A Different Perspective

A cold, cloudy day today.  We went to bed last night seeing a temperature reading of almost 60 degrees, had thunderstorms overnight with plummeting temperatures, then rain mixed with snow this morning.  But despite the dreary weather, looking through the lens of my camera always gives me a better perspective.  I love my camera because it helps me focus on beautiful little details that I would otherwise ignore. 

  I get so busy with my daily life, my chores, my constant rushing here and there.  I love that part of my life too, but I sometimes feel like life is passing me by and I might be missing something.

               So I get my camera out and take a stroll occasionally, which forces me to slow down.

Chickens are kinda relaxing to watch, don't you think?

One lonely pumpkin behind left on the patio table. 

Have a great week!

The Dinner Table

E. and I were watching a program on Nat Geo the other day.  It was about the African Wild Dogs.  Something caught my attention.  The dogs worked together as a pack to bring down a large herd animal.  They shared the meal peacefully and the narrator said that eating together was an important bonding experience.

Right away my thoughts turned towards the human family.  I couldn't help making a comparison.  Sitting down to supper each night helps keeps a family together.  I know it's not always possible, but it's important enough to make the effort.  Sometimes I have to hold dinner off until a later time if someone has to work late.  Sometimes I'm too busy too cook and we may just have scrambled eggs or sandwiches.  So it's not really the setting or the content that's so important.  It's just the being together.  Some people get too caught up in the setting - tablecloths, candles, flowers?  I can't manage that every day.  Our kitchen table gets used.  It's also my office, my daughter's homework center, and a catch-all for everyone's mail.  So sometimes we have to shove it all over to one side in order to make room for our plates!  No matter, as long as there is room for the food and we're all sitting down together.  We eat, then we make sure we stay at the table for a few minutes after we're finished eating just to visit.  We ask each other about our respective day's activities, and sometimes discuss events in the news, or family news - whatever is relevant.

I love all the beautiful "Tablescapes" that people post on their blogs, but I find it impossible to achieve in real life.  So I thought I would give you 'reality table' on my blog.  This is my table on a normal day.  Well, not really, because I don't normally have time to do a jig-saw puzzle!  I took time off to do a puzzle since my main squeeze is out hunting ;)

But the point I want to make here is, if it's important enough for wild dogs to come together for a period each day to bond, I can't help but think that we also need to continue to make it a priority.  The experts do recommend that families sit down for a meal together each day, and yet many families don't manage to do just that.  There are too many activities each day after school right up until bed time.  I don't have a solution for that and I'm not judging anyone who's stuck in that routine.  I know that most of those activities have merit.

Right now we're in the midst of hunting season, and we haven't had a family meal in a while.  I miss it.  It's just been E. and me every evening.  I'll be happy when the guys are finished hunting and life gets back to normal. And then it will be time to look forward to the ultimate family dinner - Thanksgiving!

Waiting for the turkey!

I wish for you to see all of your family around your table this Thanksgiving season.  All of my children are coming home for the big meal and I'm so excited.  I think I like Thanksgiving the most of all.  It's like Christmas without the gift shopping.  I always page through all of the decorating magazines and *think* I might use some of the ideas for decorating my holiday table, but in the end, I'll be lucky if I can fit all of the food on my table, along with all of my family.  It's all good :)

SO GLAD THE CAMPAIGNING IS OVER!!!

Stepping Out

It's been a while, I know.  I haven't had a lot to say on this blog.  It doesn't seem to be the thing to do lately. You know - gardening, traveling, kid on summer vacation, all that summer stuff.  Now that it's fall and I haven't yet gotten elbow-deep into processing venison, I have some time to myself again.

I have started a new blog - hope you'll get a chance to check it out.  It's called Authentic Regards.  See it at http://authenticregards.blogspot.com/   It's just another facet of me, giving myself a push to take my writing in another direction.  I need to prod myself sometimes, in order to get something accomplished.  I was a published writer at one time, but them E. came along, and she has been pretty much my whole life for the past 11 years.  I guess I need to wake up and poke my head out of the 'mommy hole' as one writer put it so eloquently :)

We took several trips this summer and it was great fun. Traveling is always a conundrum for me because I love to see different places, but I am basically a homebody, so it takes me way out of my comfort zone.  Love my own bed, need my own kitchen, you know?   This is a picture I took of a sunset on Lake Kabetogema, MN.  We spent a week at a resort there.  Lots of fishing, swimming, boating, and relaxing.

We put in a garden at the ranch, basically just as an experiment and it went wild!  We didn't fertilize or use any pesticides and everything produced heavily.  So I guess the soil is good there...  The only problem we had was with woodchucks.  Once again the apples orchard harvest was outstanding.  I'm still making applesauce and pies.  New recipe ideas are welcome!  I would love a new pie crust recipe - not happy with my old standard.  Seems as though the Crisco ingredients have changed and it doesn't turn out like it used to.

I have missed my blog buddies and plan on patrolling all of your blogs again!  Hopefully I will also find some new blogs to add to my list.

Here is a newcomer to our menagerie.  His name is Hairy (as of today).  He showed up one day in July, about one week after our dear Oliver died.  He looks almost exactly like Oliver did, only he's just a kitten.  Spooky, huh?  I didn't want another cat, but he refused to go away and he made E. feel better after losing her cat, so he stays.  That desperate look on his face?  It's like that all the time.  He's overly affectionate - almost annoyingly so.

Ok, this is me at the Harry Truman Library in Kansas City.  I'm a huge fan of Harry Truman.  We spent 2 lovely afternoons at the museum.  Oh, and I LOVED Kansas City!  We were there in September for a conference.  I just thought I would share a pic of myself, chubby legs and all, since nobody ever posts pictures of themselves on their blogs.  Maybe someone else will get brave enough to do it now.  Come on!  I know I'm not the only one who wants to see what her blogger friends look like ;)

Marie

All I Ask

My youngest son asked me what I want for Mother's Day this year.  At this point in my life I don't need or want anything material.  So I told him I didn't want anything.  He wasn't satisfied with that answer, of course.

As I was driving into town the other day, I was having one of those days where I felt weighed down by the negative self-speak:  I shouldn't have said this, or why didn't I say that instead?

I think most mothers can relate to the second-guessing that goes on inside my head some days.  It's not constant.  But we all have days like that occasionally.  I just happen to be having a few more days like that lately with a beautiful little girl who is flourishing, yet struggling to become a young woman.  It is a difficult, tumultuous journey, and I have to remind myself to be patient and and understanding. 

So as I was driving that day, it came to me that all I really want for Mother's Day is to hear that I haven't totally screwed up as a mother.  And that my children, please God, be better parents than I was.

On a lighter note, I'm sharing these photos of a handsome visitor to my feeder this week.  Sadly, my hummingbird family did not return this year, but we have two pairs of orioles that are finding the hummingbird feeder to be just to their liking.  Aren't they gorgeous!  Have a great day! :)

Taking Care

I have a friend who is a body builder.  And she turned 50 exactly 2 weeks before me.  That's right, 50.  And what's more impressive is she was overweight and inactive just 2 1/2 years before and now this August she is set to compete in her first bodybuilding show.  I am so proud of her!   She inspires me to be better.  When I don't feel like doing my stretches or exercises, I think about the fact that she lifts every day, twice a day and sticks to a 'clean' diet.  Then I find the time and energy to do what I need to do, and it's not much, compared with what she does.  All I ask of myself is to get back my flexibility and strength that I had just a few years ago.  Surely I can do that if she can accomplish all that she has done in the past two years.  My PTA told me that the normal course of events is you get older and less active.  You become stiff from being inactive.  You feel some pain from the stiffness and you become even less active, and it becomes a vicious circle.  And that's how people get old in a hurry.  Don't let it happen!  Get up!  Get moving!  Are you with me?!  :)

Dirty Monday

I'm so excited to finally get my hands dirty!  I've been stalking the garden section at WalMart for weeks, waiting for the herbs to arrive, and finally, yesterday I was able to purchase some potted herbs.  None of the local greenhouses are open yet, of course, because it's too early to be planting a garden.  But you can always count on WalMart to rush the season, right?

I love cooking with fresh herbs.  I've been growing them in my garden for the past 2 years, but I really miss having them over the winter.  I'd like to try to keep them in pots year-round.  Does anyone know if that will work?  Well, I'm going to give it a try.  Probably drive my husband crazy, having all these potted plants to trip over, but he does love my cooking :)

I've always had pretty good luck with this brand, by the way.  I've seen them at WalMart and Pamida.

While I was photographing the herbs on the kitchen table, this little lady bluebird showed up by the deck, looking for some breakfast.  The bluebirds are hard to shoot because they're always looking down at the ground for something to eat!

I caught her fluffing her feathers - it's cold here this morning.

And here is her 'significant other', also looking down at the ground.  A split second after this shot, he dove down to the grass and nabbed some kind of a meal.

Aren't the goldfinches gorgeous now that they have their summer plumage?  Sometimes there are 10-15 of them clamoring for the feeder.  They have to kind of wait in line on the branches above and take turns, although they are not nearly as polite about it as the chickadees.  They make a lot of noise - it sounds like the bird section at the pet shop.  

Well, I'm off the computer and into the dirt!  Have a great day!
Marie

Beauty Everywhere

I went up to the ranch last weekend with my camera, hoping to find some signs of spring.  But it's about 30 miles north of here, and just far enough that not much is happening yet.  No flowers, no bees, very few buds on the apple trees and lilac bushes.  That doesn't mean there is nothing to admire, though.  If you look for it, you will see beauty.

I like the contrast of the red maple buds against green the moss on this huge rock.  We pass by this rock on our walk through the woods.

These two always get impatient with us old folks and have to run ahead.  I love to watch them run and take countless photos of them galloping through the woods and fields like wild animals.

When we step out of the woods, this is the view of the house and the barns.  It's nothing fancy, but we love the spaciousness of it.  There's so much sky!  It's beautiful in every season.  A picture doesn't do it justice...

Old Buddy says, "You guys go on ahead, I'll just lie here in the water hole and rest a bit."  He's 13 years old.

We don't know what these are called, just that they have a little worm inside.  I always like the way they look.  Does anyone know what they're called?

And, of course, there's plenty of these around.  Everyone likes ladybugs, right?  Except when they get inside :)

Maybe next time I visit the ranch there will be some blossoms on the apple trees.  I'm kind of glad there weren't any yet the last time I was there.  People south of us lost a lot of apples due to frost because their trees blossomed early :(

Have a great day!
Marie