Archive for April, 2009
Lots of Words Wednesday
My baby girl. As you can see, I LOVVVVE having a girl. When she was a teeny, tiny baby, I was always looking for things to dress my baby up in. I LOVED this hat – my little flower girl hat. Oh, the number of outfits that baby had in her first year of life!
Now, she’s growing up. You can see in her face that those last vestiges of baby are almost gone. She’s poised. How does a 6 yr old become POISED? She crosses her legs when she sits. She’s so very careful about getting her clothes dirty. She has this beautiful, long blonde hair that just cascades down her back and now reaches past her waist. She still has these amazing blue eyes, and such delicate features. She’s just amazing. Add to that the fact that she’s so damned SMART! You’d never know that she was just now turning 6 by her vocabulary.
She’s the reincarnation of my Nana. She really is. Oh, how my Nana would have treasured this baby girl, too. Of course, she loved all her kids the same – but I know she’d have taken a special delight in spending time with her, just as she did with me, doing those little things like painting nails, trying on jewelry or simply just sitting there talking.
She gives me a million kisses every day. She struggles to find words to describe how MUCH MUCH MUCH she loves me. Her mom. ME. As flawed and imperfect and insecure as I am.
My Libby Bug. 
Me at age 5 – - I guess she has my nose LOL
Liberty Ann Justice – you so fit your name! We love you Baby!
The eyes have it (updated)
I’ve always been fascinated with my childrens’ eyes. The boys both have really dark brown eyes, my daughter has beautiful blue eyes.
Over the years, I’ve taken many a photograph of their eyes. This one, of my oldest’s, was a couple of years ago, and I find the photo almost mesmerizing.
So when I took this photo last week and then, after some different cropping and angling, found this beautiful boy staring back at me, I decided that I’d have to enter it in Greeblemonkey’s photo contest!
EDITED: Mine was not chosen as one of the finalists 
LOOK at those eyes. Oh my baby.
So voting starts tomorrow (Wednesday), and I’ll provide the link when it’s made available. The winner gets a $250 camera rental – wouldn’t THAT be great for my Libby Bug’s birthday party next week!
Before, During & After
Zachary, during our walk yesterday. This was before we got to the bridge.
Zachary & Jimmy, throwing pebbles off the bridge.
Zachary, AFTER he fell down, face first, into the gravel on the walking path (and after I dug the dirt & sand out of his mouth).
The post with no pictures
I arrive at my preferred walking spot and shut the car off. I’m feeling slightly apprehensive, because I haven’t walked in so so long.
I sit there for a few minutes, fiddling with my iPod – but it doesn’t want to cooperate today, so I leave it in the car, grab my key, my inhaler and zip my jacket up.
This place that I’m walking is beautiful. In any season, it’s beautiful. I haven’t been here so “early” in the year before, and as I begin to walk, I am already noticing things I hadn’t noticed before. The brush that usually gets so lush & full during the summer, has yet to begin it’s regrowth and it’s allowing me to see so much more of the world that it usually hides. I can see the stream that runs through, full and running at full capacity with the Spring’s slow thaw. I listen to it as I get to the 1/4th mark in my walk. I stop to marvel at how the pond is neatly split in two – one half still ice and snow, the other half rippling with the breeze. In the summer, the surface is so calm and serene until a fish, cruising for it’s dinner, breaks the surface with a splash.
Walking further into this little retreat, I can see fully into the cemetery that borders this place. It always makes me sad to see a cemetery, but particularly on this day, after having heard of another parent who’s lost a child this weekend.
I quicken my stride to get past it, and stop to pick up a branch that’s fallen over the winter. I use it to keep my footing as I step carefully over the patches of ice that still line this walk. The ground is still frozen and hard in most places, and I don’t need a twisted ankle or a fall in this most deserted place.
As I reach the 1/2 way mark and plunge into the dead leaves that have blanketed the path, I start to realize that if I had brought my iPod, I wouldn’t have heard the stream, the birds, nor the rustle of leaves as the wind and my feet disturb them. I find myself glad that I chose to leave it behind, as the relative quiet of the walk has helped to quiet my thoughts as well. I find that I’m already composing this blog post in my head as I walk.
Getting to the 3/4ths mark, and the return to the stream that leads to the pond, marvelling yet again at how well this retreat blends into the surroundings of a busy neighborhood, I see houses poking through the trees, and find myself a little jealous at their proximity to this place. How nice it must be to be just steps away from such a beautiful place!
As I get to the end of the 1st half of my walk, I am rewarded with the sounds of a waterfall, and the warm sun on my face. Rather than allow my heartbeat to return to normal, I turn around and start back up the hill, stepping once more into the shadows of the pines, retracing my steps. I find myself with a choice to make. I can take the shortcut that’s been provided that cuts the walk down to just a 5 minute walk to my car – or I can push forward, straining my lungs and tired, achy bones, into continuing this walk through the woods.
I make my choice and continue forward, forgoing the shortcut for the chance to glimpse a bird or perhaps chipmunk. To plan where I will take pictures the next time I come and bring my camera. To extend this escape by a few extra minutes, and remind myself of why I enjoy this place in the first place.
The return to the car, as always, goes much quicker, and then I’m done. I’m sitting at a picnic bench, watching some birds flit from tree to tree. My breathing slows, I start to relax, the sweat comes. Grateful, but tired, I climb into the car and cannot wait to return.
