One Crowded Couch

Date Night Splurge

This date night was particularly special, thanks to the generosity of Derek's folks.  They loaned us their gorgeous, and very 'cush (the backseat is a couch!!) Harley Davidson for the evening.  And to frost our delightful two-wheeled cake, they baby-sat our boys.  What a date!  What parents!
 

I got to enjoy the wind in my hair (under my helmet, of course) all the way to Altona and back.  Derek got to enjoy his first drive in five years!  We ate at a new-to-us restaurant, loved everything on our plates, and still had everything to look forward to in the open road, gorgeous sunset, and roaring engine all the way home.

 

As I listened to the motorcycle, watched the harvest going on just across the field, smelled the dead skunk up close and personal, appreciated the connectedness I felt with the passing landscape while driving with no walls or windows, I concluded that I married precisely the perfect kind of man.  He grew up riding motorcycles and dirt bikes, and made what I consider to be a very deliberate and wise sacrifice, selling his motorcycle to help pay for college.  He knows how to ride motorcycles safely (from experience and a saturation of wisdom from his father riding motorcycle before him), has a deep love for the activity, looks super cool in black leather, and also values education and enjoys a quiet evening at home reading theology or murder mysteries.  This is the most complimentary set of qualities I can imagine in a man, particularly in my man.  My husband can take me on a ride on motorcycle, or in our imagination, through the pages of a book or sermon.

These are exactly the musings date night is supposed to inspire.

Luke Says: Table Games

We started playing the "I'm an animal" table game this evening, and I was It.  I started with, "I have a long tail, I'm short enough to walk under a car, and I have a short squishy face".  Luke shouted, "You're a dinosaur!"
"No, listen carefully.  I'm short enough to walk under a car."
"And you're not a dinosaur," he mused.
"That's right.  I'll give you one more hint.  I'm very furry."
"You're a CAT!" Luke shouted...correct at last.

Then it was Luke's turn.  "I'm small, but with a long tail, and...,"dropping to a whisper, "Ask me if I'm a gecko."
I was coughing up my taco salad in a very unladylike fit so Derek answered politely and without smirking (how did he manage that?!), "Are you a gecko?"
"Yes!" exclaimed Luke.

Then it was Derek's turn.  "I'm very tall, and muscular, and people sometimes like to ride on my back."
"You're a dinosaur!!" shouted Luke
"Do people ride on dinosaurs?"
"Some people do."
"Well I'll give you one more clue, I live on a farm."
"Oh I know," said Luke laughing, "You're a horse!"

When it was Luke's turn again the game took a really interesting turn.  Luke started with, "I'm a square.  Square-ish.  Square shape.  I'm the shape of a mailbox."
Despite the mutually agreed upon name of the game, "I'm an animal", I followed him down his funny little rabbit hole and asked, "Are you a sewing machine?".
"Nope!" Luke continued, "I have a door."
This time not managing to suppress his grin Derek answered with the question, "Are you a mailbox?"
So much for my taco salad.  In my hysterics I am afraid the taco salad en route to my throat did not quite make it. 

Table Games.

Do you play table games?  What are they?  We'd like to have a few more.

Seamus the Cat: I'm Walkin' in My New Shoes!

If you don't understand the reference in the title, run - RUN to your nearest library and check out all the Pete the Cat books you can find...especially if they come with a groovy CD.  You will not regret it.  And you may get a funky new earworm (that's actually what the experts call it when a song gets stuck in your head!), "I love my blue shoes, I love my blue shoes!"

An evening at the park

Meandering and Fellow Artist Promos

I have been very busy lately with photography.  Very busy for me, you understand, is busy relative to the speed of a day with two children whose legs are at most half as long as yours...in other words, not terribly.  But it's kept my mind occupied, even when I'm not physically going.  Today, for the first time in a while, I decided to take a day off of editing and thinking about editing, photo shoots and thinking about photo shoots, designing and thinking about designing...and I'm finding it difficult to sit still.  I wander around thinking there's something to do, but have trouble directing my thoughts into and all the way through an activity.

I am meandering.

Is there a cure?

I wonder if this is a result of our society's emphasis on production = success...
I wonder if this is a result of my genetic similarity to Judith Bergen ...
I wonder if this is a result of not doing much photography for so long, and then so much all at once...
I wonder if I like being busy with photography...
I wonder if this meandering is my mind "detoxing" ...
I wonder if I shouldn't have given myself a break, but just kept pushing through until it was all done...
I wonder...is it good? is it bad? is it a sign of something else? am I thinking too much?

As part of this meandering journey, here is something I allowed myself to be distracted by for a large part of this afternoon: a woman with whom Dad and I attended a cheese workshop (my Dad, the lactose intolerant, attended a cheese workshop just for fun - that tells you a lot about him) a couple of years ago phoned me today to let me know she had painted a watercolor from a photo she took that day...here's the painting...isn't it lovely?!  Well, sure it's lovely.  But it's distracting is what it is.  Click on the photo to see Diana Persson's website and gallery.  She's a very talented painter!  Her talent has kept me from doing all kinds of things I should have done this afternoon...yes, I am passing the buck.  But since she will likely never see this blog, I imagine she won't mind.  And in the meantime I'll feel better about my indecisive activity.  Oho!  I have just linked you to Diana Persson's website, so now I'm doing artist promos on my website - I've never done that before - I'm being uber-productive! It's all in your perspective.  Let's ask Dad what he thinks:  Hm, it's a tough one.

This painting is called, "Thinking of Cheese".

I think my mind kinda looks like swiss today.

Down Home Summer

Summer looks a lot like this, this year. 
Bike riding,
garden/jungle adventures,
zinnias (my new favorite - yes they have usurped the sweet pea in the "just for looks category" although nothing can surpass sweet peas for "scent"),
grass and sand in everybody's pants!

It's a beautiful summer on roadrunner bay.