pic of the day - my sweet daddy

My dad and I share a number of traits. We both have the Naylor ears. Stubborn and a little hardheaded are pretty good descriptives at times. If a job is worth doing, it's worth doing well. Our feet are narrow and bony and we have monkey toes. We share my mom for a best friend. Among many many other things, we both have this need to please and are therefore unfamiliar with the words "no" or "can't" in the English language (refer back to stubborn and a little hardheaded). So when someone says "Can you blah blah blah?" our answer is always a resounding "SURE!!! No problem. Be glad to." If someone tels us "Well you can't blah blah blah." we say "Ha! Wanna bet? Watch me!". I learned at a very young age that "can't never did nothing!" And to always stay focused.

The great thing about this superhero gene is that we always know we can call on each other for help and to get the job done. Therein lies the beauty of the gene. You see, I'm an only child, so in essence, I'm the son my dad never had. We have always enjoyed working together and are able to do so quite often. Many a memory has been shared during one of our work projects...laminate flooring in my upstairs bedrooms, cooking on retreat teams, building outdoor swing arbors that leave me deformed for life :), buidling a deck and laying carpet just to name a few.

Our most recent adventure involves reconstructing and underground coal mine. The local museum is kind enough to display several pieces of his woodworking creations and offer them for sale. When they approached him seeking some assistance in making underground support poles look natural in their new underground coal mine exhibit, I'm not sure my sweet daddy knew just what he was getting into. But he said "sure, no problem,I can do that!" And off we go on our next adventure.

We have had such a wonderful time finding just the right wood for our project, designing the construction, fighting drill batteries that won't hold a charge, broken drill bits, sulfer leaks in the mine, and standing back looking at a finished product and knowing we did it together. We've talked about fun ideas, travel dreams, ways to make my mom laugh. We've shared the things weighing on our hearts. Over the years, our work projects turn out in the end to have a two-fold accomplishment...the completion of the project and the growing of a never ending bond. So the next time someone says "Can you blah blah blah?" or "Well you can't blah blah blah, you better believe I'll be the first to say "Sure, no problem, I can do that!" I treasure my sweet daddy with my whole heart and wouldn't trade a minute of our work.

pic of the day - nosy posy

As requested by her boyfriend Preston (a sweet little Westie she met at puppy school), today is all about Bertie. Those of you who have visited my house know that I have this massive bay window area in my living room. It's more of a nook with windows than it is actually a bay window, but you get the idea. Situated nicely in the nook are two comfy yet chic-y off white chairs. That spot is my little retreat and haven while for Bertie, it is her window on the world. Since she was a tiny puppy, she has clamored for the chance to get as close as doggly possible to the windows so she can see out. When she was really little and couldn't yet jump up in the chairs she would stand on her hind tippy toes with her front paws pulling herself up so she could look out.

Once she could get up in the chairs, her world changed. I still wonder if somehow she has a bit of parrot in her because she likes to climb up on my shoulder and sit with her arms hanging over the back of the chair, watching the world go by. It is by far her favorite past time. Wish I could take a picture of that now don't ya?

Now, don't get me wrong, I am a people watcher to the core. Bertie though, she's a master. She knows every car that goes up and down the street. Bikers and walkers really crank her up. Birds, rabbits, and the occasional squirrel that dare enter my yard totally put the charge in her. Cars with squeaky brakes like my mom's or a diesel engine like my dad's call for full on nose to the glass observation. It's Leo the cat though that lives across the street that truly unwinds her. She will quite literally jump from chair to chair to better position herself for optimum viewing. And heaven help us all if the front door is open. She races back and forth across the living room at the pace of Indy cars at the sight of the white flag. There literally have been claw marks in the carpet when Leo makes his presence known.

There will be times when I realize it's terribly quiet and that she's not with me whatever I might be doing in the house. I quietly tiptoe into the living room and there she is, up on her perch, keeping watch on the neighborhood. Literally hours have gone by under her watchful eye. Ahh....the life of a dog...my little watch dog.

pic(s) of the day - sweet okra blossoms

One of my most favorite things to eat is fried okra...I LOVE IT!!!! The fact that it is on the menu is one of the best things about Cracker Barrell in my book. Not the rocking chairs or the homemade biscuits. It's not the old time country store. It's not the jumber checkers. Ok, the massive fire place could be a close contender, but number one for me is fried okra! As good as it is at the ole CB, no one, and I do mean no one, makes it like my momma!

It may sound silly, but it is one of those foods that opens the flood gate of memories and every time I eat it, I feel connected to my heritage. It makes me think of my grandma's house in Memphis. Whenever we would visit,there would always be at least one huge dinner when as many as 17 of us would cram into their tiny eat in kitchen and spill over into the connecting living room. The menu would inevitably consist of fried freshly caught fish (bass or bluegill), hush puppies, her garden grown green beans, and fried okra!!!!! Along with much much more I'm sure and accompanied by a glass of instant lemon tea from a can. That scene is just as vivid in my mind as today's lunch. I can smell the hot grease, hear the laughter and the jokes, feel the chill of the AC (they had a window ac unit right there in the living room and it was always frigid!). My cousins and I would fuss and play, fuss and play. Such fun memories.

Fried okra reminds me of my great grandpa Otto. He and my grandma Pootie lived on a farm near the house my parents lived in when they first married. They still tell the story every year when they pick their okra about their very first crop and how they didn't know when it was ready. Erring on the side of caution, they let it grow to the size of a zucchini and Grandpa Ott had to explain to them the rules of picking okra. It's just one of those funny little stories you grow up with that make you smile and remember.

I find it funny that such a prickly, slimy, seedy little vegetable starts out with such a lovey, pristine blossom and ends up chopped up, coated in cornmeal, and fried into such yummy deliciousness. I think we go through our pricks and slime in life, feeling all cut up and mixed up at times, sometimes kind of awkward, but in the end, we look back and see that yummy deliciousness of life comes as a result of our experiences. Cheers to yummy deliciousness!!

pic of the day - simple pleasures

Morning coffee. The smell fabric softener coming out the clothes dryer vent outside. Getting into a hot car after being in frigid air conditioning (ok, only for about 10 seconds, but it sure is nice for a moment). The feel of the ocean rushing up on your feet. Snow on Christmas Eve. Bertie kisses. Baby giggles. Vegetables fresh from your own garden. Yellow gumballs (here's to blogging Heather). A freshly mown lawn. The scent after a rain. The quiet whisper of a snowfall...even better if it's on Christmas Eve. Mushrooms in the front yard. That first stretch of the morning when you're still all snuggled up under the covers. An arrangement of greenery cut fresh from the shrubs outside.

I am a simple girl. Simple things bring me great pleasure. It could be an only child thing. It could be a growing up poor thing. I'm not sure why the little things in life bring me such joy. Some say I'm nutty, which is probably true. Some might think I have low standards. Some say I need to get a hobby. I have one...taking a picture a day...another simple pleasure. I like that I get so giddy over silly little things. I like that pitter patter feeling I get when something tickles my fancy. Life is too short and too precious not to have as many pitter patters as possible. At the end of the day I would rather count up all the things that made me smile than go to bed wishing. Nutty? Ok. Low Standards? Ok. Need to get out more? Ok. Pitter patter? Absolutely! Wishing you all the simple pleasures you can imagine!

pic of the day - the demise of the stalking squirrel

There is method to my madness at all times, including the dark, spooky, scary look to this otherwise lovely picture. As you may recall, I mentioned earlier in the week that last summer I played a little game of feed the squirrels at the "All you can eat buffet" hole in my backyard tree. Well, this game progressed over the course of the summer to the point where every time I went out in the backyard, if I didn't put a tomato in the tree, it was like walking through day 59 of a squirrel strike picket line. They became quite vocal, squawking and chattering at me...chasing me. It was quite frightening. Sadly, their rioting turned into stalking. One lovely fall afternoon I had my front door open and I caught Mr. Rocky literally peering in. He was standing on my front porch looking in my front door in a silent demand for food. This became our routine.

Foolish me, I never gave my food obsessed gang of rodents a second thought when the beauty of fall was ushered in and I commenced with decorating for the season. One of my favorite little touches I have added to my house are a pair of lovely front porch lanterns. How wonderful I thought it would be to accentuate the nice lanterns with boughs of Indian corn tied with warm fall ribbon and flowers. It looked so pretty. Until, that is, Mr. Rocky and his crew made the discovery.

I came home from work one day and unassumingly stepped out onto the front porch to retrieve my mail when what seemed like 500 squirrels went zipping and dashing and barking all around me, off the porch, and into the nearby trees. I screamed at the top of my lungs knowing certain death by fuzzy tailed critters was upon me. When my terrified dance ceased upon realizing the threat was past, I realized that little bandits were stripping my pretty Indian corn! Thieves!!!! Hoping that my screaming war dance scared them off for good, I decided to let it go for a day. Besides that, my heart was pounding too hard to do anything then anyway.

The next day as I pulled in to the drive, there wasn't much more than corn cob left on my pretty decorations along with the same 500 squirrels lapping up every last kernel they could find. As I stepped screaming out of the car shooing them away, they scattered in flurry...except for one. The little pest was taunting me, curled up by his tail, hanging from my lantern, teasing me. He squawked. I hollered. He scurried. I threw mulch. Boy was he a jerk. "He must be the pack leader and head bully" I thought. Oh no...he wasn't a jerk or a bully. He was stuck! His tail was caught in my porch light! As I ran inside and peered out at him safely from the window, I could see he already been fighting a loosing battle to try to free himself.

Now, let's add to this little drama the fact that this was a Friday afternoon and I was leaving town for the weekend. I had a squirrel hanging upside down from my front porch light. What was I supposed to do. If I tried to free him, I was certain he would eat & claw my face off. I couldn't knock him in the head. I tried to think of a way to drug him. I looked in the yellow pages, but was pretty sure that "Rick's Critter Gitter" would cost me an arm and a leg. Given my out of town plans, I had no choice but to leave him be and hope with all hope that he would find a way to free himself.

Sadly, my return on Sunday afternoon proved me wrong. Hanging dead upside down from my front porch light along with bare corn cobs and warm fall ribbon and flowers was Mr. Rocky. Just hanging there like a stiff messenger to all the stalking squirrels out there warning them to find another house to stalk. And it all started with a little tomato in a tree hole. How did it get to this? The moral of this story? Don't feed the squirrels.

pic of the day - the banquet table

First I'll again offer my apologies and simply ask for understanding that me and technology are not always bosom buddies. Through my employer I was given the opportunity to purchase Microsoft Office for my home computer at a steal of a price. Yesterday evening, I set out to seal the deal and place the order, expecting a package to arrive in 3-5 business days which would contain my entire software purchse complete with step by step instructions for dummies on how to install. Oh no...that's just not how it works apparently. Instead, I made my purchase and was directed to click on a link to begin the download of the product. "Ok" I say to myself, "I can do this". Fourteen hours later, I had to leave my computer this morning still downloading or installing or whatever in the world it's doing. I could be robbing all the banks in China for all I know. Whatever happened to the typewriter? Needless to say, I was not able to share with you my pic of the day yesterday. I know, it was devastaing for everyone!

So, this picture of the day thing has turned out to be a number of things to me. There are not words to describe how I enjoy the writing, and that was never even an intended part of the effort, rather has become a resulting gift. The connection to my friends has been a tremendous blessing. I have always been one to notice and enjoy things like the red flower a couple days ago, but now, more than notice, I study. I think about why I noticed something, I examine what about it caught my eye, and because this is an exercise to hone my photography skills, i think about how to capture it in a way that when I look back 10 years from now gives me the same noticing experience.

I will be the first to say I am still learning and there are many things that I could critique until the cows come home about my pictures. Taking a perfect picutre isn't the objective though. I took this photo yesterday morning because I was struck at how lovely the sunlight filtered through my windown shades onto this centerpiece. For effect I lit the candles to play around with capturing that pretty soft look. Enjoyment. Grins n Giggles. It's all an exercise in focus, paying attention, exploring, making the most of moments of opportunity, looking back and being satisfied, enjoying the memory.

This centerpiece always makes me think of a grand midieval banquet table where I would sit proudly at the head throne-like chair eating a massive chicken leg with my hands. Don't ask me why...it's an only child thing...active imagination. There is a song that we sing at church that says something to the effect of "Come to the feast of heaven and earth. Come to the table of plenty. God will provide for all that we need, here at the table of plenty." It doesn't say arrive perfect. It says God will provide. I believe we are supposed to pay attention, seek the blessings we are offered, make the most of them, and look back with no regrets, happy to be at the banquet table.

pic of the day - my tree is growing a tree

One of the things that immediately drew me to my house was the fact that there are four large maple trees in the yard. I love trees...the shade they provide, they way they protect the house from the heat of the sun, the sound they make when the wind rustles through them, the scent they project in the fall as they drop their leaves, the way the snow glistens in them. In spite of the raking in the fall, the limbs after storms, the seedlings in the spring, living in a house without trees just wouldn't seem right for me.

In September of 2008 Hurricane Ike blasted through Kentucky (yes, I did say a hurricane in Kentucky) followed by the ice storm of the century in January of 2009. Needless to say, my poor lovely trees were not quite the same after that wild weather blitz. After listening to limbs shatter all night long during the ice storm, I truly did not know whether I still had trees or not. They certainly took a beating.

You can imagine my pure joy when it became evident this spring that not only did all my trees survive and fully recover, but one is even growing a new tree!! Yes friends, my tree is growing a tree. I'm not really sure what to think of that. Bertie is obviously interested. Do I buy it a gift? Pick pink or blue? Ok, so I'll probably just pull it come fall, but it has been kind of fun to watch. In fact, this tree and it's gaping hole has provided a wealth of fun for me. Last year it became the "All you can eat buffet" for the squirrel family. I would put tomatoes that had fallen off the vine up there and literally stand a few feet back and watch the squirrels come feast. I think they actually came to expect a little treaty treat on a regular basis. This likely explains Bertie's fascination. It also explains the stalker like tendancies that the little furballs developed which ultimately led to the demise of one of their own. I'll save that story for another day.

So by now it's clear that everything makes me think a bit on the deep side and my little tree growing a tree is no different. Seedlings can land anywhere and obviously they can take root anywhere. I wonder, am I strong enough, prepared enough to provide a place for the seedlings that come across my path to be nurtured and take root? Can I weather the storms that batter and break me? Can I survive those times of drought in life? Can I be comfort and shelter for others? Do I provide peace like the rustle of leaves? Laughter like the tomato feasting squirrels? If, like the trees in my yard, I am firmly rooted with a solid foundation, then the answer will always be a resounding yes. I'm not sure sometimes if I'm the seedling or the 50 year old maple, but I put my arms up every day in praise and thanksgiving for all that I have and hold dear and for the creation around me. It's all I know to do.