Bobbing Along

Before the world went digital, we made scrapbooks. Well, I made scrapbooks. Lots of scrapbooks. Bookshelves of thick, chunky, dust-gathering scrapbooks. Like these:

It took hours to select which photographs to include and which to ignore. It took even more time to create categories and tags to explain what needed additional explaining. It was a labor of love usually accomplished during slow summer afternoons or bitter winter evenings while refereeing squabbles (theirs), overseeing homework (theirs), and nursing headaches (mine). And it all ended by 2005 when we became a family with a digital camera.

Those scrapbooks were the objects my children curled up with on days when they felt under the weather. Or on days when the weather kept them under, stuck at home and away from friends. The scrapbooks were duly pulled off the shelves when new friends visited for the first time. They were shared when old friends came by as well. These labors of love were loved. Still are, I think, in an old-fashioned sort of way.

As for labors of love, the same can be said of this blog which, however ignored it appears to be, is just a different way to collect memories. Just another way to share the stories and tell the tales (some short, some tall). It does take time (more than most can imagine) to accomplish it to my level of satisfaction, but I love doing this, this writing. And this sharing. I can only hope that years from now my family will dust off an old computer or its equivalent and revisit this site because this is the closest I will ever come to scrapbooking again.

Anyway, now that summer has shifted into fall and winter beckons, it is time (past time, some would say) to gather those memories of the previous few months, tidy them into a this little epic post the rest of which will be filled more with images than words (you’re welcome). I do love sharing these faces…

The Rooster, 8

The Peanut, almost 5

The Chick-a-dee, 3

Beanie, now 1

The Lu-bird, 6 months

More? Of course! I’m not about to leave you with just five, silly! This was the Summer of Popsicles and other Porch Snacks…

It was the Summer of Beaches, Barbecues, and Backyard Campouts.

And if there was one thing that defined this summer, it had to be The Great Bubble Wand Experiment. What began as a project for Camp Mombaba, became the best party game ever—possibly more fun for the ‘grown’ ups than their offspring. I must give a nod here to www.kiwicrate.com for this particular inspiration and to Son #1 for most of the bubble photos.

Whenever we gather, wherever we gather, Life is just crazy good.

Thanks for sticking around. More stories are on the way, but, for now, the studio beckons and I am heeding the call. xoxo