Special Shadows with My Family

 My boys riding the bicycle built for two. Two brothers in a beard competition.

 Ridge lives in WA, so he and Gene do not get together very often.

.

 This was “war” waiting to happen. I was a wreck as they would push 

each other until they would almost flip over.  Too much for a mom. 

This has been going on for 40 years. They are so cute together. 

Their love for each other warms my heart even if sometimes they scare me.

 Eloise learning to fish out at Douthat State Park. A first time for Eloise and the WA cousins.

Eloise and Ben

 They kept getting the hook stuck in the rocks,

 but my fearless Eloise was the designated finder.

Of course, Buddy was the teacher. Thomas with his red hair can be seen in the background.

I know these are not shadow shots, but I could not end this post without including pictures of Ben and Thomas. Thomas and Eloise are two peas in a pod (just like Ridge and Gene) 

and are both 10. Ben  is 12. 

Bud and the Cousins

Thomas

 Ben

This post is linked with  Shadow Shot Sunday 2.

“What greater blessing to give thanks for at a family gathering
 than the family and the gathering.”
~ Robert Brault

It’s a Black and White Weekend

Gene and Patti on the Bicycle Built for Two.

 Macro shot of the bike chain.

And, of course, I had to add a picture of Eloise.

The three of them make up the cutest family ever and have the best times together.

“Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life!”

~Albert Einstein

                  This post is linked with Weekend in Black and White and Macro Monday 2.

   (Just click on the name of the meme and you will fly right there to enjoy lots of great pictures.)

My Husband the iPhone Photographer

This is Buddy nursing wicked blisters mid-marathon.
This is a Genie shot :-)

All of these pictures Buddy took on his runs in our rural “neighborhood”. He’s never made the change over to blogging from Facebook, so I thought I would share with all of you some of my recent favorites. I really like his capture of our Bridge to Somewhere with the fallen leaves. My son came over and put the three boards going down the center so I could walk out to the mailbox. The boards had spread so much over the 35 years I was afraid to cross it on foot. I still take my cane just in case I lose my balance for some reason.

The road in front of the house.

And last but not least...some shots of the beauty of Nature in our neck of the woods.

I am SO proud of him and all the beauty he can capture with his trusty iPhone 6.

This post is linked with Good Fences andSkywatch Friday, 

Fall Is Knocking at the Homeplace Door

Our Bridge to Somewhere is still standing...35 years.

There is almost no water in the creek right now.

 It is almost time to start using our fire pit down by the creek.

We all bundle up with quilts on us and sit out there at night for hours.

 And this is the greatest time of the year temperature wise to sit on the front porch.

Chicken and Bunny with his Apple computer are ready.
Note the carrot on the computer top.

 Our tomatoes are heirlooms this year and the yummiest ever. 

We ate this one tonight with din-din.
Such a variety of color.

A few more days are needed for this one,

but all of the greenery was so pretty
I just had to take a photo of it.

“Autumn burned brightly, a running flame through the mountains, a torch flung to the trees.
~Faith Baldwin

Nature’s Dentures & Working with Depth of Field

 I found these fungi - I think that’s what you would call them - during one of my quiet walks through the woods. They were attached to the trunk of an old tree. The first one makes me think of a denture and the second a mouth full of popcorn with one shiny, loosened filling. Would someone please tell me what these are so I can add it to my book of findings on my walks?

 I continue to work with my 50mm lens trying to learn more about depth of field. As you can see in these two shots, I have successfully gotten blur and that bit of sharpness for which I was searching. 

“If a man walks in the woods for half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer. But if he spends his days as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making the earth bald before her time, he is deemed an industrious and enterprising citizen.”
~Henry David Thoreau

The Magical Blue Bicycle Built for Two

A Post Both Past and Present

A neighbor gave my son this wonderful old bicycle, but it needed new tires
and lots of other work too get it up and running.

What a great license plate.

WOW! He did it. It really is road ready!

And they are off! Eloise and Dad.

This turn put them to the test...but they made it.

I about had a heart attack for fear they were going to flip.

Eloise and the tiger. She is fearless.

And here you have my baby...my one and only granddaughter.

She’s now 10 years old, in the fifth grade, and LOVES

that hat. As you can imagine, she wears it all the time.

“When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race.”
~H.G. Wells

If you ask me...every family needs a blue bicycle built for two.

The Genie Is Out of the Bottle

 Some days I feel full of vim and vigor, full of life 

like these beautiful plants.

 Then there are the others when my back pain returns with a vengeance, my chronic anemia takes over, or I enter into one of my periods of “the down in the dumpies” or as the doctors call it...depression. At times I am not worth a hoot so I just stay at home reading, resting, and sometimes quilting. If I can get out, I go and visit my patients as I am a Hospice volunteer caregiver. I continue to substitute when I can.This is the first time I have had the strength to even mention it openly, but I guess it is time to share this tidbit with all of you. I am in the process of accepting the reality of my not being able to do many of the things I so loved doing. I do not want to focus on this, but rather just accept I have no control over it and move ahead with the rest of my life living it to the fullest. There are so many in far more pain than I, fighting far more serious illnesses, and who are hurting far worse than I. As a Hospice volunteer, I see this whenever I make a visit.  As I leave, I always feel uplifted. It makes me so happy to bring some love and companionship and to ones so ill and alone. I am very thankful for the blessings I have.  It was just time to let you all know so you could understand why I come in and out on my “Genie Bottle”... aka...my computer. O.K. Now, I have said it - shared it - and I’ve closed that book. It’s good to be back. My love to all of you.

I Have Finally Picked Up My Camera Again

In Memory of My Dear Friend, Melanie

Yes, I am back trying, with great difficulty, to relearn what I was doing when I decided to close up my computer and put it away at a time which seems to be years ago though it has not really been that long. The saying is true....if you do not use it you lose it, and I have definitely lost it somewhere in this old head of mine.  It is so hard to reteach myself. I cannot figure out to locate a picture on the page or how to add type. Where is my dashboard. How do I add my beloved textures.  It’s turning out to be a very slow process, but I am enjoying it. My family is on the mend, but I try not to think about what the sat year and a half have been like. Photography seemed to be calling me so here I am.  Since I last posted, I have become a Hospice volunteer caregiver, and I adore my hours with my patients. What a meaning and touching experience for me. I visit Melanie’s mother twice a week. On Mondays we eat lunch together, and on Thursdays we go out with a friend to looks at wildflowers. I substitute every now and then when my back will allow it. Right now I am at my son’s in Richmond. I came to see his 10 year old, Eloise, dance with the Richmond Ballet. Oh, my, what a treat for a grandmother’s eyes! Then, Saturday my other son from Baimbridge Island is flying in for a quick visit with his brother, Gene, Patti, Eloise, and me. Buddy is still running his Ultra Marathons, and this weekend tried to do a 100 miler over in West Virginia, but he became seriously ill at about the halfway point.  Sleet and rain, shivering and chattering, vomiting, eyes glazed, and making no sense, so I had to drive out at 1AM they narrow and curving WV unlit road to get him. He really scared me this time. I tell you...he is like the Ever Ready Bunny. HE WILL NOT STOP. I am so proud of him. He says he is going to do it next year...he was running 4 minute miles, singing, and having a wonderful time when it all hit. Hope to start visiting all of your blogs again soon. Take care, and it is my wish that this finds all you, my dear blogging friends, well and happy. I am not posting to any blog sites, yet. Am just dipping my old feet into the water a wee bit at a time.

(This is one of the lilies a friend sent after Melanie passed away a month ago from pancreatic cancer. The little chair is made from a champaign top.)

~True friendship comes when silence between two people is comfortable.” Dave Tyson Gentry

 “Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.”

                                                         ~  Mark Train
  " True friendship comes when silence between two people is comfortable.” 
                                                    ~ Dave Tyson Gentry