Thursday, May 31, 2012

The Sisters

So tired this evening - need to go to bed.  I wanted to share this photo from today, though.  It's of the gravestone of two sisters in the burial ground near one of my museums.  I took a school group there today and was struck by the carvings.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

1 Week 'Til Veggies!

Another long day today (left the house @ 9:15am, got home @ 8:45pm), but happy to be home now & in bed.    On my way out of one of my museum towns after presenting an award at the high school's senior awards ceremony, I pulled off for this shot of the greenhouse at one of the local farms.  This is the farm from whence our CSA comes and it starts next Wednesday!  Super excited for fresh, local fruits & veggies again.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Riding Through History

Heck yeah, national historical park bike ride on a weeknight!  We took the bikes out again tonight and did almost 6 miles - about half of which were in the local national historical park.  Good times on a Tuesday night.

Monday, May 28, 2012

A Crowd of Cuteness

My view from bed this morning (we slept in a bit).  Two cute puppies inside on the porch; two cute kiddies running around the yard.  I especially love the eye contact between Thing 2 and Sadie.

On Lake Time

Aww, yeah.  We're on lake time around here today, my father's birthday.  It doesn't move very fast, but no one minds.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Days of Rest


Ahh, Memorial Day weekend, at last.  Two photos to help illustrate today - a margarita on the deck and bedtime on the screen porch.  I waited all winter for this.

A Winning Night . . .

. . . even though the Sox lost.  We went to the game last night with a couple of my college friends and had a great time!  We sat in the Coca-Cola Pavilion, which was a first for us.  I've sat in the third base loge section, the bleachers, the right field roof box, the right field roof deck, and the homebase field box (that was amazing), but never the Coca-Cola pavilion.  Next up, Monster seats?

Thursday, May 24, 2012

I Want to Ride My Bicycle, Part Two

A rare photo of me!  Most of my photos are of scenery, the husband, or the pup, but I liked this shot Justin got of me before our bike ride this evening.  That's my mom's vintage Phillips bike and it's probably around 45 years old.  A little hard on the bum, but we enjoyed a nice 4¾ mile ride over to the national park, around some of the trails there, and then home.  A nice way to spend a weeknight!

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

The Perils are Too Perilous

So I went for a run when I got home from work.  Then after a short walk with the dog to cool down, I plopped down in the hammock for some R&R.  I took this shot and posted it to Instagram/Facebook with the caption, "Nothing like a swing in the hammock after an evening run."  And it was true . . . up to a point.

About ten minutes later, a black ant leaped/fell down from the pine tree the hammock is tied to and down the back of my shirt.  I was mid-sip from my water bottle at the time.  I jumped up and spilled a large amount of water down the front of my shirt and all over the hammock.  Sigh.  After drying myself off, I lay down again for take two.

About twenty minutes after that, Justin called on his way home from class.  While we were talking, a piece of a pine branch (nothing sharp, just green needles) fell out of the tree and onto my head.  I shook it off and kept talking.  Then, I felt something on my right knee and brushed what I thought was a bug away.  Turns out it was a little bit of bird poo, almost like a little bird had pooed far above me and it made its gentle way down to my knee.  Double sigh.

So, after I hung up with Justin, I pulled the sides of the hammock up over me to protect me and escaped the perils of nature with a short nap.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

May, Busy May

You know it's been a long day when you're into the wine, and bed, at 7pm.  Over the month of May, I'm teaching/hosting something like 380 students at my museums.  Yikes!  Memorial Day weekend, I'm gonna earn you this year, too.

Monday, May 21, 2012

My Boys

No, not the defunct TBS sitcom that I liked and Justin thought was crap-o-la.  My nephew boys, being silly and rolling around on the floor this evening.  Love those smooshicles.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Boys Mow Lawns

And girls do dishes.  Acting out traditional gender roles at our house this evening (trust me, this happens rarely).

Saturday, May 19, 2012

The Shrubbery!

One of our baby blueberry shrubs, all dug into his new home.  You might notice how close he is to the road, which is part of the reason why we need him there - to provide a little privacy while we're hanging in the shade garden.  He has two buddies, one on either side, spaced about 4' apart.  I can't wait until they all grow up and out and provide us with fresh, lovely blueberries every season!

Friday, May 18, 2012

Friends, Drinks & Sun

Add an awesome view and you're got a recipe for a nice time.  Our view from the table at dinner tonight, shared with Mr. Segundus and his fiancee in Portsmouth.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Toad of Toad Hall

Check out this little guy, hopping around our shade garden tonight.  I saw him when I went out to see how the recent rain has treated the new plants that we dug in on Sunday.  They're doing well!  I'll post a picture of them soon.

On our way back to the house, we startled this little toad, but (after running back to the house for the camera) I managed to get a picture of him in a little grass clearing.  He made me think of Toad in The Wind in the Willows.  And that made me think of Downton Abbey, when the Dowager Countess finds out Edith has learned to drive the family car and declares, "Edith, you're a lady, not Toad of Toad Hall!"

UPDATE:  We've since seen this little guy a few more times and christened him "Edith."

Pulitzer in a Photo

Oh hey there, John Updike.  I like this shot of you just chilling in faux Puritan costume.

You find the awesomest things in museums, I tell ya . . .

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Rainy Evening on the Porch

Sadie does not like the rain and was definitely having a hard time understanding why we wanted to have appetizers and later, dinner out on the porch.  But, she loves us and needs attention ALL the time, so she was game to try it.  She looked uncomfortable basically the whole time, though.

Monday, May 14, 2012

So Glad to Be Home

Loving this shot of our yellow Mother's Day tulips on the dining room table.  I snapped it soon after I walked in and headed right up to bed.  I pulled out of the driveway this morning just after 7am and pulled back in around 9:30pm.  Loooong day.  So happy to be home in bed with the hubby & laptop, and a puppy in her bed nearby.

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Too Tired for a Title

Bit of a busy day for us today - started with Justin up early to tutor a student, then we were off to Portsmouth to take care of a couple of work things for me.  Back to our town to pick up some groceries & gifts for Mother's Day, then home.  

A bit of a snack, then I was off to walk the pup while Justin mowed the lawn.  When he was done, we shoveled all the old dirt out of our yard planters and found a snake underneath one, which was pretty exciting.  Then, we de-sodded a 4' x 8' space for our new raised bed and dug four holes for the posts.  We laid down weed blocking fabric, then plopped the bed into place.

And now we're enjoying a break - a cosmo, a dark and stormy, and some Black Adder.

Friday, May 11, 2012

Too Cute

I definitely had other more interesting/fun/intriguing images from today, but this one just takes the cake for cuteness.  This is Sadie, squished in between her mama and daddy in the morning.  Too damn cute.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

You Can't Make This Stuff Up

Stopped by a local school today to drop something off for the museum and on the way out, caught sight of this.  Awesome.  And on a brick wall, no less.  See post title.

Wednesday, May 09, 2012

Back in the Saddle

First run tonight in nearly five years.  It was a family run, too - Justin & the pup joined me.  I'm a lucky lady to have two cute running partners.

Tuesday, May 08, 2012

Ch-ch-changes . . .

Nothing major, but my last blog redesign was almost two years ago and I thought things needed some freshening up.  So I've tweaked a few things - picked text boxes with rounder edges, changed the overall font from Trebuchet to Calibri, changed the title font to Homemade Apple, and removed the wedding photo in the header.  I'm going to select a new image to go behind the title up there, but haven't picked the right one yet.  What do you think of the updates?

Also - I'm in love with today's photo, shot quickly as I was leaving the side door of the museum to go get lunch.  There are a ton of lily-of-the-valley plants in a garden bed by the door and I leaned down to get a quick snapshot.  I love how the camera caught the water droplets on the leaves.  I applied a "lo-fi" filter on Instagram and this hotness is the result!  Just five more months to go in the project . . . I'm going to miss taking a daily photo, I think.  Maybe I'll try it again another year, too.

Monday, May 07, 2012

House Guests

It's a sleepover!  My parents and nephews are spending the night at our house tonight.  This is my dad reading to the boys at bedtime.  Super cute.

Sunday, May 06, 2012

The Funnest

So I'm almost seven months into my 365 project and while it was going just fine, this new phone and its camera have given the project a whole new life. The phone camera has effects that I can apply before I take a shot and/or after. Then, if I want, I can upload the image to Instagram and apply additional filters there.

I'm having an unnatural amount of fun with it all - have posted 11 photos on Instagram since Friday (username is "roguestella" if you want to follow me). The only problem I have now is picking which image to use each day!

Saturday, May 05, 2012

May Scene

My parents are having a Cinco de Mayo party tonight (I know - they're cooler than most parents).  So Sadie & I are up at the lake, while poor Justin is at drill.  We miss him, but it sure is nice to be here.  Here's one of my Instagram'd shots of the view.

Friday, May 04, 2012

Thursday, May 03, 2012

The Unabashed Hipster

Oh lordy. She's got a smart phone with a blogging app and a camera with hip filters*. There goes the neighborhood.

*Oh, and a new hat.

Wednesday, May 02, 2012

A Glorious Crescendo

Since my new phone is scheduled to arrive by 7pm tomorrow, I wanted to post this lovely shot as a final farewell shot by my old phone.  I took this at lunchtime, looking up into the nearly 200-year old copper beech at one of my museums, leafed out in new spring glory.  

I think the old phone did an amazing job of capturing the light pouring down from the clearing sky, while still getting the exact details of the foreground leaves.  Well done, old phone!  You've served me well.

Tuesday, May 01, 2012

Gray Day

This was my view from bed this morning - faint, gray light on a rainy morning.  No wonder I didn't bound right up.  However, as a new gardener, I know how much this rain means for the plants, so I'll have to suck it up.  We set our potted tomato plant and blueberry shrubs out this morning as I left, so hopefully they're enjoying this weather!