mermaids and moss

buttercups and meadows

Happy belated Mother's Day!

I'm a bit behind on my blog posts these days. It's such a busy time of year... so much going on in the last days of school. I had a nearly perfect Mother's Day. We had the opportunity to visit a horse farm with some friends. The children were able to feed carrots, brush and ride a rescued retired racehorse. It was a beautiful, beautiful day with a brilliant blue sky and fields of buttercups. A half dozen farm cats and kittens romping through the grass. The kids were happy. I was happily taking photos. The only thing missing was my mother.

I did spend some time Mother's Day morning digging through old photos on my back up drive. I was glad to find this photo from one of my trips to Alaska with my parents. My mother was so insistent that I should experience flying in a helicopter and landing on a glacier. Though I'm terrified of heights, it was a pretty amazing experience and I'm so glad that I got to experience it with her.

in the trees

I'm not sure if the reason why I take so many photos of blossoms is because my little guy is always climbing a tree, or if the reason he climbs so many trees is because I'm always standing under a tree with a camera. Either way, I think we make a pretty good team.

Also, I've been having trouble with lots of spam comments being generated to my blog... up to twenty or thirty in a day. So, I've had to switch the settings so that visitors must log in to comment. Does this work for you? Will you please leave a message if you have time? Thank you!

aesop's fables

This little gal will be reciting a few lines from Aesop's Fables tomorrow at her school. She's very excited and has been rehearsing her lines for weeks. Learning to speak to the griffin while practicing on stage in her 1920s school auditorium. I love how little bits of Hogwarts type traditions seem to creep into her school from time to time.

I was given the assignment to provide a "little" mouse costume as she will be playing a city mouse. I whipped this costume up fairly quickly using an old pink tutu, a pair of grey leggins and a grey t-shirt (a bit tricky this time of year, I'd hoped to find a long-sleeved grey shirt, but no such luck this spring), a headband, silver glitter sneakers from Old Navy, a few pieces of grey and pink felt, some fluffy stuffing and a pink boa from the craft shop.

I was inspired by this lovely photo that I found on Pinterest, I think it's from an old J. Crew catalog. I followed the instructions for Martha Stewart's Bunny Ears, modifying them slightly to make grey mouse ears. I sewed the felt tail onto the inside of the tutu... hope that it holds up well on stage.

I think it turned out pretty well for my first mouse costume, maybe I'll make one for Klaus the cat. 

the last of the magnolias

tea parties, watercolors and tie dyed shirts

It's that busy time of year, filled with parties and recitals and plays and projects due. I admit that I'm having a tough time keeping track of everything that needs to be done, I'm too distracted by the trees and the flowers. The dogwoods are in bloom and glowing beautifully in today's April showers. I think I do want to plant a pink dogwood in the front yard. I really do. Sorry, I'm rambling.

My daughter and I attended the annual mother daughter tea party with all of her little classmates. They had so much fun. I love admiring all the pretty little dresses as they run wild through the gardens, leaping and jumping on the trampoline. So ladylike, these seven-year-olds.

The kids have been drawing and painting here and there. My daughter is working on her upcoming class sharing project. She has plans... big plans. But secret. Here's a photo of her last sharing project about the fantastic and inspiring Jane Goodall.

The cats have been drinking up the beautiful spring sunshine...

Last week was Earth Day which spread into Earth Week at my daughter's school. Due to a bit of confusion, her teacher informed us that Friday would be a tie dye dress down day [she usually wears a uniform] and so I rushed around most of Thursday gathering supplies [Target does not sell fabric dye] to make a tie dyed shirt. Eons and eons ago, in a previous life, I was a camp counselor and an arts and crafts teacher at an overnight camp in Pennsylvania. Luckily, I had this previous experience in the art of tie dying and so I wasn't too daunted at whipping up a shirt at the last moment. And I think it turned out pretty cute. Sadly, her teacher sent out an email Thursday night informing us that only the middle school had a dress down day, not the lower school. I was so tempted to send her in a tie dye and jeans anyway.

spring greens

Everyone in the family has been soaking up this spring goodness. Yay! I'm so glad that our garden has been coming back to life. We've been spending lots of mornings, afternoons and evenings at the playground and the nearby parks and gardens. I can't get enough of being outside.

I've been spending most of my free moments filling out forms and uploading files to Getty Images. They've expessed an interest in several of my photos, and so I've decided to give stock photography a try. We'll see. I might be fun. So far, it's a lot of tedious paperwork.

a thousand blossoms, two

{ this moment }

[inspired by SouleMama]

a thousand blossoms

blue springs

The last few years we've been visiting Blue Springs State Park. It is a winter home to dozens and dozens of wild West Indian manatees. It's a gorgeous park with enormous trees draped in Spanish moss, a playgound, an historic house and lovely boardwalks winding through the forest. It's all centered around this amazing spring that flows up through a deep cave that scuba divers are allowed to explore. And for unknown reasons, the manatee love to swim down into that deep spring cave. The water is so clear and blue and always at a constant 72 degree Fahrenheit temperature.

We've visited in the summer and the winter. The manatees congregate near the spring during the winter because the water is warmer than the nearby river, but during the summer they're out and about in the rivers, etc. So during the summer, visitors can go tubing and swimming. In the winter there is limited swimming and you are not allowed to cross the ropes to swim with the manatees. But, the manatees are allowed to cross the ropes and swim with you.

I went "tubing" once with my two-year-old son. I'd bought an enormous alligator float for him to sit on while I held on swimming in the water, guiding him downstream. I had the horrible feeling that there was an alligator lurking somewhere nearby, though the guy at the camp store assured me that they always remove the alligators that wander too close to the swimmers. My friend who floated along with us high up in an enormous inner tube, told me later that she'd seen the shadow of something long, large and skinny. But I'm sure it was only a Longnose Gar. One of these days, when the kids are a bit bigger, maybe we'll brave the cold waters again.

flashback, August 2010. My daughter reminded me that the gecko hopped on her brother's face first, and he cried. He had just turned two. He didn't know any better. And then the little critter landed on her nose, giving me the chance to shoot one of my most favorite photos ever.