blogger butt...and I'm not even a name caller...

I'm sitting here in an awkward upright position

almost cross eyed

due to the pain that a migraine has bestowed upon me

and

just like that

I had one of those "aha" moments that oprah always talks about

~~

only mine happened here in my cushy chair in my office

while listening to my dog lick herself

instead of at her home in maui while sitting on the beach sipping a pina colada

which is where you know she has her best "aha" moments

~~

anyhow

with photos dancing around in my head like candy canes when you hear christmas music

or wait is that sugar plums

?

come on migraine pills....kick in already

where was I

oh yeah

it hit me

I can post my photos through flickr to my blog

~duh~

so there blogger butt

take that

*

whine....

I am nothing without my photos

well

okay

maybe a little bit of something

but anyhow

I'm mad

~~~~~

today is magical

9~9~09

9~o9~o9

the

ninth day of the ninth month of two thousand nine

:::::::::

and

blogger is NOT playing nice

as it won't let me post a photo

~~

anyone else having these issues on this magical day

?

the days are getting shorter...

and

I'm spending them with a bit of a frown

both on my face and in my heart

~~

our summer has been perfect

not close to perfect

but

perfect

~~

perfect

warm breezes and ochre sunsets and bubbly clouds

perfect

butterflies and belly laughs and spinach salads

perfect

cicada hums and handholding walks and make me dance ipod music

perfect

late morning canoodling and tank tops

perfect

cuffed blue jean capris and raspberry gelato

~~

I'm sitting here editing a few photos

and

seeing this photo made me smile

really smile

the kind of smile where you wonder if anyone is looking at you and wondering what you're smiling about

~~

I have so many photos of little miss precious to share with you

but

this was the one that captured my

"little bit of a frown"

heart

today

and

I just knew I had to share it with all of you

so that you could smile

too

*

abandoned and beautiful....

about a day or two before a monarch hatches

the chrysalis that has been his home for 12 days

turns transparent and you can see his wings

I took this photo right after his birth

which happened in seconds

~blinking can cause you to miss it~

and

when his newly winged body fell out of the chrysalis

it was the size of his original caterpillar body

can you see how his wings are still wet and curled

?

approximately 10 to 15 minutes after his birth

his body became a normal butterfly sized body and his wings were straightened out

~~

an hour later he abandoned the only home he ever knew

~his womb of sorts~

and

with our help off the screened in porch

he headed south

with mexico on his mind

~~

on saturday we missed the birth of our first butterfly, but yesterday we caught the birth of our second one with

my camera and also on video. it was spectacular to say the least. we have four more to go and I pray that I get to see

at least one more birth.....what a miracle.

~~

if you have time

stop over here to read more about what I wrote in regards to "abandoned"

~~

many of us will be playing here all week

so keep checking back to see the new stories and photos

*

labor pains....{edited}

guess what's going on around here

?

basically the coolest thing I have seen in a very long time

*

there will be baby photos very soon

I promise

*

~edited~

we witnessed the birth of baby number two late this morning

{baby number one was born yesterday while we were out of town}

perpetual motion and sweetness...take one

maybe I'm just lucky

because really

how else does one get to spend a beautiful september morning

with all this sweetness and cuteness

?

I met this little pumpkin earlier this year while I was shopping in target and after my second glimpse of her I just knew I had to meet her

~

so I stopped and talked to her mom and told her I wasn't a stalker

that I was just a silly photographer

who would love to have her daughter's cuteness in my portfolio

~~

I handed her mom my business card and told her if she was interested to let me know

and

that all the photos would be completely free

as I really needed some more practice on "the wee ones"

and

then she contacted me

and

we set up a date

and

I asked my trusty assistant to come along

and

we met at what turned out to be the most perfect of parks

and

we laughed and ran around in circles

and

climbed and ran some more

and

that was all in the first hour

I came home with over 300 photos of this preciousness

and

not once did she cry or get distressed during our three hours together

~~

yes I said three hours

but you know what

we just let her play and run and be herself and I just followed or ran ahead of her

and

it all worked out beautifully

as she was free as a bird and never really even paid any attention to me

{sure she laughed at my running skills but who wouldn't}

~~

we changed outfits many times

we ate snacks and drank from sippy cups

we picked flowers

we rested a little

we laughed a lot

we played in a splash park

and

basically

we had a magical morning

and

I have so many "melt my heart" photos

which is why this is called take one

~~

so if you can stand all this sweetness

I'll be sharing more and more of her

because if you think these are cute

just wait until you see take two and three and four

*

gross, I know....

if you really want to get a case of the all.over.body.squirm.get.me.out.of.here.itch

click on my photo so that the spider sacks

feel like they're right there in the same room with you

~~

or not

~~

call me crazy nutsy cuckoo a little strange

but I kind of dig stuff like this

*

and by the way, this is not my house...really it's not. now granted, my house needs a total overhaul by a merry maids

army, but if the day ever comes that spider sacks are found anywhere near where I walk or sleep or eat,

well you can be pretty much rest assured that I'll be nowhere in sight, because even though I think photographing them is really cool, the idea of one those sacks opening and spilling out hundreds of babies that will hook up with big old wolf spiders just for fun

totally gives me the willies

*