Forgiveness

Today I received a precious letter. It has been "one of those days". During school tonight, Daddy helped D write me a letter to say he was sorry. He must have been a little nervous because he didn't spell his own name correctly! :o) How could I not forgive someone so precious?

Forgiveness has been on my mind today. It seems there has been a common theme this week in Bible study, conversations, things I have read, culminating today in something I heard on television. I watched the dedication of the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, NC. Billy Graham, ever humble, said the first time he was given a tour through it, the only complaint he had was that it was "too much Billy"! It was the usual kind of thing with people giving speeches...some more heartfelt than others, some carefully and politically correct in their wording. After all the speeches, Billy stood up and said, "I feel like I've just been attending my own funeral."! That got a big laugh out of everyone!

To my surprise, the speaker I enjoyed hearing most was Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton is not my favorite person...he never has been even before his personal 'problems' in the White House. Honestly, I like his wife even less. This really is not a political discussion, though it is difficult to separate the politics from a politician just as it is difficult to separate the faith from a follower of Christ when discussing them.

Has God ever asked you to forgive someone that you didn't want to? Or maybe someone you never met? Today I felt God tugging at my heart, asking me to forgive Bill Clinton. Strange, I know. I find God often does strange things...things I cannot wrap my mind around.

Bill spoke of how Billy Graham demonstrates the Law of Love...to "love your neighbor as yourself." He said that the first law was to Love the Lord God and the second was, "like unto it" to love your neighbor as yourself. Like unto it...it clicked in my mind that "like unto it" means that it is not lesser, just as important and really a part of loving God. God asked me to love my neighbor Bill. I am humbled, completely humbled and I realized that if I love him, I must forgive him. I know, some of you may think this sounds crazy. But forgiveness is really important. Forgiveness does not say that what was done is "okay" but that I will not hold that against you forever, that I will not allow it to change me...to make me angry, bitter, vengeful, hate, despise. All those things hurt the one who needs to forgive more than the one that needs to be forgiven.

Does Bill Clinton care if I forgive him? Not likely! But just like my son, when he is forgiven, I can run to my Heavenly Daddy's arms for a hug. It draws me closer to Him. Ultimate Forgiveness was what He gave us in the sacrifice of His Son. (If you want to know more about this there is a "ready?" button to the right) I have seen how unforgiveness can eat away at a person until they are left with but a shell of their former self and how it can destroy families. And unless you think I just blithely write this, I do understand that forgiveness is difficult. I have had to forgive much and I have needed much forgiven. But I didn't do it alone. It was by the strength of God..."I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13)

I mentioned that this week I have heard this theme in several formats. One of the other places was at Bible study where we are learning about King David. King David was a powerful man who did some incredible and courageous things and he loved the Lord with all his might. And he sinned in some pretty disgusting ways. At the end of the day, God called David a man after His Own heart. The greatest honor of my life would to one day hear from God that I was a woman after His Own heart. I couldn't help but wonder if Bill Clinton too, in all that he has experienced and in recent years with his heart surgeries, had come face to face with his sin and his Savior and known forgiveness. There was a genuine quality in his speech today that made me see beyond the politician and beyond the smooth words that he often uses. Convicted of my own sin, I saw the face of a man I need to forgive. So, tonight the Lord and I will spend some time together in conversation.

Well, I will step down from my soapbox. I just wanted to share some of my heart tonight. If you made it this far, thanks for indulging me. God Bless you!

First Attempt At Digital Scrapbooking

It's a little "rough around the edges" but this is my very first attempt using a tutorial at Two Peas In A Bucket. I used one of their free kits which

was from February 2005. I don't know the designers name. The girls' names are smudged out on the journaling, just for this blog copy and this is low resolution. I need to learn some more so that my pics don't look just "plopped down" on the page. I plan on continuing to learn and hopefully I will improve. I don't know where I am going to find all this free time! LOL

Big Trees Trip With Aunt Grace

My Aunt Grace came to visit on the train. She is my mom's older sister and she is the one who taught me the most about photography and how to "see" and compose. She has had an interesting life, teaching art-mainly oil painting, and traveling around the world. While she was here I borrowed my friends' slide scanner and I have been scanning many of her slides from her travels. With her permission I will be sharing some of her sheepy shots here on the blog in the future.

I wanted to take her some place she had not been before and see a little bit of our countryside, so I took her to Big Trees State Park which has the largest groves of Sequoia trees left in the world. They are found only on the western slope of the Sierra Mountains and are unbelievabl...the pictures really don't show how awesome they are. The coastal redwoods are the tall trees, but the Sequoias are the largest living thing on earth, they are shorter but just huge around. I think the oldest tree in the park is around a thousand years old. It is almost magical walking through the forest. It is a place where I feel God's presence with me as I walk along and I definitely gave my new camera a workout! LOL I have had to experiment with getting the pics small enough to post on a regular basis. So I have made them smaller than usual but hopefully you will get the idea.

The photo above is A and J ready to go. It is one of the cutest pics we have had of the two of them recently. We don't usually dress them alike...but it is easier to tell them apart ever since J gave herself her own haircut! LOL

When someone comes to visit you see things through new eyes. I see the Oleander all the time...white, pink and hot pink. It grows like crazy and is often used as a median break. Grace loved them and we stopped to photograph them...it was the first time I had see what the individual flowers looked like.

This is Angels Camp, California, where we turn off Hwy 49 and head to the Big Trees. They were having the Calaveras Jumping Frog Days of Mark Twain fame and they had these lines of 'laundry' every half block or so down main street. It was part of the decorations for their celebrations and town was pretty busy.

The top picture is D, J, and A...it's blurry but I rarely get a decent (insert hysterical laughter here!) picture of the three of them together, so I'm including it anyway. The second is J and A. I told the girls to hug each other or hold hands and so they took each others' hands and started singing Ring Around the Rosie...it was so cute!

In the top picture, D and A have gone on ahead. This is typical for them, while J takes her sweet time, enjoying every moment of life! :o) The bottom is Aunt Grace and A.

Many of the trees are named for famous people or characteristics. This is the Abraham Lincoln Tree.

Does anyone know what this is? I'm guessing a moth rather than a butterfly. My Aunt got me a butterfly booklet at the gift store at the park and it has lovely sketch/watercolor pictures and handwritten notes, reminiscent of the Diary of an Edwardian Lady. I haven't had time to look it up yet.

The top picture is D...he has had his picture taken here as a baby and a toddler...it was fun to see him again. It was also fitting to have the girls' picture taken here since they are identical twins. These trees are called The Siamese Twins...two trees which are joined at the base. I did take pics that show that they are two trees but obviously can't post every picture here. J is on the left and A on the right. A really looks like her Grandma Ruth in these pictures...especially the one with her tongue out! LOL

This is Aunt Grace and D having a hug and a talk. D is a really affectionate and caring little guy.

In the top picture, A, D and J are climbing through my favorite trees. The middle is D and J and the bottom shows how lovely they look on their own with the sunlight streaming through between them. The trees that you see in the distance behind them are quite large, to give you perspective.

This is the first time I have been in the woods when the wild dogwood were in full bloom. It was lovely, like lacy canopies all throughout the forest.

D is in the top picture...King of the Mountain and the bottom is D, J and A. They had so much fun playing here while Grace sketched and I took pictures.

D, Aunt Grace and A heading out on the last stretch of the trail.

This is northern California at its best (not counting the coast!). This is a ranch off of Hwy 49 in Gold Country that we saw on the way home. The oaks are one thing I will miss when we leave the state. You can't tell in this photo but they spread and sprawl and some are huge...though small in comparison to the Sequoia trees!

I always love taking pictures this time of day, before the sun goes down and the light is warm and golden and sometimes red. Fences and posts seem to be one of the things my eye is attracted to when carrying a camera.

For Deposit Only

My blog is worth $8,468.10.
How much is your blog worth?

I saw this on a blog and couldn't resist. I did this once before and I think it said $0. It must be because I link to some commercial sites?? I don't know but could the powers that be deposit this directly into my account! LOL

Memorial Day

I would like to take this moment to pay respect to the military and all the men and women who sacrifice their time, energy, skills and sometimes lives in honor of freedom! In our family currently, my brother Bruce is on a nuclear submarine based in Washington State. My stepbrother Jack is in Iraq in the Army and my nephew Anthony is at Fort Bragg, NC, also in the Army. God be with you!

And here is proof that there is nothing new under the sun.

Bismarck Tribume (ND) Jun, 2, 1917

MATRON OF SEVENTY-SIX
CARDS AND SPINS YARN
TO KNIT FOR SOLDIER BOYS

The scarcity of yarn has no terrors for Mrs. John Halcrow of Bowesmont, Pembina county. Recently Mrs. Halcrow, who is in her 76th year, "teased" carded and spun the yarn she used in knitting socks and sweaters for boys in khaki. In all she has spun two fleeces of wool and has knitted the yarn into scoks and sweaters. This she did besides knitting her full share of supplies for the Bowemont Red Cross chapter. This devotion to our soldiers by one of the pioneers of the state is a stirring example of the great patriotism with which the women are backing the government.

Mrs. Halcrowis one of the best known women of the state. She is a woman of splendid Christian character and a mother of a most representative family, Mrs. J. G. Moore and Mrs. C. W. Moses of this city, Mrs. John Booth Cooley, Mrs Harry Tisdale, wife of Dr. Tisdale of Grand Forks; Mrs. J. Shingler wife of Rev. Shingler of the Milton Methodist church; Mrs. G. B. Wylie of Bowesmont, state corresponding secretary of the W. C.T.U; Mrs. A. O.D Frate of Jamestown; Miss Mae and Robert and John Halcrow of Bowesmont are her children.

Mrs. Halcrow brought the spinning wheel which she used from her old home in Scotland upwards of 50 years ago. She was among the first to join the Red Cross and has given splendid support to all its activities. The Bowesmont chapter has a membership of 147, while the town proper only has a population of 110. The other members are from the surrounding districts.

Mrs. Halcrow devotes most of her time to the knitting of Red Cross articles.


This lady came from the Shetland Islands, first to Ontario, Canada and then to North Dakota. She is the mother of the wife of my Grandmother's Uncle, Harry Tisdale (noted in the article). In some other writings it mentions that she brought the wheel with her from Scotland when she came. Can you imagine packing up all your belongings in a trunk and sailing across an ocean to begin a new life? We jet set around today and think nothing of it. It was a big thing back then and I'm sure she didn't bring her wheel solely for amusement purposes, it was probably a necessary part of her every day life at that time. It was interesting to read that she had spun two fleeces for socks and sweaters for the boys in WWI...and we do it today...several of my friends are making socks for soldiers and some are making helmet liners...the beat goes on. Thank you everyone who is helping encourage and support all these soldiers!

The Meme...

Well, to distract you from the fact that I have no knitting news, I am going to share a meme with you...again! LOL I'm exhausted after a week visit with my Aunt, a day trip with her and the kids and I have been having some pain/?arthritis in my finger joints. I'm too tired physically, mentally and emotionally to knit! How can that be? I don't know but it does happen. Maybe over the next week I will share some photos of our trip to see the Sierrra Redwood trees (Giant Sequoias) at Big Trees State Park in Arnold, California. Pictures never quite do them justice but they are amazing! There is literally nothing like them in the world.

So, the meme...for which I have noone to tag because I am probably the last blogger in the world to do this. Amy...have you done this? If not, you are tagged!

Here’s how to play…
1. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged write a blog post about their own 8 random things and post these rules.
3. At the end of your blog you need to tag 8 people and post their names.

Eight Random Things

1. If you looked at my house you would see lots of clutter...it's too small, I have too much stuff, there's nowhere to put it. In actuality I am a very good organizer and some things I organize obsessively. I think that I would be a good professional organizer because I could understand the messy person, the space challenged and the creative disarray, but I could also see how to do things better. My Grandma Hopkins always said she was "not a perfectionist, just an efficiency expert." I often organize things so that they can be used more efficiently and like to color code things that get stored. Also when I clean I can't just shove stuff anywhere, like in "Fibber McGee's Closet" (unless there is surprise company! LOL), I have to start in one spot and have it perfect and then move on. My husband has mild ADD...can you imagine how I drive him crazy! :o)

2. I have always been interested in "old fashioned" things. As a child I was often found sitting with the older women, listening. I have never felt comfortable with people my own age because to them I was boring and weird. I loved my Grandma Johnson's stories about growing up in the depression and my Grandma Hopkins nourished my desire to learn about different things like cooking, sewing, crochet, art etc.

3. Photography is a passion for me. Sometimes my shots come out great...sometimes not so much. I have only taken one photography course and I didn't learn much in it other than developing (which I can't remember...except for how hard it was to wind the film on those metal coil things without ruining it by having it touch!). My Grandpa Johnson taught me a bit but mostly I learned how to "see" and compose from my Aunt Grace who is an oil painting Artist, photographer and an art teacher. However, my best shots are created from the deep passion within me that aches and longs to share the beauty and awesome wonder and mystery of all of God's Creation so that others will know Him too!

4. No big surprise...I love to scrapbook, though I rarely have time. I especially love heritage scrapbooking which combines several of my interests. I used to teach heritage scrapbooking classes and I am currently designing a class on sharing your faith through scrapbooking, art and journaling. I don't know if I will ever get to teach it but I am having fun thinking about all the things to include and hope this summer to work on some projects for it. I also hope to learn how to do digital scrapbooking.

5. I love to write and have had penpals since I was in middle school...from England, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Ireland, Africa, California, Canada...but the ultimate penpal was my hubby who started out as an email penpal in 1996!

6. Many doctors told me I would never have children...now I have oodles...well, okay, 3, but they feel like oodles when you are 40 and have a 5 yo and two 4 yos! LOL DS was conceived on fertility treatments. Fertility treatments are not fun on many levels. The twin girls...well they were a gift from God...a surprise "flu" that just wouldn't go away! :o) And man, those two little girls have the energy and mischievousness of four little boys! When they were born four years ago I had very dark brown, almost black hair...now it is salt and pepper, heavy on the salt! In spite of all the hard work they are a testimony to me of God's faithfulness and working in my life.

7. Spending time at the ocean rejuvenates my soul. It seems to be the only place that I actually *physically* relax. I hate living so far away from the ocean after growing up in Washington State rarely more than 30 minutes from some kind of a beach.

8. Like most Americans I am a Heinz 57 mix, but when it's all put together I am mainly Irish, Scots-Irish and English. There is a large chunk of Swede with smidgeons of German, Polish and Slovakian thrown in. My greatest genealogical road block has been the Slovakian family...Dipko. The most genealogy data I have is on the Hopkins/Wolcott families, but probably the most rewarding families to research were the Johnson/Landgren, Larimore and Tisdale because I started with virtually nothing and ended up with cousins all over the US and Canada and many pictures that I never knew existed.

There you go...8 more things about me that you probably didn't even want to know! LOL Anyone else game to try? Tell me in the comments and I will go learn about you!

Knitting Meme

I've seen this Meme going around and then saw it at Marguerite's last night while scanning slides for my Aunt (England, Scotland...some sheep...fun!). So I have decided to do it:

Bold for things you’ve done, italics for things you plan to do one day, and normal for things you’re not planning on doing.

American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Bobbles
Button holes
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Continental knitting
Domino knitting (modular knitting)
Drop stitch patterns
Entrelac
Fair Isle knitting
Freeform knitting
Fulling/felting
Garter stitch
I-cord
Intarsia
Kitchener BO
Knitting with circular needles
Knitting with DPNs
Knitting and purling backwards
Knitting smocking
Knitting small tubular items on two circulars
Knitting a circular item using the Magic Loop
Lace patterns
Long Tail CO
Moebius band knitting
Norwegian knitting
Provisional CO
Short rows
Slip stitch patterns
Steeks
Stockinette stitch
Swatching
Textured knitting
Swiss Darning
Thrummed knitting
Tubular CO
Twisted stitch patterns
Two end knitting
Knitting with alpaca
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Knitting with beads
Knitting with camel yarn (I have spun it but not knit)
Knitting with cashmere
Knitting with cotton
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Knitting with linen
Knitting with metal wire
Knitting with soy yarn
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Knitting with someone else's handspun yarn
Knitting with self-patterning/self-striping/variegating yarn
Knitting with silk
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Knitting with wool
Afghan/Blanket
Baby items
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm warmers
Gloves
Hat
Hair accessories
Household Items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cozies…)
Jewelry
Mittens: Cuff-upMittens: Tip-down
Pillows
Purses/bags
Rug
Shawl
Scarf
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Slippers
Socks: top-downSocks: toe-up
Stuffed toys
Sweater
Toy/doll clothing
Charity knitting
Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Knitting art
Knitting for pets
Knitting for preemies
Knitting items for a wedding
Knitting a gift
Holiday related knitting
Designing knitted garments
Dyeing yarn with plant colors (Cannot do because of asthma & chemicals)
Dyeing yarn with acid dyes
Participating in a KAL
Publishing a knitting book
Knitting to make money
Knitting for a living
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Knitting on a loom
Machine knitting
Olympic knitting
Resizing patterns
Spinning on a drop spindle
Spinning with a spinning wheel
Teaching a male how to knit
Teaching knitting classes
Writing a pattern
Knitting in public

Swallowtail Butterflies

Here are my Swallowtail Butterflies in low resolution. I think I will make the top one into some of my photo cards. The one on the Iris has too much distraction going on.

Buzz, Buzz, Buzz

Okay, does the sound of a buzzing bee distract you from the fact that I have absolutely no knitting to show you?! LOL In fact, my migraine is lingering and I have no desire to knit at all...now you know that is bad! However, my Grandma Doris did receive her peacock feathers shawl yesterday and likes it, so that made me happy.

My Mother's Day gift was to have a day to myself yesterday and I really needed it. I'll be posting a couple more pics probably because I saw Swallowtail Butterflies, but I wanted to be sure and get this up for my best friend Shelley to see. This is cropped out of a larger photo and enlarged so you can see the antennas. Can you see how they curl, just like we draw them when we are kids or in cute kids' art? I thought that was just artistic license; I did not know that some insect antenna indeed curls like that. The bee was moving really fast so it is not totally in focus, but I thought it was also neat how you can see the outline of the wing. I get so excited when God gives me things like this to photograph, I just couldn't keep it to myself, so I had to share.

Happy Mother's Day

This photo is not staged and it is one I cherish. D was almost 3 months old and we had gone up to WA to see my folks at Christmas and to seem my Grandma who was then living in a nursing home. See the smile on her face as she is holding her first great grandchild? We are all looking at a 5x7 scrapbook that I made with D's baby pics for my Mom and Jack. She is also wearing a pink mohair scarf that I knit her. Grandma loved all things pink. And while I love my Mother dearly and beyond expression of any words, Mother's Day for me has been traditionally about my Grandma Hopkins. It doesn't seem the same without her. You could definitely say that we had a matriarchal family. In later years Grandma reigned over us like the Queen Mum, sitting in her chair, observing us all and smiling and just enjoying having her little chicks in one place. I really get homesick around Thanksgiving and Mother's Day because those are the two days we all got together in my Mom's family.
This is my Mom holding D shortly before my first Mother's Day. They were outside checking our roses. I love this picture! And look at what a little chunk monkey he was! LOL Oh my goodness...he's a stick now, tall and thin like Dad. My Mom and I had a fun talk on the phone tonight, catching up. I knew tomorrow would be busy as they are going to Grandma Doris'. She is the one for whom I knit the Peacock Feather's Shawl. We mailed it priority mail on Monday and she hasn't received it unless she got it today and didn't check her mail, so my Mom is going to check tomorrow.

My Mother's Day present was a day by myself...a rare event! I went back up to the Iris fields and they were even more gorgeous. I got a neat shot of a Swallowtail Butterfly that I will post some time next week.

If you are reading this and pray...please pray for my friend Dale's family. She is the one on our Christian Artisan's list who died post bone marrow transplant. Thoses firsts are always hard. I am thinking my friend Laura's children will have it tough this first Mother's Day without her as well. And I know for many Mother's Day is tough...they don't communicate with their Moms, they lost a child, they experience infertility or any number of other reasons that make it hard for them to think about Motherhood. I have known several women who dread going to church on that day because of the pain...so please pray for them as well.

I hope the Lord blesses you with a wonderful Mother's Day and that you get to celebrate with your families!

A Blast From The Past

So, what do these pictures have to do with knitting? Not a whole lot! LOL But I had to scan something and these pics were next to the scanner waiting to be scanned, so you are the lucky recipients!

Actually in the first picture...it is Mother's Day, 25 years ago! (No I wasn't a pilgrim at Thanksgiving...see, I'm eating spaghetti!) I'll have you know that I made that dress myself and it was very stylin' at the time. It was navy blue with white polka dots and white collar, cuffs, trim etc. And, I'll also have you know I worked VERY hard to get my hair to look like that! LOL My hair was very bushy, thick and wavy...a legacy from my Tisdale roots. I HATED it then, but now that health problems have taken away most of my hair I wish I had it back! The feathers at the bangs and sides were created by a Conair curling iron that many of you my age probably had...it was orange and you pulled the wand out and it plugged directly into the wall (no cord, just a plug). I could not go anywhere without that curling iron to tame my mane! Check out the glasses too. Pretty hilarious.

The second picture is truly a blast from the past...Christmas 1976. If you look at my face you can see that it was white, pasty and a little puffy. I had been very ill with a pneumonia like illness that almost had me in the hospital and that is when my allergies began, starting with that Christmas tree behind me. The pug I am holding was my pug "Tuffy" (obviously I was 8 when I named him). We had him from 1974-1884. Noone had pugs back then. When my stepdad brought him home from his work, my Mom and I thought he was INSANE...what was that UGLY creature! LOL But anyone who has been owned by a pug knows...they have quite the personality and it didn't take long for him to win us all over!

Happy Mother's Day Ladies! Hopefully I will have some knitting soon. I have been dealing with a migraine and am also getting ready for my Aunt to visit next week...no knitting happening here!

Being A Nerd Pays Off

Your Vocabulary Score: A-

Congratulations on your multifarious vocabulary!You must be quite an erudite person.

How's" Your Vocabulary?

High Sierra Iris Gardens

Yesterday we went to the High Sierra Iris Gardens which are not in the High Sierra, but in the foothills and are part of the Apple Hill farming community that we visit several times a year. We went a week early this year, so they weren't in full bloom, but still it was beautiful and it was nice weather, even though it was a bit windy. We have had odd weather this year so it is still green...usually we are starting to look brown in May!
The kids made friends with garden resident, Sarah, a very friendly lab mix dog. They are still a bit afraid of dogs, but getting better. Hubby and I LOVE animals so we aren't sure where this came from! J is in purple and A is in pink. D of course is in the white tshirt.
A wanted to sniff the flowers to see if they "smelled purty"! The Iris grown here are Bearded Iris or sometimes called German Iris and are so beautiful. They come in every color except red and many have intricate color designs that look more like orchids. I don't know how someone could pick out their favorite. We can't grow them here (only have container gardening because we have rock hard clay) but I am hoping when we go to Spokane that we can.
Hubby took the tripod and the remote for the camera to practice and see if we got better pics that way, but he had three helpers as you can see...it's hard to tell with help like that! LOL

I was thinking of missing my Mom and my friends from England who are visiting in Vancouver, BC and my Mom was visiting there yesterday. I was feeling sad and also missing my friend Laura who died in September. I was thinking about her daughter and prayed for her, knowing that her Mother's Day would be even sadder than mine this year. I had just started to cry a little to myself and then this is the gift God gave me...Laura and I shared a love of butterflies and this one posed for me! :0) Technically I am not sure if it is a butterfly or a moth, but I thought it was pretty. Does anyone know of a good Butterfly ID site so I can look it up?

This photo shoes how steep the hillside was and my calves and feet hurt last night after walking all over the hillside trying not to break my ankle or fall on my face or worse yet, go tumbling down the hill! HA HA!
It is no secret that purple is my favorite color and I love pinks and purples in the garden. However, it is a surprise to me that my favorite Iris are not purple. Any flower can be beautiful in purple, but how many flowers look so beautiful brown (there are some lovely chocolatey Iris), rust, orange etc. I love seeing God's artistry in every bloom.

The kids had fun running around in the sunshine, but as you can see it was cool enough to wear turtlenecks and long sleeves with the wind.
My three little monkeys smiling for Grandma and Grandpa...J, A, D...see Aunt Shelley...it IS getting better to take pics of the three together! We still have to take about 25 to get one good one! LOL
A and D frequently pair up...here they are dangling feet together.
Another shot of the butterfly/moth showing off his wings for me.
Another pretty Iris...I took a lot more 550 shots all together!

Here is A, "throwing a fit" and wouldn't join the other two!
The girls' moods change as fast as the weather at the ocean...and they are not even teenagers yet!
But D is almost always ready with a smile. He often turns his head to the side...just like his Mom, his Grandma and his Great Grandma Tisdale!
Miss J...good thing we got pictures of her before she cut her hair last night! HA HA...see pics two posts down!
Another picture of Mr. D., our little Ham!

I hope you are seeing these from Vancouver Lily, Bev and Terrence! I love you and miss you and certainly wish that we were there to visit in person! I am with you in my heart.