All posts filed under: Life

Happy on the Trail!

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Seven o clock  on  Sunday morning, first stop was to photo these frosty leaves – I just can’t walk about without spotting things to photograph, even in the freezing cold! I was on my way to meet my friends to go and run at Castlewood State Park. I have hiked there before and admired the runners hopping about like mountain goats, but I have never run a trail with rocks, leaves, mud, a creek, 300 steps and a giant hill.   This was going to be my mountain goat moment. At the beginning of the chilly trail, I had my water, gloves and Stinger honey gel (yes, I was feeling that unsure of my legs that I equipped myself with energy gel). Ready to hop skip jump and run six lovely tree filled miles. One of the best runs I have done. No pressure, stay upright, one foot in front of the  other and keep going, my usual running rules.   About those 300 steps, I walked them!  Check out the view from the top. …

October 2012 Photo A Day

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Day 1. Where You Stood. Chilly out, wet footprints on a skateboard ramp destined for the tri city yard sale on Saturday. Day 2. Lunch. Miso soup with pot stickers. This is something I will often have for lunch, but I did plan a little bit around the daily photo for this one. Check the chopsticks! I ate the soup with a spoon…. Day3. This happened today. I went to Trader Joes for pumpkin bread ingredients and to Target for socks for Bodhi and parchment paper. Day 4. What you read. I have either read these today, am reading them or am going to read them for bedtime stories.  ‘Mary Poppins’ is our bedtime read. You ‘Wouldn’t Want to be a World War II Pilot’ was last nights read, it is quite informative! Day 5. Shadow. Drink anyone? I took this on the iPhone 4 camera, added 1962 in Camera Bag, then into Camera+ to add clarity and color dodge. Love playing with photo apps! Day 6. I’m thankful for.   Amazing yard sale finds …

Pumpkin carving debut

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Confession time. I have never carved a pumpkin… I may have done the face bit before, but never the whole top off, pumpkin guts out bit.  Out came the knives, I lopped off the top.  We scraped and pulled out the seeds and flesh.  Lots of pumpkin for soup here. The orange inside glows with bright, insides smell sweet and fresh and shout ‘I want to be soup’. It is hollow and sounds empty,  in need of it’s Halloween look. Once the soup ingredients have been scraped and persuaded out, squash four cloves of garlic, cook for a minute or two in oil, add pumpkin flesh, stir to introduce the garlic to the pumpkin. Add enough stock to cover and boil until the pumpkin is cooked.  Stir the juice and zest of a lemon.  Smell to taste. Blend until smooth and eat with the most amazing bread you can make or find. Out come the markers and the face is drawn on then sliced into shape.  Eyes and teeth pop out willingly.  Orange glows right out.

Spooky Haunted House craft for Halloween

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Second Grade Halloween party is coming up and I am going to have them make  haunted houses as the craft section of the party.  I still haven’t decided on the snack section, but I am sure there will be plenty of sugar and scary food colours! Want to make a spooky haunted house?  Here’s how. Spooky Haunted House ingredients tall juice or milk carton                                                                                                         construction paper or any paper you like                                                                                                         …

Smiles

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Today’s photo theme is ‘Made you smile’.  I soon snapped a bunch of glow in the dark skelly bobs, including a headless one which always makes me smile. I can’t even remember how he lost his head, but I like him without it! Since I took this I saw a lady walking past the Container Store hiding behind a Whole Foods bag. She could have been shielding her face from the sun, but I am going with hiding!  I had a quick look into the car park, but I could see no spies or assasins stalking her.  I suppose because she was hiding so effectively. Then I got to the Y for my yoga class,  and there was a boat on the back of a truck. Possibly waiting to go in the pool or maybe it has set it’s floaty sights on a river trip? Made me smile! Of course I had to spot an irresistible Autumnal tree with glowing yellow leaves. No funny business on this photos, just yellow gloriousness! I do like to …

Just moi, staring at the floor.

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Remember in French class at school, when the teacher wanted answers to questions you didn’t know the answer to, certainly not in French? That was me, lots of staring at the floor trying to not make eye contact and worse, get asked a question.  The dreaded request in a foreign tongue, the even more dreaded and expected reply, preferably using the correct words in the correct tense in the correct order. Don’t pick me, don’t pick me, don’t pick me. So, why now, am I in the same situation, brought upon by myself, voluntarily, signed up, by myself, of my own accord? Ok, not in French, but sometimes I wonder if I might get on better if it were. As a relative newcomer to the US school system, my kids are working through Grade school and Middle school and we have High school coming in a few years. I find myself confused some of the time. To start with, I went to Infant school, Primary school then Comprehensive school,  in England.  We  went to school for …

Sunny, rainy, windy Sunday

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I bought this hat yesterday for Bodhi and it makes me laugh everytime he puts it on, especially like this! We very happily managed to buy trousers which reach ankles too. So I am feeling a little more prepared for the Autumn and winter now! Of course the boys have no winter boots yet, but as they are virtually growing before my eyes, I am holding out. I decided I need to make Millionaire Shortbread today which is a complete faff. Nothing difficult about it, but lots of ‘make and cool’ stages, and lots of stirring hot fudgey-ness.   Worth it though! I will now have to freeze it, hide it or tie my hands behind my back to stop myself eating the darn lot! Don’t underestimate, I really could eat the lot! I could, but, I won’t.  Might. I also make this today, not the pumpkin, the bracelet. Another catseatdogs wrap bracelet/necklace/anklet. I feel I should invent a new jewelry name for them…brecklet?….anklacelet? (worth mentioning here that auto correct thought I wanted to write ‘ankle …

Ten on the tenth

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It is time for ten photos on the tenth day….of the tenth month, I only just realized that! Here are todays comings and goings in my neck of the woods. I made Blueberry muffins for breakfast. No, this is not normal! It is Gary’s birthday today. Unfortunately I didn’t plan well and the muffins were not done in time and everyone had cereal and raced off to school. Bodhi and I walked to school in the chilly sunshine. The trees were luminous in the sunshine. My neighbour has great Halloween decorations including this guy! He is also my ‘photo of the day’ which was emotion – I thought he looked a little fed up! On my street walking home, I spotted lots of leaves with delicate dew on them, so I snapped this one. Home for coffee and a blueberry muffin. I made a little pan of beads to make a knotted necklace. Pretty pinks and greys with a hint of amethyst. I had a request to make a Longhorn choker, so here he is. …

Orange and blue, we love you

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We were at the pumpkin patch, the squash were orange and fabulous, the sky was picture blue. What else is there to do except take photos and photos and photos while the kids run round and round and round the hay maze in the ‘Tower of Terror’ ……..eeek. I can just imagine when they made the sign for the ‘Tower’ someone came along and pointed out that it was a great sign, but they had missed out the of.   Never mind, Sharpie to the rescue!! Kings of the castle (ok, pyramid of hay…..) Our Pumpkin haul! Pink Pumpkins

Twenty five cents worth of joy

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Up this morning in the dark and cold, freezing – dig out gloves and hats and boots cold. Two days ago it was 84 degrees, this morning was 40, so the gloves had to be hunted down. We set up our yard sale as part of a city wide sale extravaganza! Boxes and bags of toys were brought up from the basement. Toys and books were wrestled over – ‘Let’s sell’ ‘No I want to keep it, it’s sentimental’ Why is a toy which hasn’t been seen in two years suddenly sentimental when someone else might buy it? It maybe came from a yard sale in the first place! Eventually everyone agreed on yard sale stock and customers arrived. Coffee was made and pumpkin syrup added and off we went into the Brentwood yard sales. First stop was a sale right at the end of the street along from us.  After avoiding ‘Big Game Hunting’ magazines by the pile (I nearly ran away at the mere thought) I spotted my 25c wonder. He was wobbling …