Ghosts of Halloween past

Josh and Shanna: age 11 and 8
I would like you to think that those ugly glasses were just part of the costume but..no. I am pregnant with Naomi here. Shanna's skeleton glowed in the dark to show only bones

Naomi at 11 just before she got braces

I have spent a good part of the morning looking for Shanna dressed as Don Mattingly (her unusual choice for a costume at age 9 or 10) but  it seems to be missing. She must have been the only girl in the state of Michigan, if not the whole country, to dress as her favorite Yankee.

Halloween was my favorite holiday as a child. As treats were very rare around my house and I loved treats a bit too much (or a lot too much), this was my opportunity to score. Alas my friends were not similarly motivated so I usually ditched them as they were too slow. I would stay out well beyond when I was supposed to, had to get those treats.

This is my Maya day. I hope to take pictures of her in costume.
Alas it will be cold tonight and possibly raining.

Black and White

Black: The color of Josh and Julia's dinner the other night held in the unlit basement of a local restaurant. Patrons were asked to dress in all black.The food was all black too such as squid ink risotto. It was a wine-tasting dinner. Presumably without being able to see the wine, one could concentrate on the taste. Josh isn't much of a wine drinker preferring beer or mixed drinks but he was the only one who guessed the first wine tasted was a red.

White: The color of the ground around Shanna's with the freak October storm yesterday. Boston did not get the 2 feet as other parts of Massachusetts did but still there was several inches on the ground. No snow here but it definitely was cold enough for it. 24 degrees when I went for my run this morning.

Black and yellow: Ms. Maya's bee costume for tomorrow.

Orange and purple: My nails. We went for a mani/pedi yesterday sitting in the massaging chair for more than an hour while having our legs and hands massaged with hot stones. Fun except now I have a backache. I selected the pearlized orange for my fingers and metallic purple for my toes although with the cold coming, no one will be able to admire my now pretty toes.

White, green and red: The Italian flag. After our nail painting, we went to a new restaurant opened by Italian brothers. They are trying to replicate their mom's Neapolitan cuisine. Although raised by Italians, they never learned the language even though it was spoken in the house. One of the brothers is trying to learn it now but is having difficulty with all the rules. Good food though they need to work on the ambiance.

Yellow, red and black: The German flag. Josh is probably going to be asked to do a long term assignment in Germany. Julia would be done with her classes so she could go with him. As a child, she learned German while living in Zurich though she thinks she has forgotten it but maybe it would come back to her. Josh should learn more beyond greetings and Kolsch, the local beer.

Chillaxin'

Obviously not a recent photo as we finally had a killing frost last night. My impatiens had survived until now. Ms. Maya will fall asleep within minutes of being in a pool, a sure-fire way for her to take a nap.

At her last visit, the pediatrician suggested an evaluation for her speech delays. The expert comes in next week. We will see what she has to say. The last one thought Ms. Maya was just fine.

The map of the world according to many Americans

From Campanastan

This has been a very uneventful week. I haven't gone any where except by foot. I've spent quite some time trying to straighten out my health insurance. I am choosing a new company: hopefully they will be better than the last two I had to choose.

But I should be the master or at least the mistress of my life: if my life isn't exciting, I have no one to blame excepting myself.

The dress

Recently I was rooting through my closet and came across a beautiful silk dress. I don't remember buying it at all! It is a size smaller than what I am now so maybe I bought it a while back. It definitely is a dress that is my taste but it scares me that I have no memory of buying it.

I used to list all the teachers I ever had (to myself) to make sure my memory was intact. I stopped at junior high as I had too many teachers there but some of them remain in my mind. I am drawing a blank now on who I had for 5th grade. I remember the other 5th grade teacher; I remember a sub we had for a week because she went out of her way to hurt my feelings and I knew her nasty daughter but I can't even remember the sex of this teacher or who was in my class. I remember where the room was, to the south side of the other 5th grade room and I know we faced east. I could ask some of my Facebook people I guess. I do remember being asked with the other girls to go down into the basement for that talk on menstruation, which was news to me. All the other girls seemed to know all about it. I felt bad being so clueless and angry that this was a big surprise. But I was raised by wolves.

It is cold and rainy, a good day to stay in and perhaps tackle some ignored projects.

In case you were wondering what you could be for Halloween, I offer you this:

An In Bread Cat.

Northern lights

Northern lights over Lake Michigan from web on Oct 24, 2011

On my bucket list is seeing the Northern Lights. Generally this means travelling very far up north but if I were paying attention, one could have  seen them from Ann Arbor 2 nights ago at around 10:30. I was asleep.

Since the storm on the sun which caused these was still going on, I thought I would have a second chance last night and went out but instead, there was a thunderstorm.

I thought I saw some when I was about 10. Every weekend, we'd see my father's best friend and his family. He had kids around the same age as myself and my brother. One night as we were pulling out of their driveway, flashing lights appeared in the Northern sky which my father said were Northern lights but I don't remember any colors. Perhaps I was seeing a meteor shower. I can't remember the time of year, just the light show over the cornfields.

I never wrote down a bucket list but I have one in my head though it isn't completely formed. Top on the list is getting to meet all my grandchildren, even the 3-4 unconceived ones that I feel that are out there. But 4 is definitely a good start. I do hope to be there when the newest little girl makes an appearance next March.

This week, I managed to find nice times to run between the rains. I have been amusing myself watching a little TV in the time that ordinarily, I would be gardening.
Things I have enjoyed the most: The Scorcese documentary on George Harrison. I was quite the Beatle fan long ago. Also, the new shows Enlightenment and The Boss. As it is Pinktober, the local cable company has an all pink selection. Not so enjoyable.

Turtle or hamburger? Redux

Are you a boy?

Or are you a girl?

With your long, blond hair

You look like a girl

(yeah you look like a girl)

You may be a boy

But...you look like a girl

Silly song from the 1960s sung by some one hit wonder band whose name escapes me

No long blond hair was spotted today on my half pound grandchild during today's ultrasound but neither was the sign of the turtle. Nor was there the clear sign of the hamburger (3 vertical lines in this baby's privates that could only mean girl). But the clear absence of the turtle, which had  plenty of opportunity to show itself indicates a very strong possibility of a little girl in the making. The official odds of a girl is 85%. The due date, late in March still stands and all is well.

Because the Bible tells me so...

Recently I came across in cyberspace a former high school and college friend. There were three of us  girls in high school that were fairly good in math and we stuck together in our mostly male classrooms. We then went on to UM. I was the lone shiksa. I've bumped into one of these women over the years several times and we are Facebook friends but I haven't seen the other for almost 38 years though I heard about her from the other.
One of the women who was very observant in high school ended up marrying a Christian but the formerly secular friend became ultra-observant even though she is gay. How can one be orthodox and gay? She has founded a group for women with these seemingly conflicting adjectives. It has a very clever name but I won't post it to confound google searches. At any rate, she has published a paper that examines all the biblical and Talmudic prohibitions against homosexuality and can find nothing that condemns female homosexuality (though lots about putting male homosexuals to death). It is mentioned in some places but it is treated as a minor sin on the order of gossiping.

I guess you can find anything you want to justify hate in the Bible. On of my favorites is a rebuttal to Dr. Laura's very public condemnation of homosexuality. It has been going around on the internet and there is no clear source for it:

Dear Dr. Laura:

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination... End of debate.

I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some other elements of God's Laws and how to follow them.

1. Leviticus 25:44 states that I may possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?

2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

3. I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness - Lev.15: 19-24. The problem is how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.

4. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord - Lev.1:9. The problem is, my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

5. I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath.Exodus 35:2. clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or should I ask the police to do it?

6. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination - Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this? Are there 'degrees' of abomination?

7. Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle- room here?

8. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?

9. I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?

10. My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev.19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? Lev.24:10-16. Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair, like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)

I know you have studied these things extensively and thus enjoy considerable expertise in such matters, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.

Your adoring fan.

Gratitude

The above is from the front of a thank-you card that Naomi put together for her recent wedding.

Thank-you

So often these words are so hard for one to utter. Yet one can't solicit them either. I remember my father continually trying to make me feel guilty for my existence. All this led to was resentment on my part so I try not to make my kids feel guilty for all that I believe I have done for them.

Not long after Steve and I married, I overheard my father telling his friend that if it weren't for him, I would never have been a "success". This was just too much. He had made my life so difficult. I jumped up enraged and told him that if I were a success, it was despite him not because of him. We left his home. I followed it up a few days later with a letter listing all the ways he had made my life miserable. This was unforgivable in his eyes. For then on, he only dealt with me if he had too. I was disowned.

This is a Maya day as Naomi has class. I am hoping to spend it with her at a park.
Recently she went to an indoor playground with another baby. Below are Naomi's photos:

Excess

Art work in fancy massage room

glass tile mosaic

massage table

View of the river from Dexter cider mill

When I started my long run yesterday, it was only 28. By the time I was finished, the temperature had climbed to 48. Yes I was out in the brisk sunshine for a long time. I was startled by a stag jumping in my path on my run.

A beautiful fall day. Steve and I spent the afternoon driving around the county on the Remodeler's tour. We are allowed access to 17 homes that had recent projects completed to glean ideas for our own project and to meet the contractors. I also love to look at homes.

One home in particular was out in the country perched on a hill surrounded by ponds. This house was 13,000 square feet! Everything was top end. It had 3 complete master bedroom suites, a full theater with a 10 foot long screen, 2 complete bars, a huge sauna completely covered in glass tile. I forgot to bring my camera so the pictures above are from a cellphone. We couldn't capture the beautiful glass tilework on the floors but you can see the mosaic on the wall. When we asked how many people lived there, we were told 2 but the couple had many children and grandchildren who visited. We assume this belongs to some auto exec.

Yep, the gap between the haves and the have nots is certainly growing.

One of the homes was in Dexter so we stopped to visit Josh and then the cider mill, which was very crowded due to the perfect weather. A local winery has a tasting room. I bought a fortified with raspberry wine that tasted especially good with chocolate.

There are a few more houses we haven't visited so that will be today's treat.

To remodel or not to remodel

Grape chandelier where we ate lunch on campus

Tiffany glass at the art museum

More Tiffany

Even more: I like peacocks

Looking out the art museum's window over to the Law Quad with a pretty maple. The sculpture right outside was a backdrop for the engagement photos as seen below 5 months ago

A busy day with no running.
First stop: Naomi's. For the past few days, I've been inviting myself over but always Maya is asleep and no phone call as promised when she awakes. I called this morning when she usually is awake and am told again that she is asleep even though I hear babbling. Hmmm.
She's talking in her sleep.
I told her that I was coming over regardless in a half hour..
Maya was her usual self. Still her hair barely covers her scalp but she is very cute.
I meet a friend on campus for an Italian buffet. Buffets are probably a bad idea for this one but I tried to drink as much water as possible. I was good last night finally making some spaghetti squash which I served with pesto. Steve had not had it before.
There was an interesting Chinese woodblock print exhibit at the art museum.They were much more interesting than I had imagined. No photos allowed though I took some of the Tiffany.
Later I went on a remodeler's tour with Steve. There are 17 homes on the tour and we saw 5 of them today. We are trying to get ideas for our house. The 3 bathrooms are original and barely functional.
I was amazed at some of the complete rehauls of formerly modest homes that are in modest neighborhoods.
We are in a quandary what to do. Should we do the bare minimum necessary for resale and then buy a dream house or try to make this house a dream one even though it is not in the best location.

Squish Squash..

Growing up, my mother had us on the rotating system of  4 cans of vegetables: peas, corn (with creamed corn and mexicorn thrown into the mix if on sale), wax beans, green beans. The only vegetables in this system I would eat were the beans and those I would eat with no pleasure.The other two, I would hide in the palm of my hand and then flush or store somewhere to be disposed of later (tough when we had the extremely disgusting creamed corn). Salads were fresh tomatoes, celery sticks, ice berg lettuce and carrot sticks. Occasionally we would have corn on the cob (now this I loved but the canned corn had a very funky taste that induced nausea in me). There was a whole world of vegetables out there that I had little exposure to.

As an adult, I have tried to expand my narrow little world. Vegetables that I enjoy a lot: cauliflower, spinach, artichokes, chard, broccoli, fresh green beans, fresh baby peas and peppers of all sorts. Vegetables that still cause a gag reflex: beets and asparagus. Vegetables that I could take or leave and generally leave: squash, Brussels sprouts, turnips, parsnips, endive. So yesterday when the subject of the cancer survivor cooking class was cooking with squash, my instinct was to stay at home.

I understand the nutrition in vegetables and why especially cancer patients  should include as much and as many of these in their diets. I have been trying to do this but without much success. I went anyway and vowed to eat anything put in front of me no matter how repugnant I usually find this vegetable.

The menu

Butternut squash  and apple soup topped with Greek yogurt.

Spaghetti squash casserole with tomatoes, pesto and Parmesan cheese.

Pumpkin raisin oatmeal muffins

All tasty and I had seconds when I could. I will try, try to incorporate these into our home menus.

I do enjoy this opportunity to connect with other survivors. A lot of us are BC survivors. A new twist: one of the lymphoma survivors had a tumor found in her breast recently. But it turned out not to be breast cancer but a completely different type of lymphoma than she previously had. Fortunately, not a very aggressive type and easily treated. Some people there are supporters of other family members with cancer. If I didn't need to be reminded how hideous of a disease it can be, a woman described her husband with throat cancer, now in remission. But the throat is now a mass of scar tissue so he can not swallow. There is nothing to prevent saliva from going into his lungs(no more epiglottis) and causing pneumonia and gagging except from consciously spitting it out as it forms, tough while he tries to sleep. He is fed through a feeding tube and is totally miserable.

Similar cancers in men and women seem to strike places that don't seem analogous. For instance prostate cancer and breast cancer. The same BRAC1 gene in men leads to prostate cancer and in women, breast cancer (along with ovarian). Prostate cancer seems to strike just as many men as breast cancer does with women. Most of the time, both are hormone fed. Breast cancer sadly is about twice as deadly however.

From my class last night, a stranger connection between a women's cancer and a men's cancer was highlighted: HPV (human papilloma virus) is linked to cervical cancer in women but throat cancer in men. So strange. Hopefully that Gardisil vaccine will make both a thing of the past.

Strange coincidences have been happening lately: one of the woman there last night said she was from Belarus. I went home and looked on my statcounter: someone had visited my blog from Belarus (a new country: woo-hoo for this weird collector) around the same time she was speaking. A few weeks ago, I was reading The Help, a novel about a novel set in the imaginary town of Niceville. I was thinking that was a silly name but during the night, someone from Niceville, Florida had visited my blog.

This morning I was thinking that all this internet outage crap was a thing of the past as I have had uninterrupted service for a whole week. The moment that this occurred to me, you guessed it, an outage.

I ran in pouring rain this morning. But it was calm so I wasn't cold. I did have to stop to brush off my glasses as it was difficult seeing through all the droplets. The polypropylene shirt, so good for keeping me warm while wet, isn't very good at wiping off rain.

Strange prohibitions

A sign we saw outside the Grand Rapids art museum

A sign at a San Antonio music venue. Apparently they had problems with fans throwing tortillas at the performers
(from Passive/aggressive)

The F**k-it List

As soon as one receives a dire prognosis, presumably one starts prioritizing what one wants to do most in the remaining time (The Bucket List).However some of us compose a list of things that they will no longer spend anytime worrying about..thus the title. I didn't come up with the name myself. Presumably the young man who wrote the script of 50/50 which was based on getting a cancer diagnosis in his 20s came up with it first but I think we all embrace the concept.

1. Worrying about what is going on with my 401K when by the time I would be able to access it, I would be gone.
2. Alzheimer's Disease. This is a genetic time bomb but probably wouldn't hit for another 15 years or so. 
3. The indignities of growing old
4. My weight.
5. All that small stuff.

As time goes on, my prognosis seems to become rosier and rosier. I will not be out of the woods completely for another 2 years or so but for now, I am part of the 2.5 million breast cancer survivors. 2.5 million...unbelievable. But I should start erasing that list as all of this will matter excepting perhaps #5 though still the smallest things will gnaw at me.

I've been nursing a cold for the last couple of days so I didn't run. It was making me very antsy though so today I went out in the freezing weather (our first frost). As it was calm and sunny, it seemed warmer. On Sunday, I shared bento boxes with my son..just the two of us which hasn't happened for a while. He is such a blessing!

Mondays are Maya days. First stop, WIC check-up. She's gained a little weight since her last visit. Her head circumference seemed to have shrunk, which of course is impossible, but it is really hard to get an accurate measurement. They were happy about her her physical progress. I had her for the rest of the day while Naomi had her class and her first test which she aced. Naomi had joined the school's soccer team to be with a friend. However, last night she was kicked off when they determined that the class she was taking isn't for school credit but for a certificate (and hopefully for a job in the near term). It doesn't seem quite fair.

Tootsie rolls

I get to my friend's house too early. While I sit in front of the house making some phone calls, a large man and his little black and white dog stop in the yard for the dog to poop. The man then continues on his merry way without any clean-up.

Hey, you ARE going to pick up after your dog aren't you?

Oh, I am coming back for that. I'm going home to get a bag.

Why don't you bring those bags along on your walks and be a good neighbor?

Listen lady, I don't know why you are making such a scene over this. They are just tootsie rolls.

 Tootsie rolls indeed! Would you want to eat one? Of course the scum never came back. I had a camera phone right there and didn't use it so I could post it on their neighborhood listserve. But if you see a 6 and a half foot man 30-40 with a white black chihuahua mix, prepare to be pooped on in the College Heights neighborhood.

But the Moms group was very nice. Although I see most of the Moms outside of the group, it has been since the wedding that we have all got together. We had salmon with an Asian glaze BBQed outside despite the cold wind, a tasty pear, cherry salad (this Mom at least found ripe pears), roasted butternut squash and leek soup, a pizza appetizer and a store bought confection, a chocolate conchorde made up of mousse and meringue. Although it was tasty, I felt embarrassed for not making an effort. My job is desserts. I did have a plan to make either a fresh plum tart or a pear tart but all the fruit was hard.
Lots of wine..we usually each bring a bottle and lots of catching up. We've been meeting since our oldest were infants. The babies all have turned 32 in the past few months.

When Miss Maya was over Thursday she had a cold. I figured with all these years I have been on earth, I should be immune to them all but in the middle of last night, my nose started to run and my throat was scratchy. Perhaps if I take a day off  from running, this cold will go away.

I will have lunch with Josh in a few hours.

The Moms celebrating our 30th anniversary. I had just had my first haircut  after my hair started growing back after chemo. Notice the curls now almost gone.

Hairageddon

I've been going to the same hairdresser for 15 years. Alas she is retiring to take care of her newborn. I suppose I could go to someone at the same salon where the formula for dealing with my hair is kept or try somewhere else. And what should I do with this hair? It is a mess. It looked all right for the first year after chemo that it came back. I actually had curls! But now my hair is almost straight and it is no longer silky and thick as it was before chemo. I don't know if it would look as good in the haircut I had before cancer.

It took some will power to face the 30 mph winds and drizzle this morning but I felt fine once I actually got going. The fallen leaves are quite slippery.

Tonight I was going to make a pear almond tart for the Moms but all I could find was unripe pears. I should learn to plan ahead.

SATURDAY BRAIN TEASERS

1. What is the singular of 'feces'?

2. The combined cost of a bat and a ball is $1.10. The Bat cost $1 more than the ball. How much does each of them cost?

3. About 10% of the American population is left-handed. What percentage of our Presidents have been lefties?

4. Why are the Renaissance baby Jesuses so ugly? (This is very subjective. My roommate and I noticed this ourselves while we were in the Pitti Palace and the Uffici in Florence. Madonna and child was a very common theme during the Renaissance. Although the Madonnas were usually pretty, the artists found some ugly babies to model. Today I found an article in the paper wondering out loud why those babies were so ugly. I thought we were the only ones who had noticed)

5. T or F. Post-menopausal women who take multivitamins outlive those who don't.

ANSWERS

1. Fex

2. Not $1 and 10 cents as most people including those who really should know better would answer. Try 5 cents and $1.05.

3.50%. No rational reason for this. One can make a case for why sports have more lefties, particularly baseball.

4. This was in the same article about lefties. Despite most people being righties, women usually hold babies with their left arms as it seems to make the babies happy. However, the madonnas and child models to get the lighting right were asked to hold the babies in their right arm leading to unhappy UGLY babies. Sort of far fetched I know.

5. F. The non vitamin consumers outlive the others by 2 years according to a recent study.

Naomi as a Renaissance model

Later as a model for Klimt

Waiting for the cable guy...

For the fifth time ! In less than 2 months! Is my frustration transmitted sufficiently through cyberspace?
Do I think it is going to be fixed this time? No..as the problem probably is beyond my yard but the company refuses to address that even though I suspect others in my neighborhood have the same issue. Unfortunately my land line is through this system's cable. I will be in the middle of a conversation and the phone goes dead. I assume or whomever I am speaking to, will assume a hang-up. Turns out that this is the only cable provider in the area...monopoly anyone? We could go back to DSL, get a portable, slow hotspot or just suck it up as some days, we actually have service for the whole day.

And Blogger: I tried to edit the photos on my home page as they are outdated but I have exceeded my limit. As I seem to be able to load onto my blog, I was perplexed. Turns out since I have exceeded my limit, the ones I have loaded have been reduced in pixels. Do I start a new blog ? Do I erase excess pictures? It says I could purchase more space but to keep the photos, do I pay for the rest of my life?

It is rainy and windy out so it wouldn't be much fun to run anyway. I will spend the morning waiting for the cable guy and try to do something useful.

Another monopoly around here: lawn service.  We used to use this crappy service that would call us daily suggesting even more service. I warned them, any more junk calls and I would cancel the contract but they persisted. Once we both became unemployed, I figured we could do our own lawn with so much time on our hands and with no income and I canceled. The next season, I found them merrily spraying my lawn. It was clear that I canceled because that alone generated many calls pleading us to resume service. I explained to the sprayer that I had canceled and he said no problem, it would be free and wrote that on the invoice. We got a constant stream of bills over that. Sending the invoice saying that it was free did no good. I said I would never, never use them again and furthermore, tell everyone I could about their underhanded ways. Our lawn started looking ratty and it turns out, all the time on our hands didn't turn into lawn care (and there was the issue of breast cancer..somehow lawn care took a backseat to that). We found a company that put pellets on the ground instead of spraying a toxic aerosol all over the place and was happy with them until...NOW. Turns out the 'good' company went bankrupt and was taken over by the evil big company and again I found their truck and sprayer in my yard.

One more cute picture, reduced in pixels but as it is from Facebook, the pixels were already reduced:

photo phun

The last day of Indian Summer

2 kinds of morning glories. I prefer the big blue ones but I have a lot more of the dark purple

cosmos are thriving in front. In back, they were choked to death by morning glories

The museum where I got my appraisal

Trees at the park

Maya playing with my camera case. She has a little bit more hair

Inside the museum

maple

We have had almost 2 weeks of warm, sunny weather but the rains come in tomorrow. I've been going to Josh's soccer games. The temperature quickly drops as he plays and the game ends when the ref can no longer see. Beautiful sunsets though, I should have taken my camera.

We had our family dinner Sunday at his house. This is the joy in my life with us all admiring Maya's antics. I can't wait for Josh and Julia to have a family. Meanwhile grandbaby number 4 is now avocado sized. In two weeks, they get a sneak preview and perhaps we will know if it's a girl.

Carpe Mañana

I love mixed metaphors. I had a co-worker who routinely said

I hate people looking over my shoulder with a fine toothed comb
 and
It always ceases to amaze me.....


Carpe Mañana isn't technically a metaphor but a mix of two concepts and languages: Seize the day! and At some other time, maybe tomorrow but probably later if at all.

So I will seize the day at some point, I just don't know when.

It appears we have one more day of Indian Summer then fall will begin. I am trying to enjoy it as much as possible before we descend into bleakness.

More....I lied

Always on the phone even up to the moment she was to walk down the aisle

Head table before guests came. Official color: wisteria. Naomi wanted lots of shiny bling so tables were covered in crystals

One of the many bouquets my  friend made

The final assembly

The guys

She's stuck and not too happy about it

I need to get rid of church lady in the background

In general, I was pleased with the photographer but I have no nice shots of the couple together in her wedding dress, just some in her dancing dress

One of three cakes. This was the strawberry mousseline though I prefered the lemon

Don'tae's dad giving his unique toast. Naomi thinks he looks like Samuel Jackson

Cousin Dave dancing

Don'tae's dad enjoying himself

Don'tae's brother liked the cake too

flying

Oliver looking dapper

Young guest showing off his moves