Friday, April 24, 2015

Lesson 357: Give it a Glow

It's the weekend!
Go find what it is you like to do,
and give it a glow.


Kenyan loves to run.
Kenyan started working.
Kenyan worked running into her work!


These shots were taken at the Laker Glow Run at Mercyhurst Prep.
It was my sister Kenyan's first big project for her new job.


It was a lot of fun.



Ellen convinced a team of friends to try a 5K race.
Teens are up for most anything
(despite the constant fake complaining)
and they gave it a glow,
as did a bunch of my Mom Friends.


Last weekend the weather was so nice.
It finally felt like spring!


Sam likes to ride his bike.
Sam likes his friend Tucker.
Sam worked Tucker into his bike riding.
The boys gave their bikes a glow on the park path last weekend.


I found this fine family down in the park as I tried to catch Sam and Tucker.


Hubby likes to fish.
Hubby likes to spend time with his family.
Hubby worked in family time and fishing.

Louie was more than ready to leave the alleys this year
and give fishing a glow.

This was his prize catch
 in the glow of the northwestern Pennsylvania sunset.


Oh the joy that spring brings!


Ahhh--we're finally through the last of it.



Stupid, stupid Eloise!
How quickly one forgets this is Erie.


Within a few days of those shots, we experienced a 30 degree temperature drop.


Even Eloise the Ever Optimist began to dream of a relocation to the desert.


Eloise loves birds.
Eloise loves to take photographs.
Eloise works birds into her pictures whenever she can.

Birds.
They are really something.
I love watching them.
This one can usually be found atop of the cross at Our Lady of Mercy Church.



This robin has been peeking in my parents' windows.
It taps on the glass with his beak
and has pooped all over the side of their house.
At least his mark matches the white trim.


This robin built his nest in my dad's coiled hose.


This one's a swooper!
Old Eloise almost had a bird tangled in her pile of hair.


If you know me, you know this to be true..especially at work when they get in the building and swoop at me lol

The most interesting bird story of the week that no one asked to know about:
Early this week,
 I found three eggs in a nest on a wreath on the Lamp Post back porch.



It started snowing again by week's end, and I haven't seen Mother Bird anywhere!
After a worrisome night of looking up robin egg incubation on the internet,
I finally turned in for the night.
I dreamed of frozen egglets and grieving mothers.

Old Eloise the tenderhearted couldn't bear to peek in the nest this morning.
Once, a few years ago, something similar happened, 
I found eggshells scattered all over the deck--obviously the remnants of someones feast.
I cried for most of that day.

I toughed up throughout the school day today, 
and decided to give a peek in the nest another glow.
This is what I found.


There was a fourth egg in the nest this afternoon.
The camera didn't pick up the color that well, 
but it is a different blue, and there are tiny speckles on it.
It is larger than the first three eggs.
Still no sign of Mother Bird.
Do my readers have any ideas?
The prettiest glow came mid week in the form of a rainbow.
I think rainbows are one of the most beautiful occurrences on Earth.
They take you by surprise, and make you stand in awe.


The winery across the street from the Lamp Post is back in business!
Six Mile Cellars is open for the season!
I'm ready to stray from my standard favorite and give the fermented grape a glow.


Look for my mother peering at my collection longingly.
You'll soon find out why.


Grandma stopped over to share some news.


This was the reaction of Sam and Ellen,


when they heard.....


that Grandpa......


got a cell phone!


Yes, it's true.


My dad has a flip phone.
He's going to give modern technology a glow.


One with buttons the can push with his 1/3 of a pointer finger.


We're teaching him to text.
Eloise did not inherit her wordiness from her daddy.
Your test worked, Dad.


When I left their house, I found this on my mom's kitchen counter.
It seems the tutorials have been a bit trying on my mother.


The surprise of the week was this package on my doorstep!
Eloise Got Mail.
It was from my friend Angie from Philly.


Inside I found four purses!
I was complaining on social media about a broken purse,
and doesn't Angie swoop in for the rescue.
She told me that she had many she never used anymore and would be willing to share.


Eloise is no Purse Expert.
I usually carry whatever my mom, sister, or Tracy Southern give me for gifts.
I'm not picky.
If my sack has room for some basics and a bag of Goldfish crackers,
I'm good to go.

These were all pretty.


Something tells me they are nice purses, too.


Heck, these belonged to Angie,


so I searched through them,


looking for money.
Eloise ain't too proud to keep a little unexpected windfall,
should I be lucky enough to find one.


No money,
but I did find this written as the only entry in the address book.


Dork didn't have a cell phone, apparently.
Too bad,
I'd have my dad practice calling him.

I love hand me downs.
I love reusing stuff people had before and they no longer need or want.
But, Eloise has her limits--
gently used items have to be from a friend or known relative.
Eloise hates flea markets and garage sales.  

So,
what did Eloise send as a return gift to Angie?
I'll leave you all in suspense until next week.


My computer needed repair this week,
so no video photos.

I did swipe my favorite links from my facebook friends though,
if you want to check out Eloise's Favorite Shares of the Week:

This is the one about the Lithuanian Social Experiment.



Don't miss this one.

This one is a mind-blowing magic trick from Britain's Got Talent.




Find something that interests you this week,
and give it a glow!
Eloise





Friday, April 17, 2015

Lesson 356: In Circulation


Spring has spring in Erie, 
and for Eloise, tonight it finally feels like it.


We went out to Eaton Reservoir, 
known to locals as Bull Dam in North East this evening.

It's a really pretty place if you haven't wandered there yet.


The kids played catch,
Mr. Lamp Post caught a stringer full of fish,


and Eloise ran around the damn dam with some friends.
It felt great to be back in circulation with nature.


Eloise is like a plant.
If she doesn't get enough water, sunshine, and soil
(evident from the muddy blotch on my forehead),
I wilt.


The color is creeping back to nature.
I love spring green in the environment.


I hate it on clothing.
Every time I wear a spring green shirt, 
the kids ask me all day long if I am sick.


The animals are out and about.






They make for some great photo/word pairings,
and this blog a bit more interesting to read.

The Lamp Post inhabitants are getting the blood circulating, too
It feels so good!



One of us still has to practice piano inside,
before she goes outside though.



The flip side to all that extra fresh air and sunshine is that we are pooped out.
We aren't built up yet to all that moving around!

Here is Sam at Field and Stream last Saturday.


Here's Ellen after she realized he drooled on the chair.


'Tis the season for political races.
I have a sign in the Lamp Post front yard from this young man--
a former student!


Bowling season is coming to a close,



and it's time to collect the trophies.


Natalie has learned to put mail into circulation.
Grandpa got this friendly letter this week!


Watch for something to show up in your mailbox.
Natalie is going to be doing the Barber Beast on the Bay Adapted Course this year.
She's looking for some cheerleaders.
Fluff up your green pom poms.
She is going to need your support this September.


Eloise is scrambling around school, 
attempting to collect overdue library books.
I sign them out in my name for my students all the time--
because they have a limit and teachers don't.
Then, I forget who has what book,
and I dodge the librarians like a teenager dodges household chores.



Eloise is about to put her bookshelf into circulation.
I've read a million books, but save only my favorites.
I reevaluated this practice recently.
What am I saving them for?
They've just been sitting there collecting dust.


You can learn a lot about a person 
by looking at what they have displayed on their bookshelves.

Carved, wooden boxes,
and photos of Besties.


Armadillos and a signed copy of a perfect ACT score.


Whoops.
Sorry Tracy Northern!
I'll get that one back to you!


Eloise always makes plenty of room for God's Word,


and faith in action books.


And of course I have the perfect piece of driftwood that looks like a giraffe,


and the Travelocity gnome.


Soon, I will put these books into circulation.
They are the ones awarded to me by Wellness Coach Jennifer Taylor.


The information between the covers is just too good to hoard.

If you get one of my books,
Eloise only asks that you bitch up the book.
That is my own term for writing all over it.
Don't just read it.
React to it!
How better to do that than write all over the pages?  
Then it's your job to pass it on to someone else--
and take a photo of you doing so, of course.

My friend Tracy Southern and I do this all the time.


I buy a book, 
read it,
write in it,
and then mail it to her.
She writes back.

Well, actually,
she's ultra neat.
Most of the time she uses post-its and sticky tabs,
not to mark up the pages.

My friend Patty at work gave me this one.
I struggled with it,
read part of it,
and mailed it off to Tracy Southern.
When she mailed it back, it looked like this.



It encouraged me to give it another whirl,
looking at the characters and plot from her perspective,
and I LOVED it!


You may be the lucky recipient of this book that I fished out of a book bin.
If it winds up mysteriously on your doorstep,
consider it a gentle reminder that your personality
needs a bit of buffing up.
After all, you have to learn how to BE a friend,
before you can have them.


Get out there in circulation, Readers,
because we are DONE with hibernation.



Enjoy the new found freedoms of SPRING!
ELOISE