Oregon in my mind

Some places never let you leave.
Those places that were the scene of pleasant moments may be treasured forever in your mind.
Those are the places that the mind holds dear, and allows you to revisit again at will.

Places like that become part of an equations:

Time + Place/People/Actions = Memories, either good or bad.

It is a formula that can only be used once.
It is a formula that can never be repeated.
You can go to the same place, with the same people, and do the same actions, but it will never be quite the same.
It is the ingredient of that particular time that will always be missing.

Fellow blogger Dawn wrote yesterday: "Where did the time go?"

And I thought:
Time became memories and the memories became pictures that somehow folded up so neatly that they all could be stored in one's mind. Time became history, and each moment has been exactingly saved for us to see again at a seat of judgement in heaven.
Time for me becomes images that I capture via my camera, my words, my writings and occasionally my brush strokes, to be enjoyed again, and shared with others.

My question is not where did time go, but where did time come from?
Why have I been given fifty three years of time, yet others had but three hours, or four months, or twenty one years of time?

Why did some particles of time arrive with parcels of pleasure, while other passages brought injury and sorry?

I wonder why I consider time at all, knowing I am an eternal being.

Yet I number my days, and hope that the days will prove to be time well spent and pleasing to the One who gave them.

Millinery: Gena Conti in Michigan

I do so love to visit a millinery shop. Sadly, such opportunities are few and far between. I make do in between times when the yearning strikes me by visiting millinery websites instead.

One of my favorite milliners is Gena Conti. She has been selected for five years running to display her millinery work in the Kentucky Derby Hat Museum. She has created some really amazing pieces which are viewable in a gallery from her home page.

I've admired Gena's work for a while now, and wanted to share her site, which has a dandy slideshow of her lots of her designs. I especially like how often she incorporates veils into her designs. If you have read my blog for awhile, you know I have a passion for veils, and with each passing year, have a stronger desire to see veils return as an option for well dressed women to wear as they go about their usual life. Veils: Not just for weddings, please!

Her period hat slide show is outstanding; but frankly, the every day fall/winter spring/summer hats are charming as well. For bridal wear and cocktail events you can hardly do better than a Conti design. Her pieces frequently show up in bridal magazines, just the thing for the bride who has enough self confidence and personality to want to wear a unique veil.

The Conti "millinery shop" home page can be visited by clicking here.
I hope you will enjoy Gena's work as much as I do!

As we hat loves say...I hope you have a hatty day!

Country folk, city folk

I sure like having my Mr. B. back home. He was gone the last four days on a business trip, with a stop over in SLC to see son Jeff. Apparently Jeff is getting to be almost as good as a golfer as B., but on this trip, B. is still undefeated on the links.
From there B. headed over to Las Vegas, which seems to be popular destination these days. Both daughter LauraRN and Running Wildly have blogged about the LV adventures. B. was there on business however, and was glad to get home, even if it meant flying in at 1:30 in the morning, at which time all the trams and carts are no longer running. That meant he had to hoof it with his carry on luggage and laptop for a 3/4 of a mile to reach the terminal attached to the parking garage where his car was parked. Urk.

I stayed up till 1:30 sewing, waiting for him, but finally gave up and went to bed a half hour before he came home. Tiggie followed him into bed, and purred so loudly and with so much enthusiasm that the bed vibrated like those old fashioned motel beds used to, the kind you paid a quarter and buzzed away on, supposedly to relieve the tensions of travel. Truth was, in my family, it was a feature used mostly to entertain the kids.

Good job, Tiggie! The kibbles will be served a the usual time and place in the morning as your reward.

I couldn't wait to take B. into the woods to visit the spiders. We rode our bikes this time, and B. didn't hesitate to step off the path to get up close to one of the SEVENTY TWO spiders that we saw!

The spiders are really growing on me. The female spins the web, and generally sits patiently to snare a bug, and then wrap it up for dinner.
Mr. Spider is usually somewhere around the web, sometimes facing Mrs. Spider, like they are chatting, and other times he is just above Mrs. Spider on the web, around the 1:00 position.

The spider domesticity reminds me of so many couples I know; the husband out in the field area, while the wife is in the center of the home, preparing the meals, while the hubby drops inside for meals and snacks.

Remind you of any couple you know?

But of course, even though B. and I saw 72 rural dwelling spider couples on our walk, wouldn't you know it, there is always one crazy couple that wants to be different.

You know them too...the ones that love any thing to do with cars, and even enjoy NASCAR?

"Darn! I almost got the car...I just missed it by an inch!"

"Maybe if I move our web over here..."

"Or I could split the difference, see if I can nab them coming in either direction."

"Well, if you are tired of having cars for dinner, what about an airplane then?"

(By the way, the zigzag in the middle of the web is just part of their natural web design. That is why they are also called writing spider or St. Andrew's Cross Spider. They consistently hang their webs about 10 feet off the ground. Except this couple. I now drive to work a different way. I don't think Mrs. Spider could take down my Toyoto 4Runner, but why take chances?)

Froggie Froggie Night.....

Last night at the library, in addition to handing out pencils, we watched an amazing downpour. On Weather.com, we zoomed into street level, and a deep purple red blotch was parked over our campus. One minute the sky was clear, and the next it was like a fire hose was being used on our window. Students even looked up; students who usually will not even bat an eye if you inform them a tornado is in the area.

My shift was over at 9:30, and as I stepped out into the warm muggy air, I was surrounded by music; frogs rejoicing in their good fortune of heavy rain and warm night air.

I video'd the sound, and swung my camera around so you can see the library as well. It looks a bit like a science fiction location, but the view is fantastic from the third floor, where I often sit and watch the sky from the window as I work.

Enjoy 40 seconds of Frog Sounds, as heard last night in Houston Texas.

Fun at the library: Borrowing stuff.

I think I mentioned that some of the top reasons people come to the library are to borrow a pencil and to talk on the phone.
Or both.

Tonight a 40-something gentleman came up to the desk and asked if he could borrow a pen or pencil. My co-librarian rummaged around, and couldn't come up with one, so I handed over the pencil that I use for tallying ref questions.

An hour later he was back at the desk.

"I'm so sorry, could I borrow another pencil? I've lost the one I borrowed while talking with my lady friend on the phone."

(Wonder what kind of talking he was doing on the phone to his lady friend that was so interesting that it caused him to lose our pencil. Hmmm....)

What the heck. I gave him another pencil

Twenty minutes later he was back again.

"I hate to bother you again, but do you have a pencil sharpener?"

I pointed to the sharpener, but he couldn't find it, so I got up and patted the thing, with a cheery "There you go!"

Fifteen minutes to closing.

Will I get my pencil back?

Stay tuned!

(Yes he did, sheepishly, return the pencil.)

Master Naturalist Wanna Be takes a walk

In my last post I mentioned a blue tailed skink.
I'll bet you thought I was making that up.
Nope.
Skinks are just a kind of lizard, with short legs, and not much of a neck.
As adults, the blue tailed skink tail stops being blue.
So this guy in the picture below is just a kid.
They are also sometimes called a Five Line Lizard.
Can you guess why?

All around the area where the blue tailed skinks were hanging out were dragonflies.
They would zoom along, then land on the sand, pulsing their wings.
The four spotted dragonfly above looked like he was trying to send a semaphore message using his wing markers as flags.
It's body looked like a guy with brown hair, blue shirt and white pants, with arms outstretched holding flags. Wonder what the message was?

It amuses me that the other kind of dragon fly in the area had almost a photo negative image about its wing design; clear in the middle and colored on the end.

I have learned to look whenever I see the slightest unusual movement around me as I walk.
A quick bounce, twice, of what seemed to be an acorn caught my eye; an acorn wouldn't bounce twice in a straight line across the path.
It took a second to see it, but there he was, Mr. Toad blending into his environment.
I hear Frog and Toad are Friends.
I wonder if my garden froggie knows this guy?
Toad was about the size of a milk bottle cap, and very shy.

About two weeks ago I spotted this interesting project.
I have no idea what it is, or who is building it.
It looks like someone is burrowing, and carefully daubing the mud from the excavation around the opening of the hole, making a very neat little fortress wall.

Since my first photo, the fortress size has doubled, it is now about ten inches tall.
The on-going rainstorms have soften the earlier daubs, but there is clearly fresh activity in this project, as the top area is well defined.
If this gets any taller, they are going to need to get a building permit!

On my first observation of the dauber fortress I also saw this gorgeous snake squiggled in a neat pile, like beads on a string that had been dropped into a heap.
It was about a foot away from the dauber's work, but clearly not a part of the project.
I switched on my camera as fast as I could, but the snake was faster than I was, and glided rapidly away into the mulch around the base of a tree.

"Red touches yellow, kill the fellow (or stay away from the fellow), red touches black, poison lack (or friend of Jack) " is the saying to tell whether a black, yellow and red banded snake is harmless or venomous.

Yes, it was a coral snake, and a very large coral snake at that.
It must have just molted, as it's colors were glistening and vibrant. Unless I wanted to stomp on him, or beat him with my camera, I was fresh out of options to kill the fellow, so he got to live another day in peace.

It really amazes me that my reaction to a venomous snake now is to try to get a picture, instead of jumping and screaming and trying to run away.
Bernie is SO pleased.
I even had a dream the other night that I was walking to the beach by my childhood home, and in a vacant lot there were loads of copperheads of all sizes, and an old wheel barrow full of a huge bright blue and black snake. In my dream I was going "Darn, I wish Bernie was here, he would just love seeing all these snakes!"
This is a real improvement over how I used to wake up screaming if a snake showed up in my dreams. I guess true love really does change a person!

I may have mentioned before that the forests by my house all have decomposed granite pathways and raised wooden walkways so I feel pretty safe walking around. As long as I stay on the path, it is unlikely I will stumble across anything, as creatures who might be crossing the path usually scramble as they don't like being caught out in the open.

In the picture above you can glimpse the edge of the lake.
If you look a the base of the tree that is tipped side ways, which is about ten feet from a raised wooden walk way, and then look straight up above it, between the two most forward trees, this is the area which next caught my eye.

Look closely: Can you see a web?
Can you see the spider at the top of the web, just slightly to your right of top middle?

It took a lot of courage for me to step off the walk way to get close enough to get a picture of the spider. I did a lot of looking before I gingerly stepped into the wet grassy area next to the walkway.
I just HAD to get a picture of this spider!
Her body was as big as the palm of my hand. I have NEVER seen such a big spider in all my life...she was so big I spotted her from the walkway, and her web filled up the entire area between the two trees, taking up as much space as a queen sized sheet.
She's an Argiope, also known as a Writing Spider, and Yellow Garden Spider.

I had one in my garden in San Diego for a while, but this one was like the Queen of all Argiope. They are supposed to only get to be about two inches big in the body, this one was at least five inches big. I think she could catch a bird if she felt like it.

Another picture of the web; Ms. Argiope is up at the top, with just her feet showing.

Later on I saw another Argiope. This one had her mate with her.
The tiny spider is a male Argiope.
Hopefully I will eventually get to see one of their egg sacks.
They are good family spiders, Mom puts the egg nest on the web close to her so she can keep on eye on it.

Well, I hope you enjoyed our walk today. I'm sorry that I erased the picture of the rabbit that I took at the begining of the walk. Once I got home, I had forgotten why I had taken that picture; the bunny blended in so well I didn't see him and thought it was a boring picture so I deleted it in Picasa.
I can still see it on my camera on the chip, but for some reason, once I deleted it on Picasa, it will no longer let me load it onto my computer.

Oh well. There is always another bunny out there somewhere.
I'll just have to go and take another walk!

Some lilies to consider

Consider the lilies, how they toil not and neither do they spin, yet King Solomon in all his glory was not clothed as fine as these...

I'm toiling slightly at work, and found this blog with lilies that will help illustrate that verse.
(Be sure to scroll down until you see the pictures, although the list of lily names is pretty cool too.)

Wowzah!
What a visual feast.
(And a cat at the end to boot.)

The blogger is a Master Gardener; something I had considered becoming at one point in my life when I had over 300 varieties of plants in my garden. Master Gardening is a program where you study for about a year, and do a lot of volunteer work too. After that, Master Gardeners go around creating gardens that are amazing, and giving advice because they really do know all about soil and pests and blooming cycles and all that stuff.

I've thought about it for awhile, and decided what I really want now is a friend who is a Master Gardener. I want her to be available solve all my gardening problems, but mostly I just want to go hang out in her garden, sipping ice tea and wearing a wide brim hat, enjoying the fruit of all her hard work.

I want her to cut arm fulls of flowers for me to take home, bags of fresh picked vegetables, and slips of all her interesting plants for me to put into my garden.

You see, back in San Diego, when I had a garden with 300 kinds of plants, dozens of roses, every kind of mint known to man, camellias and violets, succulents and hundreds of bulbs, vegetables and herbs and a lathe house of ferns, I actually would invite my friends over for glasses of ice tea, and supplied them with big brimmed hats for strolling in the garden.
I would end the visit clipping huge bouquets for them to take home, along with fresh herbs and lettuce for salad, and a slip or seeds to try in their own garden.

Most of my friends had lawn. Maybe a pot or two of flowers by the back door. Maybe a struggling rose bush, or a few daisies clumping in the corner. They all thought my garden was amazing.

When I knew we would be moving in a year, I video taped my garden each week or so, so I could go visit my garden again in each season after we moved. On tape I can once again see the breezy poppies with a cat napping, roses unfurling, Jasmina billowing over the lathe house, the peach tree with peaches swelling to the size of soft balls, then the leaves turning golden, framed by the window of my weaving studio, through which I would watch golden sunsets. Bare grey branches that then sugared with pink blossoms...the peach tree alone would have marked the seasons in the season less environment of Southern California.

I dug and watered, planted and pruned. I asked for gardening soil for my birthday and Christmas to amend the sandy hard soil in our area. Bernie built the hard scape of bricks, I reclaimed area by area until a walk in the garden was a ramble worthy of a guide.

I loved it.
It was a lot of work.
Only another gardener can appreciate how hard it is to make a garden beautiful

I have books written by gardeners from many centuries. I'm sure if I could resurrect them all, and dress them in modern clothes, they would immediately launch into gardening discussions, and it would be difficult to discern what era they had gardened in.

Texas gardening baffles me though. Heavy clay soil is unwelcoming, the heat and bugs repel me. I've gone on a few garden tours, and for the most part I am underwhelmed after my experience on the coast. Here I plant a few pots, and one bed. The rest of my garden gets just an occasional plant tucked in from time to time, with just a swift shovelling in and a "good luck" wish for care.

Do I miss gardening as I did in San Diego?
A little.
If I was to return, I would do as one San Diego Master Gardener did.
She bought property, built a solid wall around the garden six feet high.
Then she had all the soil hauled out of her yard, scraped the dirt down 18 inches. Then refilled the yard with the most excellent soil she could buy, a full 24 inches of it.
She had the walk ways put in, and watering system.

After that, she planted her garden.
And what a garden it was.

I from time to time see it in gardening magazines, and smile, having seen the slide show of how the garden was created from beginning to end.

Yes I want garden again.
But I'd rather have a gardening friend who would share her garden with me.
I'd even be willing to come help from time to time, and to fully appreciate what gifts she was giving me when she clipped a flower for my pleasure, or harvested bounty for my table.
Those gifts are more than what I would carry, those gifts are time and money, sweat and sore backs, broken nails, and inspiration.
A store bought flower is often thought to express love.
A flower from a garden is an expression of one's life pour out in love.

Right now, I'm thinking I would really rather be a Master Naturalist.
They study for a year, and volunteer to lead walks through the forests and streams, around lakes and the sea shore.

They stop and point out birds, and plants, insects and reptiles.
"Oh look! A blue tailed skink!"
"A hermit crab hiding in sea lettuce!"
"The dragon fly verses a damsel fly: Let me show you the difference.."

SOOOOO much less heavy lifting.
SOOOOO much easier on the check book.
SOOOOO few problems to address (ever actually gone into your garden and not pulled at least one weed? Thought not!)

I'm thinking of Mrs. Snodgrass again, my old Bluebird leader.
I am sure she didn't have a garden.
Yet she share with me a garden called "Everywhere I Go."
I see it everytime I see a wild flower in bloom

So there you have it.
That's what I'm thinking about doing.
Finding a friend who is a Master Gardener, and *maybe* becoming a Master Naturalist.

Maybe.

(If you didn't have a chance earlier, and you happen to like daffodils, check her side bar to daffodils. Heck, check her side bar everything. I would PAY money to be her friend!)

More garden visitors

After weeks of rain, we finally had a dry day, and Tiggie went out to observe the garden.

The coleus is growing fast, and the colors are just gorgeous.
Looking out at the scene, it is hard to remember that cats do not see color.
Tiggie sat and sat there for the longest time.
It took me a few minutes, but it finally dawned on me:
Tiggie was posing.
So of course I went and got the camera right away to capture the colorful scene.
You are right Tiggie; it really is a perfect backdrop for a picture of a faithful orange cat.

That night, both boys were pacing around the back door, stretching their noses to leave nose prints on the glass. I finally got up to check out what the big deal was.
It was a frog, clinging to the french door's glass pane.
No wonder the boys were so excited!

Froggie apparently believes he should just come as he is when dropping by for a visit.

Love those googly eyes!

Froggie sure is tiny.
It has been raining so much here lately, and has been so warm and humid that Bernie says outside smells like a frog's underarm.
I guess I should of at least tried to see if that was an accurate statement; personally I have never sniffed a frog's arm pit.
But it wouldn't surprise me to learn that somewhere along the line there was group of little boys with a frog and a little time on their hands....

I'm just sucker for any lime green critter: Anole lizards, tiny grass snakes, insects, tropical birds, fish, turtles, and frogs.
I wonder if there is any other species that I am leaving out.

After I took his close-up, Froggie hopped over to the window screen.

Hey, where'd the frog go?
He was here, just a minute ago...what happened????

Millinery: Marie shares some treasures

Marie is a one of my dear friends in Houston. We met in millinery class back in 2001, and have been involved in the Houston Hat Net together since then, and avidly swap emails saying "Look at this one!" about great hat finds on eBay and on the Internet in general.

The funny thing about our millinery class; there were two law librarians (I was one) and two legal secretaries (Kate and Marie), a rather unlikely coincidence professionally. Maybe dealing with lawyers had put enough pressure on us that we just ran amok after the work day was done, via hat obsession.

Marie is moving and has decided to "de-acquisitioning" some of her hats that are just too tiny for her to wear.
Since daughter LauraRN has a 21 inch head size, and I know of others who also have petite noggins, I volunteered to take a few off of those tiny sized hats off Marie's hands, with the promise I would do my best to try to find them good home.

Marie is a typical hat fancier, that is to say she has a modest collection of around two hundred hats. As long as she was bringing over the tiny sized hats, she decided to also bring along a few treasure from her collection for me to enjoy seeing as well.

We trooped in the boxes and set them on the dining table, and started to unbox them.

This hat belonged to her mother, who had a very tiny head. "Joan" can't model it properly with her curls, it is a cloche felt that is designed to be pulled all the way down. I love the emerald green and royal blue combo, and the diamond self trim and wave design just is too cute! I think it is very early 1950 take on the 1920's cloche, but I will count on Marie correcting me in the comments if I am wrong.

Marie has a thing for feather hats. That is a rather sad way to be, if you live in Houston, as there is nothing warmer than a feather hat, and Houston has very, very few days when that much warmth is enjoyable.

The feather pattern on this hat was simply luscious!

I think this would look much better on a dark haired person, or even white haired.
Lately I have taken a fancy to pointed topped hats, but this hat really doesn't work too well on me. Marie keeps the feather hats just to enjoy their beauty.
They are incredibly beautiful up close.

Now here's an interesting hat, worthy of loads of millinery discussion.

Not only is it made from two different colors of Swiss braid, it actually is two hats. The white on the inside is the secondary hat.....

... which does not show on the outside.
Added to that quirkiness, we both have a hard time agreeing that a straw hat should be trimmed with velvet.
Velvet just is wrong in summer, yet often you do see velvet ribbons on straw hats.
Dramatic hat though!

I wish I could of figured out a way to photographed this one differently. The braid weave on the brim is open. Pink and black, the white squares are where you can see through to the tile floor.
A very pretty hat on; I love straws that leave shadow patterns on the face when worn in light sunlight.

A stunner! Usually feather hats are browns and rusts, or dyed a vibrant color. This one had white feathers, with natural pheasant color accent

The side view of the white feather hat was cute too.
I really wish everyone could see it up close. It really was remarkable.

How fun is this hat! Marie got it at her first Victorian Elegance show. Totally impractical to wear ...or maybe not. I can imagine a red suit with black trim, and this hat. A curvy suit.

It's a clip on hat. A figure eight design of wire clamps the hat to the head, one circle is on the back part of the top of the skull, the other circle on the front top of the skull, the tension between the two circles gently clamps the hat to the head, in a manner that is remarkably comfortable, sort of like a clam shell.
The V shape of the ribbon would hang upside down on the back of the head.
Darn it, now I want the Houston Hat Net to dream up an occasion where SOMEONE would actually wear this hat!

Here's the tip of another feather hat. In the 1950-1960 feather hats were very popular. I remember my mom wearing them, and my great aunt made one for her using the feathers from a pheasant that my dad had hunted. I still have those hats, the feathers were glued on to the hat base one by one. The top designers of the day did it that way, today feather hats are mostly made using feather pads, which are feathers attached to scrim, and then the scrim is attached to the base hat.

After we looked and marveled and discussed the hats at length, we shared a slice of Rhubarb bread, and Italian Pink Grapefruit Soda, and just got a little caught up with our lives.

Someday, after Marie settles into her new digs, I hope she invites me over for more show and tell from her hat trove.
If she does, you can be sure I will be sharing the experience via pictures with you.

Do you own any hats that you would want to share with friends?

Post one on your blog, and share your hat story.

Let me know so I can credit you and send folks over your way.

Hey everyone, it's a virtual hat party!

More fun at the library

From email:

DS (discussion item) – Library Marketing – counseling poster -

Campus Counseling has recently unveiled a poster campaign that we could imitate: “Why go to the Library?” followed by a list of reasons that would appeal to the students.

I thought about it for a minute and came up with these items to help draw students to the library. Lots of students already come for these reasons, I think it is time we go ahead and put the facts into a poster so everyone will know.

“Why go to the Library?”

To borrow pencil/pen
To have Librarian do your citation work
To check email
To scan pictures to email home
To catch up on Myspace
To eat
To sleep
To have sex

Did I miss anything?

Oh yeah…now I remember:

9. To talk on the phone

Work emails are usually dry little things. Ever so often though, a humdinger makes it through.

Like this one for instance:

From: Comstone

Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2007 4:41 PM
Subject: Food in the library

Something needs to be done about all these visitors eating in the library. I realize that the library is supposed to be open to the public, but the public is coming in with a complete disregard for the learning environment. I'm sitting here right now while a non-student (it's obvious) has come in and is eating an apple -- an apple -- while others are trying to study.

Signs, verbal messages as visitors enter, Storm Troopers, something.

From: Jill
Sent: Tuesday, June 12, 2007 1:56

Subject: Food in the library

I think that is awful. If we just could get a nice collection of condiments on lazy susans in each work area, the students wouldn’t have to be reduced to just crunching apples while they study. Remember, we are here to serve the student’s needs.
If we have a nice selection of condiments to choose from, student might start bringing in fabulous entrees, and perhaps even be willing to share.
Let’s form a committee to decide what kinds of condiments should be included, and get a consensus on how hot the hot sauce ought to be.

Another thought would be to have the library and food service do a joint venture….a few books in the cafeteria, and few steam tables in the library. We already have a microwave in the back, wouldn’t a steam table be nice too?

Reply:

And maybe just for effect also run video tapes of “Hell’s Kitchen” or maybe Food TV ?

As I type this, two Spanish speaking ladies are sitting in chairs next to our large floor model beach ball sized lighted globe, beaming as they look at the world together, not saying a word.

Vicarious vacation? About to magically transport? Like feeling God-like??

I had to know.

Turns out they were looking at the globe to see where their relative currently was, somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea.

Ah. Now I get it.

Just looking at the place on the globe where she is makes them feel closer to her.

Now more relatives have arrived, including a child who has decided that pounding on the lighted globe is fun.

If there is a huge earthquake and tidal wave in the Mediterranean Sea tonight, I am so gonna freak out.

Getting to Know Laura

Yesterday for my daughter Laura's 29th birthday I posted a tribute to her.

I included pictures of her life; pictures that made me smile and rejoice in the years we have had together.

I celebrated her!

I wanted everyone to have a chance to get to know her.

Picasa/Blogger apparently didn't feel the same way...most all of the pictures that I posted about her disappeared.

Rather than attempt to re-post them, I am just going to link this post to a web album about Laura.

Click here to get to know Laura via a slide show.

You can also get to know her through reading her blog: It's Good To Be Me.
If you would like, drop on by her site and read how she celebrated her birthday.
Some celebration, wait till you see the pictures on her blog of her sky diving!

But if you are in a hurry...you can get a sense of who Laura is by listening to her theme song, entitled "Laura" from the movie of the same title.

Frank Sinatra sang the song "Laura"; at one time it was rather famous.

Occasionally when people meet my daughter, they start singing the song to her
She likes that.

But she has a favorite version of the song.

You can hear it played here.

Maybe one day Laura will dance to this song at her wedding.

It will be so like her, I'm sure everyone will cry with joy.

(Or something like that...)

It is a lovely song, just like Laura.

But if you don't listen all the way to the end...well, you will miss knowing the real Laura that I love.

Laura is a face in the misty light

Footsteps that you hear down the hall

The laugh that floats on a summer night

That you can never quite recall

And you see Laura on a train that is passing through

Those eyes how familiar they seem

She gave your very first kiss to you

That was Laura, but she's only a dream.

Happy Birthday Week Laura!

Laura is the Face in the misty light....

Laura is the face in the misty light
Footsteps that you hear down the hall
The laugh that floats on a summer night
That you can never quite recall
And you see Laura on a train that is passing through
Those eyes how familiar they seem
She gave your very first kiss to you
That was Laura but she's only a dream

(Above: Lyrics to the song "Laura", written by David Raksin - Johnny Mercer)

Twenty nine years ago today my daughter Laura Elizabeth arrived, making me the proud mother of a beautiful little girl.
She had the biggest blue eyes, and red hair, and she immediately stole her daddy's heart forever.

22 inches long, 7 lb 3 oz...look how tiny here little legs were!

She loved going everywhere in a front pack.

The other thing Laura loved was water.
Going places in the front pack, and splashing around in water.
You now know two life long loves of Laura.

Laura was dedicated to God wearing her great grandfather's baptism gown. As she grew, she continued to be dedicated to God. In fact, her middle name, Elizabeth, means "Dedicated to God."
Now you know three of Laura's life long loves.

Kicking back in a swim suit, looking cool in shade. That's another of Laura's loves.
Now you know four of Laura's life long loves.

Did I mention she was born with big blue eyes?
That's another thing you should know about Laura.
She has the most amazing blue eyes.

Being our first born, she got lots of attention. There's her great grandmother, her grandmother, her aunt, and her dad, all looking at little Laura.
Awww...isn't she just the cutest thing?

Laura is never afraid to try an unusual pose. Chewing on her own foot? Sure, that would make a great photo. Wonder if she can still do that today?

She grew, but still loved to splash in the tub. A bigger tub now.

While other babies lounged around, Laura was always heading off for an adventure.

Sunglasses, sunshine, swimsuit: check! Let's head to the beach!

Before we knew it, she turned one.

Laura loves to dress up and look ultra feminine. But only when she wants to. Especially with cool shoes. Mary Janes, they are fun to clack around in.
Now you know another thing about Laura.

Remember the picture of tiny baby Laura in the front pack?
Eventually (one year later) Laura outgrew the front pack.
Wow.
That was a lot of growing.

She was still the center of attention at Grandma and Grandpa D.'s house.
Pity they never gave her any toys to play with.

Laura has always loved cats. This cat was Grandma's cat.

Does the crossed eyes give you a sense of how much fun it was to be pushed in a baby buggy by Laura?

At age two, Laura jumped off the diving board, and swam the length of the swimming pool.

Also at age two, she got a tricycle and rode it.
Two year olds are not supposed to be able to ride tricycles.
But Laura could.
Her two grandfathers were there as witnesses.

Laura the two year old.

Who still doesn't mind posing for a funny picture!

She still liked to dress in pretty clothes though.

A few months before Laura turned two, she a became a big sister.
Now you know another thing about Laura.
Little brothers are a lot of work.
She had to teach him not to eat grass while wearing a fire helmet.

She had to watch him in the tub so he wouldn't drown.
Laura later became a life guard.
And she was great at it. She even saved lives!
That's another thing Laura loves: helping people and saving lives.
And now you know another thing about Laura.

I'm not sure there is a tree anywhere that Laura can't climb.
Even now.

She still liked to dress in pretty clothes though.

A few months before Laura turned two, she became a big sister.
Now you know another thing about Laura.
Little brothers are a lot of work.
She had to teach her brother not to eat grass while wearing a fire helmet.

She had to watch him in the tub so he wouldn't drown.
Laura later became a life guard.
And she was great at it. She even saved lives!
That's another thing Laura loves: helping people and saving lives.
And now you know another thing about Laura.

I'm not sure there is a tree anywhere that Laura can't climb.
Even now.

Then Laura was three. (And in a very bad mood on her birthday....)

She caught her very first fish. And had a screaming fit when she learned how fish are cleaned.
"Don't hurt my fishy fish!"
Funny, she grew up to enjoy watching surgery on people.
Just not on fish.
She usually has a beta fish as a pet.
I guess she really still likes fish.

Laura still loved her Mary Janes, this time in white, and wearing dresses.

Frieda was her second dog. She's had three dogs in her life: Molly, Freida and Freckles.
Laura is afraid of dogs now.
Now you know another thing about Laura.

Laura wasn't exactly an angel. In fact, she refused to wear the halo during the church Christmas pageant. The only kids without a halo.
She isn't afraid to have her own opinions.
And she never just follows the crowd.
She thinks for herself.
And now you know another thing about Laura.

Drumming was fun, but she only played occasionally. Like when her drummer uncle would let her bang away on his drum kit.
Being noisy is fun.
If you haven't guess yet, let me tell you: Having fun is very, very important to Laura!

And she still loved to splash around in a swim suit.

At age five, she rode a bicycle without training wheels.
Five year olds aren't supposed to be able to do that.
But Laura could.

When Laura turned five, the Strawberry Shortcake doll was in. Strawberry Shortcake smelled like strawberries, and looked a lot like Laura.

And it was still all about the beach and bathing suits.

The first day of kindergarten.
Cross your fingers Laura.
Wear your Care Bear dress, and everything will be OK.

Even with baby teeth gone, Laura still had a great smile and those big blue eyes.

There was rollerskating to learn.

And balance beams.

More teeth to come out.

And hugs to share.
Laura looks like mom some people say.
Others say she looks like her dad.
I say she looks beautifully like herself.

Sometimes she got to wear pig tails.

And she was a wonderful artist.
Even now she draws well.
And now you know another thing about Laura.

Age seven, and she still loves to splash in the tub.
Only now she prefers jacuzzi tubs, with bubble please!

She really doesn't like the color pink.
But that's OK, she could always wear yellow, again, for Easter.

Laura loves to drive. She drives fast too...she has speeding tickets from many states.
She has driven across America a couple of times.
She only has two more state to visit, and she will have been to all fifty states!
And now you know another thing about Laura.

Swimsuit, sunscreen, shades and a hat to make Mom happy is all a girl really needs to be happy.

Puppies are cool. It's dogs that bother Laura.

Riding a motorcycle is cool too. She started out riding with Grandpa Dustin, and rode a Honda to work for one summer.
Will she ever own a big motorcycle?
That's something I don't know about Laura.
I guess we'll have to wait and see.

As Laura got older, she started getting freckles.
That just how it is when you are a red head.
The funny thing is though, each summer her hair would be back to blond again, from swimming in the ocean and pool all day.
You can tell this picture was taken in winter: her hair is red!

Laura has always had long legs. Even as a baby. And especially as a child.

For awhile, in third grade, Laura played the gitar. Grandpa plays the harmonica, and sometimes they could play a duet.

By fourth grade Laura's hair was long, and she was starting to use make up.
(Just kidding! She is dressed for her part in a Christmas play.)

She played Little League for awhile.

Birthday girl, age 8.

And went skimming over the water behind Grandpa's boat.

But she still liked being a girl.
Especially for dress up fun!

Laura's Dad was her soccer coach. Now she prefers to watch the World Cup, and loves owning Soccer shirts from winning teams.

Did I mention she likes to have fun posing?
Either with a funny face....

Or a happy face.

Or a funny happy face.

A fun picture pose is one of Laura's favorite things.
And now you know another thing about Laura.

She likes to entertain.
Throwing a party with friends over for food and games is something she is great at.
You should be so lucky to be invited to one of Laura's parties!

Fifth grade came really fast.

She was growing up.

She graduated from fifth grade...

She even learned to surf alone..surfing is a VERY important part of Laura's life.

Her daddy took her out surfing when she was just a wee kid. Later, she even went to her Senior Prom riding in a chauffered Woodie, in true surfer girl style!

Started middle school

It's hard to imagine...this is the exact same spot where 13 years before she had been pictured riding on her daddy's chest in a front pack.

At age 12 she looked like this.
Not too crazy about the pink.
But she needed something to wear to Sixth Grade graduation.
Two big graduations-fifth and sixth.
On her sixth grade graduation, she received the sapphire ring her grandmother and mother had received on their sixth grade graduation day.
You can just see it on her finger in this picture.

She turned 13...we had a teen age daughter!

The first day of eighth grade Laura looked like this picture above.

On the last day of eight grade she looked like this.
The beautiful baby who was a beautiful girl was now a beautiful young woman.

Graduation from eight grade.

The sophisticated lady witha bandaid on her knee.
Riding bikes a little too fast if I recall.

Then it was off to Indian Hills, to work as support staff at a Christian campground.
It seemed only natural that Laura would work as a clown.
Her daddy still loves giving her kisses.
I think this was taken on her birthday.
How much she has grown since that first tummy kiss!

Now on to the high school years!
Laura learned to ski and snowboard.
She also worked, a lot.
She worked as a florist, and as a Candy Striper.
And swam on the high school swim team and played water polo.

All that swimming...all those swim suits....what a surprise that she lettered in Swimming and Water Polo!
And now you know another four or five things about Laura.

She still loved to dress in pretty dresses. And cute shoes.
Just not Mary Janes anymore.

And blink...she was graduating from high school.

The little girl with her fingers crossed on the first day of kindergarten did alright.

She still liked wearing shades.

And she still liked going places. A luggage trolley at the airport curb is a favorite form of transportation; it means she's heading somewhere fun again!

She started college, and swim suits and shades still feel right when she isn't actually in class....

Even a busy college girl has time for Christmas with mom and grandma. Only now she doesn't have to be dressed in those silly Christmas outfits that her mom used to always made her wear.

At age 20 Laura moved to from her native San Diego to Texas to attend University of Texas at Arlington, to get her BS RN degree. It was hard for a third generation San Diego girl to move that far from the beach.
She worked as a florist and in surgeries, setting up surgeries and handing tools to the doctors while she studied.
For fun she played with a red headed cat.

Melvil and Laura, the red headed Texas team.

She is still a big sister, only little brother is now bigger than she is.

Nurse Laura, BS RN. With her own apartment and everything, working in an intensive care unit.
And still loves to dress up.
And sometimes even wear a hat and a PINK dress at Easter.

Posing is still fun.

I am so lucky. Laura is my daughter and my best friend.

We don't get to spend a lot of time together now, because she is a traveling nurse. She has worked in oncology units in Philadelphia, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Sacramento, Hawaii (where she got kissy face with the tiki gods), and right now she is in Denver.

Working in Hawaii meant more time surfing and swimming.
And family visits.
Here in Hawaii with Grandma S.

And here in Hawaii with her Daddy.
A family that (temporarily) tatoos together, stays together.
Or something like that.

Laura still loves to go places. She's gone to Mexico, the Carribean, Alaska, Canada, Ireland and Scotland on vacations.
When she went to Scotland she asked her grandma S. and me to come along too.
That's us, up in the Highlands of Scotland.

If you are not licensed, you may not go behind the bar in Scotland to pull a pint.
Unless you are Laura, of course.

The swans of Scotland seemed to like Laura. And for a moment, Laura looked like she was becoming a swan too.

Yes, Laura has fun where ever she goes.

Sometimes she bends the rules along the way.
But never in a really bad way.

She fit right into to Ireland.

And she still loves to be with her Grandma D.

Skiing is still fun with Dad and little brother.
But she'd still rather snowboard.

She's been a bridesmaid at least five time.

And she still loves to get into a jacuzzi.

They haven't played a duet in a while, or gone motorcyling, but they still enjoy a good laugh together from time to time.

The blue eyed baby girl is quite an amazing woman now.

It's been a blessing to have you as a daughter, a friend and yes, even my nurse.
I love traveling with you, drawing and shooting pictures with you, writing with you, and shopping with you.

You make me laugh, and are a wonder to behold as you continue to grow and explore your world.

What a daughter!

Happy Birthday Laura!

Now that you have learned a few things about Laura, perhaps now you will enjoy hearing her theme song.

Her song "Laura" is a classic song, from the movie of the same title.
The words were at the beginning of this post.

Here they are again:

Laura is the face in the misty light
Footsteps that you hear down the hall
The laugh that floats on a summer night
That you can never quite recall
And you see Laura on a train that is passing through
Those eyes how familiar they seem
She gave your very first kiss to you
That was Laura but she's only a dream

The song was most famously sung by Frank Sintra.

Occasionally when people met Laura, they sing the song to her.
She has a favorite version of the song that you can hear played here.
Be sure to listen to it to the very end.

Maybe one day she will dance to it at her wedding.
It will be so like her, I'm sure everyone will cry with joy.
Or something like that.

You can wish her a Happy Birthday over at her blog, called "It's Good To Be Me"
There you can see what else this traveling oncology nurse is up to.
I know she hopes she will never need to meet you professionally.
But I know she'd love to meet you as a friend.