5 weeks, 5 photos, 5 words or less.

Flowers, birds and snow.

Best Buds.

Self portrait success.

Art closet makeover.

Momma Bird.

Here comes the sun. It's alright.

2/11/10

                                                                            9/27/09

Dandy Mandy Studios

Double Christmas

Raven and Homer were busy dogs this year. Between posing for our Christmas card and helping Santa at the 11th hour, they barely had time to romp in the snow. We celebrated the Winter Solstice/ Christmas on December 20th at my parent's house. Dad won the 2nd annual game of Apples to Apples- it was his first victory. Ever. Fresh snow fell on my parent's land. Isn't Mother Nature a talented artist?



On Christmas Eve morning, Andrew and I loaded our sleigh with gifts, luggage and dogs. Ellicott City was under about 18 inches of snow and it made for a chilly Christmas Eve service. Jimmie was zonked from all the excitement on Christmas morning, so I let him nap while I photographed him. Sorry Jimmie, and thanks for being such a cooperative subject. The long weekend was packed with food (too much food!) and visits (not long enough!) with good friends. Our honorary nieces and nephew are really growing and turning into wonderful little kids. Taylor's and Tasch's- please hit the pause button to keep your kids in this phase. Really. They're changing too fast for us! Our trips back to Maryland never seem long enough. Even when we plan an extra day or two, we feel like we missed out on a visit with someone. Hey, psssst... come see us in Ohio!


Oh, one last zinger to keep you laughing till next time...
We think Anna and Sonja are responsible for trying to shuffle the Apples to Apples cards. Pony didn't want to play, so the girls went MIA.

 

Thanksgiving Week and other November Morsels

Has it really been 2 months? Wow, my blog is dusty.

November was a mix of highs and lows in our house.
After a freak accident on October 28th, our beloved grey cat Sonica passed away on November 1st. She lived hard and fast, she was fearless and scared at the same time. She never let us snuggle with her, but we often found her mooshed up against Buster in a sunny patch on the floor. Buster still doesn't seem to understand that she's gone. Sometimes I am positive that he's asking me "Well... When's she coming home?" I just pat his fuzzy orange head and say that we miss her too.

We added one more dog to our house the Friday before Thanksgiving. Just kidding! We were dog sitting for the folks that adopted the stray puppy that we had on New Year's Eve. They got married earlier in the month, and took their honeymoon over the holiday weekend. We had 3 dogs for about 10 days. I walked dogs 100 times. I counted. I had a chart to keep track of who did what outside and when. Laugh all you want, but there were no accidents in the house!

  

Thanksgiving day, everyone came to see us. Mom and Dad, Bree and Todd, Marissa and her one-eyed chocolate Lab Cammie. Cammie has springs in her feet...

This dog never stops moving. Ever. Picture it.














Bree and Todd posed for a classic Miller family portrait, and we hadn't even opened the wine. Yet.

Despite all this insanity excitement, Wrigley/ Wriggles/ WrigRee/ Pooka found a safe place to supervise from. On the very tippy top of my kitchen cabinets. She's the only cat that can get all the way up there, and she seems mighty proud of her newest trick. Little rascal. She almost landed in my pancakes one morning!

Raven and Homer say 'Goodnight'.

A real vacation

Mom and I spent 4 nights down in Naples, Florida. The weather was almost unbearable, 90° and 327% humidity. My glasses fogged up everytime I went outside. Most of our days were spent lounging around in our jammies till early afternoon, watching old Audrey Hepburn movies and eating cheese and crackers. Oh. And we drank wine. The good life, I tell ya!

On Sunday, our last night, we went to watch the sunset at Naples Pier. I took over 200 pictures. None are Photoshopped (I don't even have Photoshop!) It was one of the most amazing sunsets I'd ever seen.

Do you see what I see in this one? A hood ornament in the clouds!

Enjoy!

In the days and weeks following September 11th, 2001, I drove around my hometown and took pictures of every American Flag that I could get my camera focused on. Here's one of my favorites. Finding the flags on every home and building made me look at my country in a different light. I'd never seen so many people  show how proud they were to be Americans.
This is in Old Ellicott City, Maryland.

9-11-01

Grandpa said "These colors don't run!"