As the season turns

View from the front porch.  Sometimes there are deer in the meadow.

It was 20° before dawn this morning, but there is no frost. Anywhere. At. All. 

And I wonder why my face feels so dry?  

 

Of course, now the sun is up and it is a gorgeous day…one of those days that makes me really appreciate living here. 

WWC: Wood, Metal

When I read Tink’s assignment for this week, I immediately thought of this pic:
(see this post for the story)

But seeing as how I can’t leave well enough alone, here are some others:

WOOD   as seen on a hike in the Wenatchee National Forest
(I love the tangled roots of these 2 trees)

A whole lotta METAL
(difficult to see, but my 4 kiddos are at the base of Seattle’s Space Needle)

One of my faves, a combo of WOOD and METAL …a brass bunny on my deck railing

Sad to say, I had plenty of (great?) ideas for composing some terrific metal shots, but didn’t make it happen over the weekend.  *sigh*  At least I was inspired!  I’ll get there yet…

hemememe

Jenn had this meme and kindly did not tag, so I thought I’d play along. 

 7 Random Things About Me…

1)  I love cleanliness and order, but I am terrible at making it happen. 
2)  I’m a PK.  You’ll have to guess which kind! 
3)  I find myself more and more in love with my husband as the years go by…not in a mushy way, but in a really comfortable, safe, respectful-of-one-another kind of love.  I’m not sure why I am so very blessed in this way, because my parents had 22 rather unhappy years of marriage.  Suffice to say, the good example to follow was just not there for me.
4)  I don’t like shopping.  Most women will not understand this, but I am terrible at it!  (Groceries are the exception to this rule.)
5)  I no longer have the uncontrollable urge to hold babies, but I do miss –at times– pregnancy and breastfeeding, that exquisite closeness to other life totally dependent upon oneself.  I look forward to being a grandmother.
6)  I’d rather wear denim leggings, a T-shirt, and sneakers than dress up. 
7)  I have a lot of wonderful supplies for scrapbooking and stamping, but I am truly craft-impaired.  I need others to craft with in order to bring out my creativity. 
 

7 Random things about “he”…

1)  He had me convinced for the first 14 years of marriage that he was a “type B” personality.  Then he went to graduate school and turned into a “type A.”  Luckily, this is normally only his work persona; I usually experience the “B” side. 
2)  He is an introvert.   Being around other people takes a lot of energy, so we mostly stay at home.  When we do go to a get-together, he “pre-functions” with Tylenol. 
3)  His family comes first.  If he can, he will take a day off from work to go to a boy’s awards ceremony.  This means that he will not be climbing any farther up the military rank ladder, because to do so, you have to sacrifice your family time. 
4)  He wants to retire and simply “putter.”  Unlike many people, I believe he can actually succeed at this without going crazy!  (Whether or not I can handle it is another matter…) 
5)  Once he gets to know people, his dry sense of humor catches them off-guard.  Despite his introvertedness, there are people who would like to spend time with us as a couple because he is so funny!  (Notice, I am not the draw here…)
6)  Carpentry may or may not be one of his Skillz.   H-J’s desk looks pretty awful, but my new chaise-lounge porch swing is da bomb. 
7)  He truly is a SuperDad. 

Life, Love, and Laughter

THE PERFECT MAN

(Inspired by this post by Mrs. G
and this post by Jenn)

My husband and I didn’t date before we married. 
This is true.  Really.  We met as counselors at a church camp.  I was fascinated by this man who looked directly into my eyes with his own denim-blue ones.  I knew he liked me when he tossed me into a snowbank.  A small group of us stopped for hot cocoa and french fries before going home.  He & I exchanged addresses and hugged goodbye, but then everybody was hugging everyone else goodbye.  It was after we were in our separate vehicles and ready to roll  when he trotted back over, leaned in the car and said, “God was going to kick my butt all the way home if I didn’t come back and kiss you goodbye.”  It wasn’t much of a kiss, but once I got over the surprise, I would have climbed into the cab of his truck and gone anywhere with him, then and there.  And to the best of my knowledge, God did not spend the next 3 hours kicking his butt! 
We lived 6 hours apart.  Our letters crossed in the mail.  We talked on the phone.   We went back to the camp to ski and get to know each other in a safe environment.  After a resonable period of time 2 weekend visits, we were engaged.   There were many more weekend visits, but we rarely had what might be construed as a traditional date.  I can recall one movie, one dinner out at a pizza place.  We got to know each other, but all our funds were spent on phone bills and gasoline. 

It has been nearly 21 years since he asked me to marry him.  I still love to look into his denim-blue eyes.  He still makes me laugh.  And we occasionally go on a date… a dinner out, an extra-long walk, a bike ride, or just a drive.  Nothing earth-shattering, like this:
 
I think this comic must have been inspired by this post by Susie!

Found, Curve

It’s time once again for my attempt at WWC. 
Tink challenged us with the words FOUND and CURVE.  Whew!  I spent days wracking my brains over these words.  I feel a little bit like I am cheating when I use previously taken photographs, instead of going out and searching specifically for new photo ops.  This might be newbie fear…I dunno.
Anyhow, here is what I came up with:

Apparently, our snowman found the neighbor’s liquor supply. 
(Of course, I took the bottles from their recycling bin!)

SuperDad found dryrot in our newly purchased fixerupper home. 
(The inspector, of course, did not find this dry rot.  Grrrrrr….)

My nephew found a crab at the beach.  Note the curve of his fingernails. 

My favorite garden ornament has some beautiful curves. 

Taken last Spring, this double rainbow showed its incredibly beautiful curve over the roofs of the neighbors’ houses.  (I don’t miss living so close to other people, but I do sometimes miss living back in Western WA.  Everything is so green there.)

Two-fer

 For my first week at WWC,  I thought I’d better set the bar a bit low (or is it high?) with two-for-one submissions.   Sorry these aren’t freshly clicked photos, but at least they are within the past 6 or 7 months!        

 

 Motion, Suspend

 Motion, Suspend

What do you think?  Leave me a comment so I can be sure to see your submissions, too! 🙂

Supersized

Lately, there has been a lot of talk about how our area has gone from being quietly rural to being “supersized.”  I try to stay out of the fray, since I am a new resident; however, let me set the record straight.  I didn’t build a McMansion, nor did I a purchase a new townhouse.  Nope, we bought a 30-year-old fixerupper colonial.  I’m not asking for sidewalks or streetlights.  I try to combine my errands to reduce trips and save on gasoline.  SuperDad gardens and I’m a recycling geek.  I’m also conservative, knowing that most “facts”–on both sides of the environmental spectrum–are doctored to suit the delivery, whether playing for the audience or taking part in an argument, and many “facts” are then repeated by the general population as “truth.”   

That said, I find humor in certain situations.  Like a few days ago, we walked by a big ol’ SUV…with a bumper sticker decrying the supersizing of our local land.  This same big ol’ SUV had another bumper sticker, proclaiming allegiance for a 2008 presidential bid by a certain environmental guru (although to the best of my knowledge, he isn’t running for President).    Oh, and this big ol’ SUV…is owned by a family of 4. 

Now I might be pointing out a splinter when I’ve got a plank…but I’m gonna take my chances here…

If you are concerned about the environment, don’t drive a big rig when your family fits into a smaller one.   If you can afford it, buy one of the new hybrid vehicles that doesn’t gobble fossil fuels. 

 And yes, if you are really hungry, go ahead and buy some fries to go with your burger…but do you truly need the “Supersize” option? 

Edit update:  Obviously, if you have a big family, a compact car doesn’t make the cut as the family vehicle, and being the family car doesn’t mean that the rest of the family is always in it.  I spend time alone in my family vehicle, too. 
And yes, I recognize that some folks around here have horses and need a vehicle with the horsepower to move those horses, while other folks need those big rigs for work purposes. 
So I’m not talking about seeing only one or two people in a big ol’ SUV…. I’m talking about smaller families who choose big vehicles as a “statement”…and THEN complain about global warming, the Supersizing of their locale, and the lack of Al Gore in the White House. Yep, that’s what I’m talkin’ about.    

It’s February

It’s a wee bit chilly here today…

My dh went to work in the big city before the ice settled down on us here.  The kids are enjoying their ice day by keeping company with the Wii.  Eventually I expect their tummies will send them my way. 

But it’s February, and Susie is constantly on my mind and in my prayers.