Sunday Denial

I admit, Sundays in the backyard are kind of sacrosanct to Bea and myself, so we were a little dismayed at the notion of leaving it. But it was a family birthday party, which means Mom was making her famous Million Layer Chocolate and Coffee Cream Cake, and we are nothing if not flexible partiers, so we put together a few nibblies, mixed up a couple bottles of "hooch" and headed out. (Did I mention this meant no cooking dinner? Always a perk!)

The weather was most accomodating and the view from the back deck was pretty nice:

The kids got out some Legos to play with, and a few made it out to us. I couldn't resist trying one on for the Grand Inquisitor look:

Our gracious host, the birthday girl, and our lovely hostess:

I worry every day that my parents will discover my blog and all the fun of posting pictures of them will end. See, he has no idea this is going to be published!

Bea and her buddy realize yet again they have matching shades and share a contemplative moment digging the funky warp power of this most awesome eyewear.
The kids managed to have fun too,
though the Professor did splay himself most convincingly out from the slide,
and the Bohemian sustained a rotator cuff injury, but what is the price of fun, people?
There were a few sweet moments in between the mini-dramas.
We gathered and sang Happy Birthday as only this crowd can do - well, us and Ethel Merman, if that tells you anything. (If it doesn't, you are woefully ignorant of American Stage Icons and its not my problem - go look her up in Wikipedia, for crying out loud!) I do think the birthday girl enjoyed her serenade, though its doubtful her hearing will ever be the same! (Mmm, cake...!)
No pinatas or Blind Man's Bluff for this crowd, but a rousing game of Bocce was enjoyed. I'm just sorry Ms. Q. wasn't there to quote from "Splash" - she would have relished the opportunity, I know. I think the birthday girl has just thrown out her arm in this picture, but look at the serious concentration on these guys faces!
The Bohemian wonders what all the fuss is about.
The moment of truth in measuring the distance of the thrown balls looks a lot like someone has just lost their keys or a contact.
We had a great time and managed to get our drink on, both figuratively and physically. The physical wearing of the rum drinks was done by yours truly, and you better believe I spread it around - I was awfully glad I was wearing Crocs, so I could just rinse them off afterwards! Hope you had a great weekend too!

*** NEWS UPDATE ***

Bea's bed broke badly, But...
...it was the necessary impetus to get her room rearranged.
We had a lot of fun doing it,
...and it looks really cool (needs painting)!

Sunday Denial/What Are We Drinking?
will go on as scheduled, although in a different yard.
It could be ugly...

Film at 11...*

(* There's not really any film, I just like saying that. There will be pictures though.)

A Monday in January

Yawn....! January really ought to be a month of hibernation. We had the fiery re-entry back into school last week, and still, this morning, I was unprepared for the alarm clock, and the having to get up in the early AM. The kids were already up - they get up at dawn, like their father, but me? I'm a vampire from so far back, even having kids hasn't made me much of an early riser. The hubster was telling me the other morning that one day last week was the latest sunrise of the year - no wonder I don't want to get up in January - neither does the sun, apparently!

I had a great birthday weekend - slept in, played all weekend, and still got the Christmas tree down and out of the house on Sunday, so that can be checked off the list.

Bea gave me a tube of the much-sought after burnt umber, along with a gift certificate to the grooviest art supply store in Raleigh (Askew-Taylor, FYI), and made me an awesome cake! She also took me out last night, as part of our continuing series of Sunday Denial - isn't she the best? Her birthday is coming up in about three months, so I better get busy planning...!

The Big Gorilla Man gave me a fabulous new camera for my birthday, but he had to give it to me early, as I was throwing a bit (!!) of a tantrum on Christmas Eve. So you could say, part of his gift to me is just putting up with my bullshit. He has been an awfully good husband lately - I don't know the where and why of it, but I am grateful - Christmas and my birthday, hard on it's heels, isn't my best time of year ever, really, so I'm just happy to be through with it for another year with minimal stress and/or freakouts.

On Sunday we headed out to Raven Rock Park again, for a nice little hike. The weather is so pretty, its a crime to be indoors! I took my trusty new camera and had a lot of fun taking pictures at the park. We took a different trail this time and the boys loved discovering new terrain. There was a lot of quartz on this trail; some of it quite large, though most of it wasn't of the crystalline quality. Here are the intrepid explorers: I lagged behind a lot on the hike, looking for oddities to photograph. I was struck by this log composition; the intricate branches in the background, the moss and the very graphic rings and cut-out of the log were wonderful. I can almost see some of my sister's little fairy dolls peeping out of this!
Down by the Cape Fear River, we followed the trail along to it's point of no return. Of course, I had to tell the guys that this was "The End Of The Trail", like it was time to go or something. Only the Big Fella got it, but then he's sharp like that.
I started playing with these in photoshop, mostly just cropping or punching up the color/contrast, but when I got to this one I had a bit of fun. They looked like a trio of women dancing, these trees, but when I was looking at the picture it didn't have the drama I had seen in the woods. So I was messing around and decided to try them as a colored pencil look - voila! Now they have drama! Winter is definitely the time of year to shoot tree branches.
My drive-by shootings were the usual hit-or-miss, but upon looking at them, I was struck by how barren and poor it looked alongside highway 401 - you would have thought I was scoping for a location to film a depression-era film. Because they're drive-bys, some of them are a bit blurry, but wow - you just don't realize how close abject poverty is to your own doorstep. Some of these are just old houses on farms, where the family has built another, newer house nearby, but some of them, like this last picture, is strongly reminiscent of 1930s era Dust Bowl pictures, only in color. The fate of the little farmer breaks my heart - I try and buy locally as much as I can, but the bleeding Walmarts and Superstores just roll over us all, destroying the little Mom and Pop businesses, and decimating the little farms, all in favor of a damn concrete warehouse that supports slave labor in third world countries, and reduces our little hard-working farmers to this. And this is an economically strong area; but only if you're from somewhere else and educated.

Sigh...don't let me get started....I'm trying to stay up this month.

Passing Season

I took a picture of this place, from a slightly different spot a few weeks ago. since then, I've been watching the color change and become more dramatic, almost daily. I think its finally at the peak of what its going to do, so here ya go:

Try comparing it to the earlier shot, you'll see just how much color change there has been. Pretty cool. The changing seasons caught in the act!

The boys were with me this morning when I took this picture. They hadn't gotten out of the car at that place before and were all impressed with the old bridge that sits below the newer one. The newer one was built after Hurricane Fran, because the older, and much littler bridge was done in by the torrential rains that not only came with Fran, but had preceeded it, for most of a week prior.

With the sun off to my right, and not directly on this area, it doesn't look nearly as vivid as the other pond shot, which was nicely lit up. Not that I really have time to do it, but it would be interesting to stay out there all day, shooting different variations of the same place, as the sun passes over. I know, its the kind of compulsive thing only an artist would find pleasure in - a hundred pictures of the same place, at different times of day, maybe even weather. Its sort of like trying on shoes, or dresses for a formal occasion - they aren't all going to fit right, or look right - you have to try on a bunch.

The heating guys are here today, putting in the new heater/ac system. Oh Happy Day! As picturesque as a fire can be, it doesn't heat the whole house, and its way too much smokiness and dryness for my seasonally outraged sinuses (they don't call me "Kaa" like the snake in the Jungle Book because I'm skinny - hahahhaa, skinny....my hair is skinny, does that qualify me?). I think we may have to give up our first-born to pay for the new heater, but what the hey!!!

The Ugly Wuglies

This is my very favorite picture of...ME! (Note the introspective finger position - I am contemplating world dominion, no doubt) My parents, from time to time, felt they needed to record our growth as children, so they took pictures of us. The individual portraits tended to be better pictures, but the group photos came out so badly, so frequently, that we have dubbed them, over the years, as The Ugly Wuglies (a term that was coined by my sister and I in respect to Cinderella's Ugly Stepsisters).

This is an early Ugly Wugly Group Photo, and we're still cute enough to somewhat overcome the abysmal photography. (OMG, could we be less harmonious in our color scheme? My brother's sweater is tee-iny and the blue sneakers really don't make my outfit. WTF is going on here, MOM?!)

Yet another shot, a few years later, and the worst part is the flash blow out (oh, and the continuing bad composition - how any of us developed artistic tendencies is a bit of a miracle, really. And if you doubt me, well you just haven't seen the nautical theme of my mother's living room - living proof that taste does skip generations.)


This picture was taken by a professional (go ahead, fall out of your chair and roll around laughing at the thought of someone calling themselves a professional with a picture like this to their credit). Evidently, we were so squirmy at this shoot, the photographer promised us ice cream to get us to sit still. So we sat, but like other traumas in my life ( eg; having my tonsils out, for no frickin reason) the ice cream was not forthcoming. Ice Cream Denial has really messed with my head, let me tell you.

This one was taken by my grandmother, at my father's graduation. My mother was very excited, and is particularly cute on this day. I cannot say the same of the rest of us - dig that Morticia Addams hair on my sister, along with the 70s smock thing going on. My own outfit, made by my mother out of (horrors!!) polyester, has to be the shortest damn dress I've ever worn - luckily my ass hasn't reach its legendary proportions at this time. My younger brother is giving his trademark toothy squint, but it does appear that his other trademark, his zipper, is closed, for this shot, at least.

We had this picture taken for Father's Day, about 1980. It is probably the very best picture ever taken of us. We were trying to emulate the stiff, serious poses of the tintype period; all except for my sister, the drama major - strike a pose girl! Even though the costumes are nowhere near accurate, it still has a great flavor, and sepia tone makes my skin look good!

And finally, another professional shot, taken at my wedding. My sister would have smiled more, but she did have two little kids running around at the periphery of this shot, like wild animals, so it was hard to focus. Other than that, its one of the better pictures of us - mostly because Dad didn't take it.