let's talk tiny feet and purple boots

Don't you just want to nuzzle these toes?

The adorable sweet Janey just realized somebody got some purple boots and it wasn't her...

But seriously, who wouldn't love purple boots?

And seriously, who couldn't love this beautiful girl?

and i thought she looked just like her mom

I can see so much of Jessie in Janey sometimes, but...

I'm thinking otherwise after seeing this photo of her dad...

fresh from the bathe

if you look closely you might see her freckles...

and you might see her two little brand new teeth..

warning to gentle readers who have aging eyes

Beware if, while vacuuming the dining room, you spy a pea-sized crumb of that delicious devil's food cake you made a day ago, lingering on the dining room tablecloth, begging you to snatch it up to enjoy that last little morsel. If you have the aging eyes, don't fall for it, because it is a trick. It is not going to be a yummy taste of chocolate, but instead a dried out piece of shephard's pie that was really tasty the day before, but not so much now, especially when you expected moist, delicious chocolate cake.

Just trying to help, that's all.

at long last

A few of the pictures from New York--

This is view from the little window in our hotel room and the view through the big window in our room on the 22nd floor of the Marriott East in Manhattan. We got this view for only $499+taxes per night. So glad the company sent me to a conference at this hotel...

This is the view from our window at night--if you looked carefully you could see the Chrysler building--

Yeh, not quite the same as the one I posted here

And, finally, a pretty good photo of Jack and me at the Yankees' game. (I think I figured out the best angle to be photographed from--high above my head--can you see how thin my neck looks? Or maybe it's just that I don't have on my glasses right now...)

Anyway, see that happiness on our faces? I think this was the best vacation we've ever had together.

Jack would probably say that his favorite vacation was the first time we went to a NASCAR race--it was in Phoenix and we got on a 7:00 am flight and drove our rental car to the track as the sun was rising over the mountains of Phoenix. We could hear airplanes flying overhead, and since we couldn't see them, we figured there must be an Air Force base nearby. We walked from the parking lot, entered the gates, and headed up the steps of the grandstands. While Jack is pretty good at containing his excitement, I am not, and I seem to remember skipping and twirling and dancing and squealing and giggling my way up the stairs. As we reached the top of the stairs, I swear I heard the music from Days of Thunder swelling and growing and we looked down at the track with that music and the beautiful sunrise to realize that the sound of jets was really the sound of those 700 hp engines speeding around the track--and they were only going at practice speeds! It was one of those moments that stay with you forever, like when your kids are born. And then another one of those moments occurred when I realized that the black #3 car was right in front of me, in the pits, less than 20 feet away and the guy I had been watching race on tv for almost 20 years was sitting in that car. I still get the chills just remembering it.

Okay, so maybe Jack was right, Phoenix was the best vacation, but we had a pretty good time in New York too.

staff meetings--yeh it happens

Just wondered if any of you, internet, have been in a recent staff meeting in the legal department where you work and noticed that the top boss attorney was tapping his green tea bottle on the table right next to the conference line phone, which from past experience you know makes it hard to hear on the other end of the phone, so you whispered in your stage whisper, 'stop banging on the table so Jennie can hear the call on her end of the line,' and the top boss attorney said, 'what?' and you said a little louder, in your school teacher voice, 'STOP BANGING JENNIE!' and immediately, even before the last syllable left your mouth, knew that you had just said the most inappropriate thing in the world, the thing that the three men in the office at the meeting could not stop laughing at, all the while getting more and more red in the face, even giggling minutes later and again later throughout the meeting, knew that you said the thing that caused Eileen, the very gentile, southern belle, to leave the room to hide her blushing face and weeping eyes, and one of the men, trying to help you feel better, said it wasn't as bad as the time in his church that a woman became very emotional during her talk and apologized for being such a big boob and the next speaker, a man, said don't worry about the crying, sister smith, we all love big boobs?

the constant change in the gardens

There have been a few changes of late in the gardens. After all, it is autumn--noticeably cooler in the mornings, warmer in the afternoons, darker later in the morning and sadly, darker earlier each evening. The blooms of summer are going to seed, their leaves are drying and will be crispy before long. On a recent trip to the cabin property, Jack and I noticed that the aspens are bright yellow, the maples are flaming red, and the oaks are still green. I've spent several hours at dusk this week trimming back the perennials--daisies, coneflowers, russian sage, salvia, lavender--and Jack and I spent a couple of hours one evening pulling up the blessed sunflowers that were started by one seed dropped by one bird. There are large piles of trimmings and sunflower stalks around the gardens that need to be gathered and composted. I still have half a dozen perennials to plant and several others to divide and move about the gardens to fill in bare spots. There's also a new bed that I finally found the time to clear out and prepare for planting, but I can't seem to settle on a plan for that space. If it doesn't come to me before the snow flies, I'll have all winter to think about it. There are pine needles and leaves to gather and mulch to put down. Like a child in the evening, my gardens need their dinner, their cleanup, and a warm blanket for the long night of winter.