Packaging

In between shouting VERY LOUDLY and waving our British flags for Jemma Lowe (Her parents can't spell Gemma) at the Olympic swimming heats... my family had their snacks.  Mum had the "healthier" option.  Charlotte had the "unhealthy" option and Dad had the "this is really naughty" option.  #GOTEAMGB!!

PACKAGING

While trying to recreate the delicious Summertime cupcakes from Red Velvet Cupcakery in Washington, I bought this. It helped that they spell their name the same as me!
Comparison? Not even close and that's why there is only one gone. One was enough.

Overcast

At the start of the year when I saw the theme list I laughed out loud.  Of course I would get "overcast" while in England.   How simply perfect.  Except for one little thing... today was about the only chance of sunshine  for the rest of the week.  It did get more overcast by late afternoon but my camera was no longer with me.  I love these very fluffy clouds.

OVERCAST

Overcast at the Lake.

ORNAMENT/ORNAMENTAL

At the Indian Teepee Shop, they have a Christmas room in the back.

Ornament/Ornamental

Some big old ornamental clock that I just happened to stumble upon today.  As seen through the Olympic flags in parliament square.

ORDINARY

Nothing says Ordinary like a vanilla cone.

Ordinary

There was nothing ordinary about my day at all.  It is GOOD to be in London.  British flags flying everywhere.  Feeling so proud.  Passed by this pub sign on our walk home from cheering (trying to) the cyclists outside Buckingham Palace.  A most ordinary lunch.

ORBS

Gazing balls at the Bayport Flower House.

Orbs

So it's the middle of summer, the official start of the Olympics and here I am at 8am taking pictures of christmas ornaments in my pyjamas??!!!  Madness.  Anyway, these were the only orbs I could think of without having to leave the house.  On a major packing mission.

Orange

I had to run a lot of pre-trip errands today.  Charlotte came with me and was so good she got a treat.  This is always her treat of choice.

ORANGE

From a little farm stand near the house.

I wanted to add a second picture that I did not take today. While on our trip to Washington, we saw this woman who's hair was as orange as the flower. When we saw her, we all said, "Orange for the blog!" I couldn't resist posting it to show you.

One-two-three

In honour of The Games #London2012.  And in one-two-three days... I will be there!!!

ONE-TWO-THREE

One

I had One all planned - I was going to take a picture of a mailbox with a "1" on it.  But I discovered the weirdest thing.... I couldn't find a "1" house.  Half the streets around here end with the "3" house or sometimes a higher number.  WHAT IS UP WITH THAT??  Anyway, so then I was totally short on time and raided Annabelle's toy chest.  Plenty of colourful numbers in there.  I bet tomorrow I will find plenty of "1" houses...

ONE

How could I not?

On the farm

We spent most of our day in Manhattan reminiscing about our past weekend.  One of those special weekends where you get to spend quality time with dear friends and their children - who just happen to click with our children even though we see each other but once a year (why can't they move to New York?).  Anyway, point being I didn't get anywhere close to a farm but I traveled home with some eggs - love the "sweaty" look.

ON THE FARM

This farm had gigantic beds of sunflowers and pick-your-own fruit. I bought a box of blueberries and blackberries and ate all the blackberries on the way home.

Oddity

Tonight was pretty odd.  I got to watch my boys in blue play in New York.   Not only that, they played football on a baseball field.  But perhaps the greatest oddity of all?  We didn't win and I still came home with a great big smile on my face.  1-1 draw.  But it sure felt good cheering when that ball went in.

ODDITY

Today I had an abundance of Oddity pictures to choose from. A 6-foot stingray sculpture, a miniature sphinx down to the chipped nose, a completely deranged looking 12-foot father and son Paul Bunyan-esque  statue, 2 foxes and a raccoon all before 8am. But it was this gnome that got me. What is he looking at? Why is he carrying a bird?
Rarely do I look ahead on the theme list. My routine is to post the day's picture and then look to the next day's theme. When I saw Oddity, I was sure I would be stuck. Not so much. Funny how when you look around, the themes are right in front of you - for better or for worse.

OBLIGATIONS

Obligations

Obligation:  a full diaper/nappy needs to get changed. 

NUTS

Hardware store nuts.

Nuts

Considering how much my parents have done for me, the LEAST I can do is make sure I stock up on a couple of their favourite items when they visit.  The list is a tad bizarre...
  - lemons for hot water
  - tonic water for Dad's gin & tonic
  - birdseed (well it looks like birdseed) which they sprinkle liberally over their    breakfast
  - Rooibos tea
  - lemon & ginger tea
  - champagne
  - fresh berries (even in the depths of winter) and bananas
  - muesli (must be the no-sugar added variety)
  - and last but NOT least.... cashews.  A GREAT BIG PLENTIFUL SUPPLY of    cashews.
So now, if you ever have my parents to stay... consider this your shopping list.

NOISY

I hate the sound of this windchime. It's noisy and it clanks in the wind. It's sound is hollow and harsh and just makes me angry. I changed it to heat map because this is how I feel when I hear it. I should just take it down but I never do.

Noisy

Sara, Seb's sister, is pretty much the best person ever BUT she does have one major fault... she is responsible for this dog.  In her defense... she does apologize every time she sees it.

Nine

The tomatoes are starting to come in.  Nine of them on one little vine.  Can't believe I am dedicating a post to tomatoes.  I think raw tomatoes are absolutely revolting whereas Seb will pull them off the vine, add a sprinkling of salt, and eat them like an apple.  Makes me shudder at the thought.

NINE

NIGHTLIFE

Talk about pathetic. I drove tonight to a bar on the water where I sat in the shadows and took pictures like a stalker. They were awful. I almost stopped where a man was crabbing but that would be weird. I had to slam on my brakes to stop from hitting a raccoon on the way home. But in reality, this is my nightlife - I am listening to House of Tyneford on my phone, drinking tea in Carly's room.

Nightlife

Nightlife made me think of bars.  Bars made me think of alcohol. Considering I couldn't go to a bar tonight this is as close as I could get!

NIGHT SHOT

I am laughing out loud over this theme. I too, had a mosquito problem - that's why the picture is as good as it gets. I went to the marina in capris where the mosquitos attacked me. I would hit the shutter and then dance around, scratching my ankles. I just couldn't stay any longer so I had to go with what I had.

Night Shot

Here's Seb in a motion blur heading up our front steps.  I wish I could have taken a picture of what I was wearing... the mosquitoes were out in FULL FORCE tonight so I had on a dress, a sweater (in 90F) and pyjama bottoms.  The height of fashion.

NEGLECTED

Believe it or not, this house is inhabited. They say that they only live on the bottom floor but as we drove by here today to take this picture, there was a light on in the upstairs window. I would love to see the inside of this.

Neglected

Honestly, who would allow weeds to grow in their gravel driveway?  Oh right, that would be me...

NEGATIVE SPACE

These are the type of pictures I love - simple and uncluttered.

Negative Space

I like when I naturally have negative space in a picture, but this seemed very forced so I didn't really enjoy it. There is a "Blast off to Mars" theme at the local library and local schoolchildren have made aliens out of recycled household items.  All of them are on display above the books.  This was my favourite.

NAUTICAL

 

Nautical

The local yacht club marina.  Think you need to belong to get past the chain link fence.

NATURE

Mother Nature that is. This house has been lifted 5 to 6 feet. The Great South Bay is right behind them. We think it has been lifted because of flooding. Its a fascinating process. You can actually see the water in between the support gaps. 

Nature

Behind the hedges in our backyard we have a "secret trail."  It used to be just an enormous area of ivy (and poison ivy as Seb found out the hard way).  Seb blazed a trail through it all and made a little path.  On the edges of the path he put old pieces of wood such as this one.  This shows the ivy desperately trying to get back on to the path.  Nature reminding us who's the boss!

NATURAL FRAMING

Natural framing

Ok so apparently it IS too much to ask a toddler to place her face perfectly in the frame of the wooden steps.  She thought I was being ridiculous (rightly so) and kept popping her whole head out and laughing.  This was as good as it was going to get.  Short on time today.  Off to a campfire and movie night.

Musical

My instrument of choice (although it has barely been touched since I had Charlotte five years ago). Sob.  Here is Charlotte posing with it.

MUSICAL

Matt is the only musical one in the family. He decided years ago, that he wanted to buy his own clarinet. He was playing the trumpet and had never played a clarinet before. Its been under his bed for four years and I brought it out to take the picture and he could play some notes on it.

MUSIC

This was difficult for me. I don't have any music in my life anymore. The boys don't play instruments now and I never have music on in the car or in the house. I prefer the silence.  This is from a music book I had to dig out of the bottom of Matt's drawer when he played the trumpet.

Music

Some evenings when we are all home and after the girls are in bed (but not yet asleep), Seb will play for us.  He has started taking requests which means that instead of Beethoven's Bagatelle in G Minor we now hear Twinkle Twinkle Little Star or Toy Story's You've got a friend in me or even The Aristocats Everybody wants to be a cat.  I wonder if Charlotte realizes how special it is to fall asleep to your own personal concert?

Multiples

Multiple animals at a safari-themed birthday party.  We somehow managed to come home with four of these.  A lot of excitement for one day.  The kids passed out early tonight.

MULTIPLES

Multiple blueberries, raspberries and dare I say, calories.

Multicoloured

Last morning at the beach.  Charlotte's multicoloured swimsuit against the backdrop of the multicoloured beach chairs.  Almost couldn't post tonight as we had a blackout and have been eating dinner by candelight!