Ocean IV

Having crossed into September, we are just beginning to slide into cooler nights and appreciably shorter days. Because we often travel north to Maine in the autumn, my thoughts naturally turn to the ocean, Bar Harbor and Acadia. In keeping with the “Ocean” series, begun a few weeks ago, I chose to post this image. The photo was taken out at the tip of Schoodic Point, part of Acadia National Park in Maine.
I tweaked it in PhotoShop in order to get a more impressionistic, painterly effect. When I click on the image to view it in the larger format, I'm happy with the effect on the rocks and the surf, but less so with the sky. When viewed at this fairly small size, I fear it looks as if I couldn't hold the camera steady when I shot the picture originally!

Alphabet Soup

Well, not soup, alphabet scrap actually. But I liked the ring of alphabet soup!

Cathy Zielske of Bits & Pieces (a very enjoyable slice of life kind of blog) once ran a scrapbook workshop inspired by the book “Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life” by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. The idea is to focus on the everyday, the mundane, all the small routine moments that make up a life. It’s not all birthdays, holidays, weddings and trips to Disney World 365 days a year. But to look at our scrapbooks and photo albums one might think life was one long party! So starting with “A” and wrapping up with “Z” think about what little snippets of your life begin with a given letter. You could easily journal this encyclopedia of you instead of scrapping it. Or create the “Encyclopedia of Someone You Love”.

For me, “A” could be Acadia or the first time I made an Asparagus Spring Pie or when a former literacy student of mine learned to spell “A**hole” correctly (no W) as she yelled at her boyfriend and spelled her opinion out for him!

Yup. I think I’m going to enjoy this project!

Cheers!

We knew we wanted to go out to eat for our anniversary, but we couldn’t decide where. (Have a familiar ring to it?) One thing we knew was it had to be a local place, not a restaurant that was part of a huge nationwide chain. Not that we never darken the door of a chain restaurant, but local felt a little more special and unique for this celebration. If we drive about a half an hour from home we can choose from a variety of cuisines. If we go all the way to Boston we can start adding not just countries, but continents. Asmara, our favorite Ethiopian/Eritrean restaurant in Cambridge, did beckon, but it felt like too much of a schlep. That brought us closer to home to the second largest city in New England: Worcester, Massachusetts.
Chinese? No.
Thai? No.
Armenian? No.
Italian? No.
Lebanese? No.
Indian? No.
Mexican? No.
Too many choices left us with an embarrassment of riches! Then Chuck said what he really wanted was a steak. So of course we reviewed all the local places that specialize in steak. Then back over all the ethnic places that serve beef! At that point we started to think we should begin planning for our seventeenth wedding anniversary dinner!!! Luckily we remembered that a great little Italian place called Biagio’s has a diverse menu and they also grill a very good steak.

It was the right choice. We arrived late enough to be seated promptly. Chuck ordered the Filet Mignon. I ordered the “Haddock Provincal”. Both were perfect. And both entrees were matched by the devilishly good dipping oil/sauce they serve with Italian bread. It consists of olive oil, garlic, basil, cheese - and did I mention garlic? Oh my! It is irresistible, but there is still a slight cloud of garlic following both of us today! (As a bonus, they had the Red Sox game on in the bar, where rookie major league pitcher Clay Buchholz was in the middle of making history with a No Hitter!)

Not unlike planning our wedding, it took us awhile to figure it out, but we made the right choice!

Sixteen Years

It was a day almost exactly like today. The day dawned cool and dry, breezy and sunny, without a cloud in the sky - perfect weather for a wedding. To think we almost eloped.

It wasn’t that we hadn’t wanted a ceremony and a celebration. We just hadn’t known how best to do it. When we called our family to tell them of our intentions, they were all very supportive and all very disappointed. We called everyone back the same day. We would have a wedding, pot luck, at our home, at high noon, on September the first. That was sixteen years ago today.

We wrote the ceremony and the vows. I hand wrote the small number of invitations. We cleaned the house, ordered a cake, bought a camera, made reservations for a honeymoon. My Mom, my sister Gail and her family, picked up the flowers on the way to our house, arriving in time to set up the buffet and make the whole thing come together. Dear Uncle Gilbert arrived and promptly got himself locked in our only bathroom. Chuck had to disassemble the doorknob and lock and a paper plate, with a smiley face drawn on it, was taped over the opening. When we were all assembled just before the ceremony, we sang “Going To The Chapel” a la Bette Midler. We didn’t have a chuppah, the roof of our little home served as our wedding canopy. Carrie and Kate cued the music; Vivaldi (the Andante from the Concerto a 2 Choeurs ”con violino discordato” in B flat Major) and before we knew it, Chuck was breaking the glass under his foot with such determination that the house actually shook. We were married - officially, legally, happily-ever-after, married.

It felt like a not so little miracle. Everyone applauded. Kate and Carrie cued our recessional; Frank Sinatra singing “Let’s Get Away From It All”. Champagne was poured, toasts were made. We ate gorgeous Nova Lox on bagels with cream cheese. There was shrimp cocktail and corned beef and a marble cake with chocolate frosting and toasted coconut on the side. Music played all afternoon. One song after another, playing from a tape Chuck had made of all our favorite songs, with all the lyrics that spoke to our hearts.

It wasn’t that we hadn’t wanted a ceremony and a celebration. We just hadn’t known how best to do it. Clearly, we figured it out...

Six Sets of Four

I’ve seen this meme floating around the Blogosphere for a little while. Now that it has made it to Roo’s blog, I figured I’d join in.

Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. I was a salesperson in the Men’s Furnishings Department of a major department store (underwear, ties, shirts, socks...).
2. I did lenses and glasses data entry for an optical company and was able to enter the data “blind”, many pages ahead.
3. I was a House Mother for an Elderhostel dormitory.
4. I worked in a cheese store and offered samples in front of the store to drum up business. My folks came by to see me and my Dad was so proud of my pitch it made him cry.

Four places I have lived:
1. Rhode Island
2. Vermont
3. Minnesota
4. Connecticut

Four places I have been on vacation:
1. Bermuda
2. Canadian Rockies
3. Acadia National Park in Maine
4. Cape Cod Massachusetts

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Maine
2. Maine
3. Maine
4. And almost anywhere as long as we don’t have to fly to get there.

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Pizza
2. Ethiopian/Eritrean cuisine
3. Clam or fish chowder
4. Fresh baked bread with butter

Four of my favorite books:
1. Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
2. Ten Secrets for Success and Inner Peace by Wayne Dyer
3. The Spenser series by Robert Parker
4. The Mitford Series by Jan Karon

Starting Out

A recent photograph of my parents’ first house.
The five of us lived there with my paternal grandparents.

I really enjoy the show “House Hunters”. It airs here in the U.S. on HGTV. It’s similar to “Location, Location, Location” that used to air here on BBC America, except the home buyers work with different realtors in each episode. HGTV also runs the fun companion program “House Hunters International”. Chuck and I both get a kick out of “touring” the prospective homes and guessing (more like rooting for) which home the person, couple or family will (should) buy. The cherry on top is when the show revisits the new home owner a few weeks or months after they moved in and we see them settled into their new digs.

Recently, I’ve been struck by how big the housing budgets are for some very young buyers. And some of them seem to have champagne tastes, but are apparently not operating on a beer budget! Three or more bedrooms with three or more baths, a deluxe kitchen with all the bells and whistles and great rooms seem to be the norm. Remember “starter homes”? They were compact, affordable houses where kids shared bedrooms, the family ate in the kitchen and the only bell or whistle was the front door bell - maybe! Continuing along these lines, do folks ever buy cinderblocks and pine boards to build bookcases anymore? My Dad built mine when I was a kid. He stained the pine boards and polyurethaned them. Then we painted the gray cinderblocks to match the “decor” of the room. My grandmother, Gagee, made my curtains out of sheets and I sewed pillows out of bandanas.

If folks can truly afford deluxe and they want deluxe, that’s great, more power to ’em. I just hope that the folks who want deluxe, but can’t yet afford it, know that a starter house can be a very good thing to really live in - not just a property to quickly “flip” for profit. Most of us with clear recollections of the 1960s and earlier decades, started out with small budgets, in small houses. And a lot of us had pretty cool makeshift bookcases built with cinderblocks.

Hey Lady! I’m Trying To Blend In!

I have no idea what the formal scientific name for this little guy or gal is! But he’s been hanging out in the evenings near our back step. The first photo was snapped while he was on the back walk. The camera flash, coupled with my presence, sent him springing onto the grass. I followed. He decided to either freeze and take advantage of the incredibly accurate camouflage of his surroundings. Or he figured he’d do the pause on the red carpet thing until the paparazzi had their fill!

Layout, photos and paper by LMR/Pink Granite. Software: Apple iPhoto 5 & Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 for Mac. Leaves of Time Fern Texture by Lori Cook, Photo Edge Style 5101 by Durin Eberhart, Vellum Style 5401 by Erica Hite (available at Scrap Girls) Font: Tempus Sans ITC.

As always, feel free to click on the image to get a better look.

File Under: “Duh!”

But cross reference it under: “Valuable Lessons”.

Yesterday I worked in PhotoShop Elements. Earlier in the week I had watched one of the free podcasts by Corey Barker. He’s the host of “Adobe Photoshop Elements Killer Tips” (available on Apple iTunes). I wanted to try some of the techniques I had seen. So I started from scratch. The only pre-made item I used was a Grunge Texture. Everything else was the result of my experimenting with colors, textures, layer styles, shadows and fonts which live in PSE. I worked at it for a couple of hours, including a quick review of one piece of the podcast. I was very happy with the final product and started typing up a little information sheet in Text Editor. I was about to save the PhotoShop file when the keyboard froze up. Yup. Locked up completely. I didn’t even have a cursor or a “spinning beach ball of death”! My heart started pounding as I groaned aloud. I felt so stupid! I asked Chuck for advice, but I knew he didn’t have a magic wand. I hadn’t even saved the Text document, which detailed all the colors, settings and techniques!

I drew a quick sketch of the layout and then I pushed the button and shut the whole computer down. I kept my fingers crossed as I powered the laptop up again, but no chance. Everything I had worked on was gone. So I started over. As soon as I had a couple of layers I saved and named the file. And I saved it over and over every couple of layers. It’s my habit to save word processing documents frequently, but I had never thought to save PSE files in progress! I think I associated saving with “merging” or “flattening”, but saving keeps all the layers separate and editable. Lesson number one learned.

Lesson number two was equally valuable. I was able to recreate the entire layout in well under half an hour! When I started over, I was dreading how long it would take to redo the project. But because I had already made all the choices, I breezed through it. Chuck looked over and saw how rapidly it was all coming together and reminded me how slow and agonizing working in PSE was just a few months ago. It felt great! I realized how much I have learned and how much more smoothly and surely I navigate within the program.

Here’s the finished product:


Layout, photos and paper by LMR/Pink Granite. Software: Apple iPhoto 5 & Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 for Mac. Refresh Grunge Texture by Lori Cook (available at Scrap Girls) Font: Bradley Hand ITC TT.

Coming Home

We first saw the house in July. But we didn’t close until September. It was two more months before we were able to get enough work done such that we were able to move in. During those weeks of working on the house and waiting for others to finish their work, I used to drive over to the house and sit on the front porch with our Siberian Husky, Z. I couldn’t quite wrap my mind around the variety of plants growing everywhere - neither could Z. I found a chipped and cracked water pitcher in the back of the pantry. I filled it with water and every flowering thing I could find. I placed it on a little table on the front porch next to my chair, Z curled up at my feet.

Every year, as summer begins to wane, these flowers spring up in the mostly untamed tangle along the edge of the front lawn. Every year, it makes me think back to that first year of excitement, frustration, delight and exhaustion. I miss Z. She loved the first year we lived here, the last year of her life. We walked every bit of of every acre together across her last four seasons.

These are for you Z...

Miss Rumphius

Barbara Cooney rightly won the American Book Award for her lovely book: “Miss Rumphius”. As author and illustrator, she takes us on a sweet, simple journey. Through Miss Rumphius she shows us how we need to live in the world. The clear, almost matter of fact message: “You must do something to make the world more beautiful.” The declarative sentence fuels an internal quest, one which we cannot help but become engaged in ourselves. Seek out “Miss Rumphius”, share it with a child, read it yourself. Then decide what that something is which you will do to make the world more beautiful.

To Do Or Not To Do...

Procrastination is an incredibly powerful force isn’t it? It must be up there with gravity and sex. It can also lead to a high level of productivity - in a roundabout way. I had a handful of things I would have sworn I really wanted to get crossed off the old “To Do” list today. I stayed very busy all day long. And, no, very busy (in this instance) is not code for digital scrapbooking. Really. I never even opened up PSE 4! Now here it is, the day winding down and those top priority items are still sitting pristinely on the list, no triumphant double cross out lines struck through them.

Maybe I’ll cross out “Friday” at the top of the list and write in “Saturday”. Sounds like a plan...


: : Red Sox Notes:

Mike Lowell continues to live up to what we call him around our house: Mike “I only know how to hit doubles and home runs” Lowell. It may not scan well on a player’s jersey, but it’s true! I know he’s coming into free agency. I know he needs to think about his and his family’s financial future. But I sincerely hope that Mike and the Red Sox manage to find a happy meeting of the minds and bank accounts so that Mike can continue to dazzle both at third base and whenever he’s at the plate.

Wicked Cool Car

Yesterday, Chuck and I were out in Hadley, Massachusetts, part of the idiosyncratic Pioneer Valley. We were parked in front of Whole Foods when we spotted this rolling canvas across from us. The trunk of the car is covered in blackboard paint. There’s a little plastic soap box fastened to the rear bumper that holds chalk, which the viewer can use to leave comments!

Layout, photos and paper by LMR/Pink Granite. Software: Apple iPhoto 5 & Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 for Mac. Icy Frost Transparency by Diane Miller and Roughed Up Transparency by Ursula Schneider (available at Scrap Girls) Font: Stencil.

Ahem, Again...

Hem, the marvelous musical group that I’ve written about previously has released a new six song EP. It’s called “Home Again, Home Again” and includes the song: “The Part Where You Let Go”, which you might recognize from the second Liberty Mutual TV commercial. At this moment, the “physical” CD seems to be available only at CD Baby, an on-line purveyor of lots of great music. It’s available in the U.S. for just $6.99 plus $2.25 S&H. But CD Baby ships to lots of places around the globe. They can even help you save on international shipping by mailing the CD and all the paper parts, without the plastic jewel case.

Check out the Hem links I’ve posted in the sidebar, just below the clock. You won’t be disappointed!

Honey, What’s For Dinner?

Bloggers get a bad rap for droning on and on about what they ate for breakfast that morning. I want to put that complaint to rest by telling you what I made for dinner tonight.
What?
No. This is totally different!
Anyhoo, I had some leftover slices of grilled eggplant in the refrigerator. But it wasn’t quite enough to make a side dish for each of us. Off to the pantry where I spotted a small jar of marinated artichoke hearts (always a big hit with Wonder Hubby). But I didn’t want to start tossing things together to make an improvised ratatouille. I wanted those yummy, smoky eggplant slices whole. So I finally settled on laying the eggplant into two individual casserole dishes. Then I drained and arranged the artichoke hearts around the eggplant. Color was needed. Back to the pantry where I found roasted red peppers. I sliced some up and added them. Done. Into the countertop convection oven.

Main dish? When in doubt: chicken. I quickly ground some salt and pepper onto a large chicken breast and pan seared it in a little olive oil. Something else - rice? pasta? I had some shiitake mushrooms Chuck had brought home from the local farmers' market. Maybe add them to some rice... Wait a minute. That reminds me of mushroom risotto, which I happened to have a bag of in the freezer, direct from Trader Joe’s. Done. But the chicken was starting to look a little boring compared to the side dishes. So I removed the chicken and deglazed the pan with a bit of balsamic vinegar and some sherry. Better. I sliced the chicken. I added a dollop of light sour cream to the vinegar and sherry mixture, stirred it gently and returned the sliced chicken to the pan. Covered, I let the chicken stay warm on super low heat in the improvised sauce. Ding! Out came the risotto from the microwave. I spooned some into two gratin dishes, then popped those into the oven along with the eggplant dishes to finish off.

Wine? Sure, why not? (Is there a "No" answer to that question?) Chuck arrived to pour a not too sweet Gewurztraminer from Washington state, as I ladled the chicken onto the mushroom risotto. Dinner was served.

Now wasn’t that better than cereal and milk?

Wish Them Luck!

KRL and PJL are starting graduate school!
We wish them great success and lots of chances to study together!

Watermelon Ways

It’s a recipe. It’s a digital layout. It’s both! We enjoy watermelon in season - juicy, crisp and cold from the refrigerator. This year I’ve been serving it with sharp and savory ingredients for a delicious, refreshing contrast. This layout was digi-scrapped using mostly items from the absolutely free Scrap Girls “Refresh Biggie Collection”. Then I continued to play in PhotoShop Elements. When I spotted the watermelon image, I knew I had to scrap this fun, summery page.

Note: The colors, as uploaded in Blogger, are not as bright as in my original layout!!!

Layout by LMR/Pink Granite. Software: Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 for Mac. All papers & embellishments are from the FREE Refresh Collection Biggie (available at Scrap Girls) Font: Type Keys by Typadelic from DaFont and Tempus Sans ITC.

Sorrow, Healing, Hope

“There is no despair so absolute as that which comes with the first moments of our first great sorrow, when we have not yet known what it is to have suffered and be healed, to have despaired and have recovered hope.”
- George Eliot, 1819 - 1880

Mary Ann Evans, Ms. Eliot spoke the truth. When I think back to my painful firsts - failures, losses, deaths, disappointments - the first of any given one, was a body blow. Sometimes a great overwhelming sense of physical weakening, as I was sent reeling. The world spun. The bottom dropped out. But with the next one (and life always brings us more) there was some memory, some learning, some reflex that got triggered that said I’ve been here before. More importantly, that memory brought strength, resolve and a little beacon of light. The more years we live, the more we experience the sorrows, the more rhythmic it becomes. We don’t like that part of the ride, but we know that somehow we survived the last one. Surely, we will pick ourselves up and find our way through, once more.

Still Working

There’s an old Yankee expression (which if you are in the south, is an old southern expression; in the midwest, a midwestern expression and so on...), which is particularly true in rural areas everywhere. Nowadays, it is no doubt part of the environmental movement’s code as well. It is as follows:

Use it up. Wear it out. Make it do. Or do without.

Here are a few details of what is not quite yet used up or worn out and continues to be of service.

Guest Post - Ocean III

After a very long and very busy day, I had no idea what I would post tonight. Then I opened my e-mail to find a great photo of Matunuck Beach in Rhode Island, at sunset. My niece KRL snapped it with her cell phone and had sent it along in response to my two recent ocean posts. Thanks so much KRL!!!

I’m going to go crash now...

Ocean II

For KRL and Roo and Chuck and me and anyone else who is missing the ocean, I’m posting this photo. It was taken from the same spot as the one I posted the other day, but in the other direction. We were driving along Park Loop Road in Acadia National Park and came to Otter Point. It was one of those perfect sunny, dry, breezy, comfortably cool days in Maine.

I’m not sure if it’s grammatically possible, but I think I’m not just reminiscing by looking at these photos, but living vicariously through them!

Wish Her Well

Ronnie is undergoing a medical procedure today. Hold her in your thoughts and pop over to her blog in South Africa to deliver your good wishes!

Ocean

I am thinking about the ocean. The way waves roll in, crest up and crash upon the shore. The way the ocean draws back as waves recede. And that quiet time between the waves, when the ocean lets us believe it is still.

I am thinking about life. The way good news pours in and crashes over us. The way bad news swirls about, threatening to pull us under. And the way most of life is that quiet time between the two extremes.

But even in that stillness, there is joy, not just contentment. In that quiet, there is gratitude and grace. In that lull, lies peace.

A Thought...

“Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.”
- Paul Boese (1668 - 1738)

Sometimes we need to forgive ourselves.
Sometimes we need to forgive someone else.
Sometimes we just need to say: “enough”, let go of the pain and move on.

Faded To Fabulous - and Beyond!

Two days ago, I posted “Faded To Fabulous”. I thought I was done. I was happy with the results. My sister Gail was happy with the results, but preferred the middle photo of the transformation. All was good. Then George Geder commented. He’s a kind man. He’s a professional. He complimented Mom and Dad and my work. Then he urged me to do more: cropping, cloning, healing. I was grateful for his unemotional, experienced photographer’s eye. But I was also scared. Why? It took me a bit to figure it out, but I finally realized that I viewed the photo of Mom and Dad as sacred. I shouldn’t be doing anything as “bold” as what George was suggesting - should I?

Then the light bulb went off. Just as I had carefully saved the original and each successive version of the Dorothy and George photograph, I would copy my “final” version and work on that. I did. Here are the results. Nothing lost. Everything gained. So Mr. Geder, as the old George M. Cohan line goes: “My mother thanks you. My father thanks you. And I thank you!”

A Time To Dance

Sixty-one years ago today, my parents were married. Sadly, unfairly Dad passed away 19 years ago. But on this bittersweet day, Mom was laughing and reminiscing. Not too much reminiscing, because she was quite busy helping her newly engaged granddaughter, Carrie, make plans for her upcoming wedding to Al. Sweet and fitting don’t you think?

Puts me in mind of Ecclesiastes Chapter 3:1-8; a time to mourn and a time to dance...

Faded To Fabulous

It all began with the photo on the far left. Dorothy and George, my Mom & Dad (well, in that photo, not yet!). Mom thinks they were photographed while attending a family wedding in the late 1940s. The photo was very faded, but still in good physical condition. I scanned it into the computer and then tweaked it in iPhoto 5 until I achieved the center image. By then it was much better, but you still had to squint to focus in on the details. The photo on the far right is after I converted it to black and white and did some “healing” in Photoshop Elements 4.0 for Mac.

As I’ve said before, I really like to see the original alongside the new and improved final product. It provides a context and a sense of history. Best of all, now we get to see Dorothy and George looking fabulous!

Twofer

This is a twofer, as in two for the price of one. The small, fuzzy, tigeresque caterpillar in the photo above is, I believe, a Milkweed Tussock caterpillar (Euchaetes egle). This little fella is destined to become a Milkweed Tiger Moth. Our stand of milkweed is little more than three yards away - and heavily chomped! From an outside the species perspective, this appears to be it’s most colorful and flamboyant life stage.

What makes this a twofer, is what the caterpillar is curled around. That’s the doormat outside our kitchen door. I believe we bought it at least nine or ten years ago. It shows no signs of wearing out. It is made from recycled tires. More importantly, it works! It works in all four seasons. I’d bet it even works in the fifth season folks up in northern New England have: mud season. We bought it on a trip to Lehman’s, an excellent hardware store in Ohio, which serves the large Amish and Mennonite communities. I don’t see the exact same model doormat on their website, but I hope the one they are now offering is just as sturdy and functional. In any event, Lehman’s is worth a look.

Lydia

As a child, we called them darning needles and sewing needles. I was an adult before I knew they didn’t deserve the frightening appellation. This beauty came to rest on our back walk this afternoon, a favorite spot for all visiting Dragonflies. I had to photograph it from farther away than I would have liked, because each time I got just a half-step too close, it took flight. I tried to identify it, but with over 5,000 species worldwide, it was a challenge. I suspect it is the Common Whitetail (Libellula lydia), perhaps an immature male. With all due respect to the Odonata experts, until further notice, he/she will be known simply as “Lydia”.

Feel free to click on the photo to get a closer look at Lydia.

Tanglewood

Mother Nature brought us two terrific days in a row and we took full advantage by making the trek to Tanglewood yesterday. It’s about a two hour trip door to door - or door to gate, to be more precise. Tanglewood, located in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts, is the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. When you attend the summer concerts performed in “The Shed”, you have the option of being seated under cover, in the open air hall or out on the lawn. With one impromptu, rainy day exception, we always opt for the lawn.

Attendees cover the entire possible age range of folks. Dress code? From cut-off jeans, tee shirts and flip flops all the way to dazzling summer frocks and the preppy men’s summer uniform of chinos, a buttoned down oxford and a blazer, sans tie - it’s summer after all! Some folks turn the picnic on the lawn into a Martha Stewart vs. Ina Garten case of one ups-woman-ship, complete with charmingly clothed tables, vases of flowers, candles and of course “The Menu”. There are some folks who must have prepped for days (or maybe their staff does it?), others proudly pull out containers from fabulous food emporiums, still others pack the humblest of picnic fare. I’ll admit, I’ve played a few of the games - though never up there with the black-belt picnic queens - and it really was fun. But over the years we’ve settled into something simpler and ultimately more enjoyable and relaxing.

Oh and the music is always very nice too! How bad am I? Two full paragraphs before I think to mention the Mendelsohn and the Rachmaninoff! Silence reigns during the concert. Scofflaws have been known to be frozen in place by icy stares from nearby parties for squeaky chairs, rustling wrappers or squealing children. It may be apocryphal, but I’ve heard that the picnic queens just turn the offenders into ice chips and plate their oysters on them! Seriously, the music is lovely. I generally spend the concert writing - with a very quiet roller-ball pen! Chuck usually does the New York Sunday Times Crossword Puzzle, also very quietly. All in all, it’s well worth the trip!

Our little picnic space in the shade.

The view of The Shed from our spot.

A lawn ticket, on, the lawn...

Summer

A sunny, warm day without much humidity. No clouds in a clear blue sky. Last night’s thunder, lightning and hail storm nearly forgotten. Light breezes cooling off the mostly shady porch. Cassandra sprawling and exploring. Abigail, having caught sight of the camera, evaporated. Three cotton shirts drying on the line. Life’s good.

Layout, Photos and Paper by LMR/Pink Granite. Software: Apple iPhoto 5 & Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 for Mac. Font: Type Keys by Typadelic from DaFont

Just A Whisper

Our family attorney is a peach. Harriet is exceptionally intelligent, moral, decent, kind and patient. As regular readers know, I am not a big fan of talking about our eventual deaths, life insurance, etc. Neither is Chuck - really. Compared to Chuck, I could be a funeral director! So imagine how difficult it was for us to slog through our wills. It took us years. That is not an exaggeration. I mentioned our attorney is patient. She held our hands, almost literally, and reworked, rewrote and tweaked until her secretary was probably near exhaustion. It’s not easy to get a worrier/what iffer (me) and a Pollyanna/cockeyed optimist (Chuck), who both wish to live forever and avoid the whole topic, to hammer out wills, powers of attorney and health care proxies. But we did it. We also updated the primary and contingent beneficiaries on our investments and insurance, because Harriet explained those things trump wills.

But even after all that hard work and tsores (ours, Harriet’s and her tireless secretary’s) something was missing. So I (the reluctant potential funeral director) drafted a letter. I addressed it to my primary Health Care Proxy, who is Chuck and my secondary Proxy, who is Carrie. I thought of it as whispering in their ears. I wanted it to be the kind of conversation they would want to have with me, if they were sitting in a hospital waiting room, anxiously awaiting a meeting with a doctor. I spelled out what I believed, what I felt and thought about life and death and ordinary and extraordinary means. I gave them a sort of flow chart of what ifs (See, it comes in handy.) to help them make unimaginably difficult decisions in a time of crisis. Then I copied and pasted it into a new document and told Chuck it was time to write his letter to me and his sister Carol. Bless his heart, he edited it until an equivalent letter was crafted.

I’m glad we wrote those letters. I hope we never need them. But chances are, one of us will. Do you need to write a letter that will whisper in someone’s ear?

More Than A Game

The current owners of the Red Sox have a marvelous sense of history. They understand that today’s team is built firmly upon the shoulders of all the players that came before. That respect for the former players and that sense of stewardship of the team, came together beautifully today at Fenway Park, in Boston. On the 60th anniversary of the first “Bobby Doerr Day”, the Sox honored the great second baseman once again. According to Mr. Doerr, now 89, this might be his last visit east from his home in Oregon. But what a visit this was.

Shortly before the start of this afternoon’s game, the players were warming up on the field. Four young men tossed the ball back and forth, all of them dressed in the uniform of the late1960s. Music played which sent us back to images of “Field of Dreams” and “The Natural”. Slowly the four came together and walked side by side across the field. Now we could clearly read the numbers on their jerseys: 1, 9, 6, and 7. This season has been dedicated to the Impossible Dream Team of the 1967 Red Sox. 1967 was the first time the Sox had made it to the World Series since 1946. The four guys stepped through a green doorway which had me thinking of cornstalks in an Iowa field, and emerged moments later behind a 1946 Ford convertible. Seated up on the back deck, his friend and teammate Johnny Pesky below him in the back seat, Bobby Doerr waved to the cheering crowd. Slowly, the Ford with its precious cargo, drove around the warning track.

The ceremony which followed was a fitting tribute to Bobby Doerr. But he wasn’t standing there alone. He was surrounded by hundreds of ghosts, from over 100 years of Red Sox players and Bobby spoke for all of them. He did them proud in a heartfelt speech in which he thanked the current owners for never forgetting the former players.

Love, respect, family, history, the genealogy if you will, of a great sport, played by hundreds of sometimes all too human men, across a turbulent century, in a great but imperfect city. We all need a sense of where we fit in this world, not just in the present moment, but across time. The current ownership of the Red Sox gets it and we’re the richer for it.

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

Congratulations to Carrie and Al, who became officially engaged to be married this evening!
We wish them every happiness!

Smile For The Camera!

Since I began Pink Granite, I’ve been delighted to receive compliments about my photos. I’ve always enjoyed photographs. I’ve appreciated and been fascinated by those frozen moments, captured on film. I’ve also been repeatedly impressed by the sentimental importance of photographs - formal portraits and candid snapshots, as well as those more casually gathered and posed groups of people at beaches, in backyards and at family celebrations.

I took my first photographs under the steady hand and instruction of my Dad. I thought it was so neat to look straight down into the top mounted viewfinder of his Brownie camera and see “my subject”! Over the years, Dad taught me how to frame a photograph as I looked through the lens and how to make a decision about what I wanted to capture on film. One Christmas, I received a Kodak Instamatic camera of my very own as a gift from Mom and Dad.

Just before Chuck and I married, we bought a Canon SLR. It was terrific. We took it everywhere, including our honeymoon to Bermuda. About a year and a half ago we were up in Acadia in Maine, sitting by Jordan Pond. It was a beautiful crisp fall afternoon. We had been snapping pictures and needed to change the film. We heard an unpleasant clunking sound and that was the end of our trusty SLR. I was really sad. I had not wanted to make the move to digital. We tried in vain to get the Canon repaired, but we were repeatedly told it was just too old. Too old! It was the same age as our marriage - just fourteen years old! So reluctantly we began the research.

We settled on a Canon PowerShot S2 IS. As is typical of our happily balanced relationship, Chuck read all the instructions and then showed me the basics. My first real outing with the camera was to my niece Kate’s bridal shower. I was convinced I had captured nothing usable. But when I got home and uploaded the photos onto the computer they were pretty good. Encouraged, I kept shooting. It didn’t take long for the penny to drop that, unlike our old film camera, I could take as many shots as I wanted and it wouldn’t cost me a cent! Taking lots of pictures helped a lot. But I still find myself using the same simple advice my Dad gave me: frame it well and decide what I really want to capture. I try to both see through the lens and mentally and sometimes physically step back to make my decisions.

I often use Apple iPhoto to lightly tweak my photographs. But it feels a bit like cheating to crop and play with exposure or color balance! I always make a duplicate of the photo first and only play with the copy. I occasionally will use the “auto-enhance” feature, but most often “undo” it and adjust it myself. For older, faded or damaged photos I start in iPhoto and then move over to Adobe Photoshop Elements. With these precious antiques I have no compunction about getting them to look the best I possibly can. As I wrote several weeks ago, I want to respect their age, let them be mature treasures. But I want to ensure that future generations can see their beautiful faces.

To see some truly great photos, let me point you to Ilva, who takes amazing photos of food. George has both heritage and contemporary photos that he continually works his magic on. And Roo has a wonderful eye for all sorts of flora out and about in his garden.

: : Enjoy!

Not Gonna Do It

I will not complain about the weather.
I will not complain about the weather.
I will not complain about the weather.

May I say, however, that if you like it rainy, hazy, hot and wicked freakin’ humid, then you will most likely be a very happy camper today.

I did not complain about the weather.
Not really...

And I brought you Black Eyed Susans.

How Did I Get So Lucky?

This is a different sort of digitally scrapped page than what I have shared here previously. It has only five layers and uses one photo of Chuck as a young boy, in two different ways. (Wasn’t he cute as a button?) On the larger image I reduced the opacity so it could serve as the canvas. The journaling is heartfelt. In many ways, this page comes closest to what I have looked forward to creating digitally.

Layout by LMR/Pink Granite. Photo from family collection. Software: Apple iPhoto 5 & Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 for Mac. Frame: Jessica Sprague’s Grunge Frame 1 (available at her blog). Transparency: Street Grunge - Scratches Transparency by Brandy Hackman (available at Scrap Girls). Font: Courier New, bold

Digi-Scrap Update

I wanted to give you an update on my PhotoShop Elements (PSE) and Digital Scrapbooking progress.

progress ( prŏg 'rěs' ) noun 1. a movement toward a goal...

If that’s how we agree to define progress, and since I am making movement toward a goal, then I am making progress! I do feel that things are starting to click when it comes to PSE. I’m still not creating layouts that make me completely happy, but layers and brushes are making sense! I recently picked up a special publication magazine from Creating Keepsakes called “Computer Tricks for Scrapbooking”. It shows what they call “hybrid” scrapbooking; digital scrapbooking which has been printed out and embellished with other paper scrap supplies. That’s not my goal, but it has lots of clear instructions for digital work.

Perhaps even more importantly, it led me to Jessica Sprague’s websites. This gal writes very clear instructions within PhotoShop, but they are generally applicable to PSE, and they all relate to digital scrapbooking. The blog she used to post at, devoted to “PhotoShop Friday” tips, is not currently active, but all the excellent information is still available here. Her original blog is also no longer active, but is available over here. And her newest and still active blog (which includes all the later “PhotoShop Friday” tips) is right over here!

Also, if you are at all interested in digital scrapbooking, do sign up for the Scrap Girls e-mail newsletter. Their products and information are excellent. Plus, in every newsletter they offer at least one free downloadable item. They even have an entire “Biggie Collection” of digital papers and elements you can download for free, just to see if you want to pursue this whole digi-scrap addiction - umm - hobby! Right now they are having another sale. It’s not as extremely fabulous as the one I heated up the credit card with a couple of months ago, but it’s a sale nonetheless! And the sale includes their downloadable QuickTime Instructional Videos, which really are worth the money.

Last week I brought my Mom 8” x 8” versions of the Mothers Day Collage and the Gagee and Mom pages I did. They made her cry - but in a good way. That clinched it for me. I will keep on digi-scrapping!

Which End Is Up?

It’s all a matter of perspective. When I took this photograph, I liked the diamond texture of the concrete and the way the weeds were creeping and fanning out. When I looked at it on the computer, I realized it looked as if the weeds were climbing up a wall. That’s what prompted me to post: “What Do You See?”. Because in fact, I was standing on the step above, photographing the step below. The bottom of the photo is a length of pressure treated lumber. The concrete is diamond gridded for traction. I thought perhaps the dark splotch of aged gum on the right, slightly obscured by the greenery might give it away! Because I gave it a double take, I was curious to see what you saw. Thanks for your comments!

Not Exactly As Planned...

- Parking in Boston, even after validation, is still expensive.
- There is a staggering amount of pain and despair in an Emergency Room, even on a busy, but not completely chaotic, Thursday afternoon.
- Kind, intelligent, compassionate, well intentioned Health Care Workers must have a deluxe place in Heaven.
- Everyone should have access to excellent health care and excellent health insurance coverage.
- Truly delicious matzoh ball soup (with nice bits of tender chicken) is a mechaieh (a great joy).
- Air conditioning is also a mechaieh.
- My little folding fan does wonders in a pinch!

All is well now. There was a bit of a family hiccup today. I’m happy to be home after a long hot day, with everyone healthy and whole.

Oscar

I’ve lived with cats off and mostly on, for a quarter century. Each one has had their own unique personality. I’ve lived with independent, feisty, aloof cats and at least one I referred to as a “puppy-cat” because of the way she shadowed me and came when called. I’ve even been called “Mom” by a cat. Willow used to draw the vowel sound out to make it a plaintive wail that was unmistakable as "Mom". She was the only creature on this earth to ever call me by that name. Amanda used to know whenever I was in pain and would curl up on just the right spot to bring warmth and comfort to me. Cassie is our posable cat. She doesn’t mind being picked up and carried in any configuration and when the camera is out, she actually lets us move her into a better position. Abby, well, she’s one tough cookie, who has taken to being held in my arms while I rub her tummy. And she likes to walk all around the slippery, curved edge of the old clawfoot tub, in between the shower curtain and the liner, just to get a head rub while we are on the throne, as it were. She likes a captive audience! But when I get the camera out she is the black and gold blur just exiting the edge of the photo.

So while the headline startled me, I didn’t doubt it when I read: “Feline Intuition; Cat Can Sense When Nursing Home Patients Are About To Die”. It’s a wonderful story about a cat in Rhode Island, named Oscar, who lives in a nursing home. When patients are about to die, he goes to their bedside. He senses their imminent passing even when the medical staff is uncertain. Here’s a link to the Boston.com article, and another to the write up in The New England Journal of Medicine.

There’s so much we just don’t know...

What Do You See?

Please tell me what you see.
Or tell me what this is.
Or tell me what this image makes you think or feel.
Leave your answers in the comment section.
And if you’ve never left a comment before, do chime in!
Thanks!

Extra! Extra!

It took quite a long time, but here I am. Back in the late 1980s I had just gotten my first “modern” computer. By modern I mean it was an MS-DOS based Personal Computer (PC) - a significant upgrade from the Commodore where one had to type in exhausting strings of code in order to get a “Pong”-like game to run on it. (Heavens to Murgatroyd! How old am I???) Anyhoo, the new PC felt very slick and powerful. I found the possibilities dazzling and the realities frustrating. In some ways, it was little more than a dedicated word processor, which had it all over electric typewriters, but only hinted at what might be possible down the road.

Well, I wanted “it” now. I wasn’t completely sure what “it” was. I felt as if I were looking at a wheel before there was a barrow or a cart or a carriage or a car to go with it. But I craved something creative, something exciting with words and images. Printshop was wicked cool at the time, now of course stunningly primitive. Then I stumbled across a software program for creating newsletters. It was words and graphics combined. That was “it”! Mind you, I didn’t have a group to send a newsletter to. I didn’t belong to a club or a PTA or even a company that needed or wanted some sort of internal missive. I didn’t care. I bought it. I tried it. Really I did. If you are a regular reader you are probably beginning to get an inkling of how this turned out. Well, you’re right. The program was very complicated, very limited and narrowly designed to publish, well, a newsletter. Which was exactly what the box said it would do, but I was dreaming bigger dreams. I was looking at the first wheel and already feeling the wind in my face, my hair streaming out behind me, as I was driving a Porsche.

Those dreams didn’t come to fruition until about nine months ago when I discovered blogging. My words, my pictures and I didn’t have to belong to a club or have a mailing list. I just had to do it. Create something of my own, push a few buttons and Ta Da! - Pink Granite.

Aaaah... I love the feeling of the wind in my face! ;o)

Bashert

Twenty-two years ago this month, two people met. To the untrained eye it was a simple introduction in a copy room. A veteran colleague welcoming the new gal he had read about in the “Welcome Memo”. But actually there was a chorus of angels singing Hallelujah and a great deal of angel high-fiving going on!

You see, this had not been an easy moment to arrange. He had been born in Illinois and raised in Missouri. She had been born and raised in Rhode Island. But a bigger challenge was the time difference. Not Eastern to Central Time zones, but a difference of fifteen years. He had arrived on the planet fifteen years early or perhaps she was fifteen years late. No matter, it was a problem. There were in fact plenty of complications existing and plenty more to come. But those angels know their business. So they were excited, delighted and perhaps more than a little relieved to be transferring the responsibility and next steps to the couple shaking hands, next to an enormous photocopy machine, in a fluorescent lit room, in Massachusetts.

Fortunately, somewhere deep in our hearts, Chuck and I felt a connection. It wasn’t enough to start high-fiving and joining in with the chorus, but a connection natheless! I remember feeling as if we had met before. Not in that lame pick-up-in-a-bar kind of way, more like old friends who were catching up after not having seen each other in ages. It was easy, relaxed, comfortable.

We were, in fact, Bashert: predestined, soulmates, meant to be. The angels had their work cut out for them and it turned out we did too. Twenty-two years later I wouldn’t change a thing. Well, perhaps just one; I would have tried to arrive much earlier...
;o)

Milestone

Happy Anniversary K & J!
25 Years and Still Going Strong!

In Clover

I brought the camera along on our walk for some sky shots. The clouds were puffy and swirly as sunset approached and I hoped to capture something dazzling on film. (If it’s a digital camera, what is the correct phrase now for “on film”?) Instead of something broad and sweeping, I found this little vignette. It tugs at my heart - the decay of the manmade against plucky, guileless beauty.

Feel free to click on the photo to get the full effect.

Miss July

We spent a lovely day today down in Rhode Island with my Mom. The three of us also had the opportunity to join our niece Carrie, at a reception in her honor. She was named employee of the month! It was such fun to see her healthy, happy and very much in her element. Her colleagues clearly think she is the bee’s knees and we heartily agree!

This Daylily is for you Carrie, with our congratulations!

The Decision

I can only begin to imagine the conversations. He was 27. She was 26. Their youngest child, a fifth son, was still a babe in arms, the oldest only nine. Did they discuss it by candlelight at a kitchen table? Or was it so big a dream it could only be whispered about in bed before they fell asleep? Eventually the decision was made. Jacob would go to America. Leah would stay behind in Russia with the children. It was 1887. They were young and strong. Leah was the eldest of 16 children. Her mother had passed after delivering eight children into the world. Her father’s second wife had borne eight more. Leah was a capable woman. Jacob would work hard and send for them as soon as he was able.

The die was cast. Jacob went to Boston. He worked as a presser in a coat factory. He was paid by the piece. Year round he worked with the iron and the steam. Each coat became a coin. Each coin that could be saved above keeping body and soul together brought his wife and children closer. At last there was enough. It took four years. Four years of trusting that it would all work out, that every sacrifice was worth the distance and the time.

In 1891, Leah packed up their belongings and she and the boys traveled by horse and wagon, then by train, to the port of Hamburg, Germany. She had brought oven toasted bread and tea to keep them going. They boarded a steamship to Liverpool, England, then another ship from Liverpool to Boston. The two weeks in steerage meant potatoes and salt herring. But it was only two short weeks after four long years.

Think of the reunion! The relief, the joy and yes, the need to become reacquainted as a family. In this age of e-mails, telephones, digital photographs and truly instant messaging it’s difficult to wrap our minds around the sacrifices Jacob and Leah made as a couple, for their children to have a better life. But it turned out to be the right decision.

Jacob and Leah would have three more children in America, two girls and one last boy. Around 1902 they posed for a family portrait from which I extracted these images. They couldn’t know that Leah had only five more years on this earth. She would die at 46. Jacob would outlive Leah by 14 years. All eight of their children would reach adulthood. Between them there would be 18 grandchildren, then dozens of great-grandchildren, one of whom is my husband Chuck. And still more great-great-grandchildren and so on and so on.

It was the right decision. But just imagine those first conversations as the dream took shape.

Uh Oh...

Quick note to let you know that I'm having a bear of a time with our DSL connection!
It has been intermittent all day long and completely out for the last few hours!
So in case I fall off the face of this virtual world, don't worry, it's just a tech thing!

: : UPDATE - Wednesday, July 18th:

The DSL still has a mind of its own!
The company is sending someone out to repair it tomorrow.
Fingers crossed...

Ahem...

I assume that they are broadcast only here in the States, but I - actually we - are smitten with a series of Liberty Mutual Insurance television advertisements. The ads depict a chain of good deeds flowing from one person to another in an intersection of The Golden Rule meets Pay It Forward. Even with the mute button on the ads are powerful, but the music puts them over the top. That music is by the group Hem.
Make a note of that: Hem!
Their sound is folk and country, but is richer and more sophisticated than those two categories imply.
Here are a ridiculous number of links so that you can all see - and more importantly hear - what has us both spellbound.

The Hem website
Hem’s MySpace page where you can easily (automatically) listen to their music.
The YouTube video of the first commercial with the song “Half Acre”.
The YouTube video of the second commercial with the song “The Part Where You Let Go”.
The Hem fan website where you can read the lyrics to Hem’s songs.

: : Enjoy!

Summertime Movies

A gal over on another blog put out a call for some "lighter" movie recommendations. That got me thinking about some favorite films of ours, all of which leave me with positive feelings as the credits roll. Here’s a list:

- Mad Hot Ballroom (2005)
- Love Actually (2003)
- Guess Who's Coming To Dinner (1967)
- Notting Hill (1999)
- Dave (1993)
- It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)
- Wordplay (2006)
- Sleepless In Seattle (1993)
- The Natural (1984)
- South Pacific (1958)
- Field of Dreams (1989)
- The Queen (2006)
- Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939)
- Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
- That Thing You Do (1996)
- Ever After (1998)
- The American President (1995)
- Dirty Dancing (1987)
- Remember The Titans (2000)
- A League of Their Own (1992)

Learn more about any of these titles at IMDb, the Internet Movie Database.
What would you recommend we rent this summer to leave us feeling equally relaxed, upbeat and cheerful?


: : Red Sox Notes:

- The Boston Red Sox have been a delight to watch this year. Manager Terry Francona trusted his instincts and left Dustin Pedroia in through his meager streak all the way through to his getting hot! Likewise, Terry stuck with Julio Lugo (even after that strange attempt to steal third a few weeks ago) and he too is now heating up.
- Compliments to Lugo for adding the Ichiro Suzuki bat line-up and shoulder adjustment to his at-bat routine. Big improvement over earlier in the season!
- I still miss having Johnny Pesky in the dugout with the team during every game. Wake up MLB powers-that-be and reverse your ruling!
- Hideki Okajima - oh my goodness, he has been such an asset!
- The Red Sox have to keep third baseman Lowell. I know he’s up for free agency at the end of the season but he has been terrific. We still call him Mike “I only know how to hit doubles and home runs” Lowell!
- Speaking of Free Agents, every major league baseball player that makes it to free agency owes a debt of gratitude to Curt Flood. Sadly, center fielder Curt Flood passed away in 1997 at the age of 59. But it was the David vs. Goliath legal battle he began in 1969, to fight the Reserve Clause, that led to the increased freedom and tremendous salaries players now enjoy. Today’s players should be sending checks to all the guys who came before them and worked for peanuts.

Genealogical Thoughts

I’ve been wandering around U.S. Federal Census records again. Because the census is conducted every ten years, a great deal can happen between reports. But it never fails to surprise and sadden me when I find an ancestor has passed away in an intervening decade. It’s part of what causes me to do the genealogical research in fits and starts. Similarly, when I scan family photos into the computer I often begin with excitement, but grow melancholy at the artificially accelerated passage of time. One minute I’m scanning in the photo of a toddler and within a half an hour there they are; holding their own great-grandchild. So I’ve learned to pull back and step away for a little while.

Because of the records searches Chuck and I have been doing, we often look at death and burial records. It’s so interesting where we choose to be buried - or where our families choose to bury us. We start out being born into one nuclear and extended family. Then we grow up, move, marry and find ourselves sometimes very far away from where we started. Then we are sometimes laid to rest among an entirely different group of people than we were born to. It seems as if families are strictly structured genealogically, but factually fluid.

Another thing occurred to me as we were visiting the graves of some relatives. No one engraves their occupation on a headstone. Nor do they note their addresses, their annual salaries or net worth at time of death. All that matters are the relationships: son, daughter, beloved mother, beloved father. In the end, all that matters are the connections, the caring and the love.

Sharing

As you can see, the milkweed is popular around here. This afternoon, an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly was sharing the dining experience with a Honey Bee (top right)! The butterfly and the bees were all in motion in the warm sun, moving from one pom-pom of flowers to the next. But in this instant, it felt as if the butterfly posed briefly for the camera!

Farewell Lady Bird...

Claudia Alta Taylor Johnson, forever to be remembered as Lady Bird Johnson, passed away today at the age of 94. The wife of President Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ), the 36th President of the United States, Lady Bird was a warm, strong, soft spoken woman. She supported her husband, raised a family, championed the Head Start Program, served this nation and brought environmental causes into the everyday conversations and activities of Americans. President and Mrs. Johnson led this nation during one of its most turbulent eras following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Mrs. Johnson’s legacy includes the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, which carries on and expands upon the work she began in the 1960s to preserve and enhance the native plants of North America.
She will be missed. She will be remembered.

Back To Normal

The Hostas, which were so battered by the hail storm in June, seem unfazed by their shredded, tattered leaves. Now that we are well into July, they are rapidly throwing their flower spikes up. Once the lavender trumpets fully open, the hummingbirds will begin feasting. I’ve never been able to capture those amazing little creatures on film, but I’ll keep trying!

Sweet!

These gorgeous raspberries are volunteers in our landscape. When we first moved here, we found the canes thriving in the spaces between the edges of the woods and the tamer portions of the property. We harvest our fair share, the birds take the rest. And by “harvest” I really mean very few ever make it into the house! Sweet!

The Road Home

I invite you to read the New York Times Editorial, published Sunday, July 8, 2007, entitled The Road Home. It is a thoughtful, unflinching prescription for how the United States can withdraw from Iraq.

Bridal Wreath

In honor of yesterday’s post, may I present Bridal Wreath. I actually thought I had uploaded this a couple of weeks ago when it was in full bloom. It’s very long lived and incredibly hardy, in that it can handle some pretty tough growing conditions - hot summers, freezing winters. Hmmm... more in common with yesterday’s post than I first realized!

Love, Romance, Fact, Fiction

We’ve all been sold a bill of goods. It started ages ago with fairy tales, books, television and movies. I’m referring to the “romantic grand gesture”. You know - the hero rides up on the white horse and sweeps the damsel off her feet. The engagement that takes place on the JumboTron at the 50,000 seat stadium. Jetting off from New York to Paris, just for dinner. The clock striking midnight, the pumpkin coach and the kingdom-wide search for the rightful owner of the glass slipper. OK. I’ll admit they’re fun to watch, but that’s not the bedrock foundation of romance.

Nope. It’s the small gesture. The routine, humdrum, ho-hum, daily grind of living a life together with the person you love. It’s putting the other person first in your thoughts, words and deeds. I’m not talking about subjugating yourself to someone else. Just exercising the reflexive thought that always thinks about the impact of your actions on your partner. Listening, holding hands, being there - choosing to be there with your partner - making each other laugh, holding each other through tears, taking out the trash. Seriously - taking out the trash, washing dishes, doing the laundry, cooking meals, paying bills, scooping the kitty litter, mowing the lawn - those are the household chores, which when completed, help peace reign in the home. Finding a way to take on those tasks with a cheerful spirit, or heck, just slogging through them knowing it’s for the good of your little family unit, well, that works too. And let’s not forget the social graces of please, thank you, excuse me and gesundheit. Saying I love you, saying it often. Saying I love you in the heat of an argument just to remind yourself and your partner of where it all sprang from. Saying yes to the one you love. Yes, you’ll attend the concert that you think sounds like fingernails on a blackboard, because your partner thinks it’s the sound of angels. Yes, you’ll attend the poetry reading or the Nascar race or the thimble convention or the woodworking show, because that’s what floats the love of your life’s boat. And you’ll do it with a willing smile or you’ll at least tour the convention floor and settle down in a corner with a good book until you have lunch together!

Not romantic enough for you? You really want to hire the horse and wriggle into the suit of armor? How about leaving a note in your partner’s briefcase or lunch box instead? Or jotting a quick “Thank you! I Love you!” on a Post-It-Note and sticking it in the checkbook just before they write the checks, to pay the bills, because you never have been able to balance the checkbook. Or call them in the middle of the day to say “Hi” and ask “How’s it going?” and actively listen to their answer. Remember their birthday, your anniversaries and pick a bunch of black-eyed-susans from the side of the road and bring them home.

It’s not the grand gesture. It’s the Golden Rule mentality that wins hearts. That’s real romance. That’s real love.

A Snowball For My Sisters

My eldest sister Karen lives in Arizona where it has been over 110 degrees (43 C) for many days and will be thus for many days to come. My sister Gail lives in Georgia where she is experiencing her first southern summer of 80s, 90s (32 C) and oppressive dewpoints, all punctuated with thunderstorms. So this big, beautiful hydrangea, which reminded me of a snowball, is for my intrepid sisters!
Hope you both have lovely weekends...
Sending you both cool thoughts...

Independence Day

As a child, on the Fourth of July, I used to do a little pageant/musical presentation with our family friends T & E. T was a year older than me and E a year younger than me. At twilight, we would put patriotic, all-American music on the big console style Magnavox stereo and blast it out into the backyard from my parents’ living room. We three girls would sing and march around and then for the grand finale we would light sparklers. I don’t think sparklers were illegal back then. They were so darned exciting and magical - little handheld fireworks that lasted a surprisingly long time. We would write our names in the gathering darkness, while our appreciative audience of parents and grandparents would laugh, applaud and sing along.

One year, I set up an Independence Day display in the dining room. I remember I took a little black cast iron pot from the fireplace and had small flags from all over the world sticking out of it. It was supposed to represent the melting pot which was the United States. I also had informational cards with quotes from The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution and The Bill of Rights. I probably walked every adult through every detail of my American history project! Lord, they were patient and kind people!

I grew up believing in everything pertaining to the Revolutionary War, the founding of our nation and the brilliant fundamental beliefs that a group of intelligent, savvy and ever so wise men drew up. I believed that our country and our founding documents were quite miraculous. Not in a religious sense, but in an intense alchemy of time and place and persons. I felt blessed, lucky, fortunate to be who I was, living where I was and in the time I lived. Vietnam and Civil Rights and Nixon swirled about my childhood and were discussed in my religion class five days a week, in my post Vatican II parochial school. But the ethics of that newly modern religion were inextricably linked to the ethics of the United States founding fathers and informed my moral compass forever.

I may not have had a history display set up yesterday, nor did we have any of those delightful sparklers in hand. But I cried watching dozens of brand new United States Citizens being sworn in. I applauded the fireworks and the cannons of the 1812 overture and my heart still beat faster at the sight of the American flag, at full staff, rippling in the muggy July air. Those who read Pink Granite regularly know my anger and sadness over the current state of affairs in this country. Now you know a little more about how I came to feel so passionately about such things.

Image of The Declaration of Independence courtesy of The National Archives.

Freedom!

Wonderful news came across the wires this evening that BBC Correspondent Alan Johnston has been released! He was taken hostage back in March and was being held by a group called the Army of Islam. As the details of the escalating political machinations in Gaza were reported this afternoon, we grew concerned that Mr. Johnston would come to harm. We are grateful his horrible ordeal is over. We wish him well. We wish him peace.

Another Insult

I am both angry and astonished simultaneously. I never thought that President Bush would insult the American people, as well as the judicial system, by commuting the prison sentence component for Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff, Lewis “Scooter” Libby. I figured Bush would do something for Libby in the eleventh hour of his presidency, just before a new administration took office. At that point Libby would have served better than half of his 30 month sentence for his conviction on four out of five counts of felony obstruction of justice and I assumed Bush would free him. But Bush only waited for a few hours after Libby was told by a Federal appeals court that he would have to report to prison, before Bush declared Libby’s sentence “excessive”.

President Bush has been disconnected from the American people for a very long time. He and his cronies, have been riding roughshod over the Constitution and federal laws for a devastatingly long time. Bush seems determined to leave a legacy of destruction both abroad and at home. Back in 1974 President Gerald Ford pardoned former President Richard Nixon. It was an outrageous, audacious act. But I believe Gerald Ford was well intentioned, in that he wanted the nation to move forward. Bush is not well intentioned. He seems determined to undo the immeasurable greatness that is the Constitution of the United States of America. And he has the nerve, the gall to casually add this insulting act to the pile of his misdeeds just two days before the Fourth of July. Adams, Jefferson, Washington et al must be rolling over in their graves.

Somewhere Is Here

We spent the weekend mostly around home. The weather was cool, dry and generally clear. That was a great incentive to get outside and do some yard work. We had just finished this afternoon’s round of trimming and raking. I was about to start making dinner, when we noticed it was beginning to rain lightly. At the same time we noticed that the sun was lighting up the tops of the trees in the field across the street. That’s when we saw the rainbow! I made a dash for the camera and ran outside to snap some pictures. The rain was heavy enough that I opened the barn door to get out of the weather and took the photos from there. I believe the last photo is where you can see the shadow or double rainbow the best. It was a great way to finish off the weekend!