Category: Photo of the week

“You’ll need coffee shops and sunsets and road trips. Airplanes and passports and new songs and old songs, but people more than anything else. You will need other people and you will need to be that other person to someone else, a living breathing screaming invitation to believe better things.” – Jamie Tworkowski

Pictures from our trip to San Francisco. Riding a surrey down the beach to the Golden Gate bridge and Miss O trying oysters. I’m not sure which one was more brave – because that surrey was hard to pedal!

Big and small animals looking cute.

Water balloon baseball in the back yard. Please forgive the alignment of the second picture – the pitcher/photographer was in the splash zone…

Fortunately the sign of the week reminds me there’s a solution. 🙂

(featured photo is mine – the sunset over The Presidio and San Francisco bay)

“Do or do not. There is no try.” – Yoda

I promise this post is going full circle from quote to sign of the week.

Mr D had his last Little League game this week. We enjoyed the season so much we stepped up the play at home.

Cooper turned two. He doubled down on stealing stuff for his birthday to make sure we didn’t think he’d grown out of it.

Miss O and Cooper and the cat all looking down from their perches.

We visited Lucas Films’`offices this week and enjoyed the Yoda statue bringing the quote of this post and sign of the week together.

(featured photo is Mt Rainier and Puget Sound from a plane)

“And so with the sunshine and the great burst of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald

When Vicki Atkinson and I podcasted with my meditation teacher, Deirdre Wilcox, last fall, she said something about our agrarian roots that left me with a huge a-ha. Her insight was that the feeling of “Have I done enough?” at the end of the summer comes from our centuries of having to stockpile supplies to last all winter.

It made me want to be intentional about how to get my fill of the summer time. Slowing down to enjoy time with my kids, in the water, and in nature would top my list. And we got plenty of those three this week.

Iconic scenes. In the first one, it was the first hot day of the year so apparently everyone wanted to see the Space Needle from the water. And the second picture – I’m guessing it won’t take long for someone to guess what song Miss O was dancing to.

We made new friends this week.

School isn’t out yet – but the academics are winding down so both of my kids had fields trips to a nearby Puget Sound beach this week. I tagged along as a chaperone for both of them and stockpiled a bunch of time with my kids, near water, and in nature.

The neighborhood skeleton and sign of the week. I’m not sure – is it is the brain or the heart that we need to start using more? Maybe both!

Hope you all have a great weekend filled with whatever fills your summertime cup, if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere, of course!

“Choose the bigger life.” – Gretchen Rubin

There was some sentiment that the animals in our household hadn’t been featured enough in photos of the week recently. So here’s Cooper, caught in the act of stealing a sock puppet. And Simone the cat, in one of her less modest moments.

Mr. D is routing water through the new gap in his front teeth. And Miss O who can make hanging out while tilted sideways look natural.

The curiosity of an ant hole and the sign of the week which reminds me to focus on the right things!

“We might not have it all together but together we have it all.” – unknown

It must be that time of year because our project list has been long. This week was sanding and staining some furniture we got from a friend. Many hands don’t always make for quick work – but at least we were smiling!

Miss O after her successful performance filling for the lead of a musical with 24 hours notice. And Mr. D who has a wonderful Kindergarten teacher who has shown the kids how to make hand-washing fun!

When we were celebrating some family accomplishments this week, I gave the kids each a $25 gift card to Amazon to buy whatever they wanted. Nine-year-old Miss O used a portion of her gift to buy me the sign shown here. So, that’s the sign of the week – and a tribute to my kids who continually leave me feeling awe-struck!

“Life becomes easier and more beautiful when we can see the good in other people.” – Roy T. Bennett

Projects are our family love language. Based on all the help I’ve gotten, we must love each other a lot!

Passenger dog and the first ripe strawberry

The sign of the week. Cooper thinks it applies to funny ducks as well.

“How could rocks and sand and silence make us afraid and yet be so wonderful?” – Edna Brush Perkins

The kids and I visited Fort Casey State Park when we were on Whidbey Island last weekend and had a great time. It’s got a beautiful view of Puget Sound, tons of wide open space filled with grass and deer, and interesting things to see.

But here’s the part that cracks me up. Back when they built it in 1890, the idea was that they were going to have these guns (cannons?) that they’d raised up to shoot and then quickly lower back down. Like some hide and seek with heavy artillery. The guns could shoot projectiles at something like 1,544 miles per hour so it could hit an object 8 miles away in 30 seconds. I guess they figured that was long enough that no ship under attack would notice there’s a fort on the hill and fire back?

Pretty much a moot point because once planes were invented, the guns were easily spotted from above. It reminds me of Dr. Stein’s Perils of Prediction podcast and post – there are so many reasons that we are bad at predicting the future.

Anyone want s’more?

I love how the beach invites kids and dogs to just sprawl. Based on Todd Fulginiti’s April Photo Journal, this applies to grown men too!

The sign of the week. And Cooper lying in the glow of a prism wondering why the heck he was being appreciated.

The quote for this post comes from Cheryl Oreglia: https://cheryloreglia.blog/2022/11/25/weve-been-through-the-desert/

“When God made the color purple, God was just showing off.” – Mae Jemison

This week’s photo collection is mostly about colors. Lilac, fuschia…and the blue of the featured photo.

Then there’s Rusty our Crested gecko who is rust-colored, of course. And Cooper turned green from rolling around in fresh mowed grass.

To top it off, we have Miss O and Mr. D serving up green stuff.

And the sign of the week celebrating dogs — no matter what color they are!

“Dreaming is happiness. Waiting is life.” – Victor Hugo

In between the pictures of all our activity this week: Easter egg hunts, parties, and catching the Ice Cream truck for the first time this season, I was drawn to these photos of my kids being still.

And the dog and the cat sat for still photos too.

It looks like our neighbor’s skeleton must have already gone to the dentist — because he’s all filled up!