And BAM...Summery Spring has arrived...

Almost all of the trees are leafed out by now. The undergrowth of the forest which includes Barberry bushes, Honeysuckle, Raspberry, Gooseberry, and other prickly things all are in blossom or getting ready to blossom.

The grass and weeds in the Meadow have sprung to life this past week. The yard grass has a life of its own seeming to grow inches each night.

Our friend Jason came out for Mother's Day with his fluff balls...

his intent was to give me time to do what I wanted on Mother's Day.

This next series of shots is from my morning out in the forest. The last shot is of one of my favorite trees that flowers. The Hawthorne tree. The flower buds still weren't quite open. I was able to spend a little more time by this tree to discover that there were six or seven little ones growing under the forest canopy.

Color me happy.

Whoops...an Allosaurus???

Jason had come to give me coverage for Rich on Monday night. Olive's Track Team had a Conference Meet at their home field and I had volunteered to come and photograph the kids doing their things.

It also meant that Rich had to be comfortable enough with Jason to allow him to help him undress and put him to bed. Rich and Jason said they had it covered and off I went.

I donate my time and the photos. I give Olive the shots and she hands them off to the Head Coach who lets the kids have their photos. 
The last time I did this the Head Coach received feedback from the students. They asked to have my name and wanted to know how much I charged. 

I had set up the ground rules ahead of time.

I remain anonymous and they get their shots.

I did get to see a few students that I'd seen the last time I'd done this. Six hours of running about on a hot spring night 'shooting' action shots was pretty fun.

My favorite event to photo is the hurdles. I only tried them one time myself, but never quite got the hang of it.

The meet went on until after dark so the 'shooting' got a bit trickier as the night went on. Still, I had great fun pushing the limits on my camera. Even with a high ISO and panning, I got a bit of motion blur. However, this was the last event and it sure was an exciting one.

Another coach suggested I try photographing the triple jump and pole vaulting ... along with some of the other events if I wanted more cool action.

I'm game to try it one day.

I probably pushed the boundaries of activity and sleep a bit. By Tuesday I was totally wiped out between being up long hours doing fun things, farm things, and having fun at the track.

When Shay came out for 4 hours of Respite care, I went to the upstairs bedroom and turned a fan on high and slept for most of that time.

Below. A photo from the Meadow back to the forest pasture. I'll be opening this gate and letting the gals out onto more grass for the summer.

[Taken in Infrared...well, because it is that time of the year!]

I have a lot more work to catch up on the outside and yard.

Mudder Day...

Becoming a mom was one of the coolest things that ever happened to me. 

I was a mom to little humans....that grew up....

Mom to mules....

Mom to dogs....

[many dogs!]

The mom responsibilities have now been passed on to the moms of my grandkids and I hope they all have a wonderful and beautiful day.

We will enjoy some company today from Jason and his dogs along with some time outdoors.

Quiet and uneventful is a good thing.

To all you Mudders out there, have a good Mother's Day.

 

Un Mother's Day

Don't get me wrong. I like Holidays but I don't really care for things that seem to me to be made up days.

Okay. It isn't a made up day. In the US Woodrow Wilson declared Mother's Day to be a National Holiday in 1914.
Anna Jarvis then spent years trying to abolish the Holiday because it became too commercialized. Her efforts failed and she died in 1948.

There is a lot more interesting history if you look up the History of Mother's Day. It even dates back to the Greek and Roman Era. I imagine it wasn't as commercialized as it is now. It probably included some sort of appreciation of a mom, a woman, and a fertile figure of some sort.

Now Mother's Day is a fanfare of marketing commercials. Restaurants are full on Sunday, flower shops and garden centers are mobbed. Card makers sell cards. I can recall trying to phone my mom many years ago [remember phones that you had to dial?] and getting a busy signal for the phone lines because they were overwhelmed by calls.

I let Mother's Day slide by now as my MIL is gone and I don't have to run out for cards and flowers to show my appreciation for her. I showed her my appreciation all year long by helping her out for years. Geographically we were close so it was easy to help her out. She was always grateful and kind to me. 

My own mother is alive and apparently well. She thrives on drama and I don't. Our last conversation ended quite badly as I apparently was quite busy with my husband's failing health and didn't bother to check up on her. I don't do guilt anymore and I don't try to make her happy.

She taught me well with her own mother-daughter relationship which was quite strained. Her family dynamics [big word for how everyone gets along] was and still is difficult to understand. 

Some mother - daughter relationships are toxic or difficult. That is just a fact. Our relationship has always been a bit strained and I tried so hard for many years to make her happy. 

I couldn't.

Do I love her? Of course. I have so many attributes that I have learned from her. Her incredible strength in the face of adversity. Her variety of skills are amazing. Cooking is not one I inherited. 

My husband used to ask what I wanted for Mother's Day. I would answer: Nothing. Just some time to do what I loved. Photography and Hiking, or riding.

I usually hear from my sons and that is plenty for me.

Happy Mother's Day to all you Mothers:

Mom ... Mom Day.... Mothers Day

So I've been thinking about Mother's Day.  Surely it is a Hallmark made up card type of day but it is a nice thing to think about.

After all you only have one Mom.

I was visiting my mom a week ago and we went to lunch.  During lunch she sort of complained about her laptop computer being slow.

I sort of chuckled and asked what was wrong with it?

She said she just couldn't get onto Facebook and into her games as fast as she used to.  It was too slow and 'Slotmania' was almost boring.
I said maybe her old laptop just wasn't working as well anymore.

I suggested a Google Chrome Book for her.  She gave me a look and inquired as to why ... don't computers last ages and ages?  
No, I told her, they really don't.

We went to her house and I looked at her computer and guided her around to her games.  She huffed a bit when the screen started and stopped while she was playing 'Texas Hold 'Em'.

*See there!* she said.  
I know her grandson had gone through the computer and made sure it was updated and there were no viruses so she was good there.

Then I had to laugh.  Mom is 80 and her laptop 'doesn't go fast enough' for her.  Plus she was a bit miffed that an old computer didn't last forever.

This from a woman that still had her ration book from World War II.

I told her to use the machine and see how it went.  If it was still not up to her standards of speed, I'd get her a speedy Chrome Book that could race through her games.

We decided that when I made my next trip down in 2 weeks, that we'd have a late Mother's Day and go shopping for jeans together.

I may just set her up with a new Chrome book too.  
After all, she is hungry for speed and power in her games.

And she wants to see what is going on in Facebook from her friends.
She rarely types a thing but loves to browse.

Yes, I have one of the most unique mom's in the world.

Hungry for Tech Savvy stuff yet she can turn around and whip up a batch of jams and jellies or some great pies without the blink of an eye.

The woman who raised me for better or worse.  After all, I think I turned okay and I definitely learned right from wrong and how not to cross the line with her.

Happy Mother's Day to a pretty neat lady.