiled eggs were gone. As we say in the South, if it had been a snake, it would have bit me. Can you find the lost shaker of salt?

Day Ninety Five 2012

Hubby Neil had the day off today. We spent the whole day outside, cleaning the deck and porches and weeding (Neil's job). Grandpeeps Shelby and Elijah joined us after school. We treated ourselves to some Mae Pearl's frozen yogurt, then tossed the Frisbee around on this bee-you-tee-full day. Fun times. We are pooped!

Day One Hundred Eighty Five 2011

This is how my family celebrates the Fourth of July every year. God blessed us with great weather, delicious food, a fun time playing corn hole and just hanging out talking and laughing, and after dark, the most awesome fireworks show in town. We are so blessed to have each other and to live in the greatest country on the planet and so blessed to celebrate freedom every year on the Fourth of July. As always, it was a blast!