Geez, I'm getting old.

I'm cleaning out the basement (and, no, that's not what makes me say I'm old, although by the time I'm done with the job I will not only be old, I'll be ancient), and found several boxes whose contents have not seen the light of day for a decade or so. Nestled in one of those little boxes that checks come in I found all my old track medals. I'd wondered where they went. The dates range from 1979 to 1982, and I can barely remember a single one of those events or races. My daughter (a high-jumper) once asked me if I ever high-jumped, and I said, "No." But I guess I lied, because I've got a couple of medals that say otherwise. Apparently my memory and my jumping skills are BOTH things of the past.

Chi-ca-go! Chi-ca-go!

"The Bean" in Millenium Park alongside Lake Michigan.

City fog.

My day

Painting with Steve...
...running at the track with Ben and Aaron...
...and two new kinds of flowers blooming.

A day outside

Today was the kind of day it would be criminal to spend inside.The Bloody Red Baron takes off....



...he soars.....


...and dips....


...and dives....







...right into a tree. And there he sits.















Kites for some, b-ball for others. Fun and fresh air for all.

Susannah

My baby.

My house

I didn't take any decent photos today, so instead I'm posting an old picture of a place I like to spend time. This is the room we call the Ball Room even though it's really just a plain old family room. It got that name when we first moved in because the wood floor in a such a big empty room reminded my kids of a dance floor and set them all a'twirling and dipping and tangoing. We watch TV in here, but when I'm alone, I come in here to read where the light is gentle and the oak leaves rustle outside the window.

Sugar and Spice Or Snips and Snails??

My options for the day provided quite a contrast. I was all set with this lovely image for my photo of the day:

...when a horde of preteen boys called me urgently to the pond to show me this:


...and this:
...and about a dozen other winter-killed specimens of various species, sizes, and states of decomposition. Gross, huh? And the poor creatures had been dead for weeks, judging by the smell (which lingered on hands and feet and bathroom towels all afternoon). But what a thrill for that same horde of preteen boys. This discovery made their day, and consequently mine too. The purple crocus wasn't so bad, either. I am a girl, after all, as well as a mom.

Streams in the desert

This ditch is normally dry as a bone, but spring began today with an all-day deluge. I hope the same thing is true of March showers that they say about April ones.

So it's bedtime...

...the house is dark and quiet, I'm dead tired, and I haven't taken a single photo all day. I wander around the house, looking for inspiration. Nothing much catches my eye. The best I could do was these funky glowing egg balls that turn colors. They're kinda mesmerizing. They belong to Aaron. He's crazy about light in all its forms. Sometimes I'll see a pink or green glow floating through the dark house at night, and that's Aaron holding one for a nightlight on his way to the bathroom.
This picture makes me think of blood cells. Weird, maybe, but it was a better shot than the one that looked like Mickey Mouse ears.

March 18 & 19--Nature Shots

It is SO wonderful to get outside. Nothing smells as good as springtime air.

Grass waving in a field that borders my neighborhood.



Seedheads on the sumac bushes by our driveway. In the winter, the red was vivid against a background of white snow. Now when I drive away, it catches my eye with a flash of red on blue sky.

I didn't realize when I picked these two photos that both show seeds--last year's fruit waiting for this year's warmth. The cycle of life.

March 17--First flowers

I know most parts of the country already have spring blooms galore, but these crocuses are our first.

March 16--Airport run

I'm at the airport all hours of the day or night, picking up or dropping off Steve. On Friday it was an early-morning departure for Joseph and arrival for Steve that had me sitting in the Kiss 'n Fly parking lot at sunrise.






But I did get a breakfast date with my honey at Dunkin Donuts out of the deal!

March 15th--Dusk

Sunset over the neighborhood pond.

March 14--Water glass

I like looking down into my water glass.

March 13th--OooRah

What a Marine does when he's on spring break-- conquer ancient empires on Medieval Total War. Semper Fi!

Monday--Baseball

Backyard baseball with big brother--the perfect spring afternoon.

The last winter photo??

Merrymakers on the ice of Lake Geneva. With warm days like Sunday, it won't take long for the ice to melt and the winter fun to come to an end.

In Memorium

Lydia Boyer was laid to rest on Saturday, March 10, 2007.

Home at last in the arms of her Good Shepherd. Grandma cherished the promises of the 23rd Psalm throughout her life, beginning when they were chosen for her baptism and later also for her confirmation and wedding. No suprise that these words would also bring comfort and solace at her burial.



...to the third and fourth generations. Grandsons and great-grandsons , once little boys begging Grandma for treats, are now strong men carrying her to her final resting place. Time passes so quickly.




The family legacy of love and connection in spite of physical distance lives on in Susannah, cousin Jordan, and Aunt Lily.

Two heads are better than one...for fun

No pair is better for goofing off than Ben and Uncle Brent. When Uncle Brent comes to visit, there's sure to be plenty of wrestling and laughing and action. Here Brent greets Ben at the airport Friday by picking him up and threatening to drop him in the snow.

Family Reading Night

One of our favorite annual school events is Family Reading Night, where kids, parents, and teachers get comfy in their jammies and hang around together reading books. (Milk and cookies come afterwards.) Here Miss Hinck, science teacher extraordinaire, gets the kids to chime in on a rousing rendition of Green Eggs and Ham.

Oh, the places we've been

Cleaning out a file cabinet on Wednesday, I found a lot of old tourist brochures from places we've been. Some were family trips and some were from Steve's travels with the Navy. It made me sad to throw out all those bits of our history, so I'm preserving them in a picture. (Much easier than dragging them all over the world for another twenty years.) I confess, there is still a whole 'nother file folder of the brochures I couldn't bring myself to throw out--from places like the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, the Tower of London, Iceland, Ashfall Fossil Beds, Keukenhof--places that have taken root even more deeply into the soil of our family life.

Tuesday: First signs of spring

It feels like we're still in the depths of winter--temps in the twenties, snow everywhere--so I was surprised when Steve told me to go look in the flowerbed outside the sunroom door. Little green heads poking shyly out of the ground!!!








Crocuses.











Mini daffodils.








A bit bedraggled and frostbitten, but a welcome sight anyhow--a promise kept, a hope fulfilled, one of the most eagerly-anticipated moments of my year.

Here's why I'm not taking many photos lately...

...and why I'm falling behind on laundry, house cleaning, correspondence, errands, forum participation, exercise, and cooking. The big push to get our house ready to put on the market has begun. Thank goodness Steve was home today to help me, Susannah, and Ben get the dining room and entryway painted. Only thirty-two thousand more projects to go.

Like Father, Like Daughter

Every Sunday afternoon should include a nap.

Childish humor

True confessions: I own a humor book called "Who F*rted". I bought it probably twenty-five years ago now. Liz and Aaron got ahold of it Saturday night. They must share my vulgar sense of humor because they were sure getting a kick out of the pictures. Watching them laugh is a highlight of my life.

And here's one of my personal favorites from the book:

No green eggs, but plenty of hams

On Dr. Seuss Day, I subbed in my son's seventh grade classroom. One thing I love about these kids is their willingness to ham it up and have fun.

Corinthians in the Car

I usually read through the New Testament during Lent, but this year I forgot about it until yesterday. Since I'm already a week behind, I snatched as many moments for reading as I could today--while waiting for internet pages to load (cursed dial-up), waiting for the shower to get warm, and here waiting in the car for the kids to get out of school. (Obviously I didn't start at the beginning--I'm a fast reader, but not fast enough to get from Matthew to 1st Corinthians in one day! I like to skip around and end up in John for Holy Week.)