-- I took this photo out my back door yesterday afternoon. I love the way the scene seems to be hovering on the cusp between Fall and Winter. Our neighbors' trees have lost their leaves, but there are still a few apples clinging to the branches. The golden light of Fall is contrasted with the cloudy mountaintop, dusted with snow.
It's been unseasonably warm here , but then today when I was out doing errands, it snowed. Only for a couple of minutes, but still, it seemed a harbinger of Winter nonetheless.
-- Lucas just informed me that they had a discussion in class today about alcohol abuse. He learned the following statistics:
12% of 10th graders said they had drunk alcohol in the last 30 days.
36% of 9th graders said they had drunk alcohol before they were 10. 10!
I'm not sure why this discussion today, but sobering statistics, right? (no pun intended!)
-- Eva was unusually needy this evening. I swear her nose became completely congested during the last 10 minutes of my piano lessons.
Marc told her he was going out to see a movie and I thought she was going to lose it. I scooped her up to snuggle with her and offer her some medicine, and she told me she wanted to go to bed. At 6:50. And have nose spray. And read only one book. She must really be feeling unwell, because that is all largely unprecedented.
And speaking of unprecedented, she has slept in until 9:30 or 10:00 3 times during the last week! None of my children has ever slept that late, with the possible exception of teenage Max after a Scout campout. They're more the early riser types. Oh, and she also woke up at 4:30 and 5:30 during the last week, wanting to get up. What the?
-- I went to a viewing last night. A friend's mother died in her bed on Thanksgiving night. She wasn't sick, there were no signs other than a little extra tiredness perhaps. Her daughter is in shock, obviously, and will miss her mother terribly. Georgia was a wonderful lady, I quite loved her myself. But don't we all want to go as peacefully when it's our time?
I don't know if I want to have a viewing when I die. The few times I've been to them, I've found it disturbing. The person just looks so very different than he/she did in life, and I don't think I want to remember them that way.
-- Max submitted a photo that he took in Giverny last year for Reflections. (very cool macro shot of raindrops on leaves) His teacher marked him off for some unknown reason. He doesn't think Max crops enough, even though I think he has a very good artistic eye. We found out this week he was a Reflections winner! Take that, Mr. Busby!
-- I've been working on little Christmas gifts for my book club friends, as our Christmas book club is tomorrow night. I feel like I've been scraping the bottom of the barrel for gift ideas, what's up with that? This one was inspired by a project I saw once on Rebecca Sower's blog.
Long-time readers of my blog will know that I do not view myself as a creative type. I really do not have many ideas of my own, sadly. But I am a master at copying and adapting the ideas of others. (When I see ideas online that I like, I save a photo to my desktop and then put it in a folder called "inspirations".) Lest you think I came up with the cute stocking advent calendar on my own, let me direct you to Martha Stewart.
I wasn't kidding about miscellany.
15 comments:
a long time reader of your blog disagrees with you about your creativenes. i think you're amazingly talented.
i love your photo and your creative inspiration.
Give yourself a smack! What in the world? Why must we fight about this over and over again. Even if you are inspired by ideas you see elsewhere, you always put your own creative touch on them and they turn out beautifully. That's a definite skill.
Hooray for Eva sleeping more!!! That's exactly how it should be when kids are sick.
I think I am with you on viewings. I spent 2.5 hours at my grandma's viewing tonight and it was strange. She looked good actually, but it just seems like a bizarre custom.
I wonder if it's the same Mr. Busby from C.V.j.h, that I had for 8th grade photogrphy? if it is, maybe he was constipated when he made his critique..you never know in jr. hi.
Your stockings were stunning, by the way. I think of creative as someone who creates...which you certainly do. You create, and create, and create. It's quite impressive, really.
I love that your son broke out of the mold his teacher seems to have put him in. Good job, Max!
Hope Eva feels better. And continues to sleep in.
Your stockings are beyond cute. I used the same idea last year, and yours far exceed mine! You are creative!
Yea for Max. I never understood teachers that would put borders on creative classes like photography. It just makes no sense to me! The nature of creative arts is to put your stamp on it and make it your own.
Poor sick Eva, but I am glad she is sleeping like a champ.
I don't understand viewings. They make me beyond uncomfortable and I avoid them if possible. It just isn't the last image I want of a friend or loved one. No thank you.
I have come to learn that creativity doesn't always come in the form of an original idea. Taking someone else's idea and giving it your own spin is definitely creativity! Give yourself a pat on the back, everything you have made that I have seen on your blog has been extremely creative!
oh my, where to start with all of this???
with all due respect: another long time reader DISAGREEING WITH YOU :)
you are so creative and i love to see your creations. previously inspired or not!
you crack me up with the labels: love to read them at the end of your posts...
"take that mr. b" cracked me up!
feel better eva.
so sorry to hear of your friend's mother. can you imagine? wow. life is a mystery, isn't it?
and now the viewing issue: i have been to several different kinds and i think i would prefer a nice picture with me and my family displayed instead of an open casket. i don't know, i get the whole "closure" thing but at the same time, i would like to remember, and be remembered, as i was when i was happy/healthy.
we attended a viewing for a friend a few weeks ago. i haven't posted about it b/c i can't really verbalize it in the eloquent way deserving of my friend. she was a young mom of 3, only 42 years old and battled cancer for 6 short months. so quick. the last time i saw her she was "transformed" beyond recognition. it was just so hard to see.
her viewing was filled with happy pictures, through the years, and it was as upbeat as one of those things can be.
Sorry Michelle, but I must disagree with you about "not being the creative type." Even if you copy things, you still add your own flair and personality to it!
I don't care for viewings either. A friend once explained to me that a funeral home director explained to her that for some people, viewings help bring closure. Evidently, some people who are not able to see an actual body sometimes become paranoid later on in thinking that their loved one may not really be dead...I'm sure that's quite rare, but it makes sense. Just a thought, anyway.
Your photo is breathtaking!
I hope little Eva is feeling better.
I have been reading for well over a year and I view YOU as one of the most creative women I know! Seriously! Homemade grape juice? Gift tags?!, Journals, YW ideas, decorating, etc. Whether or not they are your original ideas - they are original in your sense of design and execution. YOU inspire me and I have a file to prove it!
I love the photo that you were able to capture at just the right moment.
Your stocking advent is darling!
Hope your little feels better quickly!
I'm sitting here, "Hear, Hearing" everyone else. You are, hands down, the most creative person I "know." So there. You make nothing into something ALL THE TIME!!
I too love your labels..."death" and "shortsighted teachers." I'm dying. (No pun intended.)
And I am soooo with you on the viewing thing. I've already told David exactly that. If he dares to have a viewing for me, I'm not speaking to him in the next life.
Your photo has me longing for a gorgeous fall with low hanging clouds. Unfortunately, all we have is sunshine.
And finally, can I say how very much I like children who will sleep in. I have one that does...and it is almost my favorite quality about her.
Wow, obviously I haven't been blogging alot lately. You've been busy. Congrats on the sick little Eva. I have a hard time wanting them to get well when they go to bed quickly and sleep in the next morning!!
I love the stocking advent thing. Those are adorable. I have no problem with copying great ideas. I have finally come to terms with the fact that if I'm not a creative genius myself, I can be happy copying those who are!
Congrats to Max on the Reflections photo. I am not a fan of teachers' subjective grading. I had a few like that, esp one at BYU that would correct my essays and draw red pen all over it when nothing was actually incorrect about it. It just wasn't her style. Way to show 'em Max!
Yes, I think you are not allowed to say that you are not creative. Even if you don't come up with an idea yourself, you have a way of executing them in a very beautiful way. Even the lunch you make for Jill on Creative Friday looks beautiful. So no more of that talk!
Hooray for Max! I loved your sticking it to his teacher. That had to feel great for him.
I'm with you on the viewings. I refused to go into the room at my grandpa's viewing, and several people were trying to pressure me into doing it saying I'd regret it. I'm sorry, but I don't want my last image of someone being cold and dead in a coffin. I'd rather remember the alive version.
I wish PQ would take some cues from Eva's new sleep routine. The girl is the earliest riser of the bunch, and she's also the noisiest of the bunch, and so nobody gets very much sleep these days.
Go Max! Luci had a similare experience this school year - she had to do a presentation on the life of a jellyfish. When The teacher asked her a question, Luci looked at her notecards before answering. Then the teacher took 10 points off because she had to reference her notecards. I felt like what the heack? Wht was Luci told that notecards were required if she wasn't going to be allowed to use them? Anyway, GO MAX!
I have been out of the blogging loop with all Kim has going on so I enjoyed your miscellany. BTW, the view at your house is awesome and I think you are exceptionally creative!
aren't you the one always telling me it doesn't matter where the ideas come from? You are a creative genius if I do say so myself. everything you touch is magnificent.
I don't think I want a viewing either. Since my brother died they are very hard for me to attend. The life is gone from the body and really I don't see the point, except I guess it's the only way some people can get closure. I prefer to remember them as they were...living.
First... your stocking advent thingie is the cutest thing I have every seen... I absolutely want to copy it (that is a little rare for me).
Heidi did such an awesome job celebrating Dave... I will never view funerals the same. There wasn't a public viewing... more like a party... it was great. There was a small family only viewing right before the funeral... it was heart wrenching to see a young man like that and watch his two year old blow him a kiss. I guess I don't feel like actually seeing them dead is closure it is a weird custom.... I think.
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