Fast-Forward Thru the Early Summer

 The prettiest summer lilies I've ever seen in the yard of a run-down house near the Kankakee River on one of the only long bike rides we had in 2011...

 FlowerGirl all tired, silly and still excited after her dance recital....she's a ham....

The Gardener's oldest granddaughter enjoying her birthday with her cousins at Grandma's house....that's a very old family heirloom rocking horse she's playing on....

 FlowerGirl's mommy fell in love with a puppy when they were on vacation and they brought it home....

My yard was full of lovely butterflies last summer, I hope I see even more in 2012!

The Christmas Fiddle Concert....

...this time last year, our friends visited; as I posted the photo of our favorite fiddler, I lamented that you could not hear the music too.  So this year, we made the room all Christmas-y and video-ed the music. He's about to graduate from HS, trying to decide which great school he wants to attend next year!

BlueRidge Parkway and Roanoke, VA

 ...a scenic photo and spectacular view around every bend on the BlueRidge Parkway, even in the early Spring...

 ...Roanoke, with it's active railroading, rail-related museums, interesting old brick downtown was a fun day of photo hunting for me (some call it "swiping souls").

...my hands-down favorite people-in-action catch of 2011. One photo click apart, the contrast of decades of age difference, and modes of wheeled conveyence---in 50 years, will one of the boys in the top photo be in the same position as the elderly gentleman in the lower photo, I wonder? Only the Lord knows.

A Child's Wish for Christmas or Molly Gets the Last Word...

Here's the set-up for this episode, as told by the Twins' funny Daddy on FB

1. They live in a home full of Tattlers

2. Molly's brother Micah has a Santa Claus Placemat at the table

3. The Twins like to use kitchen utensils and implements for un-food purposes

and

4. Miss Molly has not completely learned to pronounce her "R"-sounds yet.

So, while Dad is fixing one of the kids a snack, the Twins are at the table.

Dad hears Molly yell: "Daddy, Micah is fo'-king Santa on the table! Make Micah stop fo'-king Santa!"

So, all ye People of Earth, heed the words of this innocent babe and for Goodness Sake,

Stop Fo'-king Santa and just Have a Merry Christmas!

Seven Springs Farm, Check, Va....

...Hubsy needed garden supplies for the coming season, so we stopped to purchase them at this small commercial farm in the remote Virginia hills. While Hubs selected his items and the young men loaded the car, I naturally prowled around finding visions to take home.....

Charlotte, NC...

 ... a city of many neighborhoods, full of parks for playing children....

lovely, picturesque homes surrounded by lust flowering greenery in spring....

 and a relatively new, sparkling glass "downtown" with lots of new condo and apartment homes nearby.

I Need to Hurry with this Review of 2011...

 ...The great snow blizzard of 2011...one of my favorite of the neighborhood homes....

 ...a warm-looking sunset in later winter....

...a good catch: deer leaping a fence on an early spring afternoon in Fox River Grove, IL...

...a pretty shot of a comuter train crossing a rail bridge over the Fox River that day....

...a month or so later and hundreds of miles away in Charlotte NC, a strange site frozen in time: a young man and woman parading along quickly in this unusual formation: I wish I'd been able to get a front view of the couple; she acted as if he was not there, she was not distressed even with his arm at her neck. It was like a vision from a strange dream. I can still hear his heavy footfalls.