A few Photos of the Day.

In my last post I mentioned that I've been busy with the football memory book.  It has been time consuming, but a few other things were keeping me busy towards the end of summer as well.  So in between my random photos, I'll tell you what had been going on. 

Eric had been having some odd symptoms with weakness in the muscle in one of his calves.  After some tests and an MRI they determined that he had a tumor in his spine.  Yikes.  That isn't news anyone wants to hear.  It was a tumor growing in the sheath of one of the nerves coming from his spinal cord.  The tumor had grown to the point where it was pinching the nerves going to his leg.

Since it was inside the spinal column, there was no where for it to grow, so it had to come out.  Scary surgery.  They had to remove two of the bones in the back of his spine to get at it.  Then he had to lay flat, with his head down, for a few days to make sure that his spinal fluid didn't leak.  It meant spending the whole Labor Day weekend in the hospital.  He did great.

He came home in time to see Billy's first day of his Senior year of High School.

The good news about the tumor is that is was benign.  And they think that they got it all.  His leg weakness hasn't improved yet, but there is still hope that the nerves will come back to life.  After six weeks he's back to playing volleyball and doing the things he does.

It was a scary time, a time where you really look at all that you have and understand how fleeting everything in life can be.

One week after his surgery he felt good enough to go to Billy's football game.  He was hurting but happy to be there.

Back to football.  Billy has been playing in both the Varsity and Junior Varsity games.  He would have liked to have been the punter for the Varsity, but things didn't work out that way.  He has been punting for JV though, and doing a great job.

 I'm proud of his attitude.

Brian came home from college to visit and to make sure that his Dad was OK.  Since Eric wasn't up to a long ride in the car, I brought Brian back to school on my own.  We stopped at Lake City to stretch our legs and look at all of the boats.  Such a pretty spot.

It's a 2.5 hour trip to school, and 2.5 hours back again.  I'll admit, I'm usually only good for driving an hour or two, then I get a little stir crazy.  But I had to get back home, so I did it.  I was grateful for hot coffee and a rest stop right when I needed it most.

Sometimes there is no better feeling than coming home.

Home where things were slowly returning to normal.

Where Have You Been?

Who me?  I was shocked when I saw that I hadn't posted since August 22nd.  How did that happen?  Well, I can explain....see the picture below?  That group of boys has sort of taken over my days since this picture was taken on August 22nd.

It's Billy's football team.  Earlier in the summer I was "voluntold" that I would be co-chairing getting the memory book done for the team.  I really only wanted to take pictures at the game.  I knew that taking on the book would be a huge project.  The other co-chair is a little flighty...so guess where the responsibility landed.

I have been taking the football photos.  And doing the book.  And trying to keep up with my daily photos.  The photo above is some russian sage in my front garden.

We took a little time to go to the very crowded State Fair.  It was hot, but we had fun anyway.

Every few photos will be back to football.  It's been fun to be such a part of things.  It hasn't been fun how all-consuming this book has been.  I am finally caught up, at 200 pages.  Unfortunately the group in charge couldn't decide which way to go with printing the book, so I've been laying out each page twice in different sizes and slightly different proportions.  Ugh.  I'm glad that I did it that way though, because they've decided to have both options available for the parents to purchase.  I would be hurting right now if I hadn't done it both ways from the start.

Way back in August we brought Brian back to school.  It's always a hard transition for him and for me.  We raise them so they can go out and test their wings...and wonder why our nest back home feels so empty.

We've been having a drought around these parts....I think we went 6 weeks without rain.  My cosmos are shorter than normal...but I sure love the late summer blooms.

Bird bath in my backyard.  The birds love the water.  I think I was having one of those days where I was feeling the way this frog looks.  Sigh.

Molly enjoying the evening sun.  Random stuff ahead as I catch up with photos.  Not all today though...no worries!

First away game of the season.  Billy is #89.

The beautiful full moon.  And with that I'll close.

 More catching up tomorrow....with the blog, with the housework.  And maybe a nap along the way.

Speeding Along

The final days of summer are speeding along.  Sometimes it feels like the days speed up.  We are busy trying to fit in those things we haven't done yet.  Stopping to smell the flowers when we can.  This is a "naked lady" at my mom's farm.  They were taken from some bulbs that my grandmother had planted at their farm.  Sparkly pink with touches of yellow and blue.  Beautiful flowers.

A rose popped opened in my front yard.  I hadn't been out that way for a few days, so it was a pretty surprise.

Brian and I went clothes shopping to get him a few things for school.  He did well!  OK..I'll admit, some of the things in those bags were mine too.  :-)

I've been busy with work, and busy sorting football photos, and busy putting off my housework...so I haven't felt like picking up the big camera.  That's when cell phones come in handy.  We have one week of golf left in our league.  It's been fun, but I'll be glad when the season ends.  Road construction has made the drive to the course not so fun, a new league president has changed things and has now disappeared...so it's been a little different this year.  Lots of pretty nights out there though!

And of course with golf ending soon, the volleyball league registration came today.  The days just keep rolling by.  I hope that you are enjoying these last few days of summer!

August 22, 2011: Blog Post & Photo of the Day

August 23, 2010: Brandi Carlisle in Bayfield & Photo of the Day

August 22, 2009: The Final Days in DC & Photo of the Day

Summer Days

Summer days may be longer, but there aren't more hours in them.

Profound, I know.  But it sure seems like we are rushing around trying to fit what we can during these nice summer days.  I haven't been able to keep up with the flower watering this summer, it's showing.

We went to our first Saints game this summer.  These are men in dresses, the "drag queens" that come out and drag the field part way through the game.  Too funny.

The birds have been enjoying the feeders this summer.  Eric takes them in every night and puts them out in the morning because the darned raccoons have been enjoying the feeders too.

This is my frog planter on the side of the house.  I have always liked his expression.

This was the first full moon in August, peaking out of the clouds.  There will be another full moon at the end of the month.  That only happens once in a blue moon... yeah, I know.

Sunflowers in a mason jar...one of those wonderful simple things in life.

Billy has been busy with football practices. I am one of the "memory book" volunteers so I've been busy taking football pictures.  They were playing tug-o-war at one of the captains practices.  Fun!

We did spend some time on the river a few weeks ago.  These fisherman tried to get every bit of fishing in that they could before the sun went down.

Eric and I took a quick weekend trip to Bayfield and Washburn, WI to see Greg Brown play at the Big Top.   We stopped at the boat dock in Washburn.  It's fun to see all of the different boats.

We took our time on the way home and played a round of golf on a beautiful day.  The pink ball belongs to me, not Eric.

The next day I spent the day trying to catch up from taking a day off, so I didn't take a picture until late that evening with my cell phone on the ladies league golf course.

This is a cosmos in my front yard.  The cosmos haven't done as well this hot, dry summer either.

This is the same photograph with some texture added to it...sometimes I love textures, sometimes I don't.  I think that it works with this one.

Billy has been playing softball now that baseball is finished.  I'm not sure if he or Eric has been having the most fun with it!

Sometimes the cat is the easiest thing to photograph for the day.  Hi Molly.

Billy was asked to play in a softball tournament.  His older cousin agreed to play a couple of games too...Billy thought that was pretty cool.  This is Billy hitting the ball.

We took a day trip to go to the Almelund Threshing bee.  We spent a lot of time with my brother watching the tractor pull.  It's a lot of fun.

A cosmos.

 Impatiens in a planter in my backyard.

A sad cone flower.

Molly...with a shallow depth of field.  Again, needed an easy target for a busy day.

And last but not least, the football team visiting the residents of the Colony, a local nursing home.  The boys were so good about interacting with the seniors, it was fun to see.  I think that it's something they will remember for a long time.  Billy is number 89 towards the left.

And with that, I'll sign off.  Thanks for stopping by for my random photo posts.  Enjoy these last days of summer, it will be fall before we know it!

August 17, 2011: No Blog Post & Photo of the Day

August 17, 2010: No Blog Post & Photo of the Day

August 18, 2009: Shenandoah Crossing & Photo of the Day