Simple Shots

Monday 5/29

Michael and I spent a lot of time working around the house and yard over the nice long 3 day weekend. Why can't we just get over our serious selves and have more of those? My passions seem to keep getting squeezed out and the majority of time I spend working, working, working at a job I really need to be finished with.

One of the teachers I worked with a few years ago is retiring next month and opening a small boutique. She saw some of my photos posted in this blog and asked if I would be interested in selling any of them. Big hell yeah! Why is it so hard for me to imagine making a living doing something I would love to do?

Anyway, some of my flowers are beginning to put on their warm weather show. The middle two shots were taken a day apart - same flower, an allium. I planted flowers Saturday, and Sunday and again today. We're going to have some serious color going on here real soon.

I remember when I was just a little kid getting packed into the back seat of the family car with my 2 brothers and my little sister. (No big ole SUV's back then) (matter of fact I think my thighs mutated from being squeezed and pinched from both sides at the same time). Anyway, we always drove through Watkins Glen on our way to Keuka Lake and there was a house right at the bottom of the road going up to the racetrack. Every year they had a row of red tulips lining the walkway up to their front door. I loved those red tulips. I remember thinking that you had to be rich to grow red tulips. I promised myself that when I grew up and had a home of my own that I would have flowers all over my yard. So I do. Wonder if my yard might inspire a future flower grower...

 

Simple Shots

Sunday 5/28

The weather today is what they write about in fairy tales. The air is clear, invisible. The sun is crisp, rendering truth to everything it touches. Birds are out and singing the halleluia chorus. A perfect morning.

Yesterday I was able to plant many of my flowers before the storms rolled through. I was touching up one of the beds I had previously planted when I noticed a plant lying on its side. So I reached down and dug up some of the earth to put it back in place. Odd. The spot this one flower had occupied was now the home for something else. I found this big speckled egg just barely under the surface. This really has me puzzled. I took a photo of it for you to see. I know it wasn't there the day I planted - I have this small pick ax looking tool I use to break the soil up first. No way this could have survived that assault. So for now I have the egg just sitting to the side. I doubt anything will hatch from it, but I'm keeping an eye on it, perhaps a dozen will spring from it saving me a trip to the supermarket. 

Simple Shots

Wednesday 5/24
When I was leaving school today I glanced at the car parked on my left. It had a small little white oval sticker on the bumper that said HOPE. Then I looked at the car parked on my right and it had a little sticker of its own. This one said ESCAPE. What do you do with stuff like this? I just wanted to go home and eat some cookies. Shouldn't have to deal with this kind of thing after working all day.

I went down to Kiwanis Beach tonight, a little lake right here in Upton. It was a few minutes after sunset and I thought the reflection in the lake was beautiful. I wish I lived on a lake. Maple told us that the father of a good friend of hers won a million dollars on a scratch ticket last week. If I won that kind of money I would find a nice quiet lake and live on it for the rest of my life. 

Simple shots

5/22
Today it's in the low 60's with lots of sun, racing white clouds and wind. I took this picture yesterday, the cold front moving in. It was so eerie looking, the sky was dark and crackling with energy, but the trees and grass were letting off a soft green glow. Michael and I had gone to the movies and on our way back I was watching the sky - you just knew something was brewing. We were going to stop at Gregg and Shelly's house for a couple minutes and we were almost there when I asked Michael to pull over so I could take this. It was silent - no birds singing, no kids, no dogs - just silent. Not even 5 minutes after I took this the rain started with a vengeance, and then hail. It reminded me so much of the storms we would see when we were living in Austin. Very powerful. I'm glad that men haven't really figured out how to manipulate the weather yet. It's still neatly held in the hands of God. A good place to be all things considered.

Simple Shots

At last! Released from boxed up, stale air smothering us - from tight, sharp corners and dusty grey corridors. School was over for today and the sun was shining! We all went giddy! Rushing out, each one in tune with frantic inner voices repeating over and over like a record that skipped, outside, outside, outside... Only now would young boys fall in love again with sweet faced girls in short pink skirts. And wrinkled old men were free to throw aside their canes - to tap dance in the streets. Each dog and every cat had a grin that
stretched from my house to yours. It felt like part of me just flew away for a bit and then smoothly eased back in. The world fits right again.

Michael and I went to Milford before dinner and hiked around Lake Louisa. It was warm and windy, my very most favorite weather. It felt good to stretch out muscles that were beginning to atrophy from lack of use.
I took these photos there. The one on the bottom is my favorite.

Tomorrow it's back to school again, but now I know the sun isn't broken.

Tuesday 5/16

As promised! The top picture has the eye brow dormer that first drew us in to the cemetery and the second photo is the tree I mentioned. It almost looks as if there is a crucified man hanging from it. I went back last evening and took a few more shots, but it was raining (again) pretty hard and you could see that on the camera lens. It was so quiet there. Part of me wanted to stay and just walk around - but there was that rain issue...
It's raining now too. A good part of Massachusetts and New Hampshire are getting flooded. Having lived through that once in my life, I wouldn't wish the aftermath on my worst enemy.
My husband is laid out on the couch sick with a flu so I'm going to have to post this and go slip on my wife, nurse, maid, cook uniform. 

5/14

A rainy day for Mother's Day. Michael took me out for breakfast at our favorite little coffee shop, "Rebecca's". We sat by the window and watched dogwood blossoms float down the street and around the corner. Legend has it George Washington spent the night in this same little red wooden building. One of the things I love most about New England is the rich history here. I often ask Michael to indulge me in visits to little church side grave yards. Churches that have names like "First Congregational of Hopkinton" or "St. Ann's by the Sea". So many stories are told there, silently told there, inscriptions on moss covered stones that lean today but will someday cover the grave they mark like a lush green blanket. On our way back home after breakfast we stopped when we noticed this little stone building with a unique eye-brow dormer in the Hopedale Cemetary. As we were leaving I spied this incredible Beech tree and asked Michael to pull over. I wanted to take a few pictures, but as luck would have it, my camera batteries gave up the ghost (sorry, sometimes I can't help myself!). I decided to go ahead and shoot blind hoping I still had enough juice left to capture an image. It worked. I want to go back tomorrow and perfect the composition though so I guess this post is just a big commercial free preview of a shot you will get to see in my next post. We've got ourselves a cliff hanger!
But back to Mother's Day...The photo on the left is my oldest daughter, Maple. The picture on the right is my youngest daughter, Becca. The girls came by to make an enchilada dinner in my honor tonight. I couldn't love them any more if I tried.
Happy Mother's Day to all!

Friday 5/12

It crept in while I was asleep last night. I remember waking up, aware that something had changed - I checked the backyard through my bedroom window. Sleepy fingers pulled me back to warm flannel sheets, kept me from doing a thorough search - that and the quiet. The quiet sounded like a mute tenant sneeking onto our land refusing to pay rent. A silent protest, there... not there.
Sleep called me by name, and I fell in. Then, tic..... tic....... tic . I thought tiny exclamation points of ice were hitting my windows. But it was rain, skinny sharp rain hitting my window in pieces, not drops. I belonged to my bed. And so I slept until muffled light shook my shoulder and the fragrance of coffee pulled me out for a taste of awake.
I fed the cats, drank my coffee, read for a bit, packed some lunch and left for school. I stopped at the end of our road and took these pictures. It's foggy and raining, again

 

Wenesday, 5/10

It's raining...again. I have a feeling that we are going to be in for a killer mosquito population explosion as soon as the sun gets back to doing its job again - you know - shining? That's one of the things I would change right away if I were given the reigns of creation. No matter how hard I try, I can't come up with a single speck of logic for the existence of mosquitoes. I hate everything about them - there's that annoying noise they make when they get close to your ear, that may just be at the top of the list. But then again, I'm not especially fond of the way they get you to smack yourself - all the while hoping to silence them forever, casting them into the deepest dark corners of hell - you get the picture...
You know what? This has just become a day for me to vent. This next thing is kind of funny. It's May and school lets out in June. The kids are sick of school, we're sick of school, and we're really sick of the kids... Becky and I are teaching a unit on Shakespeare with the Juniors, MacBeth. Every year we hear the same complaints, "I can't understand what they're saying.", and my personal favorite, "Why couldn't he just write it in English ?". So Becky goes out of her way and finds the kids a text written in Shakesperean English on the even numbered pages, and modern English on the odd numbered pages. The kids choose parts each day and we have them read the play aloud (modern version of course). No reason for complaints right? Well, they're whining about having to read the modern version! Trust me, these kids are not future leaders movers or shakers. They will probably never understand ANY version - so anyway, just for kicks (and the opportunity to work out our own passive aggressive tendencies),we don't let them read the original version! Such brilliant revenge. You may need to be a teacher to fully grasp the humor of this situation. It's there and it isn't hurting anyone.
Okay, time to make some dinner - hope you enjoy these pictures I took today.
 

Tuesday, 5/9

Well, it's raining again. And I just don't feel like getting wet so I will post a couple photos from a sunny day. Michael bought these orange poppies for me and they blossomed while I was gone for the weekend. They're really pretty but my favorites are the red poppies. Every year I buy one of those little rolled up red pieces of crepe paper on a green wire that the Veterans sell on Memorial Day - supposed to be a red poppy - not really sure where the symbalism comes in, but I do love red poppies, so I always buy one and hang it on my rear view mirror. I wonder what they spend all those one dollar donations on. The only thing I have ever seen veterans due is shoot fake guns in parades, light off fireworks on the 4th of July and drink beer - lots of cheap beer. Beer that could be bought with lots of one dollar bills.
This next shot is (obviously) a church steeple that I saw in Jaffrey. It looks to me like they couldn't quite give up on the design once they got that sucker going. Try clicking on the picture, it should increase with size (- and if not, hah! I got you). Can you imagine climbing up there every few years and painting that? I hate painting. I'm sure there's a nice view from up there but I would be willing to pass on that opportunity as long as no one sent me up there on a ladder. Painting and heights - brrr, gives me the creeps.
Okay, nothing too exciting today. I've got a home made pizza in the oven - lots of fresh tomatoes and basil, yum. It smells like dinner, a rainy Tuesday night blue plate special. 

Monday 5/8

Monday 5/8
I drove to Jaffrey, NH on Friday afternoon. Beautiful, beautiful little town. Every year the women in the church I attend have a retreat here. I bunked with my good buddies Pattie, TStep and Janet. It usually takes us a couple of hours to get all comfortable with the idea of spending the better part of 3 days together, but then it's pretty much lots of laughing, and talking about the stuff we keep buried deep inside. I like it because the little things we do for one another add a depth to our friendships. Friendships develop a history. I've moved around a lot in my life and lost track with many people I thought I would know for the rest of my life. Time and place had other plans.
Saturday afternoon my three buddies climbed Mount Monadnock, no small fete. While they were climbing, I was exploring and discovered shopper's mecca on Main Street, in Keene NH. It's a real honest to God downtown with the old canvas awnings over the doors, people milling about, restaurants, and even a smoke shop. (You know if there's a store dedicated to pipe smokers that you're not in a mall.) It was raining lightly - but those awnings were doing a damn good job doing their job, damn good. I had only vague outlines of NH raindrops on my shirt. Fleeting souveniers. So I got earrings and my friends got tired, very, very tired. I admired them and they admired me. Friends are like that.

Thursday 5/4

The sun came out! There's a unique green that oozes out of the trees and grass after days of rain in New England. When I woke up this morning, it was right outside my window. Michael and I smiled at one another - a smile that may very well have been similar to the smiles that Noah and his poor accomodating wife shared once the 40 days and 40 nights of dripping torture ended. That woman deserved to go straight to heaven without having to die before she was allowed in!
I took a picture of our fire place in the backyard. We've already had the first fire of the year. Usually we invite friends over and Michael starts popping corks or assembling the BEST margaritas I've ever tasted. This is a great time of the year to have a fire. The mosquitoes haven't shown up yet, and the nights are chilly enough that you need to wear sweatshirts and maybe pull out some blankets. I radomly place small tea lights in my flower garden and hang lanterns with softly glowing candles in a few of the trees. It looks pretty and helps to guide you through the dark backyard as well. I'll try to take a night time photo of it some time soon, I'm curious to see how it would come out. Last weekend Shelly asked if it would be OK to borrow the candle idea! Our friend Patti built her own fire pit after coming over here for so many campfires. Having campfires has always been a favorite ritual for me. Just the smell of wood smoke can bring back memories of falling stars in the late night skies of August. As a child I loved to sit quietly and listen to the adults talk - we all stared as if hynotized by the flames. Sometimes they would get caught up in their own stories and forget that it was hours past our bedtime. Both of my brothers and my sister have campfires in their backyards also. Mom still has one, but I don't think it gets used as much as it used to. Our kids have grown up with this ritual. I hope that they will come to love it as much as I do.
 

Wednesday 5/3

Well, my yesterday was just one of many intentionally erased by a stranger. Apparently thousands (maybe millions) of blogs were attacked by a hacker yesterday. Hours and hours of work was erased - just because...
I couldn't wait to get home from work and put some time in on my next entry. I spent somewhere between 3 and 4 hours piecing together what I thought was my best piece of writing in years. Tonight I'm tired and discouraged and just don't feel like shooting for a duplicate.
These are the two pictures that I took for yesterday's piece. It was raining yesterday, it's still raining today. If it didn't sound so corny I'd say the sky was crying.
 

Monday May 1

I left for school this morning trying very hard to stay awake. When I pulled into the parking lot I couldn't help but to be amazed at the intense sky. Glad I brought my camera. These photos do not do justice to the beauty - but it's the best I can do to share the awesome sight with you.
I only ended up staying at school for
an hour because I was having a lot of
pain in my arm (tennis elbow) and I
was exhausted from staying up late
listening to music from Merle Fest. Kinda lost track of the time... So I am
especially glad that I was able to snap
these shots.
My arm is really hurting so I'm not going to write anymore today.