.......Another Season Come and Gone.........

This was a picture of the river when we went canoing last. (blackberries take good pics don't they?) I can remember this so well. I paddled all the way upstream, against the current. How long had it been since my body had been so healthy to have such endurance.
This was also the day that while fishing I kept catching garr. Did you know them little boogers had such sharp rows of teeth?

Hmm....this summer. Well, since I've lost a bit of weight, so far as of yet, 12lbs. (Yay for me!) My clothes are getting so much bigger I'm going to have to check out the old wardrobe. While taking my oldest shopping for homecoming, we both did the 'girl' thing and had fun trying on clothes. Have to say, this looks MUCH better on me than it did 6 months ago. I probably should have bought it.

This is my oldest. I could not believe she actually asked me to take her shopping for a Home Coming dress. Now, I realize I'm biased, but how pretty is she? My little Tomboy in a dress. This is not the dress that she got, the one she got made her look like a model.
May I also add that she's had 3 boys ask her to Home Coming so far. She's turned them all down. One has been V E R Y persistent about it. To which she rolls her eyes....geeez! She doesn't mind hanging around them when she's there, she's just not interested in being 'with' anyone. Gotta say, the parents are just peachy with that decision.

She has loudly expressed her distaste for the picture above and believes this one is much better. Since once again it is a self portrait....lol!

You can't imagine how much I wanted to buy this dress for her. How precious is this? Unfortunately, she was on a budget that night and this dress 'was' that budget.
Beautiful isn't she???
I agree.

While we're doing dress up, we HAVE to show Dink on picture day. She woke me crying because her hair wouldn't curl and she didn't have time to do it. Honestly, neither did I. But, being a few minutes late never hurt anyone. So I yawned loudly, filled my daughters hair (and much of my yawning open mouth) with hairspray and was thankful we had two curling irons that worked.

It's wonderful that we got these pictures because all that hairspray was for naught. It didn't last long enough till picture time. These are the only pictures with her hair so pretty. Beautiful isn't she?

This year has been quiet stormy. On this day, Nana showed off her balancing talents while the sky was rolling and the lightening was flashing. It was alot of fun.

Grandpa, if I remember correctly, was chasing the boy around the playground. He did as much laughing as the boy did.

Dink sat and read during our play time.

Papa decided to become a boy. There's no motion picture here, but he slid down this on his feet and didn't bust his 'pride'.

Look, found him!

Oh my favorite meal of all......Antipasta Platter.....Yum!
Nice weather, this and a good book. Best lunch ever...



W E A T H E R

As I mentioned before, we've had quiet a year for storms. Record floods. One house down the road from us has been under water no less than 3 times this year.

It has made for some good pictures. The sky has been so animated and intriguing. On my myspace, I have 27 of 75 pictures of a storm as it rolled in, complete with the bats flying around.

This was taken on the way home from the car. Sometimes driving home was a little bit....um....exciting.

The good pictures were missed. The best ones were this weekend in the 50 mph wind that we had to drive through. Trees flying past the car. Wind blowing the car into the next lane. At one point, we got to where we were headed and electrical lines fell about grill level. We made a quick turn right and started through the subdivision. As we were driving through the narrow alley, there were loud cracks as trees were splitting in two. Our prayers were answered as none of them fell on the car. Near, but never on.
Makes for some white-knuckled driving.

SKIESOf course the skies were always intriguing. This is what I imagine it will look like when Christ comes back. His glory shining through the clouds. The hope fulfilled engulfing our hearts. This is what I think of when I see these kind of skies.

Q U A R R Y

One weekend the boys and I went hiking through the back of the quarry. We started following the creek, looking for crawdads and any other living critters in the area.

Our son lost his mind when he caught this tree frog. He was so excited. The whole trip he had carried the fish net over his shoulder calling out to the critters to come out so he could catch them.

This was really funny. All the sudden Dad tells us to stop. Then, in slow motion, this tree falls over. My husband knocked over a big ole tree. That's MY man!

This isn't a good picture, but these were some weird looking mushrooms. Wonder what kind these are....alien variety?

You may want to double click on this pic to see why this pic was taken. There were alot of shavings on the ground where a squirrel, from his home up above, had nibbled on many acorns and different nuts. I thought it was pretty neat. Especially since I'm hoping someone will take me squirrel hunting this year.

Coming to a dead end, we had a choice to make as to which way we turned. Always one for adventure (and usually the hard way to do things), I voted we go through the alcove. This meant we had to climb up before dropping way, way down and through some roots, over some rocks and of course...my favorite....through spider webs. (....ick!...)

Having nothing to compare these to really robs this photo of it's majesty. The block to the right is around 8ft tall. This was a wall of rock, gently covered in emerald green vines. If it weren't so far away, it would make a perfect spot for perching while one lets their mind to wander in a good book.

The scars on this limestone block is where the miners drilled holes into it in effort to break it apart from the rest. This is only a small part of what we climbed up and over.
Hiking has always been an enjoyed hobby, right along with fishing. This made the long, hot journey worth it.

Once again the picture doesn't do the view justice. It comes down to this, the camera is going to have to join us on our escapades because missing the sharp beauty of a short lived season is a crying shame.

The pictures that get posted are nothing in volume to those that are saved on disc for later appreciation. A wise man once said, 'Each year, go somewhere you've never visited.' This goal rings true inside me as life impresses upon me more and more how short it is in comparison to what should be experienced and learned.

May fear always be beaten back in the victory expressed through the rush of a new experience.