Do You Realize?

Photo Hunt Saturday--Thirteen

This week's theme is: Thirteen. If I had been thinking and not working so hard this week, I could have done something creative with it, since I was born on Friday the Thirteenth, and thirteen is now one of my favorite numbers. But this works, too. This photo is of Youngest; he is thirteen years old. In the interest of full disclosure, I didn't take this photo, but I own copyrights to it. I thought it was appropriate not only for today's theme, but to put a face with The Disorder. Sometimes I have to remind myself that Youngest is so much more than his disorder. He is intelligent and funny, very creative, and he is the most genuinely generous and giving child I have.

Photo Hunt Saturday--Twist(ed)

I wish this week's theme, Twist(ed), had come a couple of weeks later, so that my subject would be in full glory. My star jasmine's twisting tendrils are trained on metal obelisks on either side of our front door. In late spring/early summer, it erupts in tiny white star-shaped flowers whose visual beauty are surpassed only by their olfactory marvels. For a month, we are treated to the luscious smell of jasmine every time we pass through our front door.

One of these plants was, for all intents and purposes, dead about three years ago, the effects of a particularly nasty winter. I dug it up and hauled it to the nursery, where they pronounced it dead. Undaunted, I went home and replanted it and nursed it back on its long road to recovery. Today, it is only slightly smaller than its counterpart across the path.

In the first photo, you can see the vines twisting on their support. In the second, if you look carefully, you'll see the little bird's nest which has been built by some enterprising little feathered friend.

Photo Hunt Saturday--Glass

This week's theme is: Glass. I took this photo in October of 2007, when Eldest's band placed 10th in State. They performed at the Alamodome. Their days were packed from early morning to late at night. This is the Alamodome on one of those late nights. That's a lot of glass!

Photo Hunt Saturday--High

This week's theme is: HIGH. As I searched through my photos and giggled like a schoolgirl at the possibilities of representations of the theme, I decided against a single photo. Our trip to San Francisco in October 2003 presented so many opportunities to express the word "high." I only wish we'd had our digital SLR at that time. All our digital photos were taken with a little Nikon Coolpix. I want to go back with a "real" camera and shoot it all again; I really did leave my heart in San Francisco.

While we were there, we bicycled with Middle and Youngest across the Golden Gate Bridge, high above San Francisco Bay.

At the Palace of Fine Arts, there are angels high atop the columns.

The columns themselves are impressively high. (Note the people in the photo for size reference.)

We visited Muir Woods, named for John Muir, the preservationist who founded the Sierra Club. The Coastal Redwoods there are so ancient and grow so high, it is awe-inspiring. A quick bit of trivia about Coastal Redwoods: Under ideal conditions, they can grow 2-3 feet annually in height, though under extreme stress may grow a single inch annually.

No trip to San Francisco would be complete without a trip to the infamous Haight-Ashbury district. Although gentrification has taken a big toll (Ben & Jerry's now occupies THE corner), this was once the bohemian heart of San Francisco. I'm sure many a high of an herbal nature has been successfully achieved here.

Photo Hunt Saturday--Metal

This week's theme is: Metal. I took this photo on the University of Texas campus in Austin, just this month.

Photo Hunt Saturday--I Spy

This week's theme is: I Spy. I love finding the extraordinary in the seemingly ordinary things. I took both of these photos in Utah in July 2006. I have used the first one before, but I love it, so I'll share it again!

Look closely. I spy a teeny tiny little red spotted frog. Do you?

In the second photo, I was amazed to realize that I spy a man who looks a little like Jesus to me. See him?

Photo Hunt Saturday--Different

This week's theme is: Different. I took these photos after the two snowstorms we just had, which is very different for Texas weather. For five years, we had snow once every single year we lived here, then it stopped. Our last significant snow was Valentine's Day of 2004. I'm posting two photos this week, which is different for me; usually, I'm a one-photo gal.

The first photo is of Marshmallow in the snow. This photo really captures the intensity of her two different colored eyes. (You can click to enlarge it.)

The second photo is of my boys, whom I refer to here in my blog as Middle and Youngest. It never fails to strike me how very different they are from one another, in every possible way. I remember when the tags in their clothes were as close in numbers as their age. They are only sixteen months apart, but they are farther apart physically and emotionally than they have ever been in their lives.

Meowy Monday--Taylor Mae

Before we get to Meowy Monday, I want to mention my Blogiversary Giveaways again. Today, for Meowy Monday, I'll be drawing a random name from my comments to give away a bag of Feline Greenies and a can of Pet Promise cat food. (My kitties love it. It has no rendered animals, no factory farmed animals, and no animal by-products, like fur or toenails, in it.) You have to comment to be included, though!

And now...

Since you've already met all four of my beautiful kitties, I now get to have guest ambassadors for Meowy Monday. This week's guest is Taylor Mae, one of my aunt's kitties.

Mimi has two kitties, and they look exactly alike. How, then, you may wonder, do I know that this is Taylor Mae (and not Pepper Ann)? Because she let me take this photo. Pepper Ann only tolerates men, for whatever jacked-up reason, and I don't qualify.

My cousin is a veterinary technician, and she is always bringing home injured, abandoned, or otherwise misfit critters (witness Woody the Woodchuck, who weighed at least 15 pounds and had not a single hair on his pink ass). She has the sad, unfortunate job of going to help with her county's euthanizations once a week; if I'm not mistaken, Taylor Mae was in the queue that day. How Beth chooses which animals she takes home to the Farm of Misfit Critters, I'll never know. I could never choose; I want to save them all, even though I know I can't.

Love a stray; neuter & spay!

Photo Hunt Saturday--Party

Before we get to today's Photo Hunt, let me remind you of my Blogiversary Giveaways. Today, I’ll be giving away a CD with TEN of my favorite original photographic images that you can use for your computer desktop or screen saver. A few will probably be ones you've seen on a previous Photo Hunt Saturday, and a few others will be ones you've never seen. But, you can be assured, they will all be lovely! Remember, you have to comment to be included in the drawing.

Today's Photo Hunt theme is: Party. I love this photo of the little impromptu party that Sapphire decided to host... hehehe. She definitely has friends of all size, shape, and color, just as we all should!

Photo Hunt Saturday--Wooden

This week's theme is: Wooden. I had a photo all picked out, but I changed my mind and decided to feature a guest photographer this week instead: my daughter (whom I refer to here as Eldest). She just got accepted into the Fine Arts program at the University of Texas at Austin yesterday; she's going to be a photographer. This is her (taken in July 2007):

She took this photo at Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom in July 2006. It is part of the Tree of Life.