Heard in our house this morning...

"Hurry up, Stockton.  You don't want to be late for school today."


"Yes, I do."


"Oh."


Duh...

Out of the mouths of babes...

Stockton is learning to read and it's been a bit rough for both of us. After a particularly frustrating practice session, he turned to me and growled, "My wife WILL NOT know how to read!"

"Why on earth would you say that?" I asked him.

"So she can't say," he replied, adopting a high-pitched nasally girly voice, "My husband doesn't know how to read!"  

 He then proceeded to stomp out of the room.

After picking myself up off the floor where I collapsed in a fit of laughter, I knelt down to say a little prayer of thanks for funny little people and to petition the reading gods for a some help in this matter.


(More on how it's going later)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Because it is SOOOOO hard to get into the holiday spirit in a place that feels like a truly endless summer (not complaining), I'm living vicariously through last years photos of last year's Halloween decorating extravaganza.

Somehow it just doesn't seem like Halloween without skulls, spiders, and brain-shaped rocks lying about the house.

Go figure.

This guy looks pretty real, doesn't he?

He scared a few people.

He would move in the wind.

(Not that it's windy very often in Idaho.)

I lied about not having any spiders here in Hawaii.

Actually there are spiders around here that look just like this, only they're brown and they're bigger.

Much BIGGER.

Creepy.

Wishing you all a spooktacular Halloween...

BOO!

What I've been up to...

It's no secret that I've been in a bit of a creative lull lately.

I blame it on the fact that my studio has shrunk to miniscule proportions.

(As in, it doesn't exist.)

And the fact that my poor man's studio--dining room table--will hold 3 dinner plates at a time with no room to spare, doesn't help. Seeing no change on the horizon, I finally schlepped my supplies out into the middle of the living room, stopped making excuses, and started sewing.

Several hours (and much sweat and tears, but no blood thank goodness) later, my new pillows were born.

I'm quite smitten with them. Of course, I'd be smitten with anything made out of linen. Especially white linen.

"It's my favorite," says the ten year old in me.

I love how it is wrinkly and heavy and drapes beautifully.

I'd eat it for breakfast if I could.

Oh yes, and buttons.

I love buttons too. Especially mother of pearl buttons.

I used buttons of all different sizes and shapes and shades because...

Well...

Because I could.

That's why.

That and the fact that I really hate things that match.

(It could explain why my fashion-conscious sixteen year old refuses to walk next to me at times.)

Kleenex and character...

I cried last night for a long time. Cried and cried. I laid down on my bed with tears streaming down my temples and puddling in my ears. I went through a half a box of Kleenex crying. My eleven year old laid on the bed next to me with tears running down his cheeks, trying not to let me see that he was crying too.

It was wonderful.

There are moments in life that one wouldn't trade for anything. Among my favorites are the sweet, stolen moments, serendipitously found between the yellowed, dog-eared pages of a book.

We shared one of these last night, my sweet boy and I. We were reading the book "A Day No Pigs Would Die" by Robert Newton Peck. In a hurry to finish a book report for school, we picked the shortest book we could find in our bookshelf and launched into what we thought would be a quick and easy foray into the life of a backward Shaker boy in the early 1900's.

What we got was something completely different. True, the story was about a backward Shaker boy in the 1900's, but what we learned, felt and shared was so much more than that. We learned that it is more than age that makes a man out of a boy. We learned that some things just have to be done no matter how hard or painful it is to do them. We learned that life is not always fair, but that the character built in a man in the face of unfairness is the hard-won prize.

And we learned that reading and crying together creates a bond. I loved my son more after sharing that time together than before. And I like to think he loved his teary-eyed, runny-nosed mom just a little bit more too.

These are the moments I will never trade.

Oh, yes she did...

Darn right, I did.

Blogged twice in one day.

Must mean You-know-who is coming home and there will be other activities keeping me busy for a while.

You know, activities like cooking...and cleaning...and darning socks and such.  

Mmhmm...that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

  

So...

I've been experimenting with Photoshop and I must say, "WOW!"  What a difference it can make in a photo.  Given my technological handicaps and less than stellar photography skills, I'm amazed at what it can do.  Okay, okay, you all know this already.  I'm a little slow in the cool new stuff and gadgets department, but I must comment on it, simply because it's news to me. 

I'm boosting color and increasing exposure and contrast like crazy around here.  I'm especially fond of the effects toolbar that lets me see it in antique and sepia and black and white all at one time.

A little slice of heaven on earth.

By the way, the magazine in the photo above is one of my favorite publications.  It is published by Somerset Hill who has a number of really unique magazines that it puts out quarterly.  They're a little pricey, but worth every penny if they feature a favorite artist or two.

  "Give me the luxuries of life and I will willingly do without the necessities."

(Frank Lloyd Wright)

Amen.

 

Stacks of lovely white color-boosted linen and computer faded florals.  

Even glitter looks better in high contrast.

It's the little things, really.

Now go ahead and do what the sign says.

Laugh it up.

When in Rome...

You know what they say, "When in Rome, do what the Romans do..."

  

Well, in Maui, they paddle.

That's right, paddling. 

 Unlike canoeing, which is done in murky ponds and mountain lakes in Idaho.

Not one to be left out of all the fun, Child No. 3 has taken up paddling.

  

(He's the little brown speck in the 2nd seat from the front of the canoe.)

Take a look at the size of those paddles, would ya?

Awwwww, a hug from his coach for a job well done.  

It was fascinating to see all of the canoes lined up and the teams warming up and getting ready to go out.  The regatta was held in Lahaina and there were teams of all ages competing, from middle school age to adults.

  You should have seen the guns on some of those big guys paddle teams...

I'm thinking of signing up to get in shape... 

Yeah, right.

   I'm signing up just to watch!!!