A Day at the Fair

Little sister found a few fun rides ... roller coaster, teacups, and the very cool "Magic Carpet" slide.

Big brother tried his hand at some games. 

We finished the evening with a concert. I tried to see if my press pass could at least get me side stage (and I really would have uploaded photos to the paper) and told them I wasn't on assignment, but happened to be there and could take some photos for the paper ... but ... they already had a media event that afternoon. Amazingly there were people packed in THICK around the back!

My assignment on Friday night had me on the home field ... so I tried to grab photos of my neighbor's daughter and my cousin's son. I hate to admit, but I have no idea if I ever found my neighbor's daughter! I don't know her well enough to recognize her by her cheeks and chin! I might not even recognize her if I saw her somewhere other than in her yard! But I think I got my cousin's son ... once. It's almost like you see a face and it disappears! 

Recent artwork by my little one. In her words, "I made this in school. She gave me a star because I finished all of it. I wrote my name in cursive, but my mom erased it." I asked if it was the new dog we are STILL taking care of, and she said, "No. That dog is Countess." For those of you who don't know Countess, she is the infamous Houndini of Georgia who would escape in the most creative of ways, release her friends, and have doggie social parties all down the street before letting herself back in. The only trouble was that the neighbor's dogs wouldn't! I often times wished I lived on a farm where she could run and not be confined to a fence.  

My yard this morning ...

I've been a little under the weather for a few days ... so my first "revive me" activity was to take a moment this morning and take a few photos in my backyard.

Ingrid's Yard

Oct 5, 2006 - 22 Photos

The big family activity as of late? Taking care of an injured dog. I've been calling all sorts of animal aid groups and adoption organizations. Can you believe that NO ONE returned my calls? Those I was able to speak with couldn't help because there was either no veterinarian available or they were full to capacity. Did you know that most animal shelters have a 3-day limit for a dog to be claimed or adopted? WOW. I just can't do that - especially if the dog's family is on vacation or something! 

Birthday Time with the Family!

Social event of the week? A birthday party! Nothing beats that! It was fun to be with relatives ... especially to see my Aunt (visiting her daughter) who I haven't seen for years! The best part of the night, however, was watching the birthday girl lick leftover frosting from the cake tray. That girl has my heart!

Even my teenage son got into providing some after-party entertainment (notice the screen above).

The birthday girl's dad said, "NO PICTURES!" Do you think I could resist?

Good Cry of the Day

I am going through e-mail while getting kids ready for church and decide to check the addition to a blog to which I recently subscribed. WOW ... it shared something that is more inspiring than a lot of things I've heard: http://cjcphoto.com/can/

And while I'm here ... the blog is from a photographer I noticed from ShutterMom.com (a site which came up while I was searching for photo contests) whose work is WONDERFUL in my opinion. Her site drew me in first ... if you're the photo-inspired kind, you'll enjoy it! Dejah Quinn Photography

Little Visitor

An update to the saga ... the visitor is BACK! Last night, my son heard a knock at the door and answered it. He looked out and could see no one in the dark, opened the door to step out and WHOOSH! In comes Miss Doggie Dogg!

So far, everyone thinks she belongs to the same family ... so my son checked last night and they are still not home. So, we got some food, made some posters, and have a new little friend until we find her family!

We had a little visitor today ... this mama dog from somewhere in the neighborhood (we think) showed up while the neighbors were here with their dogs. She was limping and thirsty and also let herself in when the door was open. She stayed with us a while ... sniffed everything, gave plenty of kisses, slept at my feet, and just made herself at home until we could find someone who thinks they know where she belongs! Of course, we already miss her. Wah! 

The sunset last night was beautiful. While I was on the phone, I stepped out into the back yard. The clouds were becoming like cotton candy and I went to get my camera. At one point, I looked over my shoulder and saw these amazing clouds near the sun. They were like fire! 

Last night was baptism night at our new church. They do things a little different here ... and I am enjoying it! The pastor is very REAL (which I love) and has a way of approaching things that I really enjoy. I liked how the baptism service was held. There was no microphone in "the tank" and it wasn't a lot of pressure for those being baptized because the music kept going the whole time while people sang and cheered for each one. Like many things I'm finding here, it's relaxed. That's a VERY wonderful thing for all of us.

Look who got baptized (by her children's pastor at church)! She was the first one of the night and said she was nervous because no one else went ahead of her. But she did a GREAT job and was very composed. Tears came to my eyes, of course. Baptisms in general are one of my favorite things ... but when it's my little one? WOW. It's VERY special.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again ... Oklahoma has AMAZING skies! Now if I could just move that Wal-Mart! 

Things in my yard ... it's amazing how much is out there!  

I don't LIKE these types of things, but I am rather addicted to my camera and cannot seem to resist trying to get pictures!  

New Web Albums ...

I'm trying something new (because it's fairly easy) ... Since I always have so many more photos than I can ever post on my blog without wearing out my loved ones, I may put a web album online from time to time. I've become accustomed to using Picasa because it's free (WOOHOO!) and easy to post to my blog. Now they offer web albums, so it's easy for me to make albums!

Here's my first attempt! I thought I'd put a collection of favorites from Morton Arboretum (location of a photo shoot last May) online. It's just a bunch of flowers!

Arboretum

May 25, 2006 - 53 Photos

During a side trip to a little farm museum, I took a bunch of pictures of some very tiny chicken-type animals. They were quite cute! But I realized I didn't clear my card from the day before, so I "protected" the new ones and deleted ... but it took ALL the photos! I was so sad. I am trying to convince myself that this shot makes up for the ones I lost. I kept trying to catch this bee and my camera couldn't make up its mind to focus on these spindly blooms ... FINALLY, it snapped as the bee was leaving. 

During one trek through the forest, K saw this ... weird! By the way, I found out that mushrooms come in MANY colors. I saw purple, red, and yellow in this forest (along with the "usual" white and tan colors). They were VIBRANT and I was quite surprised!

The latest adventure brought us to the Smoky Mountains ... or as I have learned this weekend, the "GREAT SMOKIES" as locals call them. 

This is a more frightening moment of the recent TN/NC adventure ... Blue Ridge Parkway at night. It wasn't so bad when it was just dark, but when the fog factor was added? WOW. We were in the mountains after dark for some time and were SO THANKFUL when we were able to get off that thing!

This is one of the coolest things I've ever seen! It's called "Sliding Rock" and that's exactly what it is. You can pay $1 (free if you're 6 or under) and then slide down this rock in the river! It's like a natural water park in the Pisgah National Forest.

We had another special guest tonight (this makes 3 events at our house within 4 days)! Kevin's mom came for supper and brought a very sweet gift ... these are "O'Henry" peaches!

I may start a flag photo collection one day (this one from the football field). Sometimes it's too easy to overlook these symbols of freedom, bravery and spirit. 

A friend from Chicago was in town, so we had to treat her to a HUGE Oklahoma obsession ... FOOTBALL! Notice the Palm? She is SO connected. She puts me to shame!