What in the world would make you wanna get up in the morning and do that?

It is a Monday morning.

To set the scene, currently living in this house with me, the 51 year old wife/mom, there are three men ages 52, almost 23 and 21, and one 18-year old daughter. As far as non-humans are concerned, we have the big black shedding machine that somehow manages to scarf down an entire bowl of little crunchy pieces of dog food and still avoid the one little dog-food-sized pill in the bowl. Impressive.

If you live here, on any given weekend day there will be sports playing on the television in the family room. If you get tired of that and want a nap, you can go lay on your parents' bed and watch a movie up there. If you have homework to do while you watch a movie, you can spread out your stuff all over the basement couch. You can come and go at all hours and drive here and there and who knows where. You can be tired of work. You can plan a trip abroad. You can borrow the big car to drive all the guys around. You can even leave at 11:00pm after begging for a later curfew.

If you attend grad school, college or high school classes, you can have lots of books, notebooks, paper and writing utensils. You can own shoes for sports, work, running and mowing. You can wear a variety of coats throughout the day and night. It is November, after all. You can get a new glass or cup for every drink and enjoy several cans of soda or bottles of water each day. And of course, you can eat.

Got the picture?
Then you will understand why I was cleaning out the spice cabinet at 9:00 this morning when Andy came downstairs and said, "What in the world would make you wanna get up in the morning and do that?"

Stone Harbor, Part 2

I promised more Stone Harbor pictures and here are the fun, memorable ones that the whole world needs to see, even though 99.9% of the people on the planet have no clue or care that this blog exists. For those of you who are tuned in, enjoy!

I shall begin with a few pictures of gorgeous girls.
First, my Katie ...

And my sweet niece Caitlin ...

We began the vacation by celebrating August birthdays and our traditional "Christmas in July."

Here's my big brother Scott reading his 55th birthday cards ...

Caitlin and Mom brought gifts for all the girls from Kate Spade, where Caitlin works, in Philly. Not to be one-upped, Scott brought gifts for all the guys ...

Every summer for as long as we've been going to Stone Harbor, we have played games for prizes. Check out Gary's new glasses and Willie's tattoo sleeve!

This wonderful place brings back floods of memories for all of us, but mostly for my Mom, who takes time every day to say "hi to the ocean" and takes long, thoughtful walks along the water's edge.

Thanks for a ton of new memories, Mom & Dad (and Aunt Kay and Uncle Jim and Gramps and Grandma and Gran). I love you! xox

Like Starting a Diet...

Every morning when I get up, I am bound and determined to start my diet. To write a new blog post. To pull those weeds. To call my friends and catch up. To cook a meal. To clean out the basement. To sort all those pictures. Ah, great expectations for 16 waking hours and all that they may bring!

And so, today, after months and months of nothing, I am back! I just can't let my 6 readers think nothing has happened here in Sterling since May. And so, if you all agree, I will pretend it is still summer for a while and catch you up on some fun summer adventures worthy of the written word.

Today's topic is our Annual Trip to Stone Harbor, Part 1: The Fancy Photos. 

These are my favorites of the artsy photos that I just love to take but have no idea what to do with them after that. So what the heck. I'll make you look at them. Enjoy them, or speed through them until my next post (which I promise won't take 3 months) which will feature the pictures I took of my family and the fun we had.

We'll start with the sunrise over the ocean ...

Add some fun flowers ...

And a few great bird shots for Betty ...

And finish strong with the sunset over the back bay ...

The beauty of Stone Harbor. It warms my soul.