Heather and Greg

Well we had the pleasure of spending Mother's Day weekend with Heather's parents. It's been a lot time since that was made possible. Saturday was our big day together, woke up early and went to the Farmer's Market early enough to avoid the crowds.

This farmer's market is the oldest one in the US that's been held in the same location. It's been running so long that George Washington's farm sold their produce here. Officially it's been running since 1753. After that Heather and her Dad went to the gym for a spinning class. So nice to have father and daughter exercising together, and go dad for doing a hard core class like that at the age of 68! Later in the day we prepared a picnic and went to the fabulous Hillwood Estate. It was one of the homes of the Post cereal heir Marjorie Merriweather Post. She had a good eye for antiques and her favorites were of French or Russian origin. The house itself was a living museum and when she passed away she left it for us regular folks to enjoy. I wasn't able to get pictures of the inside of the house as they ban cameras for security purposes and for the integrity of the old paintings and textiles, but I did get a few outside.

The front of the mansion was obscured by the fabulous landscaping:


The back of the mansion was overlooking a vast lawn and all the gardens (It also had a gorgeous view of Rock Creek Park):


A large green house stood on the property, here Mom, Dad and Greg stand in front:

The green house had a huge assortment of orchids, so you know Mom and Dad were in heaven:


By far the favorite of all the gardens was the Japanese themed one:


A view of the garden from the bottom looking up:

Mom and Dad in the garden:

Mom and Greg taking a break. There was a lot of walking involved!

The whole fam in front of the azaleas. We came at peak azalea season and they did not dissapoint:

It's a sad day today, just got pictures of my old house in Massachusetts in various stages of demolition. The house wasn't that fabulous itself, but it was a place I grew up in and I have a lot of fond memories of life on the lake. I hope I get to see photos of what the new owners put up (when the town grants all the zoning and permits, etc, they are being pesky as is their usual M.O.).

Well my birthday was spent with both Greg and I sick, so we've had a delayed celebration. Technically we haven't celebrated at all. But I did come home from my business trip to a giant gift wrapped in bright blue paper with a yellow bow. Greg had used the days I was away to take my Geraint Smith photos and get them professionally framed. I could not ask for a better present. The first photo I bought years ago. It captured my eye because of the peacefulness of the horse in motion. I feel that way when I am in motion.


This next print I bought because it was just so happy. I love the colors.

Finally this last photo is of some black eyed susans and I loved the beauty in the imperfections of these flowers.
Geraint is an amazing photograph and I'm so excited to be able to put these pictures up in my house finally.

I've been keeping a food journal for 8 years now as part of my Radiant Recovery program. I love having a tool to keep track of how I'm feeling in relation to what I'm eating. I used to just use various notebooks. I loved going into a book store and picking out a journal that suited my mood for the moment. And lets face it, any excuse to get into a bookstore is ok by me! Lately I've wanted more structure so I've been using a journal put together with the help of Microsoft Publisher (and a friend, thanks Terri!). Part of the fun in this is that I can create whatever cover I want. I went to National Geographic's photo stock, which is royalty free to find my newest pictures. I chose a beautiful and serene photo for my front cover:
And a fun and whimsical photo for the back cover:I think they reflect my two sides pretty accurately :).