Bark and the Moon

 This tree stands in the court yard behind the church where Little One goes to preschool. I often admire it on my drive in and out as it stands in the morning sunlight. Today we arrived at preschool a good ten minutes early. All I can figure is that something must have happened to our clocks at home; we are never early for preschool. But today we were, and  I had grabbed my camera on the way out the door, so I was set for a few pictures.

 Bare branches against a blue sky- Monday, February 6.

I don't know why the bark peels like this, but I think it is beautiful- Monday, February 6.

More peeling bark. I do hope this doesn't mean the tree is sick. It's too pretty to be ill- Monday, February 6.

 I went into the kitchen to start dinner and looked out the window to see the moon making an early appearance in the sky- Monday, February 6.

I can't say that I see the man, but I do wonder what all those lines are- Monday, February 6.

Just Found This One

I am "watching" the Super Bowl with my guys while filing pictures on the computer. I just found this one from earlier in the week. It was hidden among a bunch of pictures of the kids. I'm not sure how I missed it before, but it was nice to find tonight. It's my best bird picture yet.

Male Cardinal- Monday, January 31.

Rays of Sunshine and My Husband

I love my husband. I like him, too, most of the time. Like today when he was driving all of us to our desired destination and he willingly pulled into the fire station parking lot so I could take a picture, I really liked him then. When he started driving away because I was taking too long, not so much. Another time I really liked him today was when he let me eat over half of his chili-cheese fries at lunch. And then when he humored me by letting me pose him in just the right light for a picture he needs for something or other and humored me again by looking at all the different little editing things I did to it in P.S.E., I liked him a lot, too. I love my husband and I really do like him, too, most of the time.

The picture from the fire station parking lot- Sunday, February 5.

 My husband- Sunday, February 5.

Local Tourists

The Oldest and I toured the Visitors' Center in Gettysburg today. We just finished up studying the Civil War and thought we'd take advantage of the history in our back yard. Usually when we drive into Gettysburg it is to hike or play on giant rocks or splash in a fun little creek- all things that are free. But today we joined the paying masses and had a very nice afternoon.

Re-living Day 3 of the battle through the Cyclorama- Saturday, February 4.

 A glass panel catching the light from a nearby window- Saturday, February 4.

 His best Civil War soldier impersonation- Saturday, February 4.

A bunch of soldiers gathered around something. The one from Kentucky looks like trouble - Saturday, February 4.

Beach Front Property

I didn't really feel like taking pictures today. Mostly because I had some amazing friends over for a few hours this afternoon and we just sat and talked and laughed about really silly things. I was sad to see them go and lingered for a while in the living room after they left. I didn't think to get my camera out while they were here and after they were gone, I really just felt like snuggling up with a cup of tea and a good book. But when school was done the kids wanted to head outside to enjoy a warm Friday afternoon. I figured since I had to leave the comfort of the couch, I would at least take my camera along.

Here's me imagining the baseball field in our back yard is a stretch of sunny beach.

 Evidence of an earlier visitor- Friday, February 3.

Drawings in the sand- Friday, February 3.

This one is a little hard to read. I had to shoot it from the side so my shadow wouldn't be in the way. It is a tribute from The Oldest that says, "Mom Rocks!" -Friday, February 3.

Now before you get all teary eyed, let me explain. This is the first picture The Oldest carved in the sand. He did it with his Ripstik. He asked me to take a picture and then asked if I would post it on my blog. I replied with something cocky like, "If you wrote, 'Mom is awesome!', I might think about putting that on the blog." So, in an effort to get published and be cocky in return, he created the 'Mom Rocks!' picture. Rocks is a lot easier to spell than awesome- Friday, February 3.

U.F.O.s

Unidentified Flying Objects- I have one of those to talk about in a bit*, but first I'll share about a lesser known, but equally haunting U.F.O.- the Un-Finished Object.

Two winters ago I started a quilt. I cut and pieced it together in no time, thanks to back-to-back monster snow storms that left us confined to the house for days at a time. Once it was all basted into a quilt sandwich, I made the choice to hand quilt it together. I knew when I committed to the thimble and thread that the creative journey I was about to embark upon would likely stretch over years. Well, two years later, my quilt remains a U.F.O., of the Un-Finished Object kind.

A dear woman at our church is an amazing quilter. She has been a great source of tips and advice. She also faithfully asks me nearly every time she sees me, "You finished with that quilt yet?" To which I smile and answer, "No, not yet." I think she may be starting to fear I will never finish it, because the last time we shared in this now familiar dialogue, she went on to tell about a very secret club of which she has been a member. She said that within the established order of her quilting guild, there is another, lesser known group, identified by some sort of special pin. She went on to say that you become a member of this club by being big enough to admit that you have at least one Un-Finished Object and by making a commitment to bring that project to completion. I can't remember the details of the pin, you either have to wear one until you finish your project (sort of like the Cone of Shame) or you get one when you have completed the project (along the lines of a Medal of Honor or Olympic Gold). Either way, the U.F.O. Club has apparently been a great motivator to several members, prompting them to finish projects that, for some, have been left uncompleted for years.

This all happened to tie in very nicely with another slice of my life. I get to lead the high school Girls Only club on Thursday nights at church. We were talking one night about how we all have things we have started and not finished and how it feels so good to finally commit to the process of finishing. So we decided to set aside some nights here and there to dedicate to projects started and not completed. The first one happens to be tonight, and is the reason my quilt has been pulled from its cozy spot in the basket that is its home. I am even more excited about the whole thing now because we can call it U.F.O. Night instead of just Working on Stuff We Started and Didn't Finish Yet Night. Everything is so much better with a catchy title.

So here is a picture of my quilt as it looks today. The others are pictures from earlier in the journey.

Unfinished quilt in the sunlight- Thursday, February 2.

Some stitching- Wednesday, February 1.

 Basting the three layers together with pins- Tuesday, February 16, 2010.

Designing the quilting pattern- Thursday, February 25, 2010.

*Unidentified Flying Object- This U.F.O. is a follow up on the large bird sighting I blogged about a few days ago (A Warm January Day in a Special Place).  My initial I.D. of the bird was a Cooper's Hawk. Checking out some other bird sites, I think I'm sticking with it. However, there is another Hawk, the Sharp-shinned Hawk, that is a near twin. There are comparison charts for the two, unfortunately, the areas of greatest difference are the tail and legs and I can not see either of those areas in the pictures I took.  I had been hoping the bird would come back so I could get a better look at it until I saw this on one of the bird sites: "With their smaller look-a-like, the Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper’s Hawks make for famously tricky identifications. Both species are sometimes unwanted guests at bird feeders, looking for an easy meal (but not one of sunflower seeds)." Now I am hoping our guest will not be making a return appearance and am more than happy to stick with what I've got, filing this bird away under the category U.F.O.

Hands

I was lying in bed early the other morning thinking when I should have been sleeping. I found myself in such a state because I had woken up when Husband got up to go to work and before I could fall back to sleep, a thought entered my mind. I am no expert on what our brain does while we sleep, but I am pretty sure mine takes a deep sigh of relief, thankful to have a few hours of rest before it is again forced to think about multiple things at once all day long, and enters into a short period of hibernation. Most nights this works out great for both me and my brain and we enjoy a peaceful and uninterrupted eight hours or so. But there are certain nights, like the one mentioned above, when a rogue thought somehow manages to awaken my hibernating brain before my body is ready to respond to it's workings. All it takes is one little thought that has something to do with life outside of sleeping and my brain springs into action, rustling awake all the ideas, memories, and ponderings that had been so nicely put to sleep a few hours before.

On the early morning mentioned above, mixed together with to-do lists, partially processed thoughts, and the occasional funny memory, I found myself identifying people I have known in my life by their hands. For some reason, I have always remembered people's hands. I can go through a number of my high school classmates and college friends and still clearly see their hands.  I can do the same thing with people I currently know. The strange thing is it only works with certain people. If I purpose to think of someone, I will either be able to clearly see their hands in my mind or I picture them without hands at all, like they are wearing long sleeve shirts that sort of cover where their hands would be.

I was reminded of these early morning thoughts today when I took this picture.

Little One and her friend were leaning on the footrest watching Dora. I started to take a picture that centered on their faces, but got distracted by their hands- Wednesday, February 1.

 So then it was hands- Wednesday, February 1.

And more hands- Wednesday, February 1.

And my hand. 

I've started thinking about the people I can and can't identify by their hands alone, and I realized that I fall into the category of someone with hidden hands. I think that is pretty strange since I look at my own hands every day. So I thought I'd take a picture and see if it helps to free me from the hand-less, long sleeve wearing mob that lives in my mind- Wednesday, February 1.