Shopping Cart Artist

There is really not a lot to interest a seven year old at the hardware store. If her grandparents are looking at paint samples and such things. Unless... you are a doodler. And unless you have a doodle book. Then you can sit in the shopping cart. atop a drop cloth, and doodle to your little heart's content.


I well remember when this little doodler was not so easily occupied. There was a time when she did not readily occupy herself. There are times, still, when she wants to be entertained but for the most part, she can and will, entertain herself.

And she is happy to do so.  Especially when she has a doodle book. Because she is a doodler.
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The way we feel about our babies

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Even more quotes

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More quotes

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Quotable

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Just happy

The grandbaby decided on a recent Saturday morning that she would learn to make coffee. She'd spent the night with us and watched with some fascination as her granddad made himself a cup of joe. She quickly talked him into teaching her how. She caught on pretty quickly and it tickled her to offer to make us a cup.
Though neither of us are particularly big coffee drinkers, until the new wears off, we may go beyond our usual single cup in the morning. That's because our little coffee maker says this new task just makes her happy.
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It was just the other day

Just the other day, I had a grandbaby. A beautiful grandgirl. I became a grandmother. My mother became a great-grandmother. I am certain it was just the other day.
How then, can the little girl pictured here be that self same little girl?
The Hub (her beloved "Granddad") and I took her to dinner last night at our favorite Italian restaurant between tumbling and dance classes. With her busy schedule, we take time with her whenever we can get it. Fortunately, she lives close by and because her Mom is generous enough to share her with us pretty often, we get a lot of time with her\
I should have noticed, then, how very much like a baby she has become. She's in the second grade now. She reads "chapter books" and is old enough to sit in the front seat now. She has lost more of her baby teeth than I can count. Still, last night, when I looked at her walking across the parking lot, she seemed like such a big girl that I convinced her to stop and let me take her picture.
I wanted to freeze this moment in time because if the next seven years go as fast as the past seven, I likely be looking up at her.
I will also probably be vowing and declaring, "it was just the other day..."


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I see you

I cannot recall ever thinking that my grandbaby was like my little sister. But last weekend, as we were waiting for our check after lunch, I looked across the table to see what you see above.
In that moment, all I could think (and all I think now) was/is how very much she is sometimes like her youngest paternal aunt.

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A rare sighting

Bird watching has been a something both the Hub and I have enjoyed since childhood. My grandparents lived at the edge of a thickly wooded area that sloped down to reveal a tree line where birds loved to nest and roost and light.
The Hub was a boy scout and loves the out of doors, so his interest came more naturally.
Years ago, when our children were young, we took them to St. Francisville, Louisiana to Oakley. It was there, in the woods surrounding the house, that John James Audubon did the first of his famous Birds of America.
From there, we went on down the Mississippi to New Orleans, just as Audubon did. We went to the Aquarium of the Americas and the zoo that bears Audubon's name. We bought our own copy of the book he is best known for in these environs.
We also bought a copy of a bird watching book. We logged the first entries in the book on that very trip. We logged the most recent one this weekend.
The Hub a



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Never can say goodbye

I am not ashamed to admit that I have worked to persuade my grandbaby that certain things are just to be loved.
Leopard prints, for instance. Handel's Messiah.
The works of Beatrix Potter. and most recently, Tolkien.
She is seven and a half and it was time she met the characters of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Especially while the last of the Hobbit trilogy was still able to be seen on the big screen.
She got all dressed up in the gold sequins and glitter that her Auntie let her pick out recently and there she watched the Company of Thorin Oakenshield in the "Battle of the Five Armies."
She loves Bilbo the best, she said. Mostly because she likes to say his name. Over and over.
Bilbo Baggins.
Bilbo Baggins.
Bilbo Baggins.
Sounds almost as if someone has worked hard to persuade the child that some things are just to be loved.






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Baby, it's cold outside (really cold)

I have never before described the weather as painful. Not even in the white heat of summer when we lived in Texas. Not even when we lived in Louisiana and one could seemingly cut the humidity with a knife.
Right now, though, "painful" is the best way I can describe it. It literally hurt last night to walk from my vehicle to my house.

pix for January posts (a preview)

I must admit, the previews at the movie theatre are something I am loathe to miss. I like them. A lot.
It occurred to me, then, that previewing pix for my upcoming posts might be fun.
So here they are: the pictures I intend to use for posts this month. See what you have to look forward to?!

Mary and Bert

These two are two of my favorites. In the history of ever. As I continue to contemplate goals for the year of our Lord 2015, some of their reason and logic seems to fit. I love the one above.
Here are some others:

Do you want to build a snowman?

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forward and back

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