Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Where Oh Where...

...has August gone? I think Molly is wondering the same thing. Time to catch up with my photos of the day.

The days fly by, my flowers don't get watered, my house doesn't get cleaned....

...sometimes the laundry gets done, but not put away. Sometimes we drive out of town and I take pictures out of the van window as we drive...like this one.

We went to Bayfield to see Brandi Carlile...but I already blogged about that. It just shows how far behind I am.

We haven't spent enough time with the horses...but they are happy to see us when we do visit. The flies have been nasty. Yuck.

My hibiscus likes the warm days, when I remember to water it. Most of the time it's pretty droopy.

We had some warm days, some rainy days, some days where I didn't remember to take a picture until almost night time...like this one of the chickadee.

Soccer has started for Brian. The gnats have been bad...bad for us playing softball too. They bite my ankles....and then itch for days. Part of summer around here.

Some days I have to bring my camera to softball because I've run out of time to take a picture...some days that works out just fine when the light is all warm and glowing....but then people walk by and I over hear them asking each other "what is she taking a picture of?" Flowers and light smarty pants.

I would rather just take pictures in my back yard, it's quieter. Except for the neighbors dog that barks at me every time I go out there. Woof. Woof.

Billy is finally done with 2 a day football practices. 2 a day practices mean 4 a day trips to school for us....which equals 36 stoplights and 4 stop signs along the way everyday. Here he was thinking he had it tough with all those work outs and stuff in the heat....I had to sit at stop lights!
He had a scrimmage on Saturday, his first game is Friday. Woohoo! I might take a picture or two.

And I might take a picture or two of this boy playing soccer. How can my boy be a senior in high school already? Where oh where did my little guy go? Brian announced that he wants me to take his senior pictures. I want a professional to do it. He is sweet to have that much confidence in me....even though it is misplaced. I think we will compromise and have a pro do the formal ones and me do the fun ones. Yikes.

It's been hot and humid again. Our power went out on Sunday night....about 15 minutes after we completed our fantasy football draft. One computer is not happy at all about it's instant shutdown. I'm thankful to be married to a software engineer. I'm also thankful that it wasn't my computer. This time.

I stepped way out of my comfort zone today and posted a design I had done for a contest onto facebook. I'll explain it and share it here tomorrow.

In the mean time....good-bye August. Next time stick around just a little bit longer ok??


Monday, August 23, 2010

Brandi Carlile in Bayfield

We took a little trip last weekend to Bayfield, Wisconsin. Bayfield is a fun destination all on it's own, but we made the trip to go to a concert at the Big Top Chautauqua that is on a ski hill near Bayfield. Our oldest, Brian brought his friend Dan to see the show. We arrived late Friday night so we would have some time to spend touring around Bayfield. This is Brian on the left and Dan on the right, on a ferry boat to visit a nearby island.

Madeline Island is one of the Apostile Islands near Bayfield. It is a beautiful and serene area, known for it's port on Lake Superior, sailing, and apple orchards. The late summer flowers were blooming when we were there.

We wandered around the island for a while...and then caught the ferry back to Bayfield.

Before we knew it, it was time to head to the Big Top.

Brian and his friend Dan...Dan was rocking some fierce plaid....and a cool hat.

The Big Top is a wonderful place to see a show. Almost outdoors, big crowds but it feels small. Great venue. My only complaint at this show were some of the fans...fans that stood for the entire show...thankfully not in front of us.....and fans that talked and then sang off key for most of the show. Seriously? If you have to talk loudly enough to drown out the performers, maybe it's not the best place for a conversation. It's a concert, not a bar. And the singing along part...sometimes it's ok, sometimes it's awesome...but when you pay good money to see a performer live, aren't you there to listen to the music and not someone that drank too much sitting behind you? I guess I turned and looked at them one too many times...they referred to me as the "church mom". Whatever. Sorry...venting over.

On to the show.

The opening act for Brandi Carlile was the Watson Twins. I wasn't familiar with them....their performance was a pleasant surprise.

Twin sisters...both played guitar at times....their harmonies were amazing.

Siblings voices can sound so fantastic together. Listening to twins was a special treat. They joked about performing before Brandi Carlile's band, because Brandi has twin men as her backup....their harmonies were amazing too.

Then it was time for Brandi. What a dynamic performer.

Her voice is wonderful....

...her band is awesome. The twins, the Hanseroth Twins, added so much with out taking over...and that's pretty tough to do.

There was a drummer and a man playing the cello.....but Brandi all on her own was a special treat too.

Here is one of her videos from Youtube.






The show seemed to be wrapping up, but then the Hanseroth Twins came out for an encore. They did "Sounds of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel. Wow.

Here's a Youtube version. I told ya they were good!



After the show Brandi and the Twins signed autographs. She was so genuine and personable.

They asked that no posed shots be taken just to save time...so you'll only see Brian and Dan's profiles....but it's fun to see Brandi and the Twins interacting with the guys.

They liked the "Born to Folk" shirt that Brian had made and was wearing.


They liked Dan's hat...and his plaid too I think.

Dan asked Brandi if she would sign a pick...one of the twins dug one out of his pocket and handed it to her to sign....which she did.

And then Dan brought it over to Brian and handed it to him as a gift. That act of kindness and friendship was the icing on the cake of a wonderful weekend. I'm thankful for my oldest son, for his taste in music, and most of all his taste in friends. I am one lucky mom. I don't think that the talker / singers behind us realized that being a church mom isn't such a bad thing after all.


Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Changes in the Air

There are changes in the air...and it seems like it happened over night. We had what seemed like weeks of hot, humid, hazy, stormy weather. And then one day it changed. We went from upper 90's and humid to mid 70's and dry overnight. Hot summer then it felt like fall.

It was a nice change. This boy of mine is changing. His senior year starts in a couple of weeks. He went to school and picked up his schedule this week...and thought that all of the kids there looked so young. Sigh. Some changes we are ready for, some we aren't. Where did my little guy go?

The flowers in the yard are looking a little more fall-like. This one is in my mom's yard....I took the picture when it was still stinking hot.

You've seen this one before....but I really like it. My littlest boy has grown up too. David, the boy in the back of the canoe is mostly Brian's friend, but they all get along and he's ok with hanging out with Billy too....and I think that's pretty neat.

Another picture of my grown up boy. He's got some decisions to make...about a career path, about college, you know, those scary life decisions that some of us haven't completely made yet in our late 40's....hum. It seems like an overwhelming thing to think about before you have the life experience to know anything. Good thing that teenagers think they know more than they do. I think.

That was too much thinking for me. I think I'll just stick to my photos of the day for the rest of my post. Petunias. It looks wrong to me when it's spelled like that...I've been Patunia2 for too long I guess.

This flower starts with a "g" and I'm too lazy to look it up. But it's pretty.

Molly likes to be outside again now that the heat has passed. She really likes it that the thunderstorms are gone. Poor little kitty is afraid of thunder. Sometimes I sneak up behind her and say "BOOM" to watch her jump. I'm mean like that.

Speaking of thunder, this is our neighbors house as an evening storm came through. BOOM! Did I scare you?? :-)

My cosmos in the rain. The garden is a little worse for wear this year.

I've been wondering why my cone flowers were looking so ragged....then I saw this gold finch helping himself to the seeds....and now I know.

This wistful little face is from a planter / statue in my back yard. A boy with a wheel barrow. It was here when we bought the house...I like it. He looks so sad...probably because his mom made him haul stuff in the wheel barrow.

Cosmos...I have a couple of really thick, tall plants with tiny flowers on them...not the pretty, wispy cosmos that I'm used to. One was so thick it tipped over like a tree in one of our storms. TIMBER! Hmmm...I seem to be yelling a lot today. I'll keep it down.

And last but not least...a cone flower getting ready to blossom. There is something about this picture that just makes me smile. I think it's the light in the background, the promise of a new day....

....and another sign that change is in the air. Change is good.