Violin Recital Day

(I LOVE this shot. The shirt he is wearing is one she got for him for Christmas)

Australian Bottle Tree

After standing around under this tree experimenting with the settings on my camera and trying to focus on the flowers when the wind kept blowing, I discovered one thing...

I'm allergic to it.

Hungry Birds

Right now our yard is inundated with fledgling birds. They spend their days learning to fly, and learning to take care of themselves...and squawking for their parents.

And boy can they squawk! Danjo and I remember this well from our days as lovebird owners. We had a pair of lovebirds (aptly named) and their five hungry babies in our tiny one bedroom apartment. Baby birds are always hungry. Seriously always. 24-7. No exaggeration. Their squawks are small when they are newly hatched, and gain in volume as they grow. Danjo took our little flock and sold them to the petstore when it got intolerable.

We've been watching all these baby starlings. They land in the yard, squawking, and pester the attending parent unrelentingly, squawking, only stopping briefly if they are actually swallowing something. When the parent gets fed up, or runs out of food, it flies off for a while (ever wish you had wings like that?).

When mom/dad is away, the kids shut up, and look around, and begin to fend for themselves. Not terribly successfully, but they try. This little fella hunted around in the grass and found...

Ta Da!! A leaf. Not filling, but maybe useful someday when it has to build a nest. It'll get there eventually, but the journey to maturity isn't quite over yet. :)

The parent birds are working hard in the meantime...

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Photo of the day:

Her sister asked if she'd gotten a tattoo, and if so, why she hadn't been in on the party. I've been assured it's washable marker.

Edited to add: The photo of the feet is now "famous"--BBC published it in a series of reader photos of the theme "FLORAL"

Steak and Nitrogen

Today I had a conversation with one friend in which we laughed about the need to take things one day at a time--thinking beyond today gets too overwhelming, after all.

So what's just today?

A scooter crash, a bandaid-ed knee, a quarter of a tank of gas, an orientation for a computer class that should be taught by the history dept, a basketball game (and a basket, nearly 3 points but we'll take 2), a missing violin teacher (her day was crazier than mine), waited for a train, AWANA, the quadratic formula (you know, a x squared plus b x plus c equals y--- I reviewed, you should too--never know when you'll need to graph bungee jumpers and fit pizza in a box), parabolas, proof of the formula for the line of symmetry (just for fun, and because it was going to make a certain someone other than me or the owner of the homework insane to use it and not know how it works), steak and nitrogen with a side of rhizobuim (because one of my kids is absolutely hilarious and is paying attention in science), the use of caricatures in the great depression, spelling words (none of which is the opposite of "a solid") and Paul Bunyan, an application for student council, dinner in the car, dinner from leftovers, popcorn, dueling Fiocco and Dancla in the living room (lesser known than Mozart and Salieri, but entertaining--the recital is saturday and I can't wait!!), allergies, curlers, dishes, laundry, a discussion about dissecting frogs, the attempted rescue of a baby bird, and I fed the dogs. Not necessarily in that order.

That's just since 3pm. In addition to leaving out the entire morning and part of the afternoon in this accounting of our day, I "may" have (intentionally or unintentionally, as the case may be) left out several relevant details and significant people (and overused parentheses), and I forgot to check the mail.

Earlier, before breakfast, during coffee #1, was highlighted eyelashes, and a backlit ear that were worth looking at.

And we made it through today. And we laughed a bit. And I like popcorn.

Tomorrow sounds daunting, now that I think about it, now that I think of the to-do list, and the to-think-about list, and the can't-do list, and the unexpected list, and the didn't plan-for-it potential, but it's not tomorrow yet.

At least I don't have to worry about the paparazzi.

They seem to leave me alone.

And for that, I am truly thankful. And it's good to be thankful.

Hebrews 12:18-29

Odds and...Odds

The Livingstones have given birth. One of them had twins.

:-)

Oh, they die after they give birth and the young'uns feed off the dying leaves.

And...

One of these things is not like the others...

Reflections on Thorns

Jesus then came out,

wearing

the crown of thorns

and

the purple robe.

Pilate said to them,

"Behold, the Man!"

John 19:5

How could something so painful turn out so beautiful?

Act of God?

Just in case your mirror is too dull, or "don't ask why"

The nanogenes missed one...

...or maybe this one escaped, only to be captured, shoved in a box for 67 years, sold for "B" trade credit, and placed on display at a used bookstore.

Young Adventurer in a rare photo shoot

The occasion? A piano competition. Hence the very snazzy bow tie (the kind you--well, I--actually have to tie) which he chose himself. Why wear an ordinary tie, anyway?

The result? A winner! Congratulations to this piano Adventurer, who put in a lot of hard work, and to his teacher, who is a saint in the making.

The winners' recital is in a couple of weeks. I think he'll wear the bow tie again, and to the wedding.

(dare I change his name to Cyclops?)

"L'Arabesque", by Burgmuller, "Clowns", by Kabalevsky

This last photo is strikingly similar to a marvelous one taken when he was two, by Futile Ohm.

Same kid, still likes bright colors, but now with, longer hair, more roll-ey-eyed expression.