shock and awe, the dramatic furby

shock and awe, the political furby, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

it just makes me giggle
every time I look into that insane
and yet oddly appealing
manufactured face.

jack's viewpoint

jack's viewpoint, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

end of the walk again
raining this time
good thing my teenage kids couldn't see me
lying in the dirt
in the front yard
in the rain
....in a dress...and a pretty dress too...even the dentist commented on it...

trying to get just the right angle
(okay,really I was tired and any excuse to lie down)
'cause they would have -
freaked.
right.
out.
How did I become one of THOSE parents?
WHEN?

and
why am I asking when I don't really care?

****************

for the answer to yesterday's burning question - What is it?

click here.

high on grass

high on grass, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

grass is tickling my nose
grass in my own backyard
it came today
by truck
in slabs
on pallets
and now it covers the dirt
like a patchwork quilt
on a bed
that I am stretched out on.

(Bonus:
what is it?
click here to see the picture and you can guess if you want!)

as close as the end of the walk

as close as the end of the walk, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

is where to find the photo of the day
when the honeysuckle is blooming
and an iphone is at hand.

ride the vapour

ride the vapour, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

snowbirds roaring in the white hot sky!

made my heart pound and my face break into one of those uncontrollable, cheek stretching grins

an airshow
the first one in years and years
since I was a kid
an air force brat

I have avoided them for a long time
crowded and noisy
but my kids had never been to one
and OH how they wanted to go!

(I think we are going to go back again next year!)

solar powered sprinkler jump

solar powered sprinkler jump, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

this nine year old
force of nature
leaps full force into life
with her strong, browned legs

spirograph shine

spirograph shine, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

It is near the end of July,
I know this because of the heat and the sun and....
because of the school supplies that are filling the shelves at the stores and...
because it is hard to find stepping stones, bathing suits and sun umbrellas...

I never remember this from season to season,
and still find myself nonplussed, as I stand in the fluorescent lit aisles,
and stare at those bathing suits when what we need is mitts or winter boots
and the snow is piling up out in the parking lot.

And today, I was startled twice, once when I realized that looking for a sun shade in July was an audacious thing to do
And then again, when we found one, and on sale!
and some $3 towels too.

I believe the ice cream tasted sweeter as we huddled under it, hiding from the sun.

(P.S. lovely, lovely, lovely new banner was created for me by the talented Strawberry Creek! Thank you so much! An unexpected and deeply pleasing surprise in my email today.)

own clear breast

own clear breast, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

“He that has light within his own clear breast
May sit in the centre, and enjoy bright day:
But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts
Benighted walks under the mid-day sun;
Himself his own dungeon.”

John Milton

Calla lily,
light of the early morning

suddenly at our feet

suddenly at our feet, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

falling from the tall trees at the top of the hill
looking like a rustic halo
sort of magical
unexpected...
the remanent of a bird's nest?

Like so much else, I don't know...
Like so much else, I am free to wonder.

(playing with the iphone cameral some more!)

curling

curling, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

sometimes, I feel twisted up, coiled tight and spiky
and at other times,
vivid, fresh and bright like green in the summer garden

glass in the grass

glass in the grass, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

Hot day at the neighborhood park
the playground program supervisor had a tickle trunk of costumes and purses and masks for the kids to play with
and this magical, sparkly bauble...
for ME to play with

peanut in the sky

peanut hot air balloon, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

taken with my new iphone
(my husband lined up to get for me, a little over a week ago)
early this morning - 7am ish?
just after I locked my bicycle to a pole and just before I did a half marathon (13 miles/21km) on trails through the woods

I feel good
and I feel tired
and I am impressed with the iphone - I think it will be fun to try and find it's limits.

seed like a web

seed like a web, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

Getting in close to something like this weed seed cradled by a dandelion leaf, can give the impression that I am sitting with my camera in a rural meadow.

Not on the ragged edge of grass ribbon between the pottery studio and the asphalt of the road in the light industrial section of town.

My two youngest kids rabbited back and forth between me and a big patch of weeds, bringing more of the cobweb like seeds, everytime the breeze snatched the ones I had away.

at the sign of the bicycle

at the sign of the bicycle, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

he cafe, beside the bike shop, beside the lawyer, beside the fitness studio for women, beside the cafe...and not a st*rbucks to be seen

like peacock plumes

like peacock plumes, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

these blue spikes arrest my attention,
I can look at them again and again

this was not the picture I was going to write about today,
but I had to give in to the cerulean call of these delphiniums

and put aside the perfectly lovely image of the community garden, two battered and blue wicker chairs overlooking tomatoes, sunflowers and sun warmed, just-red raspberries that the old gardener invited me to eat...

sweet baby jay

sweet baby jay, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

One of two fledgling blue jay babies that were exploring the garden of the house my older son and daughter are house sitting - under the watchful eye of their mother and my camera!

summer pool on a day that looks like rain and then it doesn't

summer pool on a day that looks like rain and then it doesn't, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

we took a chance on the outdoor pool this afternoon
many people didn't
and when the threatening skies cleared for the two hours we were there
and the sun poured down
it was easy to imagine that it existed simply for our own pleasure
and we ate broken cookies and peanut butter and jam triangle sandwiches and
felt like millionaires,
well, warm, wet and freckled ones

dark cherries

dark cherries, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

because they are shiny and there are beads of water freshly splashed on them and they just beg to have their picture taken...

dream stream

dream stream, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

sometimes you look at something and gasp, reaching for your camera,
another breathy sound as you click the button and check, yes you have it, then a moment to pause and wonder, how the picture can look even better than the reality.

...and oh, how we used to run!

...and oh, how we used to run!, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

and now is his time to rest in the warmth of the evening sun,
I am glad he is here to do that

rainbows at sunset

rainbows at sunset, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

the light was like liquid honey

year old piggies

year old piggies, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

Many things crossed my view finder today, and I am lucky that these pink, little feet were one of them.
Sitting in the park on a sunny day with friends young and old, is a good thing.

dog in the hole

dog in the hole, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

My two oldest kids are on their second foray into the house/pet sitting business - they are conscientious and loving as Buddy here will be finding out over the next week and a bit.

There is a shot of Buddy's "sister" Sally in my flickr stream, smiling about going for a walk.

tree stars

tree stars, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

in a very short space of time
a little over an hour in the evening
the blue sky and white puffy clouds were overwhelmed by roiling grey green thunderheads
there was booming and lightening flashes and
pull over the car and wait it out showers of hail
marble sized
thumping off of the roof of the car and forming little drifts
on the black tarmac of the parking lot
then the sun through the leftover rain
and blue sky
and drops caught in the needles of the fir tree in
my neighbor's back yard
pretty

how wide is my river

how wide is my river, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

I love the river that runs through my city
and I love the city that my river runs through.

copper in the rain

copper in the rain, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

this is a turkish grill, like a big copper bowl with a matching lid that sits on a wrought iron frame-
it gleams softly, even on an overcast and rainy day like today

spoons are interesting

spoons are interesting, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

My oldest son's friend was watching me with amused eyes.
"You really must be some kind of camera nut if you think a picture of a spoon would be interesting."

Yeah, I guess I am.

And yeah, it is interesting.

I know I should not have hoovered down that whole,raw chicken carcass

I know I should not have hoovered down that whole,raw chicken carcass, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

but really is this thing necessary?

Why yes, Thousand dollar dog, it is. You are not allowed to snorfle at the many staples now holding your stomach together.

Oh.
Then, can I have a snack? It is hungry work being rushed to the vet clinic for emergency surgery and having to stay there for two days

Soon, Thousand Dollar Dog, soon.
Happy to have you home.

odd cargo

odd cargo, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

sometimes you just wonder if you should intervene or not -

to sit in the sun

to sit in the sun, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

As Bill Waterson so aptly described it, through Calvin and Hobbes - the days here in Gawdessland are JUST PACKED!

This morning I enjoyed a wonderful walk that included roses, roses, roses and a good friend.

At a quiet bend in the river we came upon this bench and the serenity of the moment and the light made me reach for my camera.

Happy Canada Day

Happy Canada Day, originally uploaded by gawdessness.