sometimes all there is to say is found in silence

I took lots of florals this weekend

and I have nothing to say about them - I was hoping to be profound - oh, well.

my baby turns four

her first name means light, her second name is my middle name and means bitter, her third name is my Mom's middle name and nobody seems to know what it means (Lovelle)...

she is very good for me...I am eternally grateful to God for knowing better what we needed than we did and making sure that we didn't have our way...

memorial day weekend

My parents came for Memorial Day weekend. They arrived on Friday evening and left this afternoon. My sister AJ and her husband R also visited. They arrived Saturday morning and left late on Sunday after a rather violent storm.

Our weekend had a lot of bike riding in it. The little kid's variety which you see here and also the big kid's variety which I did not photograph. The girls got to go on two bike rides with Grandpa. Mom and I walked to provide balance support when necessary and towing support.


All adults except hubby went for a ride on Saturday evening.

Grandma, Grandpa, AJ, and R went for a long ride on Sunday afternoon and got caught out in the violent storm. A tornado passed by rather near to where they were riding and they did get hit a bit by some of the smaller hail but were undercover for the worst of it.

Monday, I took a long bike ride with my parents. We rode thirteen miles. As you can see, my parents have trikes. I have a normal bike. My bum was sore. :)

The service on Sunday was wonderful. We went to the early service since hubby and I had to work in nursery for the second service. It was a good service and I got to see how the baptism photos looked on the big screen. They did well. I have room for improvement but they did look awful like I was afraid that they would.

Mom and Dad left today while DQ was in school. After we picked DQ up from school, I looked in the back to see SB conked out. She woke up when I parked and I asked her if she wanted to read or to go straight to bed. She said she wanted to read and endeavored to get out of the car. She fell flat on her face. However, she was so tired, it apparently didn't hurt. She got up and stumbled up the step from the garage into the house. Poor kid.

competition and talent

Today was field day for DramaQueen. She participated in the 100 yard dash, the standing broad jump, and kick-ball. My child isn't even slightly athletic, coordinated, or competitive.



I waffled between feeling disturbed by the competitive nature displayed in so many young ones (these same children have often dismay me by displaying an unnecessarily high degree of cultural literacy and social savvy) and feeling bad for DQ. You see DQ and her best friend finishing last in this picture.


This is the ball kick competition. This is where DQ did the best.


Here she lands the standing broad jump. I felt really bad for her before this event. The other children were being social bullies and pushing her around and being mean. Sometimes she doesn't seem to get it but today, I could tell it hit home.

I am torn because I honestly feel that in the realm of extra-curricular parents should not push their children. And so I try to encourage and love her without making her practice her skills. I believe that where we focus on pushing and practicing teaches them what we value. So I spend a lot of time focused on Bible and Literature.

She needs to learn to stand her own ground socially and understand that she is special just the way she is because God made her. But sometimes, I do just want to step in and level the playing field. Kids are seldom nice people.


They keep field day very short. So afterwards we made a large deposit at our favorite thrift store and then we went the park and the girls played. Now it is time for me to get ready for Memorial Day weekend. My parents and my sister AJ and her husband are coming to visit. It will be fun.

heartache

There is no pain greater than this; not the cut of a jagged-edged dagger nor the fire of a dragon's breath. Nothing burns in your heart like the emptiness of losing something, someone, before you truly have learned of its value. Robert Salvatore

I don't know how many of your have heard about this tragedy but I wanted to share it with you. Stephen Curtis Chapman's five-year-old daughter Maria was accidentally hit by an SUV in the family's drive way and killed. The driver was one of her older brothers.

I was a huge fan of SCC when I was a teenager and we recently bought the Christmas album that featured his three youngest daughters (one of whom was Maria).

The girls are never allowed to play in the front yard unless I am with them - but they do like riding their bikes in the driveway. They are very good about stopping before the street, but...

I am seriously considering what Meredith at Like Merchant Ships just did in response to this tragedy.

random bits and blurbs

The girls have their picture taken with Billy Bear - a project from DQ's class.


I've been doing a lot of photos for DQ's teacher. She wanted photos of all the kids in the class under an umbrella. Stinkerbell got in on the action.


These are officially the first full-fledged blossoms in my yard since the mole ate all my tulips.

The Ostrich Fern unfurls.

Regarding my post about the creative opportunities at church. The meeting was actually very inconclusive. However, I was asked to photograph the baptisms on Sunday. They are a bit darker and grainier than I would like but they turned out okay. They photos will be used to share with the first service people (baptisms are always performed at second service). The Pastor who performed the baptisms wants to use them on the front of cards for those who were baptized. And the mother of a wheel-chair-bound boy who was baptized asked for a print at the church office.

artificial intelligence

Some people worry that artificial intelligence will make us feel inferior, but then, anybody in his right mind should have an inferiority complex every time he looks at a flower. ~Alan C. Kay

my cherry tree blooms

Break open a cherry tree and there are no flowers, but the spring breeze brings forth myriad blossoms. Ikkyu Sojun

My heart that was rapt away by the wild cherry blossoms - will it return to my body when they scatter? Kotomichi

I never see that prettiest thing
A cherry bough gone white with Spring. Dorothy Parker

About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow. A. E. Housman

Dusk - though last
bells faded
airs cherry rich

Basho

Masses of flowers
load the cherry branches
and color some bushes
yellow and some red
but the grief in my heart
is stronger than they
for though they were my joy
formerly, today I notice them
and turn away forgetting.
William Carlos Williams

Look at the cherry blossoms!
Their color and scent fall with them,
Are gone forever,
Yet mindless
The spring comes again.
Ikkyu Sojun

Every spring I look forward to the time when my cherry tree blooms. Today it finally started.

A short while ago, I got a phone call that excites me. The Worship Ministry Pastor of our church has invited me to join a group to look into bringing more creative arts into our worship. We will meet with others at our head pastor's office tomorrow night. I've always wanted to do something more with my photography - something creative more than financial.