Yellow Lichen on Cracked Granite, Maine

Yellow Seaweed, Maine

Seaweed Pool, Maine

Back to Maine

This is a bit of the Maine coastline from last summer. I'm finally getting back to the hundreds, maybe thousands of photos that I haven't worked on yet from our trip.

Raindrops

These are raindrops on the edge of an upturned canoe outside my mother-in-law's house in Door County. I ran it through a watercolor filter in Photoshop Elements 3.

Geocaching and Other Diseases

The rain stopped and the sun is now out, so it was time to do some more geocaching. I hadn't gone in a long time, so I put new batteries in my gps, downloaded a handful of caches in an area easily accessible to REI for the ride home, and headed out with my camera. I found four, and would have easily found two more, but there were other folks out there enjoying the nice weather which prevented me from parking next to them and wandering off into the brush without causing, at the very least, too much interest in what I was doing. One nice motorist stopped next to me, rolled down his window and asked if I needed help. I think he meant with my van, but maybe he meant with myself? I told him thanks, but I was just taking a photo of these lovely dead and rotting cattails.

On the way home, I stopped at REI to use up my member dividend and check out what they had for sale. I had already scoured their website, but you never know what's on the actual shelves. I'm glad I went because I found a pair of Keen Venice H2's in my absolute favorite green color, in my size, on the clearance rack for $29.95. With my dividend, I paid $22.30. Oh my gosh. That was like a little bit of fairy tale come true. What a great find.

A Dog's True Life

I was sick with a nasty cold all last week and with the summer-like weather recently realizing it's only March and we're in Wisconsin, I have been inside more than usual, avoiding rain and yuck. I have had to turn to more mundane models if I want to use my camera. I will have to post this one on Lexie's website on Dogster.com.

Oh, I can just hear you - "Get a life!"

What We Didn't Bring Home From Spring Green, WI

We made the responsible decision and did not bring home this adorable miniature schnauzer puppy. Sigh. The timing in our family, current crises, medical complications, finances and non-unifed committment to another life in the house put the kabosh on my emotional yearnings for another someone who would love me unconditionally.

More Images from Spring Green, WI

Scenes From Spring Green, WI

Some images from last weekend's trip to Spring Green.

For a Five-Year Old

A snail is climbing up the window-sill
into your room, after a night of rain.
You call me in to see, and I explain
that it would be unkind to leave it there:
it might crawl to the floor; we must take care
that no one squashes it. You understand,
and carry it outside, with careful hand,
to eat a daffodil.

I see, then, that a kind of faith prevails:
your gentleness is moulded still by words
from me, who have trapped mice and shot wild birds,
from me, who drowned your kittens, who betrayed
your closest relatives, and who purveyed
the harshest kind of truth to many another.
But that is how things are: I am your mother,
and we are kind to snails.

- Fleur Adcock

Oh, how I long for the five-year old sensibilities, the young mind that still accepts what comes out of a mother's mouth and is not yet ruined by noticing the actions that may contradict words. We have one nine years past five who has taken it into her own hands to be extremely cruel to snails, among other things. Mom and Dad's words no longer hold any sway. We just pray.

Wisconsin Kennel Club Dog Show II

A few more. We didn't see any miniature schnauzers, but a few standards and giants. This was such a fun event for me and my camera.

Wisconsin Kennel Club Dog Show

A sampling of dogs from the show this afternoon at State Fair Park.

More Goldfinches

These little guys (and gals) are all over my neighbor's crabapple tree, just outside one of our upstairs windows. They are stuffing themselves on the shriveled fruit.

First Tries With New Lens

My Dad gave me this wonderful long lens for Christmas and it finally arrived from backorder last month. Here are a couple first shots of an American goldfinch. These were taken from our back window.

Ups and Downs, or Downs and Ups

I'll start with the downs first and save the more uplifting stuff for last.

• I am recuperating from a recent surgery and, while healing, am dealing with some post-operative concerns and decisions that now have to be made.
• Since I am sitting on my butt for a greater than normal part of the day during recovery, all the improvement I made during my last two months of physical therapy on rear end muscular/busitis issues has sort of backslidden (sorry).
• Being bored by the end of a week of sitting around here, unable to get out and walk (much), get groceries or run errands has intensified my normal February-in-Wisconsin cabin fever syptoms. The highlights of my recent days have been showers, and taking my daily dose of isoflavones.
• I am not able to lift more than ten pounds at a time right now, so my babysitting job is on hold for another week or two. I have thus turned to Internet shopping, spending bits of cash pretty much in reverse proportion to what I would have taken in during these last three weeks of work. This means I have lost not three weeks of income, but actually six, not to mention the loss of cuddle time with my adorable nine-month old charge.
• Beyond my health issues, there's always teenagers to make life difficult. My oldest got an interim report card today indicating a D in Math, another D in Biology, and a U in History if improvements aren't made soon before the next marking period. When confronted, said teen replied, "The homework is stupid." Well, if it's so stupid, I guess I understand why she wouldn't want to do it. How silly of me. Now, if my children were all animals, as they sometimes are, but no - literally animals, and these animals put on a circus in the forest, my eldest would definitely be the racoon dressed as a clown. A very creative, intelligent clown (except in math, biology and history, that is). Let's say she puts the E in Emo lately, and whether she means to or not, she is driving her concerned parents nuts.
• I can no longer have any more children. Ever.

There's more to the negative list, as I am all too capable of digging up an endless supply of additions, but I think it's time to move on and practice my weaker skills of enumerating the positives in life.

• The bad part of surgery is over, especially that first night in the hospital, which was awful.
• They gave me drugs, painkillers, to take home. This is very good. But it's also very good that I now no longer need anything more than Tylenol. Even better is that I now have some nice, strong, prescription painkillers left over for future use.
• I got flowers in the hospital from three different parties. This is a nice treat. They now grace our coffee table in the living room.
• I got the staples out of my incision only four days after surgery, and my doctor let me keep them so that my oldest daughter could make strange jewelry out of them.
• I have had lots of positive attention and MEALS brought over that I didn't have to think about, prepare or clean up after. This, to me, is one of the best parts of having to recuperate from surgery. I have never liked to cook, but I do have a nice cookbook selection. I love the idea of cooking, but this idea has never germinated into actually doing it on a regular basis.
• I got lots of healty isoflavones as gifts (dark chocolate) and less healthy isoflavones (milk chocolate). Sometimes I double or even triple my isoflavone dose.
• I have a nice supply of soaps, lotions and skin care products that recently arrived in the mail from one Internet shopping frenzy, and any day now my lime green Born shavano boots will show up, along with my bread baking pans and the four Burt's Bees starter kits I won on eBay at a fantastic price.
• My feet smell like peppermint more often than they ever have before.
• Before I even knew I needed surgery, I had started to think about getting a second miniature schnauzer. A few days later, out of the blue, a friend told me of a colleague's new litter of mini schnauzer pups! We saw them at eight days old, and they were, of course, adorable. Now that I have suffered through all sorts of medical brutality, I find the timing good in the end. Who would want to watch me go through all of this, and then deny me a puppy?
• The litter will be ready to go home six weeks and one day after my surgery, the magic recovery mark - and also my younger daughter's 11th birthday. Is that a sign, or what?
• I don't have to do laundry, take out the garbage, vacuum, shovel or even drive anyone anywhere for at least another week.
• I can no longer have any more children. Ever.

Sam-ism

Sam: "I was born to eat. Don't let me live in vain."

Frigid Weekend in Spring Green

My kids and I were watching old episodes of The Office on DVD the other day. Jim took Dwight's "company" stapler and suspended it in jello. It was there on Dwight's desk, floating in a dome of goo, and I thought to myself, "Someone was actually given the job of making that jello mold and carefully placing that stapler so that it would be in the center of the gelatin when it set up."

I could be that someone.

Float Like a Butterfly . . .

Yesterday was Muhammad Ali's 65th birthday. NPR made this announcement and then relayed one of Ali's quotes: "If you even dream of beating me, you better wake up and apologize."

Gotta love that.