immortality...sort of

So, last week was Plein Air, an arts festival that draws painters from all over the country to little ol' Easton. The theme of this year's festival was 'Vanishing Landscapes,' and since there are ancient scyamores on our street, there were quite a few artists here everyday. There were literally artists right outside our front window each morning when we opened the blinds. It was actually very inspiring to watch their intensity and artistry. Mid-week Eli and I were asked to 'model' for one of the artists who wanted to paint us into his portrait of the street and the trees. Here is the nearly-finished painting and John, the artist, immersed in work. He was a funny fellow, and it was slightly odd when he was instructing me on exactly how to sweep my front sidewalk, but whatever. I am immortalized, right. I'm not so keen on the fact that I am sweeping because, hello John, this is the 21st century, but okay. It was fun, and we actually got to see the finished painting hanging in the art gallery in town, and we were so proud that we were a small part of it. Too bad it was going for about $3K or we could have had a new piece for our house.

Anyway, here is John and the August street sycamores and mother and child sweeping the steps. I still think it would have been more appropriate and realistic, albeit less romantic, if he would've had me pull out my laptop, sit on the steps, and, I dunno, play a video game with the kid or something. Because I really don't sweep the front sidewalk all that much. Bad housewife.

you spin me round, round, baby, round, round



Only a photo to share today. Back to feeling overwhelmed and like I will never be able to write (aka, truly reflect on my life) again. I guess that's what retirement is for. lol. Happy belated birthday wishes to Aunt Jenny and Nanny Mel, and happy anniversary to our good friends Jill and Brian who celebrated 6 years on Sunday ;-)

Got my new Canon 40D today (can I get a woop, woop?), so I am looking forward to taking my photography skills to the next level. I hope. I'm tackling full manual mode next. I wonder if I can do that and bite my nails at the same time?

And, just for the record, and in the event Eli reads this blog one day, he was almost entirely an absolute dream of a child today. And, yes, I fully expect to pay for it tomorrow.

hydrangeas

boy of summer

home run



Doesn't it look like he is sliding into home base?

We ventured out to Assateage Park on Wednesday and hung at the beach for a few hours. He loved the sand but not the water. Maybe because it was ICE COLD. Yep, even in June, people. ICE COLD.

Much more news and many more photos to come...SOON, once I learn how to...ahem...blog again.

Cheerio.

wanna see some hot mommas...?

...and a new killer photography location right down the street from me???

Go here.

We've had a ton of out-of-town visitors lately, as well as lots of other things keeping us busy, so this blog is suffering big time, but I shall return when I find my head and reattach it.

Hope all is well for everyone.

Cheers.

get outta my face, and i mean it



My sister is here visiting right now, and all I wanted today was a nice photo of Eli with her, and, hey, I got it. I even posted it extra large for you to see.

Right.

Toddlers.

Hmph.

what ever will I do with them?



We're just getting back today from a couple days in Norfolk, VA, where I attended a photography workshop (more about that later). The workshop was great, but we are glad to be back in out own digs, and I am exhausted as the workshop lasted until about 1 am this morning. Here's our backseat passenger on the way home today. We had an hour or so of a detour because the main roads were blocked due to a domestic shooting (murder, actually) not far from where we live, and we all had to pee without a bathroom in site for miles. And Eli held it all the way home. The kid deserves extra ice cream or something for that.

into the wild



We're going on a bear hunt;
...we're not scared.

::

Aunt Jenny, I found my wires, so your video is coming soon!

And, yes, people, I know he will kill me one day for all the potty pics. But I'm okay with that ;-)

no comment



So, one of my fave photography sites, Shutter Sisters (linked here), is starting something new and adding a 'no comment' section, where bloggers will post a photo(s) that really and truly require no explanation.

Here is my first contribution...

peonies



More about these later, but I just wanted to post one of the many photos I took today. Aren't they just lovely?

it's been rainin' frogs here



Seriously, it has. Sunday night, the wind blew so fiercely, I thought we may lose our roof. And yesterday, it rained so much, I thought I may lose my mind...

with

a

toddler

in

the

house

all

day.



And then, the sun came out today.


Hooray for the sun!

i don't like oysters...



but the shells are pretty ;-)

p.e.a.c.e.

boy





And, I made the daily click again over at Shutter Sisters for my dogwood blossom photo ;-) I am obsessed with taking pictures of flowers and blooms of all sorts lately. Perhaps because it is spring and there are lots of them all around me.

Will be back with more soon. Happy Tuesday...

bowl full o' plums



I'm going to start posting more daily photos here, I think. Maybe it will help me find some inspiration to write more. Like the writing prompts I used to give my 10th graders...ha!

I rarely take the time to just play around with creative photography set-ups, but we were in the backyard the other day, and while Eli was flirting with the idea of digging up my freshly-planted herb garden, I decided to pluck some plums from our tree to do some still life shots. I love still life because -- surprise -- it doesn't move unless you move it. It's wonderful. So when we finally came inside, I plopped the plums in a little olive oil bowl and set them on the seat of an old chair handed down to us from Shaun's great grandmother. The fabric's got a great greenish-yellow, scrolly pattern, and I knew it would look great against the deep red hues of the plums! And it did ;-) It was an interesting 'session' with Eli perched right next to and at times with one leg hiked on the seat. I think it will be a while before I can take him along on a real session as my assistant.

According to our neighbor, the plums aren't edible, so after I was done with them, I let Eli roll them all over the house. And then I noticed the plum insides starting to ooze from the tiny bulbs, and I had a vision of this bright red juiciness smeared all over our freshly painted dining room walls, so we chucked 'em. Quickly.

:::

Shaun's mom (Eli's Granny) arrives today and will be visiting until next week. Shaun and I are looking forward to some time, sans the kiddo, to eat, drink, and be merry. It's my birthday on Sunday, and his was a month ago, so we will be celebrating both. And, I've been dieting (and lost 4 pounds last week...woop, woop), so I'm going to splurge on something decadent. I am licking my chops at the thought. Yum. Yum.

Oh, yeah, and for those of you who watched Idol last night, is it just me, or does Neil Diamond have a lazy eye?

must.love.elmo



I'm a bad, bad blogger these days, but I am being productive in other ways, so I won't be too hard on myself. And, American Idol still isn't over yet, so that occupies lots of my mental capacity lately. Ha. Just kidding. Kind of. I am dieting AND doing lots of biz stuff AND caring for a kid, with whom I now can carry on a pretty full-fledged conversation. This morning he opened the fridge and told me he wanted yogurt and reminded me that we bought it at the grocery store. Yesterday he found my tampons in the bathroom closet, unwrapped one, held it up, and said, "That's a screwdriver."

Um, I'm just gonna let that one go and find a new hiding place for my tools.

Here are his new socks that we bought at Yo-Yo (otherwise known as Target). Not quite sure why the designers chose to put Elmo's face on camouflage, but they were on the $1 rack, so maybe they weren't such big sellers.

Happy hump day!

today, we talked to a worm...




...and let me tell you, it was exciting stuff.