true love

does exist.

and i am thrilled for my darling wonderful friend nicole.

shes getting married in november.

and i get to help with flowers.

i met with her and her mom, kathy (my other special friend)...

and we talked and talked about wedding stuff.

and we walked around her grandmothers estate.

where the shin dig will take place.

amazing backdrop.

for an amazing couple.

so excited for you, nicole.

i promise, it will be beautiful.

(and she even wants a head wreath).

beyond excited to make one of those again.

i will never forget the one i made for charity...

many years ago.

seems like an eternity.

but i will never forget the moment 

i placed that on her head in the temple.

she looked like an angel.

so, lets do it again, nicole.

you will look like an angel.

for sure.

love is in the air.

and its a good thing.

more polo...

one of the reasons why i have this blog is to document my life.

to record all the seemingly insignificant things which go on every day.

i am sure one day i will read this and not be bored with the

mundane day to day things i write about.

i will cherish those events...

and long for the time when i was a glorified chauffeur

and chief cook and bottle washer, maid and veterinarian.

well, if the truth be known, i already do cherish them.

as i have realized...they are quickly escaping my hands.

so...

we have more water polo.

i love watching him play.

every game i look forward to.

i love to see not only his natural strength, and skills...

but his good sportsmanship,

and his support for his teammates.

his positive attitude and his shy smile he may not share with everyone.

but me.

i love the occasional eye contact we may have during a game.

like he knows i am there for him, and him only.

but most of all, i love how he is not embarrassed if i come up to

give him a hug after a game, or listen at the edge of the pool

while he tells me about the intricacies of the game he just played.

going into every detail. i nod my head, smile and tell him he is awesome.

and if needs be, i tell him tomorrow will come, and another day will be started.

and we can start all over again.

love this boy. 

like no one will ever know.

ever.

more oldies

my sister is in utah scanning ancient pictures for my mom and dad...

so she sends me a few here and there.

im the one in the middle, squished between my cousins...

(i think one of my favorites of all time)

i think i had a birthday while we were boating...

must have been june 24th...1969 or something.

i am not sure where this is...

i just know im the little girl on the back.

my sister driving this motorcycle thing.

(what the heck is that anyway?)

im not sure about this one either.

probably on my grandparents ranch.

we grew up visiting their ranch, riding horses and playing in big meadows.

i even witnessed the castration of cattle and lots of branding and vaccinations.

still remember all of that for some reason.

probably because it was pretty graphic...

and they didnt seem to mind if us kids watched.

i think they may have even made us watch.

and...my sister probably perturbed i was even in this picture.

i think i may have been the pesky little sister.

naw. never.

need i say more?

i am old

because the little girl in my arms has graduated from Berkeley

 and is a brilliant engineer/physicist/super smartie...

and the little boy by my side has his masters in mathematics and 4 kids...

even a few of them in school already.

simply mind boggling.

however, this seems like yesterday.

i may be old, but i sure dont feel old.

a weird phenomenon, for sure.

so lets hear it for stayin young.

quite possibly it was the car which i remember so well.

seared into my brain.

oh, that mustard yellow was the best.

i wonder if i could hide...

from the world.

and run away.

way far away.

and not talk to anyone.

unless it was something lovely or sweet.

love trickling out of my mouth.

only uttered to those i care for and trust.
those souls would take it in and smile.
caress my shoulder and tell me its gonna be alright.

rich reminded me of something weve all heard...

something i used to say to my kids.
still saying it actually.

"if you dont have something nice to say, dont say it at all."

maybe this should be my new mantra.

tattooed on my forehead.

yup. 

that would be good.

whoever said...

pokemon was for little geeky kids?

club rush at tesoro...he went to work advertising his cool club.

and i guess there is some big fight over who should be the president.

hunter won.

knee deep

in yellow.

and if youve ever walked in my house and thought it was a mess...

check out my garage.

when i create. it is chaos.

good chaos tho.

claudine and i seem to do the same thing.

two peas in a pod, us two.

oh yes, and we did go to in and out.

(tell tale signs on the table there)

seems cheeseburgers and flowers go together for us.

all of this after we left behind a huge bucket of lemon leaves in the parking lot.

stepped in dog poo.

got surpised by a garden spider the size of a silver dollar hanging over my head.

 supervised 2 extra large dogs (worse than 2 year olds) hanging out with us in the garage.

(i think we scolded toby and bailey like a hundred times...)

and made brownies at midnight.

thats us, a rare twosome.

we know how to do it right.

and my favorite arrangement yet.

and it took like 5 minutes.

sometimes the less you do...the better.

just hope i dont transport any black widows to the wedding,

who have hidden out in my old iron urn.

and possibly the smallest bridal bouquet i have ever created.

and yes, this is a good thing.

usually my arrangements get rather large.

with flowers crawling all over the person they are trying to adorn.

look for the little furry yellow orbs tucked in there...

and whoever said there isnt a God...

is nuts.

id like to see them create

a perfect natural sphere,

in glorious mustard yellow.

 another arrangement which came together perfectly.

sometimes you struggle with putting them together in the right way.

other times it just happens.

maybe someone knew i needed to go to bed.

(it was 1am...way past my bedtime)

and the faster i got this all done, the better.

thank you to whoever guided me.

till tonight...

when the shin dig really happens.

lets see if we can pull it off.

still got a lot of work to do...

in my fancy studio, i call a messy garage.

wish us luck.

for the love of planes

call me odd.

i love air shows.

im not sure why.

maybe cuz it was something i did with my dad...

or maybe its in the genes somewhere.

dont know.

but one day i would like to fly.

even if i cant afford the gas.

would like to say i am a pilot.

have felt like this for a very long time.

and when my dad would take aenon on trips to the local airport,

she being about 2...he taught her the difference between

a prop and a jet before she knew her colors...

i can still hear her being prompted by my dad,

big smile on his face-her propped in his arms...

 and her cute pronunciation of the words.

they used to go to the airport and watch the planes land and take off.

for hours and hours.

theyd be gone all afternoon.

hed sit his little diapered girl on the wing of a tethered 

plane and there they would sit.

and watch.

and he would teach her about it all.

her little brain taking it all in.

usually with a toy plane in her hand.

something i grew up with too.

a fascination with flight.

so intense i remember years ago at a

24th of july celebration, a formation of jets passed over the stadium we were in.

the roar was incredible.

a wave of emotion took me over.

i cried. 

not sure why, but i did.

how embarrassing.

what idiot cries when planes fly over?

me.

 

so we ventured into 100 degree weather.

(well, it sure felt like it).

and found a nice space on the blacktop.

and patiently watched the sky.

with a colorful array of $4 asian parasols shielding the sun,

and $5 sunglasses.

all for a good cause.

saw a b-25 (only one of five in the world) and our tour guide the old fighter pilot

got to talk to a young fighter pilot.

just 30 years younger...with 200 hours of combat time. 

they spoke the same language.

and were saying things i didnt understand.

apparently getting in formation like that is pretty difficult.

and when we got to the restaurant after it all...

(after a 5 mile walk...and sunburned cheeks)

we begged the waitress for water,

and washed it all down with a good steak.

at the place where they cut off your tie and pin it to the wall.

 so i got to go to another one.

and loved it.

these images tell the story, but too bad i couldnt bottle the whiny scream.

and the smell of jet fuel.

i think its a sound thing.

and i like a throaty exhaust on my car too.

what is wrong with me?