tree decorating

I don't like things that can be reproduced. Wood isn't important in itself but rather in the fact that objects made in it are unique, simple, unpretentious.
Georg Baselitz


steps in the mountain-top cabin we rented a few weeks ago...


breathtaking in their simplistic beauty


i can't tell if it's the swedish influence in decorating these days...


or my age...


or the harried pace of my life...


but i'm really loving 


simple. organic. clean. calm.


b e a u t y

fresh

my good buddy, Patty (we met over our bloggy back fences) and I are teaming up with a weekly photography project called "team up thursday".  


each week we get/choose a theme and separately take pictures reflecting that theme.  can you guess this week's theme? 


{i love Patty's hanging bananas in front of the colorful signs!} 


i snapped my picture after i made a fruit salad for the kids


{apparently i don't make fruit salad enough}


they ate it up with gusto!


mrs. dunbar taught me to add a little honey, cinnamon and walnuts to fresh fruit


so that's what i did to this little bowl of goodness


and then i snapped some pictures


and then i stood at my kitchen counter and ate my subject matter


F R U I T!

happy house

almost everything in my house makes my heart happy


{i love the people most}


i know i'm not supposed to love things...


but i'm wired so that when my eyes fall on something i think beautiful, i just want to whistle a happy tune!



how could i frown when i gaze upon little (mr.) bo peep here?


and have i told you how i love to blast "happy music" through my house?


it's a beautiful life...la, la, la, la...it's a beautiful time to be here!



when i saw this cute equestrian and his friend at the Country Living Fair, well...i just knew they needed to come home with me...


cuz even turning on lights can bring a smile!


happy colors...textures...shiny...matte...wood....glass...ironstone...


makes me wanna sing...


it's a beautiful world!

knick-knack paddy wack

this is cozmo


he lives next door


i adopted him last week while his daddy was busy running his 31st boston marathon


{i kept myself busy eating girl scout cookies}



this is our dog quincy


{our first "baby" hugo had more brains in his front paws than quincy, but i digress}


quincy really wanted to play


so after i snapped these pictures


i flew open the backyard gate


and watched the puppy and the old man play together


and laughed myself silly.


cozmo & quincy....


proof that it really does make sense to pair up the elderly with the young 

untitled

sometimes God gives us the capacity to add beauty to our lives


{lilac bush we planted in our yard 5 years ago}



and sometimes God just gives

shave & a haircut

tommy visiting our favorite barber

who happens to have a barbershop in the anchorage, ak airport

pictures of "good alaska hunts" grace his tiny space

mostly BIG bears

and stuffed fish on the walls

(do you stuff a fish to hang it on a barbershop wall?)

a little boy's dream barbershop

in a wild state created especially for little (and big!) boys

fresh air II

i closed my eyes...


held my breath...


and J U M P E D!


{and that has made all the difference}



*this will be our 6th summer visiting the land of the midnight sun 


i'm playing with pictures and sizing...grateful for Patty, and Irene, too.  oh how i love my blog friends!

fresh air

Security is mostly superstition. It does not exist
in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it.
Avoiding danger in the long run is no safer than outright exposure.
Life is either a daring adventure or it is nothing.
Helen Keller 

*me cutting salmon to dry, AK 2005

our home away from home

thank you, God, for nudging me

out of my comfortable little nest

and helping me

 fly!

working my brain

i like big photos on my blog.

the way i have always done it is not working.

new ways are not working.

{"code" is a bad, bad word.}

until i figure out a new way...

{in between doing life}

i'll be gone from this little corner of my world

but i'll still be visiting you

flower power

gently transported...



c.a.r.e.f.u.l.l.y carried...



accepted!


*join me over at Patty's new home for the way i see it

off the beaten path

on our way back from Easter with my in-laws

{have i ever told you how much i love them?}

my husband pulled off the windy road and said "let me show you an old company town"

this old church was built in 1852

{lucky for us, a friendly woman needed to practice her Easter solo so the church was open}

"the company built the town and everyone who worked for the company lived here...the company paid them in "script" -- kind of monopoly money that could only be used at the company store," explained my husband

the church was built as an "advertisement" for the reddish-tan bricks the workers pulled out of the furnaces everyday

{this door had to be 12 feet tall!}

everything in the church is original...the members run a soup "restaurant" during the winter months to pay for upkeep

the town is somewhat depressed now

the brick factory is long gone

the canal is dried up....

i told my husband i'd love to buy an original home there someday

{there are a few for sale}

fix it up

and serve the beautiful community

{i wonder what God thinks about that idea}

*

flying

calvary

set

me 

free

{happy easter}

theme: blossom

There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud
was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.  
Anais Nin



When bright flowers bloom
Parchment crumbles, my words fade
The pen has dropped.
Morpheus




The pedigree of honey does not concern the bee; 
A clover, any time, to him 
Is aristocracy.  Emily Dickinson




In the dooryard fronting an old farm-house 
near the white-wash'd palings, 
stands the lilac-bush tall-growing with heart-shaped leaves 
of rich green...  
Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass, 1865



Forsythia is pure joy.   
There is not an ounce, not a glimmer of sadness or  even knowledge in forsythia.  
Pure, undiluted, untouched joy.
Anne Morrow Lindbergh


*Join us at Patty's Friday where the photography theme is BLOSSOM!