where was the camera?

I have said many times in response to someone's , "don't forget your camera", "Would I forget my arm? At my recent stay with the two boys in SF I did indeed remember my camera. I even got some great shots of them in their PJs, playing indoors, racing and squabbles. But we went out to the playground this morning and I walked over with them without the camera. In fact, I did everything with them today without even thinking about my camera. While I was sitting at the park with them, as they dug in the sand, swang, ran on the equipment, slid down the slides on the most perfect of fall mornings I thought, Oh no. I don't have the camera. I missed some perfect shots: The two boys, backs toward me, heads together, Sunlight highlighting Phin's gold curls, and Isaiahs' long legs, digging in the sand; or Phin's first brave slide down the twisty tunnel slide, his grin as wide and bright as the morning; their rolling, running laughing joy as they raced through the field in front of the park. I decided these were the pictures that were going to have to stay firmly in my memory instead of on the computer or the printed copy. Every precious second of these boys joy I would have to capture in my mind's eye.
They are the best pictures I've ever taken.

Making the News

Now here's some scary stuff! I made the front page of the daily LeMars Sentinnel. So here's what they know about me and the link to the article: http://www.lemarssentinel.com/story/1463744.html

Don't tell them the rest of the story! I will be starting down there on Monday, Oct. 6. Finishing out at Orange City has been bittersweet to say the least. Sometimes I wonder what makes me think I am up for this. Change in my life is a struggle. But there's no looking back now.

Random Things

Hey I got tagged by Amy over at Pretty Shiny. 6 random things about myself and tag 6 more bloggers. Fun! Here are the "rules":


1. Post the rules on your blog
2. Write 6 random things about yourself
3. Tag 6 people at the end of your post
4. If you're tagged, DO IT and pass on the tag
1. my very first paying job was hoeing weeds in a northrup king test plot beanfield for $1.25 an hour. Lots of money, but I earned every single penny of it. I hated it and knew after that that I was not going to do hot hard physical labor for the rest of my life!

2. I once felt sorry for someone who was workng at a library. Smug too, thinking there was no question that as a teacher I had the better job. I was really wrong.

3. My favorite TV show when I was a kid was "The Big Valley". Remember I was a horse fan. Lee Majors was pretty good to look at too!

4. The scariest thing I ever did was to ride in a taxi cab in New York City on a Sunday morning. It was like flying low through canyons at 60mph.

5. My encounter with fame included shaking hands with Chuck Connors and Johnny Crawford. It was my grandfather who drug them over to us (my cousin and I) introduced them and said something to the effect of "these girls are big fans of yours and they'd love to shake your hand". So they did. We did. My cousin promised never to wash her hand again. Should check on that sometime!

6 Things I won't ever eat (knowingly) sushi. octopus.rocky mountain oysters.bugs-chocolate or otherwise.tripe. pawnhoss and other really odd pennsylvania dutch foods.

Here are my tag-ees :

the K-band

there and back again

where's melissa

all in a days work

And any one else can join the fun...

Growing

Here is a boy who is growing by leaps and bounds. He is already old enough for AWANA! (church children's club) That's such big step. Here is a boy who is just waiting for his feet to be size 13 or 14. Given the rest of the family... who knows?! Here is a boy who is starting to read. That is amazing. And exciting for his book loving grandma. Here is a boy who is coming to visit soon and will have to help grandpa with his new garage. Won't that be fun and entertaining.

Biking

Our small group went for a beautiful Saturday afternoon bike ride on the trails in Sioux Falls. It was a beautiful day for it! Have I said how much I enjoy this sort of thing? I really enjoy this sort of thing. The part of the trail that we were on was the prettiest. Everyone else was out there enjoying it too. After the 16 mile (maybe only 12 for some) we went to the Phillips St. Diner downtown with the rest of the city of Sioux Falls for some good grub. However, on a side note, we did miss out on getting to see our grandsons. I think we disappointed them, in fact. O bother. Not to worry, we'll just spend the afternoon with them today.