Endings and Beginnings

Well, I'm sure this is not a surprise to the people who know me, but I kind of lost control of the basil. I had been keeping up with it all summer, plucking flower buds every few days.


But, um, er, I got a bit busy and, er, totally forgot about the basil.


And this is what's happened.


Flowers. Everywhere. Is this bad? Can I still use it?


I think I bought too much basil. Don't get me wrong....we eat a LOT of basil. We love it so.


But I'm not sure I needed dozens of plants. Sissy tried to warn me not to buy too much.


Pshaw, said I. You can't have too much basil.


Well, actually, yes you can. And I do.


Now what?


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The last of the Man's tomatoes. We have a few more green ones, so they'll be coming in over the next week or so. But that's about it.


Good-bye yummy, tasty, juicy, luscious, red ripe tomatoes.


Sniffle. Summer's over. Time for the mums to come out and show off.


Love that purple.

We moved into a new knitting shop tonight.  Miss P, owner extraordinaire, was oh-so-happy to move. Double the space and plenty of room to add an extra table.

For our snack.

We take turns bringing delizioso snacks each week. Tonight we had chicken/pesto/tomato/arugula sandwiches, green grapes, and apple cake with ice cream and caramel sauce, courtesy of M.

Over-the-top tasty.

Did I mention we're more of an eating group than a knitting group?

So we've been needing two tables. And now we have them. 

Happy knitters at the shop tonight.

Teen Scene

What a blast I've had spending time with these young people, trying to catch their personality and make them come to life.

Teens can be a tough bunch. They don't laugh at the things I sometimes think they're going to laugh at. I crack jokes, and say silly things. And get odd looks.

Instead they laugh at goofy things, like me tripping over a divet in the grass. That usually brings out a few guffaws. Sometimes telling them to do something that pushes them out of their comfort zone will elicit a smile, or two. 

Like sniffing a flower. That made her smile.

I like soft blurry shots. 

Don't know why. I just do.

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J has been getting ready for turkey hunting season. He's been practicing with the Man's turkey calls for the past few weeks.


It's making me batty.


Squonk, squonk, squonk. All I hear in the early morning is J out on the back porch, trying to call in the turkeys that cross our backyard every morning at 7 a.m.


They stop and tilt their heads when they hear him. I'm not sure what he's actually saying to them. But it certainly doesn't make them come any closer.


So a few mornings ago I'm lying in bed, asleep. Not even close to getting up. It's 6:something, for Pete's sake. And I hear, squonk, squonk, squonk.


It gets closer. Squonk, squonk, squonk.


J! Stop it! I'm sleeping! I believe I yelled.


No answer. Squonk, squonk, squonk. Getting closer to me. Definitely not in the backyard. I think he's out in the front, by my window.


Knock it off! I'm tired! I might have yelled a little louder.


No answer. Squonk, squonk, squonk. I open my shade to yell some more.


And there they are. Eleven turkeys RIGHT.UNDER.MY.WINDOW.


I've been yelling at real turkeys. I have gone batty.

I don't even want to tell you how many times I asked him to jump to get just the right shadow for this photo.

He came up with a good one, don't you think?

One of my favorites. I have to know what she's thinking.

And she's not telling.

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So there's a few shots from the past few weeks. I have a few more to share but that's for another day.

I'll leave you with a quote I've been contemplating lately:

"The difference between a smart man and a wise man is that a smart man knows what to say, a wise man knows whether or not to say it." ~ Frank M. Garafola

A brief hiatus, or how I spent the month of September

I've been a mite bit busy for the past several weeks, in case you couldn't tell.


Which I'm sure you could from the lack of posting around here.


Oh golly, so sorry. I've been immersed in photography the past few weeks and have been busy, busy, busy editing and cropping, color popping and eye twinkling, making lots of people look their very bestest.


And, oh boy, they look pretty good. Lots of smiles and "Oh my, am I pretty or what?" No humbleness in these parts.


But they are young and have their whole lives ahead of them. So out comes the sass and the attitude and the looks and the funkyness and the quirks and the smiles, lots and lots of smiles. I'll show you some of what I've been doing another time. It's been a whole lot of fun.


And work. Whew, I'm tired.


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I found some time to sneak off to an antique show with M and her sissy-in-law. I came home with a few treasures, including a beautiful little black faced clock. She looks oh-so-pretty sitting on the mantel next to a big pocket watch clock from PB.


I've just started a clock collection. I saw a {very cute} idea on Pinterest and need a few clocks. Which the Man was delighted to hear.


Ahem. Hey, Man, get off my blog. 


He doubts my need for a new collection of anything. Just you wait, Henry Higgins, just you wait. You'll love the clock collection once you see my grand plan.


Did you see that beautiful case above? It's a trousseau case filled with all kinds of beauty necessities. And pictures of movie stars. I have no idea how old it is but it looked to be from the 1940s or 1950s. I didn't buy it, but, boy, did I sure want to.


Very elegant. And pink. Lots and lots of pink. Just right for a girly.

K marched her little feet off this month with color guard. J and I went to see her in the local parade. 

Of course, I went off in search of the ferris wheel.

I'm a bit obsessed with taking pictures of them. And playing with them. And making them VERY.DRAMATIC.

Love it.

One of the young ladies I shot with this past month. Captured this while I was waiting for her to put her shoes on. 

She loved this photo.

So do I.

F-U-N. 

I told him to just kick the ball around while I shot a few. He was more than happy to play. 

I love these pics that catch glimpses of everyday life. It's all about the stories.

Good Night, Irene

Wind blowing.

Tree branches falling.

Power outages.

Horrid weather around here, and nothing we could do about it. I dragged in everything that could be whisked away like Dorothy going to Oz, including the aloe plant M. gave me a few months ago.

Do you see this aloe plant? It now has 10 segments. And I think it started with four or five when M. gave it to me.

So I can grow something after all. *Note to all doubters.

We got some rain before the storm actually came through. I was outside walking around with my camera and saw the most perfectly clear reflection in a puddle.

I also found some downed branches in the driveway. Just lying there. I think they jumped off the tree before the storm came through and ripped them off. It's like they committed hari-kari.

Like we weren't going to have enough to pick up after the storm, we have to clean up before the storm.

After the storm? No power.

No lights. No TV. No computer. No phone.

No cooking. No water. No patience.

I am a terrible prairie woman. It's a good thing I didn't live a hundred years ago. I probably wouldn't have survived a day. 

I am spoiled by conveniences.

I need to toughen up.