WEEKEND POTPOURRI: REJUVENATION & MEMORY TRAIPSING

Yesterday, as I enjoyed my “rejuvenation” at my daughter’s salon, I scrolled through photos on my iPhone Phoebe, and found this one, snapped fairly recently.  The two dolls have taken up residence on my bed….when I’m not sleeping in it.

Raggedy Ann was a doll my mother made for my daughter Heather, who, even as I showed her the photo yesterday, shook her head.  She doesn’t want the doll.  I have several of her dolls from childhood, including the one on the right called Heidi, given to me at my baby shower before she was born.

An Annie doll is “living” in my wicker trunk in the office.  I got that one for her when I saw the play in LA, in 1980.  Below, the three dolls once sat on a bookshelf in my office nook…now my mini-office, with laptop, etc.

 

That one is a bit more “beaten up,” (I even had to sew up some tears), so she did play with it.  But with three older brothers, she learned a lot about how to fix things, including cars, while also looking very feminine.  A tricky balance.  Below, Heather with her new guy.  In this shot, they were on a cruise, a recent adventure. 

 

It is probably a good thing that she and I are so different.  I always wanted the doll collection that she had and didn’t enjoy that much—except for a short period of time with her Barbie dolls—so now I have it!

The Barbie dolls and her Cabbage Patch dolls were in the attic when I packed up my house to move a few years ago…and those dolls mysteriously disappeared.  One of the “helpers” helped himself.

So…now I am rejuvenated, and have enjoyed my little traipse down memory lane.  What does your weekend look like?

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This post will be linked to West Metro Mommy Reads.  Tonight and tomorrow, I’ll be spending time with granddaughter Fiona, before I take her to the train.  She’ll be in the Bay Area for a few days. (Below:  one of the “versions” of Fiona that I enjoy).  She changes up her look on a daily basis, I think.

 

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A POTPOURRI OF CELEBRATORY MOMENTS

Welcome to our regular feature, Saturday Snapshot, our opportunity to showcase photos we or friends and family have captured.  The event is now hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads.

Today’s snapshots bring the Thanksgiving holidays to us.  On the actual holiday, I celebrated with my daughter, her BF, and his family.

 

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Our hosts had their Christmas tree up already!

 

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Then, on the weekend, I celebrated at a neighborhood restaurant with my second son, Brett; his daughter Aubrey; and two other grandchildren, Dominic and Fiona.  They each brought a friend.

Below…a collage of the two events.

 

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Then, in a Northern part of the state, my son and his wife celebrated…and here is a photo of him on the beach at sunset.

 

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Soon it will be Christmas…and even though I have my minimal decorations up, I’ll save those photos for another day.

What are you sharing today?

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WEEKEND POTPOURRI: CELEBRATING….

Welcome to another Weekend Potpourri, and the celebration of all good things that came from this week.

 

 

Today I am linking up the West Metro Mommy Reads, for Saturday Snapshots.

The purges of the past few months have been numerous, and while it may seem as if my mantra is “everything must go,” nothing could be further from the truth.  Above, note the addition of a new device:  my Blu-Ray player, on which I can now play Netflix…and down the road, my Amazon Videos.

There were a few glitches after its installation, but the AT&T service rep came out and upgraded my modem, my cables, and everything is now in great working order.  I have been bingeing on Breaking Bad every night, instead of only on the weekends.

And yesterday I took a load of books to the library….(see the bookshelf full of them in the garage):

 

 

Now my garage is purged….with bins filled with collections to store until I decide what to do with them.  And the empty bookshelves now belong to my daughter.  She hauled them away, along with all of her stuff that I had been storing!  The garage is mine again….

 

 

 

 

We are celebrating all kinds of things this weekend….last week, my granddaughter Aubrey graduated high school, with lots of fun events to top things off.  Here she is, below, with two of her brothers and her dad.  Why the lei?  Well, for a senior trip, she was off to Hawaii.  What fun, right?

 

 

 

 

Next week, my other granddaughter Fiona will be graduating.  More pictures to come!

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And before they all existed, these beautiful grandchildren, there were my three sons in this picture from 1971, five years before I also had my daughter.  Remember the snapshot of me in the mid-sixties with poofy hair?  Well, we went from that to the plainer version.

 

 

 

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What are you featuring this weekend?  I hope you’ll stop by and share.

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SATURDAY POTPOURRI: SPOTLIGHTING FAMILY

Welcome to our regular feature, Saturday Snapshot, our opportunity to showcase photos we or friends and family have captured.  The event is now hosted by West Metro Mommy.

Today’s photos will showcase family moments….

 

Here is Fiona, my 17-year-old granddaughter, who loves clearing out her closet and finding things to wear that she had forgotten about:

 

 

 

Here is a shot of some very cuddly children:  Fiona’s nephew and nieces, Maddix, Lilly, and Bella:

 

 

 

And here is another set of offspring:  two of Fiona’s nephews and a niece, Lexi, Logan, and Lane:

 

 

 

Now let’s head to Berlin, where my eldest son, Craig, the photographer, is impersonating someone familiar to us, who also happens to love donuts: (Dunkin Berliner is one of Craig’s blogs).

 

 

 

Now let’s take a look back several years, when Craig was visiting some of our family in LA.  Some of you may recall photos of the Three A’s over the years:  Alec, Aubrey, and Aaron.

Here they are, disguised as monkeys, tumbling over Craig.  He calls this photo “A Barrel of Monkeys.”

 

 

 

And while we’re looking back, here is a photo I found while clearing out an old trunk; it is my daughter Heather, at age fourteen.  I love this one!

 

 

 

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That’s my Saturday, with the spotlight shining on the present and the past.  What are you sharing today?

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SATURDAY POTPOURRI: A BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

 

Welcome to our regular feature, Saturday Snapshot, our opportunity to showcase photos we or friends and family have captured.  The event is now hosted by West Metro Mommy.

This week, I am sharing some snapshots taken in my daughter’s home, where I celebrated a birthday dinner with her and two of my grandchildren.

Here is the dining room, with the table that once lived in my space.

 

 

 

The living room, with a view of the dining room:

 

 

Here is a glimpse of the hallway:

 

 

 

Here is another view of the living room, with the wine cabinet, and a glimpse of the kitchen:

 

 

Here is the cook caught up in dinner preparations:

 

 

 

And here is the sunroom, a space I would love to have; Fiona and Noah are enjoying hanging out:

 

 

 

And here is an after-dinner moment, with Heather on the drum:

 

 

 

Heather’s bedroom is spacious, and here is one side of it; she painted one wall a rusty hue, but this picture is pretty dark:

 

 

 

She is still in the beginning stages of decorating and making it her home.  It was such fun to see her excitement as she hosted our dinner. 

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SATURDAY POTPOURRI: QUIET READING, FEEDING SPARKY, & SURFING THE ‘NET — FEB. 16

This morning found me curled up here, reading from Sparky, and sipping coffee.

Last night, Noah came for a sleepover, so I try to stay in my room so he won’t wake up, since he likes sleeping on my living room sofa.

Yes, there’s a fold-out bed in my office, but none of the kids seem to want to sleep there.  There’s even a TV and a DVD player in the office.  But if you had a choice, what would you pick?  This (see small TV/DVD Player):

My Office Sofa

Or this:

Imagine the big screen TV available for endless viewing!

As I putter away in my room, with an occasional visit into the office next door, I am reading on Sparky:

Sign of the Times is an unusual story set in Scotland.  There are twelve main characters, each with different Zodiac signs.  The story connects them as we move along….and I’m not finished yet, so I can only guess at what will happen.

Meanwhile, I’ve been visiting Saturday Snapshot, where bloggers each share photo(s).   While visiting Paulita’s blog, I learned that her book, The Summer of France, is free today on Kindle.  So guess what I did?  Yes, I fed Sparky.

Now I’m going to sneak into the kitchen and quietly try to make another pot of coffee.

What are your plans for today?  For the weekend?

 

 

WEEKEND POTPOURRI: SATURDAY SNAPSHOT FROM THE OLYMPICS — AUGUST 4

Welcome to another exciting weekend with Saturday Snapshot, hosted by Alyce, At Home With Books.

Today I’m sharing a potpourri of photos taken during the Olympics in London (and a couple on the way).

Left to Right: Aaron, Alec, and Aubrey at LAX

 

After the very long flight

Quarter Final Match – Federer

Brett – Enjoying basketball

The Three A’s Enjoying Basketball

Gourmet food, perhaps? lol

 

Next week, I expect to have more photos….On Sunday, Brett and his kids are meeting up with my oldest son, Craig, who is coming to Paris from Berlin to connect with them.  They’ll be meeting at noon under the Eiffel Tower.

I can’t wait to see more.

Now I’m off to see your photos…come on by and leave some comments and links!

 

 

 

 

WEEKEND POTPOURRI: SATURDAY SNAPSHOT — JULY 21

Welcome to another exciting weekend with Saturday Snapshot, hosted by Alyce, At Home With Books.

Like last week’s offering, today’s is another potpourri of family and home related themes.

First are some more shots of my son and his three kids enjoying a sports event.

In the second picture, notice the tallness of them all…the two boys are over 6′ tall…and Aubrey is 5’9“.

And here is a shot of my daughter and her main squeeze (did I just say “main squeeze”?)

Now…back to the home front.  Take a look at my TBR stacks.  The first one is the much reduced number from the Old Stacks (those books previously owned and unread that were acquired before 2009).  The number is down to around 16.  That doesn’t seem like so many…although many of them are chunksters.

The stack in front center is current reads.  Everything else:  Old TBRs.

And now…drum roll, please!  New TBRs….

These are a bit deceptive, as they are stacked two-deep.  Imagine twice the number you see (42).  Still…not as bad as the original size of the Old TBRs in 2009.  There were 166!

So that’s my potpourri today.  Oh, except for the TBRs on Sparky, my Kindle, which I don’t consider too much of a problem as they are not as visible…lol

 

And one final bit of potpourri…Laptop pictured below is now one of the family with her own literary name:  Louisa May (Alcott).

 

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Now I’m off to visit your snapshots!  Happy weekend!

WEEKEND POTPOURRI: SATURDAY SNAPSHOT — JULY 14

Welcome to another exciting weekend with Saturday Snapshot, hosted by Alyce, At Home With Books.

Today’s event will be a potpourri of snapshots with no particular theme.

In my first shot, I am featuring my photographer son Craig Robinson, who is very seldom in front of the camera, but here he is, studying that beer can as if it contains the secrets of the universe.

 

Here are some of his quirky shots, starting with the one he has dubbed Viking Woopass.

Next comes a shot of tiki memorabilia collected during a journey up the State of California in 2007.  A zealous quest for tiki stuff for a friend’s Tiki Bar in Prague.

Not to leave out the usual subjects of my photo events, here’s Heather, pondering something quirky at the bar where she works.

And Fiona wants to show off her new hair color.

 

Finally….here is my newly configured office work space where I now showcase my new laptop.  The laptop needs a name, by the way.  Any suggestions?

Come on by with your comments and links…and I’ll return the favor.

SATURDAY SNAPSHOT — JAN. 15

 

Good morning, and welcome to Saturday Snapshot, hosted by Alyce, At Home With Books.

Here are Alyce’s instructions for participants:

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky below. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. All I ask is that you don’t post random photos that you find online.

So today, I captured a photo from my granddaughter Fiona’s photo album.  She just got back from a trip to LA, where she visited Disneyland, etc.

EERIE LIGHTS

I like the eerie lights that render her almost surreal.

 

What did the rest of you find today?  I hope you’ll stop by and share….