Isn’t this neat? A leaf within a leaf! I don’t know what it was about Powder Valley tonight, but the typical “hey, you seen any deer yet?” friendly-as-can-be nature walkers were replaced by the gotta-get-my-cardio-in-today Spandex set. As one of the huffer-puffers strode towards me, her eyes were fixed on (what I thought was) something…

I thought I’d seen the weirdest yard art in our little community when I saw a replica of an Easter Island sculpture in someone’s back yard play area. Come to think of it, that’s still the weirdest yard art in town. Country Bear Jamboree also makes a good case. But Mr. Toad here was something…

All of my neighbors have gone so way overboard with the planting this year. Day lilies seem to be a particular favorite. Maybe I’ll get around to planting one of these days… But I’m not slow picking up Alice in Wonderland on DVD! Check out this clip with Johnny Depp and Tim Burton’s drawings of…

The continuing birthday celebration at our house this morning. The celebration at someone else’s house in our neighborhood… …filled with a joy and gratitude that can be shared by all. 

The past few days have been spent in Springfield, host to the state high school tennis championships*. And for the second year in a row, Tanner’s birthday has fallen during the tournament, so we’ve put off celebrating until he’s off the court (cake for breakfast tomorrow! Yay!). But none of that changes the fact that…

I got my Mother’s Day wish after all! When I headed to Springfield for the boys’ state tournament, I decided to have some fun. If I saw something interesting, I’d stop. And guess what I was fortunate enough to find along the way? Onondaga Cave State Park. It did not disappoint. After a detour off…

For the past few days, work took me to our hospital in Baraboo, Wisconsin. The initial excitement for me was that, after almost ten years, I was going to have visited all of the hospitals within our system. But then, I got to meet Baraboo, population 11,244. We arrived fairly early, so we were able to…

I was up before breakfast was ready, so I went outside and wandered around Sharon’s garden. So many beautiful flowers, including a purple columbine that I’ve never seen before. Then we were introduced to the “breakfast” in bed & breakfast. Oh. My. Gosh. We sat down to a big plate of fresh fruit and warm,…

Went to work super early this morning. As I waited for the parking garage gate to lift, I was taken with the way the sun played off of the dew and random web strings on the hostas in the landscaping. It seems impolite to ignore nature when it extends little gifts of beauty. So I parked the…

Standing at the kitchen window, I saw something adorable and furry scurry by. I grabbed the camera and tried to sneak outside to get a quick photo. Whoops, scared it. So I stood around and waited. Then this adorable little furry guy scampered up, followed by a baby that I couldn’t manage to get close…

My wonderful friend Lorraine’s birthday isn’t until next week, but thanks to messy calendars, our office took her to Shogun Steak House for lunch today. I’ve never been before and it was so much fun. Here’s a glimpse of the fun that we had. Lorraine was getting down with the birthday dragon… http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=11914698&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=00adef&fullscreen=1 Shogun’s is…

Today’s work project brought a day trip to Jeff City and my old hospital. It was amazing…six years later and it felt like I never left. Lots of hugs from many of the same wonderful people. My current job is great, but it’s just not the same as working in a hospital. Or more specifically,…

Whoever said that you can’t buy happiness has never been to my favorite camera shop. I bought a new lens today to replace the lens that came with my camera. I’ve been doing some research and have discovered that the lens that came standard is crap. So I wanted a solid replacement. And thanks to…

The first of many massive magnolia blossoms on the tree across the way from us.  When two of our neighbors walked by and saw one of our kitties sitting in our open window, I heard one of them say, “Hi, Violet!” I don’t know which is creepier — the fact that she knew our cat’s…

Take my picture, please.  

So happy to see bees going about their business. Sure wish we’d start seeing more.  On a less serious note…so I missed the finales of my favorite reality shows and I’m just now watching the recordings of Top Model and the Amazing Race. A few weeks ago, it was the Project Runway finale. The absolute…

Some days are just really good. Not only did I win Cardinal tickets in a drawing, Mr. and Mrs. Bird welcomed their first little one into the world this morning. Okay, so it’s a face only a mother could love, but it’s still like witnessing a little miracle. Amazing.  And then there was the district…

Mrs. Bird’s brood could possibly include four if all goes well! Mamma’s working hard. She’s so patient.  A morning that started off with rain, dark skies, an early alarm and projectile cat vomit across my bedroom floor set the tone for kind of a crappy day. But by noon, there was a lunch hour trip…

Totally fun change of plans. Rather than go on our traditional hike in some remote location for Mother’s Day, we opted to explore a bit of downtown (inspired by my time spent at my work’s leadership conference last week). I’ve been to the top of the Rock, the Empire State Building and the Sears Tower…but…

The last three days have brought early mornings, late nights and lots of running around as I’ve helped out with my organization’s annual leadership conference downtown. It’s been fun, inspiring and exhausting. I didn’t have any ideas of catching up on sleep today because the kids had to get up at 5:30 to leave for…

So glad to see Mrs. Bird back in the garage. Hoping her second attempt is more successful.  More flowers from the neighborhood. Don’t know what they are, but they were most obliging. Other things to be happy about: – a new Chinese place opened within walking distance of our house (dinner)…    …which opened next…

Our neighbor is a lovely, warm-hearted widow with a green thumb and unique taste in flowers. I have an open invitation to take photos of her garden that I put to use as often as I can. The photo with the little white flowers is actually her holly tree. Holly trees have flowers? Who knew?…

Planning for a Mother’s Day hike with the boys. That’s their gift to me. I drag them on a hike and they can’t argue. Last year we hiked at Taum Sauk. This year I’m thinking about Onondaga Cave. It looks amazing. But the hike depends on how the boys are feeling. They’ll have played a…

A trip to the party store yesterday resulted in a gold mine of toys, nostalgia and giddiness. In addition to the silly putty and rock ’em sock ’em robot rings, I picked up some wax bottles (nik-l-nip) with fruit liquid inside, miniature etch-a-sketches and these super cute cupcake liners.  Cupcakes are of “mucho margarita” variety…