Yeh Haw Cowgirl at the Rodeo!

Say hello to the "40 and Above Female Mechanical Bull Champion" at the Dutchess County Fair 2009.

Hillsborough River Birthday Bash

At some point (like around age 27 or so) birthdays become not about so much of a "Yahoo! You're another year older!" thing but more like a "Yahoo! You've earned another year!" thing and your day becomes one of taking a big breath and simply enjoying that which you have earned. Janna, Sadie, Elizabeth, Marilyn, Elizabeth, Cristina, Leah and I were lucky enough to share such a day with our good friend, Dada, for her birthday celebration on the Hillsborough River. (um...ok... mostly I was thinking more along the lines of "Yahoo! I'm not at work!" and "Yahoo! I'm having champagne at lunch!" but whatever...)
VIDEO DISCLAIMER: After positively slaving away at choosing the absolute perfect audio track for this video I have come to find out that youtube and Warner Music Group (WMG) are in some sort of Defcon Five Death Match over music rights AND it just so happens that WMG ownes the rights to most of the published music in the free world. This basically leaves one with a choice between "Good King Wenceslas" or some hillbilly garage band copyright-free sound track.

I chose the latter.

Am also unclear (no pun intended..) as to what happened to the video quality upon upload... kinda looks like we're all in the Witness Protection Program... Oh well...

Cypress Gardens Audition

After 18 summers of pulling kids endlessly around Lake Keystone we felt it was about time the moms remind those young whippersnappers just exactly where their mad water skills originated.....

Of course Dada remains the undisputed Queen of the Lake

Julie's Big Day

Thanks for coming to our party Paige and Chuck! We loved having you guys with us for the weekend fun. Come back soon!

Love Julie and Dad

New York - Urban Wilderness

I will admit, since I moved to NYC I have seen a lot of not-so-beautiful stuff. Dirty puddles kicked up by taxis, lots of smoking, and my particular un-favorite was a little kid up at midnight littering in the public fountains ( near my apartment) while his parents chatted on the phone ignoring him.

But! Before you go feeling sorry for me after checking out Paige's awesome hike post in the Sequoia National Forest, I would like to point out that in this city there are also a lot of beautiful things. Beautiful people in beautiful clothes, the way Time Square in all it's resplendent neon in the middle of the night is still as bright as daytime and alive as any place I have ever been, the incredible mix of architecture, the parks, the fountains, the history and mix of culture, and of course the lack of need for a car which is a beautiful thing of a whole different nature for someone as bad at driving as yours truly.

(no I am not that good a picture taking - http://www.claynewsnetwork.com/2009/04/04/clay-aiken-shows-us-times-square/)

I know LA has most of these things too, so it may seem like Paige has the edge on this one. But everytime I get to thinking this might be true I remind myself that this is where I live:

(but even being terrible at picture taking I was able to get this - the view from my window this morning)

If you look closely at the bottom you'll realize those spots aren't just my smudgy windows- it's the reflection of my bedsheets in the glass...did I mention I love this town?