Don't wish away your days...

Me, Brazil, the late 70's.

A friend of mine shared the following:
"The trick is to enjoy life. Don't wish away your days waiting for better one's ahead."
--Janelle K.--

Don't perpetually miss the now for wishing and waiting for what is yet to be, or for what has already been and cannot be changed.
--Me.--

Today was beautiful. I, unfortunately, was under the weather. I felt like all of my limbs were joined by rubber bands and that if I wasn't careful, and flung myself around too much, that one of them might shoot away and not come back. Despite this, however, I managed some delightful photos today while out and about.

For enquiring minds that want to know...I'm now up to 1,936 photos on my iPhone. You'll remember that back in January I was at 917 photos. So--I've progressed. The great thing about it is...that no matter where I am, I can pop open my photo album on my phone and see all of this awesome stuff, things that struck my fancy, things I found interesting, people that I like, people that I love, places I've been, food I've eaten, flowers I've sniffed and babies I've loved. It's great...and I'm still as hooked as ever.

That said...here are some recent photos that are current favorites on the photo play-list:

I never did post about this...I went to the Brigham Young University Women's Conference.
I go every year (for the past 11 years now) and absolutely love it.
It totally recharges my spiritual battery pack.
Pic above was painted by a visiting artist that I was able to actually meet and chat with for a few minutes. His work is incredible.

Below is the Marriott Center where I spent a good portion of my time during the course of the conference, listening to talks, presentations, music, and wonderful women talk about a plethora of topics.
My favorite part is the singing. If you've never sung with 18,000 other women...I'm telling you now...you're missing out. It is so amazingly overwhelming that goosebumps and tears are pretty much inevitable and there are moments that you would swear you could hear the angels singing with you.
Amazing.

This delightful concoction is called a Brisa de la Mora Negra.
It is served at Los Hermanos in Provo, Utah.
"Blackberries, strawberries, and ice cream blended to the height of refreshment."
It is worth the money.
It is crazy delicious.

This is a Pom Pom creature.
13 year old's love to make them.
Put a magnet on the back and you've got a great little refrigerator magnet...or Mother's Day gift as the case may be.
I have no Pom Poms left.

This is a quilt square that my sister made for a family project.
I love it.
It makes me smile every time I see it.
It is sooooo Grace.

A long-standing, lifetime favorite.
I can eat them until I'm sick.
I've never gotten sick...
Oink.
Oink.

My grandma who is no longer a resident of this planet.
She's been gone for a long time now.
I miss her.

My 1950's teen Aunties.
These are my mom's two oldest sisters.
This photo is awesome and I just discovered it at a family luncheon I attended a few weeks back.

A favorite, though infrequent, treat.
I can eat this raw.
Sometimes I don't see how anyone ever made it past the batter to bake it.
This was an amended recipe.
It had mini semi sweet chips, semi sweet chocolate chunks, Special Dark chocolate chips and walnuts in it.
It was cookie-crack.

Below--you can see the baked end product...it was amazing.
I think I could finagle land and treasure with these babies.

A couple of weeks ago we had a family dinner at my mom's.
My mom is an amazing cook and can whip up miracle meals, that will make your taste buds sing, out of nothing.
This particular dish is an all around family favorite: chicken fillets, peas & corn, mashed potatoes and gravy, salad with homemade vinaigrette and French bread.
Usually accompanied by ice water and Ginger ale...but not mixed together...cuz that would be gross.
You do not leave this weighted table hungry unless it is by choice.

Calvin wanted to help Grace walk Sophie.
To do so, he grabbed the handle part of the leash, and kept saying "Come" and "Go."
It was pretty funny.
By the time we were done with our walk, puppy and little boy were wiped out.

These are a new favorite of mine.
My mother-in-law loves Lillies, therefore, they also remind me of her.
I bought my first lillies this year.
One pot is full of burgundy flowers and the other pot is full of pink and white lillies.
I'm excited to get them in the ground.

Dahlia's.
I saw these flowers today and thought they were stunning.
They were in another lady's cart.
Luckily I had sunglasses on so she didn't notice that I was being a stare-bug.
I tried not to gawk, and managed to keep my mouth from dropping open like a little mailbox.
As I wandered, I came across them on my own.
As a huge pallet of Dahlia's it was even more amazing.

We have boatloads of books.
We are definitely classifiable as bibliophiles.
Books...are...everywhere.
We have a number of bookshelves throughout the house, but one of our current projects is figuring out "the book issue"---as in "Where the hell are we going to put all of these books???"
We are looking at space saving shelving options.
I am excited about this, because I would like to maintain our collection in a more orderly manner.
It's o.k. for the most part, but books multiply. We need to give them happy homes, as opposed to secreted perches and tucked away corners.

Oh sweet baby girl!!
This is one of my nieces.
Amelia turns 3 in just a few days.
She is a doll and has the sweetest, tiniest voice you've ever heard.

These are my sister Grace's Iris's...or is it Irii...?
Anyway. She did not plant them, they were already in her garden when she bought her house. Therefore she didn't know what color they were until they peeked their pretty little heads out.
At first she thought they were all brown. Brown is not her favorite color. In fact, you might say she frequently makes cracks about brown because she really hates it.
She called me up and said "You know those Iris's?"
I said "Yes."
She said "Of all of the beautiful colors that Iris's can be--GUESS WHAT COLOR MINE ARE???? You're never going to believe what color mine are."
"What color are they?"
"They are POOP brown!"
I immediately burst into laughter...because no matter how old you are...when another adult uses the word "Poop" it's kinda funny, and the visual image of her discovering that her flowers were brown, of all colors, was pretty funny too. I'm sure she was completely disgusted.
Anyway, I asked if there were any other colors and she told me yellow and purple. I thought they sounded interesting.
In the end--they are funky. And not "poop brown." ;)
In the end, as they bloomed more fully, she decided that maybe they weren't so bad.
For myself...I think they are different, and pretty.

Bug alert.
Out for a walk, down by the ditch I found a whole bunch of pretty weeds and wildflowers.
This one had a resident.
I love bugs...when they are outside.
If they show up inside...they've signed their own death warrant.
They aren't just killed.
Usually they get obliterated...because I smash them that hard.

Dusk...actually it was fully evening.
Family BBQ at the in-laws.
It is finally almost warm enough to be outside in the evening and the great grand-kids were having a blast in the backyard, playing, running, squealing, laughing and periodically having little meltdown's.
It was a phenomenal evening.

My niece.
Yes, she is a beauty and always has been.
Women should wear flowers in their hair more often.
These are Lillie's of the Valley and they are from my mother-in-law's prolific garden.
They smell amazing and are the most beautiful petite little things you have ever seen.

This is my little maniac niece Olivia.
She is Tiffany's daughter.
Olivia is a ham, and is precocious.
Olivia is 5.
I was walking around my mother-in-law's garden, taking photos, the other evening, and Olivia was very interested in what I was doing, where I was going and why. I told her I was taking pictures of the beautiful flowers and she immediately wanted to be involved.
So here she is...Miss Olivia, with Iris's that are as big as her head.

And lastly, chives.
I think they are pretty, they smell fantastic, and they are tasty.
I love their pretty little flowers and how green the onion stems are.
I should plant a big box of these this year.
They (the green stems) are delicious finely chopped up, mixed in with softened butter, salt, black cracked pepper and parsley and then spread on corn on the cob, wrapped in foil and thrown on the BBQ for a few minutes.
Deliciously delightful.