Show & Tell: Summer on the Flatland

Ok... after much computer induced angst, I do believe that I think I have overcome the challenge that is a slideshow on my blog! So, humble readers, for Show and Tell this week I submit 'Summer on the Flatland'. Most of the pictures were taken from a moving vehicle (I especially like the bug-splattered windshield one... oh so summer-in-Alberta). While I miss my mountains greatly, I cannot help but appreciate the beauty of the flatland at this time of year. I think some of my photography skills may be improving... I just need to work on taking pictures of people.


Please don't forget to stop by Mel's place to see what the rest of the class is showing.

Frustration

So, I'm trying to upload a slideshow using the blogger widgit... and it's driving me nuts! I've been at it for more than two hours and I can't get it to work. I have a bunch of pictures I want to share, but it's too many for a single blog post...

anyone have any ideas?

A Break in the Weather

It's raining... thank Heaven!

Isn't it amazing how we can't be happy with the weather we get? Just a couple of weeks ago I was wondering if summer would ever actually get here. Now, after two weeks of 30+ degree weather I'm ready for a break.

Of course it could be that I want our un-air-conditioned condo to cool down. It could be that I want to be able to sleep at night.

It's supposed to be cooler all this week. But come next weekend it's supposed to crank back up again. *sigh*

I promise I will post something far more interesting tomorrow... including pictures... I promise.

Milestones (Part the Second)

mile·stone
n.
- A stone marker set up on a roadside to indicate the distance in miles from a given point.
- An important event, as in a person's career, the history of a nation, or the advancement of knowledge in a field; a turning point.


The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.


A while back I wrote this post about moving on after my second miscarraige. At the time I was celebrating a few different things including getting through an episode of Bringing Home Baby without bawling my eyes out.

Today I am facing a different milestone. One year ago today I got my first bfp. I had woken up early and peed on a stick. I remember staring at that pretty pair of lines. I felt overwhelmed, thrilled, and just a little scared. It felt like we had been waiting so long for this (oh, how little did we know then!) and I couldn't wait to share my news with the world. I actually went online to the ttc bulliten board that I frequented and announced my good news before I told my Beloved (like I said, it was early... I wanted to let him sleep a while).

After spending about an hour hugging the knowledge of our little bean to myself, I went and snuggled in bed with my Beloved. When he was just waking up, I whispered in his ear that he was going to be a daddy. His eyes shot open in shock and I never felt happier.

That happiness lasted for a month and a half. We told our families and friends. We bought a (second hand) stroller and car seat. We made plans for the nursery and maternity leave. We revelled in our joy. And then it ended.

If that little blighted ovum hadn't been so blighted, Emily Hope would be 3 1/2 months old now. I would be on mat leave and we would have a crib in the spare room instead of a few boxes and some empty bookshelves.

So I've been thinking about milestones. A milestone is a place to pause. A place to rest, plan the rest of your journey. To regroup and prepare the next leg of your trip. To take stock of where you are coming from and where you are going. To look back down the road and acknowledge that you were somewhere different than where you are now, and to look ahead to where you are hoping to end up.

Right now, as I sit beside the road and ponder these things, I feel like I'm sitting just below the crown of a hill. I can't see what's next but I hope that my destination isn't that far away. I'm ready to get there. But from this hill I can see where I came from and appreciate how far I've travelled.

And I think the most important thing about a milestone is that it reminds you that you're not quite there.

You have to keep moving forward.

This little wayside pause isn't the end of the road.

Show & Tell: I'm too old but they're too cute!

Ok, so I'm way too old to be saying this... but I can't help myself!

They are just too yummy for words. All the way through the movie last night I couldn't help thinking that they have sure grown up! (Dra.co in that black suit... wow!)

If I were 15 years younger I'm sure that I would have posters of them all over my bedroom. But I think if I tried that now, my Beloved just might have something to say about it.

If you were a teenager again, who's poster would you be going ga-ga over?

Don't forget to swing by Mel's place to check out what the rest of the class is showing!