Remembrance...

I will be honest... I celebrate Memorial Day by eating hotdogs and cheering that the pool is open. I don't come from a military household. Both of my grandfathers fought in wars (I think) but my Dad didn't, and my Uncle didn't (again... I think?) Obviously veterans, war, armies... all hot topics in my household growing up. So Memorial Day was about... hot dogs... pools... days off of school/work.

My friend Andi and I met a couple years ago through another friend. We share parenting styles, a love of photography and my little pony, and sense of humor. I joke we're cut from the same bolt of fabric, just from different corners. Andi is a military wife. I have to say, pretty much everything I know about modern military life, I know from Andi. And she's not a sugar-coater. When she gets fierce about something, she's fierce. If she wants you to understand something, she'll help you understand. I don't envy her life, but I can see how happy the good times are to her.

Where am I going with this? I woke up Sunday still in poison ivy agony. Even with the prednizone (?) pills, and the three different anti-itch creams I was taking... I was still itcy. Out of my skin itchy. And the rash was spreading, now to the palms, yes folks the PALMS, of my hands. Then Olivia's eye swelled up again, and after a confirmation phone call to Karen that made it ok for me to go to Urgent Care (ony our third visit to a doctor in two weeks) I headed off for a shot of cortizone (?) in my rear. On the way to the Urgent Care, across the street in the fields of Westerville Park, were lines and lines and lines of flags. Because the trip was impromptu, I didn't have my camera. I swore I'd go back when the sun was lower, and the heat less.

The flags made me think of Andi. And of the sacrifices those men and women make for us. The ones that go to war... the ones that stay home. There are 2,000 flags planted in the park, and a recreated Vietnam Veteren wall in the back corner. Each flag has a zip-tied message to them. Some made me cry. I went intending to stay for 15, mabe 20 minutes. I got there at 8pm. I stayed until 10pm. If you live here, you should go see it.

Thank you.

Where have I been???

So I'm behind on about... mmm... four blog posts. That will get posted in the next couple of days. There was the beautiful Baldwin wedding, which I shared two images from on facebook, but I have a few more I want to show here... The FedEx Nascar car came to my terminal, and I took some pictures of it... we trashed Amber's wedding dress... and Claire got a haircut.

But I got delayed. Here's what's been going on...

I planted a bunch of stuff a couple weeks ago. I planted strawberries, and grew a huge one that I was really excited about. The day I went to photograph it - something had eaten it. I was irked.

Those ones are the ones growing right now. Don't let the image fool you - they are teeny tiny. Smaller then my thumbnail.

I also got a Dahlia flower, and planted it in my Tiki God planter. It look so funny and cool! Waited a couple days to settle, and went to take a picture of it.

I think whatever ate the strawberry also ate some of the plant. All the petals are gone. :( But there are some other buds on it, so hopefully I'll new flowers to photograph.

Really the only thing I've planted that's truly thrived is the bleeding hearts.

Of course they're in the back where I rarely go right now. Bummer.

So then, I developed spots. Everywhere the sun don't shine.

Waited that out until one of them got itchy, and finally went in to a doctor. Found out I have eczema. Excellent. So I'm like a leopard.

Back to gardening. I decide on Sunday to rip up what we call the Back 40.

Oooooooo, scary. It's just weeds after weeds after weeds. Spend a couple hours back there, then get over it and go in. Shower, shop, move on with life. Wake up Monday with some more spots. I (stupidly) assume it's more eczema, and scratch away, because I have a hard time resisting scratching.

A story about me and poisen ivy.... Up until Monday, I was not allergic to it. I know I wasn't because when I was in my tweens (which it wasn't called that when I was that age, but whatever) my mom and sister and I all cut down a stump in my moms backyard. I remember my sister helping because she had to, but I wanted to help because I got to use a very large ax. So the three of us spent an afternoon hacking away at a stump until it was gone. And my mom and my sister both got the worst case of poison ivy ever. I got nothing. Not so much as a hive. Which amused me, because frankly I'm allergic to everything that grows naturally - so I liked having that one thing about me that was different.

Flash forward to a week ago when I develop eczema... turns out, once you have it, your body becomes sensitive to stuff that it might never have been sensitive to before.

So Monday I'm scratching away like and idiot.

Tuesday the rashes are bigger and itchier, and I've figured out that scratching is making it worse. Stop scratching.

Wednesday I want to jump out of my skin because I itch so badly. Get home from work that evening, and see that its now spread to my face. Make Tim call a doctor in the morning.

Thursday go to my second doctors appointment in two weeks, to learn that I have a bad case of poison ivy.

(forgive the fact that I look like crap... I kinda feel like crap)


(on my tip-toes so you can see the tops of my feet)

So I still have the eczema everywhere the sun don't shine... and everywhere the sun does shine, I have poison ivy. The worst places I have it are in the webbings of my hands and feet... my fingers are so swollen, I can't wear any of my rings.

But I'm on the juice now, so baring any 'roid rage, I should be able to update with some pretty pictures.

Olivia's eyes

When I was little, I wished I had blue eyes. I always disliked my brown eyes. My sister has brown eyes, but her's have flecks of gold in them. Mine don't. They're just brown.

Olivia, like just about every other baby on the planet, was born with slatey grey eyes. I won't lie... I was very excited about that. And I was disappointed when her's turned brown. Because I was one of those people that just disses on brown eyes.

Claire has crystal blue eyes. They're gorgeous. I think Claire is well aware of her gorgeous blue eyes, and she plays it to her advantage.

But the secret of mine... I am in love with Olivia's eyes. They're so brown, so very deep and dark, that I feel like she looks straight through you...

I used to read, like all the time. And one of my favorite books was Alice by Sara Flanigan. Every once in a while, I get a moment to myself, and I typically chose to take a bath while reading old books of mine. While re-reading Alice, I came upon a passage that explains perfectly how I feel about Olivia's eyes.

(the main character has come upon a doe giving birth to a baby) "I looked right into the eyes of the doe and my life ain't never been the same since. How can I tell you what it was like? How can you tell about the end of lightning? How can you tell about the stopping of rivers, or the turning off of the night? What's to say? Right in them big liquid, sad and wise, dark eyes was the story of Life. And the story of God, and the story of Love. I seen a picture of Jesus once. He had blue eyes and I remember thinking it just wadn't right. The eyes was blank and pale and they didn't know nothing. And right then, right there in tthem quiet woods with the gentle sounds of nature all around me, I knowed if I could paint the eyes of Jesus, they would be just like that doe's."

sneak peek: Blake

So I got a call on Friday afternoon from a mom looking for senior pictures for her son. Pretty normal. Oh, he's a senior this year? And the pictures are due for the school on Wednesday?? :) I like a challenge, so I was game! And I'm glad I did, because Blake is actually a really cool guy!

We went up to Three Creeks park, which is where I had done some of Jeremy's portraits. Now, the weather, it was not on our side. Threat of rain was at every corner (and it actually started sprinkling at one point, but lucky for us stopped.) I hope you enjoy your pictures Blake, it was great to meet you!