Through the Tulips

Tip Toe-ing

A Fun, Fun Day

In honor of Bridget's birthday yesterday, we had cupcakes after church with our friends there amidst the happy birthday song. Our family then made the journey in 3 separate vehicles in the pouring rain to Wolfang's for brunch. We arrived looking like drowned rats but enjoyed the time together immensely. Edward went back to Calvin and the rest of us returned home for the opening of the birthday gifts, and it was indeed a fun, fun day.

Today We Celebrate

Bridget, 1995

It's astounding. Time is fleeting.

Yesterday afternoon before Bridget's bus arrived, I was out on my daily walk, camera in hand, meditating on the ephemeral nature of the spring flowers and thinking how my youngest daughter will be 14 on Sunday. The above quote from a song, which I read on my friend Deirdre's facebook page, kept going through my head. She also loves to take pictures, to capture this fleeting time. Taking pictures helps me to pay attention and I don't want to miss Spring or these childhoods that are passing through our home.

I didn't take many photos in the neighborhood as I was feeling a bit shy with my camera for some strange reason. Thankfully, I found these yellow tulips, which I forgot I planted in our own yard, so I could get on the ground and do my thing. Just as I began, I heard the bus round the corner and my fleeting soon to be 14 year old got off and appreciated the whole scene of her mother trying to capture these transient moments.

Flash Back Friday 115

Looking forward to Sunday when this little sweetie will be 14!

Mini Me

Maria has been taking to her new camera as a fish to water so that has been fun. The problem is, my usual suspects, er..., models were busy in Florida and didn't appreciate me in the middle of things. Maria's photos are fun to see and I'll have her do a guest post one of these days. In the meantime, I took some photos of her taking photos...

A Bird Party

So in honor of Leo's tenth birthday, we got him a bird feeder. Not really, but that was sort of the sequence of events around here. I approved of the one with the nice copper look for its photogenic properties. Last Saturday, John & I very carefully picked a birdseed with a nice mix not knowing what we might see in our backyard.



In less than 24 hours, we had a regular finch resort in our backyard. I was watching them nest up in the tree, knock seed to the ground and fly up & down from the ground to the tree to the feeder. It went on like this for days. I thought this would be the extent of it for the summer.

Woohoo, finches.

Tuesday afternoon, in the midst of a drizzle, I happened to go over to the window and with Bridget as my witness, I saw a bluejay, 2 cardinals, a robin, a mourning dove, a sparrow, a red-winged blackbird, a goldfinch. I didn't even know I knew the names of that many birds! It felt like this must be every bird I knew! Pure excitement! Birds living in harmony! I was so excited that I screamed! They all flew away. I later identified 2 more of the birds I saw in that cacophony as a black-caped chickadee and a brown headed cowbird and who knows what else I'm forgetting. And furthermore, they finished all of the birdseed in that brand new birdfeeder.

Missed the shot of the bluejay.

Ok, now in all seriousness, I went to pick up Maria from school and told her about my day. I came home and walked over to the window again, excited about what I might see, and wouldn't you know it? A duck!

I wouldn't be surprised to see a penguin at this point. I do hope to get better bird photos with my tripod, different lenses and a brighter day at some point. It will be fun, I promise.

Hey Leo, It's Your Birthday!

Believe it or not, he's a little moody sometimes and I could do nothing here to crack a smile.
Maybe it's because today he is a very wise 10 year old.

The Nellies Go to Florida

No matter how many pictures I take, I always seem to go back to my fave: pix of the kids! Oy! I had a chance this weekend to look through our Florida photos again and I picked out a few for a post:

A Little Bit of Tulip Time

Greeting me outside on this sunny morning...

Flash Back Friday 114

Maria & John, Panama City, 1999

A Smart and Spirited Sailor

Maria with the academic letter she was awarded at yesterday's breakfast

Sunset vs. American Idol

Down where we stayed in Florida, we could walk out of our door at 7pm and watch the sunset over the ocean. I took an exciting shot the first clear night, but I wished I had some sillhouette models. Who would not want to do that? I'll tell you who - 2 little girls who need to see every minute of American Idol when it starts at 7pm, central. The next night, I dragged them out to watch the sunset amid protest.

You know what happened? They began to dance! It was so exciting!



And that is the story behind the photo "Risen."

I was so happy after I took these that I sat there and watched that evening's show with them. And I even saw that rapper guy who calls himself Flor Rida which in itself was funny enough.

Rare Bird Spotting

We saw many birds in Florida that we don't see often here in Michigan. Of course there are the seagulls which come to think of it, I often see in the Meijer parking lot. They aren't quite as photogenic there. This reminds me of the first time my dad ever wore shorts - I think when he was in his 30's - a seagull pooped on his leg.

We saw a heron building a nest,



some pelicans perched on the rocks,



and sandpipers pecking around in groups of 4.



But the rarest bird of all was the Birdget which I captured below.

Relaxing

We came back Saturday morning after a very relaxing week in Panama City. With 2 teenage girls, there were no bodies buried in the sand up to the neck, no sand castles, no buckets or shovels. But what we did have was a lot of sunbathing and modeling. Maria loved the new camera and it was more difficult than usual for me to squeeze in shots of the girls (I did manage a few). We were happy to be back for Easter breakfast at church and later, a supper with John's family in town.

Risen!

Maria & Bridget rejoicing

A blessed Easter to all of you!

Flash Back Friday 113

Panama City, 2002

We're headed down south to see if we can find some heads in the sand this spring break. Hope to be back on Easter Sunday!