Patriotism

This is a quick snap of a piece that MissE won a monetary award for!

Chivalry

I have been thinking of a fun way to begin school this year. For the most part, all I have is a 10th grader. Chick-a-Dee will be busy with "school", but not the kind that I really have to plan for. A 10th grade BOY (yes, ALL boy). He would rather be tromping through the forest- hunting, whistling, trapping, spitting, working on his cabin, ANYTHING other than sit in the house and do school.

It kind of got me thinking of what I want to accomplish and impress upon this precious son of mine in the last couple of years of his "education".

I believe that we will begin with a review of what chivalry means and how it applies in today's world. Here are a few of the words that I have found describing chivalry. I'll throw a few out and challenge you, my faithful readers, to try to define as many of the words as you can - WITHOUT looking the word up! Who knows, I might just have a little prize waiting for the person who can most closely define the most words correctly! Here are the words:

humility

largesse

nobility

faith

chastity

courtesy

integrity

prowess

justice

loyalty

defense

courage

As an example, I will define the word integrity. This is what I am looking for.

integrity -

adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.

Pretty steep order, heh? Give it your all-out try and see what you can come up with! Hmmmm - are you going to cheat? Do I need to post the Code of Honor????? Ha!

A Stormy Night and a Red Balloon

Chick-a-Dee playing with a birthday balloon.

I just happened to see a glow of orange reflected in the window at bath time just now, grabbed the camera and ran outside and was able to catch the very last burst of a magnificent sky!

Happy Birthday MissE!!

Can it be possible? My first daughter is 18?????? Not possible! She is and always has been a delight. The doctor who delivered her commented that with her voice, we would never loose her in a crowd. What a beautiful voice she has - loud, yes, but always MissE, and we have never lost her in a crowd, thank goodness!

We were able to surprise her with a small party this year. Our plan was to picnic on the river bank, but the weather apparently didn't check in with us this morning. We quickly went to Plan B and her friends gathered at the local diner. Yes, she was surprised!

WOW - Where Does the Time GO?????

Mea Culpa - it has been HECTIC around here! My apologies to you for not posting and not checking in on your blogs! For some reason I don't think that things are going to change anytime soon! WOW!

We have been enjoying a visit from our nephew and his little sweet pea who just turned 3.

Poppa and I celebrated our 35th high school reunion with a dinner cruise on the Portland Spirit on the Columbia Gorge. It was SO much fun to visit with our friends from what seems forever ago but at the same time just a short time ago! Here is one of my close girlfriends since 2nd grade!

OK. The REALLY exciting news - I have a CAMERA!!!!!! A great friend found a super deal for me on a Canon EOS 350D Rebel XT! Oh yeah. Uh huh. For a photography dummy, I am having a blast with it! I just unpacked it this morning and I think that I have taken nearly 200 photos just today! Now, please just bare with me for a few pix - can you tell the difference in the following ones compared to all the rest of the blog?

I know - this one is fuzzy, but I had to post it. Why? This is the FIRST photo I have been able to capture of Chick-a-Dee with a full smile! One and a half years of trying and I finally got it!

I scared IBoy half to death with this shot. He had just walked out of the shower into his room. I had walked quietly behind him - not meaning to startle him, but I did. He wasn't very happy with me :-)

Auntie blowing bubbles for the girls.

Miss Violet watching the bubbles.

OK - I know the dead flowers need to removed - just experimenting with the camera, ok?

I had SO much fun taking pictures of sweet Violet!

Don't laugh - I'm taking pictures of EVERYTHING!!! This was as delicious as it looks - I'll share the concoction with you.

I started with the recipe from Brent Riggs on the MckLinky blog hop, but of course had to alter it slightly. Slightly like, I had some extra things in the fridge that sounded good to throw in with it, so I don't know how his tasted before my extras. At any rate, it was a hit in this house - even the little girls munched it down! I won't bother to put quantities in, because I am more of a pinch of this and a spoon of that. SO - I used avocados, freshly cooked (still warm, in fact) corn cut from the cob, tomatoes, lime juice, fresh cilantro, hot green chile peppers, green onions, cucumbers, grated cheese, and salt. We had it at room temperature and then chilled the little bit of leftovers. Poppa just came home from work and finished the bowl off. Yummy!!!

Not too bad for an automatic setting, heh? No - he wasn't part of the salad.

New Prototype

We had a T-shirt in the closet and some leftover skirt fabric. I had an idea. What more does it take????

Let me know what you think - I need feedback!

Something Old, Something New

I guess we have hit the summer doldrums. Really not much going on. Grandma has returned to living with Mom, MissE and IBoy have taken turns at summer camp, we continue to roast marshmallows and go swimming in the river. Hmmmmmmm - that is about it!

Chicka ahem, I mean Tinkerbell.

Yes, more tape.

I was playing around with my camera and discovered a few photos that were stored on the hard drive. My camera and my sewing machine happened to both be in the shop for repairs when the fire happened, and were thus undamaged!

IBoy and Atlas - MIA (Atlas, that is).

MissE skinning a rabbit. She was trying not to use her nose. Or watch what she was doing. She did it though! That's my gal!

Here is an old movie of IBoy milking his goat, Maggie. She was a sweet little girl - still going strong, just not with us!