Something About Nothing

Fanny's Dream is one of my all time favorite children's books.  A well written, entertaining story with a great message and fabulous illustrations. Caralyn and Mark are a great team. Caralyn is so clever and comes up with wonderfully imaginative stories. Mark's illustrations must be carefully savored as he likes to hide images in each page. I just found out that Mark and Caralyn Buenher have a new website . There are descriptions of all of their books, as well as a blog and information about having Mark and Caralyn come to your school. Check it out!

My two youngest were so excited to start 8th grade today. . . . . . that they RAN to the bus stop. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that I was stalking them with the camera. Nah, they just love school that much.  ;-)

This sturdy, beautiful playground has served us well through our four active, growing children and all their friends over the past 10 years, but lately, to be honest, she has been very lonely. I don't blame her for her decision but I will miss her. Today she packed her bolts. . . . . .and with a few helping hands. . . . . . she has moved to Vernal. Farewell Ms. Playground!  We will miss you! Take care and have fun with the kids. We'll always have Paris. Oops - we never made it to Paris - you know what I mean!

I bought a cute ready to dye handwoven cotton shawl while I was at Dharma Trading this summer.  I almost left without it but decided that I would regret not buying it because it was only $6.99 and I have been wanting a shawl each time I go out somewhere nice. There isn't a photo of the shawl online just the scarf and a photo of the weave. The shawl is much larger. I'll have to pull it out and photograph it later. The real problem right now is - what color should I dye it?  And should I try to dye it a solid or batik it?  I'm not sure what I am brave enough to try yet.   But I keep thinking I can't ruin it too badly because there is always the choice of over-dying it black!

I delivered Brindy's wedding present today. It was only a year late but still in plenty of time before she delivers this little treasure.

Took my boy down to see his Grandmother and Aunt before he takes off for graduate school this weekend. This one is a little fuzzy but it gives you the idea of why he's always been called Big J. You do have to remember that Grandma is only 5' tall.

I started looking through the photos on my computer hoping to find something to use in an upcoming quilt project when things quickly degraded to a trip down memory lane.   Boy I had some cute babies! Can you believe he was only about 6 weeks old?  I don't think he was very happy.  It was probably lunch time.  I really need to scan more of his photos.  I have so few on this hard drive. Next came this beauty.  Look at all that hair!  And those sweet cheeks! Apparently I couldn't resist them even then. . . I should have cropped myself out of the above photo - don't you love those big glasses and permed hair? Not a sweet memory! But this sure is. The twins were just as adorable as the older two. Another cheeky picture. And this one has a smile that melts my heart. J and his sister were great to "watch" the twins while I made dinner - of course it was after much "persuasion." J was okay as long as he was allowed control of the remote. B actually ended up do...

My sister's friend, Damien, loved animals.  This is his dog, Wes. He's a ball obsessed, barking sweetheart. Damien loved to spend time at the San Francisco SPCA. (SF/SPCA website photo) In December of 2008, Damien's depression became too much for him to bear and he took his life.  My sister was devastated.  She needed a place to direct her sorrow and remember her friend.  After much fund raising and work by my sister and a few friends they raised $10,000 to donate to the San Francisco SPCA in Damien's memory. While we were in SF my sister took us to the SPCA to see the bench which had been dedicated in his honor and to show us how all the money was going to help.  It was a wonderful experience. The SF/SPCA is a gorgeous new building with a wonderful non-profit animal hospital and adoption center.  We saw lots of adorable animals and had to restrain ourselves from taking a few home.  My sister was offered a job as a tour director she was doing ...

We went to the park to see the herd of Bison and the Dutch windmill - both attractions we hadn't seen at the park before. There was a wedding going on in back of the windmill but we still ended up with a great view of the front without disturbing the wedding. However the parts of the park that the girls ended up enjoying the most were the big beautiful trees . . . (Had to take this photo of A crossing in front of this sign because she is definately a wild animal at times - see evidence above!) (And E always has to have a jumping photo) . . .and the beach! They didn't care that it was freezing cold and the wind was blowing a million miles a minute.  They were determined to play in the sand for a couple of hours while their dear, patient, loving, kind (did I mention patient?) parents froze to death. And with a smile on their faces even! Well at least when they were taking photos of themselves. They finally came back a few hours later after much coaxing via cell phone. ...