Short Postings

I have spent more time during the last week and a half driving around thinking of things to post than having actual time to post! As it is, I am resting for an hour here in my unfinished office, catching up on blogs and otherwise enjoying a lovely rainy day.

We have moved. My piano is still in transition, the mail has not been forwarded here as yet, and we still need to clean the cottage, but we are here now. All of our rooms are functional now, and we have largely dejunked. This is a good thing.

Now I will attempt to clear the clutter in my brain with numerous short and unrelated postings.

*The Passing of a Hero: When you really look up to someone and receive the opportunity to know them, how do you accept their humanity when they fall from their pedestal? You tried to be like them, and suddenly they aren't who you thought they were, or who they wanted to be.

*Note to Self: Keep the baby out of rolling range of your dinner plate. She looked good in broccoli, but the chicken really scared her.

*Autumn gives us sunlight on cloudy days.

*Sometimes it's okay not to "grow." What I love about intimate relationships are the endless opportunities to just "be" with the other person. What I love the most about getting to know God is how often He is willing to just "be" with me. I Am is an awesome concept.

*On Leaving the Cottage at Stonemeadow Brook: I miss the memories we never made. I miss the memories we did make. I miss the breeze and the quiet and the smell of coffee on frigid winter mornings. I miss our first year of marriage and I miss our second year of marriage. I miss the sound of the geese flying overhead in the fall. I will always look back on our time there with lump in my throat, but I am so glad I have Pete and Piper with me. As long as we're together...

*Have I ever mentioned that I love rain?

*Too Many Babies: It seems like everyone is pregnant or having babies recently. The more I think about it, though, the more I am coming to understand that this is just what my generation is doing right now. Our parents' generation is moving into retirement and grandparenthood, and now it is our time to live and to share life with our children. Okay. I'm going to cry now.

*Smallish Blessings: Or not so small - We have a master bathroom. I cannot begin to describe the luxury of it all.

*Pictures I Haven't Taken: Piper in the mirror smiling at herself before freaking out because the baby in the mirror smiled back at her. Pete nuzzling Piper's nose. The trees on Maple Street. Three little Shipe girls entertaining Piper on moving day. The GodJourney moving crew who did everything in one afternoon. Piper trying to talk Kate into getting her out of her high chair. Our first real dinner in our new house. Pete's birthday brownies with his over-the-hill, funeral-march-playing candle.

*A Favorite Blog: Alt-City - life in the alternate city. I love this guy's ability to be profound in such a condensed way!

*Cultural experience with non- photographer-type people: Not everything it's cracked up to be. How do you get someone to tell you that they *want* formal portraits of their VIP's after you've told them specifically that your style is photojournalistic and not portraiture? I think I missed something in the NZ lingo. Or maybe they missed it in the American lingo...