practice

I got out in the yard this weekend and practiced a little with my camera. Luckily, this one usually wants to get her picture taken. I also spent some time with my camera manual. What a difference. I thought I needed a newer, better camera, but what I really needed was to study. Now, this is not a great picture, but I love it so much.

So, this fall I'm dedicating myself to practice. I'm going to practice and study with my camera, my knitting needles, and yoga.

Somewhere between work, soccer, dinner, and dishes.

fallish

2nd, 4th, and 8th

tree tops

Sometimes we forget that people travel a great distance to do the things that are in our backyard.

summer camp

Apparently the boy had the best week of his life at biology field camp.

roaring run

I haven't had time to take a breath lately. Every time I turn around the dishes are piled high and there are bags of wet towels that have been sitting for too long. It hit me this week that we don't have much time before school starts, so we had lots of lake days and ice cream.  We went on a grand hike with friends at Roaring Run. John was the oldest kid along, and he kept trying to sneak into the fast moving water. My friend Anne took some pictures of the kids. It was a gorgeous hot day, and the kids picked wineberries and put their feet in the icy cold creek. Ruby stripped down to her underwear and got in a pool until her head hurt from the cold.

west virginia

We just spent a week in Pocohontas County, West Virginia in a log and stone CCC cabin at Watoga State Park.  It is so off the beaten path that there is no cell service and no internet. The woods were full of blooming rhododendron, and we hiked a cranberry bog, and a gorgeous series of waterfalls. This is Ella at the Cranberry Glade.

sweet appalachia

John and I joked that we must be doing something right when we realized we were seeing incredible live music two nights in a row last weekend. On Friday we heard Anna and Elizabeth, Town Mountain,  New Ballards Branch Bogtrotters, and Asheville poet and storyteller Minton Sparks.  Minton has been described as the love child of Flannery O'Connor and Hank Williams, and she was mesmerizing.

On Sunday we drove over to the next county and saw Chatham County Line in a big white tent next to cow field. It had just thunderstormed and was cool and misty. The power was out so the band ditched the stage in favor of the middle of the tent. There might have been fifty people there. And a few cows.  It was gorgeous.

We didn't have to drive on any interstates, and the only money we spent was on ice cream cones and beer.

I love summer.

rooster

happy camper

Each kids got to chose one camp this summer, and Ruby's started yesterday. She is riding horses and learning 'Franch".

seven

a very exciting day in my class

tree swallow

13 rocks

Ren and Joe got her a fabulous electric guitar recently, and she finally let me take a few pictures of her. She has a wildly good voice, and is deep into her second year of guitar lessons. {Before that, she took five years of violin lessons.}

may

every day I write the book

It is definitely spring when Authors' Tea starts at our school, and having three children means a whole lot of nights listening to stories written by all the classmates.  Ruby and John had theirs this week and Ella's is on May 6. Ruby's story was about a fairy named Ding and her adventures with a dragon. John's story was Minecraft based, but he promises that next year his story will be completely "out of game."

#doubleexposurelove

sunday coffee

sometimes the best toys are not toys

A friend needed a place to keep her piano for a few years. I think this is the perfect spot. Not everyone has a piano in the kitchen, but for me the kitchen is really the "family room" and heart of the house. As of today, my heart is beating a bit louder.

springing

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