photo journal

Our week at Little Eden Camp photo highlights.....

 Saturday...let the games begin.

Sunday....hymn sing

Monday....nature photo walk

 Tuesday...the gangs all here

 

 Wednesday...to dye for

 Thursday....talent show debut

Friday....a soggy parting

self-conscious

 

 "I'm feeling a bit self-conscious," Amy stated as we rested in the cool of the blueberry barn and I pointed my camera in her direction. Of course, she couldn't say much more than that as her family and friends have endured years of Amy poking her lens in their business. 

Safely hidden behind my own camera I sat back and enjoyed a delightful photo session as Amy, hands waving and eyes laughing, shared animated vignettes from her ESL grammar class at SVSU providing great entertainment for the afternoon blueberry crew.

finally four

Thursday was our fourth wedding anniversary. I planned my return trip from Michigan so that I would arrive home at 8 PM for an official anniversary greeting and then Jay would take off Friday and we would do something special together. 


But my best laid plans went to the mice shortly after I arrived at the Flint airport on Thursday afternoon and found there were mechanical problems that would prevent me from getting to my connecting flight in Cleveland. The airport ticket agent quickly shuttled me, along with several other passengers, via a taxi, to the Lansing airport to catch a flight to Chicago. 

We arrived in Lansing only to find the flight coming to get us from Chicago was also delayed due to mechanical problems. The man behind the counter figured the schedule change would most likely cause me to miss the last Phoenix-bound flight out of The Windy City along with any hope of seeing my husband on our anniversary. He gave me the option of returning "home" (now a further distance than when Grace dropped me off at the Flint airport) and coming back to try again on Friday, or flying Chicago to spend the night.  He explained that because the problem was mechanical (the airline's fault) and not weather related (an act of God) I "should" be given overnight hotel accommodations in Chicago). Not having much of a choice at that point, I went for the Chicago option and spent a couple of hours and the majority of the battery change on my tablet waiting for the puddle jumper to Illinois. 

We chased the sunset over lake Michigan as we flew west to Chicago.

When we arrived in Chicago it was 9 PM local time. My 8 o'clock Phoenix connection was well on it's way without me. The food vendors were cleaning their grills and closing up shop as I waited my turn in line at the busy customer service counter. I was given the opportunity to take the scenic route home via San Francisco and arrive in Phoenix at 8 AM on Friday morning. I figured moving westward rather than marking time in a motel room sounded like a good strategy so I took my food vouchers, (that were now only redeemable at Starbucks and the snack food shop) my almost 15 pounds of fresh picked blueberries, (an idea that seemed good when I was in the berry patch on Wednesday but now became questionable as their weight appeared to increase as I lugged them through multiple airports) and trekked to concourse B to for my next airport adventure.

There was quite a crowd waiting for the 10:30 PM cross country flight along with a number of  grumblers as we waited more than three hours with nothing but the flight monitor indicating that the plane we were waiting for had not yet arrived in Chicago. Finally we were told the plane was delayed due to the weather in Pensacola and the aircraft would arrive soon and as quickly as possible we would be loaded up and on our way.

The four and a half hour flight to the west coast was quiet and uneventful. I was thankful for a window and an open seat next to me that allowed me to rearrange and find comfortable napping positions. Local time when we arrived in California was somewhere around 3:30 AM. 

Food vendors were now beginning to open shop and I used the last of my food vouchers to purchase an orange smoothie and chocolate croissant while I waited for the 6 AM departure time. I found it a bit disappointing that I was in San Francisco (a city I had enjoyed exploring when Mom, Dad and I visited in 1988 for Aunt Merla's graduation) but would only see it through sea-salted windows. 
I thought of my dad again as I lugged my bags and blue-
berries through yet another maze of hallways and discovered a sign that referred to the building of a sandwich, a expression that he used regularly. 



At 6 AM we took off (as scheduled) for the last portion of this 5 legged adventure home.

Nineteen hours after leaving Midland; Arizona greeted me with beautiful blue skies splashed with wispy white clouds and a joyful reunion with husband and Lily Girl. 

After a nap, some headache medicine and several loads of laundry; we headed out for a movie and Mexican dinner to celebrate the completion of our fourth year of a very blessed and happy marriage.

golden hour

I

It feels like I have a million things to do this morning with company coming, packing, 50 pounds of berries and a full day of cleaning. But after reading in a photography book last night and again being reminded by Amy's Blog this morning I had to stop my hurried frenzy when I noticed that "Golden Hours" of photography had arrived. I set out the door with my camera and my faithful sidekick to see what I might capture while the sun was beaming gentle golden rays of light. 

(This one is actually sideways but I decided I like it better that way)

little bird

Sunday evening we drove across town to pray with Ben and Sasha in their new home. I had found some wonderful organic strawberries at my favorite discount grocery and made a raspberry/strawberry crisp to take with us. But I also brought along a box of fresh strawberries knowing that strawberries are one of Tessa's favorite foods. She sat on a stool in the kitchen as I washed strawberries for her. And along came Ethan wearing Jay's hat. He stood next to the stool with his head thrown back and his mouth wide open looking just like a baby bird waiting for a worm.

summer storms

We've had several rainstorms go through this past week. On Tuesday night we watched out the picture window in our bedroom as the mountain/desert scape was lit up again and again by flashes of lightning. Friday morning, shortly after I took this photo the sky opened up and poured down sheets of wet over the parched desert soil. Again yesterday afternoon the winds howled and the clouds let loose buckets of cool wet moisture. We have gone back and forth between opening up the windows and doors to draw in the Michigany-like air and then quickly closing everything back up and turning on the air conditioner when the sun breaks through and turns all that cool wetness into hot sticky steam.

paint week plus

Paint week was extended into a second week... 

and isn't finished yet...

It has been a multi-phase process. 

But let's begin at the beginning...

Phase One:

The need became apparent when we had a friend visiting recently whom needed a good sturdy lawn chair...I realized the mismatch of  folding lawn chairs I had didn't leave him much choice. Then I found a flyer in the mailbox advertising wooden Adirondack chairs. It seemed a good price and once Jay looked at several sights online he agreed. 

I took the pickup to town the next day to pick up a matching pair of chairs. Silly me, I could have taken the car as the chairs I wanted to purchase came neatly packed in a box along with the hardware and instructions I would need to put them together. 

Phase Two:

I started the primer outside in the shade but found the paint and heat were not a good combination. So the next day I moved the process inside the garage office area where the swamp cooler took the edge off the heat. All the individual pieces made for lots of back and forth, in and out. 

Phase Three:

Once all 62 pieces were primed it was time to make the big decision. I had been looking at painting ideas online (the trend recently is to paint Adirondack chairs bright, bold colors) pulling handfuls of color samples at the store and imagining in my minds eye, but I just wasn't sure. 

Then I remembered the color wheel my friend Becci had given me when we were scrapbooking together. It seemed just the thing to help with this decision. My problem, again, was the pale yellow of the house; a color to which I'm not the least attracted. In a previous post you may recall my brainstorm to paint the trim rather than the whole house (not that the trim is actually painted yet-but the idea is still there). With those two reference points the color wheel said I could use something from the orange family and create an analogous harmony. Orange; not a color I would have considered but I thought if I found something with a hit on red I might comfortable with the look. 

I decided that this time around I would only paint 31 pieces, in case I found I couldn't stomach the orange. 

Phase Four:

Two layers of orange, a day to dry and I was finally to the fun part....putting together my 3D puzzle. 

Between my spacial tendencies and the assistance of a power screwdriver I actually enjoyed this task.

 

Phase Five:

This is where you come in. Now we have one fully assembled, school house brick orange, sturdy Adirondack chair waiting for  you to come try it out.