Happy Fathers' Day

 How cool is this!? It was so amazingly RED! I took about 8 pictures of this as we zoomed by.  I have no idea what it's called...it's so amazing that it must have a name.  It can be seen in Custer State Park...I believe.

 Such massive, impressive rocks and formations!

 And then, the prairie begins to encroach on the Badlands.

 My gang at Mt. Rushmore.

"Big Head Mountain"...so named by David!

Happy Fathers' Day to all the Dads out there. (don't forget to click on the pictures for bigger versions)

Hi! We're here!

Between my last post and this, we have left the Bay Area for the wide open Prairie of South Dakota. We've been here a week now.  All the boxes are unpacked, the school room is all set and already functioning for Summer School. We've been to the grocery store twice, but haven't successfully gotten our drivers' licenses yet. I have been to the DMV three times, but the wait is over 2 hours! So, I'm waiting at home instead.  I've been calling this new state, "Slow Dakota" because it is just so much slower here than it was in Northern California.  I'm sure you're not surprised by that!

On our trek, by car--not wagon!, to our new home, I took a few pictures.  I didn't take any pictures until we hit Wyoming though.  I was just too sad to take any as we left Cali and still sad as we drove through Utah.

Here are the pictures I took...starting with one last one at the Presidio with the kids by our new State flag.

 The Plains of Yellowstone with thermals

 Why it's called, "Yellowstone"

 At Old Faithful

Picture by DJ of "Old Faithful and the Geeser"

I think this is Lake Yellowstone. Doesn't it look cold!!  This is on June 2nd!

More pictures tomorrow! If you click on the photo you can view them kinda like a slideshow, much bigger and better quality that way!

Our last trip to the Presidio

   

A photo essay from the Presidio.

 

California Poppies in two colors.

 Mystery Orchid-like flower

 Calalilly showing what it looks like to "Bloom where you are planted"...even if it means right in the middle of the weeds!

 I believe this is a Hawthorne.

 Pomegranite

 "Ice Plant"

 Busy Bee

 View of Alcatraz with Crissy Field in the foreground.

 It was Memorial Day weekend...so the National Cemetery was all decked out.

 A Robin acting as a sentinel on a tombstone.

 Can you see the battleship in the background?

Happy Memorial Day. And Happy 75th Birthday to the Golden Gate Bridge!

One Little Word Updates

My journey with One Little Word 2012 has only been going on for just about four months. "Share" is a difficult word to live with! 

February I was supposed to find instances of my word in signage around me, or in pictures that I might take of something that my word might symbolize.  I sort of struck-out on that front.  I tried to find cool individual letters from the word and take pictures of those.  But, I only ended up with an "a" and an "e"....

March was supposed to be a month where I picked a day to "do" my word.  I was struggling with that because when I looked at my schedule for the month I realized that I had a lot of sharing going on already.  I shared walks with friends, taught someone how to use a loom to knit, shared dinner with my Deacon friends at church, had tea with my three support group friends, shared necklace making with another friend, shared the Lord's Supper with others, shared cookies with Joni Erickson Tada, shared a parenting seminar with friends, and shared tea with more friends.  I almost felt "share"-d out!

But, on the 16th of March David flew home from Boston and surprised me by whisking me away to Napa for the night and all of Saturday before he flew back to Boston on Sunday night.  He had arranged for the children to have a sleepover with friends and took care of my Saturday morning responsibilities.  So, I was the recipient of my word!  We shared a lovely getaway in Napa and Yountville.  We window shopped, tried on furs, tasted wine and had lunch at Bottega--Michael Chiarello's restaurant. It was lovely!

So, now in April the assignment is to write a "Note to Self" letter.  This letter is to be written to my by me as if I were someone else writing the note.  I'm to answer the questions, "What do I hope for myself? If life went just as I'd like it to, what would my life look like next year? Generally, am I where I want to be at the moment of writing this letter?"  I have a feeling it will take me a bit to write this letter.

They're back!

The Cedar Waxwing and Robin flocks are back in our trees today. They were here on February 23 last year. I don't know if they are really exactly a month early, or if my calculations are off.

Either way, they are here making our back yard an aviary! I love it. It is pouring down rain but the birds are flitting from tree to tree eating the mysterious berries we have and sounding like they are enjoying themselves.

Happy Monday!

My first scarf!

I wanted to learn how to knit this year because my daughter just learned. So, I asked her to teach me! She learned at Christmas when Grandma was here and could give a few lessons. Our church has a new knitting group starting up this month, so I thought it was the perfect opportunity for the two of us to join a club together. We'll be donating the scarves we knit to Shepherd's Gate in Livermore, a shelter for women and children.

I've been excited to knit this first scarf and make the embellishment for it too. It has been even more fun to make it knowing that it will be a special gift to a woman who needs to feel the warmth of Christ's live in the midst of crisis.

Then, as I finished the scarf and I took the picture...I remembered, "HEY!! My word is "share"!! What better way to share than to be knitting for other people."

How cool is that!?

Presidio National Cemetery San Francisco, California

John G. Lindgren of New York died on April 21, 1940. He was a Private, First Class in the 11th Infantry. I can't find out much about John other than the fact that he may have been a firefighter in New York at some point. The 11th Infantry was in the Civil War, a unit comprised of New York City firemen. Lindgren is my maiden name. We did not find anyone with my married name.

We found his gravestone on a recent trip to the Presidio in San Francisco. You can search the burial sites by last name which tells you the grave marker number as well as the location of the stone.

I chose this picture as my first picture of myself for the new year to use in my One Little Word class. We were assigned to take a picture of ourselves as a sort of time marker. I picked this picture because it was one of the first family outings we did for the new year.

But I also picked it because of the significance of the grave. I am using this picture to help remind me that I am choosing to bury the past, especially the junky stuff.

This year I am choosing to share myself more with my God, my family and my friends. This means that I am burying my old habit of keeping things to myself. Mind you, I'm not going to become a person who spews whatever I want whenever I want to. But, I am going to choose to be more actively open to others. I'm sure I'll learn more about that as I journey through this year of sharing.