Zeus, A Cast, & A Picnic

I've been waiting to share some pictures with y'all from the last few weeks, but every time I hooked up the camera to retrieve said photos, the computer wouldn't recognize the camera's existence.  It suddenly occurred to me a few minutes ago that I could insert the camera's card into the computer & try that.  It worked.  Duh.  Hey, I never claimed to be techno-savvy!

 Meet Zeus!  He's a beautiful, sweet, calm (for the most part) Great Pyrenees.  No, he's not ours; he belongs to Michael's sister's family.  He's definitely a keeper!

 He & Jake loooove to play together!  Do you see how huge he is?!  For reference, Jake is ~2 1/2 years old here; Zeus is ~4 1/2 months!  He's gonna be a big fella!

Josie's not too keen on Zeus playing with Jake.  I think she sees Jake as her playmate, & she doesn't care to share!  We had to hold her back (at our own peril) or put her in the kennel so they could play.  She voiced her displeasure, believe me, she voiced her displeasure!

 After dealing with a very sensitive, easily pained pinky finger for nigh on a month, I finally went to the doctor.  He said it wasn't the bone, but that I had injured the tendon.  My guess is that the dogs hurt it.  I pulled a Michael, & the cast didn't make it through the day.  I couldn't function, so thankfully, I was able to slip it off & replace it with a splint.  I'm supposed to have it removed this Thursday.

I don't know what I'm going to tell our doctor . . .

 During TEA time, I was struck by the desire to surprise Michael with a picnic lunch!

 So, I picked up the necessities, & he drove us out to one of our favorite places . . .

the lake where he proposed a little more than 4 years ago!

Oh, the joys of family, love, & memories!

Snapshots of Our Life

I love pictures!  Don't you love pictures?  One of my favorite blogs does nothing but share pictures & fun captions.  I haven't shared any pictures in a while, so I trawled through ours & found some that you haven't seen yet.  I hope you enjoy them!

 Thankfully, he still has all of his fingers!

 "That's my stick!"  "No, it's mine!"

 The fruits of his labor.  This thing isn't going anywhere!

 It's a hard knock life!

 We're taking our doctor's advice here & going with a bear attack.

 Mmmmm . . . cheese!

 Chillin' under the shade of the crab apple tree

 For once, I was able to surprise him for his birthday!

 Mini meatloafs inspired by Sommer.  Soooo good!

 No power after the tornado meant candlelight, open windows, & pizza for supper.

 This girl always wants to be outside!

Sunny sunflowers from our anniversary.

Fireworks Fail

I wanted to take really beautiful pictures of the 4th of July fireworks.  Really, I did!  Michael & I missed out on the last 2 celebrations because he was working.  So, I was really looking forward to heading down to the riverfront to enjoy the fireworks this year.  And take pictures, of course!  I LOVE taking pictures, & have fancied myself to be somewhat good at it, particularly because of my Smoky Mountains & Spring pictures.  Well!  Turns out, taking pictures of fireworks is quite different!  I put the camera on the night-vision setting & fired away.  I expected beautiful pictures at which we could "oooh!" & "aaah!".  Here's what I actually got.  Make sure you're sitting down so you don't hurt yourself laughing at me.  Seriously.  Sit.

Like, seriously?!  What in the world happened?!  I haven't a clue.  It could have to do with that delay-shutter thing that kept happening.  Not being able to take rapid pictures didn't help, either, & made me miss quite a few pictures.  Although, judging by the products, perhaps that's not such a bad thing!  ;-)  Yep.  Fireworks.  I think I might skip next year's "photo adventure".  Then again . . . maybe the world could use some "artsy" fireworks pictures!  (Artsy's what I'm gonna go with here to soothe my wounded ego!)  ;-)

Spring Has Sprung!

Spring this year is beyond weird.  Trees & shrubs began budding & even putting out new leaves in February!  Some plants have already gone through their metamorphosis, while others haven't even begun.  It all feels very disjointed.  Some of our plants went through their change so quickly that we weren't even able to capture it on film.  Others, such as my hyacinths, are just about to bud.  Since we're sort of in between stages right now, I thought I would share our Spring pictures from last year.  Once we have some new pictures from this year, I'll share them, too.  Enjoy!  God's creation is lovely to behold!