So Long June...

...see ya next year. Where has June gone? It's been an eventful month. We've had a drought, and cold days, and hot humid days, and eventually rainy days....and lots of windy days. We've had the longest day of the year...which is also the shortest night of the year which must be the explanation for why I am so, so tired today. June brings us roses, you have to love that!

June brings the end of school and the start of summer vacation. There was a cancelled wedding, a wedding completed, a couple of wedding anniversaries...and a baby shower. And there were roses.

June brought us a lot of baseball....24 games. And it brings a lot of softball, 15 games. The night that two were rained-out was a welcomed break. It's brought soccer...8 games. And Civil Air Patrol meetings for Brian...tonight is his 5th this month and will end with a ride in a helicopter. Hopefully he will get some pictures for me to post tomorrow. And there were roses.

June also brought football training sessions for Billy...7 so far. And football academy...5 times. There were a couple of trips to Taylors Falls, a weekend baseball tournament in Owatonna. And June brought us roses.

It also brought a broken tooth, a couple of trips to the dentist and unplanned crown for me. I think I'm starting to see why I'm feeling sort of tired today. But tomorrow is July, it certainly can't be as crazy as June can it? Did I mention that June brought us roses?

I'm a little afraid to flip the calendar over to see what the month of July brings. But I'm thinking that I should carve out a little chunk of time to hang up a hammock and take a little nap. I'm going to need the energy to get at all those weeds that are growing around the roses. See ya next month.

Flowers today

Are you as tired of looking at baseball pictures as I am? I sort of thought so. Let's sit out on the front step for a little while and just enjoy the flowers.

This is one of 4 window boxes full of wave petunias. See, I really do know how to spell petunia! I picked out an odd assortment petunias to use this summer. Different colors and sizes. I like the free flowing look....either that or I messed up. Not quite sure yet.

The bee balm is blooming. Ahhh....that says it's summer. That and the calendar.

The daisies appear to be taking over my garden. I like daisies...I just don't want to have only daisies. Somehow these bunches of babies breath came up between the daisies. Either that or the daisies have come up all around the babies breath. But I like it. It sort of makes a bouquet right there in the garden.

And then there are the cosmos. One of my favorites. They aren't very tall yet, but there are blossoms here and there.

It feels like summer is slipping away already.... June is almost a memory. That's why we had to stop and smell the flowers today. Sniff. Sniff. Achoo.

Sunday Play...again

My chucks and I spent a lot of time today watching these puffy clouds drift by. The baseball boys won their way into playing on Sunday...which earned my chucks and I a seat in the stands...or on the ground...or walking around...or where ever I could go to get a picture or two or ten....or more.

I like the following shot...a lot. I like it because it shows a lot of action. I like it because the dust is flying. I like how it is framed, I like how it's in focus. I like the lines. I like it because I was sitting there watching the whole thing unfold. I like it because the boys were playing a team that just plain were poor sports and our catcher hung onto the ball and the other boy was OUT! I love the shot because it's a picture of my boy Billy, and the darned kid makes me proud at every turn.
The team that they played had a few talented kids...and they won in spite of their coaches and the poor examples that they were setting. Our boys lost but they did it with class. Baseball is a game full of teachable moments...how lucky Billy is to be on a team with wonderful coaches that are helping to teach them and guide them every step of the way.

Weekend tournaments are fun, but on one hand there is a lot of sitting around....on the other hand there is never really time to do much else. I had been so looking forward to visiting this store....but there wasn't much time. I popped in and popped out in between games today. It wasn't as fantastic as I had envisioned...but still fun to see all the hats and boots and other horse stuff.

After the quick stop it was back to the tournament. The boys played a pleasant team to wind up their day. They couldn't pull out a win, but accepted the 4th place medals gracefully and applauded the other boys as they got their 3rd place awards.

It was a fun weekend out of town, with typically variable Minnesota weather....and a whole lot of baseball.....and now....the laundry awaits!

Baseball...again

My chucks and I watched some baseball today. Today it was my brown chucks. I might get off the chucks kick, I might not. Right now I'm sort of liking it.

Like I mentioned yesterday, we're out of town at a baseball tournament. There are some cool shops here that I really want to get to, but there was too much baseball today to go shopping. Actually there were only two games today but they both ended up delayed because of morning rain. The second field where they played had a pretty view. Not that I was looking at that instead of baseball! Get a hit Billy!

Go Billy go!

Stop Billy Stop!

Two games today, two wins today, means that they get to play tomorrow. It would sure be nice if this will be the day that they play like they can....and win a few Sunday games. Go E.P.!

Here's an artsy fartsy shot with a weed in the fence and my growing like a weed boy in the background. Sometimes my mind wanders off of baseball. Sometimes the players minds do too.

But this boy stays pretty focused....on baseball that is. Cleaning his room...not so much.

Before supper I noticed the pretty colors in the sky and walked across a couple of parking lots to get a picture of the sunset. I only had a couple of pictures left....and thought I had used them wisely.

But about 10 minutes later the sunset became spectacular....and I was out of shots. Sort of like a lot of things in life...you just never know how good things can get....God isn't finished with us yet!

On The Road

Me and my chucks hit the road today...well, Billy and Eric did too. We're on a little trip to southern Minnesota for the weekend.

We came here with this bunch of hooligans....and their parents.

We're here because Billy is doing this. It's their "out of town" tournament. Game one didn't go very well. The umpire was pretty stingy with his strike zone. Our boys bats were pretty stingy with their hits. Not a good combo.

Billy played first for the whole game. Here was a throw from the outfield...he took the cut...

...fired the ball home.....

....the catcher had it....he's OUT!...um, or not. The boy got up, the catcher got up, the ball was laying on the ground....SAFE! It was the game ending run...game over. Loss number one. Bummer.

We went back to the motel, the boys went to the pool, the parents enjoyed a pot luck. The game is forgotten pretty quickly. Tomorrow is another day, with baseball and predicted storms. Remember...baseball is an easy game....you catch the ball, you throw the ball and sometimes it rains. Tomorrow is another day.

Summer Evening

Some days things just don't quite go as planned. Do you remember when I made these little chicks? I blogged about the cake pop chicks here. Well, I had what I thought was a really cool idea...I was going to make white cake pops and decorate them like baseballs for Billy's baseball team.

Cool right? Hmmm...not so much. I don't know what went wrong, I couldn't get the cake balls to stay on the sticks when I dipped them in the candy coating at all. I tried refridgerating them longer, I tried freezing them. I gave up, I now have white cake blobs. They were too ugly to take a picture of. I won't be bringing them to the baseball team. Rats.

On to other things. What a sad day with Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson both dying. Both were such young and vibrant stars in the 1980's...they weren't that much older than me, especially Michael. And now they are gone. Ed McMan too. Do bad things really come in threes? I don't think so, I think that we just stop counting at three.

I got some sad news from a friend today too, his old dog had a stroke. The dog survived it, but is acting pretty confused. Hopefully he will recover to some sort of normal dog life. Some tough decisions are ahead for my friend.

On a much lighter note, my chucks and I stopped at a lake on the way home from some errands tonight. The sun was just setting. I was facing the East, so I didn't get to see the sunset, but I did get to enjoy the pink sky and the purple clouds. Isn't it peaceful?

Sometimes on days like these I really just need to take a little bit of time to myself....

....and just breath. Today I am most grateful for the lakes along the way.

Warm Days

It's finally been warm this week...this first week of summer. Warm and busy. Today Billy had HEAT training and football training from 8:30 am until noon. Then both boys had dentist appointments. I was told that they would rather have dentist appointments during the school year so they could get out of class. What was I thinking??
Billy and Eric headed off to baseball and I took Brian to soccer. It was hot, and humid. They were happy to have one sub, the other team didn't have any.

After about a 3 or 4 minute break, it was time to get back out there. Kristie seemed happy to have a break.

Brian had played striker for a while, he prefers defense...he really uses his head there.

I didn't think that the heat was so bad, but then again, I was just sitting on the sidelines wearing my chucks. I have black ones, brown ones, pink ones...you get the picture. Do you have chucks? Otherwise known as Converse. I really like 'em. I think it's because they remind me of wearing bumpers when I was a kid. Did you have bumpers? I had blue ones and white ones. Oh, never mind.

After the game Brian and I got some Dairy Queen to go and went to see what was happening at the lake. There was a man and a dog on a surf board with an oar. They both looked happy.

And there were swimmers and a pretty sunset. A nice way to wrap up a warm summer day.

Summertime....and the livin' really is easy....hope you've had a wonderful day.

Daisy at Night

I've had a really stiff neck all day today, so the photo of the day was the last thing from my mind. I layed low, hoping it would feel better before tonight's softball game. It didn't. Oh well. Ouch. Our women's team is near the bottom of the league...we played the top team tonight. Predictable outcome, stiff neck or not. I had the camera with, thought about taking a picture of the sort of sunset...but didn't. So, when I got home I took a picture of these daisies, at night. Because that's all that was left.

Not much to say, not much to take a picture of...but some days are just going to be that way. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Summertime

Summertime

And the livin' is easy

Fish are jumpin'

Cotton is high.

Your daddy's rich

Your mamma's good lookin'

So hush little baby

Don't you cry....

Doesn't that song from "Porgy and Bess" just make you feel the heat and humidity of a hot summer day?

That song and daisies.

No matter how I look at them, daisies say summer to me. It's hot and it's humid here today. We've wimped out and turned the air conditioner on. With sticky upper 80's and 90's predicted for the rest of the week it seems like a good idea.

Don't you just love daisies? He loves me, he loves me not...

...he loves me! Even with the heat, it's nice to get out and look at the daisies. And I'm really loving it that my old camera is working so well. The color is right straight out of the camera....I'd forgotten how nice that is.

Hope you are enjoying these first true days of summer ....even if it's with the air on. :-)

A Busy Weekend

Summer weekends get so busy...this one was no exception. Billy had a baseball tournament in Prior Lake all weekend, my cousin got married in my home town on Saturday, and Brian had a soccer game on Sunday. Busy...just how we like it.

Kasi and Charles were married outdoors on Saturday, it was sunny and warm! Kasi was in my wedding 27 years and one day before. I thought that was pretty neat. Here is a picture of that day. Kasi is the little girl on the right. The other little girl is my niece Stephanie with my dad. The little boy is my cousin Mike. Mike was our ring bearer...he bailed before going down the aisle. Mike's nephew was in Kasi's wedding....he bailed before going down the aisle too. It's a family tradition. :-)

Here is Kasi 27 years later. A beautiful bride at her own wedding. I snapped a few pictures, this one is my favorite. It was a lovely wedding, the flowers were vibrant! The music was wonderful, my Uncle Jim played his guitar and sang, another woman sang, and then Charles sisters did a traditional African song...very touching. Since Eric and Billy were at a baseball game, Brian was my date. It was a fun day.

Now on to baseball. Billy's team played two games on Saturday, they won them both. We got up bright and early and left by 6:30 a.m. to get him to his early game on Sunday. They played really well, and won...winning their pool and getting the top seed in the bracket play. Here's a throw to Billy at home.....

....and he's out! The next two games didn't go quite as well. They lost the next two and took 4th place. The final game was played mostly in the rain.

The rain fit my mood. It was Father's Day. My heart and my thoughts kept drifting to my Dad. I miss him, today more than most. This picture of him and Brian was taken just over a year ago. It's one of my favorites. I think of him so often. He was a very special man...and not just to me.

One of the qualities that my Dad had was that he always gave so much more than he ever expected to receive. He worked for everything that he had. Money wasn't important to him, putting in a full day of work was. If a neighbor needed help, he was there, never expecting anything in return. He was loyal to his family and loved us completely and unconditionally, what a gift. Happy Father's Day dad...you are missed.

What a different world we would have if everyone would give just a little more than they took .... I'm trying to live that way, in honor of my dad.