100 things # 31 I just found out that I'm going to be a grandmother...

for the first time!

Willow Tree

Mandy is pregnant, my baby is having a baby. She lives in Atlanta (that's such a long, long way from home). I know she will make an excellent mother and Kareem will be good to both her and the baby but it doesn't mean that I don't wonder how they are going to afford it and whether or not they are ready.

I guess there is no perfect time, if we had to sit around and wait for the perfect time ... not to many of us would have ever become parents. I've had a few days to get used to the idea and I'm starting to get more and more excited for her. I'm sure this won't be the last time I write here about the Grand Baby To Be.

100 things #30 I know that sometimes less can be more ...

but sometimes only more will do.

This weeks photo challenge "things that float" was a perfect opportunity to go for more. This is my second entry.

Floating Chihuly Art at Fairchild Gardens ...

More floating Chihuly art ...

Lilly floating ...

Floating Pelican ...

A boat that used to float ...

Floating leaf in Atlanta ...

Floating Man of War ... or many men of war

Floats that float ...


More floating floats ...

100 things #29 Sometimes when presented with to many choices ...

I choose to take them all. That's what happened when I read this weeks photo challenge. "Things that float."

This is the perfect opportunity to give a small sampling of the artwork from my sisters party decorating business, I'm going to do that here. There are also several random "things that float photos" I want to post in a separate entry.

These are definitely things that float.

100 things # 28 I worked with my sister for 5 or 6 years ...

when she was just starting her Party Decorating business. 15 years later she is still at it while me and people like me continue to slave away in the corporate world.

Today we trotted off in the pouring rain, across the campus of our local community college for a meeting at the small business development center and a much needed reality check.

Like so many successful small business, they are being challenged right now with having to make adjustments that will allow them to survive this economic storm. The meeting was successful, a black and white evaluation of what’s coming in and what’s going out and a new game plan is starting to evolve.

Decisions will be made on how to begin the transition of creating a new model for the business that will allow it to remain successful and will continue to give it’s 10+ full time and several part time employs/artists a job.

I love my sister and I am so proud of how hard she has worked to get where she is, this is one girl that is truly living her creative dream. It’s no secret that crunching numbers is so not part of what she does best … thank God for my brother in law Chris, without him she simply would not be able to do this.With an estimated half million in revenue anticipated this year, they have no choice but to fight the fight.

The photo above is actually her front door, I'll have to take you on virtural tour one of these days. Much fun and glittery things are found there.

I don’t tell my sister often enough just how much I love her and admire how hard she and Chris have worked to get where they are. My niece Brittney has recently graduated college and has become partner in the business, together I’m sure they can do what it takes. I love you guys.

100 things #27 Sometimes I’m so afraid of making the wrong choice…

that I will choose not to choose.

Luckily, David seems to have the same tendencies. Sometimes the two of us remind me of these two flamingos I photographed a while back. We look like we’re out shaken a tail feather, but actually we are just being really careful where we step.

Or maybe ... it’s the other way around, maybe all the careful stepping is really just our own imperfect funky flamingo dance, who knows?

100 things # 26 My cousins took me snipe hunting once ...

When I was about 10 years old, my sister and I went to Alabama to spend the summer with our aunts, uncles and all of our country cousins. Not so familiar with the hard work involved in country living, our cousins took much delight in teaching us Florida Girls the ropes. There was a lot to learn about helping on the farm; corn to pick, peas to hull and eggs to collect from the chicken houses and always the next meal to cook.


There were also a lot of fun things like catching fireflies and collecting them in a mason jar, tying a string to the leg of a June Bug and watching it fly around like a toy air plane, making corn husk dolls, blackberry picking, camping, homemade ice-cream churning, porch swings and riding lawnmowers.

One night Robert, Dale and Jeanese said that they were going to go snipe hunting in a few days and that if Theresa and I wanted to go they would teach us how to do it. For days they gave advice on how best to catch a snipe, and how to make the very best snipe call. We learned that a snipe is a nocturnal bird and had to be hunted at night. The excitement grew and the advice kept rolling in on best snipe hunting techniques.

The big night finally came and we were led to the woods gunny sack, a hickory stick and flashlight in hand along with the snipe calls that we had been practicing. This was also in fact my first experience with a barbed-wire fence. We were led to our separate posts and left alone in the dark to hold the gunny sack, eager to fill our sacks with unsuspecting snipes lured away from their nests by our well rehearsed snipe calls.

We stayed in the woods holding our sacks for what may have been only moments but felt like and eternity to a 10 year old. Needless to say we never did see a single snipe that night, as a matter of fact I guess no one has ever seen a snipe on a snipe hunt before. I can just imaging my good humored cousins standing close by rolling on the ground laughing at these Florida girls falling for this time-honored, country tradition.
Repost and comments from Rain 2004

100 things #25 In my wildest dreams ...

I would be the kind of artist driven to attend Burning Man.

For one week every year, 48,000 + artist make the journey to Black Rock to turn a prehistoric lake bed into a thriving metropolis of interactive art based on the concepts of both self expression and self reliance. I would so love to take part in this community.

I won't say anything more about it here because as their web site mentions ... "trying to describe what Burning Man is to someone who has never been to the event, is a bit like trying to explain what a particular color looks like to someone that is blind."
Click here to visit the Burning Man web site.

BTW ... I would be interested to know what your wildest dream might be.

100 things #24 I love the color purple ...

and I photograph it every chance that I get.


I didn't make it in time for the Round Robin "Purple" challenge this week, but not for the lack of something to post.

100 things #23 I want to wish bright light ...

amongst the darkest clouds, for a friend who seems to be feeling a little battered and bruised by circumstance at the moment. I also want to post the following message.

If your everyday life seems poor, don't blame it; blame yourself; admit to yourself that you are not enough of a poet to call forth it's riches; because for the creator there is no poverty and no poor indifferent place. - Rainer Maria Rilke

Because of the journaling, following and commenting process that takes place in this community, we occasionally have opportunity to witness each others deep and sometimes times dark thoughts that choose reveal themselves in our writings. That happened to me today as I read a journal entry of a friend (and you know who you are).

Enough said.

100 things #22 I'm not much of a poet ...

However I do like to write the verse for my own cards. Tomorrow, I'm going to a retirement party. Not sure how anyone can really afford to retire these days but Paulette will be saying so long to the post office after waaaaay to many years. This is the card I created just for her.