Different Pumpkin Fields - One Year Appart

Pumpkin Patch - Indiana - Hubers - 2010
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Pumpkin Patch - Kentucky - Gallrein 2011

Got Some Air

We went on vacation to the Blueridge Mountains in Virginia near the Mountain Lake Biological Research Station. Got some air.

Birthday Hideout

• Nine bales of straw
• Seven balloons
  
• Three bamboo poles
• Two bed spreads
• String
• One three year old girl
• One five year old friend
• Me
  

Caterpillar Cake Walk

For her birthday Ruby requested a "blue cake" and this is what that po gal ended up with. A caterpillar cake that Erin made and I helped decorate. Complete with caterpillar frass coming out the sound end of this north bound caterpillar. I gotta tell ya...frass goes over big with young uns. I think we're going to figure out a way to include frass in some upcoming cakes.

Morning Pool Party

This little puddle of a pool is a big splash with Ruby. This morning she brought her horses into the pool to clean them. Libby, Kiki, Pullman and Man-O-War. It's been a polite kind of summer and everything is growing lush.

A Fairy Moved Into the Mulberry Tree

A fairy recently moved into a cavity at the base of the mulberry tree. Just in time for Ruby's third birthday. She'll be excited to see that she has a playmate that is smaller than she is. She doesn't know this yet. We'll let her discover it for herself. I'll keep you posted. I can't tell for sure but it looks like the fairy constructed his/her abode from debris collected at the Falls of the Ohio. It looks like maybe that little donkey must have carried everything here from the falls. Poor little thing. It must be tired.

Asserting Independence

We went to a family gathering at Uncle Tiny's house and participated in a very down home celebration of the 4th. It was like I remember holiday celebrations being when I was growing up. I thought black and white would be the only way to capture it in all of it's nostalgic glory. The gals had a great time in the pool that Honey brought. Let's see...the food I remember included grilled corn on the cop, beef burgers, pork burgers, potato salad, baked beans, cole slaw, macaroni and cheese (2 kinds), hot dogs, the kind of cheese that comes individually wrapped, Erin's great cake with chocolate/coffee/cinnamon/coconut milk icing, and... well, you get the picture. The old car is a Chevy nomad. Quite cool. Ruby's older cousins were into taking photos and Ruby had fun being a model. She loves her cousins.

Falls of the Ohio

Visiting the Falls of the Ohio is like stepping back in time in more than one sense. It's a world famous fossil bed but it feels ancient in other ways too. And it looks like a boneyard with the white bleached trunks, branches and nibbins of wood that collect there. Some are huge trees complete with their roots. Ruby loves it because there are lots of treasures to find. If you want to get a really great sense of the place you should visit the Artist at Exit 0 blog that I have listed as "blogs I watch". That blog is one of the most extensive and interesting place-based blogs that I think exists.

Hull's Angels

"What did I hear you say about Dora the Explorer? You better watch your mouth or I'll kick your hiney." Erin and her sister were remembering back to days where they wore underwear on their heads. They figured it was time for their children to have the same memories. This resulted.

Options-Selection-Result

On Sunday, October 10th we took a family outing to Hubers. Not sure that trip will be on our yearly agenda. There was more that resembled an outdoor big box store than there was that resembled a farm. But Ruby had a good time. The final result is a fast molding pumpkin on our front porch. The weather is too warm to support longevity for this feller. This is Ruby's first Jack-O-Lantern.

Ruby on the Rocks

Were I to have my druthers, here is a partial list of materials I would prefer my daughter play with:
Wood
Wool
Stone
Sand
Bone
Shell
Water
Soil
Cotton
Iron
Rock
Leaf
There are surely more things. But the list of things I would rather not be in her life is much longer. And I can't spell most of them.

I Joined the Hipstamatic Crowd

I suppose there was a day when I would have pooh poohed an iPhone. But if I am to tell the truth, I like the photographic options it allows without a big ole bag full of cameras. We live in a brave new world. Now let's focus on getting it right.

Child*Chicken*Compost

Ruby has taken to liking letting the chickens out. And since the chickens like the compost pile, Ruby too likes it. Tis a joy to see all three in communication and healthy. The child, the chicken, the compost.

Ruby in Leaves

The maples along the entrance allee at Cavehill Cemetery provided this place for miss Ruby to play. I love that a place dedicated to death can bring such life to our lives.

Domestique

These were shot on iPhone/CameraBag/Lolo setting.
Back yard at the Professional Porch Sitters Union Hall
July 26 2009

Toots Toys - First Year

These five portraits of Toot's toys are a new project I have started to document my daughters life. None of these toys were purchased new. They represent the aesthetic we are looking for in things that we think are proper in a young child's life. They have each brought her joy. More than once. That's all a toy need do.

Grasping Water

Children must surely have a right to play in clean water. I sometimes wonder if Toot will grow up in a world where she will have a reasonable expectation to have children of her own that will be able to play in water. And I do mean play. Will clean water be plentiful enough for play? Let us hope so and then work to make it so.

Mop Junky

Toot has a thing for hair. Can't go to sleep without being in contact with it somehow. These are my girls as I'm leaving the house most mornings.

Water after Planting

Parenting has afforded me a few new gardening tricks.

1. Plant seed.
2. Place daughter astraddle planted seed.
3. Wait for five minutes of drool.
4. Repeat.

Gardening is slower this way. But the water content of drool is sufficient for initiating the germination of newly planted seed.

You may need to click on the picture to see the quantity of drool provided.

Mobility Envy

For the first time today at a family gathering I could really see Toot contemplating mobility as she watched an older cousin cruising around, showing off, entertaining the adults assembled. I could almost hear the notions in her head, thinking to herself; "I could do that. Look at how all those big people get a kick out of her. Just cause she gets around. I'm gonna do that too one day and then she won't be the bees knees. I can take her."