I found a wonderful partner for Uniroyal Gal while I was in Sullivan, Missouri, today.  Check out hunka haunted big dude!   Wouldn’t they be cuuuuuute together? Seemingly pointless, but cute.

It occurred to me this afternoon that I’ve gathered some unusual images at work throughout this week.  Here’s Monday. Eggs. A gift to my boss. Courtesy of a colleague’s chickens.  Tuesday. A Halloween arrangement at one of our hospital gift shops. Today. A cluster of weird floral centerpieces on a tour of our upcoming conference’s…

“The truth is, even if she weren’t my mom, I’d go out of my way to be friends with her.”  — Leigh Standley A mini me with my Mom and Dad on the beach in Savannah. Many, many years ago.  Fast forward to today. My Mom hasn’t changed a bit*. In fact, she is more…

Today the kids and I worked on a Habitat for Humanity house. House #15 to be exact. Or at least that’s what we were told when we signed in this morning. But we soon discovered that we weren’t working on a number. We were building a home. The Ali home.  House #15 is where this…

Drew has his senior portraits taken today.  (*don’t cry*don’t cry*don’t cry*) Um, these are NOT his senior photos. I took these on the way home. We stopped by the tennis courts and messed around with more pictures. So much fun.  But Boy is growing up. And that makes me sad.  

Finally! The kids and I took the “paranormal” tour at the Lemp Mansion last night! What a neat place. Our visit didn’t have the drama of the Ghost Hunters investigation, but it was well worth the visit. The artifacts in the “museum” were awesome and I tried to put the Hipstamatic to good use. So…

Look who I met today. This is Nicky, my colleague’s latest service dog in training. Such a pretty girl.  (Did not, however, like the camera. She got really close trying to figure it all out.) There isn’t a bad day that a golden retriever can’t make better. 

This little park down the street is so neat. At any given time, you’ll find people strolling, tossing balls to puppies, napping on blankets, practicing yoga, fishing, pushing giggling babies in swings, tossing bread to geese, barbecuing at the pavilion, walking hand in hand… it’s just an idyllic little place.    On one hand, I…

1,535 pounds of World Championship pumpkin*. While California and the rest of the pumpkin-yielding world celebrate this freak of nature, does it bother anyone else how much this thing resembles Jabba the Hut? Makes me shudder. Dude has always grossed me out.  But on more positive pumpkin note, I made pumpkin spice cupcakes for a…

As soon as I opened the front door this morning, this little guy went scurrying for safety next door — under Ms. Marge’s car. He jumped up in the fender somewhere and ultimately poked his little nose out from the wheel well. And I was waiting for him.  Then I saw this weirdness across the…

Well, lookie who I met today. A much-closer-than-expected introduction to the burros on my daily route to work. For months I’ve been driving by this little field, trying unsuccessfully to get a photo of the burros or their offspring. Sometimes they’re there, sometimes they’re not. But this morning I saw them. I had my long…

Country Bear Jamboree has finally shed his Easter finery in favor of Halloween gear. The costume originally sported a witch’s hat, but that was lost somewhere between my first sighting and when I was able to take a photo. Wonder if Jamboree is actually a girl? I assumed from the fig leaf pose that Bear…

Happy 60th Anniversary, Charlie Brown!  I marked the occasion by flipping through my Peanuts treasures from that great little store in Baraboo, trying to figure out if I could ever get to the Schulz Museum and making cupcakes for the kids.  Sixty years seems like a long time for a cartoon to stay relevant, but I have…

Home after the longest week ever. I feel like that scene from Monster’s, Inc. when Boo finally gets back to her room and starts jumping around and hugging all of her toys. In addition to realizing how much I love home, I learned a few things this week: – Sometimes using the wrong settings on…

…wildflowers next to the parking lot. …a harvest outside the grocery store. …a harvest inside the grocery store (how cool is this?). The photo opportunities on a business trip that started on Sunday and that will continue through Friday. Gotta take refuge in beauty where you can find it when you’re uncomfortably busy and missing…

Work has been super busy lately, but some of the projects are really wonderful. One day this week, I got to spend time with some of the Sisters in our sponsoring congregation. As their numbers continue to shrink, they are in the process of moving from the big, beautiful Mother House to a retirement-type community…

Discovered another app this weekend. This one’s a sketchbook app.  Is there anything these days that cannot be done with a touchscreen? This cracks me up.  This is the first result of my playing around with the fingertip sketchbook. Inspired by Hua Mei, the American-born panda who just gave birth to her eighth cub after…

…. with my new photo app. And fortunate to find lots of lovely subjects. 

Sketch on the wall of a random art paper store that I visited during lunch today.  I thought he was kinda swell. 

Clockwise from the lower left: lemon buttercream, margarita, crimson velveteen, chocolate mint. All baked this evening for a work thing tomorrow. Not feeling the cupcake love right now. Six dozen in two days is a whole lot of a good thing.

… cupcake recipe (root beer float on left, complete with straws*) and a new photo app for my phone.  Uh oh.  * Vanilla peppermint on the right. Birthday gifts for my wonderful boss. 

Trader Joe’s flowers, Provision’s patio (pastries admired through the glass only*)… … and warm sunshine made for a nice lunch hour today.  It’s amazing how much smoother the day goes with that mid-day break.  *but I did buy some cookies called Ladybugs. Couldn’t help myself.

Had an interesting experience last week. I took Tanner and his friend to see Trevor Hall in concert*. At first, the most interesting part of the concert was the venue and the crowd. It was at this little club downtown and there were no seats. Instead, we were corralled around this stage like a herd…

Tonight at the craft store, I argued with myself about buying some nifty little Halloween cupcake liners. “You know you’re going to make cupcakes. Buy the liners.” “But it’s barely September. Don’t buy these silly things now.” “But they’re so cute – and they might be gone later. Buy them.” This went on for several…