Althea, Bryan, Andrew, and Sylvia
Andrew had a 15 minute orientation at his preschool today. He rode his bike to school, where he met his new teachers, Gail and Debbie. He’ll be in the same classroom where he was in Sue and Emily’s classroom last year. There are a handful of children in his class that he knows, and he’s really excited about the whole thing!
Here’s a quick video of the budderoo as he heads off.
[flickr video=3901416430]
Did you know that I love sunflowers? I really do. And this year, I’ve got a big mess of them growing in my back yard. Here are some pictures to brighten your day.
The sunflowers – yellow and brown – are full of American Goldfinches – yellow and black – and of bumble bees – yellow and black. It’s like a moving, chirping, buzzing work of art. In the picture below, there are actually four or five birds but all abut two are hiding.
In the past few years, we’ve had Great Horned owls nesting in our neighborhood. They’re amazing birds, and I feel so grateful that they’re hooting near our home. This past month, we’ve seen lots of the adults and lots of the juveniles. The babies still screech instead of hoot, but other than that, they look a lot like their parents.
This guy here spread his wings out wide as if to intimidate me.
We have lots of owl feathers on the ground in the neighborhood. You can tell they are from owls because they’re so fluffy. The downy-ness of their feathers helps make their flight silent – the easier to eat you, my dear!
This one is jumping off his perch and flying away. I don’t think he liked me taking his picture very much!
Last spring, the owlets fell out of the tree. You can read about that saga here. I wonder if one of the parents this year is little Hooter!
Sylvia just walked in the room. She’s wearing a long blue dress, her yellow petal-filled tutu, a pink sun hat, a red ladybug boot on one foot, a purple croc on the other foot, and a yellow basting brush waving in her hand. And she’s quite proud.
Maretta and Kyle are in town for the weekend! It’s been such fun to spend the last couple days with them. We haven’t seen much of them in the last year it feel like. They live up in St. Paul, and compared to when Maretta, say, lived at home, I don’t get to spend as much time in her company!
So this spur-of-the-moment visit was most welcome. I’m glad we had no Labor Day weekend plans!
Bryan went golfing this morning, and Maretta and I got to take off for the afternoon – heading to Hilldale for some therapy sister-shopping. I love shopping with my sister! It’s kind of like shopping with my mom. Maretta and I had a leisurely three hours to spend hanging out together. For most of the trip, we didn’t purchase anything. But I found a couple items I love and need to share.
The first are these beautiful shoes. Love. I love them. Love love love. I tried them on and gazed upon them. I love their stitching and their redness and their spunk. mmmm
A while later, as I was looking for a new non-diaper bag purse, I ran across this beauty. I love all the pockets and the size and the stitching. I think I’m in to stitching on red leather today.
So I restrained myself, which is a good thing, because these would be ridiculous purchases. But I know that some of my readers are lovers of shoes and bags, so enjoy! And let me know if there are items that you’ve been coveting!
We don’t have plans for tomorrow. I’m looking forward to having Bryan home. It’s kind of the last day of summer. We’ll be enjoying this beautiful weather, I think!
Andrew and I have been enjoying reading some lovely chapter books together recently. We just finished James and the Giant Peach, which was great fun. What a silly story! This morning, we started reading The Trumpet of the Swan, and we’re both really enjoying it.
I looked for Stewart Little at the library, but it was out. I think we’ll read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and maybe Danny, Champion of the World soon. We read Farmer Boy last winter, and that was quite a hit.
Do you have any suggestions for good books to read aloud to a four-year-old?
I made it through the last week pretty well. Even yesterday, the anniversary of my mom’s untimely demise, didn’t turn out to be too rough a day. For those of you who missed it in 2007, here’s Margot Babler’s obituary.
I spent the whole day yesterday doing domestic duties. It took me hours to pull the house back into shape, do a few loads of laundry, vacuum, clean litter boxes, go grocery shopping, and make dinner. I feel proud that neither of the kids sustained any serious injuries while they amused themselves and “helped” me. Simple Mom did a post about balancing housework and parenting. What with all my work on Althea Dotzour Photography, I haven’t focused as much on domestic work these past months.
Oh, and by the way, if you’re on Facebook, become a fan of Althea Dotzour Photography! If I’ve taken photos for you, you can write a quick review for me here!
I’ve done lots of great photo sessions this summer, and I’m excited about getting beautiful autumn portraits over the next few months. Should be a good time to help families get family pictures for Christmas! I’m currently booking sessions for September-November. If you’re interested, drop me a note!
Last weekend was chilly to cold. It was hard to believe that it was still August! We’ve had a cold summer this year! On Saturday morning, Bryan and I bundled up the kids and we went to the Orton Park Festival to hear David Landau sing.
Sylvia was quite intrigued but didn’t want to get off my lap to dance. And Andrew was transfixed but wanted to sit on one of our laps well away from the singing/dancing action. It was a beautiful morning for some playground pictures!
I really enjoyed reading the book Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore. It’s a neat book about a friendship between homeless Denver and affluent, evangelical Ron. Over the course of the book, Ron’s wife dies of cancer. It was a therapeutic book to read over the last week.
A couple quotes that stuck with me:
I remember one time I was hunkered down in the hobo jungle with some folks. We was talkin ’bout life, and this fella was talkin, and said, “People think they’re in control, but they ain’t. The truth is, that which must befall thee must befall thee. And that which must pass thee by must pass thee by.”
You’d be surpised what you can learn talkin to homeless people. I learned to accept life for what it is.
… and later
The truth about it is, whether rich or poor or somethin in between, this earth ain’t no final restin place. So in a way, we is all homeless–just working our way toward home.
Tomorrow is the three-year anniversary of little Allen Lerner’s birth. Here’s a post I wrote back in 2006. September 1st was the day that they discovered that he was no longer alive. My heart is full of sadness for the baby who I so wish had lived and for the dark and heavy road Heather and Michael have had to travel since then.
Heather and Michael just moved to a new home in Takoma Park last weekend. I’m sending them lots of love, and I’m sure they could use any loving thoughts you can send their way.
