Oslofjorden

Goodbyes ... beautiful and difficult. Beautiful because of the treasured moments they mark and reflect. Difficult because a step away from something beautiful is always painful. Thankfully, there are always new horizons on the path ahead. And to keep moving is to keep finding adventures and creating wonderful memories.

Stats ... Interesting and FRUSTRATING!

I love stats ... and when a bunch do similar things at the same time, my ears perk up! Seems like there is a localized interest that is combing the archives. All the "regular" visitors are doing "regular" things but there is a handful of people from 4 neighboring communities that have spiked the stats nearly 38400% (yes, I checked) just on the main page alone (not to mention the archives). Makes you take note, doesn't it? It's been going on for a little while and I haven't had much time to follow through. Let's just say that I've been curious, then interested, then suspicious, and now FRUSTRATED!

I thought about posting some fascinating charts and graphs, but rethought it as I didn't want to leave any identifying information available to the public. Besides, I'm a geek and and love visual elements charts offer to illustrate statistics, but to others it is probably overkill. So ... I'll keep it simple. To the "spikers" in the midst, please note yesterday's post and consider this an invitation to dialogue. Satisfy your curiousity and post a comment! I'll answer. You can even send an email via Yahoo to IndigoBleue if a public blog forum is too public.

In the meantime, I'll just keep watching. I'm suspicious of silence - especially when there is much going on underneath the surface.

Not-So-Friendly Reminder ...

This is a friends and family blog ... I use these pages to share moments with people who know me and my family. Of course, I welcome new friends. But for those with intentions not as friendly, this note is an encouragement to talk TO people and not ABOUT them.

My son and I ...

We actually had a day to ourselves yesterday! That was a new thing. It's almost always ALL of us, but little sister is spending some time with grandparents. So instead of hurrying home from church and working, we had lunch together and it was so nice just to talk and hear about his friends and the things he likes and dislikes. I will have to make it a point to do that more often!

Little Songwriter

I still have the big piece of construction paper with the first song I wrote ... Jesus Is Our Very Best Customer. What a song! I believe I was in kindergarten. Well, my little one has been writing songs ... usually writing the lyrics to songs she already knows, but tonight she showed me an original! This is fresh off the first grade press:

wans I saw a cowboy on the rode
all I did was go up to him
and askt him do you want to go out
we rode the same hores (HORSE!) together
then I askt him will you mariy me
and he said Yes.

These Beautiful People

I think I need to start making a practice of buying music from the musicians I meet in my travels. I have never been so relaxed in an airport! And the nice thing is she hails from my home state of Minnesota. When I have her information at hand, I'll post her web site and an excerpt of her music.

Yeah ... I'm driving.

I'll admit ... it's a weakness of mine. When I have a camera within reach? It doesn't matter if I'm driving, I'll reach over and start shooting hoping I'll catch a portion of the view that is impacting me at the moment. And this little moment? My first visit to Houston!

Mountain Rainfall

It's so amazing when you can see things like this from the clouds!

Purple Mountains Majesty

I always thought that line was poetic, but not all that real ... purple mountains majesty. As a child it stuck in my mind and gave me more of a dreamy, eloquent imagination. But I was going through my photos tonight. Purple mountains! This one was from a trip to Anaheim last year. Those colors really are there! Sometimes I'm amazed to see what colors are present in the light. They're not always evident at first, but those subtle shades can spring out and surprise me sometimes. Sometimes monochromatic, sometimes like a rainbow. Light is somewhat magical. It's one of those things that makes my mind go "TILT" when I stop to think about it ... all those colors just waiting in something supposedly without color? WOW.

Sportswriter Night

Basketball playoffs! The Tulsa World has Kevin covering stories all over the place this week. We joined in for a night and my little one had her own version of stats going. It was VERY cute and she absolutely LOVED it!

Party Weekend!

Three of her classmates had birthday parties this weekend ... all boys! I feel the social calendar growing with each month that passes. She'll need her own car before she's out of elementary school!

Thinking Day 2007

They danced the night away! These little girls had the best time at the Girl Scout Thinking Day event last night. My little fashionista girl said if she had known there was going to be a DJ, she would have worn different clothes. Instead of dressing up (in a skirt and tights), she would have worn cool jeans and a really cool shirt! COOL! I didn't think about "cool" at her age.

She Would Have Loved The 80's

We got the giggles over this one ... and when I told her that's how some people liked their hair to look in the 80's when I was a teenager, she giggled some more and said, "COOL!"

Talents Abound

You never know what new talent will surface next with my kids!

Joy

(Click on the photo above if it isn't animated - you'll get a little dance!)

The weather is beautiful, and the other day I laughed and laughed as the kids played in the yard. It felt so good to drink in the moments. I finally went to get my camera and caught some funny photos of the two of them. Unfortunately, I'm in computer maintenance mode and am making room on my drive so I can defrag before I upload any more photos! Do I ever need disk storage!!! So before I send a bunch of pictures to the external drive for storage, I thought I'd see if I could put my little one in action. Between the beautiful weather, goofy kids, and FINALLY a day to breathe and get some of my work at home done ... there is an exuberance underlying the day in a quiet expectation of good, which today I call JOY!

"I AM ASLEEP!"

I don't think she was thinking when she answered me ... My irritation has been rising, listening to my little one continue to make noise upstairs. It's 10:07 and bedtime was 8:30. Chores weren't done, so she didn't get in bed until 8:50 and after she read her book, wrote a few words, and I tucked her in, it was 9:00 ... over an HOUR AGO! It's a school night and I have been consistently sleep deprived, and my earlier warning obviously didn't have much of an effect. I've been calm and quiet, but now I'm getting crabby wondering if she's got dolls in bed with her.

She's not being noisy, mind you. But her bedroom is right above my office. I'm working on a few things but in the back of my mind is the thought that she's losing sleep when I hear the bed creaking and other soft sounds going on.

I call up the stairs in a somewhat irritated voice, "This is your last warning! If I keep hearing noise and have to come up there, you won't be happy about it!" There's a little fluttering but no response. "M? Are you sleeping?" The small but emphatically determined voice responds, "I AM ASLEEP!" I pause for a moment (stifiling a laugh) ... then respond, "I don't think so!"

Precious Moments

I've always been one to enjoy sitting in the background taking photos of life as it happens. Yesterday morning, it was my "job" (I say job because I really did enjoy it). Of course, when I'm not just doing it for myself, I always get so nervous that it won't turn out well or that the client won't like the photos or that I'll wish I could redo everything once I'm done! I don't know why I'm like that, but I am. This was one of the rare times I've accepted someone's invitation to take personal photos, and the first time the person wanted candids (not posed formals). She's part of the editorial group I've grown to enjoy so much, and because of that I said yes. And tonight as I go through photos and can't resist printing some to see how they look nice and big ... I'm so glad I spent the morning with them. The photos are precious!

Brownies at the zoo!

Our troop number was drawn and the girls got to enjoy a special day at the zoo. They were given a guided tour, learned about animals in all different regions, had a fun activity (made a bird feeder), and earned a badge! Isn't that cool? If you're brave enough to look through all the photos, click on the link below for the web album:

Brownies at the Zoo

The New Fad

Whipped cream on cookies! MMMMmmmm!

It's Snowing ... AGAIN!

My cousin sent a couple of her snowflake photos over this morning. Can you believe this picture? She ROCKS!!! I asked if I could use one on my blog, and I haven't heard from her, but I'm impatient so I'm blogging before I get bogged down. I'm so excited about her photos. Isn't this one GREAT? I have no idea how she did it ... but when I find out, I'm going to try it!!! I'm hoping she has a website I can post here as well. She's actually in the photography business, so locals might enjoy checking her out!

UPDATE: Here's my cousin's contact information! Her name is Amber Kaseman and you'll find her website at www.kasemanphoto.com or you can send her an email at kasemanphoto@cox.net