My Favorite Gift

A few posts down, I participated in a meme that I turned into a Christmas one and in that meme, I mentioned the gift that my husband bought me years ago. It was a Nikon SLR camera that I fell madly in love with.

You've probably seen those car ads on TV where the small child inside of you reminds you of your most favorite gift ever, then suddenly the child is now an adult, and there is a brand new car in their driveway. And they realize that this is now the Best Gift Ever.

This Friday, I was given a gift at school that blew the Nikon out of the water, and I just had the burning desire to share it with you.

I can't share everything about it, because it's rather personal, but please let me try.

It's a bit of a tradition at our school, as it is at most, I expect, to give teachers and staff sweet little presents from the parents and students. I exchange gifts at school, as well, with a few teachers and my co-worker extraordinnaire, Bonnie. This year is a bit sparse for me in the giving department, but I managed to come through and am always happy to see the look on my friends faces as they open their little presents.

That's the best part, isn't it?

And then my friend, the art teacher, came into the office with a present for me. You remember her, right? The one I went to NYC with a couple of weekends ago? The one I've been friends with since the day I started at the school ten years ago? She and her husband are also the ones who arranged that visit for my son with their architect friend to spend a day working with him at his firm.

She looked really excited when she came into the office. And she had a big, beautiful box. "Open it!" she said. What a beautiful box it was that she handed me! I put it on the counter, admiring it while I slowly pulled up the flap. Inside I found a small flat package wrapped in gold tissue paper and tied with a beautiful red ribbon. "Open it!" she said excitedly. I pulled the ribbon off the package and saw that inside of it were white cards, all handwritten. I looked at my friend.

She told me she'd seen this idea on Oprah, and that on each card a faculty or staff member had answered questions like "What I love about you", "My wish for you this holiday is" . . .

When I realized that this box was full of these precious cards, the emotion overcame me and I began to cry. Cry and laugh at the same time! "No, no, don't cry!!" my friend said. "Here, here is one that's funny . . . read it, ok?"

So through my tear-filled eyes and the damn Dior mascara that runs every time I tear up (I have got to go back to Lancome, honestly) I read what our friend Diane, our gym teacher, wrote when she answered the question,

"What I Love About You" . . .

is you really know how to dance! Oh, wait a minute, that's what I LIKE about you, by the Romantics! But what I love about you is how you stay calm in any storm that comes your way. You are a rock for so many people! Happy Holidays!"

I couldn't read any more, I guess because I was so surprised. Margie went on to tell me that all she did was organize it, hand out the cards, and then ask for them back. Her husband, Charles, went out and found the fantastic box, and the faculty did the rest.

I was planning on going home Friday night, pour a glass of wine, and then read them. And I did pour that wine, and I did begin to read. But I couldn't after the first one. I don't know if I was embarassed, or maybe I felt that I didn't deserve all this love and kindness that was in this box. I just don't know!!!

So the box had been sitting on the bookshelf all weekend. Every now and then, I would walk by and touch it. It's a precious thing, you see. And this morning, with my husband's coffee in my little holiday mug, and a fresh-baked cookie made by him, too . . . I opened the box.

I read twelve of them until I couldn't do it any longer.

I had no idea that this is what people thought of me. And, at the risk of sounding so sappy that my sister-in-law's eyes will roll like they've never rolled before, I will tell you this:

I have only read twelve of them. And my heart is so full that I've decided to take it slow with this box. I had to stop after I read Cheryl's and I will share this one with you. Cheryl is one of our Lower School librarians.

What I love about you . . .

besides your great hair, I love many things about you! You are very capable in everything that you do. That's a great quality. I love how you appreciate the little things in life & I love your humor. But most of all, I love your kindness. You have blessed me and my child with it over the years. You are a blessing to everyone in your life. Thank you! Love, Cheryl.

Oh. My. God. I may not make it through the day through my tears and my appreciation.

Margie, I don't know how to thank you for organizing this gift. It is such a wonderful idea. And to those of you out there, this isn't a gift that can just be given at Christmas. This Gratitude Box or Memory Box is something you can do any time. For more information on the gift and to download the templates for the cards, please visit this site.

If you know someone in your life who is having some trouble and who needs to be reminded how much they are loved, then I strongly suggest giving this gift as a group effort.

I didn't know how much I needed the thoughts until I opened this . . . my new Favorite Gift Ever.

Until tomorrow, my friends . . .

Humbly yours,

The best laid plans . . .

Oh, I had so many plans for today. There was cleaning, and scrubbing. (I do enjoy a bit of that from time to time, you know).

There was the making of my signature dessert, my apple pumpkin pie (which I plan on posting later on).

There was a visit back to my new favorite wine store. And well, I did get that one accomplished. (Priorities, you know).

But this morning, while having a cup of cappuccino out on my front porch with my husband, I walked down the steps and TRIPPED off the very last step where it meets the earth. And I fell down. And I actually cried because my ankle hurt so badly. Cried!

I hate crying. Usually. But this hurt so badly that I simply had to cry.

My husband rushed to help me. My dog sniffed me and declared me AliVe. And right before I fell, I had taken this little video of George. He'd been fetching and catching his toy in the air and I thought it would be fun to show off his abilities on my blog.

But I erased it accidentally. (Because I am an idiot).

Have you noticed my extreme use of the parentheses in this post?

So now, I'm having a glass of wine and nursing my ankle. I may still make the pie later on.

Riddle me this: What do you do when a beloved co-worker changes in an instant and hardly talks to you anymore? What do you do when you know it's nothing you've done? What do you do when you absolutely miss the jocularity, the camaraderie, and the downright exhuberance of said co-worker? And I am not putting the links in for him anymore. I am just not.

It's just so . . .

disheartening.

Don't mind me. I'm just pissy because of my clumsiness.

And two posts in one day. Wow! I haven't done this in, well, since I began blogging! And the picture? Well, it's actually a watercolor I was playing around with in Photoshop while I've been sitting here nursing my ankle. It's just a simple pic of a tree that wasn't really any good. I'd taken it through one of the windows that had a screen in it, and I'm posting the original on my other blog tomorrow. I just liked how the watercolor looked.

Coffee and pumpkins

Today, I woke early and came downstairs to the usual coffee that my husband always makes. If he ever leaves me, I'll have to get an automatic coffee maker, one that grinds the beans. I would feel absolutely bereft if I awoke to a coffee-less aroma. My husband makes the best coffee in the world. Well, at least I think so.

He boils the water, and then pours it through a glass Melitta coffee pot with the cone top and filter. We have to buy the pot at a special place (in Amishland) because everybody uses automatic coffee pots these days.

But not my husband.

Even when we go on vacation, and there is an automatic coffee pot in the home, he'll still bring his beloved Melitta pot with us. He's such a cowboy.

So when I come downstairs in the morning, my coffee awaits. I get out one of my favorite coffee mugs from the cupboard in my pink countertop kitchen and then I look out the windows of this big, beautiful house. Sometimes I can catch a glimpse of him, out there on the property, walking with George in the early light. This place seems to agree with him. It's very calming.

Today, he carved some jack-o-lanterns for us. When I carve jack-o-lanterns, I use a pattern and make awesome designs. But I sort of like these that my husband did. Let's call them rustic, shall we? I've put one of them in the greeting above. Another one had three triangles, two for the eyes and one for some other orifice, I suppose. I think they're sweet. As I write this on Thursday evening, they're out on our front porch, for the owls and fox to see. And George. I think he's out there somewhere.

Today I drove us to Baltimore again, back to Johns Hopkins to visit the oncologist. There are a million and one things for me to remember. It makes me wonder what people do who are alone and have no one to figure out their pill doses for them. We found out he'll have to be on chemo for an entire year. It's the type of chemo you can take orally and it's for 5 days each month. So you're not sick the entire time. Just most of the time.

Ok. I'll stop talking about it now because I don't want to get depressed about it.

A friend stopped over from school today! I really miss my job. I miss my friends. I miss the children. And I miss the normalcy that life used to be before the tumor returned. But I know that I'm where I should be. And that's a really good feeling.

Oh, and guess who ate the entire apple crisp last night?

(it wasn't me).

Until tomorrow, my friends . . .

And PS ~ Thanks for visiting. It's sort of like having friends over. Every day. I'll ask my husband to make us some more coffee, ok?

Sharin' the love

Me on the left, Adrienne in the middle and my sister Char on the right. Somewhere in there is my friend, Karen, but she got lost in the shuffle. We aren't crying, we're laughing. They came out that weekend not to help me clean, but to help me pack for my move and to cheer me up.

I never wanted to just come out and say what's been happening in my life because it's not all about me. It involves my husband and some things are just personal, you know. But he told me it's ok to share the basics, especially if it would make me feel better talking about it. I don't want pity, nor does he. God, I just couldn't deal with that.

My husband is a cancer survivor. Brain tumor, May 2004. It was traumatic, to say the least. And slowly, over time, life returned to normal, albeit a new normal. He had some short-term memory loss, pretty specific to names. Horses names, peoples names, that sort of thing. But other than that, you'd never know to look at him or talk with him. Amazing.

Then at the end of June, he lost his job due to the state of the thoroughbred breeding industry in Maryland. He quickly landed another position in Pennsylvania, but we could tell from the start that it wasn't working out. He wasn't happy, but we needed the job.

In September, however, during a routine screening for tumor recurrence, the latest MRI showed some changes. A visit with a surgeon at Johns Hopkins confirmed our worst fear. The tumor had returned.

And then my father passed away. I couldn't go out to be with him because my place was here with my husband. I had to say my farewell over the speaker phone.

This specific brain tumor has an exceedingly high recurrence rate. Known as a glioblastoma multiforme, it's a bugger of a thing. And so far, he'd beaten the odds. For four and a half years, he astounded his doctors at Hopkins, surprising them by staying well.

Surgery was highly recommended and the sooner the better. We'd already scheduled the move for this past Saturday, and the only opening for the surgery was Friday. We could have gone with another surgeon, but we wanted the best. And so Friday, it was. To make a long, scary story short, my husband is doing well at the moment. That's really all I want to get into at this time and I'd really just like to forget the whole weekend. But I'll tell you what I will always remember . . .

How does one move into a home under these circumstances, do you think? Well, we did it with the help of our friends and family and I don't know what we would have ever done without them. My sister, Char came out first thing Saturday morning. My youngest son was there helping by taking care of the dog and cat and helping us pack. Then my husband's sister, Helen and her husband Bob showed up at the new place in time for the movers to arrive. Adrienne and Bobby, who arrived at our old place on Friday night, and helped us until my husband arrived home from the hospital on Monday, were a Godsend. One of my friends from work who lives nearby brought dinner on moving day.

Everyone unpacked our things, setting up our furniture, our books, kitchen things, bed linens, and even set out familiar pictures of our family for my husband and . . . it was amazing. I don't know how I will ever thank all these people. And when I brought my husband home from the hospital to our new place, he slowly walked around, looked at everything, and sat down. He was completely overwhelmed that people would do all this for us. And with tears in his eyes, he told me that this house was wonderful. And that it would all be ok.

So this is my story. This is my life. I am fine. I'll be back when I can. I still have much to do and have taken some time off my work to be with my husband.

So, until then, my friends . . .

Friends

My friends came out this weekend for an overnight. You remember Adrienne, right?

This is her mom, Karen who's been my friend since I was around 19 years old.

Adrienne wanted me to take a silhouette of a tree. It didn't turn out as nice as I would have liked, but nonetheless, here it is for what it's worth.

George was happy because he had more people to play fetch with.

We cleaned out some rooms and packed some things away. I guess you could call it fall cleaning. I took them on a ride over to the historic place I mentioned last week. They also helped me choose the contest (see below) winners. Lots of entries this time and thanks to all who participated! Just a long, quiet weekend with beautiful weather.

Well, it's back to work today. How was your weekend? Anything fun happening in your neck of the woods?

Thank you, Renee

When my friends arrived last weekend, they brought an unexpected housewarming gift with them from Renee. Renee is Adrienne's sister. The box alone was a nice enough gift, but inside I found blueberry jam and blueberry tea.

Now, I love blueberries and blueberry jam is excellent, however I've never had blueberry tea. It sounded really strange, but I gave it a go and decided to make iced tea with it. And you know what? It's very very good. Surprisingly good, in fact.

Here's the recipe I used:

Blueberry Iced Tea

Boil 2 cups water, remove from heat

Add 3 blueberry tea bags, let steep 20 minutes

Add about 2/3 cup (or less) sugar

Stir and pour into 2-qt. pitcher

Fill pitcher to top with cold water

Serve over ice

Renee, thank you so much for the thoughtful gift. So when are you planning on coming out?

Love, Kate
Until tomorrow, my friends.

Perfect

I had a great weekend with my friends. We had the best food, too. And you know what? I didn't take food pictures. In fact, I hardly took pictures at all. I just didn't feel like being in everyone's face with the camera. I didn't want them on guard wondering whether or not something was going into the blog. I'm doing these few shots in black & white because Roman Holiday, starring Audrey Hepburn, is playing right now on TCM.

I'm just weird like that.

Adrienne made steamed clams with a sauce that made me wish I had bought a baguette. Truth be told, Adrienne remembered on the way here, but didn't want to stop and buy one and have to ride on the back of a Harley with a baguette sticking out of her pants. I'm getting a mental picture here, folks, and it's a funny one.

We ate and we drank and we enjoyed the absolutely beautiful weather. Thunderstorms were predicted for Saturday, but aside from our travelling bikers dodging a few stray raindrops, the day and night stayed clear. Adrienne and Bobby arrived on the Harley, and Karen and Jeff arrived in the Passat with the goods and Adrienne's dog, Josie.

Sunday dawned a beautiful, picture-perfect day complete with a sweet-scented breeze and blue skies with puffy white clouds. Absolutely no humidity and nothing to do but enjoy the wonderful weather. After a breakfast of scrambled eggs with pico de gallo and a toasted bagel with cream cheese, we all sat down to either read the paper, relax, play frisbee with George, or just chill. Afterwards, we took a big walk. It was so wonderful just being with my friends.

Here's a picture of my friends, Karen and Jeff. On the motorcycle are Adrienne (Karen's daughter) and Bobby. Looks fun, doesn't it?

How did you spend your weekend? I hope it was perfect for you, too.

Fabulous

It's Friday night and I've had a busy day, but I'm not going to get into how it went. (Not good, if you really must know). But tomorrow's another day. I'm not complaining because all I have to do is look out any window and know that I'm blessed.

I just put a pound cake into the oven and am having a well-deserved glass of pino grigio. And to make it better, The Thomas Crown Affair has just started. I've always liked this movie. Not the one with Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway, but the more current version with Pierce Brosnan, Renee Russo and Denis Leary. I don't know if I've ever mentioned this, but I actually have a big crush on Renee Russo. Ha! You thought I was going to say Pierce or Denis, didn't you? But no, alas, it is Renee for me.

I don't know what it is about her, but if I ever went over to the dark side, er, you know what I mean, well she's the one for me, is all I'm sayin'.

Ok, now that I've got you all saying, "Oh, my God" or "there she goes again, blatantly lying ", I'm going to tell you that I'm not lying. Not this time. So let's leave it at that. Good movie, though. Pierce Brosnan owns the role of Thomas Crown.

While I was driving home this afternoon from a rather annoying trip to the rental office of my son's former apartment, I had a phone call. I was angry with my son, and was silently fuming. But when I saw Adrienne's name on my cell, I got happy again. She, Bobby, her mom Karen, and dad Jeff are all coming out tomorrow. They're my best friends and I'm so looking forward to their visit.

A: "Hey, Katy. Watcha doing?"

CG: "Driving home with Shaun from somewhere annoying. How about you?"

A: "I'm on my lunch break. I just wanted to touch base and talk about coming out tomorrow."

CG: "Ok, great!"

A: "We're coming on the bike. That's ok, right? Will we spook any of the horses? And mom is bringing Josie and I hope that's ok, too?"

CG: "It's all ok. Our house is the first one you come to when you turn into the lane. The front paddock will probably be empty and George will be really happy to meet Josie."

A: "I already know you're making something fabulous."

CG: "What? How do you know that?"

A: "Because I read your blog every day, silly. I'm making something fabulous, too. Easy and fabulous."

CG: "Wow, Adrienne! Just like you . . . easy and fabulous!"

CG: "No wait, that sounded bad. I don't mean you're easy, what I . . . "

A: "Nah, it's ok. I am easy. But I'm fabulous, too!!!"

CG: "I think you're only easy when you're drinkin' the vino, A."

A: "Ha ha ha ha!! You know I'm drinkin' the vino every day! So what does that say? I can't wait to see you tomorrow!"

And with that, we laughed and said our goodbyes. I hung up and realized that I wasn't mad anymore. In fact, I was smiling. It doesn't matter if my place isn't spotless. It doesn't matter if the food isn't perfect, or my stone patio isn't finished yet. I'm seeing my friends and I love them. And they love me.

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend. Fabulous is my word for the day, I've decided. Thanks for that, Adrienne.

Oh, and PS ~ The pictures are from the macro lens and are of my spider plant just after I watered it tonight. I just thought it looked cool.

Why I call it 'the licorice store'

You've heard me say it a couple of times in this blog that I'm going to the licorice store, when what I really mean is that I'm going to buy some wine. Or maybe some beer. But I'm really going to the liquor store. And today I'm here to tell you the reason why I call it that.

It all happened a long time ago, when a certain girl, who's going into the 7th grade this year, was in kindergarten at our school. Or was she in 1st grade back then? I can't remember which.

We have an athletic director at our school whose two daughters have since graduated, but his youngest, Maddy, still attends. I help her dad at school doing secretarial work occasionally for him, producing booklets when we host tournaments, and finding him help for sporting events when he needs it. And every year on my birthday or Christmas, he gives me a present.

One year, he let Maddy come along to help him pick out my gift. I remember her running into the school office with a big smile on her face, followed by her father, who was also smiling. She proudly offered me a paper sack, and very excitedly, said in her little-girl voice, "We've been to the Licorice Store and I picked you out a present!"

I'm telling you, I couldn't think what might be in the bag, other than licorice which I think tastes really horrid, but I was planning on being gracious about it. She was just so darn cute. And when I opened the bag, I was surprised to find that it was a bottle of bourbon. Maddy and her dad had actually been to the Liquor Store. I wondered if it had been a let down for her when she got inside and found no candy, but she seemed excited and happy with the present, regardless.

I was tickled, as were others who witnessed the scene, at Maddy's verbal description of the store, and it turned into a sort of catch-phrase at our school.

Whenever any of us is having a really bad day, we jokingly say that we're going to need to stop at the Licorice Store on the way home. There's not much that drives me to drinking, well except when my son won't stop driving his hot rod Lincoln.

It was just so cute, and something that stuck. And it was better gift than the bourbon.

And that, my dear readers, is the story of the Licorice Store. See now? Aren't you glad you stopped by today to find out?

Don't worry. I plan on continuing my other story from yesterday . . .

Photo borrowed from Leo Reynolds at Flickr.com.

Graduation

Graduation from our school was this evening, and I'm up late tonight going through the pictures I've taken. I'm the unofficial school photographer, and I took lots of pictures today, but this one really touched me. To me, this exemplifies Graduation.

I've known Caroline and her family since she was just a little girl. And I have the honor of calling her mother, Mary, my friend. Caroline is the last in her family to graduate from our school and now that it's come to an end, I think I understand how her mother must feel just by looking at this picture.

I'll miss so many of these seniors, but even more importantly, I'll miss the families they're attached to. Things change and time marches on. And this is the reason I love being behind a camera lens. I love capturing these moments and giving them as gifts to people I love.

A night on the water

I'm writing this at 10 o'clock in the morning on the last Saturday of May and I've just returned from a wonderful evening spent with friends on their boat, harbored in a marina that's not too far from where I live.

I'm not posting it until much later in the day because we've had a storm that came through here and I was knocked off the internet for quite some time.

What a different experience for me this was. If you're familiar with marinas, you'll know that it's sort of like a high-end trailer park on the water (my friend, Tracey's words). And this one, really high-end. Each spot (a slip) is rented out for the season and comes with the amenities you'll need for your boat, e.g. water, electricity, etc., and you can add on a storage compartment if need be, too. This particular marina's club membership includes a community pool, super clean shower houses and laundry facilities, tennis courts, and I could just go on and on. There's even a water taxi service if you'd like to run to one of the nearby restaurants on the water, or just be dropped off at one of the swimming beaches nearby. It's amazing.

And when I pulled into the marina parking lot, with Lynn following behind me, on the beautiful evening that last night turned out to be, I realized that this was the life for me. No, I didn't. Not then, at least. It wasn't until later.

It wasn't until I saw their boat . . .

Yes, I could definitely live on a boat like this, for awhile at least. It's sort of like camping, but in luxury accommodations. I liked the fact that every inch of extra space was used for storage, and I liked the compact space, the elegance and just the downright sexiness of this boat! Wow. Did I just say that out loud?

This is Captain Brian. He is a genial host and knowledgeable waterman. If I remember correctly, this is the 2nd season with this particular boat. He also makes an excellent bartender, but I have yet to try one of his bloody mary's because I had to leave early this morning. So Brian, if you're reading this, be warned that I may have to return for one of those drinks! Oh, and I'm sorry that I Photoshopped the name of your town out of this picture. Actually, I'm not sorry I did it. I just don't want to put too much personal information out there, ok?

This is Tracey. She's in charge of all the inside stuff and I felt like an honored guest. She showed me how to work the head (the toilet) and the showers. And the most important thing: turning on the coffee pot in the morning. This is very important. Whomever gets up first in the morning MUST push the coffee button. I think an electrical field in the marina may cause it to be be sucked into a vortex if the coffee button doesn't get pushed, so we MUST. PUSH. THE BUTTON. It's sorta like when we met Desmond on Lost. Sorry, guys. I'm teasing, but I'm hoping you're laughing.

Ok, On To Other Things ~ Tracey wanted to carry my camera bag when she walked me back to my car this morning. I've had this old Nikon bag for about 15 years and am in the market for another. Gosh, has it been 15 years? Not that I can afford it right away, but I like to know what's out there so I can properly lust after it. I was looking at Jessica Claire's Shootsacs, but they're really not for me. I mean, if I was a real photographer going on 'shoots' all the time, it would be excellent for the constant changing of lenses. But I need something that actually fits my camera as well. Maybe a Crumpler, but they're too expensive. Ok, I'm digressing again, I know it.

Well, my friends have both worked really hard to get here, both of them. And I think it's wonderful that they had me out to share an evening with them on their beautiful boat. Oh, and here's what Tracey has planned for today: She's practicing swimming in the river for a triathlon she's entered in later this summer. She's got a wetsuit and everything! It's making me want to take a nap. The energy she has . . . it's just amazing. She's a trainer and owns her own gym, too. Ok. I'm definitely taking a nap now. Before I go, here is a cute little dog that was checking us out while we were walking to my car this morning. He was having a little nap on his owner's boat deck and we must have woken him. Tracey, you should tell Brian that you need a little dog like this for your boat! Ha! I think he makes a nice accoutrement, don't you?

Well, hope you enjoyed the view from the Chesapeake Bay here in Maryland this morning!

Good morning, beautiful world

I know, I know. It's yet another picture of one of my favorite spots on the farm. But I just had to share it with you. I came downstairs yesterday morning as my husband was putting on his work boots, and George was anxiously awaiting the command to get in the truck. I went to pour my coffee and then followed them to the front door to say goodbye. George knows he's the luckiest dog in the world because he gets to go to work with his master. As I was waving goodbye to them, I happened to glance to the right and saw this beautiful mist on the pond with the sun just starting to rise. Of course, I had to go and grab the camera. The mist was only on the pond and it gave it an ethereal look. I didn't do anything to these pictures because I felt I didn't need to. Didn't even sharpen them in the least.

I love it here.

After school today, I went to our last home baseball game of the season for our varsity team. My good friend, Kathy, of the raspberry tea recipe, met me there. Her son, who's a senior, was pitching in the last home game of his high school career. This was a momentous occasion, so I brought the camera and took some pictures. Tracey was there, too. Perhaps you've seen her comments on this blog before. Her son is a junior and also plays on the team. It was good to be with them; they love to laugh and are a joy to be around. Kathy and Tracey have been long-time parents at the school and in the 10 years I've been employed there, I've watched their children grow and enjoyed their friendship. Our kids played sports together, and we each have a child that graduated in 2005 who still remain friends. It will be strange not to see them around the school on a regular basis anymore.

Smooth sailing

Didja ever have one of those days where everything just seems to sail smoothly? I went to the dentist today, expecting it to cost something outrageous and it was far less than I imagined. My laptop is back after an overnight stay at the local computer experts. It had a hinge problem, but all is well now. I had a bad scratch on my car door and a co-worker fixed it for me. And I got to spend time in the sunshine with my dog when I should have been at work. My copasetic day all started this morning with a phone call from a friend I haven't seen in awhile. This friend told me that she had been reading my blog every day and that she hadn't commented yet because she didn't want to seem like a dork. It's ok, really. I read blogs all the time and don't comment. Mostly it's because I just don't know what to say at the time. Now this person who called me today is probably one of the coolest people I know, and I can't imagine her as a dork, but don't tell her this because I don't want it going to her head, ok? When this friend called me, I thought she needed something, like to give her son (he attends our school) a message or something to that effect. But when she said that all she wanted was to tell me how much she enjoyed reading this blog and looking at my photographs and that was her only purpose for calling, I was really surprised. She said she wished she could take pictures like I do. And hearing this was a really good feeling. It totally took me by surprise and was a great way to start the day. We caught up a little on our kids, and after talking, I decided that I think she really enjoys photography but maybe is a little bit afraid to not 'be good at it'. And here's what I think. I think that if you really enjoy taking pictures, then you should just do it. If you don't have a nice enough camera to do what you want, you should save for it or do what it takes to acquire one. If photography is something you enjoy, then get a decent camera. Even some of the little point and shoots are very nice. Before I got my current DSLR camera last November, I was using a little digital Sony Cybershot. And even without Photoshop, a lot of the pictures came out really nice. A couple of them are even on the left side of this page. Prior to that little camera, I had a Nikon N60 SLR. I spent a small fortune on film and developing. I never use it anymore. Look at the photos I took of "I Take a Walk on the Wild Side" which is a couple of posts down from here. I want you to know that I took 68 pictures on that walk alone. And I posted the ones that I thought were the best. There might have been what, six? There's a few other good ones, but they weren't good enough to post. Not all of the pictures I take are the best, let me tell you. If you take 50 pictures and one of them is really good, you are having a good day. If you take 50 pictures and six of them of good, you have died and gone to heaven. At least, that's my theory. I publish this blog mainly because I want to share my photography. I'm not saying it's great, but I have always enjoyed taking pictures. Sometimes I really don't have anything to say on a particular day. But I do have some little stories that I enjoy sharing as well. I feel that a good camera, the desire to take pictures, and most of all a good eye, are the keys to a good photo. Well, that and continuous shutter speed! I keep it on the camera all the time. I don't always use it, but it's easier to leave on. For me, CSS has a two-fold purpose. One: I can capture 10 photos and get one really good one. So I'm already ahead of my 50:6 theory. And Two: The continuous shutter clicking makes me feel like a real photographer. Ha! No really, it does. Try it if you have that mode. Even my little Cybershot had that mode. I'm telling you, it really feels cool! Well, I've probably said too much already and digressed as far as one can do so. The main point of the post is to say sometimes your day will go smoothly. And today was one of those days. And thank you, Tracey, for your phone call this morning. And thank you, Rich, for fixing the side of my car. And thank you to my boss who had me arrange for coverage for the rest of the day because my dentist is so far away. And I got to spend well over an hour in my backyard in the sunshine this afternoon playing with my dog, when I should have been at work. And I only feel a little bit wicked. Wishing smooth-sailing today for all of you, as well. Oh, the pictures on this post were taken with my macro lens. I think it may be a maple tree in bud. I could get out the tree book but I'm not going to go to that trouble.