Sibling Photo Assignment 2016.7 The World at Brick Level #3Siblings

Christy gave us another Sibling Photo Assignment this week.  This is our assignment:

"Art Where We Walk".   This week we will be looking down. Create a series of photos by finding art on the sidewalk, a road, or trail.

 

I looked down on the brick patio in our backyard, and didn't just look down, but got down on the ground to get a unique perspective of the area around our patio.

 

Cat paw and seed pod on bricks

Cat paws on bricks

Dog paws on bricks

Sand between bricks

Secret message in bricks

Front of cat on bricks

Middle of cat on bricks

End of cat on bricks

Under the table on bricks

Under the chairs on bricks

The view of the tree and flying bird through the chair on the bricks

The geranium through the red chair on the bricks

 

Sibling Photo Assignment 2016.4 In My Little Town...Friendships Remain #3Siblings

A few months ago, Christy gave us this sibling photo assignment:

" Using the theme My Hometown share a set of photos of places that have been around since you were a child. "

Christy shares her photos here, and Bill will do this assignment the next time he is in Kellogg.

When I think of buildings that were around when I was younger, and those places that were important to me, the buildings that came to mind were the homes of my friends, and my elementary school.

This is the building that I spent grades one through sixth grade.  I learned from Mrs. Kirkpatrick, Mrs. Cooke, Mrs. Clary, Mrs. Daiker, Mrs. Joy and Mrs. Tregoning.  I had music classes from Mrs. Williams.  I took P.E. from Mr. Curry.  I had speech therapy from Mrs. Maddox.  This is no longer an elementary school.  It is part of a car dealership.  But to me, it will always be my grade school, and the place I built lasting bonds with people who are my lifelong friends.

The other buildings that are around that come to mind when I think of buildings from my childhood are homes of my friends.  This is my friend Kellee's childhood home.  Her father still lives there.  Our backyards were kitty-corner to one another.  We lived in the same neighborhood, played at the park down the street, played hide and seek with the kids in the neighborhood, played Barbies in our backyards, and talked on the phone to one another while waving through our kitchen windows.  And Kellee remains one of my truest and best friends.

This is the house my friend Tina lived in when her mom babysat me when we were in kindergarten.  We spend a lot of time playing Barbies, practicing dance moves while in Betty Damiano's dance class, and fighting.  But our friendship has stood the test of time, and Tina is one of my dearest friends.

This is the house my friend April grew up in, and her father still lives there.  So many memories of times spent at April's house, from playing with Barbies, playing school or office in her attic, doing a magician show in her backyard, playing in her playhouse, hiking on the hill behind her house, visiting the reservoir, and almost falling in once, and watching April use the fence as a balance beam as she longed to be an Olympic gymnast.  Again, April remains one of my dearest and closest friends.  And her soon to be departure to Italy to live in Villa Magnolia will not lessen our friendship one bit.

This is the house my friend Marian grew up in, and her parents still own it to this day.  Marian's mother was our Campfire Girl leader, and we spent many times going through this gate, and going to the basement of this home to have Campfire meetings.  Many memories were made in this house while participating in Campfire Girls over the years.  And Marian is still a close and dear friend to this day.

So when I look at buildings around our hometown, the ones that evoke special memories are the ones where I spent time with my friends, either at school, or in their homes.  And each and every one of these friends are still near and dear to my heart.

Sibling Photo Assignment 2016.5 Goodbye Summer....Hello Autumn #3Siblings

Christy gave our fifth Sibling Photo Assignment, asking us to take a series of photos indicating that summer is coming to an end.

Officially, summer has ended, and autumn has arrived, but this change is reflected in the photos below as I toured my backyard this morning, which definitely indicated a change in the seasons.

You can find Christy's photos here, and Bill's photos here.

So take a morning tour with me around my backyard as I share with you photos of saying goodbye to summer.....and saying hello to autumn.



My tomatoes are still ripening on the vine.



The burning bush shows a beautiful display of fiery red.

The maple tree in the front yard is slowly beginning to turn yellow.

The Oregon Grape leaves turn from green to red.

The Mountain Ash tree is full of berries, and has been for quite a while.  There is an old adage that says "If there are lots of mountain ash berries, then it will be a cold, hard winter".  We'll see soon if this is true.

I forget how beautiful the peonies become as their leaves turn.

The Coneaster bush has lovely red berries.

Some late ripening raspberries.

A casualty of  colder temperatures...a leaf from one of the zucchini plants.

Green leaf lettuce still ready to pick.

But, alas, the Ruby Red  has bolted into a tiny lettuce forest.

The Tri-Color Beech tree is showing off the early autumn colors.

One Moonbeam Coreopsis plant still has some blooms.

And my pink geranium basket is still creating new blooms.

Sibling Photo Assignment 2016.6 Wedding Memories Still Life #3Siblings

Christy gave us our next Sibling Photo Assignment.  It is:

"Create a series of still life photos using a common theme.

My theme is "Wedding Memories", taking photographs of leftover items around our home from our daughter's wedding on September 10, 2016.

Sibling Photo Assignment 2016.3: Images of Red, White and Blue #3Siblings

Three color challenge....

Consider the colors red, white, and blue, Construct a photo series using these three colors alone or combined in honor of our nation's birthday. Patriotic pictures are not a requirement. Keep your eyes open and your camera ready for red,white, and blue in any way you see pleasing to the eye.


I visited the Old Mission State Park yesterday, and found some unique images of red, white and blue.

I believe these images honor our nation's birthday, because this area reflects the history of the area I live in, even though, for some Americans, it is rather new history.

The Cataldo Mission is the oldest building in the state of Idaho, built between 1850 and 1853.  This may seem odd to people back east, who often have buildings around them constructed in the 1600's. 

But Idaho is a rather new part of this country, so this mission is our history.

Here are my red, white and blue images from the grounds of the Old Mission State Park.

This is the Parish House, painted blue, with the white clouds and the red chimney and red cherries.

I continued with the cherry theme in the next three photos, capturing the red, white and blue through images of sky, clouds and cherries.

Sibling Photo Assignment 2016.2: Joyful Patriotism #3Siblings

Sibling Photo Assignment #2 

 

"There is nothing more useless than a sharp photograph of a fuzzy concept." Ansel Adams

 

 

Pick a particular mood or feeling (cheerfulness, sadness, anger, nostalgia, mystery, suspense, starkness, tranquility, etc. ) and take a series of photos to illustrate that mood or feeling.

 

Today my daughter Cosette and I attended Kellogg's Fourth of July parade, and I captured some images of "Joyful Patriotism".

 

 Here is Emily waving from the Silver Mountain float.

 

Uncle Sam on the Good Samaritan float.



Throwing candy.



Another Uncle Sam.



Tumbling tumblers.

Jugglers



Cosette said she received more candy in today's parade than she ever did as little kid.

 

SIbling Photo Assignment 2016.1: Images of Summer #3Siblings

Christy came up with idea of adding a second project to our Sibling Assignments. Each week we will do a Sibling Photo Assignment. She wants more opportunities to practice what she learned in the photography class she participated in last spring. 


Assignment #1: Summer Color. Take four pictures that depict summer to you. Focus on color by creating an arrangement of colors that are pleasing to the eye. When done we can compare colors we chose and what stood out in the arrangements taken.

 

You can see Bill's photo's here, and Christy's photos here.

I decided to take some photos of my favorite tree in our backyard, the Tri-Color Beech Tree.
This tree changes throughout the summer, and also looks different depending on the angle you are looking at it.  I spend a lot of time in the summer under this tree, reading in my hammock, having dinner, hosting parties, and gardening.  This tree has been the observer of many wonderful memories in our backyard, and in our family.  I really love this tree.

Here is what the full tree looks like at this time of year.

 



Here the leaves have  a white border with a touch of pink.

 

These leaves have a light pink border.

And some have a dark pink, almost magenta look to them.

Sibling Assignment 2016.2: Promises to Keep #3Siblings

This assignment is in three parts. First, choose a poem that you feel best exemplifies snow and post it. Second, explain why you chose that particular poem.  ( Questions you could consider: What drew you to that particular poem? Was it  a new poem or one you were familiar with? ) Third, find photos you have taken that connect in some way with the poem and your own writing about the poem.

While directing and having the lead role in a play, I didn't have the energy to write many sibling assignments.  I am going to try and tackle some and get caught up.

I had taken notes on this particular assignment, so I am going to see if I can remember what I was going to write about.

The poem I chose was one Robert Frost wrote, titled:

Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening

 

Whose woods these are I think I know.   

His house is in the village though;   

He will not see me stopping here   

To watch his woods fill up with snow.   

My little horse must think it queer   

To stop without a farmhouse near   

Between the woods and frozen lake   

The darkest evening of the year.   

He gives his harness bells a shake   

To ask if there is some mistake.   

The only other sound’s the sweep   

Of easy wind and downy flake.   

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,   

But I have promises to keep,   

And miles to go before I sleep,   

And miles to go before I sleep.

 

 

 

There were a few reasons I chose this particular play.  As I was directing and rehearsing the play, as well as working at a full-time job, it was a bit exhausting at times.  The last stanza especially hit me, when talking about promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep.  While working on a play, you have commitments to take care of that need your attention.  When working full-time, you have promises to keep, or commitments that need your attention.  And sometime having the energy to get it all done is hard,

 

Another reason I chose a Robert Frost poem, is the character I played in the play, Joy Davidman, was also a poet, and she shared a poetry award with Robert Frost, so he had been on my mind.

 

The poem also refers to the darkest evening of the year.  While working on this play, there were some dark days, especially in dealing with death.  The character I portrayed, Joy Davidman, dies on stage each evening.  While rehearsing for this play, there were several deaths that hit me pretty hard.

 

First our sweet dog Juliet died in January.  She just fell asleep one night and didn't wake up.  She was our daughter Zoe's dog, and it was so hard to tell Zoe her sweet little companion had died.

 

Then Paul's Uncle Ted died.  Ted was a friend of my dad, and it made me think a lot of Dad, and him passing away at such a young age, and how I miss him, and wish he could still be living in Kellogg.

 

These are some photos I took last winter in Post Falls near the dam.  These photos remind me of a place, as the poem says, "between the woods and frozen lake".

 

 

 

 

Sibling Assignment 2016.3 Slideshow Loves...U of I, Godspell, Autumn

I gave this sibling assignment this past week.

My assignment was this: 

Do a photo slideshow with music depicting Love.  You must use your own photographs.

 

Christy's Valentine to her husband Everett is here, and Bill's love of taking winter pictures is here.

 

Last fall I spent many different times walking through the Arboretum at the University of Idaho in Moscow.  This particular Tuesday in September I took a walk and took some photographs of the beautiful flowers, trees, plants and overall beauty of the Arboretum. 

 

As I walked through there that day, the song "All Good Gifts" from the musical "Godspell", one of my favorite musicals.  I believe it was one of the first musicals I saw performed.  And it was one of the best large group casts I performed with in a musical at the Sixth Street Theater in Wallace.

 

Plus, I love autumn.  I realize, September 15 was still officially summer, but you can see the season changing toward autumn in these photographs.

 

If you are ever in Moscow, take some time to walk this loop through the Arboretum and enjoy the beauty.  You will LOVE it.  Happy Belated Valentine's Day!!

 

 

 

Sibling Assignment 2016.1 So Many Books; So Little Time #3Siblings

The first sibling assignment for the year 2016 was assigned by brother Bill.  Here is the assignment he gave us to stretch our creative non-fiction muscles.

For the next assignment, write a piece of creative non-fiction  that ends with this sentence (or a slight variation): "Suddenly, bittersweet vellichor filled my entire being."

One rule:  you cannot write about a bookstore in any way, but you will be writing a piece that ends in the wistfulness that comes when visiting used bookstores. 

Christy's blog post about The Art of Waxing and Waning is here, and here is Bill's post about his time in a wooded park in the D.C. area.

 

 

I am a reader.  From the time I can remember, books have been a part of my life, and the life of my family.  I could read by the time I was five-years-old.  Parents and siblings read to me from the time I was born. 

            Visits to the local public library was a constant in my life, and continued to be whether I lived in Kellogg, Glendive, Meridian, or back to Kellogg.  I have been a part of a “Book Club” for almost 14 years.  My childhood home was filled with shelves of books.  My current home is filled with shelves of books.  Books have always been a part of my life.

            Recently I spent a morning in the Kellogg High School library, or “Media Center” as it is now contemporarily known.  I had some students taking an assessment on the computers, so I spent time walking around and looking at titles of books on the shelves of the library.

            I remember before Christmas I had also been in that library, but I had been in the back room, and saw a shelf with book after book of rare Idaho History titles that I want to take home and read.

            On both the occasions I found titles I would like to read someday, but realized the list of the amount of books I want to read someday is quite long.

            Last week I revisited, once again, our local Kellogg Public Library to pick up a two books I had put on hold.  One was the book that had been chosen for my January Book Club title, and one was the second in a series of the Book Club book that we had read in December.

            My project last weekend was to clean out my office, and get it organized.  Much of the disorganization of my office was caused by books I had retrieved from shelves in our basement to bring up and put on the shelves in my office.  Many of these books had to do with Idaho history, and have been used in research for a book I have been working on for over 10 years.

            As I was finding those books downstairs, I also found some books that are old friends, books I had read years ago that I want to revisit.

            I look at other parts of the bookshelves in my office, and find books I have never read, but want to read someday soon.

            Will I ever have the time to read all the books I want to read?  I used to have an Edward Gorrey sweatshirt I used to wear that said “So Many Books; So Little Time”.  So true.

            Then I look on my Nook booklist.  I look on my Kindle booklist.  E-books are now a part of my personal library.  Each in my e-library I hope to read someday.  But is there the time?

            Another new collection in my growing library is also audiobooks.  Now I cannot only read books, but I can also listen to them as well.

            But will I ever have the time to visit all the places I want to visit within the pages of the hundreds of books that fill the shelves of my home, my school library, my local public library, my e-books, my audio books?

            This fall I have entered the world of an older Jean Louise Finch who struggles with her view of her father in “Go Set A Watchmen”, read an intriguing fictionalized account of the life of author Virginia Wolff and her sister Vanessa in “Vanessa and Her Sister”, met an eccentric Frenchman who is the chief of police in a small French village in “Bruno, Chief of Police”, and continued reading Joanne Harris’ magical story of Vianne Rocher in her book “A Peach for Father Francis”, a sequel to the book “Chocolat”.  I also read my friend Carrie Stuart Park’s newest book “The Bones Will Speak”, where she created a thriller that began right in my own hometown. I am currently half-way through following the adventures of Mark Whatney on Mars in the book “The Martian”.

            And put two more books on hold at the library for more reading pleasure.  The first is “The Paying Guest” by Sarah Waters, and “Last Bus to Wisdom” by Ivan Doig.  It looks like one takes me back to post WWI in England, and the other to Montana.

            When I look at the books I have recently read, the ones I have read and want to revisit, and think of all the books sitting there, waiting to be opened, suddenly, bittersweet vellichor fills my entire being.

 

from The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

vellichor

n. the strange wistfulness of used bookstores, 

which are somehow infused with the passage of 

time—filled with thousands of old books 

you’ll never have time to read, 

each of which is itself locked 

in its own era, bound and dated and papered over 

like an old room the author abandoned years ago, 

a hidden annex littered with thoughts 

 

 

Sibling Assignment 2015.23 Empty Nesters and Family Retreat #3Siblings

I gave the assignment this week:

"Look back over 2015 and write about one of the most memorable things that changed you, and write about the transformation."

You can find Bill writing about his photo taking here, and Christy about living back in her hometown here.

One of the more memorable things that has happened in my life this year is this fall when all three of my daughters were no longer living in our home.

Oldest daughter Molly relocated to Coeur d'Alene after getting a job at Post Falls Middle School, and will be returning to college in January to complete her Bachelor's degree at Lewis Clark State College.
Middle daughter Zoe is completing her senior year at the College of Idaho in Caldwell.
Youngest daughter Cosette moved into her first apartment, and is in her second year of college at the University of Idaho in Moscow.

I am not going to lie to you.  I really enjoy having the house a little quieter, and our schedule a little calmer.  I like that Paul and I spend more time together relaxing at home.

What I don't like are the long absences of being apart from our daughters, or having us all together at once.

Zoe finished up her junior year spring, and went directly to her summer job in Oregon.
We didn't see her from her spring break to August.  That was way too long.

Because of our schedules over the summer, all five of us were never able to be together as a family.

So we went from Easter to Thanksgiving until all five of us were together again.  That was hard.

It has made me realize how much I need to cherish the time we do have together.  Especially at this time in our lives, when all of the girls are still unmarried, no children, and it can be just the five of us.

Because of this long lapse in the five of us being apart from one another, I thought  would be a nice idea to take two days over Christmas break when all the girls were home and have a "Family Retreat".

Before Thanksgiving, I asked the girls if they would set aside December 28 and 29 for family time.  When I made this request, I didn't know what we were going to do, but I did know it would be spending time together.

We had a bit of a "Staycation Family Retreat".  We stayed at our house, and had an agenda of things we wanted to do over the two days.

We began the time sharing prayer requests and Paul prayed for us all. 

Throughout the two days, we watched Episodes I - VI of the Star Wars movies, since we had just gone as a family to see Episode VII.

We played games.  We found out the girls did not enjoy Trivial Pursuit 80's Edition.  They said they might like it if there were questions of things that happened after they were born.

But playing "Scribblish" was a highlight!!

We share meals and had discussions.  Some of these topics included:
"What can we do to encourage you when you are going through a bad time?"
"Is your outlook for the world hopeful or fearful, and why?"
"Share a topic you would like the family to discuss."
"Share about your relationship with God and Jesus, and what that means to your life right now."

What a precious gift those two days were with my family.  Becoming an Empty Nester is a good thing, but having everyone home together to share memories is a real blessing.