Castle in the Clouds

Ken walking Dexter; Terri walking Creeper; Kenny walking Roxy. It's almost time!  Winter is still holding on, refusing to completely concede defeat by threatening snow and frigid temperatures, but you can feel how close spring is now.  The air smells different.  The sun, when it's out, is warmer and the skies seem a little bit bluer.  Yes, spring is almost here.  With spring comes camping. Plans are already being made.  Our first trip is scheduled for mid-May, but friends of ours are looking to get their rigs on the road as early as April.  We were asked to join them but the ground in front of our pole barn is too soft to risk pulling the camper out of storage that early, so we declined. We have a number of people that we camp with throughout the season.  Our boys.  My dad.  Ken's sister and brother-in-law.  My sister and her kids.  My brother, sister-in-law, their kids, and my sister-in-law's extended family. A numbe...

I don't remember the year.  It was before we had kids but certainly not the same year we got married and went on our honeymoon to Las Vegas.  I was pregnant most of 1997, which really only leaves 1995 and 1996 as viable options. I don't know why we decided to drive out west for our first vacation. We didn't know anyone in the area and we weren't meeting anyone coming from the opposite direction.  I think it might have had something to do with Ken's dad having served in the Air Force in Colorado Springs.  Ken had heard all about his parents' time there and I think he kind of wanted a visual to go with the stories his mom and dad had passed down to him. Me?  I just love to travel.  When he proposed Colorado, I had no better idea and no reservations.  In fact, I was eager to visit the Rocky Mountains for the first time.  Books and photos can only do so much.  You sometimes just have to experience the world to truly appreciate it. Being new...

When I was pregnant with my boys I wanted what all mommies and daddies want: a healthy, happy baby.  Yet, if I'm being honest, I also wanted those babies to be just a little bit like me.  I wanted them to share my interests and enjoy the things I enjoy.  I wanted them to be readers.  I wanted them to love being read to and, when the time came, to find pleasure in reading for themselves. I wanted little readers, so I read to them. Well, I tried to read to them. Little boys can be difficult, especially hyperactive little boys like mine were. I remember trying to make reading at bedtime a routine.  KC was never the best listener.  Even when he was supposed to be winding down and relaxing, fresh from a bath and snug in his jammies, he was too busy to listen.  In between pages or even paragraphs, I remember tugging his monster trucks out of his hands and telling him to be still. KC never did still very well. He was busy.  Oh, so busy. ...

I love preserving old photos, especially those from my childhood. If you're wondering, I'm the short girl in front wearing the blue bibs and the pink shirt.  My hair is curly and short.  Not a good look for me.  Thank goodness the picture is mostly blurry and you can't see how truly horrible I looked in that particular hairdo. I'm standing with my cousins and my little brother, Jason; he's the baby that's being held up by my cousin, Lee Ann. Next to me, standing a few inches taller, is my cousin Michael Todd.  I have to put both names down because to many of us he's always been Todd.  Yet, there are a fair number of people that call him Mike now.  One of the perks of being a grown-up, I guess.  Todd (fine, Mike) is six months older than me. Me & Michael Todd in our younger years. Back to the original photo... Standing behind me is my cousin Tina.  In the very back, hidden by her big sister, is my cousin Angie. On the end, in the ...

I'm really trying to come up with regular content for this place.  Looking through old photos, it occurred to me that they are a great source of inspiration, each picture holding a fragmented memory of emotional significance.  Sharing those memories, as unreliable as they may be, is something I really think I'd like to do. So, with that in mind, I think I'm going to try to schedule a weekly Photo Inspiration Post.  I don't want to put any restrictions on this journey, so I'm not going to put any restrictions on how these posts will work.  If I want to include more than one photo, so be it.  If I want to create a slideshow or video, that's cool.  If the photos are older than me, that's okay, too, because I still have a lot of people in my life that might be able to provide some context.  If the photos are from that day or earlier in the week, that's not a problem either.  The only hard and fast rule that I'm going to follow is tagging the pos...