Picture Walk in October

Saturday, October 8th was a GOOD day. It started out rainy and slow. My Mom and I watched "Still Alice" before the house woke up. We paused it while I ran my brother to a rehearsal. By the time I got home, my sister was up and ready to join in on our movie marathon. She wasn't crazy about that movie. Her exact words were, "I think I needed to see the beginning."

After that we watched Lady Jane Grey. Since the same lady who plays Bellatrix was playing Jane, it took some getting used to, but it was pretty well done. I think they MAY have gotten a little tired of me saying where the movie was mixing things up or skipping over important events in Jane's life.

After that, we started watching The Tenet of Wildfell Hall. Just so you don't think we're bums...We had rented these movies from the library and they were allll due. That rainy morning combined with a looming due date were the perfect combination for a movie marathon. We watched SOME of Wildfell Hall and then the rain started to clear up. I was getting stir crazy. For once, my sister had ZERO plans, so I asked her to go for a walk. We bundled up and I stuck my camera into my pocket....

I'm committing a pet peeve (sorry, Amanda)...I can't choose which of these pictures I like best. We'll call them (from top to bottom) 1, 2, 3. Which is your favorite?

These pictures required a bit of strategy. Sometimes I like capturing strangers right along with the scenery, but on this day, I decided not to. It wasn't busy, but it wasn't as dead as these pictures might lead you to believe.

We saw a friendly old man with two dogs who were JUST as friendly as their master. We saw a couple of guys lounging and chatting on the sea wall. I saw one guy sitting on the wall intently looking out onto the lake. Truth be told, there was something "dark" about him, but I envied him. He came down there by himself and sat for however long he wanted to. I wish I was brave enough and bold enough to do that.

We saw a couple of families out trying to take pictures. We saw some boys on their longboards. And then there was the couple that was meandering along the trail right along with us. It's always awkward when you find yourself wandering along at the same pace as someone. Do you speed up? Do you wait for them to speed up? Do you continue your pace even though it means that you're less than 10 steps behind them? I never know what to do in those situations. We passed them and then slowed back down.

It was beautiful and peaceful and refreshing. A sleepy town after a rainy morning really can't be beat. Picture walks with this sweet sister of mine are always in order. We talked and laughed  and caught up on things that we hadn't talked to death yet.

I keep wondering how much more of THIS we're going to have. In this town. Together. During a season where neither one of us is married or has a DIFFERENT family to take care of. This, my friends, is why I'm in no hurry.

Oh...And since the 16th of September, we've been collecting license plates. Normally we just spot them and write them down. We're up to 24 different plates now! My sister recently traveled to Ohio for her friend's wedding, so this one required a quick picture. I'm not sure I've ever seen an Ohio plate around here.

Julie, here are the pictures!!!! It's Friday. But I finally shared them. :)

What's something about your current season that keeps you content with it? 

Do you play the license plate game just for fun?

July in Pictures pt. 4

Remember those sentences I wrote about a night in by myself? Well...I grabbed a camera during that particular evening I was writing about and snapped some pictures during my wander. Here they are, recording the progress of my little garden as of July 30, 2016. The peas were in the height of their production, the cucumbers were JUST starting to take off, and the zinnias were picked bare. The light was just right and I had time to myself.

Years ago, I met this guy while I was on vacation in Baltimore. We talked and swapped info and continued our friendship long distance. My Mom asked about him the other day when I was taking her to work which got me thinking back on that time. Well, the two of us lived VERY different lives, but he was trying to get his life back on track and we had Christ in common. He used to call me after a long day and we would chat about life and our faith and soooo many things. One night, he called and I was out in the garden, so I took the phone out there with me. He asked me what I was doing and I think he might have laughed when I told him I was working in the garden.

I never thought of it as being odd, but I guess maybe it was. There I was 22 or 23 and my idea of relaxing was spending time in the front flower bed deadheading petunias and trimming back the geraniums. That hasn't changed. It's peaceful and calm and there are few places I'd rather be than stooped over things I've planted and tended and nurtured.

Remember that hole I mentioned? As of July 30, it was still there. :) As of today, the cucumbers spread right over it (I never did set my cucumber trellis up this year) and have been threatening to use the pea trellis on the one side while crowding out the zinnias on the other.

I brought mint from our other house with me and plunked it down into the dirt here. So far, so good. I'll take a cutting off of it wherever I go!!! It's from the ranch and my friend Heidi gifted it to me during what I think of as one of the best summers of our lives. Tending it and smelling it and seeing it makes me happier than I can say.

So, there you have it...A wander through my garden just before the sun set on July. AND the conclusion on the July in pictures series.

July In Pictures pt. 3

July 7

These are some of the other things July held for us...First up was more theatre fun. I think my brother has spent more of his life dressed up in costumes than he has in regular clothes.

July 15

My dad took his vacation and brought our dog up to join us at The Queen's Cottage. She had a trial run earlier this spring and it was decided that she would stay at our old house until it sold....It's the end of August and she's still here, so I guess this is her home now. I'm sure she misses having free run of the barn, creek, pastures, and property, but that's life. Her first stop was a trip to the dog wash.

She really is a city dog now. She loved it and tried to make friends with the psycho dog that was barking at everyone and that even tried to lunge at her. While we were there, my Mom and I decided that dog washes are definitely worth it and that parents need to build tubs like this for bathing their kiddos. It was sooooo nice not to have to bend over!

July 19

Every chance I got, I went to the beach with whoever would go with me. I went with my sister, my brother, my brother AND my sister, and my brother and sister and our friend Aubrey. And if it warms up again, I'm sure you'll find me there!

I didn't ever swim at 24, but I got quite a bit of swimming in at 25. :) It was just as amazing as I remembered it being!!!!

July 23

I spent a fair amount of time in my garden harvesting peas and zinnias. July 23 marked the first big harvest of both. I enjoyed cutting flowers and making bouquets each week. The peas have since dried up, but the zinnias are still going at full speed ahead! I seriously can't keep up with them.

July 24

He took the stage again. He got whoops and hollers after all of his singing. It's been fun to watch him get involved on so many different stages and with different directors. I'm amazed.

We rushed to this performance after an evening of eating and singing with our church family at one of our summer cookouts where we practice singing from our hymnal. I didn't take ANY pictures at any of them, but I enjoyed each one. I cannot sing, so singing in parts surrounded by others was SUPER helpful. I'm already looking forward to the ones we have next summer.

July 27

July 27

This was one of my favorite days from July (I've got a few more pictures to add to this and possibly a correction or two to make.)...My sister and I spent the morning playing Monopoly (she won with and I lost with ) before heading out to Panda Express for lunch. I didn't plan the day at allll. Everything that happened was totally spontaneous.

I picked my brother up from work (or maybe he didn't have to work that day. I'm not sure which now) and then we had a BBQ dinner. This summer I have hardly cooked real food and when I do, I almost always end up eating it alone. They're gone at meal times and when they come home they're ready to crash. So, anytime I get to cook food AND eat it with someone feels like a party. Just this week (as in August 22) I grilled my sister and I hamburgers one afternoon just because she was home and then I made my Mom and I fancy quesadillas with homemade salsa and guacamole for the same reason.

July 30

This was the end of a LONG day. Everyone was gone alllll day. Being home alone in the evenings is kind of the worst for me. I like our eat dinner, talk about the day, and then play a game or watch a movie routine. I have definitely learned to have a night in by myself, but I still prefer company. I had to snap a picture of this because you can see my spot over on the bench, the remnants of time at the lake hanging all over the patio, and the animals who were waiting on everyone to get home right along with me.

What's your idea of a perfect night in? I tend to put on the Early Jazz station on Pandora, eat dinner outside, read or write, putter around the garden and yard, and then go to bed early. Pitiful? Maybe, but I guess that's just how I unwind.

May 17

And one more picture from much earlier this year....Here are my brother and sister with their friends at our other house. I used to snap pictures of them like this all the time. After playing, they'd stop and just lay or sit in a circle and Lydia was always in on it. There are pictures in the yard, around their little table, draped over that swing in the background, around the firepit, and who knows where else....

On this particular day, we were back at our other house packing stuff up and they invited their friends over since it had been a while since they'd all been together. My Mom and I were sitting at our spots at the kitchen table having a break of our own. I looked out and say them sitting and got a little teary eyed...This days are coming to an end. We're moving for real. They're growing up and this yard isn't going to be ours anymore. I grabbed an iPod and snapped a picture and now I'm sharing it and making all of us cry all over again.

Our life in that small town was sooo hard a lot of the time, but it was also REALLY good. I'll always carry a piece of it with me and I expect that my brother and sister will carry an even bigger piece of it with them, because it's all they ever knew.

July In Pictures pt. 2

Before summer ever even began, there were a few things jotted down on the calendar. My sister's trip to SC was the first, then there were the summer jobs, two plays, and getting our other house on the market.

It wasn't much, but we knew we were going to be BUSY. And we have been. July, was an especially hectic month. With work and rehearsals and performances and church there was very little time for much else. I mentioned that I got roped into costuming one of the plays they were in and today I have pictures from it. My Mom did FAR more than I did, but this is what we were working on.

The actors in this show were fantastic. During the first night of rehearsals, I called to check in with my Mom and she overheard them singing one of their songs as a warmup. She asked if she was hearing a track playing and I told her that, no, it was the actors singing together FOR THE FIRST TIME. My favorite moment in the actual show wasn't during a song or a dance or a moving scene, but when my brother got to eat cheese on stage. This boy LOVES cheese and theatre. It came together on a huge stage and it was almost more than I could take. God is SOOOO good.

My sister had several roles during this play...I didn't get very many great pictures of her, but the ones during this sequence are some of my favorites!!! That shirt she's wearing??? It's a men's dress shirt that my Mom turned into a peasant shirt! She's AMAZING.

And my sister's ability to do WHATEVER they ask her to and to switch roles and characters and costumes and smile the whole entire time is truly something to admire. She pulls it off soooo well and I just know that she is a quiet blessing to all those acting alongside of her. Scroll down and you'll see a couple of pictures she took backstage...

From a lady to one of the sons.

To a ghost...She does it alll!

My brother and sister call me their personal paparazzi. And they love it. They're always saying, "Take pictures!!!" or, "Make sure you get a picture of ____, when _____ happens." or "Did you get a picture of _____?" and I love it. Mostly, I just have my camera handy and quietly take my pictures and they pretend like I'm not there. Well, every now and then, they spot me. When I was taking this shot, I realized that my brother knew what I was doing. He's looking right at me and making a face....So, I did what I do and zoomed in for a close up!

When he was little we would do this thing where we would stare at each other and make faces. Usually I would make an angry face and then he would make it back and then I would make a super smiley face and he would make it back and we'd go back and forth with this until it ended in laughter....

Here's the face. No smile, big eyes. I SEEEEEE YOU!

And that's round two of the pictures in July series. This play ate up soooo many nights and weekends and entire days. The memories will be with us a lifetime.