Sunday Scenes

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blue Ridge Sunset

Well, it's Friday evening and here I am in Blue Ridge, Georgia -- just a little ways from the SW corner of North Carolina.  I'm the keynote speaker at a Writers Conference Saturday morning ("An hour?" said my husband," You're talking for an hour?"

Well, yeah. No doubt there'll be an introduction and I'll save time for Q and A and the hour will be more like forty minutes or thereabouts. And if I see the audience beginning to nod off, I'll condense my remarks.Or tell a joke. Or something . . .

 

I'm pretty sure I was invited because this is a conference mostly for writers and would-be writers and my late entry into the world of publishing gives hope to other so-called late bloomers. An inspiration to middle-aged women everywhere, that's me. 

So I'll share the story of my journey from mild-mannered farmwife to mild-mannered Random House author and try to encourage these writers to give it their best shot. Then I'll meet with a couple of writers for whom I did critiques in advance, then I'll do a session about querying agents, and then I'll head home.

My motel overlooks a lot of roofs and parking lots but out back, I found a sunset -- something I don't see at home.

When the Easter Bunny Brought a Whoopee Cushion

Watching his uncle inflate the device . . .

Precise placement is important . . .

And oh! the joy of that prolonged farting sound -- a little boy's dream. . .

 

Trees and Sky and Sky and Trees

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aftershocks...

The big event of the weekend is over but, like aftershocks following an earthquake,  new words and images keep appearing.  Justin's older brother Ethan posted a really lovely piece about the wedding on his blog.

And these four night pictures were taken by our photographer friend Cory (his website is HERE) from up on a ridge behind Justin and Claui's house.

The weird wormy-looking things are time lapse -- oops, Cory says these photos are long exposures, shutter open for about 60 seconds each. Quite different from time-lapse photography in which one takes multiple images with time missing between each frame, in order to make a video that appears to move in faster than life speed --photography, tracing the path of big fire balloons that were released in celebration of Claui's niece's 16th birthday (which coincided with the wedding.) 

It was magical, to say the least.

 

Bubbles

 

 

 

And Then It Was Easter . . .

After two days of wedding doings, it was time for our annual Easter party -- a tradition since 1979.  The rain that had so kindly held off during the wedding returned and rattled on the roof all night long. But luck was with us (again!) and by morning the rain was gone. We began the day, though, with an intimate little egg hunt for two visiting nephews . . . 

Jack and Asher, getting in some practice before the big hunt later in the day.

I suddenly remembered I hadn't yet made the golden eggs for the big hunt...

After tidying up from the day before, we were ready for celebration number three.

 

The party got under way at one -- we had rehung the quilt for all to see. 

As always, kids had a great time exploring . . .

The branch is a magnet for young uns --  sometimes even rubber boots get full of water . . . 

Mud pies were popular with this crowd . . .

  

Meanwhile, grown ups (the Easter Rabbit's minions) worked hard to hide the eggs . . .

And this little person tried to understand the new game . . .

While these three hunters ventured farther afield . . .

Eggs, eggs, everywhere . . .

And the occasional meltdown . . .

The egg hunts ended and the adults partied on . . . .

But in the end, it was all about the kids.