Pause

My friends and family are going through a lot right now. Life is precious and sometimes I am reminded of that when there is a little bump in my daily routine, like when one of my boys gets the flu or the dog gets an ear infection that won't go away.
But lately there have been big life changing events for loved ones. At times it's frightening but when I pause and re-center myself, I am reminded that the universe has bigger plans.

Even a tiny insect causes me to pause now and wonder as to it's purpose in this world.  Everything works together in tiny microsystems and at times I forget how important these beings are. Right now I am pumping Morphine into my friend while she sleeps. She just had emergency surgery last night but she will be fine. This I feel deep in my soul. My cousin however had to make a heart retching decision yesterday that I just don't know how or where to hold. She had to make the decision to take her husband off of life support system after only 48 hours of finding out he was sick.  No time to deal.... or talk..... or dream..... or think before you lose your life's best friend.  I'm am so sad for her incredible loss. 

"Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude."-Denis Waitley

Family Ties

Great Grandma Mary, all twelve cousins and Grandma Sophie at Lake Tahoe

There is

nothing

like

a big

Italian Family!

We celebrate together

and

share difficult times

together.

We vacationed together

at Lake Tahoe

and

sat in our parent's backyards

together.

Laughing, crying,

talking, sharing,

and sometimes

getting into trouble

together.

Twelve cousins,

from four

sisters.

Three each.

Our Grandpa Arturo

was the

head of this big family

but it was

Grandma Sophie

who brought us all 

together

through her

cooking, (always cooking!)

stories, smiles, hugs

and

love.....

Times were tough

and

money was tight

but boy did we

enjoy the

simple

pleasures

in life

TOGETHER !

The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things.

~ Henry Ward Beecher







Landing on my Heart.....

Our Son 

And he truly is a gift...

My son, Tyler is 21 today.  I remember the day he was born.  His two brothers were sent off to his Aunt & Uncle's home for the night.   He was born in the early hours of the morning and I could not wait to announce his arrival. You have a sweet new brother, son, grandson, nephew, ...I remember the nurse weighing him and measuring him, then giving me the tape measure with his length noted on it. Today we have a mark in his bedroom closet that announced his desire to be 6'2 and a baseball fireball.  He achieved that!  The doctor that delivered him was not my regular ob-gyn, but a young new doctor that looked like he just parked his surfboard outside and had come in to deliver a baby or two.  I had had a brain aneurysm four years previous to Tyler's birth so I was a little anxious about the strain. But he was perfect ..... and beautiful...  
Tyler was the easiest going of the three.  I guess he had to be since his two older brother's schedules dictated what Tyler and I wanted to do...but we went to baseball, soccer, field trips and such while Tyler slept and he was happy to just be with his brothers....

Always a smile on Tyler's face and always a "will you marry me mom" along with a bouquet of flowers that he had picked from bus stop in grade school down the lane.  

Tyler - I am so proud of you and I love you ....always.... happy birthday....mom...

  from  Beth at "be yourself....everyone else is taken"
http://www.moredoors.blogspot.com/

....and

 he is

truly a gift.

but don't get me wrong. he has not been an easy child to raise these past few years.

 not even close......

when our son was little

 he was very agreeable to our way of parenting and his love for life taught us how to live.

but

by the time he reached high school.  well honestly there were days i wanted to lock him out of the house and wish him luck.

four years

of broken hearts. tears. frustration. yelling. silence. head shaking. door slamming. grounding.

finger pointing. sleepless nights. blurry mornings.

and

now we are here

with a son who is finally on a new path.  finding his way. making us laugh again. talking for hours with us. working full time. winning back the love of a sister who didn't like him for a long time.

and

oh was he ever sick this weekend

when your nineteen year old son needs you to be with him in urgent care

two days in a row

you know he really doesn't feel good.

and

as i sat waiting with him.  taking this photo on my phone that he didn't see.

in my mind

he was 3 years old again suffering from another asthma attack.

he was 5 having an allergic reaction to peanuts.

he was 8 and having his head stitched up after cracking it open on the side of the pool.

he was 12having his finger tips

super glued back together after a firework exploded in his hand.

after a multitude of tests. we  still don't know what is wrong.

and

 today he's better.

he's actually better in so many ways.

and

his love for life

which he never lost.

even when life was ugly

is still tangible

i can't tell you how nice it is to have  our son back again.

My Boys

A friend recently sent me some old photos from our family vacations. I came across this one of me and my middle son, Jon. He was the kind of kid that should of been in the movies or at least commercials. Cute as a button, if I do say so myself! He had a "big" personality and thought outside the box. He was always thinking deep thoughts like "Exactly when did that cow lick me?" and after a few minutes of scratching my head, he explained that the girl who had just given him a haircut told him that he had a cowlick. He was about four at the time.
On another occasion when he was deep in thought, he asked "Just when did the world turn into color?" Mmmm....where did that one come from? When I asked him what he was talking about, he responded with "You know how it used to be black & white and now the world is full of color!". After discussing this with his father, Mr. B, we realized that he had seen old photo's and old TV shows (like I Love Lucy) which were in black & white. Makes perfect sense to me now that a smarty pants kid like this would think that the whole world was void of color and suddenly one day turned into full spectrum color just like in "The Wizard of Oz"!

Love you Jon-e-b......hope you're enjoying the challenges of college!

Rocking in the Real World

June and Lily  - my two nieces' daughters
June couldn't love Lily enough...her very own baby doll!





Easter Sunday....thank you to my dear brother, Tim and my incredible (and I do mean incredible!) sister-in-law, Donna for having the whole Crawford gang over to your wonderful home and beautiful garden for a relaxing day.....well at least for the rest of us...it was relaxing! It is amazing how having a few young children around, lift your spirits and gives you that pause of wonderment! 

Calvin and Tim dropping the Pinata

 "April in Paris" Rose.....from Donna's garden

Dad, me & Tim all in pale yellow shirts (unscripted!)

I was greated upon my return, by my garden

with a wonderful bloom of Sweet Peas, Lilacs, Wisteria, Roses, Iris, Climatis, Dogwood......



Dogwood




Bearded Iris



                                                

                                                  Climatis



However, after being home for a week now, I need to say how much I miss my traveling buds, Jackie and Syd. Both sisters and wonderful, fun, intelligent, creative friends!  Jackie got a "bonus" burlap dress for buying two coats.  It reminded me of the "I Love Lucy" episode when Ricky, Fred, Ethel and Lucy are all in Paris and the two girls want a "runway" dress but the guys suprise them with "designer" dresses and hats made of burlap.  Well after a good laugh, we left it in Paris!

And Sydney with her Parisian Flea Market "deal" that she carried over her head to get onto the Metro, then

spent two days and probably quite a few Euro's to bubble wrap, tape and wrap her purchase for traveling.  She carried it to the airport and had to go to several "oversized luggage" desks to transport it home.  Luckly she had found a discarded box that already said "tres fragile" on the box!  So determined and sweet!  Thank you both for such great memories and great times!



Sydney after 30 hours of travel and still a smile on her face at the airport



Family Easter

Remembering that the simple things in life are often times the best.  Enjoy your Sunday and those around you!

ALL I EVER NEEDED TO KNOW ABOUT LIFE I LEARNED FROM THE EASTER BUNNY
Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.
Walk softly and carry a big carrot.
Everyone needs a friend who is all ears.
There’s no such thing as too much candy.
All work and no play can make you a basket case.
A cute little tail attracts a lot of attention.
Everyone is entitled to a bad hare day.
Let happy thoughts multiply like rabbits.
Some body parts should be floppy.
Keep your paws off other people’s jellybeans.
Good things come in small sugar-coated packages.
The grass is always greener in someone else’s basket.
An Easter bonnet can tame even the wildest hare.
To show your true colors – you have to come out of your shell.
The best things in life are still sweet and gooey.
--Author Unknown

Picture Inspiration

I have been taking several photography classes online at http://www.bigpictureclasses.com/ but due to my recent trip, I have been unable to submit my weekly assignments.  Today I got a little more organized and just finished downloading 5 weeks worth of assignments!  Phew.....feels good!

Week 5  - Infinity

                                              

Week 6 - Seeing double

 

Week 7 - Shape of Suprise

                                                                                                            
                                                           

Week 8 - Random

                       

Week 9 - Observation

 

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness. I am off traveling and photographing the world and sending prejudice far, far away. ~ Mark Twain

French Girls

Even little French girls enjoy their Quiche & Croissants! And they look so cute doing it too, I might add!

“A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous.”--Coco Chanel

Home

I took a walk around the neighborhood today and was greeted with flowers everywhere I turned! 

Thoughts on My Return

I returned home early yesterday morning 8 hours late due to a mouse. This little guy & possibly his whole family chewed through the electrical wiring of our Lufthansa plane in Germany. They discovered this after we were all aboard and the captain announced that we would need to find a new plane. I was actually quite happy that they discovered this "problem" while we were still on the ground as opposed perhaps to being over the Atlantic Ocean or Greenland! Most of you know that I am not a relaxed flyer. Although I do love to experience other parts of the world, I am not crazy about being up in a little tube with hoards of people and just what does keep that plane up in the air anyway? What I realized this trip is that our lives are hanging by a thread or in this case, an electrical wire and we had better make the most of it. So today I am going to enjoy my beautiful garden that came into full bloom while I was away!


"If I had to choose, I would rather have birds than airplanes." --Charles Lindbergh

Jardin Flowers

The Luxembourg Garden was a delight every day that I visited. Today I went to say "Au revoir" to one of my favorite little Paris parks. There were people sun bathing, playing checkers, basketball, Petanque, cards, tennis & strolling. The children were sailing boats, taking pony rides and playing together. But mostly everyone was talking. The French seem to have so much to talk about.... Maybe because of their cafe's which by their very nature encourage talking. Or maybe it's the lack of interest in electronic devices. I don't really know but it's nice to be around that kind of energy!

Au revoir Par-ee!

Runway Fashion

Next year baby! We will be decked out in our stripped mini dress, mid sized sac and Converse tennies!

Ponies...

This is what happens when nature calls and you are walking behind a pony!

Dessert

Today you must be drooling over these little macrons and berries! Went to Les Deux Magots for dinner tonight but by the time it was our turn for dessert, all of these little beauties were taken!

Bicycles

Chic Parisians dress well when riding their velo's and never under any circumstances do they wear a helmet as that just might upset their hairdo.

The Gendarme

Those whistles come out if you just try to move a chair or step on the grass. Both big No-no's in Paris!

Flowers of the Day

Good morning! Waking you up with some beautiful Apricot Peonies that the morning sun was just enjoying....ahhhh....just lovely...sigh....


"The bee emerging from deep within the peony departs reluctantly" -- Basho, Matsuo

Poilane Bread

Did you know that you can have the very famous Poilane Bread delivered to your doorstep within 24 hours? Only a small delivery charge (tee hee hee)....



“If a man finds himself with bread in both hands, he should exchange one loaf for some flowers of the narcissus, because the loaf feeds the body, but the the flowers feed the soul”
-- Muhammad

Cheese on a stick

Cheese from a tiny producer in the Ardèche, Sarment d'Amour has the shape of a cork, with a vine shoot in the middle. Can't wait to make these little beauties at home!

"Un repas sans fromage comme un journée sans soleil." – French proverb
(Translation – Any meal without cheese in it is like a day without the sun in it.)

Cafe de Flore

There are lots of cafe's in Paris but a couple of my favorites for both photos and people watching are Cafe de Flore and Les Deux Magots! They are both on the Left Bank of the Seine.



"It is a good thing that life is not as serious as it seems to a waiter."
--Don Herold