day 19... funny

 

Patrick was sitting on the couch today flipping through a magazine. The magazine had several adds for cologne and perfume in it. I watched him turn the page to find the first of these advertisements and instead of lifting the magazine he leaned way over and sniffed the ad. I quietly got up and grabbed my camera thinking that maybe he would repeat this exercise on the next perfume advertisement. He did! I managed to grab the shot before cracking up. I know, not that funny but it made me laugh.

day 10 ... loud

 Today's subject was a difficult one for me. Our new life here in Texas is a quiet one, made even quieter by a rainy day. The Burtons visited this morning and while that added a great deal of happiness to my day they were not loud. After they left we ran to Patrick's office to pick up some papers he needed and the remainder of the day was spent in quiet rainy day activities. Patrick read and I pieced a quilt. The loudest thing about our day besides the occasional rumble of thunder (let me know if you figure out how to photograph that) was my sewing machine which, while it was the loudest thing in our house today, really just hums beautifully.

days 13-16....

 day 13... reminds you of childhood.

 When I was a newborn, in Germany, I had thrush. My mother told me I cried and cried and cried. I had trouble eating and sleeping because the rash was so terrible. The neighbor ladies all spoke only German and my mother did not. They didn't understand why I cried so much but one of them gave me the doll with the blonde hair. She is hard plastic with ball joints and elastic that runs through her body to connect her arms , legs and head. She is 43 years old. Her dress is torn at the neck line, her hair is no longer soft and there are stains on her  face. A long, long time ago she had ruffled bottoms that matched her dress. I do not remember when they were lost. My parents moved often and when they divorced most of our belongings were in storage. My father, for reasons unknown to me, refused to pay to have our things from storage shipped to us. As a result I have very few of the treasures of my first ten years. This doll is one of them. The Holly Hobby in her arms is not my original, mine was twelve or eighteen inches tall. I wore out three of them that I can remember. Holly Hobby was my lovey. I slept with her, I played with her, she went everywhere with me. I do not have any of the ones from my childhood. One Saturday morning I was at a yard sale and saw this six inch Holly and had to have her. The little girl who gave her up only asked a quarter for her. She is worth so much more.



day 14... someone you love.

Patrick looking up at me on the upstairs landing. He was working from home before heading out to the airport again.(yes, the man is that tan)




 day 15...action.

Another Triathlon photo.  I knew I would need an action shot for this project and the tri was a great place to grab one.


day 16... mason jar.

Filled with iced tea, a drink I am not suppose to have but LOVE!!!!

days 16-25...

this is going to be a long post...



day 16...experimenting with light trails.

Taken from the balcony of our hotel in Ocean City. Traffic wasn't very heavy.



day 17...street lights.

I grabbed this one before we left on vacation.




days 18... depicting emotion

Kate and Matt... he is still looking a little surprised and bewildered. When I showed them this shot Matt said ... "Did I do that?" in a great deadpanned Erkle voice.


day 19...involves landscape.

I love the little stretch of prairie between Mom's section of our neighborhood and ours.




day 20...what ever you please.

One happy little guy. He is getting so big.


day 21...sunset.

These are always easy shots here in our new neighborhood. Almost every evening Patrick and I watch a beautiful sunset while we walk the trails.


day 22...a person you love.

Patrick.


day 23... makes you think of childhood.

Sisters sharing secrets.



day 24... has a color scheme

I again forgot to replace the memory card in the camera when we went to Assateague, so the above is a cell phone photo.



day 25... what ever you please.

My nephew, Spencer, does not usually let me take his picture. While we were in Maryland he allowed me a few shots. This is my favorite, and since he let me take more than one I have another that I like...

Whew... now I am only one day behind!

day 3...

your favorite place to be... in his arms.

 

oh christmas tree...

Patrick has always dreamed of having a giant Christmas tree. This year that dream came true. Our apartment has a 12 ft ceiling in the living room so before we had even finished unpacking we bought a 12+ ft tree.  Shopping for a tree here was very different. I knew we wouldn't be going to the same tree stand that we have bought our trees from for forever but I did not expect to be shopping at the Houston Garden Center ( think Frank's Nursery ). It was kind of like buying a tree at Home Depot. There aren't corner tree lots here. When we arrived at the Garden Center a little girl ran past us into the rows of giant trees, packed so close together that you could not see their shape, yelling, "Look at all the big ones.... I want one, I want one!" I know Patrick was thinking the same thing. We brought our huge Christmas tree home inside our little Honda CRV. It stuck out of the back a little and it was pushed in all the way to the dash but we got it home.  We learned an important lesson... 2 people should not put a 12 ft tree up by themselves. A third person is needed to ensure that the tree is straight. It was definitely not. 

The next morning I intended to put lights on the tree while Patrick was at work. That didn't happen. I had no way of reaching the top. I borrowed Mom's step ladder but that didn't get me anywhere near the top of the tree. Patrick and I had to go to Lowes and buy an 8ft ladder. While Patrick worked I spent a few hours putting 800 lights on the tree and I probably could have done more.

Then we had Mom come up to us to get the tree straight and help decorate it. It took us a few days but the end result was worth it.

some assembly required

I am here in our new apartment. I landed Friday evening, came to check out our new digs and unload the luggage, then we were off and running. We had dinner at the local Rosie Carabbas (apparently the Carabbas family live locally), then headed to Target to begin stocking the apartment. I think I set a world record for Target shopping. I over filled a cart in 20 minutes. After that we headed back to our soon to be  less empty apartment, inflated our air mattress and went to sleep. Saturday morning I put away most of our Target purchases and realized we had forgotten some things. Back to Target. We dropped off those packages and headed for the mall. JC Penney's and Sears were the next to receive a little love from our wallets. A new TV, pillows and towels then back to the apartment. Big shopping in a convertible means lots of trips home to unload the car to make room for the next trip. The cable guy came on Saturday and set up our cable tv, phone and internet. That took a few hours and our new phone is making out going calls but incoming calls are not coming through they are going to voice mail. A project for my next trip. Time for more shopping, this time at Ikea. It was packed!!! They had apparently had a costume contest/trick or treating event. We ordered a bed and a TV stand to be delivered the next morning. We purchased two chairs and a footstool which we took home with us. Patrick assembled those while I ran to the grocery store. It was wonderful to finally have something to sit on when I returned with the groceries.On Sunday morning the bed and TV stand arrived and again Patrick did the assembling. Anyone who knows us know this is not the norm. I am usually the one who put things together. I was happy to hand over the tools. While he built furniture I ran out to the mall for a few other things. By late Sunday afternoon all the basics were in place. The bathroom and kitchen are functional, we have a place to sit, and a bed to sleep in and Patrick has a TV and I have the internet. All in all a good start.

pumpkin picking

 

Oliver and Grandpa finally got to pick the pumpkin.