When I was actually blogging on the regular, photos were a massive part of that activity. This was a place to let the photos tell the story as much as the words. I don't know how much I still have in me to take and prep photos for this purpose.... I'm not even being as post-y on Instagram and Facebook recently... (Maybe that's something I need to dig into and think about. The "why"....)

But today is Friday, and even if you haven't seen a post-a-day, I HAVE sat down to type a little every day, and today felt like maybe we could do more photos than words, kind of an easing into the weekend.

So in keeping with the overall slowdown of my blogging and posting, etc., I've also dropped down to a place where I almost NEVER take "everyday" photos with my real camera. The very capable and VERY convenient iPhone 12ProMax does the bulk of the work these days. And that's okay. Except that those photos aren't on my desktop computer, so it's not as easy as you'd think to just grab the week's photos and drop them in a blog post. It takes PLANNING. And waiting for things to upload, download, etc. 

But even if I was still taking lots of Big Camera photos and uploading them to this computer, there's still the endless dilemma of getting them over to Lightroom to cull them and edit them before they're ready for sharing. 

 It's honestly kid of a lose-lose, at least in this passive blogging mindset I'm in right now. I need to think this whole thing through and decide what I want out of this blogging act. For the moment, I just wanted to get my rusty fingers typing again. But maybe I'll eventually want to get my rusty photo-posting to warm back up too. I dunno.

What you are getting, therefore, is a very cute set of photos from spring, the last time I consciously took out my big camera to take photos of each of my kids individually and all together.  I actually already have plans to do a new set of these this weekend, a Fall Edition, so it might be fun to see these now, and then compare them to the new ones I will get in the next few days. But for now.... here's what I have for you:

 

LARKIN, age 5.5

 

 

 

QUINN, age 9

 

LUCY, age 11

 

NOAH (and Fiona), age 14.5

 The Whole Gang

 

That's it. I got some typing in, I gave y'all some photos.... It's officially the weekend as far as this blog is concerned. Byeeeee!!

Q&A: If Money and Time Were No Object, Where is One Place On Earth You Would Love to Visit?

 Q:  If money and time were no object, where is one place on earth you would love to visit? Why are you intrigued by that place?

My first answer to this is always Italy. I blame "Return to Me" for this yearning in me, to immerse myself in an Italian city, to spend a good long time there, time enough to get to know the good bakeries and shops, time enough to have a sizable set of Italian phrases I might use without trying too hard. 

If you don't remember "Return to Me", the heroine of the film was born with a heart condition that made most of her life a sickly, homebound one. She was an artist who would make her art right there in her own backyard, but who yearned to one day get to Italy to study the masters and to grow her talent in the old world. Eventually, after a heart transplant, she makes it there, and the cinematography is exquisite-- shots of the most idyllic cobbled streets, nuns on bikes, abundant pots and window boxes of flowers. Sunshine. Old stone. Tile floors. Balconies. HEAVEN. 

So yes-- if money and time were no object, I would take my family and spend a year in Rome. I would find an apartment with a balcony or two, and we would spend the year exploring, learning, practicing art and music (no need to be GOOD at either... just to show up to do both.)... and trying new foods and learning new words. We could take small trips around the country to visit Pompeii, Florence, Lake Como, Pisa, and of course Venice. I would take a million photos. Maybe even offer my services as a family photographer while there... so other tourists (and locals if they deigned) could have amazing images of their families in these beautiful streets. 

I've already been to Italy. Joe and I saved up to go back in 2006, when we were still basically newlyweds, and it was a glorious trip. But having been there once doesn't dull the edge of my desire to be there again. If I could go anywhere on Earth, the answer would still be Italy. 

What about you, five readers of this blog post? I want to hear your answer!

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

CRAB.

 I don't have photos for you. I thought about trying to upload some for a tiny second, then I thought about maybe going and TAKING a few, and then I just.... closed the photo window and cam back here. Sorry. No photos. I just can't even. 

This whole last week has been a MASSIVE 

CAN'T EVEN. 

I tested positive for Covid last Tuesday. So awesome. I'd had a raspy voice the day before, and I'd gotten an email for my choir warning that there had been several reported positive cases from our practice the week prior, so the combo of those two clues led me to test, just in case. And even though I really didn't expect it to actually be Covid, it was.

It's not my first go-round. After successfully avoiding the damned thing for all of 2020 and 2021, our whole family got it in January this year. It ended up being pretty perfectly timed-- it happened AFTER my trip to NYC and BEFORE our trip to Hawaii, so neither trip had to be cancelled. And the Covid we all got was verrrry mild. More of a nuisance than anything. 

So this time around, I kind of knew what to expect, and the only upside to this past week's bout of Covid was that it was as mild as last time. I lost my voice, but didn't have a sore throat. I had a headache but no fever. I sometimes sneezed, and sometimes had a drippy nose, but no real congestion. And here at the end of it, I have a tiny, annoying, occasional dry cough. Nothing major. Nothing debilitating. I'm not even profoundly fatigued like many had reported feeling at the end of their round of Covid. So ultimately, the issue with this whole past week has been the DISRUPTION of life. The worrying about who else was going to get it in my family (spoiler: NO ONE ELSE HAS GOTTEN IT. Whaaa??). And the waiting til I was cleared to get back to life again. 

 Don't get me wrong-- it was pretty nice to clock out of most of the adulting I normally have to do, and the self-inflicted to-do list always running in my head. I loved getting to take random naps just because. I loved having an excuse to let my kids just buy their lunches all week instead of making lunches at home. It felt great to just.... STOP. Stop lots of things.

But also... there was a steady undercurrent of CRABBINESS the entire week. I actually was already feeling irritable the day before I got the positive test. Getting that Covid diagnosis just gave my crabbiness an excuse to stick around. And here we are, a full week later, and I'm still just.....

Annoyed. 

At things. At people. At myself. At piles of stuff. At the STUPID INCREASE IN TEMPERATURE back to the 90's this week (gosh I HATE being hot.). At anything anyone requests of me. At my hair. At dishes and crumbs. At my bra. 

I think the scowl on my face is fossilizing into something permanent. 

Last night as I took a stupid walk in the stupid humidity after the sun went down, I thought to check my period tracking app, and sure enough--- I'm 7 days out from my next period. So I guess some of this is PMS. But I think it's a combo of all of it: being sick. Being inconvenienced, restless, and worried from being sick. And now being hormonal and MUGGY HOT on top of it all. 

So yeah. I can't even. 

Hopefully I'm nearing the end of this crabfest..... Because it is not my natural state of being and I'm worn out from it. 

Okay bye.

A Random List Of Things From Way Back When

me, first grade

  

1. When I was in 6th grade, I got a whole cookie jar of Hershey Kisses as a birthday gift from a friend, with a custom cross-stitched Hershey Kiss lid. It felt like the biggest jackpot. 

2. We used to live down the street from two old, unfenced, informal country road cemeteries. One was more visible and obvious, on a grassy hill. The other was smaller, tucked further back, and among old, tall trees. We used to go to them regularly and play among the tombstones.

3. I learned about New Kids on the Block from Becca Stock when we were Volunteens at Boone Hospital the summer before 7th grade. She was already obsessed and brought me into the fold quite reality. That summer as a Volunteen has a whole set of memories that are coming up as I type this... the break room, the cafeteria, the candy cart, the gift shop, teen magazines, deciding to be locker partners for the next year... there was a whole FEEL to it that is washing over me as I remember.

4. For a while, we had a "library" in our house. A whole room dedicated to bookshelves and books. We were in a pretty humble home, living a pretty humble life, so it always felt so FANCY to have a DEDICATED LIBRARY. I'm not sure how long we kept the room that way, but it couldn't have been long, since there were lots of us and we could use the room for an actual bedroom. Funny-- my parents are back to having a library room again, all these years later. 

5. I got a little toy gumball machine as a birthday gift when I was somewhere between 7-10 years old. It was a bank, so you had to put coins in to get the gumballs, and I was charmed by this for the first little while. But I was an impatient and greedy little girl, and I tired of the "rules" (and probably ran out of coins?) and I wanted MORE GUM, so when no one was looking, I threw the thing onto the ground out in my backyard to break it open. It worked, and for a split second I felt victorious... but almost immediately felt profound remorse and shame at the act. I don't even remember gathering the gumballs up... I just remember how it felt to regret such a dumb decision. 

6. My first grade teacher was Carol Crego, and she was a total gem of a woman. She was close to grandma-age when she taught me, and she had grown children and three cats. She was the most lovable human to all her little students. So it made complete sense to me during summer break, when it was almost my birthday, to invite her to my birthday party. She politely declined-- I'm sure she knew it would a little weird to be the one grownup guest among a bunch of 6-year-old kids-- but she got permission from my parents to take me to McDonalds for lunch on a different day to celebrate my birthday, and she brought me a small teddy bear wearing a yellow rubber crown who I named Mrs. Crego. Such a special thing for her to do for the student that lovingly, innocently invited her to a child's birthday party. 

7. One time when I was somewhere between the ages of 10-12, I accidentally broke a glass thermometer and when I was cleaning the mess up, I was able to "capture" and save the ball of mercury. I was FASCINATED and put the glob of it on a handheld mirror I had and played with the mercury for hours--- splitting it, watching it bead back together, skittering across the mirror, stopped only by the plastic edges of the frame of the mirror.  I think I finally lost it when I tilted the mirror too far and it slid all the way off and under my bed somewhere among the dust bunnies. 

8. I was art rivals with Chris Dietz in 3rd grade. We both wanted to be the best draw-er in class and we competed endlessly with each other. I learned to draw Garfield during this rivalry as one way to try to best him. He and I also entered more than one poster contest that year in our quest to prove our superiority to each other. I couldn't tell you, ultimately, who was better. Probably it was a tie. 

9. Hello to Elise, the best kids sister, who somehow still  keeps up with blogs and has NOTICED that I'm blogging again. WOW! 

me, third grade