Celebrations

For me, taking a close-up photo of a snowflake is a way of giving praise and thanks to the Creator for His marvelous snowflake handiwork.

A billion snowflakes fell today, without notice or praise. 
 This one...just happened to land sideways on the leaf of a potted primrose.

The sideways standing snowflake from a bit further away.
How I happened to notice it, I don't recall.  It was out on our deck, where I had placed the plant to catch some sunlight yesterday. 
I had forgot to bring it back inside before the snow began to fall.
Carelessness on my part served me well in this case.
In fact, a photographic celebration was in order!

A different kind of celebration happened on Sunday afternoon.
A marvelous creation is being made in a secret place...a child is being made and a place has been prepared for his care.

Thirty two years ago next week, another child was born. 
His birth announcement plaque now hangs above a rocking chair on the wall of his soon to be born son's nursery.

(Said now adult son added one item to the nursery decoration.  He felt the room needed a "guy" element.  Hardly anything is more "guy" than James Dean in cowboy attire).

For the celebrational event of a baby shower:
A banana pudding cheesecake.
Southern Living magazine always makes me race to the kitchen to try out another of their amazing recipes. 
This recipe...oh I wouldn't DARE make it for just the two of us.
It would be perfect to make to take to a party however.
I meant to slice and set aside a slice for Bernie to take home from the party...but the guests had devoured the whole thing before I remembered my plan!
Yes those are vanilla wafers around the edge and chopped up on top.  Bananas are mixed into the cheesecake batter and the crust is made from vanilla wafers, pecans and butter.

Banana pudding needs whipping cream too, right?
And a few more banana slices and vanilla wafers for garnish too.

The shower was held at our son's house...a crowd of over twenty meant their house worked best for the event hosted by friends who clearly know how to set a spread of goodies.
Mother-to-be Rachel looks relaxed and happy doesn't she?

Secretly I hope Luke arrives in March, like his father and grandmother have, so he will have daffodils as his birthflower.

Seeing daffodils in bloom have always meant birthday celebrations were afoot to our family!

Gifts, gifts and more gifts!

It was so sweet to see all the baby things being examined by the mother-to-be.

We all agreed that the soft textiles of babydom would be super nice if they could be found in grown up people sized blankets and such.

A special gift:  A professional pregnancy photo, taken at the start of the eighth month of prenancy.

A second photo session is scheduled for after Luke arrives.  The same pose will be taken again with the same top, only this time Rachel will be holding Luke in front of her tummy, instead of inside.

I think the photographer photographed her most gracefully. 

 

There was a consensus that everyone at the party wanted a whale bath faucet cover too.

Good to know for when one is stumped for a gift idea...

The doggie was a crib pal that lived in the crib at my parent's house.   The crib was taken down, under protest from Jeff, when he was four years old.  He DID remember the yellow pup!

A single shower game:  Rachel was invited to match up baby pictures of her guests.
There were a couple of "ringers" who were not actually present...and more than half of the guests were not able to bring a photo at all, which made guessing actually more difficult.

Go ahead and guess which of the photos is of me, which is of my mom, and which is a photo of Jeff and which is Rachel...

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#3 is me

#4 is Jeff

#5 is Rachel

#11 is my mom.

Don't you love the Dad in picture #9?
Very Magnum, PI don't you think???

Waiting to make new memories

Our 1st grandson is due in a few weeks...or should I say our third grandson?

Seems that a couple of decades ago our son "adopted" a couple of baby boys.

Cecil Kent...

And Leland Sam.

They shared Jeff's childhood bed and joined him on his romps and "fatherhood" was a lot more like "big brotherhood" back then.

When the days of childish play had ended, I gathered up Cecil and Leland and tucked them safely away. 

They silently waited with other gentle memory pieces; tiny socks and booties and jammies that our son outgrew during those few short weeks of his life as a tiny newborn.

He didn't stay "tiny" for long...

A baby shower so often is a time to give baby gifts to the mother-to-be. 

This shower was to have a gift for the father-to-be as well.

Before such a party began yesterday, I called our son to open the gift addressed to "Luke's Dad".

That address caught him a bit off guard.  It sounded so old to him.

Funny, I can barely remember when I wasn't "Jeff's Mom"....and smiled as I was introduced as such to the young women who attended the afternoon baby shower.

The card noted that we thought that Jeff was going to make a great dad...for real this time.

He was a bit puzzled by those last words. 
Moments later...he got it.

The fact that the adoption papers were still to be found amazed him.

The ladies who had arrived for the shower were amazed that the dolls were still in such good shape.

(A good long soak in oxyclean and some gently scrubbing removed all the grime that had a record of their much loved earlier days).

The boys are ready for playtime again, waiting patiently, as they have for so long, and keeping watch from the crib.

Waiting with us all for the day when their new playmate Luke will arrive.

Every year around now...

Aren't all the new glasses styles fun?

Every year around this time I go in for my annual eye exam. 
Then I go about deciding how my face will look for the next year or so.

Ahh...the joy of picking out glasses frames while blind!

You see, I have such poor vision that without my prescription lens to see through everything I look at is just a soft foggy blur.  

Sample glasses oddly NEVER have my prescription inserted. Whazzup with that?  lol!

Trying to decide what I might look like in new glasses was always such a problem.

Then it dawned on me to just take a snap shot of myself so I could get a look, and also be able to get a view of how the glasses looked from the side too.

Fun colors are often sneaked inside the frames where they can't be readily seen.

So let's get started on the selection process.

#1:

I think this is a fun frame, especially with the orange inset color pop.

Reality check: The large lens area would mean large lens, which would mean that my glasses would weigh an uncomfortable amount on my face.  The larger the lens the thicker the lens becomes around the edges.

This frame is a no-go.  Darn it...it would be sooo cute at an OSU game with the orange and black school colors.

#2:
Nice...a tad large but I like the frame shape and colors.

Side view:  Well, those wide temple bars would block the view of crow feet.  But I think it looks sort of mask like.

No go.

#3: A bit smaller.  I would have to have nose pads added to raise the frames up to center on my eyes.

(As I discussed in my glasses hunting post last year at this time, glasses bridges come in sizes sometimes, my nose bridge is one size smaller than standard, and since few frame manufactures make the bridge to order, I have to use nose pad to hoist the frames up to be in the center of my eyes.)

Eh.  Just so-so.

#4: Like the shape.  Would need nose pads added but other wise pretty good.

I really liked the hinge detail when I was trying them on. And I like the lime outline detail on the temple bar.
Looking at this photo...not liking it now.

#5:  Like the turquoise inside peeking out bit.  Not so crazy about the colors and shapes in the temple bar.

Seems to have a bit of a "lite brite" vibe to me...if  you remember that popular toy from the 1980's.

This is actually a frame identical to the one I got last year, but in purple vs. deep purple blue in front of the frame, and turquoise vs. lime inside.

The purple color is more obvious in the next shot:

Not liking the purple....

Believe it or not...for the FIRST time ever in all the years that I have worn glasses...I decided I wanted to stay with my old frames!

Maybe because they have a hint of orange, and my favorite lime green backside.

Maybe because I actually get stopped on the street and asked where I got them.

Maybe I just am not ready for a change right now?

Anyway, new lens with current prescription are ordered and I will be good to go for another year.

Do you love your frames if you wear glasses?
Or are you ready for a change this year?
If you had to pick from the ones I tried on, which one would you have picked for me?

Just for the record...they are a Prodesign:Denmark frame.  I love so many of their frames...like candy they are! Love model 1681 and 1682.

LOVED this temple bar on this young miss who was shopping at the same time I was.
So professional...so trendy!

Red Butte in Winter

Walking around Red Butte Garden...the wisteria trellis over head sure looks bare compared to how it looks in summer.

The whole place looks bare, but it challenges me to look closer for signs of life and coming spring time.

Traces of snow on the hillsides and yet I think I see a hint of green too.

A handful of moving flowers...I mean children...scamper about adding some color to the garden.

Shiny black seeds linger in spent pods overhead.

 

The budding leaves and perhaps flowers are just past the embryotic stage... 

 

Dry lingering pods serve as reminders of a summer past.

Better in color...

Or black and white?
(I like the color myself...)

Since moving to Utah I have become a huge fan of colorful branches that add energy to dull winter gardens.
The golden yellow moss is nice too...

Future lilacs...

The wispy structures on this tree...totally different than anything I have ever seen before.  The whole tree had the fuzzy whip like forms attached to pod like structures on the branches.

Any color found in the garden is worthy of a picture right now.

Even in a winter garden I find reasons to get involved in dirt.
When you love to garden...dirt happens!