Camper

Monday, Monday

If it's Monday, chances are you'll find me over at Focusing on Life. I'm there today and you can find the rest of the story behind this storyboard right here.

Connections of a Special Kind

Today you'll find me at Focusing on Life, where we're focusing on connections this month. Yesterday, however, we found some time for connections of a special kind.

Krista has been at a professional meeting since Thursday. Since we had Campbell for the weekend, we trotted up to Lexington yesterday to have lunch with Krista. Campbell has been missing her mommy something fierce, as you might imagine but both of them were all smiles when we got there.

We had a lovely visit but it was hard for both Campbell and Krista to say good-bye and to Campbell, her mother's return on Wednesday still seems like it will take forever. We're all happy, though, that this will be Krista's last out-of-town gig with her present company, next week she begins a new job here in our hometown. We're all super excited but I'll let her tell you about that in her own post.

In the meantime, I'm reflecting on the special connections mothers and daughters have: Krista and I have such a connection and she and Campbell have a special connection. I might add that Campbell and I have a special connection that I cherish immensely, too. She truly lights up my life.

I hope you'll join me today at Focusing on Life to hear more about my thoughts on connections.

 

August 27 - August Break

One thing I never get tired of in Central Kentucky is the beautiful horse farms with their wonderful horses and horse barns. Spring time in particular is a real treat as you drive through the farms and see the foals and their mothers. Breathtaking.

Last Saturday, Peepaw and I took a trek through horse country in search of barn photos for my post today at Focusing on Life. If you'd like to read more about it and see even more wonderful photos, I hope you'll visit me over there.

Christmas in July

Well, not really but over at our collaborative blog, Focusing on Life, my friend, Terri, told a lovely story about one of her son's favorite recipes and invited each of us to tell our story in the Linky Party at the bottom of the post. This is my story.

When Krista was just a young girl and we first started celebrating Christmas in our own home instead of making the 600+ mile trek to my parents' home, we knew we needed to develop our own traditions. One of the first to evolve was our Christmas Eve Tea.

Since it was our custom to attend Christmas Eve service at our church at 5:30 in the afternoon, we needed a quick but delicious and festive dinner to have when we returned home, usually with our tummies growling. Because of my British roots, I came up with the idea of High Tea in the best British tradition.

Years later, Krista told me this is her favorite holiday tradition and so we do it year in and year out. It has become more sophisticated with each year. One of our favorite recipes is the orange cranberry scones that I began making just  a few years ago.

I will tell you that putting together this festive tea party is a lot of work. I plan for weeks and bake and cook for at least two days. But it is truly a labor of love. And ... possibly my favorite family tradition as well.

Happy Holidays!

I Remember ...

What are your earliest memories? Mine are of sand and water. Growing up as I did near the ocean, my first memory is of the beach. It was a shaky start to what became a life-long love affair with all things coastal ... except hurricanes.

Even today, my favorite vacation is hands down a coastal destination. Most often our family makes the trek from central Kentucky to the coast just south of Charleston, South Carolina, to hit our favorite beach: Kiawah Island.

Last week Campbell and I revisited some of her Kiawah memories as we looked at the photo books that I created for her for just that purpose -- remembering our family beach vacations. We've even planned our activities for our next Kiawah get away, which, sadly won't happen before next year.

All this reminiscing took my mind back in time to my growing up years and all the hours I spent at the beach with my cousins. If you pop on over to Focusing on Life, you can read my post for today and find out "the rest of the story".

Don't grow up too quickly, lest you forget how much you love the beach.

                                                                                     -- Michelle Held

Pool Fun

Photos taken with iPhone Marble Cam app.

Do you like swimming and water sports? I grew up in a family that loved all things “water”. The first half of my childhood was based near Long Island (New York) and we were frequent visitors to the ocean. Indeed, my earliest memories are of the beach.

Sadly, we are landlocked in Kentucky so we have to settle for pools and lakes. So, last week I took Campbell to the community pool to meet two of her friends and their mother  to play, swim and cool off.  And, of course, I had my trusty camera in hand to record the day’s fun.

Here you see Ben doing some serious swimming.  I think he shows Olympic potential, don't you?

The big yellow slide that you see above was, by far, the hit of the day. This is the first year that the girls have gone down the big slide and they couldn’t get enough of it, not to mention that they’re both very proud of themselves.  (The face you see on Campbell in the photo below is one that was repeatedly often during the course of the day.)

In fact, it was so much fun, Mom had to get in on the act. I think she was a really good sport, don’t you? But then it was a really hot day ...

And I have no idea which one of them went under this whitewater but my hunch is it was Ben because the girls worked very hard to keep their heads out of the water.

These days, I prefer to walk around camera in hand taking pictures rather than lollygagging in the water. In fact, I usually end up in the shade. Different strokes for different folks and all that. But I will tell you I am tempted by what I call The Mushroom.

Not only do I think it would be great fun to get under there, I think it would be even more fun to have a waterproof camera and take a photo from the inside looking out rather than the outside looking in.

I know many of you are experiencing a very hot summer as we are this year. What fun things do you to do cool off and escape the heat? If you need more ideas, you might join me at Focusing on Life  today where I continue to muse on "water".

Livin' Easy

I'm Livin' Easy over at Focusing on Life.

Care to join me?

In Focus

Please join me today at Focusing on Life where we're introducing a new feature and you can join the fun!

Sharing at Focusing on Life

 

I'm posting today at Focusing on Life. Please stop by and say "Hello."